Archive for 2021
Kassie Silvas to Serve as Provost at North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene
Dr. Silvas will be handling the duties of two college vice presidents who are retiring after the first of the year. Under the arrangement. Dr. Silvas will take on the duties of vice president of student services and vice president for instruction until June 30. She is the former dean of career, technical and workforce education at the college.
In Memoriam: Kariamu Welsh, 1949-2021
After studying as a Fulbright scholar in Africa, Welsh joined the faculty at Temple University in 1985. She earned a doctorate in dance history at New York University and joined the dance faculty at Temple in 1999.
Online Articles of Interest to WIAReport Readers
Each week, Women in Academia Report will provide links to online articles that may be of interest to our readers. Here are this week’s selections.
Recent Books of Interest to Women Scholars
Women in Academia Report regularly publishes a list of new books that may be of interest to our readers. Here are the latest selections.
New Archive at MIT Sheds Light on the Evolving Role of the Omsbud Profession as it Related to Women
Molly Rowe served as special assistant to the president and ombudsperson for almost 42 years as a designated neutral party available to every member of the MIT community. Her collection, comprising 38 boxes of material, includes some of Rowe’s publications as well as records of several ombuds associations, which show the evolving nature of the profession and highlight workplace issues that emerged at specific times.
In Memoriam: Joanne H. Clarey, 1941-2021
Joanne Clarey, a novelist, counselor, and educator who taught at the University of Maine and the Univerity of Southern Maine, died on November 2 at her home in Jackson, New Hampshire. She was 80 years old. A native of York, Pennsylvania, Dr. Clarey grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English […]
Grants or Gifts Relating to Women in Higher Education
Here is this week’s news of grants and gifts that may be of particular interest to women in higher education.
Three Universities Announce the Appointment of Women to Dean Positions
Anisa M. Zvonkovic has been named dean of the University of Georgia College of Family and Consumer Sciences. Catherine Staub has been named as the next dean of the Drake University School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Carolyn C. Meltzer was appointed dean of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.
Harvard Professor Tiya Miles Wins National Book Award in the Nonfiction Category
Tiya Miles has won the National Book Award in the nonfiction category. Professor Miles was honored for her book All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, A Black Family Keepsake.
A Quartet of Women Scholars Who Will Be Taking on New Faculty Assignments
The four women scholars who have been hired to new positions are Erica Brown at Yeshiva University in New York, Lawanda Greene at Fort Valley State University in Georgia, Karen Harris at Arizona State University, and Cirecie West-Olatunji at Xavier University in New Orleans.
Betül Kaçar Honored by the International Society of the Study of the Origin of Life
Dr. Kaçar’s research program explores the origins of life, the biology of early Earth, and how understanding life’s emergence and early mechanisms may assist finding life beyond Earth. In addition, she directs a new NASA-funded multimillion-dollar astrobiology research consortium focusing on the evolution of element use in biology across geologic time.
Five Women Who Have Been Appointed to Administrative Posts in Higher Education
The five women in new administrative posts are Anna Rua at York College of the City University of New York, Kenya Faulkner at Emory University in Atlanta, Carren Moham at Hesston College in Hesston, Kansas, Kimberly Holmes-Iverson at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Lucretia Taylor at Wichita State University in Kansas.
Marjoleine Kars will Share the Frederick Douglass Book Prize from the Gilder Lehrman Center
Marjoleine Kars, an associate professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will share the Frederick Douglass Book Prize from the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition at Yale University. The prize is awarded each year to the “best book(s) written in English about slavery, abolition and their legacies across all borders and all time.”
Four Women Join the Faculty of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at MIT
The new women faculty at MIT are Sam Berstler in the department of linguistics and philosophy, Wiebke Denecke in the department of literature, Mariya Grinberg in the department of political science, and Sulafa Zidani in global civic media.
Lower Retention Rates for Men Are a Significant Contributing Factor to the Higher Education Gender Gap
New data from the Census Bureau shows that women were 55 percent of all students entering college in the fall of 2020. In October 2020, there were 1,058,000 men enrolled in the fourth year of higher education compared to 1,467,000 women. Thus women were 58 percent of all students in their fourth year of college.
Carole Goldsmith Appointed Chancellor of the State Center Community College District in Fresno, California
Dr. Goldsmith has been serving as the president of Fresno City College, the largest campus of the system. Earlier, Dr. Goldsmith served as president of West Hills College Coalinga for nearly four years. Prior to that, Dr. Goldsmith held the office of vice chancellor of educational services and workforce development at West Hills for four years.
Oregon State University Research Finds Water Births Are Just as Safe As Traditional Births
Water birth is offered in some hospitals in the U.S. but is much rarer here than in most developed countries around the world. Only 1.5 percent of people in the U.S. give birth outside of a hospital, and about half of these elect to have a water birth. The results showed that water births were associated with lower risks for several maternal outcomes, including 64 fewer hemorrhages per 10,000 births, and 28 fewer hospitalizations in the first six weeks.
Two Women Scholars Will Serve as Co-President of Sociologists for Women in Society
Mary Osirim, a professor of sociology at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, and Melanie Heath, an associate professor of social sciences at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, has been named co-president of Sociologists for Women in Society. Founded in 1971, the organization is a nonprofit professional feminist group dedicated to encouraging the development of sociological feminist theory and scholarship.
Rutgers University Study Finds That Postpartem Depression Can Have Lingering Effects for Up to 15 Years
Researchers looked at 4,362 U.S. women who delivered babies between 1998 and 2000 and were followed until 2017. They found that maternal depression during the first year had a strong and sustained association with economic hardship — such as meeting medical costs, experience of utility shut-offs, inability to pay bills, and food and housing insecurity — up to 15 years later.
Thema Bryant-Davis Has Been Named President-Elect of the American Psychological Association
Dr. Bryant Davis. professor of psychology and director of the Culture and Trauma Research Lab at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, is the youngest person to be elected president of the association.
In Memoriam: Frances McCall Rosenbluth, 1958-2021
Frances McCall Rosenbluth was Damon Wells Professor of Political Science at Yale University. She was the first woman to chair the political science department at the university.
Recent Books of Interest to Women Scholars
Women in Academia Report regularly publishes a list of new books that may be of interest to our readers. Here are the latest selections.
Online Articles of Interest to WIAReport Readers
Each week, Women in Academia Report will provide links to online articles that may be of interest to our readers. Here are this week’s selections.
In Memoriam: Zena Athene Stein, 1922-2021
Dr. Stein, professor emerita at the School of Public Health at Columbia University, and her late husband and longtime collaborator, Mervyn Susser, chair of epidemiology at Columbia from 1966 to 1978, were seminal figures in the establishment of the discipline of epidemiology.
Barnard College Looks to Expand Opportunities for Women in the Investment Industry
Bridgewater Associates, an asset management firm, has entered into a partnership with Barnard College, a highly selective liberal arts educational institution for women in New York City. The “New Pathways Powered by Bridgewater” initiative will provide financial support for young women pursuing academic study in economics, math, statistics, and computer science, with the goal of encouraging more women to enter the investment industry.
Three Universities Have Announced the Appointments of Women to Dean Positions
Kamala C. Kiem was appointed associate provost and dean of students at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Jennifer Sullivan was named dean of the Graduate School at Augusta University in Georgia and Tonya Edmond was appointed co-interim dean of the Brown School of social work at Washington University in St. Louis.
The First Woman to Win Sandia National Laboratories’ International Meshing Roundtable Fellow Award
Suzanne Shontz is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Kansas. Mesh generation — or meshing — is the mathematical and computational process of building items out of many shapes. It is used for simulation analysis and rendering models in the fields of engineering, medicine, and even fashion — leading to a better understanding of structures and processes.
Five Women Scholars Who Are Taking on New University Assignments
The five women scholars in new roles are Jennifer Lodge at Duke University in North Carolina, Tracey Conti at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Lindy Elkins-Tanton at Arizona State University, Angela Williams at the University of Arkansas, and Nicole Roberson at the University of Mississippi.
Yale Physicist Honored for Her Study of Fast Radio Bursts From Distant Galaxies
Yale physicist Laura Newburgh is participating on the research team of the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME). The research group is the winner of the 2022 Lancelot M. Berkeley – New York Community Trust Prize for Meritorious Work in Astronomy. The American Astronomical Society has presented the Berkeley Prize since 2011.
Six Women Who Have Been Selective to Serve in Higher Education Administrative Positions
Taking on new administrative duties are Nadine Wong at Duke University, Jamilyn Penn at Highline College in Des Moines, Washington, Stephanie Droker at the Peralta Community College District in Oakland, California, Liudmila Sergeevna Mainzer at the University of Wyoming, Leslie Rodriguez-McClellon at Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Melissa Yuen at the Syracuse University Museum of Art.
University of Pittsburgh’s Pamela Moalli Shares the $1 Million Magee Prize
Pamela Moalli is the director of urogynecology and pelvic reconstruction surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Magee-Womens Hospital and the Magee-Womens Research Institute. She and her research team were honored for their work to develop new biomaterials to repair tissue loss in women with compromised vaginal structure and function.
Four Women Scholars Who Have Been Appointed to Endowed Professorships
The four women who have been appointed to endowed chairs are Jennifer Klein at Yale University, Kjerstin Thorson at Michigan State University, Rosemary Nabaweesi at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, and Anne Rimoin at the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Four Universities Announce the Appointment of Women as Chief Diversity Officers
Taking on new duties relating to university diversity are Jody C. Randall at Texas Tech University Health Science Center, Andrea Cornett-Scott at Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, Virginia, Marsha McGriff at the Univerity of Florida, and Crystal McCormick Ware at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.
Gender Differences in Educational Attainment Vary by Sexual Orientation
A new study by a sociologist at the University of Notre Dame finds that roughly 52 percent of gay men in the U.S. have a bachelor’s degree, while the overall national number for all adults in the U.S. is 36 percent. Lesbian women also significantly surpass most other groups of American adults, but their degree attainment is significantly less than gay men. And for younger women, lesbians’ degree attainments trailed those of straight women.
Suzanne Keen Will Be the Next President of Scripps College in Claremont, California
Dr. Keen is a distinguished scholar and professor of English literature. Since 2018, she has served as vice president of academic affairs and dean of faculty at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. She is the former dean of the college at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, where she served as chair of the English department. She will become president of Scripps College on July 1, 2022.
