Transitions: UNC-Asheville Selects New Chancellor, Harvard President Wins Kluge Prize

Chief executives

Appointments

Irma Becerra, provost of St. Thomas University, in Florida, will become the first Hispanic president of Marymount University, in Virginia, on July 1. She will succeed Matthew D. Shank, who plans to step down.

Mickey L. Burnim, former president of Bowie State University from 2006 to 2017, will become interim president of the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore on July 1. He will replace Juliette Bell, who plans to step down.

Nancy J. Cable, president of the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations and former vice president and dean of admission and financial aid at Davidson College, will become chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Asheville on August 15. She will replace Joe Urgo, who has served as interim chancellor since Mary Grant left to become president of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate.

Douglas J. Fiore, former provost and vice president for academic affairs at Park University, became president of Mercy College of Health Sciences on June 10. He succeeded Barbara Quijano Decker, who is retiring.

Robert Glenn, president of Athens State University, has been named president of University of Houston-Victoria. He will succeed Raymond Victor Morgan, who plans to retire in the fall.

Richard Green, former interim president of Lincoln University from 2015-17, became interim president of the United Lutheran Seminary on June 4. He replaces Bishop James Dunlop, who served as acting president since the Rev. Theresa F. Latini was fired as president in March after her past work with a gay-conversion organization came to light.

Jeffrey Herbst, former president and chief executive of the Newseum and the Newseum Institute, in Washington, D.C., and president of Colgate University from 2010 to 2015, will become president of the American Jewish University on July 1. He will succeed Rabbi Robert Wexler, who plans to step down.

Joanne Passaro, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Carroll University, will become president of Metropolitan College of New York on July 1. She will succeed Vinton Thompson, who plans to retire.

Martin Schimpf, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Boise State University, will become interim president on July 1. He will replace Bob Kustra, who plans to retire.

Pamela Whitten, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Georgia, will become president of Kennesaw State University on July 16. She will replace Ken Harmon, who has served as interim president since February.

Chief academic officers

Appointments

Hernan Bucheli, vice provost for enrollment and communications at Saint Mary’s College of California, will become provost and senior vice president for academic and enrollment affairs at Notre Dame de Namur University July 1.

Joseph Johnson, dean of the College of Education and executive director of the National Center for Urban School Transformation at San Diego State University, has been named interim provost. He replaces Chukuka S. Enwemeka, who stepped down in May.

Madison Sowell, former provost at Southern Virginia University, will become provost and vice president for academic affairs at Tusculum University on July 9.

Charles Taber, vice provost for graduate and professional education and dean of the Graduate School at Stony Brook University, will become provost and executive vice president at Kansas State University on August 15.

Other top administrators

Appointments

Brian O. Clemmons, dean of enrollment management at Middlesex County College, will become the first vice president for enrollment management at Bowie State University on July 9.

James F. Conneely, secretariat/superintendent of schools for the Lexington Diocese, in Kentucky, and former president of the University of Maine at Augusta, will become vice president for student affairs at the University of North Georgia on July 16.

Anita A. Davis, director of diversity and inclusion at the Associated Colleges of the South and an associate professor of psychology at Rhodes College, will become vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion at Trinity College, in Connecticut, in September.

Antonio Farias, vice president for equity and inclusion/Title IX officer at Wesleyan University, will become chief diversity officer and senior adviser to the president at the University of Florida on July 9.

Matthew Shenoda, dean of academic diversity, equity, and inclusion at Columbia College Chicago, will become the first vice president for social equity and inclusion at Rhode Island School of Design in August.

Teresa A. Sullivan, who plans to step down this summer as president of the University of Virginia, has been named an adviser to the Board of Trustees at Michigan State University to assist in the board’s selection of a new president.

Brent Swinton, managing director of development with the Advancement Project and former assistant vice president for institutional advancement at Notre Dame University of Maryland, will become vice president for institutional advancement at Bowie State University on July 16.

Brian White, chief counsel at University of Connecticut Health, will become general counsel and vice chancellor for legal affairs at the University of Kansas on August 2.

Deans

Appointments

Joyendu (Joy) Bhadury, professor and dean of the School of Business and Management at State University of New York, The College at Brockport, will become dean of the College of Business and Economics at Radford University on August 1.

Elizabeth M.Z. Farmer, a professor and associate dean for research at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work, will become dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work on August 1.

Elizabeth Francis-Connolly, a professor of occupational therapy and former dean of the Westbrook College of Health Professions at the University of New England, has been named dean of the School of Interdisciplinary Health and Science at the University of Saint Joseph.

Charles E. Gengler, dean of the School of Business and Information Systems at City University of New York, York College, will become dean of the Marilyn Davies College of Business at University of Houston-Downtown on July 23.

Donna Sullivan Havens, a professor and former interim dean at the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will become dean of the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing at Villanova University on June 30.

Matthew Jockers, a professor of English and associate dean for research and partnerships in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, will become dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Washington State University on August 1.

Matthew Carey Jordan, director of the University Honors Program and associate professor of philosophy at Auburn University, has been named dean for humanities at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Humanities Center at Cuyahoga Community College.

David Lopez, a partner and attorney-in-charge at the Washington, D.C. branch of the law firm of Outten and Golden and former general counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 2010-16, will become co-dean of the Law School at Rutgers University at Newark in August.

Matthew L. McGann, director of admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will become dean of admission and financial aid at Amherst College on July 23.

Onye P. Ozuzu, dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts at Columbia College Chicago, will become dean of the College of the Arts at the University of Florida on August 1.

M.L. (Cissy) Petty, vice president for student affairs and associate provost at Loyola University New Orleans, will become the inaugural dean of the student experience at George Washington University in July.

Stanley E. Romanstein, a professor of practice/music and the arts in the Creative Media Industries Institute at Georgia State University, will become dean of the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati on July 1.

Richard Rothaus, vice chancellor for academic and student affairs at the North Dakota University system, will become dean of the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences at Central Michigan University on August 1.

Matthew Rousu, interim dean of the Sigmund Weis School of Business at Susquehanna University since May 2017, has been named dean.

Simon J. Sheather, professor and academic director of MS Analytics and Online Programs at Texas A&M University, will become dean of the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky on July 1.

Rashid Zia, assistant provost for special projects and associate professor of engineering and physics at Brown University, will become dean of the college on July 1.

Retirements

Michael Fields, dean of the Marilyn Davies College of Business at University of Houston-Downtown since 2015, retired at the end of May.

Arnold Spinner, interim dean of the Graduate School of Education at Touro College, in New York, plans to retire on June 1 after five decades in academe.

Department chairs

Appointments

Penny A. Asbell, a professor of ophthalmology and director of the Cornea Service and Refractive Surgery Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, will become chair of the department of ophthalmology in the College of Medicine and director of the Hamilton Eye Institute at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center on August 1.

Felipe Correa, an associate professor and director of the Master of Architecture in Urban Design program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, will become professor and chair of architecture at the University of Virginia School of Architecture on July 25.

Cynthia Johnson, assessment coordinator and clinical professor at Mississippi College, became chair of the department of psychology and counseling on June 1.

Eileen Van Aken, interim head of the department of industrial and systems engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech since 2016, was appointed to the position permanently on June 10.

Other administrators

Appointments

Alice K. Cary, patrol operations captain at the University of Oregon Police Department, became chief of police of the University of Maryland at Baltimore Police Force on June 11.

Lee Anne Chesterfield, adviser for museum planning and board relations at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, in Richmond, will become director of the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida on July 1.

Chemene Crawford, vice president for student services and enrollment management at El Centro College, has been named associate vice chancellor for student resources at the Dallas County Community College District.

Gypsy M. Denzine, dean of the College of Education and Human Services at West Virginia University, will become senior vice provost for faculty affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University on August 6.

Nadia Eslinger, a biology and pre-education advisor in the Academic Advising Center at the University of Central Arkansas, has been named assistant director of student success.

Mike Evans, interim associate dean of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food, and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas, will become director of the new School for Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginia Tech on July 1.

Mark Harlan, former director of athletics at the University of South Florida, became director of athletics at the University of Utah on July 1.

Karen Houseknecht, interim dean of the College of Pharmacy at the University of New England, has been named associate provost for research and scholarship.

Alicia Kornowa, director of admissions for recruitment at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, will become director of admissions at Western Michigan University July 30.

Nelson Camilo Sánchez León, a former research coordinator of the Center for the Study of Law, Justice, and Society and associate professor at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogota, will become director of the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law in July.

James Mwaura, former associate director of purchasing and accounts payable at State University of New York College at Purchase, has been named director of purchasing at State University of New York College at Old Westbury.

Elizabeth Oliver, a professor and department chair of accounting at Washington and Lee University, will become associate dean of the Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics on July 1.

Martin F. Sancho-Madriz, associate dean of the College of Environmental Design at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, became associate vice president for faculty affairs on June 1.

Deborah Solmor, chief compliance officer and vice president and deputy counsel for litigation at Career Education Corporation, will become general counsel for the Chicago School Education System on June 25.

Josh Taylor, an executive pastor at Mars Hill Church, in Mobile, Alabama, has been named assistant vice president for marketing creative services at the University of Mobile.

Jainen (J.T.) Thayer, chief investment officer at Oberlin College, will become chief investment officer at Grinnell College in September.

Tasha Toy, director of the Multicultural and International Student Programs at Berry College, will become assistant vice president for campus diversity and director of the Multicultural and Inclusion Center at Dixie State University on June 18.

Paul Youngman, a professor of German and head of the department of German, Arabic, and Russian at Washington and Lee University, will become associate provost on July 1.

Retirements

Lyndel King, director and chief curator of the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, plans to retire in June 2020. She has been the museum’s director since 1981.

Nancy Taylor Reynolds, administrative assistant to the vice president for financial and administrative services, plans to retire from her post at Danville Community College on July 1. She has worked for the college in a variety of roles for 47 years.

Faculty

Appointments

Seth Abramson, an assistant professor of communication arts and sciences at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester, has been named an affiliate faculty member of the low-residency M.F.A. in writing program at the New Hampshire Institute of Art.

Gabrielle Civil, a performance artist and scholar-in-residence in gender and women’s studies at Denison University, will become a faculty member in creative nonfiction at the School of Critical Studies at California Institute of the Arts.

T Cooper, an author and filmmaker, will become an assistant professor of English and creative writing at Emory University in the fall.

Jordan Matsudaira, an assistant professor in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University, will become a tenured faculty member of the economics and education program in the department of education policy and social analysis at the Columbia University Teachers College this fall.

Agencies and Organizations

Appointments

Giuseppe (Seppy) Basili, chief operating officer of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, has been named executive director. He succeeds Harold O. Levy.

Noël Suzanne Harmon, senior vice president for strategic partnerships at Say Yes to Education, a nonprofit organization focused on inner-city education, will become president and executive director of the Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund on June 30.

Kenneth L. Marcus, president and general counsel of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, has been named assistant secretary to the Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education.

Jeremy Penn, assessment coordinator at the University of Iowa, has been named president of the Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education.

Awards

Drew Gilpin Faust, the first female president of Harvard University, will receive the John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity. This prize for $1 million will be presented at the Library of Congress on September 12.

Nathan O. Hatch, president of Wake Forest University, received the 2018 Career Services Excellence Award from the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Deaths

Ira Berlin, a professor of history at the University of Maryland since 1974, died from complications of multiple myeloma on June 5. He was 77. Berlin’s focus was on American slavery, and his dedication to the field extended beyond the classroom. In 1976, he founded the Freedmen and Southern Society Project, which transcribes and publishes original documents from the Civil War and Reformation eras. Along with his long career at the university, Berlin published many books on American history, his most well-known being Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998), which won the 1999 Bancroft Prize from Columbia University for the best book on American history.

Paul Boyer, professor emeritus of biochemistry at the University of California at Los Angeles, died on June 2. He was 99. He was a member of the faculty at the university from 1963 to 1990, when he was awarded emeritus status. In 1997, Boyer won the Nobel Prize in chemistry with John E. Walker for their research on the formation of adenosine triphosphate, the cellular energy behind all biological reactions. He also received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1995, when he was a faculty member at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

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