Southern U. System Names New Chief Executive; U. of Alaska System Makes Interim President Permanent

UW-PLATTEVILLE

CHIEF EXECUTIVES
Appointments
David Bergh, interim president of Cazenovia College since January, has been named to the post permanently.

James Burkee, vice president for strategic initiatives at the College of Mount Saint Vincent, has been named president of Avila University.

George A. Burnett, executive vice chairman of Academic Partnerships, has been named president of University of Phoenix. He will suceed Peter Cohen, who will step down and become president emeritus.

Sandra Cassady, vice president for strategic initiatives and dean of the College of Health and Human Services at St. Ambrose University, in Iowa, has been named president of Rockhurst University, in Missouri.

LaTonia Collins Smith, interim president of Harris-Stowe State University since June 2021, has been named to the post permanently. She is the first Black woman to serve as president.

David Cook, vice chancellor for public affairs and economic development at the University of Kansas, has been named president of North Dakota State University. He will replace Dean Bresciani, who plans to step down.

La Jerne Terry Cornish, interim president of Ithaca College since August 2021, has been named to the post permanently.

John E. Jones III, interim president of Dickinson College since June 2021, has been named to the post permanently.

JuliAnn Mazachek, vice president for academic affairs and chief academic officer at Washburn University, has been named the sole finalist for president of Midwestern State University.

Shari McMahan, provost and vice president for academic affairs at California State University at San Bernardino, has been named president of Eastern Washington University.

Gregory Miller, provost at Malone University, in Ohio, has been named president. He will succeed David King, who plans to retire.

Pat Pitney, interim president of the University of Alaska system since August 2020, has been named to the position permanently.

Dennis Shields, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Platteville, has been named president of the Southern University System and chancellor of Southern University and A&M College. He will succeed Ray L. Belton, who will retire in June.

Sonya Stephen, president of Mount Holyoke College, will become president of the American University of Paris in August.

Steve K. Stoute, vice president and chief of staff at DePaul University, has been named president of Canisius College, in Buffalo. He will be the first person of color to lead the college.

Julie Sullivan, president of the University of St. Thomas, in Minnesota, has been named president of Santa Clara University. She will be the first woman and first lay person to lead the university.

Melissa Taverner, who has served as interim president of Lyon College since Joseph King’s resignation in August 2021, has been named president of the college.

Donald Taylor, president of Cabrini University, in Pennsylvania, has been named president of the University of Detroit Mercy.

Cathy Young, senior vice president of Berklee College of Music and executive director of Boston Conservatory at Berklee, has been named president of Moore College of Art and Design, in Philadelphia.

Resignations
Bryan Reece, chancellor of the Contra Costa Community College District since November 2020, has resigned after being placed on administrative leave.

Retirements
Patrice Caldwell, president of Eastern New Mexico University, plans to retire on July 1.

Chris Markwood, president of Columbus State University since 2015, plans to retire on June 30. John Fuchko III, vice chancellor for organizational effectiveness at the University System of Georgia, will serve as interim president.

CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICERS
Appointments
Cynthia Barnhart, a professor of engineering and operation research in the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been named provost.

Christopher Alan Bracey, who has served as interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at George Washington University since June 2021, has been named to the position permanently.

Vini Nathan, dean and chair in the College of Architecture, Design, and Construction at Auburn University, has been named interim provost and vice president for academic affairs.

OTHER TOP ADMINISTRATORS
Appointments
Lissy Garrison, assistant vice chancellor for development at the University of Denver, has been named vice chancellor for advancement at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Gail C. Glover, director of marketing, social media, and communications at Dutchess Community College, in New York, has been named the first first vice president for strategic communications at Hartwick College.

Lorraine Goffe, vice president and chief human-resources officer at Pennsylvania State University, has been named vice president for human resources and chief human-resource officer at Northwestern University.

Heather Harbach, vice president for student development at Edgewood College, in Wisconsin, has been named vice president for student life at the University of Northern Iowa.

Krishauna Hines-Gaither, interim vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion and the director of the Intercultural Engagement Center at Guilford College, has been named the first vice president for equity, diversity, and justice at Mount Saint Mary’s University, in Los Angeles.

Mark Hussey, president of Texas A&M University at Kingsville, has been named acting vice chancellor and dean of agriculture and life sciences at Texas A&M University at College Station.

Donald (DJ) Mitchell Jr., chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer at Bellarmine University, has been named the first vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion at Molloy College.

Hart Nelson, associate vice chancellor for Workforce Solutions Group at St. Louis Community College, has been named chief operations officer at the college.

Cheryl Nuñez, vice president for equity and inclusion at Olympic College, has been named vice president for equity, inclusion, and diversity at the College of Wooster.

Marciano Perez Jr., acting vice president for student services and dean of student affairs at San Diego City College, has been named vice president for student services.

Alberto Ramos, a former director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Ridgewater College, in Minnesota, has been named the first chief diversity officer and director of diversity, equity, and social justice at Plymouth State University.

Jason Safran, interim chief investment officer at Texas Christian University since August 2021, has been named to the post permanently.

Lauri Strimkovsky, vice president for finance and administration at John Carroll University, has been named vice president for finance and administration at Albertus Magnus College.

Julie Suderman, senior vice president and chief financial officer for the Big Ten Conference, has been named vice president for business and finance and chief financial officer at Elmhurst University.

Nefertiti Walker, vice chancellor for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has been named presidential adviser for equity and inclusion.

Retirements
Susan J. Stocker, dean and chief administrative officer at Kent State University at Ashtabula, plans to retire at the end of the academic year.

DEANS
Appointments
Stuart Benkert, head of the department of performing arts at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, has been named the inaugural dean of undergraduate studies and student success at Colorado State University at Pueblo.

Tamara Floyd Smith, associate provost at Tuskegee University, has been named dean of the Leonard C. Nelson College of Engineering and Sciences at West Virginia University Institute of Technology.

Charles Moses, dean of the School of Management at the University of San Francisco, has been named dean of the Eberhardt School of Business at University of the Pacific.

Marc Hall

Annette L. Ranft, dean of the Harbert College of Business at Auburn University, has been named dean of the School of Business at Wake Forest University.

Sudha Setty, dean of the Western New England University School of Law, has been named dean of the City University of New York School of Law.

Anthony Varona, who was fired as dean of the University of Miami School of Law last year, has been named dean of the Seattle University School of Law.

Resignations
Richard Hansen, dean of Auburn University’s Harrison School of Pharmacy, has resigned after a Title IX investigation found that he had violated the university’s Policy Against Harassment and Discrimination.

OTHER ADMINISTRATORS
Appointments
Daniel Pascoe Aguilar, associate provost for Immersive Learning and Career Design at Drew University, has been named founding director of the Center for Social Justice and chief diversity officer at Excelsior College.

Kim Harmon, inspector general for the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration’s Office of Inspector General Division, has been named director of the Naifeh Center for Effective Leadership in the University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service.

Rajesh Khanna, associate director of the University of Arizona’s Health Sciences Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center, has been named director of New York University’s Pain Research Center.

Emily Morton-Owens, acting associate university librarian for IT at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, has been named associate vice provost for technology and digital initiatives at Penn Libraries.

Elaine L. Westbrooks, vice provost and university librarian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been named the Carl A. Kroch University Librarian at Cornell University.

Retirements
Maurice Apprey, associate vice president for student affairs, dean of African American Affairs, and a professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia, plans to retire in June.

Everette Fortner, associate vice president for student affairs, career, and professional development at the University of Virginia, plans to retire in June.

FACULTY
Appointments
F. Javier Cevallos, president of Framingham State University, has been named a president-in-residence at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.

ORGANIZATIONS
Appointments
Dietra Trent, a former secretary of education for the Commonwealth of Virginia and chief of staff at George Mason University, has been named executive director of the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity Through Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

DEATHS
Valerie Boyd, a writing professor at the University of Georgia and biogRapher of Zora Neale Hurston, died of cancer on February 12. She was 58.

Michael Buschmann, chair of the department of bioengineering at George Mason University, died on March 2. He was stabbed to death, allegedly by his son.

Paul Farmer, a professor of global health and social medicine at Harvard University, died on February 21. He was 62. Farmer co-founded Partners in Health, and his work in global public health gained renown with the publication of Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World (2003).

Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University and author of multiple books including The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage (1987), died on February 5. He was 79.

Yale Kamisar, a professor emeritus of law at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, died on January 30. He was 92. Kamisar’s work laid the groundwork for the Supreme Court’s 1966 Miranda decision.

Thomas J. Reeves, who served as president of Hastings College from 1985 to 1995, died on February 5. He was 86.

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