Maimouna Barro received her M.A. in African Studies in 1997 and her PhD in Education with a minor in Gender Relations in International Development (GRID) in 2005, both from the University of Illinois. She is the Associate Director at the Center for African Studies and has been instrumental in expanding the Center’s academic programs. Maimouna helped establish a joint degree with the School of...
Ashlynn Stillwell joined the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department in 2013 and is one of two female professors in the field of Hydrology and Hydraulics. She has several high-impact publications and is very active in leading the Sustainability Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Environmental and Water Resources Institute. Ashlynn actively works to promote STEM to...
Assata Zerai came to the University of Illinois in 2002 as a faculty member in Sociology. In spring 2015, as Associate Dean in the Grad College, she worked with colleagues to establish an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation University Center of Exemplary Mentoring at the University of Illinois. They were awarded $1M to increase the number of graduate students underrepresented in STEM. In 2015-2016, Assata...
Barbara Wilson came to Illinois in 2000 as a faculty member in the Department of Communication. She served as Department Head for six years, and during her tenure, the faculty size grew by 20%. She led initiatives to improve departmental relationships with alumni, create faculty mentoring programs, and increase the number and diversity of students in the undergraduate major. In 2009, Barb was...
Carolyn Tomchik received all of her degrees from the Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering in the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois: a BS in 2005, a MS in 2011 and her PhD in 2016. As a student, she was a member of the Engineering Council, held executive committee positions in the Student Branch of the American Nuclear Society, and performed a number of...
Christie Gilson received her BS in 2001 and her PhD in 2008 both in Special Education. President Barack Obama nominated Christie to serve as a member of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FSB) in 2012. Christie who is visually impaired is a disability rights advocate. She has worked in the field of education since graduating from the U of I including teaching English to blind...
Cinda Heeren received her PhD in Computer Science from the University of Illinois in 2004, and became a senior lecturer in the department shortly after. Nominated more than once, Cinda was known as a champion for students on campus. She was a popular teacher, actively encouraged young women to take up programming, and directed the CS@ILLINOIS GEMS (Girls Engaged in Math and Science) camp. As...
Clair Sullivan joined the Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering Department in 2012 as the first female faculty member. Her presence and efforts have allowed the department to hire three additional female faculty members. Clair’s research which is at the interface of radiation detection, big data analytics, and new algorithms led to her selection winner of the 2014 Defense...
Cynthia Oliver joined the College of Fine and Applied Arts’ faculty in 2000 and is now the Director of the MFA Program. She is an affiliate faculty member in Gender and Women Studies, Center for African Studies, African American Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and the Center for Global Studies. Her Caribbean descent allows her to incorporate different cultures into her work and...
Nadya Mason joined the faculty of the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois in 2005. She became the first African American woman to receive tenure in the College of Engineering. Nadya is a winner of the Maria GoeppertMayer Award of the American Physical Society (2012) and the Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award (2009.) Nadya was a Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows from...