Thirteen Women With New Administrative Posts in Higher Education

C. Denise Yarbrough was named director of religious and spiritual life at the University of Rochester. For the past eight years, Rev. Yarbrough has served as the canon for interfaith and ecumenical relations for the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester.

Rev. Yarbrough is a graduate of Barnard College in New York City and the University of Michigan Law School. She holds master’s and doctoral degrees from the Princeton Theological Seminary.

LaTanya M. Junior is the new executive director for communications at Jackson State University in Mississippi. She was the chief marketing officer and communication director at the American Association of Advertising Agencies Center for Excellence at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Junior is the author of Creating Your Own Marketing Blueprint in Nine Simple Steps and Thumbology: Defining Your Desired Direction Step by Step.

Rosemary Anne Mathewson was appointed divisional dean of the School of Continuing and Professional Studies and associate vice president of university enterprise initiatives at New York University. She was a senior vice president for distributed and global education at The New School. She is the former assistant dean of the executive development program at the Stern School of Business at NYU.

Mathewson is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the Brooklyn Law School. She also holds a master’s degree in taxation from the New York University School of Law.

Raylene Rospond was named vice provost for operations at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. In June 2013 she will become deputy provost. Currently, she serves as dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at the university. She has been on the faculty of the university since 1997.

Dr. Rospond is a graduate of Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. She holds a doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of Texas.

Donna L. Harper was promoted to vice president for access and enrollment management at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She has been a member of the president’s senior leadership team since 2001 and has served as secretary for the university’s board of visitors. She has been on the staff at the university since 1977.

Harper holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from James Madison University.

Brenda Lantz was appointed director of the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at North Dakota State University. Dr. Lantz joined the institute in 1990 as a graduate research assistant.

Dr. Lantz holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in applied statistics from North Dakota State University. She earned a Ph.D. in business administration from Pennsylvania State University.

Heather Herman was promoted to director of strategic partnerships for the College of Engineering at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She was a program coordinator for the Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs in the university’s School of Mass Communication.

A native of Texas, Herman is a 2000 graduate of Louisiana State University.

Christy Jackson was appointed director of media, marketing, and communications at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. She was the assistant director of university relations at Radford University in Virginia.

Jackson holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in corporate and professional communication from Radford University.

Tita Reed was named special assistant to the president for community and government relations at Oberlin College in Ohio. She was an economic development and housing officer for the planning and development office of the City of Oberlin.

Reed is a graduate of Lorain County Community College and holds a bachelor’s degree from Cleveland State University.

Jan Kostner was named deputy director for events and marketing at the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago. She is the former deputy director at the Illinois Bureau of Tourism.

“After a career in the public and private sectors, I am looking forward to helping make the University of Chicago a center for provocative political debate and stimulating events, and to exposing young people to opportunities in the public square,” Kostner said.

Julia Sprunt Grumbles was appointed interim vice chancellor for advancement at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was the co-chair of the Women’s Leadership Council of the university’s recent fundraising campaign. Grumbles is the former corporate vice president of Turner Broadcasting in Atlanta.

A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Grumbles is a 1975 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Katherine Burton Jones was named assistant director and research adviser for the master of liberal arts program in museum studies for the Harvard University Extension School. She has taught courses in museum studies at Harvard for the past 10 years. She is the former assistant dean for information technology and media services at Harvard Divinity School.

Jones holds a master’s degree in anthropology from Florida State University.

Janine Iamunno was appointed executive director of university relations at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She was a senior manager of communications for MTV and former senior director of public relations for CNN.

Iamunno is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.