Kathryn Rogalski has been named the twelfth president of Grand Rapids Community College in Michigan.
First established in 1914 as Michigan’s first community college, Grand Rapids Community College enrolls over 12,000 students, 55 percent of whom are women, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education.
Dr. Rogalski comes to her new role from Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, where she has been serving as vice president of academic affairs and workforce development. With over 25 years of experience in higher education, she previously served in senior academic leadership roles at William Rainey Harper College and the College of Lake County, both located in Illinois. Throughout her career, Dr. Rogalski has also taught as an adjunct faculty member in psychology.
A graduate of Northeastern Illinois University, Dr. Rogalski holds a master’s degree from the University of Chicago and a doctorate in adult and higher education from Northern Illinois University.
Ashley Kistler has been appointed provost and chief academic officer at the College of Wooster in Ohio. She will begin her new role on July 1.
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.
Katherine Ho, the John L. Weinberg Professor of Economics and Business Policy at Princeton University, passed away on December 8. She was 53 years old.
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.
Mansi Kasliwal has been named director of the Palomar Observatory at the California Institute of Technology. She will be the first woman to lead the observatory in its 77-year history. A Caltech faculty member since 2014, Dr. Kasliwal currently teaches as a full professor of astronomy. Her research focuses on supernovae and other cosmic “fireworks” that light up the sky.
Haley Oliver has been promoted to senior vice provost for academic and student success at Purdue University. A Purdue faculty member since 2010, she currently teaches as the 150th Anniversary Professor of food science. Dr. Oliver has held several leadership roles throughout her tenure, including vice provost for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars and interim vice provost for teaching and learning.
Jan Eberth is the new head of the department of population health sciences at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, Virginia. She comes to her new role from Drexel University in Philadelphia, where she was a professor and chair of health management and policy. Earlier, she spent nearly a decade on the faculty at the University of South Carolina and served as director of the Rural Health Research Center in Columbia, South Carolina.
Aunpama Pasricha has been named the inaugural President’s Senior Fellow for Leadership Integration at St. Catherine University in Minnesota. In this new role, Dr. Pasricha will lead several university-wide initiatives related to leadership development. Currently, Dr. Pasricha serves as dean of the university’s School of Business, where she has taught for the past two decades. Earlier in her tenure, she was chair of the fashion design and merchandising department.
Justene Hill Edwards, associate professor of history at the University of Virginia, has won the 2025 Frederick Douglass Book Prize from the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University.
In an statement announcing the award, James G. Basker, president of the Gilder Lerhman Institute of American History, stated, “Rigorously researched and beautifully written, [Savings and Trust] tells a little remembered but deeply tragic story about a financial disaster that set Black people back for generations and compounded the wealth gap that still haunts our country today. It is a must-read for everyone who cares about economic history and racial equality.”
Jeannie Leavitt was recently named dean of the College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s campus in Prescott, Arizona. She comes to her new role following a 31-year career with the U.S. Air Force, where she was the service’s first woman fighter pilot and the first woman to command an Air Force combat fighter wing. Most recently, she was chief of safety for the Air Force and Space Force.
Cheree Daniels has been named interim dean of the College of Transdisciplinary Studies at Texas Southern University. Prior to her new appointment, Dr. Daniels was executive director of the university’s Center for Online Learning and Instructional Technology. She also currently serves as the campus lead for the Gates Foundation Complete College Accelerator program, as well as the AAC&U Institute on AI Pedagogy and Curriculum team.
Britt Hudson has been appointed dean of students at Purdue University Northwest in Hammond, Indiana. She first joined the university in 2019 and most recently served as interim dean of students and assistant dean of students. Before joining the Purdue University Northwest community, Hudson held several leadership roles in residence life at the University of Northern Iowa.
Poonam Arora has been named dean of the Undergraduate School at Babson College in Massachusetts.. She currently serves as a professor of management and the associate dean of faculty affairs and strategic initiatives at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. Earier in her career, she was the Capalbo Professor of Business Administration and chair of the department of management and marketing at Manhattan College.
Martha Dudek, founding program director of the master’s degree program in genetic counseling at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, has received the Strategic Leader Award from the National Society of Genetic Counselors. The honor recognizes a genetic counselor whose leadership has advanced the field of genetic counseling through education, research, and public policy.
Lisa Clough was recently named vice chancellor for research at North Carolina A&T State University. She has worked for the National Science Foundation for over a decade, currently serving as acting director of the Ocean Sciences Division. Earlier in her career, Dr. Clough was a biology professor and associate vice chancellor for research at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.
Stephanie Monastra Wilder has been appointed director of campus and community events at Walsh University in North Canton, Ohio. Most recently, she was director of the conference center at Kent State University at Stark in Ohio. Before joining the Kent State staff, she spent 13 years at Diebold, Inc., serving in various event management leadership roles.
Christie Torruella Smith has been named vice president for enrollment management at Alfred University in New York. She has nearly two decades of experience in higher education admissions and student services. Most recently, Smith was associate vice president for university admissions and enrollment at Nazareth University in Rochester, New York.
Heather Woods is the new chief information officer at Smith College, a women’s liberal arts educational institution in Northampton, Massachusetts. She comes to her new role from the New England Conservatory of Music, where she was the inaugural chief information officer. Earlier in her career, she was associate chief information officer at Wellesley College, another Massachusetts-based women’s liberal arts college.
Dana Bodine is the inaugural chief marketing officer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. With over two decades of experience in marketing and communications, she most recently served as vice president of Trustpilot, a global technology company. She previously held various marketing roles with Pagaya, Mastercard, Apple, Time Inc., NBC, and The New York Times. 
Following eight months of interim service, Laura Fultz has been named the permanent chief digital information officer for Emory Healthcare, the healthcare system affiliated with Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Fultz first joined Emory Healthcare in 2007 as an application solution analyst. Prior to her interim appointment, she was associate chief information officer and vice president of applications and digital experience.
Tamara Moore is the Crowley Family Professor of Engineering Education at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. A faculty member since 2013, Dr. Moore studies how engineering and engineering thinking promote learning in K-12 mathematics and science classrooms, as well as higher education settings. She currently serves as executive co-director of the Purdue’s INSPIRE Research Institute for Pre-College Engineering and director of the SCALE K-12 program.
Aimee Johnson has been named the John Watts Roberts ’39 and Jane Martin Roberts ’39 Professor at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. The professorship is awarded to faculty members whose teaching and scholarship foster innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration between engineering and non-engineering disciplines. Dr. Johnson, a full professor of mathematics, focuses her research on dynamical systems, a field that examines how complex systems evolve over time. At Swarthmore, Dr. Johnson previously chaired both the mathematics and statistics department and the division of natural sciences.
Rhonda Epper has been named the seventeenth president of Colorado State University Pueblo. She will begin her new role on March 23, 2026.
Carolyn Noll Sorg has been named the twenty-seventh president of John Carroll University in Ohio. Upon assuming her presidency on June 1, 2026, she is slated to become the university’s first woman president in its 139-year history.
Debbie Tahmassebi has been appointed provost of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is slated to begin her new duties on March 1, 2026.
North Carolina A&T State University was awarded a $2.5 million grant from Action for Women’s Health, a philanthropic initiative founded by Melinda Gates that aims to improve the mental and physical well-being of women from all backgrounds. The new funding will support the university’s human lactation certificate program, which prepares students to become International Board Certified Lactation Consultants. The program – one of only 11 accredited certificates of its kind in the world – also operates a no-cost Community Lactation Clinic that provides breastfeeding resources to pregnant and postpartum women.
St. Catherine University, a women’s undergraduate and co-ed graduate institution in Minnesota, recently received two grants totaling over $200,000 from the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. The first award will fund programs at St. Kate’s that support the college attendance of historically underserved students and bridge the gap between high school and postsecondary education. The second grant will provide emergency aid for students facing unexpected financial crises, ensuring they have the needed resources to complete their education.
Rebecca Seguin-Fowler, professor of nutrition at Texas A&M University, has received a $2.1 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to improve the cardiovascular health of women in rural Texas through evidence-based nutrition, physical activity, and community engagement strategies. Through the grant, a sample of women participants will learn about the cardiovascular benefits of physical activity and nutrition, as well as the social and environmental factors that influence heart health.
Spelman College, a historically Black liberal arts educational institution for women in Atlanta, Georgia, has topped Newsweek’s inaugural “America’s Best Colleges for Women” 
Ellen Kay Trimberger, professor emerita of sociology at Sonoma State University in California, passed away on October 23. She was 85 years old.
The Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center are leading a $25 million initiative to advance maternal healthcare in North Texas – a region that ranks among the highest in the country for maternal morbidity.
Lucinda Lavelli, dean emerita of the College of the Arts at the University of Florida, passed away on November 24. She was 75 years old.
Christina V. Tran has been named executive associate dean of the forthcoming College of Veterinary Medicine at Roseman University of Health Sciences in Nevada. With over 20 years of experience in veterinary practice, education, and leadership, Dr. Tran has held various positions at Portland Community College in Oregon, Purdue University in Indiana, and the University of Arizona. Most recently, she was the founding dean of the veterinary school at Hanover College in Indiana.
Amanda Boyd is the new executive director of Native American programs at Washington State University, where she teaches as a professor in the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine and is an affiliated faculty member in the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. She also serves as co-director of the university’s Institute for Research and Education to Advance Community Health, an initiative focused on health care equity for Indigenous and rural populations.
Angela Lewellyn has been appointed assistant provost for academic excellence and integrity at Elon University in North Carolina. Since joining the Elon faculty in 1999, she has served in a series of key leadership roles, including coordinator of the women’s and gender studies program and chair of the department of sociology and anthropology. Currently, she is an associate professor of social justice and senior associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Kristi Lewis is the new director of the bachelor’s degree program in public health at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, Virginia. Before her new role, she spent over two decades teaching epidemiology and health statistics in the department of health sciences at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. During her tenure there, she served as program director for the health studies concentration for seven years.
The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association recently announced the recipients of the 2025 Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Award. Considered the organization’s highest honor, the award recognizes the outstanding achievements, commitment, and leadership of lawyers who have paved the way for the advancement of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander attorneys. Among this year’s seven recipients are two women affiliated with law schools in the United States.
Rose Cuison-Villazor is a professor of law, the Chancellor’s Social Justice Scholar, and director of the Center for Immigrant Justice at Rutgers University Law School in New Jersey. She first joined the Rutgers faculty in 2018 and has since had stints as vice dean and interim co-dean. As a scholar, Professor Cuison-Villazor examines the extent to which laws, policies, and norms include and exclude individuals and groups from membership. She has authored several books, including the forthcoming monograph, Forbidden Love: Race, Citizenship, and the American Family (New York University Press).
Lily Yan Hughes is the assistant dean of the College of Law at Syracuse University in New York. In this role, she oversees strategy and operations for the law school’s admissions and financial aid office, marketing and communications, career services, and study abroad opportunities. Alongside her academic work, Hughes is chair of DirectWomen, a nonprofit focused on increasing opportunities for women legal leaders to serve on corporate boards. Before coming to Syracuse in 2021, Hughes practiced law for several decades, including as senior vice president, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary of both Arrow Electronics and Public Storage.
Rhonda Richards is the new dean of the John Massey School of Business at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. She has led the school on an interim basis since July. A faculty member for the past 16 years, she also serves as chair of the accounting and finance department and holds the John Massey Endowed Chair of Accounting. Earlier in her career, she was dean of the College of Graduate and Professional Studies at Oklahoma Baptist University.
Lettie Watford has been named interim dean of the College of Education at Georgia Southwestern State University. A professor emerita at the university, she previously led the College of Education from 2007 to 2013 before retiring. Since then, she has served as a part-time instructor in mathematics and taught dual enrollment courses at two local high schools.
Aisha Moultry has been named interim dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (COPHS) at Texas Southern University in Houston. A full professor of pharmacy practice and administration, Dr. Moultry has served as interim dean and executive director of the university’s College of Transdisciplinary Studies for the past three years. In this role, she oversaw the launch of 12 degree programs designed for nontraditional learners and expanded student enrollment.
Kathryn Dudley, professor of anthropology and American studies at Yale University, has received the Conrad M. Arensberg Award from the Society for the Anthropology of Work. Presented biennially, the lifetime achievement award recognizes scholars who have made outstanding contributions to the anthropological study of work.
Lexie Vernon has been named executive director of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. With extensive experience in collegiate athletics, she most recently served as interim commissioner of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Before that, she spent over a decade at Knox College in Illinois, ultimately serving as senior woman administrator and associate director of athletics.
Joi Gabrielle Artis is the new campus minister and chaplain at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina. For the past 14 years, she has taught kindergarten through third grade in several districts throughout South Carolina. In addition to her work in education, she has held numerous leadership roles within the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Currently, she is the pastor of St. James AME Church in Pinewood, South Carolina.
Shannon Trapp has been named associate vice chancellor for administration and strategic operations at North Carolina A&T State University. Her appointment marks a return to the university, where she served as assistant chief of staff from 2017 to 2021. More recently, Trapp was director of community partnerships and engagement for the Durham County Government in North Carolina.
April Thomas was recently named director of the Undergraduate Research Office at South Carolina State University. Thomas comes to her new role after nearly 15 years with the James E. Clyburn Scholarship and Research Foundation. Most recently, she was the foundation’s director of operations and community development. Thomas has also conducted research on educational equity, digital access, and the needs of historically marginalized communities.
Laura Picariello was promoted from interim director to permanent director of the Texas Sea Grant College Program at Texas A&M University. She has been affiliated with the program since 2018, serving in leadership roles relating to fisheries research, sustainable aquaculture and extension, and partnerships with industry and coastal communities. Her current efforts center on coastal containments, flood planning, and innovative oyster mariculture partnerships.
Julia Ferrante was promoted from interim vice president to permanent vice president for communications and marketing at Middlebury College in Vermont. She joined the liberal arts college in 2020 as the inaugural associate vice president for public affairs. Previously, she was director of news and media relations at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. Earlier, she held various roles with Bucknell University and Franklin & Marshall College, both located in Pennsylvania.
Donna Selman, professor and chair of the department of criminal justice studies at Illinois State University, is the 2025 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Criminology and the Division on Critical Criminology and Social Justice. Considered the highest honor in the discipline, the award recognizes Dr. Selman’s research contributions and longstanding service to the field of critical criminology.
The University of Texas at San Antonio recently announced the newest recipients of the Ricardo Romo PhD Endowed Professorships.
Whitney Chappell is a professor in the department of modern languages and literatures. A faculty member since 2013, she studies linguistic variation across regions, groups, and individuals. Through her research, she aims to understand how different social groups use language to negotiate their identities and stances, particularly among Spanish-speaking communities. Dr. Chappell is a graduate of the University of Illinois, where she double-majored in Spanish and English. She earned her master’s degree in English linguistics from Northern Illinois University and her Ph.D. in Spanish linguistics from Ohio State University.
Rosalind Horowitz is a professor in the department of interdisciplinary learning and teaching with a joint appointment in the department of educational psychology. A scholar of literacy, language development, and communication, Dr. Horowitz has served on the UTSA faculty for 45 years. Her research interests include the influence of oral and written communication on the survival of cultures and communities, how reading and writing influence individual critical thinking and identity, and the achievement gap in reading and writing. Dr. Horowitz received her bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and Ph.D. all from the University of Minnesota.
Following six months of service as interim president, Laura Carlson has been officially named the twenty-ninth president of the University of Delaware. Her presidency will begin on January 1.
The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation has announced the selection of eight new Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholars for 2025. The award honors young faculty in the chemical sciences who have created an outstanding independent body of scholarship and are deeply committed to education with undergraduates. Each Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar receives an unrestricted research grant of $75,000.
Jeanine Amacher is an associate professor pf chemistry at Western Washington University in Bellingham. Her research focuses on peptide-binding domains and how only a small number of amino acids are recognized in a given interaction. Dr. Amacher is a graduate of the University of Oregon, where she majored in physics. She holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
Shuming Chen is an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Oberlin College in Ohio. Her teaching and research concentrate on organic synthesis; rearranging the way atoms are connected to each other. Dr. Chen is a graduate of Grinnell College in Iowa, where she majored in chemistry. She earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Yale University.
Melissa Gordon is an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Her research is focused on polymer design and synthesis. Dr. Gordon is an alumna of Lafayette College, where she majored in chemical engineering. She earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of Delaware.
Geneva Laurita is an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Her research interests focus on understanding the structure-property relationships of inorganic solid-state materials, particularly those of relevance to energy and electronics-related technology. Dr. Laurita is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, where she majored in chemistry. She earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Oregon State University.
Julie Pollock is an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Richmond in Virginia. Her research focuses primarily on using chemical biology approaches to understand disease development and progression. Dr. Pollock is a graduate of Hope College in Holland, Michigan, where she majored in chemistry. She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
Kathryn Riley is an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. Her research interests include nanomaterial surface properties and interactions with biomolecules. Dr. Riley is a 2010 alumna of Swarthmore College, where she majored in chemistry, mathematics, and education. She earned a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Airea “Dee” Matthews has been appointed provost of Bryn Mawr College, a women’s liberal arts institution in Pennsylvania. She will serve in the role for a three-and-a-half-year term beginning January 1.
Robin Zape-tah-hol-ah Starr Minthorn, professor and chair of the department of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Oklahoma Jeannie Rainbolt College of Education, has assumed the presidency of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), making her the first Indigenous person to lead the professional organization.