Transitions: Seattle U. Names New President; 2 California State U. Campuses Select New Leaders

Jason Koski (UREL)

CHIEF EXECUTIVES

Appointments

Erika D. Beck, president of California State University-Channel Islands, has been named president of California State University at Northridge. She will succeed Dianne F. Harrison, who plans to retire.

Susan R. Burns, vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty at Clarke University, in Iowa, has been named president of the College of Mount Saint Vincent, in New York. She will succeed Charles L. Flynn Jr., who plans to retire.

Dennis Craig, a former interim president of the State University of New York College at Purchase, has been named interim president of the State University of New York College at Oneonta. He replaces Barbara Morris, who resigned.

Theresa B. Felder, senior vice president for student success at Clark State Community College, in Ohio, will become president of Harford Community College, in Maryland, on January 1. She will be the college’s first Black president and succeed Dianna Phillips, who resigned in February.

Thomas Gibson, vice president for student affairs and vice provost at Bowling Green State University, will become chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point on January 11.

Maria A. Lumpkin, chief operating officer at Saint Augustine’s University, in North Carolina, has been named interim president, in place of Irving Pressley McPhail, who died. She served as interim president earlier this year, before McPhail was appointed.

Erica Muhl, dean and founding executive director of the Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology, and the Business of Innovation, at the University of Southern California, will become president of Berklee College of Music in June 2021. She will succeed Roger Brown, and will be the college’s first female president.

Richard Muma, executive vice president and provost at Wichita State University, and acting president since Jay Golden’s resignation, has been named interim president.

Eduardo M. Peñalver, dean of the Law School at Cornell University, will become president of Seattle University on July 1. He will succeed Stephen V. Sundborg and become the first Latino president and first layperson to lead the university.

Cathy A. Sandeen, chancellor of the University of Alaska at Anchorage, has been named president of California State University-East Bay. She will succeed Leroy Morishita in January.

Robert Thorn, vice president for administration and finance at California University of Pennsylvania, will become interim president on January 29. He will replace Geraldine Jones, who plans to retire.

George O. Wood, a former superintendent of the General Council of the Assemblies of God, has been named interim president of Evangel University, in Missouri. He will replace Carol Taylor, who plans to retire in November.

Resignations

Shirley Mullen, president of Houghton College since 2006, plans to step down at the end of the 2020-21 academic year.

Mark Pagano, chancellor of the University of Washington at Tacoma since 2015, plans to resign.

Retired Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III, superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute since 2003, resigned on October 26. After accounts of racist incidents at the institute, Virginia governor Ralph Northam ordered an investigation of the campus culture.

Eric Turner, president of Southwest Baptist University, in Missouri, resigned on October 20 after two years in the role.

Retirements

Randy Beutler, president of Southwestern Oklahoma State University since 2010, plans to retire on June 30, 2021.

Robert G. Boehmer, president of East Georgia State College since 2013, plans to retire in December. Dawn H. Cartee, a former president of Ogeechee Technical College, has been named interim president.

Tim Hynes, president of Clayton State University, in Georgia, since 2009, plans to retire on June 30, 2021.

Suzanne K. Mellon, president of Carlow University, in Pennsylvania, will retire at the end of the 2020-21 academic year.

Michael T. Victor, president of Mercyhurst University, in Pennsylvania, since 2015, plans to retire.

CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICERS

Appointments

Gregory Linton, vice provost for academic affairs at Johnson University, has been appointed vice president for academic affairs and provost.

Britt Rios-Ellis, dean of the College of Health Sciences and Human Services at California State University-Monterey Bay, will become provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Oakland University, in Michigan, on January 4.

Richard D. Starnes, interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Western Carolina University since October 2019, has been named to the post permanently.

Melody Tankersley, interim senior vice president and provost at Kent State University since 2019, has been named to the role permanently.

Ontario Wooden, associate vice chancellor for student success and academic outreach at North Carolina Central University, has been named provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Alcorn State University.

Retirements

Wilsie Bishop, senior vice president for academics and interim provost at East Tennessee State University, plans to retire on June 30, 2021, after 43 years there.

OTHER TOP ADMINISTRATORS

Appointments

Marc R. Barbeau, vice president at Ter Molen Watkins & Brandt, a Chicago-based fund-raising consulting firm, has been named vice president for institutional advancement and external relations at Cardinal Stritch University.

Sutonia Boykin, dean of student development at Rockland Community College of the State University of New York, has been named vice president for student affairs at the Community College of Beaver County.

Paul O. Brower, dean of admissions at Nichols College, has been named vice president for enrollment management at Rivier University.

Quinton Clay, director of undergraduate admissions at Northern Illinois University, has been named vice president for enrollment management and marketing at Fontbonne University.

Timothy Denning, associate director of the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University, has been named vice president for research and economic development at the university.

Kelly L. Hart, executive director of admission at Westfield State University, has been named vice president for enrollment management at Shepherd University.

Eddie J. Howard Jr., vice president for student affairs at Youngstown State University, will become vice president for student affairs at Northern Kentucky University on January 1.

David C. Howse, executive director of ArtsEmerson at Emerson College, will assume the additional role of vice president of the Office of the Arts.

Thandabantu B. Maceo, vice president and consultant for the enrollment-marketing-services division of Ruffalo Noel Levitz, has been named vice president for strategic enrollment management and marketing at Franklin College, in Indiana.

Jon Paparsenos, vice president for philanthropy and chief executive of the UNSW Foundation at the University of New South Wales, in Australia, has been named vice president for university advancement at Seton Hall University.

Wendy E. Parks, director of public relations and communications at the College of DuPage, has been named vice president for public relations, marketing, and communications.

Stephanie L. Reel, chief information officer for all divisions of the Johns Hopkins University and Health System, has been named interim chief information officer at Washington University in St. Louis.

Dwight Sanchez, vice president for enrollment management and chief enrollment officer at Virginia Union University, has been named vice president for enrollment management at West Virginia State University.

Rabbi Gordon Tucker, a former dean of the Rabbinical School at the Jewish Theological Seminary, has been named vice chancellor for religious life and engagement.

George Wright, interim vice president for institutional diversity at the University of Kentucky, has been named senior adviser to the president.

DEANS

Appointments

Geeta Anand, interim dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley, has been named to the post permanently.

Faye A. Chadwell, a professor and university librarian at Oregon State University, will become dean of university libraries and scholarly communications at Pennsylvania State University on March 1.

Tamela Eitle, vice provost for curriculum, accreditation, and assessment at Montana State University, will become dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis on January 1.

Angela (A.J.) Grube, a professor of sport management in the College of Business at Western Carolina University, will become dean of the college on January 1.

Mario Hayek, interim dean of the College of Business at Texas A&M University at Commerce since March, has been named to the post permanently.

Terri Hogue, interim dean of earth-resource and environmental programs at Colorado School of Mines since July, has been named to the post permanently.

John Hollemon III, associate dean of students for residence life, equity, and inclusion at Hampden-Sydney College, has been named its first dean of inclusive excellence.

Jared Llorens, interim dean of the E.J. Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge since July, has been named to the post permanently.

Barri Tinkler, associate dean in the College of Education at Missouri State University, will become interim dean in January.

Resignations

James M. O’Donnell, dean of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, plans to step down and return to the faculty at the end of the 2020-21 academic year.

Nancy J. Smyth, dean of the School of Social Work at the University at Buffalo, plans to step down at the end of the spring 2021 semester. She will return to her faculty role as a professor of social work.

Retirements

John T. Wells, dean and director of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William & Mary, plans to retire on June 30, 2021.

DEPARTMENT CHAIRS

Appointments

Elaine M. Coney, an instructor of Spanish and English composition at Southwest Mississippi Community College, has been named chair of the humanities and fine-arts division.

Michael C. Mason, assistant chair of the liberal-arts department at the Berklee College of Music and the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, has been named chair of the department of liberal arts and sciences.

OTHER ADMINISTRATORS

Appointments

Jacqueline Bixler, a professor of Spanish at Virginia Tech, has been named director of the university’s School of Performing Arts.

James S. Bridgeforth, director of university housing and a graduate faculty instructor in higher-education administration at the University of South Alabama, has been named assistant vice president for student affairs and ExperienceVT at Virginia Tech.

Krystal N. Clark, director of the Office of Student Leadership Development at Vanderbilt University, has been named director of employee learning and organizational effectiveness in Vanderbilt human resources.

Michelle Rosenthal Clark, an assistant vice chancellor at the University of California at San Francisco, has been named associate vice president for development at the California Institute of Technology.

Robert Dotson, assistant dean of campus life and student development at Texas A&M University at Commerce, has been named associate dean of students at Vincennes University.

Angel Garcia, a senior finance manager at Memorial Hospital, in Craig, Colo., has been named assistant dean of business and financial affairs in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Richard N. Gladstein, a producer on many films, including The Cider House Rules, and a former dean of the American Film Institute Conservatory, has been named executive director of the Barry R. Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema at Brooklyn College, of the City University of New York.

Michael Z. Green, a professor of law and director of the Workplace Law Program at Texas A&M University’s School of Law, has been named director of the Institute for Law and the Workplace at the Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Institute of Technology.

El pagnier Kay (EK) Hudson, vice president for human resources at Florida International University, has been named its first vice provost for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Benjamin Lough, an associate professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been named the first director of social innovation in the university’s Gies College of Business.

Heather Nachtmann, a professor of industrial engineering at the University of Arkansas, will become senior associate vice chancellor for research and innovation on November 1.

Jane Rose, an associate professor of English and a former dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the University of South Florida-Sarasota/Manatee, has been named director of the Office of USF Early University Programs.

Fatiah Touray, vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion and special assistant to the president at Sarah Lawrence College, has been named senior director of inclusion and equity at New York University-Abu Dhabi.

Tahirah J. Walker, manager of learning design and teaching and a learning consultant at the University of Pittsburgh, has been named executive director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Bethany College, in West Virginia.

Resignations

Pat Chambers, head coach of men’s basketball at Pennsylvania State University, resigned following an internal investigation of “inappropriate conduct.”

FACULTY

Appointments

Valencia Gunder, founder and co-director of Smile Trust Inc., co-founder of the Black Collective, and campaign manager at Dignity Florida, has been named associate-in-residence in the Social Justice Institute at Florida Memorial University.

Beto O’Rourke, a former member of Congress from Texas, will become an instructor in the department of political science at Texas State University in spring 2021.

Alex Pearl, a professor and director of the Center for Water Law and Policy in the School of Law at Texas Tech University, has been named a professor in the College of Law at the University of Oklahoma.

Tracy Pearl, a professor in the School of Law at Texas Tech University, has been named a professor in the College of Law at the University of Oklahoma.

Stacey Tovino, a professor and founding director of the Health Law Program in the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, has been named a professor in the College of Law at the University of Oklahoma.

DEATHS

Joan S. Bissell, a former director of teacher education and public-school programs in the California State University system, died on September 11. She was 74. Bissell taught at Harvard University and the University of California at Irvine. She later served as dean of the College of Education and Integrative Studies at California State University at Pomona.

Constance Buchanan, a former director of the Women’s Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School, died on September 16. She was 73. Buchanan served as director of the program from 1977 to 1997.

John Hays, a former president of Southwestern Oklahoma State University, died earlier this year. Hays led the university from 2001 to 2010.

Irving Pressley McPhail, president of Saint Augustine’s University, in North Carolina, died of complications of Covid-19 on October 15. He became president in July of this year after serving as founding chancellor of the Community College of Baltimore County, president of St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, and president of Lemoyne-Owen College.

C. Robert Morris, an emeritus professor of law at the University of Minnesota, died on October 16. He was 92.