Ten Women With New Administrative Appointments in Higher Education

Lynn Heirakuji was appointed associate director of administration for the University of Hawaii Cancer Center. She was the director of the Fair Share Initiative program which was charged with increasing the share of federal funds allocated to the state of Hawaii. She is the former deputy assistant secretary of the Army for personnel oversight in the U.S. Defense Department.

Dr. Heirakuji is a graduate of the University of Hawaii. She earned a master of social work degree from the University of Denver and a doctorate in social work from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Tamar Gutner was named associate dean for faculty affairs and graduate education at American University in Washington, D.C. She is an associate professor of international politics and international economic relations at the university.

Dr. Gutner is a graduate of Northwestern University. She earned a master’s degree in international relations from Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Barbara J. Johnson was appointed senior vice president for operations, academic support, technology, and planning at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. She has been serving as professor and chair of the department of counseling, adult and higher education, at Northern Illinois University.

Dr. Johnson is a magna cum laude graduate of Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. She earned an MBA at Ohio State University and a doctorate in education and human development from Vanderbilt University.

Meghan French was named director of external relations for Cornell/NYC Tech in New York City. She was the assistant vice president for government and community relations for Pace University.

French is a graduate of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. She holds a master’s degree from Pace University.

Naomi R. Thompson was appointed associate vice president of community, equity, and diversity at the University of Rhode Island. She was an attorney and associate director of the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity at Northeastern University in Boston.

Thompson is a graduate of Colgate University and the Suffolk University School of Law.

Kimberly O. Roskiewicz was named assistant to the president at Brown University. She has been serving as associate dean for operations at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She has been an administrator at Princeton since 2002.

Roskiewicz is a graduate of the University of Rochester. She earned a master of public health degree and an MBA at Boston University.

Harriet Davis is the new associate vice chancellor for development at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. She was assistant vice president for corporate relations at Hampton University in Virginia.

Dr. Davis holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, all from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro.

Maridith Geuder was named executive director of university relations for the Mississippi University for Women. She was director of university relations for Mississippi State University.

Geuder is a graduate of Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, where she majored in English. She holds a master’s degree in English from the University of Alabama.

Joyce Blackwell was appointed senior associate provost at Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina. She was vice president for academic affairs and a tenured professor of history at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg. She is the author of No Peace Without Freedom: Race and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 1915-1975 (Southern Illinois University Press, 2004).

Dr. Blackwell holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from North Carolina Central University in Durham. She holds a Ph.D. in women’s history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Deborah Dutton was named vice president for advancement at the University of New Hampshire and president of the UNH Foundation. She was vice president for development and alumni relations at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

Dutton is a graduate of the University of Maine, where she majored in journalism. She earned a master’s degree in business management from Lesley College.