Nine Women in New Administrative Roles at Colleges and Universities

Shamis Abdi is the new chief of staff to the president of Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. She was the director of operations for the Girls Preparatory Charter School in New York City.

Abdi is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in sociology. She earned an MBA at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.

Leslie C. Davis was named president of the Hospital and Community Services Division of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She was serving as president of the Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia.

Davis is a graduate of the University of South Florida. She holds a master’s degree in business education from Harvard University.

Lisa Cassis was appointed interim vice president for research at the University of Kentucky. She is a professor and chair of the department of molecular and biomedical pharmacology at the university.

Professor Cassis holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from West Virginia University.

DaVida Plummer Vanderploeg was named director of the William R. Harvey Leadership Institute at Hampton University in Virginia. She has been on the faculty at the university since 2012 as an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Communication.

Vanderploeg holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in communication from Ohio University.

Cynthia J. Brown was appointed director of the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She will also serve as director of the university’s Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging. She has been on the faculty at the university since 2003.

Dr. Brown earned a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, and completed her medical degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also earned a master of public health degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Naila M. Mamoon is the new director of the Office of Premedicine and Allied Health Professions at Davidson College in North Carolina. She was the pre-health director at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi.

A native of Bangladesh, Dr. Mamoon is a graduate of Dhaka University. She came to the United States in 1992 and earned a doctoral degree in pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Mississippi.

LaTanya Buck was named the inaugural director of the Center for Diversity and Inclusion at Washington University in St. Louis. She was director of the Cross Cultural Center at Saint Louis University.

Buck holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations and a master’s degree in college student personnel administration from the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg . She is a doctoral candidate in higher education administration at Saint Louis University.

Jennifer Tiffany is the new executive director of Cornell University Cooperative Extension of New York City. She has served in the position on an interim basis since November 2013. She will continue in her role as associate director of Cornell Cooperative Extension in the College of Human Ecology.

Dr. Tiffany is a graduate of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in city and regional planning from Cornell University.

Karen A. Dowling was named director of academic programs in the School of Educational Leadership at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion. She was serving as director of adult teacher licensure programs at the university.

Dr. Dowling holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, all from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.