The UO's women scholars are taking the lead in academia

The UO's women scholars are taking the lead in academia

Lynn Stephen is one of several UO women scholars celebrated for their leadership roles / photo by Jack Liu.

Editor's note: This article was originally published March 19, 2020, in Around the O. Several featured scholars are CSWS Faculty Affiliates including Monique Balbuena, Priscilla Peña Ovalle, Geri Richmond, and Lynn Stephen.

They are mentors and role models in the classroom as well as in the community, but UO faculty women also put their leadership skills to work outside the university within a number of professional associations.

Some are presidents, others serve on committees and boards, while others work behind the scenes offering specialized guidance and expertise. During Women’s History Month and throughout the year, the UO acknowledges their effort and commitment to advance science, promote education and strengthen and further the goals of their respective organizations.

Monique Balbuena
Associate professor
Comparative literature and Jewish studies
Clark Honors College

Balbuena has been elected to the executive committee of the Sephardic Studies Discussion Group of the Modern Language Association. As the principal professional association in the U.S. for scholars of language and literature, the goal of the association is to strengthen the study and teaching of language and literature.

T. Bettina Cornwell
Professor/department head
Department of Marketing
Lundquist College of Business

Cornwell holds professional leadership positions as an editorial board member on two publications: the Journal of Advertising, a peer-reviewed academic journal covering advertising theories and their relationship with practice, and the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, which covers all aspects of the intersection of marketing and public policy.

Leslie Leve
Professor, Department of Prevention Science
Associate Vice President for Research, Office for Research and Innovation
College of Education

Leve is immediate past president of the Society for Prevention Research. Established in 1991, the nonprofit Society for Prevention Research is an organization dedicated to advancing scientific investigation on the etiology and prevention of social, physical and mental health and academic problems and on the translation of that information to promote health and well-being. Prevention Science is the official journal of the organization.

Amy Lobben
Professor
Department of Geography
College of Arts and Sciences

Lobben is currently the president of the American Association of Geographers. The association has 12,500 members from 60 countries who work in the public, private and academic sectors. They work in a range of careers, as community college instructors; federal, state and local government employees; planners; cartographers; scientists; nonprofit workers; entrepreneur; businesspeople; elementary and secondary educators; graduate students; retirees; and university administrators, among many other professions.

Laura Lee McIntye
Professor
School Psychology
College of Education

McIntye is president of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. The oldest professional association concerned with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the association advocates for the equality, dignity and human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and for their full inclusion and participation in society.

Leah Middlebrook
Associate professor/department head
Department of Comparative Literature
College of Arts and Sciences

Middlebrook is president of the Society for Renaissance and Baroque Hispanic Poetry. The society is an international group dedicated to promoting scholarship and scholarly exchange about the poetic production of the early modern Hispanic world — broadly speaking, Spain and the Spanish-speaking parts of colonial Latin America, including the Spanish Pacific. The Society for Renaissance and Baroque Hispanic Poetry is home of the journal Calíope, published by Penn State University Press.

Barbara Mossberg
Professor of practice, literature
Clark Honors College

Mossberg was elected president of the Emily Dickinson International Society and director of the Triennial International Conference in August 2019. Founded in 1988, the society promotes, perpetuates and enhances the study and appreciation of Emily Dickinson worldwide.

Julianne Newton
Professor of visual communication
School of Journalism and Communication

Newton serves on the editorial boards of multiple publications, including the Journal of Communication, Visual Studies, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, EME (explorations in Media Ecology), Visual Resources, International Journal of McLuhan Studies and VCQ.

Priscilla Peña Ovalle
Associate professor
Department of Cinema Studies
College of Arts and Sciences

Pena Ovalle is president-elect through 2021 and then will become president of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies. The society is the leading scholarly organization in the United States dedicated to promoting a broad understanding of film, television and related media through research and teaching grounded in the contemporary humanities tradition. Society membership includes more than 3,000 scholars from more than 500 institutions across 38 countries.

Carol Paty
Associate professor
Earth and planetary sciences
Clark Honors College

Paty is a co-investigator in two instruments, PIMS and REASON, for the Europa Clipper Mission, which was officially confirmed for the final design and construction phases, and just completed a four-year rotation as the Interior Working Group co-chair.

Geri Richmond
Presidential Chair in Science
Professor of chemistry
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
College of Arts and Sciences

Richmond is the current president Sigma Xi and past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Sigma Xi is the leading international honor society of science and engineering and one of the oldest and largest scientific organizations in the world. More than 200 Nobel Prize winners have been members. The American Association for the Advancement of Science is the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its Sciencefamily of journals. The association has 120,000 individual members in more than 91 countries around the globe.

Priscilla Southwell
Professor Emerita
Department of Political Science
College of Arts and Sciences

Southwell is president-elect of the Pacific Northwest Political Science Association. The association is a regional organization that brings together scholars to encourage the study and understanding of political science.

Lori Shontz
Instructor
School of Journalism and Communication

Shontz is the faculty adviser for the student chapter of the Association for Women in Sports Media, a board member at Journalism That Matters and a steering committee member for Gather, a community of practice for engaged journalists. She is also a member of the UO Provost's Teaching Academy.

Lynn Stephen
Philip H. Knight Chair
Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences
Department of Anthropology
College of Arts and Sciences

Stephen is past president and current Executive Council member of the Latin American Studies Association. The association is the largest professional association for individuals and institutions engaged in the study of Latin America. With more than 12,000 members in 90 countries, it brings together experts on Latin America from all disciplines and diverse occupational endeavors, across the globe.

By Lisa Raleigh, College of Arts and Sciences, and Sharleen Nelson, University Communications