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News

Appointments, Resignations, Deaths (1/12/2018)

Compiled by Brianna A. Tucker January 7, 2018

Merodie A. Hancock will become president of Thomas Edison State University.
Merodie A. Hancock will become president of Thomas Edison State University.

Chief executives

Appointments

Vincent G. Boudreau, interim president of City College of the City University of New York, was appointed to that role permanently in December. A political scientist who has been at the college for 26 years, he stepped into the interim post last year after Lisa S. Coico resigned amid an inquiry into her use of college funds.

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Merodie A. Hancock will become president of Thomas Edison State University.
Merodie A. Hancock will become president of Thomas Edison State University.

Chief executives

Appointments

Vincent G. Boudreau, interim president of City College of the City University of New York, was appointed to that role permanently in December. A political scientist who has been at the college for 26 years, he stepped into the interim post last year after Lisa S. Coico resigned amid an inquiry into her use of college funds.

Merodie A. Hancock, president of the State University of New York’s Empire State College since 2013, will become president of Thomas Edison State University, in New Jersey, on March 5. Her predecessor, George A. Pruitt, who had led the university since 1982, retired in December.

Sandra Haynes, deputy provost, vice president for academic affairs, and a professor of human services at Metropolitan State University of Denver, will become chancellor of Washington State University’s Tri-Cities campus on March 1. H. Keith Moo-Young, the campus’s leader since 2013, announced last May that he would step down after a successor was appointed.

Karen Holbrook, executive vice president at the University of South Florida’s Sarasota/Manatee campus and senior adviser to Judy Genshaft, president of the university system, became regional chancellor of Sarasota/Manatee on January 2. She replaces Terry Osborn, who led the campus on an interim basis for nine months. Ms. Holbrook was president of Ohio State University from 2002 to 2007.

Michael D. Johnson, provost of Babson College, in Massachusetts, will become president of John Carroll University, in Ohio, on July 1. He will succeed the Rev. Robert L. Niehoff, who retired last year after leading the university since 2005. Jeanne M. Colleran has served as interim president since June.

Darrell Franklin Parker, dean and professor of economics for the College of Business at Western Carolina University, became president of Limestone College on January 3. Walt Griffin, who had led the university since 1992, retired in December.

Jolanda Westerhof, associate vice president for the division of academic leadership and change at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, will become president of Principia College on July 1. She will succeed Jonathan Palmer, who has led the college since 2008 and will step down in June.

Resignations

William H. McRaven, chancellor of the University of Texas system since 2015, will step down in May. He cited health reasons for his departure.

Retirements

J. David Armstrong Jr., president of Broward College since 2007, says he plans to retire on June 30.

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James H. Mullen Jr., president of Allegheny College since 2008, says he will retire, effective June 2019.

Chief academic officers

Appointments

David W. Blackwell, dean of the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky, to provost of the university.

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Deborah Gayle Copeland, provost and chief academic officer at Simpson University, in California, to provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Fresno Pacific University.

Alyson A. Gill, associate provost for instructional innovation and associate professor of art history at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, to provost of the University of the Ozarks.

Suzanne Keen, dean of the college and a professor of English at Washington and Lee University, to vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty at Hamilton College, effective July 1.

Other top administrators

Appointments

David Alfonso
David Alfonso

Daniel Alfonso, city manager for the City of Miami, to vice president for facilities management at Nova Southeastern University.

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Michael Post, vice president for enrollment management at Mount St. Mary’s University, in Maryland, to vice president for enrollment management at Bridgewater College.

Erik Skinner, deputy chancellor for the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, to vice president for administrative services at Sierra College.

Lisa VanDeWeert, a certified public accountant at Rehmann, an accounting-services firm, to vice president and chief financial officer at Aquinas College.

Arlanda Williams, a district representative on the Terrebonne Parish Council, in Louisiana, to vice chancellor for work-force development and institutional advancement at Delgado Community College.

Deans

Appointments

Tamer Basar, director of the Center for Advanced Study and a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to interim dean of the campus’s College of Engineering.

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Theresa M. Beiner, associate dean for academic affairs and a professor of law in the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, to dean of the law school, effective July 1.

Lorenzo Candelaria, associate provost and professor of music history at the University of Texas at El Paso, to dean of the School of Arts at State University of New York College at Purchase, effective July 2018.

Michael J. Driscoll, clinical professor and senior executive in residence in the Robert B. Willumstad School of Business at Adelphi University, to dean of the Richard J. Bolte, Sr. School of Business at Mount St. Mary’s University, effective July 2018.

William Law, professor and interim associate vice chancellor for academic affairs who helped unify Purdue University’s Calumet and North Central campuses into Purdue University Northwest, to dean of the College of Science at Benedictine University.

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Karen Pedersen, chief knowledge officer for the Online Learning Consortium, to dean of the Global Campus at Kansas State University.

L. Song Richardson, interim dean and a professor of law at the University of California at Irvine School of Law, to permanent dean.

William Schafer, former vice president for student life at West Virginia University, to interim dean of student success at Central Washington University.

Rangarajan Sundaram, vice dean of M.B.A. programs and a professor of credit and debt markets and of finance at New York University, to dean of its Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

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Catherine Usoff, dean of the Graduate School of Management at Clark University, to dean of the Girard School of Business at Merrimack College.

Resignations

William S. Silver, dean of the School of Business and Economics at Sonoma State University, stepped down from that role in December and returned to teaching as a professor of leadership and management.

William Strampel, dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Michigan State University, has stepped down. He cited medical reasons.

Retirements

Elizabeth Dankert Hammond, dean of the University Library at Mercer University since 1999, will retire, effective June 30.

Department chairs

Appointments

Gary Cohen, interim chair of radiology at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, and interim radiologist in chief for Temple University Health System, to permanent status in those roles.

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Ayanna Howard, a professor and associate chair for faculty development in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, to chair of the institute’s School of Interactive Computing.

Jennifer Sacheck, co-director of the program in nutrition interventions, communication, and behavior change at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, to professor of prevention and wellness, and chair of the department of exercise and nutrition sciences at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.

Other administrators

Appointments

Edward Abraham, dean and chief academic officer of the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, and interim executive vice president for health affairs and chief executive of the University of Miami Health System, was named to those last two roles permanently. He will continue to serve as dean until a new dean is named.

Timothy J. Dunn
Timothy J. Dunn

Timothy J. Dunn, Title IX coordinator at Trinity College, in Connecticut, to Title IX and bias-harassment coordinator at Macalester College.

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Alexander N. Halliday, a geochemistry professor at the University of Oxford and vice president of Britain’s Royal Society, to director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

John Kirwan, director of the Metabolic Translational Research Center and a professor of molecular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, to executive director of Louisiana State University’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

Shelby Kutty, professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, to assistant dean of research and development at the center’s College of Medicine.

Sukant Misra, associate vice provost for international programs at Texas Tech University, to vice provost for international affairs.

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Bryan Samuel, director of the Office of Equity and Diversity at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, to chief diversity and inclusion officer at Kansas State University, effective in March.

Kelly Sexton, assistant vice chancellor for technology commercialization and new ventures at North Carolina State University, to associate vice president for research — technology transfer and innovation partnerships — at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Jon Seydl, senior director of collections and programs, and curator of European art at the Worcester Art Museum, in Massachusetts, to director of the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Erik Smetana, associate vice president and deputy chief human-resources officer for the University of Missouri system, to executive director for compensation and talent at Vanderbilt University.

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Krista Timney, senior associate director of marketing and communications for the Office of Enrollment Management at Indiana University at Bloomington, to communications director for the College of Natural Resources and Environment at Virginia Tech.

Resignations

Patrick Nero, director of athletics and recreation at George Washington University, resigned effective December 31.

Retirements

Ann M. Garten, director of community relations at El Camino Community College for 17 years, retired on December 31.

Faculty

Appointments

Pengfei Yei, visiting assistant professor in the Pamplin School of Business at Virginia Tech, to assistant professor of finance.

Retirements

Joe Crotts, a librarian at California State University at Chico for 44 years, will retire on January 31.

Deaths

John Burrell Bass Jr., a retired assistant dean for student affairs and professor of medicine at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, died on December 16. He was 73. Dr. Bass, an expert on tuberculosis, was a founding faculty member of the college.

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William W. Harmon, president of Houston Community College’s Central College from 2005 to 2016, died on December 26. He was 76. Under his leadership, the college added an honors college and tutoring center.

Susan T. Jones, associate vice president for university advancement at the University of Miami, died of cancer on December 25. She was 72. Ms. Jones was involved in two major capital campaigns that raised more than $3 billion for the university.

John (Jack) Matoole, a retired professor emeritus of internal medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, died on December 9. He was 85. Dr. Matoole received his department’s Top Teacher Award 16 times during his career.

Submit items for Gazette to people@chronicle.com.

A version of this article appeared in the January 12, 2018, issue.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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