New Assignments for Seven Women Faculty Members

Leah Johnson is a new assistant professor in the department of statistics in the College of Science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She has been serving as an assistant professor of integrative biology at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Dr. Johnson is a graduate of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where she majored in physics. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics and physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Gillian Wilson, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Riverside, was named interim deputy director of the University of California Observatories. The observatories, a multi-campus organization, are headquartered at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Dr. Wilson has been on the faculty at the University of California, Riverside since 2007. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in the United Kingdom.

Anya Jabour has been selected to become the 11th Regents professor at the University of Montana. Professor Jabour has taught history at the university for more than two decades and was promoted to full professor in 2005.

Professor Jabour is a graduate of Oberlin College in Ohio. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in history from Rice University in Houston.

Amanda Godley, an associate professor of English education at the University of Pittsburgh, has been appointed co-editor of the journal English Teaching: Practice and Critique. Dr. Godley has been on the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh since 2002.

Dr. Godley is a graduate of the University of Chicago. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in language, literacy, and culture from the University of California, Berkeley.

Stacy-Ann January is a new assistant professor of psychology at the University of South Carolina. Her research focuses on academic and behavioral problems of school-age children.

Dr. January is a graduate of the University of Richmond. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Georgia.

Liana Valente, an assistant professor and coordinator of classical voice at Howard University in Washington, D.C., was named the 2016 National Federation of Music Clubs representative to the United Nations.

Dr. Valente is a graduate of the State University of New York at Fredonia. She holds a master’s degree in music from the University of Tennessee and a doctor of musical arts degree from the University of South Carolina.

Jacqueline Webb is the inaugural George and Barbara Young Chair in Biology at the University of Rhode Island. The endowed chair is the first in the College of the Environment and Life Sciences at the university.

Dr. Webb has been on the university’s faculty since 2006. She is a graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and holds a Ph.D. from Boston University.