Transitions: North Central Michigan College Selects New Chief, Lesley U. President Will Step Down

Chief executives

Appointments

Damon Bell, vice president for student services and achievement at Olympic College, will become interim president of Ventura College.The interim post has been filled for the past year by David Keebler, who plans to retire in July.

Daniel DeMarte, executive vice president for academic and student affairs and chief academic officer at Tidewater Community College, has been named president of Jamestown Community College. He succeeds Cory Duckworth, who retired in May.

David Roland Finley, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs at Lake Superior State University, will become president of North Central Michigan College on July 2. He will succeed Cameron Brunet-Koch, who plans to retire.

Ronald R. Ingle, president emeritus of Coastal Carolina University and former interim provost at Athens State University, has been named interim president of Athens State. He will replace Robert Glenn, who left to become president at the University of Houston-Victoria.

James H. Johnson Jr., a recent visiting professor of civil engineering at Morgan State University and a former engineering dean at Howard University, will become interim president at Baltimore City Community College on July 1. He will replace Gordon F. May, who is retiring at the end of this week.

Elizabeth M. Meade, interim president of Cedar Crest College since July 2017, when Carmen Twillie Ambar left to become president of Oberlin College, will become president on July 1.

Pelema I. Morrice, vice provost for enrollment management and strategic development at the University of Missouri, will become president of Great Bay Community College in August. He will succeed Wildolfo Arvelo, who left to become director of the Division of Economic Development for the State of New Hampshire.

Katherine Newman, senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of Massachusetts system, will become interim chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Boston effective July 1. She will replace Barry Mills, who has served as interim chancellor since July 2017.

Jinliu (Grace) Wang, senior vice chancellor for research and economic development for the State University of New York system, will take on an additional role as interim president of State University of New York Polytechnic Institute on July 1. She will replace Bahgat G. Sammakia, who will step down at the end of this week.

Karen Schuster Webb, former president of Antioch University Midwest, will become president of Union Institute & University on July 1. She will succeed Roger H. Sublett, who is retiring after 15 years at the helm.

Resignations

Jeff A. Weiss, president of Lesley University since 2016, says he plans to step down on August 31 because of health reasons. Richard S. Hansen, the university’s interim provost, will become interim president.

Retirements

Jorge L. Díaz-Herrera, president of Keuka College since 2011, says he plans to retire on July 1 to provide help in the aftermath of a death in his immediate family. Amy Storey, vice president for advancement and external affairs, will become interim president.

Chief academic officers

Appointments

John (Jack) Healy, associate vice president for academic affairs at Minnesota State University at Moorhead, has been named vice president for academic affairs at the College of Saint Mary.

John J. McCarthy, acting provost at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, will become provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs on July 1.

Other top administrators

Appointments

LaTanya Afolayan, senior director of planning and major giving at Norfolk State University, will become vice chancellor for university advancement at Winston-Salem State University on July 10.

Nada Marie Anid, dean of the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences at the New York Institute of Technology, has been named vice president for strategic communications and external affairs.

Mark Cooper, vice president for marketing and public relations on the leadership team at Ohio Dominican University, has been named vice president for advancement and external relations.

Bernard Franklin, assistant vice president for student life at Kansas State University, will become vice president for student life at Mount St. Mary’s University, in Maryland, on August 1.

Dan G. Grigg, vice president for development and alumni relations at Lindenwood University, will become vice president for institutional advancement at Indiana Institute of Technology on July 23.

Ruth Ann (Cissy) Holt, dean of access, southern campuses, and regional services and interim vice president for student enrollment, engagement, and services at Columbia State Community College, has been named vice president for student affairs.

Jaime Hunt, director of public and media relations and chief communications and marketing officer at Winston-Salem State University, will become vice chancellor for strategic communications on July 1.

Brett Kemker, dean of students at the University of New Orleans, will become regional vice chancellor for academic and student affairs at the University of South Florida-Sarasota/Manatee on July 2.

Dearl Lampley, dean for the Science, Technology, and Mathematics Division at Columbia State Community College, has been named vice president for the Williamson Campus and external services.

Joshua R. Newton, president and chief executive of the University of Connecticut Foundation Inc., will become senior vice president for advancement and alumni engagement at Emory University on August 27.

Michael Poll, vice president for enrollment management at Colorado Mesa University, has been named vice president for enrollment management services at Georgia Gwinnett College.

Chris Sedore, president and chief executive for New York State Education and Research Network and former chief information officer at Syracuse University, will become vice president and chief information officer at the University of Texas at Austin on August 1.

Said Sewell, former provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Lincoln University, in Missouri, has been named vice president for student development at Morehouse College.

Sister Diane Traffas, director of the Center for Dominican Studies at Ohio Dominican University, has been named vice president for mission and identity.

Resignations

Steve Kloehn, vice president for marketing and communications at Carnegie Mellon University, plans to resign on June 30.

Deans

Appointments

Robert B. Ahdieh, a professor of private international law and director of the Center on Federalism and Intersystemic Governance at the Emory University School of Law, will become dean of the Texas A&M University School of Law on July 15.

Harriette Hemmasi, university librarian at Brown University, will become dean of the library at Georgetown University on August 1.

Timothy Jachna, professor and associate dean of research at the School of Design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, will become dean of the School of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning at the University of Cincinnati on September 15.

Sally Lewis, associate dean and is a professor of medical laboratory sciences and public health at the College of Health Sciences and Human Services at Tarleton State University, will become interim dean of the College of Health Sciences and Human Services on August 1.

Kristen Majocha, assistant to the vice president of academic affairs and an associate professor of communications at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, will become dean of the College of Liberal Arts at California University of Pennsylvania on July 2.

Christine Kelleher Palus, dean of graduate studies at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova University, has been named dean of the College of Professional Studies.

Karen T. Pardue, interim dean of the Westbrook College of Health Professions at the University of New England, was appointed to the position permanently on June 18.

Department chairs

Appointments

Harris Smith, an associate professor in acting and movement and the director for the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, will become chair of the department of theatre on July 1.

Other administrators

Appointments

Tom Brockman, manager of media relations and university communications at Ohio Dominican University, has been named associate vice president for marketing and public relations.

Rob Kent, assistant general counsel at Michigan State University, has been named interim associate vice president of the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Education and Compliance.

Melonie B. Murray, an associate professor of dance, will become associate dean for faculty and academic affairs on July 1.

Yue Qi, an associate professor of chemical engineering and materials science, has been named the first associate dean for inclusion and diversity in the College of Engineering at Michigan State University.

Natasha Saunders, director of student recruitment for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech, has been named director of the Student Opportunity and Achievement Resources program.

Jennifer Staiger, interim dean of the School of Natural Science and Mathematics at Mount St. Mary’s University, in Maryland, has been named associate provost of graduate, continuing, and professional education programs at the Frederick campus.

Thomas P. Vartanian, senior counsel at the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Dechert LLP, will become founder and executive director of a new financial regulatory institute at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School in 2019.

Christie Flood Weiner, director of alumni relations and advocacy at Ohio Dominican University, has been named associate vice president for advancement in addition to her role as director of alumni relations.

Faculty

Appointments

Raj Chetty, a professor of economics and senior fellow in the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research at Stanford University, has been named professor of economics at Harvard University. Chetty previously taught at Harvard from 2009 to 2015 and received a MacArthur Grant in 2012.

Awards

McKnight Scholars

The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience has named recipients of its 2018 McKnight Scholar Award, which recognizes young scientists in the field of neuroscience. They are listed below, with their academic affiliation and the name of their project.

Eiman Azim, an assistant professor of molecular neurobiology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, “Spinal Circuits Controlling Dexterous Forelimb Movement”

Rudy Behnia, an assistant professor of neuroscience at Columbia University’s Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, “State-Dependent Neuromodulation of a Circuit for Motion Vision”

Felice Dunn, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of California at San Francisco, “The Establishment and Regulation of Rod and Cone Vision”

John Tuthill, an assistant professor of physiology and biophysics at the University of Washington at Seattle, “Proprioceptive Feedback Control of Locomotion in Drosophila”

Mingshan Xue, an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine, “Function and Mechanism of Input-Specific Homeostatic Synaptic Plasticity In Vivo”

Brad Zuchero, an assistant professor of neurosurgery at Stanford University, “Mechanisms of Myelin Membrane Growth and Wrapping”

Other awards

George Xu, professor of mechanical aerospace and nuclear engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, received the Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award from the Health Physics Society.

Organizations

Appointments

Gracie Lawson-Borders, dean of the Cathy Hughes School of Communications at Howard University, will become vice president of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communications on October 1.

Deaths

Nina Baym, a professor emerita of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who brought attention to women’s contributions to fiction writing, died on June 15 in Urbana. She was 82. Baym taught at the University of Illinois from 1963 until 2004, was director of the School of Humanities from 1976 until 1987, and received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1975. Her book Woman’s Fiction: A Guide to Novels by and About Women in America, 1820-1870 (Cornell University Press, 1978) is credited with helping to establish the field of study of American female writers. She also served as an editor for the Norton Anthology of American Literature.

Joshua Feldstein, president of Delaware Valley University from 1975 to 1987, died on June 19. He was 97.

Billy Ernest Hooper, the first executive director of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, died on June 6. He was 86. During his long academic career, he served as a faculty member and administrator at Purdue University, the University of Missouri, the University of Georgia, Oklahoma State University, and Western University of Health Sciences.

Timothy O’Meara, provost emeritus, professor emeritus of mathematics, and trustee emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, died on June 17. He was 90. He first joined the faculty in 1962 and served as the university’s first lay provost from 1978 to 1996.

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