Salem College, a women’s liberal arts educational institution in North Carolina, received a $198,000 grant from the Reynolds American Foundation to support the Winston-Salem TEACH program, an inter-institutional partnership that aims to recruit and prepare aspiring educators to teach in high-need Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. The two-year grant will support partial stipend scholarships for participants who complete a master’s degree at one of the three partnering institutions: Salem College, Wake Forest University, and Winston-Salem State University.

A team of researchers at Iowa State University received grants from the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health to launch the BRAVA (Brain & Vascular Aging) study. The project will examine whether the menopause transition may quietly accelerate brain and blood-vessel aging, potentially helping explain why women face higher risks of stroke and Alzheimer’s disease later in life.

Professor Nara Milanich of Barnard College, a women’s liberal arts college in New York City, received a $75,000 grant from the Incite Institute at Columbia University to lead a new research project that aims to provide a better understanding how justice is implemented in the immigration court system. As part of the project, Barnard students will have the opportunity to sit inside immigration courtrooms and observe how justice is interpreted, negotiated, and enacted in court proceedings. Along with recording ethnographic data, the research team will develop training and educational materials to prepare students to enter local immigration courts as ethnographic observers.

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Three of the nine promotions to full professor went to women.

Light Carruyo was promoted to full professor of sociology and Latin American/Latinx studies. She has taught at Vassar for nearly a quarter century. Her research is related to the gendered and racialized dimensions of nation building and economic development. She examines themes of feminist ethnography, historical sociology, and pedagogy in higher education. Dr. Carruyo is a graduate of Oberlin College in Ohio. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Alison Spodek Keimowitz was named professor of chemistry. She joined the faculty in 2009 and has been chair of the chemistry department since 2020. Her research focuses on the behaviors of contaminants in the environment, particularly arsenic, manganese, and other redox-sensitive metals. Professor Keimowitz is a graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where she majored in chemistry. She holds a master’s degree in physical chemistry from Yale University and a Ph.D. in Earth and environmental sciences from Columbia University.

Silke von der Emde was appointed a full professor of German studies. A member of the faculty since 1994, her research is situated at the intersection of memory, disability, and feminist studies in contemporary German literature, film, and culture. She is the author of Entering History: Feminist Dialogues in Irmtraud Morgner’s Prose (Peter Lang International Publishing, 2004). Professor von der Emde is a graduate of Tübingen University in Germany. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Indiana University Bloomington.

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“It has been an immense honor for me to serve as the University of Findlay’s president and work alongside talented colleagues to serve our students,” said Dr. Fell “I am deeply grateful to our many alumni, friends, parents, and community members who believe in UF’s mission to prepare students for meaningful lives and productive careers.”

Dr. Fell arrived at the University of Findlay in 2010. Under her leadership, the university has added many new academic programs — particularly at the master’s and doctoral levels — and expanded the number of partnerships with local businesses and community organizations. Dr. Fell also oversaw several major donations, including gifts that created the Joseph and Judith Conda STEAM Education Center, the Dick Strahm Champions Field, and the Watterson Center for Ethical Leadership.

Before assuming her presidency, Dr. Fell spent more than two decades at Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana, where she taught in the department of English and ultimately served as vice president of advancement. She holds three degrees in English: a bachelor’s degree from Southern Arkansas University, a master’s degree from Louisiana Tech University, and a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University.

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Born in Dillon County, South Carolina, Dr. Shealy earned her Ph.D. in psychometrics and general experimental psychology from the University of North Carolina. In 1959, she joined the faculty at Queens College (now Queens University of Charlotte), where she would remain for more than three decades. In 1974, she was named the Dana Endowed Chair of Psychology.

Throughout her long tenure at then-Queens College, Dr. Shealy served in several leadership roles. She was chair of the psychology department for 28 years. After that role, she went on to serve as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and acting vice president of academic affairs. Upon her retirement in 1992, Dr. Shealy was conferred the title of professor emerita.

Queens University of Charlotte currently offers the Dr. Joyce H. and George A. Shealy Endowed Scholarship to undergraduate students in art and psychology.

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Pardis Dabashi 

Dr. Dabashi holds a bachelor’s degree in English and comparative literature from Columbia University in New York City and a Ph.D. in English from Boston University.

Haley Duschinski is the senior advisor for global affairs at Ohio University, where she has taught for more than two decades. In addition to her new role, Dr. Duschinski, a professor of anthropology, will continue to serve as director of the Center for the International Studies and director of the School of International Studies and Languages. Her scholarship centers on legal and political anthropology.

Dr. Duschinski is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she majored in anthropology. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard University.

Rachel Roberts was named the inaugural associate dean of strategy and operations for the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Dr. Roberts comes to her new role from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she served as an associate professor of music leadership, the Hamlin Family Director of the Institute for Music Leadership in Honor of James Doser, and director of the school’s strategic initiatives. Earlier, she was the founding director of the entrepreneurial musicianship department at New England Conservatory.

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Dr. Roberts earned her master’s degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and her doctorate in higher education leadership from the University of Rochester.

Cynthia Carnes was appointed vice president for research and innovation at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Carnes has spent the past three decades on the faculty at Ohio State University. A professor of pharmaceutics and pharmacology, she most recently served as senior associate vice president for research operations at Ohio State’s Enterprise for Research, Innovation, and Knowledge. Her research spans pharmacology, medicine, and veterinary science.

Dr. Carnes is a graduate of the University of Texas, where she majored in pharmacy. She earned her doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of Utah and her Ph.D. in pharmacy and veterinary clinical sciences from Ohio State University.

Liz Legerski is the new director of faculty development at the University of North Dakota. A member of the faculty since 2010, Dr. Legerski was recently promoted to full professor of sociology. She currently serves as graduate director for the department of sociology. Her academic interests include gender, inequality, family, social policy, sexual harassment, and interpersonal violence.

Dr. Legerski received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Kansas.

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In this role, Braswell will provide strategic leadership, operational stability, and effective governance for Connecticut’s public higher education system, which encompasses 16 campuses and 17 million square feet of facilities statewide. She will serve as interim chancellor for one year while the system searches for its next permanent leader.

Braswell comes to her new appointment with extensive leadership experience in state government. For the past three years, she has served as general counsel to Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont. Before her current role, she served as Connecticut’s state comptroller. Braswell has also served as chief of planning, legal, and regulatory affairs at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Within academia, Braswell has experience teaching legal practice as an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut.

“Our colleges and universities are essential engines of opportunity, workforce development, economic growth, and social mobility for students and families across our state. This is a moment that calls for steady leadership, accountability, and a clear focus on moving forward,” said Braswell. “Over the next year, my focus will be on strengthening trust across the system, ensuring transparency and accountability, and keeping our attention where it belongs: on creating opportunity and success for our students.”

Braswell earned her bachelor’s degree in political science, her master of public administration degree, and her juris doctorate, all from the University of Connecticut.

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Nina Pavcnik 

Dr. Pavcnik is a graduate of Yale University, where she majored in economics. She earned a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University.

Janet Simon is interim dean of the College of Health Sciences and Professions at Ohio University. A faculty member since 2016, Dr. Simon has served as the college’s associate dean for research for the past two years. She is also a principal investigator for the Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute. Her research has led to dozens of articles published in various sports medicine and orthopedic journals.

Dr. Simon is a graduate of Southern Connecticut State University, where she majored in athletic training. She holds a master’s degree in athletic training from Ohio University and both a master’s degree in applied statistics and a Ph.D. in biostatistics from Indiana University.

Magdalena Toda was appointed dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences at Missouri State University. Dr. Toda comes to her new role from Texas Tech University, where she has been a professor in the department of mathematics and statistics for the past 25 years. In addition to her work at Texas Tech, she has served as a program director in applied mathematics for the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Toda received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from the University of Bucharest in Romania, master’s and doctoral degrees in mathematics from the University of Kansas, and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University Politehnica of Bucharest. She also holds a masters’ degree in health and wellness from the American College of Healthcare Sciences.

Rena Hallam was promoted from interim dean to permanent dean of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Delaware. Dr. Hallan, a professor of human development and family sciences and director of the Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood, has been a faculty member at the university since 2010. Her scholarship focuses on strategies for supporting the early childhood workforce and improving the quality of early care and education environments.

A graduate of Transylvania University in Kentucky, Dr. Hallam holds a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Ph.D. in family studies from the University of Delaware.

Ramona Ann Parker is the new dean of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Texas Permian Basin in Odessa. Most recently, Dr. Parker served as associate vice president and executive dean for the College of Health Sciences at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas. In addition to her background in education, she has extensive clinical experience in neonatal, pediatric, maternal-child, and intensive care settings.

Dr. Parker is a graduate of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing. She holds a master’s degree in nursing from the University of the Incarnate World in San Antonio, a master’s degree in education from the University of Illinois, and a Ph.D. in nursing from the University of Texas at Austin.

Koren Bakkegard has been named vice president for student development and dean of students at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Bakkegard comes to her new appointment from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where she has served as associate vice president for campus life and dean of students since 2019. Before Brown, she spent 15 years in various senior leadership roles at Stanford University in California.

Bakkegard earned her bachelor’s degree in literature and language from the University of North Carolina at Asheville and her master’s degree in English from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Dakota.

Elisabeth Ploran was named the inaugural dean of the College of Health Professions at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. Most recently, Dr. Ploran served as a professor and associate dean for student success and belonging in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Earlier in her tenure at Hofstra, she was chair of the department of psychology.

Dr. Ploran earned dual-bachelor’s degrees in psychology and political science from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. She holds a doctorate in psychology with a concentration in cognitive neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh. Professor Ploran completed postdoctoral research in human factors and applied cognition at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

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“Professor Joanna Grossman and Professor Kimberly Mutcherson exemplify so many of the outstanding qualities that Professor Deborah Rhode possessed and pushed for within the legal profession,” said Angela I. Onwuachi-Willig, chair of the award selection committee and Dean and Ryan Roth Gallo Professor of Law at Boston University School of Law. “They are not only clever and creative, but also courageous and caring. The committee was particularly impressed by Grossman’s and Mutcherson’s excellent critical scholarship; their trailblazing in the legal academy; their influence as public intellectuals; and their important role as advocates and lawyers, as leaders who are putting their ideas into practice and having a real impact on the lives of others.”

Joanna Grossman is the inaugural Ellen K. Solender Endowed Chair in Women and the Law and the Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor at the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. Professor Grossman writes extensively on sex discrimination and workplace equality, with a particular focus on issues such as sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination. She is also an expert in family law, especially parentage law and the state regulation of marriage. Professor Grossman is the author of several books, including Nine to Five: How Gender, Sex, and Sexuality Continue to Define the American Workplace (Cambridge University Press, 2016). A graduate of Amherst College in Massachusetts, Professor Grossman earned her juris doctorate from Stanford Law School in California.

“I am so honored to receive an award in the name of my professor, co-author, and friend Deborah Rhode,” said Professor Grossman. “Much of my life has been animated by her commitment to unearthing the complicated forces that create and maintain gender inequity as well as her devotion to expanding access to the civil justice system. There is no award I would be prouder to receive.”

Kimberly Mutcherson is a professor of law and former co-dean at Rutgers Law School. She was the first woman and the first Black person to be named dean at Rutgers Law. As a scholar of reproductive justice, Professor Mutcherson focuses her work on assisted reproduction and abortion among other topics. Throughout her career, she has held prestigious visiting scholar appointments at the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center at New York University Law School, the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia Law School, and the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Mutcherson’s edited volume Feminist Judgements: Reproductive Justice Rewritten was published by Cambridge University Press in 2020. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her juris doctorate from Columbia Law School.

“I am thrilled to receive this prestigious award named for a legend in the legal academy, and I am equally honored to be in the company of the impressive list of past recipients whose work and careers I have long admired,” said Professor Mutcherson.

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Jennifer Soyka 

Soyka earned a bachelor’s degree in history and a juris doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Amanda Voigt was named director for student academic success at the University of North Dakota. Voigt has been serving as assistant director of the university’s Center for Innovation. Her background includes over 15 years of experience in student success, academic support, and higher education leadership.

Voigt holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master of public administration degree, both from the University of North Dakota.

Anne Marie Schettini-Lynch has been appointed vice president for financial affairs and treasurer at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. Schettini-Lynch comes to her new role from the Child Mind Institute, where she most recently served as chief financial officer. Her experience in academia includes prior service as senior vice president for finance and administration at Iona University in New Rochelle, New York, and assistant vice president and associate treasurer at St. John’s University in Queens, New York.

Schettini-Lynch received her bachelor’s degree in accounting and information systems from Queens College and her MBA in finance from St. John’s University.

Dawn Osborne-Adams was named the inaugural university ombudsperson at Yale University. Since 2018, Osborne-Adams has served as university ombuds at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Earlier in her career, she led the ombuds office at Binghamton University in New York. Osborne-Adams has also held roles in the federal judiciary and has prior experience teaching as an adjunct faculty member.

Osborne-Adams is a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Tracy Foster has been appointed executive vice chancellor for the Texas A&M University System. Foster’s career with Texas A&M began in 2005 as a senior financial analyst. She served in this capacity for 15 years before assuming her most recent position as deputy agency director and chief administrative officer for Texas A&M University Engineering Extension Service.

Foster is a graduate of the Texas A&M University Mays School of Business, where she majpred in accounting.

Precious McKenzie was named associate dean of City College at Montana State University Billings. City College is one of five colleges at MSU Billings and offers two-year and workforce development programs. As associate dean, Dr. McKenzie will provide strategic leadership for academic programs, faculty development, and institutional effectiveness.

Dr. McKenzie received her bachelor’s degree in special education from the University of Florida, where she later returned to complete her Ph.D. in British literature. She also holds a master’s degree in English from the University of North Carolina and a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from Spalding University in Kentucky.

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Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic, was honored for her pioneering work in human tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Her contributions in developing “organs-on-a-chip” and biological substitutes to repair, maintain, or improve tissue have been instrumental in recapitulating organ physiology.

At Columbia, Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic’s Laboratory for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering is a home to the national Tissue Engineering Resource Center funded by the National Institutes of Health. Her lab is also part of CELL-MET, the multi-institutional National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center in Cellular Metamaterials. In addition to her lab, Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic directs Columbia’s Center for Dental and Craniofacial Research.

Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from Belgrade University in Serbia.

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