Sally M. Reis is the inaugural holder of the Letitia Neag Morgan Chair for Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut. The chair was established in honor of Professor Reis’ mother and was funded by a $1.5 million gift from Ray and Carole Neag, who are Professor Reis’ uncle and aunt.
Dr. Reis is head of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented and a distinguished scholar at the National Association for Gifted Children.
Professor Reis is a graduate of Chatham University in Pittsburgh. She holds a master’s degree from Southern Connecticut State University and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Connecticut.
Mary Clark Moschella was named the Roger J. Squire Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling. She joined the Yale faculty in 2010 after teaching for 10 years at the Wesley Theological Seminary.
Valerie Horsley is the Maxine F. Singer ’57 Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. She i conducting research on stem cells.
Terri Combs-Orme, a professor in the College of Social Work at the University of Tennessee, is the inaugural recipient of an endowed professorship from the Urban Child Institute in Memphis. The institute is a nonprofit organization that conducts research and advocates for public policies that will benefit children. At the institute, Professor Combs-Orme will develop a curriculum on brain development in young children to be used in training bachelor’s and master’s degree students in social work programs and for training programs for practicing social workers in Tennessee who deal mainly with young children.
Jane Dickey was elected chair of the board of visitors of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She replaces Dean Kumpuris, a physician who is currently vice mayor of Little Rock. Kumpuris has served as board chair since 1988.
Inge Reichenbach, vice president for development at Yale University, has announced she will retire at the end of the academic year. She led the highly successful Yale Tomorrow fundraising campaign which added $3.88 billion to the university’s endowment. She had led Yale’s fundraising efforts for the past six and a half years.
Carolyn Egan was appointed interim general counsel at Florida State University, effective January 1. She has been serving for the past four years as associate general counsel. Previously, she was a partner at a Fort Lauderdale-based law firm.
Mary Ann McCrackin was named university veterinarian and director of the Office of Animal Resources at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She was a member of the biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences faculty at the University of Montana.
Darinda Sharp is the new director of communications for the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas. She previously held communications positions for state government and local political organizations.
Halima Leak was named director of alumni relations and development at the School of Professional Studies of the City University of New York. She has previously held fundraising positions at Barnard College and New York University.
Leigh A. LaClair was appointed deputy chief facilities officer at Virginia Tech. Since 2010 she was the interim associate vice chancellor for facilities management services for the Virginia Community College System. Previously, she was director of facilities operations at John Tyler Community College in Richmond.
Donna Elam was named director of the Tampa Bay Educational Partnership, a cooperative effort between the Hillsborough County Public Schools and the University of South Florida. Dr. Elam is the associate director for program development and external affairs for the David C. Anchin Center at the University of South Florida’s College of Education.
Victoria F. Roche was elected to a six-year term on the board of directors of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. Dr. Roche is a professor of pharmacy sciences and senior associate dean in the School of Pharmacy and Health Professions at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.
Lynn Margulis, the Distinguished University Professor of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, died on November 22 at her home in Amherst. She was 73 years old.
Jennifer Hamer was named professor of American studies at the University of Kansas. She has been serving as associate dean of graduate studies and is the former chair of the department of African American studies at the University of Illinois. Prior to her appointment at the University of Illinois, Dr. Hamer taught at Wayne State University, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, and Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. She is the founding editor of Black Women, Gender, and Families.
Jemima Pierre is a new assistant professor of African American and diaspora studies at Vanderbilt University. Since 2005 she has been serving as an assistant professor of African and African diaspora studies at the University of Texas. She previously taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Joan Rentsch was appointed professor of communication studies and director of the organizational research laboratory at the School of Communication Studies of the University of Tennessee. She was a professor of management at the university’s College of Business Administration.
Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, one of the original Seven Sisters schools, decided to go co-educational in 1970. Since that time, the college has struggled to achieve a student body that is balanced between men and women.
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WIAReport surveyed the nation’s highest-ranking research universities to determine the percentage of women in this year’s entering classes. Of the 29 high-ranking universities that responded to our survey, women were a majority of the entering students at 14 schools while there were more men than women in the entering classes at 15 universities. However, the results showed a wide disparity.
Each year 32 Americans are named Rhodes Scholars. The scholarships provide funds for graduate study at Oxford University in Britain.
From time to time, 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 in no way reflect the views of the editorial board of WIAReport.
Susan G. Duffy was appointed executive director of the Center for Women’s Leadership at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She was an assistant professor in the School of Management at Simmons College in Boston, where she was named 2011 Professor of the Year.
Recently President Obama named nine academics as recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. Winners will receive their awards at a White House ceremony later this year. In addition, each winner receives a $25,000 grant from the National Science Foundation which can be used to aid their mentoring activities.
Two of the nine individuals honored are women. Both are professors at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.
Karen Panetta is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Tufts. She is a graduate of Boston University and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Northeastern University.
The Special Collections Library of the University of Kentucky has announced that the papers of author Harriette Simpson Arnow are now available for researchers. An exhibition of the collection will be on display at the library through February. Included in the collection are drafts of her published works, correspondence with family, publishers, and literary agents, mail from readers, photographs, and drafts of speeches.
The Institute of International Education reports that 270,604 students from the United States spent some portion of the 2009-10 academic year studying abroad. Of all students who went abroad, 63.5 percent were women.
University of Washington President Michael Young has selected Ana Mari Cause as provost of the university. Her selection must be approved by the university’s board of trustees. Currently, Dr. Cause is dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington. She has been on the faculty at the university since 1986. She began her teaching career at the University of Delaware.
Margaret A. Jablonski, vice president for student affairs at the University of New Haven since 2010, was named head of school at Miss Hall’s School in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She will take her post in July 2012.
In accepting the appointment, Dr. Jablonski said, “My calling is education. My passion is working with young women. Educating girls for leading purposeful lives and having an impact on the world around them and preparing girls for their rightful positions as leaders in society is important to me.”
Last spring, the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education announced that it was launching an investigation of Yale University’s response to allegations of sexual harassment on its campus. A group of 16 Yale students had claimed that members of a Yale fraternity marched through campus chanting derogatory slogans targeting women. The women claimed that Yale’s response was inadequate and, as a result, a sexually hostile environment existed on campus.
The U.S. Professors of the Year program salutes the most outstanding undergraduate instructors in the country, those who excel in teaching and positively influence the lives and careers of students. National awards are given out in four categories: baccalaureate colleges; community colleges; doctoral and research universities; and master’s universities and colleges. The Council for Advancement and Support of Education launched the awards program in 1981. That same year, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching began hosting the final round of judging, and in 1982, became the primary sponsor.
Ursula L. Shepherd, an associate professor of biology at the University of Mexico was honored in the doctoral and research universities category. She has taught at the University of New Mexico for 15 years. Previously, she worked for a software company in California but made a career change in the late 1980s.
Kathryn C. Wetzel is the Professor of the Year in the community colleges category. She is a professor of mathematics and engineering at Amarillo College in Texas. She also serves as chair of the department of mathematics, sciences, and engineering. She began teaching at the college in 1986 after working as nuclear engineer.
Jesmyn Ward, an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of South Alabama, won the National Book Award in the nonfiction category for her novel 
Author Edwidge Danticat was selected to receive the Langston Hughes Medal from the City College of New York. The award is given to African-American writers who entertain readers and inspire social change. She will receive the honor at the Langston Hughes Festival at CCNY on Friday November 18.
Sharon L. Davie, founder and director of the Women’s Center at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, received the 2011 Founders Award from the National Women’s Studies Association. The award is given to individuals who founded their institution’s center at least 20 years ago.
Nanette K. Wenger, professor of medicine in the division of cardiology at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, received the James B. Herrick Award, the highest honor given out by the council. She has conducted pioneering research on gender differences in coronary heart disease.
Laura Wexler, professor of medicine in the division of cardiovascular diseases at the University of Cincinnati, received the 2011 Women in Cardiology Mentoring Award from the council.
Judith Schiff, chief research archivist at Yale University, is the inaugural recipient of the Edward Bouchet Legacy Award given by the Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society. Bouchet was the first African-American graduate of Yale and the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. from an American university. Schiff was honored for her research on Bouchet.
Emily Putnam-Hornstein, assistant professor of social work at the University of Southern California, was selected to receive the 2012 Outstanding Social Work Doctoral Dissertation Award from the Society for Social Work and Research. Her dissertation was entitled, “Do Accidents Happen? An Examination of Injury Mortality Among Maltreated Children.” The award will be presented at the SSWR annual conference in Washington in January.
Susan E. Mickey, professor of theatre and dance at the University of Texas, won the 2011 Joseph Jefferson Award for costume design. The “Jeffs” recognize excellence in theatrical productions in the Chicago area. Professor Mickey was honored for costume design for the Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s production of The Madness of George III.
Aretha F. Marbley, an associate professor in the College of Education at Texas Tech University, received an award as the Outstanding Counselor Educator Advocate from the Texas Counselors for Social Justice.
Gail. F. Baker, dean of the College of Communication, Fine Arts, and Media at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, won an Emmy Award for writing for the television documentary DuSable to Obama: Chicago’s Black Metropolis. She shared the award with two other members of her writing team.
Bonnie Pitblado, associate professor of anthropology and director of the Museum of Anthropology at Utah State University was selected to receive the Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching from the American Anthropology Association and Oxford University Press.
Patricia Ann Polansky, librarian and director of the Center for Russia in Asia in the School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii, received the Medal of Pushkin from the government of Russia. The award is presented to individuals for achievements in the study and preservation of the cultural heritage of Russia or for their promotion of cultural exchange. Polansky is only the second American among the 650 individuals who have won the award.
Myrto Kalouptsidi was appointed assistant professor of economics, effective February 1. An expert in industrial organization, she is currently an associate research scholar at Princeton.
Christy Wampole is a new assistant professor of French and Italian literature at Princeton.
Frances E. Lund was named to the Charles H. McCauley Endowed Chair in Microbiology at the University of Alabama Birmingham. She will also chair the department of microbiology. Since 2008, Dr. Lund has been a professor in the department of microbiology and immunology at the University of Rochester.
Anne L. Alstott was appointed the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor of Taxation at Yale Law School. She was a member of the faculty at Yale Law from 1997 to 2008 and served twice as deputy dean. For the past three years she has been the Manley O. Hudson Professor at Harvard Law School. She is the author of 
Sandra Davidson was named dean of nursing at Carrington College in Phoenix. She was senior manager of faculty development for the Chamberlain College of Nursing. Both Carrington College and Chamberlain College are divisions of DeVry Inc.
June F. Johnson, chair of the department of clinical sciences at the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, was inducted as a fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy.
Amy R. Cecil was appointed registrar and director of institutional research at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was the associate registrar for the business school at Wake Forest University.
Jennifer O’Flannery Anderson was named vice president for community engagement at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and executive director of the FAU Foundation. She has been serving as president and CEO of United Way of Broward County, Florida.
Stephanie Spangler, deputy provost for health affairs at Yale University, has been asked to take on additional duties and oversee the Title IX program at the university. Dr. Spangler has been a deputy provost since 1995. She is also a clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at the Yale School of Medicine.
Katherine Sawyer is the new executive director of institutional advancement at Elgin Community College in Illinois. She will also be the leader of the ECC Foundation. Sawyer was the associate executive director of the Harper College Educational Foundation.
According to data released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice, 3.9 percent of students between the ages of 12 and 18 were victims of crimes while at school during the 2008-09 school year. The criminal victimization rate for male students was higher than the rate for women students. Some 4.6 percent of male students were victims of crime compared to 3.2 percent of women students.
