Nine Appointments of Women to High-Level Administrative Positions in Academia

Veronica Gonzales was named vice president for university advancement at the University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg. Her appointment is effective on July 1. Gonzales is a four-term Democratic state representative from McAllen. Earlier this year, she announced that she would not be seeking reelection.

Gonzales is a graduate of Texas State University San Marcos, where she majored in English and Spanish. After completing her undergraduate studies, she enrolled in the University of Texas School of Law and earned her degree in 1991.

Gail Williams is the new chief diversity director at Hodges University in Naples, Florida. More than half the students at Hodges University are from underrepresented minority groups.

Williams also serves as director of student accounts at the university. In her new position, Williams will join the Naples chapter of the Florida Diversity Council.

Gage E. Paine was appointed vice president for student affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Her appointment is effective on August 1. For the past five years, she has served in the same post at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Dr Paine is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. She holds a law degree from Texas Tech University and a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Texas.

Tiffany Kirkland was named associate director of communications for enrollment management at Syracuse University in New York. She has been serving as director of corporate marketing for higher education for The College Board. Previously, she was director of communications at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta.

Kirkland is a graduate of Clemson University in South Carolina and holds an MBA from Olgethorpe University.

Sharon Hargrave was appointed director of the Boone Center for the Family at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. She has been serving as director of the Strong Marriages/Successful Ministries program at the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

Hargrave is a graduate of Biola University in La Miranda, California. She earned a master’s degree in marriage and family counseling from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

Jacqueline O’Bryant is the new coordinator for diversity programs at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis in Tennessee. She is the former deputy prosecuting attorney for Pulaski County, Arkansas. She also was an adjunct professor at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas.

O’Bryant is a graduate of Alcorn State University in Mississippi and the Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Marcia France was appointed associate dean of the college at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. She is the Herwick Professor of Chemistry at the university. She has been on the Washington and Lee faculty since 1994.

Dr. France is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She holds a master’s degree from Yale University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology.

Jamie Shutter was named director of University Health Services at the University of Texas at Austin. She has served as interim director since last September and has been with the division for 23 years.

Shutter holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Southern Illinois University.

Virginia Arthur was appointed provost and vice president of academic affairs at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Since 2009, she has been the associate provost for faculty affairs at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Rapids. Previously, she served on the faculty at the College of St. Benedict of Saint John’s University in Minnesota.

Arthur is a graduate of Syracuse University and the law school of American University in Washington, D.C.