Ten Women Taking on New Administrative Roles in Higher Education

Romy Riddick was promoted to executive director for client services in the Office of Human Resources at Princeton University in New Jersey. She has served in the role on an interim basis since February and previously was director of diversity and inclusion in the Office of Human Resources. Earlier, she was a senior vice president at TD Bank.

Riddick is a graduate of the University of Maryland, where she majored in political science.

Courtney Burkholder is the new director of the Texas Tech University Press. She previously served on the staff at university presses in Nebraska, Texas, and Oregon. From 2004 to 2006, Burkholder was sales and marketing manager for Texas Tech University Press. From 2006 to 2013, she was director of publishing for the International Society for Technology in Education.

Burkholder is a graduate of University of Nebraska, where she majored in anthropology.

Shawnboda Mead was appointed director of the Center for Inclusion and Cross-Cultural Engagement at the University of Mississippi. She was the associate director of diversity and multicultural education at the University of Tennessee.

Mead received her undergraduate degree from Mississippi State University and a master’s degree from Western Kentucky University.

Ruth R. Faden was named the inaugural Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director of the Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Dr. Faden, the Philip Franklin Wagley Professor of Biomedical Ethics, is the founding director of the Berman Institute, which was established in 1995. Now the new endowed directorship will fund the position for many years to come.

Dr. Faden is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Chicago and a master of public health degree and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. She is the co-author of Social Justice: The Moral Foundations of Public Health and Health Policy (Oxford University Press, 2006).

Maggie Williams was appointed director of the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She is a partner in Griffin Williams Critical Point Management, a consulting firm. She is the former assistant to the President and chief of staff for First Lady Hillary Clinton. She also has served as director of communications for the Children’s Defense Fund.

Williams is a graduate of Trinity College in Washington, D.C., where she majored in political science. She earned a master’s degree in communication philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Sue Whorton was promoted to director of the academic success center at Clemson University in South Carolina. She was the director of the Bridge to Clemson and transfer programs at the university. She has been on the staff at Clemson since 2000.

Dr. Whorton is a graduate of Central Michigan University. She earned a master’s degree in college student personnel from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and a second master’s degree and a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Dayton.

Trisha Long Paschal was named vice president for institutional advancement and university relations at Clark Atlanta University. She has been serving in the post on an interim basis since February. She is the former vice president for institutional advancement at Spelman College in Atlanta.

Paschal holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in education from the University of Akron in Ohio.

Debra Williams was appointed vice president for communications and marketing for the Arizona State University Foundation. She is the founder of Pennyworth Associates, a management consulting firm. She is a former fundraising officer at Pennsylvania State University.

Williams holds an associate degree, a bachelor’s degree, and a master’s degree all from Pennsylvania State University.

Valerie Simons was named director of institutional equity and compliance at the University of Colorado Boulder.  She will serve as the university’s Title IX coordinator. She is the founder and managing member of the Education Law Group, a law firm representing students in federal civil rights cases.

Simons is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.

Janet Nelson was appointed associate vice chancellor for research at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She was director of business development for the URS Corporation.

Dr. Nelson is a graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. She earned a Ph.D. in chemistry at the California Institute of Technology.