Ten Women Taking on New Administrative Roles in Higher Education

Jameca W. Falconer was appointed counseling psychologist in the Office of Student Services at the Logan College of Chiropractic in Chesterfield, Missouri. She has been serving as clinical assistant professor in the dental school of the University of Southern Illinois at Edwardsville.

Dr. Falconer is a graduate of Tougaloo College in Mississippi, where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Missouri at Columbia.

Julie L. Dolan was named executive vice president and treasurer at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Since 2010, she has been vice president for finance and treasurer at Fairfield University in Connecticut. She will begin her new duties on August 19.

Dolan is a graduate of Stanford University and holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Sara Morris was named chief of police at Wichita State University. Morris has 26 years of law enforcement experience and was the first woman homicide detective in the history of the Wichita Police Department. When she takes office, she will be the first woman police chief at any university under the control of the Kansas Board of Regents.

Morris is a graduate of Kansas State University and holds a master’s degree from Wichita State University.

Christine Hardy was appointed senior director for professional veterinary medicine student services at Colorado State University. She has been serving as director of operations for the Animal Cancer Center at Colorado State University, Flint.

Dr. Hardy is a graduate of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She holds a master of public health degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA and a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Colorado State University.

Casandra Sipes was named associate director of alumni relations and director of involvement at Boise State University in Idaho. Since serving as assistant alumni director at Boise State from 200o to 2004, Sipes has held marketing positions with several Boise-area organizations.

Sipes ia a 1997 graduate of Boise State University, where she majored in communication.

Kathryn E. Meier was appointed associate dean for graduate education and scholarship at Washington State University. She has been serving as the director of the program in nutrition and exercise physiology. She has been on the university’s faculty for 10 years and has served as chair of the department of pharmaceutical sciences. Previously, she served on the faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina for 12 years.

Dr. Meier holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Wisconsin.

Marti K.S. Heil was named vice president for development and alumni relations at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. She has been serving as senior vice president for development at the Indiana University Foundation. She will begin her new job on September 15.

Heil is a graduate of Michigan State University and after graduation worked for 29 years in fundraising positions at the university.

Lori S. Gentles was appointed vice president for human resources/diversity and inclusion at California State University, Fullerton. She has been serving as associate vice president for human resources, safety, and risk management at San Francisco State University.

Gentles is a graduate of Arizona State University, where she majored in interpersonal communication. She holds a master’s degree in counseling from the University of Phoenix and an MBA from Saint Mary’s College.

Joan Bienvenue is the new director of the University of Virginia’s Applied Research Institute. She was chief scientist and program manager at defense contractor Lockheed Martin.

Dr. Bienvenue is a graduate of Rivier University in Nashua, New Hampshire. She holds a master’s degree in forensic science from the University of New Haven in Connecticut and an MBA from the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She earned a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Virginia.

Penny Yee was named associate dean of the faculty at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. She is a professor of psychology at the college.

Dr. Yee holds a Ph.D. in human experimental psychology from the University of Oregon.