Four Women Taking on New Faculty Roles

Krystyn Van Vliet has been named vice president for innovation and external engagement strategy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. A professor in the department materials science and engineering and the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, she has served as the university’s vice president for research and innovation for the past two years. Prior to her current role, she spent nearly two decades as a professor and administrator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Van Vliet is a graduate of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where she majored in materials science and engineering with a minor in biomedical ethics. She holds a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from MIT.

Jennelle Malcos has been promoted from assistant dean to associate dean for undergraduate education in the Pennsylvania State University Eberly College of Science. She currently serves as a teaching professor of biology. Earlier in her tenure with Penn State, she was an academic advisor in the biology department.

Dr. Malcos holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, and her doctorate in plant physiology from Pennsylvania State University.

Cheryl D. Jenkins has been promoted to associate professor in the division of humanities and fine arts at Talladega College in Alabama. She is chair of the college’s mass media studies department.

Dr. Jenkins earned a bachelor‘s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in mass communication from the University of Southern Mississippi. She holds a Ph.D. in mass communication from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Gretchen Dietz has joined the faculty at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, as an assistant professor and director of the engineering discovery program. She comes to her new role from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where she was an assistant teaching professor.

Dr. Dietz is a graduate of the University of Mount Union in Ohio, where she majored in civil engineering. She holds a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Florida.