Eight Women Who Are Assuming New Administrative Duties in Higher Education

Susan Ambrose was named vice provost for teaching and learning and professor of education at Northeastern University in Boston. She has been serving as associate provost for education and director of the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Ambrose will begin her new assignment on August 1.

Dr. Ambrose is the co-author of How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching (Jossey-Bass, 2010). She holds a doctorate in American history from Carnegie Mellon University.

Sherry J. Fontaine was appointed director of the master of public health program at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. She was associate dean for graduate education and director of Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Center. Previously, she was associate professor and director of the master of healthcare leadership program at Park University in Parkville, Missouri.

Dr. Fontaine is a graduate of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in city and regional planning from Cornell University.

Kimberly Valentine was named executive director of gift planning and principal gifts at Scripps College in Claremont, California. Since 2002, she has been director of planned giving at the Huntington Library in California. She will begin her new role on July 1.

Valentine is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles. She holds an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Deborah Buchanan is the new vice president for academic affairs at Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee. She has been serving as chair of the college’s division of liberal studies and education.

A native of Pittsburgh, Dr. Buchanan is a summa cum laude graduate of Howard University. She holds a Ph.D. in theology and culture from Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California.

Susan Balcom Walton was appointed vice president for university and public affairs at the University of North Dakota. Her appointment is effective on July 2. She was an associate professor of public relations and associate chair for student media in the department of communications at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. She previously taught at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York.

Walton holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brigham Young University.

Penny Helms White was promoted to director of parent and alumni relations for the division of student affairs at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. Since 2009 she has been director of development for student affairs and parent support at the university. She previously was director of special and annual giving at Radford University in Virginia.

White holds a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from Radford University.

Jamie B. Kidd was named assistant director of administration at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis in Tennessee.

A native of Huntsville, Alabama, Kidd is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. She is a 2011 graduate of the law school at the University of Memphis.

Mariya Omelicheva, an associate professor of political science at the University of Kansas, was appointed acting director of the university’s Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies.

Dr. Omelicheva holds a Ph.D. in political science from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.