Ten UGA faculty members named 2024 Women’s Leadership Fellows

The University of Georgia has named 10 faculty and academic leaders to the 2024-2025 cohort of the university’s Women’s Leadership Fellows Program. The fellows represent eight UGA schools and colleges, the Georgia Museum of Art and the University Health Center.

UGA established the fellowship in 2015 as part of its Women’s Leadership Initiative to provide a select group of faculty and administrators with an opportunity to develop leadership skills and gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities confronting higher education. The program specifically focuses on issues women face in academic administration. In the next year, the 2024 fellows will attend monthly meetings to learn from senior administrators on campus and visiting speakers from academia, business and other fields.

“These fellows represent our university’s continued commitment to celebrating and fostering engaged leaders across campus,” said S. Jack Hu, the university’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “We congratulate the esteemed faculty and administrators selected for this year’s cohort.”

The 2024-2025 Women’s Leadership Fellows are:

Trisha Branan, clinical professor and assistant head of the department of clinical and administrative pharmacy, College of Pharmacy. She maintains an active practice as a critical care clinical pharmacist in an adult medical-surgical ICU at a large community teaching hospital. Branan’s research explores pharmacy education and the management of patients with sepsis. She has authored or co-authored over 30 peer-reviewed manuscripts or book chapters and the recently published book “InteGREAT: A Guidebook for Creating Great Healthcare Teams.” Her teaching has been recognized with awards including the UGA Creative Teaching Award, College of Pharmacy Teacher of the Year Award and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Critical Care Practice and Research Network Education Award. Branan is involved in several professional organizations and is a former president of the Georgia Society for Health-System Pharmacists.

Leah Carmichael, director of active learning and senior lecturer in the department of international affairs, School of Public and International Affairs. As active learning director, Carmichael leads the implementation of UGA’s five-year, $6.1 million campus-wide Active Learning Initiative to promote and enhance the use of active learning strategies in the undergraduate classroom. Active learning moves beyond the standard lecture to engage students in the classroom, encouraging them to be active participants as they work to build knowledge and reflect on the learning process. This initiative has placed UGA as a leader among its peers and positions the university at the cutting edge of instruction moving forward.

Margaret H. Christ, J.M. Tull Chair in Accounting, professor and director of the J.M. Tull School of Accounting, Terry College of Business. Her research focuses on accounting innovation including data analytics and other accounting technologies and how they impact organizational risk, management control systems and employee behavior. She is an editor for Accounting Horizons and serves on several editorial boards. Christ has earned national research awards from the American Accounting Association, and her research is published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals including The Accounting Review, Review of Accounting Studies and The Journal of Management Accounting Research. She is writing a cost accounting textbook with a data analytics focus.

Kelly Dyer, professor in the department of genetics, director of the Integrated Life Sciences Program and co-director of the NIH T32 Genetics Training Grant program, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Her research focuses on evolutionary genetics, aiming to understand the processes that generate and maintain biological diversity. Dyer has received multiple grants from the National Science Foundation including a CAREER award, and she has served on the editorial boards of four international journals and as an elected council member of three international scientific societies. Her teaching and mentorship have been recognized through the UGA Teaching Academy and the Richard B. Russell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

Cheryl Fields-Smith, professor and associate head of the department of educational theory and practice, Mary Frances Early College of Education. In 2006, she was awarded a Spencer Foundation grant and became a pioneer in Black homeschool research. Her research sheds light on how Black families navigate educational decisions, incorporate cultural values and practices into their children’s education, and negotiate the complexities of homeschooling within broader societal contexts. Fields-Smith wrote the book “Exploring Single Black Mothers’ Resistance Through Homeschooling” and co-edited the book “Homeschooling Black Children in the U.S.: Theory, Practice, and Popular Culture.” Her work has been featured on major networks and other multimedia broadcasts.

Mable Fok, professor and assistant dean for academic and faculty affairs, College of Engineering. Her research lab, Photonics and Soft Robotics Laboratory (WAVE Lab), aims to bring fiber optics and photonics techniques to interdisciplinary areas. She has published over 200 journal and international conference papers and holds five U.S. patents. Fok is the recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award and the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, along with multiple UGA awards including the UGA Creative Research Medal, Excellence in Research Faculty Award and Research Mentoring Award.

Sara E. Gonzalez, clinical associate professor and general and behavioral medicine section head in the department of small animal medicine and surgery, College of Veterinary Medicine. She instructs pre-clinical students in dentistry, vaccinology, professional and clinical skills, and spectrum of care. As a small animal general practitioner, Gonzalez primarily works with senior veterinary students on their clinical rotation at the UGA Pet Health Center. Her research interests include scholarship of teaching, vaccinology and canine and feline dentistry. Gonzalez is also a diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners in Canine and Feline Practice.

Jodi Johnson-Maynard, head of the department of crop and soil sciences, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Johnson-Maynard’s research involves determining the impacts of management on soil properties and processes with a focus on soil health, macrofauna and climate-smart agriculture. She has served on and led large, multidisciplinary and multi-institutional projects in these areas including a Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant funded by the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service. She has advised more than 20 graduate students who now hold positions at other universities, in the USDA and in private industry.

Tricia Miller, deputy director of collections and exhibitions and head registrar, Georgia Museum of Art. In her role, Miller oversees the storage, exhibition and preservation of a permanent collection of more than 19,000 works of art and oversees the logistics and management of 10 to 15 temporary exhibitions per year. She is the current chair of the Southeastern Registrars Association. She was named the Museum Professional of the Year by the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries and was awarded the Museum Leadership Award by the Southeastern Museums Conference.

Cary Perry, senior director of medical services, University Health Center. She came to UHC in June 2021 as a staff gynecologist following 25 years of private practice in the Athens community. As a board-certified OB/GYN and Fellow of the American Board of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Perry has served on the board of Georgia OB/GYN Society for nearly 20 years and served as president of that group from 2021-2022. She remains active on numerous committees and is involved in advocacy initiatives to further the availability of education of women’s health care providers and accessibility for quality care throughout Georgia. Since coming to UGA, she has become involved with the American College Health Association and the Southern College Health Association.

“The Women’s Leadership Fellows program gives distinguished leaders on our campus a chance to further develop their expertise as higher education administrators at our world-class institution,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “Congratulations to the 2024-2025 fellows, whose participation in this program will not only serve them well in their own careers but will also help equip them with additional knowledge and skills to advance the university’s vital mission.”

The Women’s Leadership Fellows were selected from nominations from deans and other senior administrators as well as from self-nominations. The 2024-2025 program is administered by the Office of Faculty Affairs.