Transitions: Bates College and the California Community Colleges System Mark Leadership Milestones

CHIEF EXECUTIVES
Appointments
Joe Bertolino, president of Southern Connecticut State University, has been named president of Stockton University, in New Jersey.

Sonya Christian, chancellor of the Kern Community College District, was named chancellor of the 116-campus California Community Colleges system. Christian, who takes office on June 1, will be the first woman and the first person of South Asian heritage to lead the system on a permanent basis.

Garry W. Jenkins, a professor and dean of the University of Minnesota Law School, has been named president of Bates College. He will be the first Black president of the college.

Michael L. McFrazier, dean of the Whitlowe R. Green College of Education at Prairie A&M University, has been named acting president.

Gregory J. Meyer, a former professor and interim president at Blackburn College, in Illinois, has been named president of the college.

Jason Morrison, chancellor of Southern Arkansas University Tech, has been named the sole finalist for president of Trinity Valley Community College.

Todd Pfannestiel, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Utica University, has been named the university’s next president. He will succeed Laura Casamento, who will retire in July.

Susan Rundell Singer, vice president for academic affairs and provost at Rollins College, in Florida, has been named president of St. Olaf College, in Minnesota.

Lance Tatum, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and chief academic officer at Troy University, in Alabama, has been named president of Northwest Missouri State University.

Paul R. Watson II, interim president of Kellogg Community College since April 2022, has been named to the post permanently.

Resignations
Cesar Maldonado, chancellor of Houston Community College since 2014, will step down. The Board of Trustees voted not to extend his contract beyond August 31.

Bill Ruud, president of Marietta College since 2016, plans to step down this summer.

Retirements
Lester C. Newman, president of Jarvis Christian University since 2012, will retire in June.

Gregory Woodward, president of the University of Hartford, in Connecticut, will retire this summer.

CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICERS
Appointments
Elizabeth M. Béjar, senior vice president for academic and student affairs at Florida International University, has been named provost, executive vice president, and chief operating officer at the university.

Gretchen Edwalds-Gilbert, associate dean of the faculty at Scripps College and acting vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty, has been named provost and executive vice president of the University of the Pacific, in California.

Frederick Evans, acting provost and vice president for academic affairs at South Carolina State University since November 2021, has been named to the post permanently.

Stephen Gange, executive vice provost for academic affairs at the Johns Hopkins University, has been named interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. He replaces Sunil Kumar, who will leave to become president of Tufts University.

Dimetri Horner, associate vice provost of academics at Strayer University, has been named provost and vice president for academic affairs at Harris-Stowe State University.

Mark Schulman, a higher-education consultant and former president of Presidio Graduate School, has been named interim vice president for academic affairs and provost at West Liberty University.

OTHER TOP ADMINISTRATORS
Appointments
Jill Anderson, human resources manager at Vermeer Corporation, has been named chief talent, equity, and engagement office at Central College.

Richard Campbell, vice chancellor for strategic communications at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, has been named chief communications officer at Auburn University.

Paul Edwards, chief business officer for the Richard Bland College at the College of William and Mary, has been named vice president for finance and administration at Western Illinois University.

Katie Fraumann, executive associate athletics director for development at the University of Michigan, has been named senior vice president for advancement and external relations at DePaul University.

Ja’Wanda Grant, manager of educational and pathway programs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been named vice president and dean of students at Maryville College, in Tennessee.

Josh Hibbard, head of admissions and learner success at Bloom Institute of Technology, has been named vice president for enrollment management at Whitworth University.

Daniel T. Konstalid, vice president for finance and administration and treasurer at Gettysburg College, in Pennsylvania, has been named vice president for finance and administration and treasurer at Skidmore College, in New York.

Margaret Lo, director of business engagement at the Institute for Market Transformation, in Washington, D.C., has been named chief sustainability officer at Ball State University.

Christian Mitchell, deputy governor for public safety, energy, and infrastructure under Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, a Democrat, has been named vice president for civic engagement at the University of Chicago.

Peter Mohler, interim vice president for research at Ohio State University since 2021, has been named to the post permanently.

Lindsay Nyquist, director of marketing and communications at Fort Lewis College, in Colorado, has been named associate vice president for marketing and communications at the University of Puget Sound.

Lyn Redington, interim vice president for student affairs at Ohio University, has been named to the post permanently.

Altheia Richardson, associate vice president for strategic diversity leadership at Clemson University, has been named chief diversity officer and vice president for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at Newberry College, in South Carolina.

Eric Ruiz, interim vice president for admissions and enrollment services at University of St. Francis, has been named to the post permanently.

Emily Schuck, assistant vice president for enrollment management at Marietta College, has been named vice president for enrollment management at Furman University.

Ruth Simmons, president of Prairie View A&M University, has been named a senior adviser to the president of Harvard University on engagement with Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

D’Angelo Taylor, vice president for student affairs at Central State University, in Ohio, has been named vice president for hope, unity, and belonging at Belmont University, in Tennessee.

Chanelle Whittaker, associate vice chancellor for human resources at Los Rios Community College District, in California, has been named vice president for equity, culture, and talent at Prince George’s Community College, in Maryland.

Dina Zavala, interim vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse, has been named vice president for inclusion, equity, and community at Carleton College.

Resignations
Nichole Tucker, chief financial officer at Southwestern Community College, in Iowa, resigned after only one month in the role.

DEANS
Appointments
Alena Allen, deputy director of the Association of American Law Schools and a professor of law at the University of Arkansas School of Law, has been named dean of the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge.

Theresa Byrd, associate dean and chair of the department of public health at Texas Tech University, has been named dean of the School of Health Professions at the University of Texas at Tyler.

Ronald R. Cox, a professor of religion in the Seaver College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences at Pepperdine University, has been named dean of international programs.

Teresa Taber Doughty, dean of the College of Education at the University of Texas at Arlington, has been named dean of the School of Education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Tsai Lu Liu, head of the department of graphic design and industrial design at North Carolina State University, has been named dean of the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design at Virginia Tech.

Michael Mazzeo, a professor of strategy at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, has been named dean of the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Elizabeth Terese Newman, vice provost for curriculum and undergraduate education at Stony Brook University, part of the State University of New York, has been named dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Sean Edmund Rogers, vice president for community, equity, and diversity at the University of Rhode Island, has been named dean of the university’s College of Business.

Kathleen Rudasill, a professor and senior associate dean of research and faculty development in the School of Education at Virginia Commonweath University, has been named interim dean of the school.

Saonee Sarker, a professor at the School of Economics and Management at Lund University, in Sweden, has been named the next dean of the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business.

Colleen Webb, associate dean of the Graduate School at Colorado State University, has been named vice provost for graduate affairs and dean of the Graduate School.

Resignations
Mei Fu, dean of the School of Nursing at George Washington University, will step down after two months and return to her faculty post.

Birgit Puschner, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University, has resigned, citing her frustrations with the university’s handling of sexual-misconduct investigations.

DEPARTMENT CHAIRS
Appointments
Jinping Xu, a professor of family medicine and public-health sciences in the Wayne State University School of Medicine, has been named chair of the department.

OTHER ADMINISTRATORS
Appointments
Angela Banks, a professor in the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, has been named vice dean of the college.

Joseph O. Montgomery, a former vice president for enrollment management and student success at Tuskegee University, has been named interim associate vice provost for enrollment management at North Carolina A&T State University.

Meghan L. O’Sullivan, a professor in the Kennedy School at Harvard University, has been appointed the director of the school’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Ed Soltero, assistant vice president and university architect for the Office of the University Architect at Arizona State University, has been named assistant vice chancellor and university architect for facilities planning and management at Washington University in St. Louis.

FACULTY
Appointments
Liz Cheney, a former Republican U.S. representative for Wyoming, has been named a professor of practice in the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

ORGANIZATIONS
Appointments
Kimberly Armstrong, executive director of the Orbis Cascade Alliance, a library consortium serving over 30 academic libraries in the Pacific Northwest, has been named executive director of the Washington Research Library Consortium.

Javier Cevallos, president-in-residence at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has been named president of the American Academic Leadership Institute.

Janelle Scott, a professor in the School of Education at the University of California at Berkeley, has been voted president-elect of the American Educational Research Association.

DEATHS
Paul Berg, a professor emeritus of biochemistry at Stanford University, died on February 15. He was 96. Berg’s research on DNA earned him the 1980 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which he shared with Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger.

Rebecca Blank, chancellor emerita of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, died of cancer on February 17. She was 67. Last year, she had been selected as the next president of Northwestern University, but stepped down because of her diagnosis.

Richard D. DeCosmo, a president emeritus of Delaware County Community College, died on January 12. He was 88.

John Bayley Fox Jr., a former administrator at Harvard University, died on November 27. He was 86. Fox started as director of the Office of Career Services in 1967 and retired in 2007 as senior adviser to the dean of the faculty.

John C. Hitt, a president emeritus of the University of Central Florida, died on Februay 20. He was 82.

Howard Roberts Lamar, a professor emeritus of history at Yale University who served as president from 1992 to 1993, died on February 22. He was 99.

William A. Peck, a former executive vice chancellor and dean of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died on February 22. He was 89.

Roger C. Schank, a professor emeritus of computer science at Northwestern University, died on January 29. He was 76. Schank founded the Institute for Learning Sciences at Northwestern. At Yale University, Schank also served as chair of the computer-science department and director of the Yale Artificial Intelligence Project.

Justin O. Schmidt, an entomologist and adjunct scientist at the University of Arizona who developed the Pain Index for Stinging Insects, died on February 18. He was 75.

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