Nine Women Taking on New Administrative Duties in Higher Education

Regina Biddings-Muro was named interim vice chancellor for advancement at the Calumet campus of Purdue University. She has been serving as executive assistant to the chancellor for engagement at the university. She joined the university administration in 2004.

Biddings-Muro holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Purdue University-Calumet.

Sherri Jones is the new vice president for institutional advancement and executive director of the foundation at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She has served as director of alumni affairs at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, and senior executive director of alumni affairs for Columbia College in New York City.

Jones is a graduate of Cornell University and has done graduate work at Lehigh University.

Angela D. Simmons was appointed director of student conduct at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She was director of the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. Previously, she was assistant dean of students at Florida State University.

Simmons holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Mississippi State University. She is completing an educational doctorate at Florida State University.

Christine Tschida was named director of the Northrop at the University of Minnesota. For the past decade, she has been director of theatre projects for Rena Shagan Associates in New York City. The Northrop, which is undergoing extensive renovations, is a center for performing arts and also houses classrooms, offices, and meeting space.

Tschida is a graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she majored in theater and humanities.

Belle S. Woodward was named interim director of the School of Information Systems and Applied Technologies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She is an associate professor in information system technologies at the university.

Professor Woodward joined the university’s faculty in 2004. She holds bachelor’s degrees in computer science and business economics from the University of Bamberg in Germany. She earned a master’s degree from Webster University in St. Louis.

Beth Reynolds was appointed director of the National Dropout Prevention Center at Clemson University in South Carolina. She was a consultant for the Pioneer Regional Education Service Agency of the Georgia Department of Education.

Dr. Reynolds holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from the University of South Carolina.

Susan Bender is the new executive director of international engagement and programs at the University of Idaho. Since 1996, she has been the director of the Office of International Students and Scholars at the University of Nevada at Reno.

Dr. Bender holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Colorado State University in Fort Collins. She earned a Ph.D. in political science and environmental policy from the University of Nevada.

Remica Bingham-Risher was named director of writing and faculty development at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. She was the writing competency coordinator in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment at Norfolk State University.

Bingham-Risher is a magna cum laude graduate of Old Dominion University. She earned a master of fine arts degree from Bennington College in Vermont.

Barb Smith was named executive communications manager at the University of Utah. In this role, she will serve as a speechwriter for the university’s president, among other duties.

Smith has spent the last 20 years as a reporter and news anchor for KTVX television, the ABC affiliate in Salt Lake City.