Appointments, Resignations, Deaths (2/16/2018)

Chief executives

Appointments

Kim Blosser, vice president for academic and student affairs at Lord Fairfax Community College, became president on February 1. She succeeded Cheryl Thompson-Stacy, who retired after having led the college since 2009.

Miles K. Davis, dean of the Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business at Shenandoah University, will become president of Linfield College on July 1. He will succeed Thomas L. Hellie, who has led the college since 2006 and plans to retire in June. Davis will be the college’s first African-American president.

Adela de la Torre, vice chancellor for student affairs and campus diversity at the University of California at Davis, will become president of San Diego State University on or before June 30. She will be the first woman to hold that post permanently. Sally Roush has led the institution on an interim basis since last summer, when Elliot Hirshman left to lead Stevenson University, in Maryland.

Mary Gallagher, vice president for administrative services at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, became interim president at Los Angeles City College on January 2, following the retirement of Reneé D. Martinez.

Travis Haire, deputy superintendent of the Greater Clark County Schools, becomes chancellor of Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana’s Sellersburg campus this week.

Stephanie Hammitt, vice president for finance and administration at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, will become interim president in July, following the retirement of Larry Anderson.

Irving Hendrick, interim president at Moreno Valley College from 2016 to 2017, has been named interim president of Riverside City College. He replaces Wolde-Ab Isaac, who became chancellor of the Riverside Community College District on January 1.

Larry Lundblad, retired president of Central Lakes College, becomes interim president of Minnesota State College Southeast this month. He replaces Dorothy Duran, who resigned in January.

Barbara Jean Morris, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Fort Lewis College, in Colorado, will become president of the State University of New York at Oneonta on or before July 1. She will replace Nancy Kleniewski, who has led the university since 2008 and will retire in July.

Xiang Zhang, professor of engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, will become president and vice chancellor of the University of Hong Kong.

Retirements

Richard Guarasci, president of Wagner College since 2002, says he plans to retire on June 30, 2019.

Joe Peterson, chancellor of Utah State University Eastern since 2010, will retire on June 30.

Chief academic officers

Appointments

Ralitsa Akins, associate dean of faculty affairs at the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University, to provost of Des Moines University, effective May 1.

Beryl McEwen, interim provost at North Carolina A&T State University, to provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Vanya Quiñones, associate provost for student success and retention at City University of New York Hunter College, to provost at Pace University, effective July 1.

Darrell P. Wheeler, dean of the School of Social Welfare, vice provost for public engagement, and professor at the University at Albany, to provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Iona College.

John Woods, chief academic officer for Education Corporation of America, to chief academic officer and provost at the University of Phoenix.

Other top administrators

Appointments

Michael G. Cato, vice president for computing and information services and chief information officer at Vassar College, to senior vice president and chief information officer at Bowdoin College, effective March 1.

Victor McCrary, vice president for research and economic development at Morgan State University, to vice chancellor for research at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, effective March 5.

Kelly Templin, city manager for College Station, Tex., to director of the Texas A&M University system’s new Rellis campus on the site of the former Bryan Air Force Base, effective April 2.

Resignations

Jessica Tormey, vice president for university relations and chief of staff at the University of Wisconsin system, resigned in January after pleading guilty to drunken driving.

Retirements

Phail Wynn, vice president for Duke University’s Office of Durham and Regional Affairs, will retire on June 30.

Deans

Appointments

Karen L. Abrams, vice provost for faculty affairs and professor of law at the University of Virginia, to dean of Duke Law School, effective July 1.

Gayle A. Brazeau, professor and former dean at the University of New England College of Pharmacy, to dean of the Marshall University School of Pharmacy, effective May 12.

Robert C. Knoeppel, professor and chair of the department of educational and organizational leadership development at Clemson University, to dean for the College of Education at the University of South Florida, effective in May.

Ruth Ramsey, interim dean of the School of Health and Natural Sciences at Dominican University of California, to permanent status in that role.

Eric G. Tenbus, professor of history and chair of the department of history, sociology, anthropology, and cross-disciplinary studies at the University of Central Missouri, to dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Georgia College & State University, effective June 1.

Susan P. Trageser, interim vice president for student affairs at Radford University, to associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students.

Tania Wittgenfeld, associate dean of student services at City Colleges of Chicago’s Olive-Harvey College, to dean of student life at Eastfield College.

Resignations

Soumitra Dutta, dean of the S.C. Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, resigned in January.

Other administrators

Appointments

Doug Bailey, professor and head of the horticulture department in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia, to assistant dean for academic affairs at the college.

Melissa Boston, director of counseling and wellness at Manhattanville College, to associate dean of student health and counseling.

Michael Keller, vice provost for University Libraries and the University Press at Stanford University, to interim vice provost for teaching and learning, effective April 1.

Maria Len-Ríos, associate professor of public relations in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, to associate dean of academic affairs for the college.

Heath Mello, chief operating officer for the Holland Children’s Institute and Movement, a former state senator in the Nebraska Legislature, and a Democrat, to associate vice president for university affairs and director of state relations for the University of Nebraska system.

Shalini Mimani, principal-gifts officer at Columbia University, to associate vice president for Cornell Tech and the Northeast Corridor in Cornell Alumni Affairs and Development.

Victoria Murrain, assistant dean and designated institutional officer for graduate medical education at the University of Arizona South campus in Tucson and associate professor of family and community medicine at the University of Arizona, to interim deputy dean for diversity and inclusion at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

Mark Pieffer, chair of the department of communications and humanities in University College at Trident University International, to associate dean of the university’s Glenn R. Jones College of Business.

Garth Ross, vice president for community engagement at the Kennedy Center, to executive director of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Center at Yale University, which is expected to open in 2020.

Marybeth Tarzian, assistant dean for alumni affairs and development in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University, to associate vice president for colleges and units in Cornell Alumni Affairs and Development.

Tami Thomas, associate dean of academic affairs in the Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Florida International University, to associate dean of research and director of the Ph.D.- in-nursing program at the college.

Harl Tolbert, director of the office of technology transfer and commercial development at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, in New York, to assistant vice president for research and director of the office of technology management at Pennsylvania State University at University Park.

R. Franklin Trimm, professor and vice chair of pediatrics at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, to associate dean for diversity and inclusion at the college and assistant vice president for medical affairs at the University of South Alabama Health.

Mark Veich, managing director for development of Michigan Medicine at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, to vice provost for external affairs at Weill Cornell Medicine at Cornell University.

Diana Tate Vermeire, director of the racial-justice effort at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, to executive director of equity, diversity, and inclusion at California State University at Sacramento.

David Whitmore, associate dean of alumni affairs and development in the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University, to associate vice president for major gifts in Cornell Alumni Affairs and Development.

Resignations

Patrick Bankston, associate dean in the Indiana University School of Medicine, will resign from that post on July 1. He will remain as dean and faculty member for Indiana University-Northwest’s College of Health and Human Services.

John Mitchell, vice provost for teaching and learning at Stanford University, will step down, and serve as special adviser to the provost for digital strategy.

Faculty

Appointments

Bill Goodwin, director of Americas operations for the Ferro Corporation, to assistant professor of process technology at Community College of Beaver County.

Oded Gurantz, associate policy research scientist at the College Board, to assistant professor in the Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri at Columbia.

Matthew Hicks, member of the technical staff at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory, to assistant professor of computer science at Virginia Tech.

John Young, former chief analytics officer at Epsilon, a global marketing-services firm, to executive in residence for the data-science program at Bryant University.

Organizations

Appointments

Rusty Gage, a geneticist at the Salk Institute who served as interim president there in 2015, was appointed as interim president at the institute again, following the retirement of Elizabeth Blackburn.

Rod Raehsler, professor of economics at Clarion University, was elected as vice president on the national board of directors for Omicron Delta Epsilon, the international honor society for economics.

Candace Thille, assistant professor of education in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, to an additional role as director of learning science and engineering at Amazon. She will be taking a leave of absence from Stanford.

Awards

Colin Parrish, professor of virology at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, received the 2018 Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges Excellence in Research Award.

Deaths

W. Ray Cleere, president emeritus of Piedmont College, died on January 26 of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 81. Mr. Cleere led the college from 1995 to 2011. Earlier, he was vice chancellor for academic affairs for the University System of Georgia and commissioner of higher education for the State of Mississippi.

C.A. Roberson, chancellor of Tarrant County Junior College from 1989 to 1996, died on January 29. He was 88. Roberson was the second chancellor of the college, now known as Tarrant County College. He served at vice president for business at the college when it was established in 1966.

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