Angela Gapa has been named a Lantis Endowed University Chair at California State University, Chico, where she teaches as an associate professor of international relations. Throughout her career, she has focused her scholarship on the sources of political and economic variation among resource rich countries. Her current research explores the global and local geopolitics of the diamond, platinum, oil, and rare earth mineral industries; the geopolitics of energy in southern Africa; and the role of identity politics in international relations.
A graduate of the National University of Science & Technology in Zimbabwe, Dr. Gapa earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in international relations from Florida International University.
Vivian Gadsden, the William T. Carter Professor of Child Development and Education at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, has been appointed vice president of the National Academy of Education. Dr. Gadsden co-directs the Penn Early Childhood and Family Research Center. Her scholarship centers on learning and literacies across the life-course and addresses issues of equity, access, and change for young children and families in historically marginalized communities.
Dr. Gadsden is a graduate of historically Black Fisk University in Nashville, where she double-majored in psychology and English. She holds a doctorate in educational psychology and policy from the University of Michigan.
Melanie George is the new producing director and chair of the dance program at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City. She currently serves as associate curator and scholar-in-residence at Jacob’s Pillow, a dance center and school in Massachusetts. Her experience in academia includes service as director of the dance program at American University, assistant professor at Rutgers University, and guest lecturer at Harvard University, the Yale School of Drama, and The Juilliard School.
George received her bachelor’s degree in dance from Western Michigan University and her master’s degree from American University in Washington, D.C.
