Appointments, Resignations, Deaths (3/17/2017)

Chief executives

Appointments

Christopher Ames will take office as president of Sage Colleges, in New York, on July 1. He is provost of Shepherd University, in West Virginia. Mr. Ames will succeed Susan Scrimshaw, who will step down in June after nine years at the helm.

Donald Boomgaarden, former provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of Scranton, was named president of St. Joseph’s College, in New York. He will start on July 1 and will succeed Jack Calareso, who has held office since 2014.

Curt Freed, vice president for instruction at Whatcom Community College, will become president of Morgan Community College on April 17. He will succeed Kerry Hart, who retired in February. Susan Clough, the college’s vice president for administration and finance, is serving as interim leader.

Laura Freid will take office as president of the Maine College of Art on July 1. She will take over from Maine’s Poet Laureate, Stuart Kestenbaum, who has been serving as interim president since last August. Ms. Freid was most recently chief executive of the Silk Road Project based at Harvard University, a global nonprofit founded by the cellist Yo-Yo Ma that promotes cultural arts.

Robert Gervasi will become president of the Ohio Dominican University on June 26. He will succeed Peter Cimbolic, who is retiring after leading the institution for seven years. Mr. Gervasi has been president of Quincy University for the past nine years.

Robert Johnson was named chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. He will be the first African American to lead the institution. Mr. Johnson has served as president of Becker College since 2010. He is credited with raising enrollment and improving graduation rates there.

Cheryl Schrader, who was the first woman to serve as chancellor of Missouri University of Science and Technology, will also be the first woman to serve as president of Wright State University. She will start on July 1 and will succeed David Hopkins, who will retire on June 30 after 10 years at the helm.

Resignations

Timothy Slottow, president of the University of Phoenix, plans to step down for personal family reasons, but he will continue to lead the institution until a successor is appointed.

Retirements

James Mergiotti, who has served as president of Peirce College, in Philadelphia, since 2009, plans to retire next year.

Chief academic officers

Appointments

Jody Fournier, associate provost for academic and student affairs, to provost and vice president for learning at Capital University.

E. Randolph Richards, dean of the School of Ministry, to provost at Palm Beach Atlantic University.

Other top administrators

Appointments

Michael Buckman, who was chief financial officer at eLynx, an information-technology company, was appointed vice president for business and finance at Grove City College.

Eric Maloof, associate vice president for enrollment and student retention, to vice president for enrollment management at Trinity University.

John McKeegan, general counsel, to an additional post, vice president for institutional advancement at Linfield College.

Barry Mills, who stepped down as president of Bowdoin College in 2015, was named deputy chancellor and chief operating officer at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Jennifer Patterson, interim vice president, to vice president for advancement and chief development officer at Capital University.

William Shepard will become Eastern Michigan University’s vice president for advancement and executive director of its foundation on April 17. He is associate vice president for advancement and vice president for the foundation at Wright State University.

Jeff Snow, director of college advancement for the College of Engineering at the University of Kentucky, to vice president for development at the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

Deans

Appointments

John Accordino, interim dean, to dean of the Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Eric Barker, associate dean of research in the College of Pharmacy, to dean of the College of Pharmacy at Purdue University at West Lafayette.

Lisa Buenaventura, special assistant to the provost for special projects at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, to dean of the School of Education at St. Bonaventure University.

Paul Caron, associate dean of research and faculty development for the School of Law, to dean of the School of Law at Pepperdine University.

Christopher Celenza, vice provost for faculty affairs at Johns Hopkins University, to dean of Georgetown College at Georgetown University.

John DiPippa, dean emeritus of the law school and a professor of law and public policy, to interim dean of the Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Rachel Endo, chair of the teacher-education department at Hamline University, to founding dean of the School of Education at the University of Washington at Tacoma.

James Fenton, former dean of the James F. Dicke College of Business Administration at Ohio Northern University, to dean of the Barney Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise at Florida Southern College.

Rachel Janutis has been appointed dean of the law school at Capital University, making her the first woman to hold the position. She has served as the school’s interim dean for the past three years.

Laura Vosejpka, lead faculty and director of physics, pre-engineering, organic chemistry, and nonmajors in the physical sciences at Mid-Michigan Community College, to founding dean of the College of Sciences and Liberal Arts at Kettering University.

Resignations

Pamela Matson, dean of the School of Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences at Stanford University, will step down on December 31. She will have led the school for 15 years.

Other administrators

Appointments

Petar Kodzas, director of Eastman Immersion, a program at the University of Rochester for high-school students interested in music, will become associate dean of the university’s Eastman Community Music School.

Kate Mahoney, executive director of PEER Services, a nonprofit that provides community-based substance-abuse prevention and treatment services, to executive director of the Naomi Ruth Cohen Institute for Mental Health Education at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

Sebastian Thachenkary, director of marketing communications at Alverno College, to executive director of marketing and community engagement at Milwaukee School of Engineering.

Sam Tisdale, director of training and development in the continuing-education division at Greenville Technical College, to director of the Center for Corporate and Professional Development at Furman University.

Deaths

Howard Blue, 59, deputy director of mental health and counseling at Yale University Health, died on February 13.

Edward Eugene Burns, 90, a former professor in the department of nutrition and food science at Texas A&M University at College Station, died on February 14.

John Casey Jr., 73, former interim vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college and a professor of philosophy at Warren Wilson College, died on February 24.

Rodney Davis, 70, former chair and professor of business at Ball State University, died on February 13.

Melvin DeFleur, 93, a professor emeritus of mass communication at Boston University, died on February 13.

Dean Ehlers, 87, former athletics director at James Madison University, died on February 19 in Memphis, Tenn.

Timothy Fuerst, 54, a professor of economics at the University of Notre Dame, died on February 21.

Randolph Gardner, 101, former dean of the School of Education at the State University of New York at Albany, died on February 7.

Julia Glover Hall, 87, a professor of criminal justice at Drexel University, died on January 26.

Lester Gene Hatfield, 91, a professor emeritus of art at the University of Central Arkansas, died on February 18.

Bertram Kostant, 88, a professor emeritus of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, died on February 2 in Roslindale, Mass.

Michael LaMarca, 85, professor emeritus of biology at Lawrence University, died on February 9 in Rochester, Minn.

Betty Jane Larson, 72, former dean of occupational and technical communication and a professor emeritus of child development in the Alamo Community College District, in Texas, died on February 12.

Arthur Lewis, former dean of the College of Medicine at Seton Hall University, died on February 16 in South Pasadena, Fla.

Michael Novak, 83, a professor at Catholic University of America, died on February 17 in Washington, D.C.

Paul Rizzo, 89, former dean of the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, died on February 23.

John Ross, 90, professor emeritus of chemistry at Stanford University, died on February 18.