New board members join Margaret Boyd Scholars Program

Advisory board members play a critical role in supporting the development, education, and initiatives that shape the future of the Margaret Boyd Scholars Program. 

Named for the first female graduate from Ohio University, The Margaret Boyd Scholars Program seeks to inspire and encourage undergraduate women to become engaged, confident and connected leaders at Ohio University and beyond. Three faculty and one alumna of the program will join the board beginning this summer.

Lisa M. Harrison, Ph.D. 
Associate Professor, Middle Childhood Education

Dr. Lisa Harrison is an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education where she teaches courses in middle childhood education, action research, and teaching for social justice and equity. Her research expertise includes socio-cultural issues relating to young adolescent development, Black girls’ in- and out-of-school lived experiences, and equity-oriented teacher education. 

Prior to entering higher education, Harrison taught middle school mathematics in her hometown of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Katherine Jellison, Ph.D.
Professor of History 

Dr. Katherine Jellison earned her Ph.D. at the University of Iowa, where she studied with one of the pioneers in the field of U.S. women’s history, Linda K. Kerber. She has received numerous research grants and fellowships, including awards from the Smithsonian Institution and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. 

Jellison is the author of Entitled to Power: Farm Women and Technology, 1913-1963 (University of North Carolina Press, 1993), It’s Our Day: America’s Love Affair with the White Wedding, 1945-2005 (University Press of Kansas, 2008), and many journal articles and book chapters. She is currently working on a book about Old Order Amish women in the 1930s and 1940s.

Maddie Peck
MBSP Alumna 2018 

Maddie Peck (‘18) became a Margaret Boyd Scholar in the fall of 2015. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and minor in history and now teaches English as a new language to high school students in Providence, R.I. She is very passionate about educational equity and is starting a master’s in urban education policy at Brown University this summer. 

Peck credits the MBSP in providing experiences and memories that continue to inform the leader and person she is today. As a board member, she looks forward to connecting with current scholars and alumnae of the program to enhance scholar experience. She also hopes the board position will lead her back to Athens so she can grab a “Dixie” dog from O’Betty’s.

Monica M. Burdick, Ph.D. 
Associate Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering 

Dr. Monica Burdick is an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. She earned her Ph.D. in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Johns Hopkins in 2003, and her B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Rochester, where she minored in chemistry and economics and earned a certificate in biomedical engineering. 

Following her Ph.D., she became a post-doctoral research fellow at the Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass. In her research, Burdick applies engineering principles such as fluid dynamics to study how cancer cells move through the body, and how metastasis can be countered.

Follow @margaretboydscholars for updates, and visit ohio.edu/student-affairs/boyd-scholars to read more about the program.