Transitions: Berry College Names New President

CHIEF EXECUTIVES
Appointments
Juan J. Castillo, vice president for finance and administration at Texas A&M International University, has been named interim president after serving as acting president since October.

Robert Dooley, dean of the College of Business at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, has been named interim chancellor of the university.

Sandeep Mazumder, dean of the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University, has been named president of Berry College, in Georgia.

Melvin P. Ponder, Okaloosa County Commissioner for District 5, in Florida, has been named president of Northwest Florida State College.

Alberto J. Román, president of East Los Angeles College, has been named interim chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District.

Jay B. Silveria, associate vice president at Texas A&M University and executive director of its Bush School of Government and Public Service, in Washington, D.C., and a retired United States Air Force Lieutenant General, has been named president of the University of Arkansas system.

Brian Tande, dean of the College of Engineering and Mines at the University of North Dakota, has been named president of South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

Resignations
Steve Angle, chancellor of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, will step down and join the faculty at the beginning of next year.

Frank Dooley, chancellor of Purdue University Global, will step down at the end of the year.

Robert Jones, chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will step down at the end of June 2025.

Retirements
Michael Evans, president of Peru State College, in Nebraska, will retire at the end of the month.

Carol Folt, president of the University of Southern California, will retire at the end of the academic year.

CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICERS
Appointments
Clifton T. Jones, vice provost at Angelo State University, has been named provost and vice president for academic and student affairs at Texas A&M University-Central Texas.

Monica Lounsbery, dean of the College of Health and Human Services at California State University at Long Beach, has been named senior executive vice president and provost at Wichita State University.

OTHER TOP ADMINISTRATORS
Appointments
Mark Baumgartner, chief investment officer for the Dalio Family Office, has been named chief executive officer of the University of Florida Investment Corporation.

Dena Beard, director of the Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College, has been named executive director of the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Brian Burnett, senior vice president for finance and administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer at Case Western Reserve University.

Dan Dillon, vice president for marketing at the University of Florida, has been named vice president for marketing at the University of South Carolina.

Chris Gade, vice president for marketing and engagement at Rush University Medical Center, has been named vice president for communications at the University of Minnesota.

James Hugh Haskins, assistant vice president for development at Hampden-Sydney College, has been named vice president for college advancement.

Taylor Jantz, senior vice president and chief financial officer at the University of Florida, has been named senior vice president for finance and budget and chief financial officer at New York University.

Frank Johnson, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Tabor College, in Kansas, has been named vice president for advancement.

Ariella Robbins has been named vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion at Villanova University after serving in the interim role since December.

David C. Schwebel, associate vice president for research facilities and infrastructure and a professor of psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has been named vice president for research at the University of Iowa.

Michael Shinn has been named executive director of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, part of the Berklee College of Music, after serving as interim executive director since August 2023.

Christopher Smith, executive director of enrollment management and new-student engagement at Kansas State University’s Salina Aerospace and Technology Campus, has been named vice president for enrollment management at Sweet Briar College.

Beth Bolyn Thompson, assistant dean of development in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, has been named vice president for development at Boston College.

Meredith Vivian Turner, interim senior vice president for external relations and communications at the University of California, has been named to the post permanently.

Resignations
Charles Guthrie, director of athletics at the University of Akron, has stepped down.

DEANS
Appointments
Swagata Banik, chair of public health and population health at Baldwin Wallace University, has been named dean of the Dennis R. DePerro School of Health Professions at St. Bonaventure University.

Rosann Bar, dean of business and social sciences at Ocean County College, in New Jersey, has been named dean of academic innovation at Montgomery County Community College, in Pennsylvania.

Tim Burnett has been named dean of the School of Science and Mathematics at Emporia State University after serving as interim dean since 2023.

Amy Fleischer, dean of engineering at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, has been named dean of the College of Engineering at Boise State University.

David Gerdes, a professor and chair of the physics department at the University of Michigan, has been named dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Case Western Reserve University.

Victoria Groves-Scott, dean of the College of Education at the University of Central Arkansas, has been named dean of the School of Education at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Hannah Brenner Johnson, a professor of law and vice dean of academic affairs at California Western School of Law, has been named dean of the Simmons Law School at Southern Illinois University.

Rich Klein, vice chancellor for institutional effectiveness and student success at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, has been named dean of the Stuart School of Business at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Kelly Norris Martin has been named dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the Rochester Institute of Technology after serving as interim dean since April 2023.

Jacob-Aidan Martinez, director of student life at San Antonio College, has been named interim dean of student success.

Winifred (Elysse) Newman, associate dean of research and faculty affairs and a professor of architecture at Clemson University, has been named dean of the College of the Arts and Architecture at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.

Todd Pettys, a professor of law and chair in civil litigation at the University of Iowa College of Law, has been named interim dean of the college.

Isabelle Porter, an adjunct professor in the physical-therapist-assistant program at Arcadia University, has been named dean of health sciences at Montgomery County Community College, in Pennsylvania.

Imelda Reyes, interim dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, has been named dean of the Tanner Health System School of Nursing at the University of West Georgia.

Sara Schwerdtfeger, interim dean of The Teachers College at Emporia State University since May 2023, has been named to the post permanently.

Kara Zografos has been named dean of the College of Health and Human Services at California State University at Fresno after serving as interim dean.

DEPARTMENT CHAIRS
Appointments
John Thabiti Willis, an associate professor of history and former director of Africana studies at Carleton College, has been named chair of the department of African diaspora studies at Grinnell College.

OTHER ADMINISTRATORS
Appointments
Angela McMillen Ayres, executive director of the American Association of Political Consultants, has been named interim executive director of the Graduate School of Political Management at the George Washington University.

Ansley Booker, director of diversity and inclusion initiatives at Mercer University, has been named executive director of Dartmouth NEXT.

Nadia Clifton interim special-collections instruction librarian in the university libraries at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been named to the post permanently.

Carlos Garcia, controller at Wheaton College, in Illinois, has been named associate vice president for financial administration and comptroller at Illinois State University.

Matthew Gramling, museum manager of Chieftains Museum/Major Ridge Home, in Georgia, has been named director of the Bandy Heritage Center of Northwest Georgia at Dalton State College.

Jason Guilbeault, associate vice president for sponsored-programs administration and executive director of the AU Research Institute at Augusta University, has been named assistant vice president for research, post-award contractual compliance, at Pennsylvania State University at University Park.

Tansel Karabacak, interim director of the School of Physical Sciences at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, has been named to the post permanently.

Harry Mars, director of student activities and leadership at the City University of New York Borough of Manhattan Community College, has been named assistant dean of student affairs at LaGuardia Community College.

Christopher Martin, vice president for integrated real estate and facilities and assistant vice president for facilities infrastructure, projects, and compliance at MedStar Health system, in Maryland, has been named associate vice president for campus planning, design, and construction at Stony Brook University.

Lovelle McMichael, assistant director of the Center for Community Engagement at High Point University, has been named director of community engagement for the division of strategic partnerships and economic development at North Carolina A&T State University.

P. Karen Murphy, a professor of educational psychology in the College of Education at Pennsylvania State University at University Park, has been named associate dean of research and outreach for the college.

Christine Richardson, a professor and chair of biological sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, has been named director of the Center for Biomedical Engineering and Science.

Rebecca Toonkel, associate dean of curriculum and medical education at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University, has been named senior associate dean of academic affairs.

FACULTY
Appointments
James Darrah, artistic director and chief creative officer of Long Beach Opera, has been named a professor of music and director of Opera UCLA at the University of California at Los Angeles’s Herb Alpert School of Music.

ORGANIZATIONS
Appointments
Wynn Rosser, president and chief executive of the T.L.L. Temple Foundation, has been named commissioner of higher education for Texas.

Andrea Theis, vice president for advancement and admissions at Warner University, has been named vice president for advancement at the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities.

Jon Williamson, dean of the School of Health Professions at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, has been named president-elect of the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions.

DEATHS
Kate Chesley, former managing editor of Stanford Report who worked at Stanford University in various roles for over 20 years, died on October 25. She was 66.

Claire Gaudiani, president of Connecticut College from 1988 to 2001, died on October 16. She was 79.

Thomas E. Kurtz, a professor emeritus of computer science and mathematics at Dartmouth College and inventor of the simplified computer programming language known as BASIC, died on November 12. He was 96.

Maureen McDermott, director of student involvement and the Memorial Union at the University of Rhode Island, died on November 15.

Pat Koch Thaler, former dean of arts, sciences, and humanities at the School of Continuing Education at New York University, died on November 16. She was 92.

Clifton R. Wharton Jr., president of Michigan State University from 1970-78, died at 98. He was the first Black president of a major predominantly white university in the United States, and he also served as chancellor of the State University of New York from 1978-87.

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