Appointments, Resignations, Deaths (3/30/2018)

Chief executives

Appointments

William J. Behre, provost of Georgian Court University, in New Jersey, will become president at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, on July 1. He will succeed Cheryl Norton, who retired last summer. Philip K. Way has been serving as interim president.

John Anthony (Tony) Floyd, executive vice president of Coker College, in South Carolina, will become president of Mars Hill University, in North Carolina, on June 1. He will succeed Dan G. Lunsford, who plans to retire at the end of the academic year.

Gloria J. Gibson, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Morgan State University, will become president of Northeastern Illinois University on June 1. Richard J. Helldobler has been interim president for the past 18 months, following the retirement of Sharon Hahs.

Rodney S. Hanley, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Fisk University, will become president of Lake Superior State University on July 1. Peter T. Mitchell has served as interim president since July, following the death of President Thomas Pleger in May.

Joel N. Lohr, dean of religious life at University of the Pacific, will become president of Hartford Seminary on July 16. He will succeed Heidi Hadsell, who is retiring after 18 years at the helm.

James O. Sawyer IV, who was provost and senior vice president for the Learning Unit at Macomb Community College, became president in July.

Julie Siemers, dean of academic affairs at Chamberlain University’s Las Vegas campus, has been named president of the university’s campus in Arlington, Va.

Jill Stearns, president of Modesto Junior College since 2012, will become the next superintendent and president of Cuesta College on July 1. The current leader, Gil Stork, plans to retire in June.

Kurt T. Steinberg, executive vice president of Massachusetts College of Art and Design, will become president of Montserrat College of Art on July 1. He will succeed Stephen D. Immerman, who plans to retire after having led the college for nine years.

A. Dale Whittaker, provost and executive vice president at the University of Central Florida, will become president on July 1. He will succeed John C. Hitt, who will retire on June 30, after having been at the helm for 26 years.

Jerald Jones Woolfolk, vice president for student affairs and enrollment management, and interim chief diversity officer at the State University of New York College at Oswego, will become president of Lincoln University, in Missouri, on June 1.

Resignations

Andrew K. Benton, president of Pepperdine University since 2000, says he intends to step down from that role at the end of the 2018-19 academic year. He will then serve as president emeritus.

Retirements

Raymond Cummiskey, president of Jefferson College, in Missouri, since 2009, says he intends to retire on June 30, 2020.

William C. Findt, president of Bladen Community College, in North Carolina, since 2008, plans to retire in January 2019.

Sister Marcella Maria Garus, president of Villa Maria College, plans to retire in June. She has led the college, in Buffalo, N.Y., for 40 years.

Thomas J. Schwarz, president of State University of New York College at Purchase since 2003, says he plans to retire in June 2019.

Chief academic officers

Appointments

Timothy G. Lynch, vice president for academic affairs and a professor of history at City University of New York Queensborough Community College, to provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.

Zollie Stevenson Jr., acting vice president for academic affairs and chief academic officer at Philander Smith College, to permanent status.

Mary H. Van Brunt, founding dean of the School of Business, Arts, and Media at Cabrini University, to vice president for academic affairs at Gwynedd Mercy University, effective July 1.

Ben Vinson III, dean of the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences at George Washington University, to provost and executive vice president of Case Western Reserve University, effective July 2.

Other top administrators

Appointments

Fanta Aw, vice president for campus life at American University, to an expanded role as vice president for campus life and inclusive excellence.

Matthew N. Ewing, associate vice president for development at Boise State University, to vice president for development at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo and chief executive of the Cal Poly Foundation, effective May 7.

Richard Gatteau, associate provost for academic success and the faculty director of the higher-education administration program at Stony Brook University, to interim vice president for student affairs and dean of students.

Melissa Hyatt, colonel of homeland security and training for the Baltimore Police Department, to vice president for security at the Johns Hopkins University.

Aashir Nasim, interim senior vice provost for faculty affairs and director of the Institute for Inclusion, Inquiry & Innovation at Virginia Commonwealth University, to vice president for inclusive excellence at the university, effective April 2.

Steve Parrott, interim chief information officer at Mississippi State University since July 2017, to permanent status.

Resignations

Anita Britt, chief financial officer at St. Thomas University, resigned after three months in the role. A petition called for her removal because she serves on the board of American Outdoor Brands Corporation, the parent company of firearms-maker Smith & Wesson. University officials asked her to choose between the two posts.

Retirements

Regis Becker, director of university ethics and compliance and chief ethics and compliance officer at Pennsylvania State University at University Park, will retire on June 30.

Deans

Appointments

William F. Brown, dean of agricultural research and director of the Agricultural Experiment Station in the Institute of Agriculture at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, to dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources at Texas Tech University.

Renée Cheng, professor in the School of Architecture and former associate dean of research in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, to dean of the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington, effective January 1, 2019.

Jeanetta Groce, director of the Navarro College partnership program at Texas A&M University at Commerce, to executive dean of academic studies at Navarro College.

Laura Lackey, interim dean of Mercer University’s School of Engineering, to permanent status.

Peggy Rajski, associate arts professor in film production at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, to dean of the School of Film and Television at Loyola Marymount University, effective June 1.

L. Joseph Thomas, former dean of Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management from 2007 to 2012, to interim dean of the S.C. Johnson College of Business, following the January 30 resignation of Soumitra Dutta.

Christopher T. Westfall, chair of ophthalmology and director of the Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, to interim dean of the university’s College of Medicine.

Amy J. Wildermuth, associate vice president for faculty and academic affairs at the University of Utah, to dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, effective July 1.

Resignations

Heather M. Young, founding dean of the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at the University of California at Davis, will leave her position and become dean emerita in July. After a sabbatical, she will return as a professor in the nursing school.

Retirements

Barbara Korner, dean of the College of Arts and Architecture at Pennsylvania State University at University Park since 2007, intends to retire on June 30, 2019.

Department chairs

Appointments

Zhongjie Sun, professor of physiology, vice chair of research, and director of the Robert & Mary Cade Laboratory in the College of Medicine at the University of Oklahoma, to chair of the department of physiology in the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and deputy director of the UT-Methodist Cardiovascular Institute.

Bourama Toni, professor of mathematics at Virginia State University, to professor and chair of the department of mathematics at Howard University.

Other administrators

Appointments

Joie Chen, a former reporter and anchor for CBS News, CNN, and Al Jazeera America, to director of programs for Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications, based in Washington.

Indranath Dutta, interim director of the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering in the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture at Washington State University, to permanent status.

Tomikia P. LeGrande, vice president for strategic enrollment management at the University of Houston-Downtown, to vice provost for strategic enrollment management at Virginia Commonwealth University, effective June 1.

Paul Oberstein, assistant professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and an attending physician at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, to director of gastrointestinal medical oncology at New York University’s Langone Health and assistant director of its Pancreatic Cancer Center.

Partha Pande, interim director of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture at Washington State University, to permanent status.

Retirements

Jean E. Shedd, associate provost for budget, facilities, and analysis at Northwestern University, intends to retire at the end of the 2017-18 academic year.

Organizations

Appointments

Wanda J. Blanchett, interim provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at Rutgers University at New Brunswick, was elected chair of the Board of Directors at the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.

Andrew Delbanco, a professor of American studies at Columbia University, will become president of the Teagle Foundation in July. The foundation’s mission is to strengthen liberal-arts education. Delbanco, who has been on the foundation’s Board of Directors since 2009, will succeed Judith R. Shapiro.

Resignations

Arthur C. Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute since 2009, says he intends to step down in the summer of 2019.

Deaths

T. Berry Brazelton, a pediatrician and clinical professor of pediatrics emeritus at Harvard Medical School, died on March 13. He was 99. He wrote 30 books and 200 scientific papers on parenting, and pioneered research on attachment between parents and newborn babies. His research was key to developing early-intervention practices for at-risk infants and their families.

John T. Cacioppo, a professor of psychology and director of the Center for Cognitive & Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago, died on March 5. He was 66. His research on loneliness helped lead to the development of the new academic discipline of social neuroscience.

Ivan Davis, a classical pianist and professor at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami for 42 years, died on March 12. He was 86.

Stephen Hawking, a theoretical physicist and former professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge, died on March 14. He was 76. At the time of his death, Hawking, whose seminal work A Brief History of Time was an international bestseller, was the director of research at the department of applied mathematics and theoretical physics and founder of the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at Cambridge.

Henry Koffler, president of the University of Arizona from 1982 until 1991, died on March 10. He was 95. Before joining Arizona, he was chancellor of the University of Massachusetts from 1979 to 1982.

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