Eileen Moran Brown, the founder and first president of Cambridge College in Boston, Massachusetts, passed away on September 28. She was 87 years old.
Brown earned her bachelor’s degree in English language and literatures from what is now Immaculata University in Pennsylvania and her master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her career began as an English teacher at John Bartram High School in Philadelphia. She then became coordinator of a federally funded program at the West Philadelphia High School to prepare underserved students for college.
In 1971, Brown co-founded the Institute for Open Education, a program for working adults of all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds who did not have access to higher education. The program was later acquired by the Antioch University Network. In 1981, it became an independent educational institution named Cambridge College. On July 1, 2024, the college was acquired by Bay Path University.
Brown chronicled her career and account of Cambridge’s founding in her memoir, It’s Not Where You Start… It’s Where You Finish: The Story of Cambridge College (Tide Pool Press, 2022).
Jonaya Kemper has joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz as an assistant professor of arts and design, games and playable media. An interdisciplinary artist, activist, educator, designer, writer, and games scholar, Kemper examines play as a means of liberation for people of marginalized identities. Her work covers all aspects of games, including video, table top, board games, and live action games.
Dyann Margolis has joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College of Law as an assistant professor of practice and associate dean for academic success. For the past three years, she has been an administrator with the college, serving as assistant dean for academic success and bar preparation programs. Earlier, she was assistant dean for academic and bar success at the Charleston School of Law in South Carolina.
Bronwyn Bjorkman is slated to join the Princeton University faculty in January as an associate professor of linguistics. A specialist in syntax, she most recently taught at Queen’s University in Ontario as an associate professor. Earlier, she was a lecturer at Northeastern University in Boston.
Lydia Goehr is the new chair of the department of philosophy at Columbia University. She currently holds the title of Fred and Fannie Mack Professor of Humanities. As a scholar, she studies the philosophy of music, aesthetics, critical theory, the philosophy of history, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophy. Her most recent book is 
Raven Edwards has joined the faculty at Sweet Briar College in Virginia as an assistant professor of biology. She comes to the Virginia-based women’s college from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she was a graduate teaching assistant, researcher, and lab instructor. Her research centers on aquaculture techniques for sea urchins.
Anne Alexander has been granted the title of Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Missouri. The designation is the university’s highest faculty academic rank. A faculty member since 2012, she serves as teaching professor and director of legal analysis, research, and communication in the School of Law. Before transitioning to academia, she was a litigation associate at Jenner & Block in Chicago.
Claire Aguda is slated to join the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary faculty in the spring as an assistant professor of politics and humanities in the seminary’s Boyce College. Her scholarship centers on the conservative intellectual movement, higher education, and cultural renewal initiatives.
Jessica Back has been appointed director of research cores in the division of research and innovation at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. She currently serves as an assistant professor of oncology in the university’s School of Medicine and director of the Microscopy, Imaging, and Cytometry Resources Core. Her background includes nearly two decades of experience in imaging and cytometry.
Elaina Sutley, associate professor of civil, environmental, and architectural engineering and associate dean for impact and belonging at the University of Kansas School of Engineering, was recently awarded the 2025 Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists in the physical sciences and engineering category.
Jennifer Ross has been selected to serve as interim dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University in New York. She currently serves as a professor of physics, member of the BioInspired Institute, and associate dean for creativity, scholarship, and research in the College of Arts and Sciences. As a biophysicist, she studies the organization of the microtubule cytoskeleton and enzymes using high-resolution single-molecule imaging techniques.
Carrie Zebrowsky Cooper has been named dean of university libraries at Florida State University. She comes to her new role from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where she has served in the same capacity since 2011. Earlier in her career, she was dean of libraries at Eastern Kentucky University.
Gwendolyn M. Lloyd has been appointed interim dean of the College of Education at Pennsylvania State University. She has been serving as the college’s senior associate dean of faculty affairs. A Penn State faculty member since 2009, she currently holds the Henry J. Hermanowicz Professorship in Education and is a professor of mathematics education in the department of curriculum and instruction. Earlier in her tenure, she served as director of graduate studies for her department and director of the elementary and early childhood education teacher preparation program.
Anna Nagurney, the Eugene M. Isenberg Chair in Integrative Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has received the 2025 President’s Award from INFORMS, an international organization for operations research and analytics professionals.
Jan Alexia Boulware has been appointed associate provost and associate vice president for academic affairs at Savannah State University in Georgia. With 15 years of experience in higher education administration, Dr. Boulware has a background in academic innovation, fiscal stewardship, faculty development, curriculum reform, accreditation leadership, and student affairs. Most recently, she was dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Tia Wright-Richards was recently named vice president for institutional advancement at Talladega College in Alabama. She has over 20 years of experience in advancement, fundraising, and organizational transformation. Previously, she was interim president and vice president for academic affairs at Denmark Technical College in South Carolina.
Tracy Moyer has been promoted to executive vice president and chief financial officer for Penn State Health. She has been serving in this capacity on an interim basis since June. With over two decades of experience at Penn State Health, she most recently served as senior vice president of system financial services.
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, is the new executive director of the Graduate School of Public Management at George Washington University. Before representing Florida’s 26th District from 2019 to 2021, she had served in various leadership capacities at Florida International University, including director of development for the College of Health and Urban Affairs and associate dean for advancement for the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine.
Ann Stevens, professor of biological sciences at Virginia Tech, has been named the 2026 recipient of the Carski Award for Undergraduate Education from the American Society for Microbiology. The honor recognizes Dr. Stevens’ outstanding teaching and mentoring of undergraduate students in microbiology.
Marie C. Johns was named the 2025-2026 Gwendolyn S. and Colbert I. King Endowed Chair in Public Policy at Howard University in Washington, D.C. A former member of Howard’s board of trustees, Johns has over 30 years of experience in business, civic, and government service. She previously served as president of Verizon Washington and was deputy administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration from 2010 to 2013. She has been serving as CEO of PPC-Leftwich, a minority/woman-led consulting firm in Washington, D.C.
Jennifer Jennings is the Class of 1988 Professor in Domestic Policy at Princeton University. A Princeton faculty member since 2017, she currently serves as a professor of sociology and public affairs and director of the Education Research Section. In her scholarly work, she examines racial, socioeconomic, and gender disparities in educational and health outcomes.
Sarah Reisman has been named to the Norman Davidson Leadership Chair at the California Institute of Technology. She first joined the Caltech faculty in 2008 and currently serves as the Bren Professor of Chemistry in the division of chemistry and chemical engineering. Her research aims to discover new chemical reactions and new ways to synthesize complex molecules chemically.
Jeanne Gillespie is the new Charles W. Moorman Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at the University of Southern Mississippi. As a professor in the university’s School of Social Science and Global Studies, she teaches courses in Spanish language and cultures, American Indian studies, women’s and gender studies, and interdisciplinary studies. Her recent research centers on indigenous women’s voices in Spanish colonial archives and the use of medicinal plants in Nahuatl narratives.
Diana J. Montaño has been named a Georgie W. Lewis Career Development Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. A faculty member since 2016, she currently serves as an associate professor of history and director of undergraduate studies in history. Her scholarship focuses on the construction of modern Latin American societies with a focus on technology and its relationship to nationalism, everyday life, and domesticity.
Ethel Barja is an assistant professor of Spanish. Her research and teaching areas include transnational and cross-disciplinary approaches to 20th- and 21st-century Latin American and Caribbean literature, poetry, and poetics, intertwining critical Indigenous studies, Afro-poetics, feminist theory, gender studies, decolonial studies, and posthuman studies. She joined Smith after holding a tenure-track appointment at Salisbury University in Maryland. Dr. Barja is a graduate of Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. She holds a master’s degree in Hispanic literary and cultural studies from the University of Illinois Chicago and a doctorate in Hispanic studies from Brown University.
Gillian Beltz-Mohrmann is an assistant professor of physics and statistical and data sciences. She recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Cosmological Physics and Advanced Computing group at Argonne National Laboratory. Her research lies at the intersection of galaxy formation and cosmology. Dr. Beltz-Mohrmann received a bachelor’s degree in astrophysics from Wellesley College in Massachuaetts and earned a doctorate in astrophysics from Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Jocelyn Breton is an assistant professor of neuroscience. Dr. Breton is interested in understanding how experiencing stress during key developmental periods affects the brain and ultimately alters motivated behavior. Dr. Breton is a gradauate of Middlebury College in Vermont, where she majored in neuroscience. She earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Columbia University and Northeastern University.
Cagney Coomer is an assistant professor of neuroscience. Dr. Coomer is a neuroscientist interested in understanding brain regeneration following spinal cord injury. Dr. Coomer is a graduate of Virginia State University, where she majored in biology. She earned a Ph.D. in molecular biology at the University of Kentucky and completed postdoctoral training at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College and at the University of Michigan.
Rebecca Deitsch is an assistant professor of classical languages and literatures. She previously held teaching positions at Kenyon College in Ohio and Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Her current book project examines how epic poetry interacts with and shapes Roman imperial ideology in the late first century. Dr. Deitsch is a graduate of the University of Dallas, where she majored in classical philology. She received a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in classical philology from Harvard University.
Meredith Pecukonis is an assistant professor of psychology. Her research focuses on exploring how both neurobiology and sociocultural aspects of the environment impact language development in autism. Dr. Pecukonis is a graduate of the University of Maryland, whre she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Boston University.
Isabel Strauss is an assistant professor of art. Her current research commingles architectural history and African American cultural history, specifically on the South Side of Chicago. She received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a master’s degree in architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she was awarded the 2021 Clifford Wong Prize in Housing Design.
Following three months of interim service, Jennifer Chrisler has been officially named the ninth president of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. The college enrolls about 700 students, 62 percent of whom are women.
Bey-Ling Sha, dean of the College of Media & Communication at Texas Tech University, recently assumed the presidency of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, an international organization of over 2,300 educators, students, and media professionals. Dr. Sha previously served as the association’s vice president.
Victoria Coleman, former chief scientist for the United States Air Force, has been named associate provost of the Berkeley Space Center at the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to overseeing the center’s broad research portfolio and operations, she will also hold a faculty appointment as a professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at the university.
Each week, Women in Academia Report will provide links to online articles that may be of interest to our readers. The links presented direct the reader to articles from many different points of view that deal with issues of women in higher education. The articles selected do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board of WIAReport.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation recently announced the 22 latest recipients in its fellowship program, commonly referred to as “genius grants.” MacArthur fellows receive a grant of $800,000 over five years to spend however they want on their academic or creative endeavors. Winners have shown exceptional creativity in their work and the promise to do more.
Kristina Douglass is an associate professor in the Climate School at Columbia University in New York City. From 2017 to 2022, she was an assistant professor of anthropology and African studies at Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Douglass is an archaeologist investigating how human societies and environments co-evolved and adapted to climate variability. Dr. Douglass’ research focuses on coastal communities in southwest Madagascar. Dr Douglass is a graduate of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where she majored in classics. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Yale University.
Hahrie Han is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Professor in the Department of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where she also serves as the inaugural director of the SNF Agora Institute and as the faculty director of the P3 Lab. She was a member of the political science faculty at Wellesley College in Massachusetts from 2005 to 2015. Dr. Han’s most recent book is 
Ieva Jusionyte is the Watson Family University Professor of International Security and Anthropology in the Watson School of International and Public Affairs at Brown University, where she also serves as director of the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies. She was previously a member of the anthropology faculty at Harvard University (2016–2020) and an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Florida (2012–2016), Dr. Jusionyte is a cultural anthropologist exploring the political and moral ambiguities of border regions, where state policies regulate historically shifting distinctions between legal and illegal practices. Her most recent book, 
Gala Porras-Kim is currently a visiting critic in sculpture at the Yale School of Art. She is an interdisciplinary artist proposing new ways to make visible the layered meanings and functions of cultural artifacts held in museums and institutional collections. Her work has been exhibited at such venues as the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York City, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver. Porras-Kim received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles. She earned an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts.
Teresa Puthussery is an associate professor in the Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Earlier, she served on the faculty of Oregon Health and Science University. A neurobiologist and optometrist, Dr. Puthussery explores how neural circuits of the retina encode visual information for the primate brain. Professor Puthussery received a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Melbourne in Australia.
Lauren K. Williams is the Dwight Parker Robinson Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University. She was a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley, from 2009 to 2018. Professor Williams has made significant contributions to numerous mathematical fields, including cluster algebras, representation theory, and algebraic geometry. Dr. Williams received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Harvard University. She earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Women in Academia Report regularly publishes a list of new books that may be of interest to our readers. The books included are on a wide variety of subjects and present many different points of view. The opinions expressed in these books do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board of WIAReport. As an Amazon Associate, WIAReport will earn a fraction of revenue from qualifying purchases.
Mary Sandra “Sandee” Carberry, professor emeritus of computer and information science at the University of Delaware, passed away on June 26, 2025. She was 80 years old.
Margaux Fitoussi was named an assistant professor in the departments of comparative literature and history. Dr. Fitoussi served as the Paloheimo Fellow at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and studied experimental film in Madrid. Her research focuses on understandings of Jewishness in the contemporary Muslim world, specifically in Tunisia.
Nicole T. Hughes is an assistant professor in the department of Spanish and Portuguese. She served as an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center before becoming an assistant professor in the department of Iberian and Latin American cultures at Stanford. Her research on the early modern world focuses specifically on Mexico and Brazil in the sixteenth century.
Taija Mars McDougall was named an assistant professor of African American studies. She recently completed a President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research focuses on Black critical theory, slavery and financialization, psychoanalysis and continental philosophy.
Total enrollment at Texas Woman’s University grew by about 1 percent in the fall 2025 semester, bringing the university’s total enrollment to more than 15,400 students. This enrollment increase is due in part by a 4 percent gain in graduate student enrollment, making the school’s graduate population roughly 36 percent of the entire student body.
Marcyliena H. Morgan, former professor of African and African American studies at Harvard University, passed away on September 28. She was 75 years old.
Angelica Guercio has joined the University of California, Davis faculty as an assistant professor of teaching in the department of molecular and cellular biology. Her work centers on biology education and inclusive pedagogy, with the goal of fostering scientific literacy, identity, and success for students in biochemistry and molecular biology.
Meeko Oishi has been granted the title of Regents Professor at the University of New Mexico. A full professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering, she focuses her research on providing assurances of safety in autonomous cyber-physical systems, despite uncertainty in the environment and in human interaction with the autonomous systems. Ultimately, she aims to make autonomous systems truly human-centric, without sacrificing reliability or performance.
Tiffany Baffour is the new director of the School of Social Work at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. She comes to her new role from the University of Utah, where she was an associate professor, associate dean in the Graduate School, and director of the master of social work degree program. Earlier in her career, she held faculty appointments with Winston-Salem State University and North Carolina A&T State University.
Fabiola Ehlers-Zavala was recently named senior academic officer for the Semester at Sea program, a collaboration between the Institute for Shipboard Education and Colorado State University. The program allows students to participate in a semester-long voyage on the program’s cruise ship, where they visit 10 or more countries, exploring, learning, and interacting with local people while completing a full load of accredited courses. Dr. Ehlers-Zavala, a professor of English at Colorado State for nearly two decades, served as the academic dean for the Spring 2025 voyage.
Denise Imai-Leonard is the new executive director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Michigan State University. She comes to her new role from the University of California, Davis, where she was a clinical professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine, director of the Comparative Pathology Laboratory, and vice chair of the department of pathology, microbiology, and immunology.
Clementine Bordeaux has joined the University of California, Santa Cruz faculty as an assistant professor of history of art and visual culture. Grounded in Native American and Indigenous studies, Dr. Bordeaux’s academic expertise centers on relationality, Indigenous feminisms and visual representation and culture. Earlier in her career, she was an academic coordinator for the American Indian studies interdepartmental program at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Elena Manresa is a new professor of economics at Princeton University in New Jersey. She taught at New York University since 2017. Earlier, she taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for three years. An expert in econometrics, Dr. Manresa focuses her research on topics that include microeconometrics, empirical microeconomics, financial econometrics, machine learning and artificial intelligence, and health.
Shelia Grant has been granted the title of Curators’ Distinguished Professor at the University of Missouri. A faculty member for over two decades, she currently teaches as a professor of biological and biomedical engineering. She is a leading scholar in nano- and micro-structured materials design in biomedical engineering.
Deanna M. Barch is the Gregory B. Couch Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis. She holds appointments in the departments of psychological and brain sciences and of radiology. She also serves as the university’s vice dean of research.
Brenda N. Major is a distinguished professor emeritus of psychological and brain sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is also a past fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.
Madelin Ramil is the new dean of the School of Podiatric Medicine. Her background includes more than 25 years of clinical and academic experience. She currently practices at The Center for Foot Surgery and serves as clinical director, research director, and assistant residency director at HCA Florida Westside Hospital’s Foot and Ankle Residency Program. Throughout her career, she has lectured and provided advanced surgical training to physicians in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Spain.
Audrey P. Miller is the new dean of the School of Nursing. With over three decades of experience, she most recently taught in the Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences at Florida International University. There, she became the first faculty member to achieve the full clinical professor rank in the undergraduate nursing department. She also served as the inaugural program director for several non-traditional nursing degree tracks and was the first leader of the graduate nurse educator program. Earlier, she held a clinical appointment as a pediatric nurse practitioner with the University of Miami Hospitals and Clinics.
The American Heart Association has named Megan McLaughlin, assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, the recipient of the 2025 Dr. Nanette K. Wenger Research Goes Red Award for Best Article on Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke in Women.
Chris Foley Pilsner has been appointed as the inaugural chief marketing and communications officer at Oakland University in Michigan. She comes to her new position from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she most recently served as executive director of relationship management and digital experience. Earlier in her tenure, she was chief marketing officer for the university’s Isenberg School of Management.
Taylor Kreutter has been named associate vice president for enrollment at Mount Holyoke College, a women’s liberal arts educational institution in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She first joined the college in 2022 as the executive director of student financial services. She has previously worked in financial aid at the University of Rochester and Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York.
Paula L. Jackson has been selected to serve as interim athletics director at Texas Southern University. She has extensive experience as an athletics executive in higher education, previously holding key leadership roles with Hampton University in Virginia, Norfolk State University in Virginia, Mississippi Valley State University, and Lincoln University of Missouri. She is also the founder of the Minority Trailblazers in Sports Conference.
Georgette Angulo-Ramirez is the new executive director of the Center for Business Analytics in the Carl H. Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati. For the past 15 years, she has served in various roles at dunnhumby/84.51, a data analytics subsidiary of Kroger. She most recently served as the organization’s vice president of strategy insights group and center store merchandising strategy and analytics.
Lorraine Daignault was recently named vice president of marketing and communications for the University of Tampa in Florida. She most recently held the same position at Bryant University in Rhode Island. Her background includes more than 25 years of professional experience, including senior marketing roles with Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and Tufts University in Boston.
Pamela Sandbothe is the new vice president of administration and finance at Lincoln University of Missouri. She comes to her new role from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, where she served as a controller for the past three years. Earlier in her career, she spent five years as director of management services for Missouri Vocational Rehabilitation.
Jessica Greaves has been promoted to executive director of the Southern Arkansas University Foundation. She has held various positions with the university since 2019, including assistant director of communications and marketing and university videographer. She also served three years on the SAU Staff Senate, including service as secretary of the executive board during the 2024-2025 academic year.
Sara Grossman, associate professor of environmental studies at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, has received the Michelle Kendrick Memorial Book Prize from the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts for her book, 
As a scholar, Dr. Grossman focuses on disability studies, history of science, poetry, environmental humanities, American studies, and critical making. In Immeasurable Weather, she explores the relationship between climate data and state power in key moments in the history of American weather science
Linda Henkel is the new Elizabeth DeCamp McInerney Chair in Health Sciences at Fairfield University in Connecticut. In her research, she seeks to understand how memories shape the way we experience life. She explores how recollection is not a perfect recording of the past, but a reconstructive process that influences well-being, social connection, and meaning in life. Dr. Henkel holds a Ph.D. from Stony Brook University in New York.
Susan Klinedinst has been named the Dr. Demmie G. Mayfield Endowed Chair in Science and Undergraduate Research at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas. A molecular and developmental biologist, she currently holds the rank of associate professor of biology. In addition to her own scholarship, she has mentored more than 50 undergraduate student researchers throughout her career. Dr. Klinedinst holds a Ph.D. and has been on the Schreiner faculty for the past 12 years.
Stephanie Boddie was recently named The Fuller Family Endowed Chair for Social Justice in the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University in Texas. A Baylor faculty member since 2017, she studies issues like food insecurity, poverty and social services, and how churches meet the needs around them. Before her current appointment, she was an assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Dr. Boddie earned her master of social work degree and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Bonnie Bassler has been named the inaugural Andrew K. Golden University Professor at Princeton University. The University Professor designation is the Ivy League institution’s highest faculty honor. Currently serving as the Squibb Professor in Molecular Biology, Dr. Bassler is known for her research in quorum sensing, a process that allows bacteria to communicate using secreted chemical signaling molecules called autoinducers. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of California, Davis and a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University.
Martha Placeres is the new Wilhelmina MacDonald Endowed Faculty Chair in Music at Florida Southern College. She first joined the college’s faculty in 2019 and currently serves as chair of the music department and director of orchestra and string studies. Alongside her work as an educator, she has performed with numerous orchestras around the world. Dr. Placeres holds a bachelor’s degree in violin performance from the Puebla State Conservatory of Music in Mexico, a master’s degree in music education from the University of Texas at Brownsville, and a doctorate in orchestral conducting from Texas Tech University.
Laura Olson has been named the Herman Brown Chair of Political Science in the AddRan College of Liberal Arts at Texas Christian University. Her scholarship centers on the intersections of contemporary religion and politics, with an emphasis on public opinion and civic engagement. She has published nine books, most recently 
Adrienne Dagg is an assistant professor of studio arts (painting) in the School of Art. Dagg previously served as a full-time continuous instructor and visual arts program chair at Red Deer Polytechnic’s School of Arts and Education in Red Deer, Alberta. Her creative work and research focus on pushing the boundaries of traditional figurative painting. Dagg holds a bachelor of fine arts degree from Concordia University in Montreal and a master of fine arts degree from the University of Alberta in Canada.
Meris Drew is also an assistant professor of studio arts (painting) in the School of Art. Drew previously served as a visiting assistant professor of painting at Indiana University Bloomington and a lecturer in art and art history at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She is a graduate of the New College of Florida and holds a master of fine arts degree from Indiana University.
Eleanor Holdridge is a professor of drama and the new chair of the department of drama. She has directed plays for over 30 years, most recently Ken Ludwig’s “Baskerville” at the Alley Theatre in Houston. Holdridge is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. She earned a master of fine arts degree at Yale University.
Li “Lily” Jiang is an assistant professor of fashion design in the School of Design. She was an assistant research professor at Iowa State University. Her research focuses on using innovative technology to promote sustainable design and development in the apparel industry. Dr. Jiany is a graduate of the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in China. She holds a master’s degree from Central Michigan University and a Ph.D. from Iowa State University.
Kyra Stahr is an assistant teaching professor of conducting and choral studies in the Setnor School of Music Stahr earned a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance and music education from Miami University and a master’s degree in choral music from the University of Southern California. She is also a doctor of musical arts candidate in choral conducting at the University of Miami.
The Before Columbus Foundation recently announced the winners of the 46th annual American Book Awards. The prestigious honor was established to provide recognition for outstanding literary achievement from the entire spectrum of America’s diverse literary community. With no categories and no nominees, the American Book Awards aim to recognize literary excellence without limits or restrictions.
Amy Alvarez, associate professor of practice in the Messina College at Boston College, won for her poetry collection, 
Marie-Helene Bertino, the Ritvo-Slifka Writer-in-Residence and a lecturer in English at Yale University, won for her novel 
Marcela Fuentes, associate professor of creative writing at Texas Christian University, won for her debut novel, 
Stacey Levine, professor of English at Seattle Central College, won for her novel, 
Claire Messud, the Joseph Y. Bae and Janice Lee Senior Lecturer on Fiction at Harvard University, won for her novel, 
Danzy Senna, professor of English and creative writing at the University of Southern California, won for her novel, 
Lauri Scheyer, professor of English at California State University, Los Angeles, won for co-editing 
Mary E. Brunkow, genetics program manager at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, has won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. She shares the award with fellow scientists Frederick J. Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi for their “groundbreaking discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance,” which keeps the immune system in check by avoiding autoimmune responses that can damage healthy tissues. Research in this area has important implications for developing new therapies for cancers and autoimmune diseases, as well as treatments to reduce transplant rejection.
Susan Schulten, professor of history at the University of Denver, was recently named the Colorado State Historian. In this role, she will lead History Colorado’s State Historian’s Council, which consists of a team of interdisciplinary scholars who aid in the interpretation of the history of Colorado and the American West.
Anna Wenzel, professor of chemistry at Scripps College, a liberal arts educational institution for women in Claremont, California, has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to explore the catalytic formation of compounds that are crucial for industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to agriculture. A faculty member with the women’s college since 2006, Dr. Wenzel will use her funding to investigate how to develop safer, more reliable, and economical ways of producing these compounds.
Boston University was recently awarded a $4.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to connect senior and junior faculty interested in women’s health research. Over the next three years, the funds will allow three early-career faculty members per year to participate in a two-year research program under the mentorship of senior faculty. The junior faculty participants will also receive individualized career development support and participate in research meetings and annual conferences. The program will have a particular focus on themes of addiction science, maternal and child health, and sex influences on health outcomes.
Kathrin Plath, professor of biological chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles, has received a $2.4 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to advance stem-cell based treatments for female-specific diseases. The award will allow Dr. Plath to continue her work investigating why X-chromosome inactivation erosion occurs during cell culture. Through this research, Dr. Plath aims to create more accurate disease modeling that can make more effective stem cell therapies for female patients.
Kimberly Andrew Espy, the first woman president of Wayne State University in Detroit, has resigned from her post after only two years in the position and three years before the end of her five-year contract.
