Archive for 2021
Study Finds a Sharp Rise in Marijuana Use Among Pregnant Women
A new study, co-led by researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University, has captured the magnitude and issues related to cannabis use disorders during pregnancy. The study found that the proportion of hospitalized pregnant patients identified with cannabis use disorder – defined as cannabis use with clinically significant impairment or distress – rose 150 percent from 2010 to 2018.
A Scholar of International Terrorism Will Be the First Woman President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York
Since 2016, Louise Richardson has been the vice chancellor of the University of Oxford in England. Earlier, she was the first woman to serve as principal and vice-chancellor of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Dr. Richardson served on the faculty at Harvard University for 20 years and was the executive dean of Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She will begin her leadership of the Carnegie Corporation in January 2023.
Survey Finds the Pandemic Changed Single People’s Attitudes About Relationships
A new survey by Singles in America identifies changing attitudes on what is important to unmarried men and women when they are seeking a partner. This year, for the first time ever in the survey’s history, there was a drop in singles’ preference for physical attractiveness. Only 78 percent of survey respondents said they wanted a partner who was physically attractive compared to 90 percent in the previous survey.
Former Law School Professor Named President and Director-Counsel of the Legal Defense Fund
Janai Nelson has served as associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund for the past eight years. Earlier, she spent nearly 10 years in academia as a full professor and high-level administrator and dean at St. John’s University School of Law in New York.
In Memoriam: Pamela Ann McCorduck, 1940-2021
Pamela McCorduck taught at the University of Pittsburgh and Columbia University and was the author or co-author of 11 books, many on the field of artificial intelligence.
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.
A New Home for the Institute of Women’s Leadership at Texas Woman’s University
The institute was originally created and funded by the Texas Legislature in 2015 as the Center for Women in Business. In 2017, the Legislature expanded the mission of the institute to include leadership training for women in the areas of business, public policy, public service, and scholarly research. The university recently opened a new headquarters for the center on campus.
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.
In Memoriam: Carol Elder Baumann, 1932-2021
After obtaining her Ph.D at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Dr. Baumann joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and served there for four years before joining the faculty at the Milwaukee campus. She taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for 35 years.
New Women Deans at Five Colleges and Universities
The new deans are Weiping Wu at Columbia University in New York City, Jennifer Faison Kelly at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, Lisa Macklin at Emory Univerity in Atlanta, Johannah Williams at Nashville State Community College in Tennessee, and Susan Murin at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine.
Rebecca Simmons Wins the Entomological Society of America’s Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching
An entomologist by training, Dr. Simmons has employed her insect expertise in teaching a range of biology courses at the University of North Dakota – including evolution – for the past 17 years. She has been a member of the Entomological Society of America for 25 years.
New Duties or Titles for Six Women Scholars in Higher Education
Taking on new roles are Sonya Alemán at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Jennifer Swann at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Asli Aslan at Georgia Southern University, Ruth Opara at Syracuse University in New York, Michelle Miley at Montana State University, and Renée Lynn Beard at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.
American Society of Landscape Architects Professional Award of Excellence in Research Won by Samantha Solano
Samantha Solano, an assistant professor of landscape architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was honored for her work on the Visualizing Equity in Landscape Architecture (VELA) Project, the first visual database to compare gender representation over time and location in the field of landscape architecture.
Colleges and Universities Announce the Appointment of Seven Women to Administrative Posts
Taking on new administrative duties are Erin Martinovich at Alfred University in New York, Penya M. Moses at Grambling State University in Louisiana, Robyn Fergus at Colorado State University, Terri Stewart at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, Cat Alves at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, Jennifer Bischoff at Vanderbilt University, and Courtney Chartier at Columbia University.
American Political Science Association Recognized Kennesaw State University’s Charity Butcher
Charity Butcher, a professor of political science at Kennesaw State University in Georgia has been recognized for her contributions to undergraduate and graduate teaching with the 2021 Distinguished Teaching Award from the American Political Science Association.
The University of Pennsylvania Names Three Women Scholars to Endowed Professorships
Emily Hannum, professor of sociology, has been appointed Stanley I. Sheerr Term Professor in the Social Sciences. Nancy J. Hirschmann, professor of political science, and Anthea Butler, professor of religious studies, have been appointed Geraldine R. Segal Professors in American Social Thought.
Three Women Who Have Been Appointed to Diversity Positions at Major Universities
Appointed to posts overseeing diversity programs are Tiffany Taylor Smith at the University of Dayton in Ohio, Jasmine Gurneau at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and Kiwana McClung at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette.
More Evidence of the Adverse Effects of the Pandemic on Women’s Scholarly Activity
In an examination of article submissions to more than 2,300 journals published by Elsevier, the authors found that while the number of manuscripts submitted to journals generally increased during the first wave of the pandemic compared to similar months in the two prior years, the number of manuscripts submitted by men was higher than those submitted by women.
Katherine Zatz Appointed Acting President of the American Public University System
The American Public University System, headquartered in Charlestown, West Virginia, offers more than 200 online degree and certificate programs through American Military University. The system has approximately 110,000 alumni worldwide. From 2017 to 2020, Dr. Zatz was the assistant dean of Petrocelli College at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.
University of Toronto Study Finds Significant Gender Bias in Referrals to Surgeons
The study of more than 40 million referrals to 5,660 surgeons from 1997 to 2016, found that male surgeons in Ontario made up 77.5 percent of all surgeons but received 79 percent of referrals from female physicians and 87 percent of referrals from male physicians. And no progress was indicated in the two decades of research data.
Amanda Stent to Lead New Artificial Intelligence Institute at Colby College in Maine
Before working in the private sector, Amanda Stent was a tenured associate professor of computer science at Stony Brook University in New York, where she created an interdisciplinary computational linguistics graduate program and designed and taught new graduate courses in speech processing, natural language processing, and information retrieval.
The Pandemic Restricted the Number of U.S. Students Studying Abroad, But the Gender Gap Remained Huge
Of the 162.333 American students who studied abroad in the 2019-2020 academic year, 67.4 percent were women. This is up slightly from the previous academic year and is the highest percentage of women among the study abroad pool in this century.
Diane Recinos Is the New Leader of Berkeley College With Campuses in New York and New Jersey
Dr. Recinos has been an administrator at the college for nearly three decades. When Dr. Recinos began her career at Berkeley College in 1992 she was the director of financial aid for the Woodbridge, New Jersey, campus. She later took on expanded roles in financial aid, technology. and analytics. Most recently, she has been serving as senior vice president for student success.
In Memoriam: Millie Louise Bown Russell, 1926-2021
Millie L.B. Russell, a former administrator and lecturer in biology at the University of Washington. She joined the staff at the university in 1974 and retired in 2007 at the age of 81.
Three Women Who Serve as College or University Presidents Have Announced Their Retirements
Janet Eisner, president of Emmanuel College since 1979, the nation’s longest-serving woman college president currently in office, is retiring in 2022. Christine Pharr, president of Mount Mary University in Milwaukee, and Faith C. Hensrud, president of Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College in Bemidji, Minnesota, also have announced they will step down next year.
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.
Indiana University Acquires the Collection of Madeline Kripke, the “Dame of Dictionaries”
Madeline Kripke, known as the “Dame of Dictionaries,” kept a stockpile in her New York City apartment of more than 20,000 linguistic books and ephemera that was often referred to as the world’s largest and finest dictionary collection. She died in April 2020 of complications from COVID-19.
In Memoriam: Teresa Ann Miller, 1962-2021
Teresa A. Miller was senior vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and chief diversity officer for the State University of New York. Earlier, Miller was a tenured professor of law at the University at Buffalo, specializing in immigration law, criminal procedure, and prisoner law.
Five Women Scholars Who Have Been Appointed to New Positions at Colleges and Universities
Taking on new roles are Joanne Solis-Walker at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, Judith Green McKenzie at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Sophie Esch at rice University in Houston, Andia Augustin-Billy at Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport, and Jennifer Keys at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
Two Women Professors Share the Pardes Humanitarian Prize in Mental Health
The Pardes Humanitarian Prize in Mental Health, which carries an honorarium of $150,000, is awarded annually the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation to recognize individuals whose contributions have made a profound and lasting impact in advancing the understanding of mental health and improving the lives of people who are living with mental illness.
Seven Women Who Are Taking on New Administrative Duties in Higher Education
The women in new administrative posts are Krupal Amin at the University of North Carolina at Chaple Hill, Danielle Sims Brooks at Wiley College in Texas, Katie Tyler at North Dakota State University, Camaron Loritts at Wake Forest University, Beth Kramer at Simmons University in Boston, Dominique Moye at California State University, Northridge, and Sarah Brown at Northwestern University.
University of Georgia Renames Its Institute of Higher Education for Louise McBee
Dr. McBee came to the University of Georgia in 1963 as the first dean of women and subsequently served as dean of students, assistant vice president for instruction, associate and senior associate vice president for academic affairs, and acting vice president for academic affairs. She retired fro the university in 1988 and three years later won a seat in the Georgia House of Representatives.
Four Women Scholars Who Have Been Appointed to Endowed Professorships in the School of Science at MIT
The four women named to endowed chairs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are Gloria Choi in brain and cognitive sciences, Arlene Fiore in Earth and planetary sciences, Danna Freedman in chemistry, and Seychelle M. Vos in biology.
