New Roles for Four Women

Michelle Garfield Cooke was named interim associate provost for institutional diversity at the University of Georgia. She has been serving as associate dean at the university’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. She also teaches history and African-American studies courses.

Dr. Cooke is a graduate of Princeton University. She holds a master’s degree from Yale University and a Ph.D. in history from Duke University.

Melinda Burke, director of the Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing at the University of Arizona, was named president and executive director of the University of Arizona Alumni Association. She will assume her new position on June 27.

Burke holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Arizona and has been on the staff of the university since 1993.

Martha J. Somerman, dean of the School of Dentistry  and professor of periodontology at the University of Washington, was named director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. She will begin her new job on August 29. She has been on the faculty at the University of Washington for the past nine years. Previously she was a professor at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Somerman received her dental training at New York University. She also holds a Ph.D. from the University of Rochester.

Jill Johnson was named director of the dance program and senior lecturer of music at Harvard University. Johnson, a graduate of the National Ballet School of Canada, has previously taught at Princeton University, Barnard College, New York University, Yale University, the Julliard School and the Joffrey Ballet School.