Transitions: New Leader for U. of Connecticut, Alvernia U. Selects Provost

Chief executives

Appointments

Suresh Garimella, executive vice president for research and partnerships at Purdue University at West Lafayette, is the sole finalist for president of the University of Vermont. He will succeed Thomas Sullivan, who will join the faculty full time.

Kevin M. Guskiewicz, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been named interim chancellor. He will replace Carol Folt, who stepped down at the end of January following her decision to remove the pedestal of the controversial “Silent Sam” statue from campus.

Heather Hiles, chief executive of the financial firm Imminent Equity and former deputy director of solutions for postsecondary success at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will become president of California Community Colleges’ new Online Community College on February 19.

Joyce P. Jacobsen, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Wesleyan University, in Connecticut, will become president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges on July 1. She will replace Patrick A. McGuire, who has served as interim president since Gregory J. Vincent’s retirement, and will be the first woman in the role.

Art Johnson, vice chairman of the board of trustees at Lindenwood University, has been named interim president. He will replace Michael Shonrock, who was removed from his position by the board.

Thomas C. Katsouleas, executive vice president and provost of the University of Virginia, will become president of the University of Connecticut on August 1. He will succeed Susan Herbst, who plans to step down.

Patti Neuhold, vice president for finance and chief financial officer at the University of Central Oklahoma, has been named president. She will succeed Don Betz, who plans to retire on June 30.

Retirements

Bill Carver, president of Nash Community College since 2005, plans to retire on July 1.

Randy Parker, president of Guilford Technical Community College since 2011, plans to retire on July 31.

Chief academic officers

Appointments

Glynis Fitzgerald, associate vice president for academic affairs and dean of the School of Graduate Studies at Central Connecticut State University, will become provost at Alvernia University on July 1.

Richard C. Holz, dean of the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences at Marquette University, will become provost at Colorado School of Mines in June.

Tiffany Hunter, dean of education and human services at Florida State College at Jacksonville, became vice president for academic affairs at Clark State Community College on January 14.

Michelle Mattson, associate vice president of academic affairs for institutional effectiveness at Rhodes College, will become provost at Wittenberg University on July 1.

Other top administrators

Appointments

Kristen Albritton, vice president for finance and administration at Gordon State College, in Georgia, has been named vice president for finance and strategy at the Community College of Rhode Island.

Thomas Alcide, associate director of systems operations at Towson University, has been named chief information officer at Harford Community College.

Christopher Bryant, director of development for Goodwin House, a nonprofit senior living community in Northern Virginia, has been named vice president for institutional advancement and executive director of the educational foundation at Central Virginia Community College.

Jon Denney, chief development officer for the U.S. Olympic Committee and former associate vice president for development at Stanford University, will become vice president for development at Stanford in April.

Daphne Halpern, a senior executive at the nonprofit consulting firm CCS Fundraising, became vice president for institutional advancement at Pratt Institute on February 4.

Christene A. James, assistant dean of finance and administration and chief financial officer at the University of Washington’s School of Pharmacy, has been named vice president for finance and administration at Cornish College of the Arts.

James J. Kempster, interim vice president for institutional advancement at Pratt Institute, has been named the institute’s first vice president for communications and marketing.

James E. Prince, vice president for business and finance at Kalamazoo College, will become vice president for finance and business at the College of Wooster on June 24.

Jody Skenderian, chief executive for California’s Central Coast Council in the Girl Scouts of USA, has been named chief institutional advancement officer and executive director of the Foundation at Normandale Community College.

Robbi Stivers, chief financial officer and vice president for business and finance at the California State University at Chico, has been named vice president for administration and business services at Palm Beach State College.

Retirements

David Demarest, vice president for public affairs at Stanford University, plans to retire from that position at the end of February. He will remain as a faculty member in the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Nancy Hargrave Meislahn, vice president and dean of admission and financial aid at Wesleyan University, in Connecticut, plans to retire in September.

Deans

Appointments

Arvin Agah, interim dean of engineering at the University of Kansas School of Engineering, has been named to the role permanently.

Özlem H. Ersin, associate dean of the College of Health and Behavioral Studies at James Madison University, will become dean of the College of Health and Human Services at Eastern Illinois University on July 1.

Faye Gilbert, dean of the College of Business and Economic Development at the University of Southern Mississippi, will become dean of the Undergraduate School of Business in the University Maine at Orono Business School on March 1.

William B. Hudson, a visiting professor and former dean of the College of Science and Engineering at Wilkes University, has been named dean of the School of Engineering at Dunwoody College of Technology.

Jenny S. Martinez, a professor of law at Stanford University, will become dean of Stanford Law School on April 1.

Kathryn Perez, associate dean of students at South Plains College, has been named dean of admissions and records.

Karen Rege, director of elearning and instructional resources at Harford Community College, has been named dean of teaching, learning and innovation.

Carol Robles-Román, secretary of the ERA Coalition/Fund for Women’s Equality and former deputy mayor for legal affairs and counsel to the mayor of New York City, has been named general counsel and dean of faculty at City University of New York Hunter College.

Dana Williams, chair of English and a professor of African-American literature at Howard University, has been named interim dean of the Graduate School.

Whitney Witt, director of the Center for Maternal and Child Health Research at IBM-Watson Health, became the inaugural dean of the College of Health at Lehigh University on January 31.

Other administrators

Appointments

Elly Brenner, assistant dean of records and registration in the First Year of Studies at the University of Notre Dame, has been named assistant provost for academic advising.

Marcus Burgess, former vice president for university advancement at Florida Memorial University, has been named associate vice president for major and planned gifts at Claflin University.

Jess Calohan, an assistant professor at the George Washington University School of Nursing, has been named director of the psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner program at Frontier Nursing University.

John Gates, associate dean and chief diversity officer in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia, will become vice provost for diversity and inclusion at Purdue University at West Lafayette on April 1.

Steve Israel, chair of the Global Institute at Long Island University and former congressman from New York, has been named director of the Institute of Politics and Global Affairs at Cornell University.

Debra B. Jackson, professor emerita of nursing at Clemson University, has been named director of the Emeritus College, which consists of retired faculty members who serve the university as mentors and in other roles.

Sukhwant Jhaj, vice president for academic innovation, planning, and partnerships at Portland State University, has been named vice provost for academic innovation and student achievement at Arizona State University.

Leo S. Lo, associate university librarian for research and learning at Old Dominion University, will become associate dean for learning, undergraduate services, and commonwealth campus libraries at Pennsylvania State University at University Park on May 1.

Gregory Murphy, assistant chief of police at the University of California at San Diego, has been named police chief at California State University at Northridge.

Kenneth Ramos, associate vice president for precision health sciences and executive director for the Center for Applied Genetics and Genomic Medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences, will become assistant vice chancellor for health services at the Texas A&M University system and director of the Institute of Biosciences and Technology at Texas A&M University Health Science Center in March.

The Rev. Ann-Henley Saunders, associate pastor for emerging generations and young adults at the First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, has been named director of alumni relations in the Office of Advancement at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Anne Sweeney-Hoy, chief ethics and compliance officer at Stanford University, has been named senior associate vice president of finance and leader of the Financial Management Services organization.

Steven M. Varga, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa, has been named associate dean on the Graduate College.

Faculty

Appointments

Annie Baker, co-associate director of the M.F.A. playwriting program and master artist-in-residence at City University of New York Hunter College, has been named a faculty member in the playwriting program of the department of theatre and dance and the Michener Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

Charlotte Cavaille, an assistant professor at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, will become an assistant professor in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in the fall.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, co-associate director of the M.F.A. playwriting program and master artist-in-residence at City University of New York Hunter College, has been named a faculty member in the playwriting program of the department of theatre and dance and the Michener Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

Pam Tanowitz, choreographer and founder of Pam Tanowitz Dance, has been named choreographer-in-residence at Bard College’s Fisher Center.

Organizations

Appointments

Roberta Hyland, chief of staff at the National Student Clearinghouse, has been named chief data officer.

Deaths

Gerald Christensen, director of eye pathology and an adjunct professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, died on January 26. He was 83.

James A. Johns III, former director of administration and finance for information technologies at the Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital, died of cancer on January 27. He was 71.

Donald Langenberg, chancellor emeritus of the University System of Maryland, died on January 25. He was 86. Langenberg served as chancellor of the system from 1990 to 2002 and was chancellor of the University of Illinois at Chicago from 1983 to 1990.

Robert O. Weiss, professor emeritus of communication at DePauw University, died on January 31. He was 92 years old. Weiss was a faculty member at the university for 42 years, and wrote books including Public Argument (University Press of America, 1995) in addition to articles for the Journal of Communication, Philosophy and Rhetoric, and the Journal of the American Forensic Association, among others.

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