Transitions: New Presidents Named at U. of Indianapolis and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College

CHIEF EXECUTIVES
Appointments
Cynthia Robinson Alexander, associate vice chancellor for finance at the University System of Georgia, has been named interim president of Savannah State University. She will replace Kimberly Ballard-Washington after she steps down this summer.

Michael J. Avaltroni, interim president of Fairleigh Dickinson University since January, has been named president.

Sherman (Sherm) Bloomer, associate vice president for budget and resource planning at Oregon State University, has been named chancellor and dean of OSU-Cascades.

Christy L. Brown, chief executive of Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast, has been named president of Alverno College.

Jeff Cox, president of Wilkes Community College, has been named president of the North Carolina Community College system.

Amy Diaz, interim president of GateWay Community College, in Arizona, has been named to the post permanently.

Tammy K. Evetovich, interim chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Platteville since June 2022, has been named chancellor.

Tiffany Hernandez, vice president for student success at San Antonio College and the college’s accreditation liaison to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, has been named president of Glendale Community College, in Arizona.

David D. Meyer, dean of Tulane Law School, has been named president and dean of Brooklyn Law School.

Rhonda Phillips, dean of the John Martinson Honors College at Purdue University, has been named president of Chatham University.

Radha Pyati, dean of the College of Sciences and Mathematics at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, has been named chancellor and dean of Pennsylvania State University-Berks.

Kristen Raney, vice chancellor for academic affairs at Eastern Iowa Community Colleges, has been named president of Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. She will be the first woman to lead the college.

Jochen Reiser, chair of the department of internal medicine at Rush University Medical Center and a professor of medicine at Rush University, in Chicago, has been named the sole finalist for president of the University of Texas Medical Branch, in Galveston.

Tanuja Singh, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Loyola University New Orleans, has been named president of the University of Indianapolis.

David A. Tandberg, interim president of Adams State University, in Colorado, has been named to the post permanently.

George Timmons, provost and senior vice president for academic and student affairs at Columbia Greene Community College, in New York, has been named president of Holyoke Community College, in Massachusetts.

Kerry Walk, president of Marymount Manhattan College, has been named president of the University of the Arts, in Philadelphia.

Resignations
Kathryn A. Foster, president of the College of New Jersey, plans to step down at the end of this academic year.

F. Christopher Goins, president of Girard College, resigned at the end of March.

Felecia Nave, president since 2019 of Alcorn State University, in Mississippi, has stepped down. Ontario Wooden, the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, will serve as interim president.

Retirements
Alysia Johnston, president of Fort Scott Community College, in Kansas, has retired.

Clarence R. Wyatt, president of Monmouth College, in Illinois, since 2014, will retire at the end of the 2023-24 academic year.

CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICERS
Appointments
John Coleman, dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, has been named vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Kathleen Poorman Dougherty, former provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Alma College, has been named provost and dean of the faculty at Marietta College.

Gail Mackin, associate vice provost at Central Washington University, has been named provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Colorado State University at Pueblo.

David John Nāwaʻakauluaokamehameha Napoleon, dean of arts and sciences at Kapi’olani Community College, has been named vice chancellor for academic affairs at the college.

Brian Yontz, interim provost and a professor of education at Wittenberg University, has been named provost.

Abbey Zink, former provost and vice president for academic affairs at Slippery Rock University, has been named provost and vice president for academic affairs at St. Cloud State University.

OTHER TOP ADMINISTRATORS
Appointments
Tanyka M. Barber, a partner at education-focused law and consulting practice TNG, has been named vice president for institutional equity and chief diversity officer at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

José Dela Cruz, dean of K-12 partnerships for Dallas College, has been named vice president for student affairs at Portland Community College.

Bill Johnson, vice president for university advancement at the University of Nevada at Reno, has been named senior vice president for development at the University of Nebraska Foundation.

Kelly Lucas, interim vice president for research at the University of Southern Mississippi, has been named to the post permanently.

Eric Ray, executive director of strategic partnerships and employee relations at Colorado State University, has been named vice president for human resources.

Retirements
Dave Jarzyna, vice president for university marketing at Trine University, will retire at the end of June.

DEANS
Appointments
Gustavo Burkett, senior associate dean of diversity and community involvement at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been named dean of the college at Colby College.

Rebecca West Burns, a professor in the department of teaching, learning, and curriculum and director of clinical practice and educational partnerships at the University of North Florida, has been named dean of the College of Education at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

John Clarke, a professor of entrepreneurship in the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University, has been named dean of the School of Business and Leadership at DePauw University.

Ken Colwell, a professor and former dean in the College of Business at the University of Houston-Victoria, has been named dean of the Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business at the University of Northern Colorado.

Butch de Castro, associate dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion and a professor in the department of child, family, and population health nursing at the University of Washington’s School of Nursing, has been named dean of the College of Nursing at Seattle University.

Kate Eichhorn, a professor of culture and media studies and chair of the culture and media studies program in the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at the New School, in New York, has been named dean of the School of Undergraduate Studies in the Schools of Public Engagement.

Garey Fox, a professor and head of the department of biological and agricultural engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University, has been named dean of the college.

Todd Fraley, interim dean of the East Carolina University Honors College, has been named to the post permanently.

Kristin Gehsmann, director of the School of Education at Virginia Tech, has been named dean of the College of Education at Clemson University.

Iris P. Godes, associate vice resident for enrollment and dean of admissions at Dean College, in Massachusetts, has been named dean of strategic enrollment management at Framingham State University.

Michael Hildreth, a professor of physics and astronomy and senior associate dean of research and graduate studies in the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame, has been named vice president, associate provost, and dean of the Graduate School.

Arnold Holland, interim dean of the College of the Arts at California State University at Fullerton, has been named to the post permanently.

Vijay Khatri, executive associate dean of strategy, innovation, and technology at Indiana University at Bloomington’s Kelley School of Business, has been named dean of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Barbara Krauthamer, dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has been named dean of Emory University’s College of Arts and Sciences.

J. David Macey, former interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Central Oklahoma, has been named dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Fort Hays State University.

Elizabeth McDermott, interim dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of St. Francis, in Illinois, has been named to the post permanently.

Chad McEvoy, vice provost for faculty affairs and chief of staff to the executive vice president and provost at Northern Illinois University, has been named dean of the College of Applied Science and Technology at Illinois State University.

Mitch Mitchell, assistant dean of students at Winston Salem State University, has been named associate vice president for student success and dean of students at California Polytechnic State University at Humboldt.

Suzanne Raitt, who has served as acting dean of the faculty of arts and sciences at the College of William & Mary since January, has been named to the post permanently.

Balaji Rajagopalan, dean of the College of Business at Northern Illinois University, has been named dean of the Robert J. Trulaske Sr. College of Business at the University of Missouri at Columbia.

Donna Riley, a professor in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University, has been named dean of engineering and computing at the University of New Mexico.

Krishnendu (Krish) Roy, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has been named dean of the School of Engineering at Vanderbilt University.

T. Stores, associate provost for faculty affairs at the University of Hartford, has been named dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at Framingham State University.

Teresa M. Waters, chair of the department of health management and policy and interim director of the Center for Health Services Research, Implementation Science, and Policy in the College of Public Health at the University of Kentucky, has been named the inaugural dean of the School of Public Health at Augusta University.

OTHER ADMINISTRATORS
Appointments
Catherine Cocks, interim director of Michigan State University Press, has been named director of Syracuse University Libraries’ Syracuse University Press.

Kate Garry, director of communications and marketing for the University of Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters, has been named executive director of academic communications.

Cheryl Logan, superintendent of Omaha Public Schools, has been named executive director of the new McGraw Center for Educational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education.

Tony Morris, chair and professor of the department of art and design at Austin Peay State University, has been named associate dean of the College of Arts and Letters.

Elfred A. Pinkard, who will be retiring this spring as president of Wilberforce University, has been named the first HBCU presidential fellow at Brown University.

Thor Sawin, an associate professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, in California, has been named associate dean of the Middlebury Language Schools, in Vermont.

DEATHS
Virginia McSwain Carson, a president emerita of South Georgia State College, died on April 29. She was 75.

Robert S. Sherwin, a professor emeritus of medicine at Yale University, died on March 31. He was 80.

Ronald R. Thomas, a former president of the University of Puget Sound, died on April 17. He was 74. Thomas led Puget Sound from 2003 until 2016, and previously taught at Harvard University and Trinity College, in Connecticut.

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