Michelle Ephraim, a professor of English at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, has been awarded the 2023 Juniper Prize for Creative Nonfiction from the University of Massachusetts Press. Professor Ephraim was honored for her book GREEN WORLD: A Tragicomic Memoir of Love and Shakespeare. The book will be published in 2024.
Dr. Wang has been serving as executive vice president for research, innovation, and knowledge enterprise at Ohio State University. Earlier she was senior vice chancellor for research and economic development for the State University of New York System and interim president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute.
Taking on new duties relating to diversity are Alesia LeSane at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, Amanda Ybarra at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia, Washington, Nkenge Friday at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Jamila Jefferson-Jones at the University of Kansas School of Law.
The building on WPI’s campus currently known as the “Project Center†will be named the Laurie A. Leshin Global Project Center in honor of the university’s sixteenth president. Dr. Leshin is leaving WPI in May to become the first woman to serve as director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Taking on new duties are Terrah Akard at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Michelle Williams at the University of Connecticut, Gabrielle Allen at the University of Wyoming, Paula Fitzpatrick at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, and Kim Dupree Jones at the School of Nursing at Emory University in Atlanta.
Taking on new roles are Mary Sauceda at Texas Woman's University, Rachelle Hernandez at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Jonica Burke at Shawnee State University in Ohio, Lauren A. Turner at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, Joanne L. Smikle at Towson University in Maryland, Susan Schaurer at Wright State University in Ohio, and Andrea Kowlow at Virginia Tech.
Julie Kmec is the new chair of the department of sociology at Washington State University. Anita Mattson has been appointed interim head of the department of chemistry and biochemistry at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, and Andrea A. Hayes is the first woman to chair the department of surgery at the Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C.
Hui Cai was named chair of the department of architecture at the University of Kansas and Reeta Rao has been appointed interim head of the department of biology and biotechnology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Machelle Pardue is the new chair of biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University and Constance Vale is leading undergraduate architecture at Washington University in St. Louis.
The four women promoted to full professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute are Chrysanthe Demetry in mechanical engineering, Tanja Dominko in biology and biotechnology, Anita Mattson in chemistry and biochemistry, and Carolina Ruiz in computer science.
Debora Jackson was appointed dean of the Robert A. Foisie Business School at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. Beverly Henry was named interim dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences at Northern Illinois University. and Margaret Shadduck was appointed dean of the College of Applied and Technical Studies at Kent State University in Ohio.
Kate McIntyre, an assistant professor of creative writing at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, is the winner of the 2020 Flannery O'Connor Award. The award, named after famous short story writer and novelist Flannery O’Connor, was established by the University of Georgia Press in 1983.
