This Week’s News of Women Who Are Assuming New Administrative Positions

Marie A. Barber was named executive director of Extended Education and Outreach at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. She has been on campus for 20 years, most recently as director of instructional design and development for the university’s distance education programs.

Barber is a graduate of Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She holds a master’s degree in ancient history from the University of Nebraska.

Wanda Hankins Dean was appointed assistant vice president for enrollment and degree management at Virginia Tech. She has been serving as university registrar and chief transfer officer at Virginia Tech.

Dean holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Virginia Tech.

Elizabeth Keefer was named general counsel and secretary of the corporation at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Her appointment is effective October 1. She has been serving as a senior vice president at TMG Strategies in Arlington, Virginia. Prior to that she was the general counsel at Columbia University.

Keefer is a graduate of Barnard College. She earned her law degree with honors from George Washington University.

Aileen Y. Huang-Saad, assistant director for academic programs and a faculty member in the department of biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan, was named co-director of the university’s new master’s degree program in entrepreneurship.

Dr. Huang-Saad is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University.

Melissa Esbenshade was named vice president of marketing for the Carrington Colleges Group, a division of DeVry Inc. She was vice president of marketing for the Universal Technical Institute. Previously, she was a marketing executive for General Electric.

A graduate of the University of Richmond, Esbenshade earned an MBA at Arizona State University.

Kathleen Spehar was named director of The O’Shaughnessy, a performing arts center on the campus of St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Since 2007 she has been serving as managing director of the St. Paul’s History Theater. She has taught at the University of Minnesota and Florida State University.

Spehar is a graduate of Western Michigan University and holds a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota.