Nine Women Faculty Members in New Roles or Taking on New Duties

Jennifer Manuel was appointed associate dean of research at the School of Social Work at the University of Connecticut. She was an associate professor at the Silver School of Social Work at New York University. Her research addresses service access, engagement, and transitions among individuals with substance use, mental health, and other critical needs.

Dr. Manuel holds a bachelor’s degree in social work from Texas Christian University. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in social work practice at Columbia University.

Kimberley McKinson is a new assistant professor of anthropology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. She is a cultural anthropologist teaching undergraduate and graduate courses on the cultures and politics of the Caribbean, race and ethnicity, urban ethnography, and infrastructure. She was an assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

A native of Kingston, Jamaica, Dr. McKinson received a bachelor’s degree in cultural and social anthropology with a minor in Spanish from Stanford University and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California, Irvine.

Laurie Sharp, who was an associate professor of education at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, was appointed associate provost for academic programs and assessment at Utah Valley University.

Dr. Sharp holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in elementary education from the University of Central Florida, and a doctorate in educational leadership from Tarleton State University.

Eljenette West is a new assistant professor in the bachelor’s degree program in nursing at the Mississippi University for Women. She was an instructor in nursing at East Mississippi Community College in Scooba.

Dr. West earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Charleston Southern University in South Carolina. She holds a master’s degree in nursing and a doctorate in nursing practice degree from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.

Nancy Manley is the new director of the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. She has served for 20 years as Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Georgia, where she also served as head of the department of genetics.

Dr. Manley is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. She holds a Ph.D. in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Chelsea Mikael Frazier is a new assistant professor of English literature at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Her research interests include Black feminist literature and theory, visual culture, ecocriticism, African art and literature, political theory, science and technology studies, and Afrofuturism.

Dr. Frazier is a graduate of Barnard College in New York City, where she majored in gender and sexuality studies. She holds a master’s degree in American studies from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in African American studies from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Brittany A. Holloman was appointed deputy athletic director and director of the Dr. Herman Long Scholar Athlete Program at Talladega College in Alabama. She will also serve as an assistant professor of education in the Eunice Walker Johnson Division of Social Sciences and Education. She was the interim associate vice president of student affairs and judicial appeals at Alabama A&M University.

Dr. Holloman earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She holds a master’s degree in urban and regional planning with a concentration in environmental planning from Alabama A&M University and a Ph.D. in higher education from Jackson State University in Mississippi.

Ada Emmett has been named university ombuds and director of the Ombuds Office at the University of Kansas. Emmett joined the office in 2019 and most recently served as acting university ombuds. A faculty member at the university for 20 years and tenured since 2008, Emmett first served in a variety of roles with the university’s libraries.

Emmett holds a bachelor’s degree in linguistics and a master of library science degree from the University of Michigan.

Ashlee M. Plummer is a new assistant professor of chemistry at Bryn Mar College in Pennsylvania. Her research concentrates on the functional, computational, and structural characterization of bacterial membrane proteinss, which play a role in the widespread virulence of bacteria.

Dr. Plummer is a graduate of North Carolina State University, where she majored in chemistry. She holds a Ph.D. in biophysics from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.