New Posts in Higher Education Administration for 14 Women

Maria E. Hamilton Abegunde was named the inaugural director of the Graduate Mentorship Center at Indiana University in Bloomington. This spring Dr. Abegunde was the first person to earn a Ph.D. from the university’s African American and African Diaspora Studies program.

Dr. Abegunde will also serve as a visiting lecturer in the Black studies program at the university. She is a graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and holds a master degree in women’s and gender studies from DePaul University in Chicago.

Patricia S. Smith was appointed director of Multicultural Programs and Services at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. She was serving as associate director of housing and residence life at the university. She has been on the staff at Virginia Tech since 2005.

Smith is a graduate of Clemson University in South Carolina. She holds a master’s degree from Texas A&M University and an MBA from Virginia Tech.

Belkis Torres-Capeles was named executive director of continuing education at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. She was vice president of programs for the Boulder Institute of Microfinance.

Dr. Torres-Capeles holds a bachelor’s degree in communications, a master’s degree in liberal arts, counseling, and conflict management, and a doctorate in the cultural foundation of education, leadership, and administration, all from Kent State University in Ohio.

Cecilia Rivera was appointed the inaugural Greek life coordinator at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne. For the past five years, she has held a post in the Greek life office at the University of Toledo in Ohio.

Rivera is a graduate of the University of Toledo, where she majored in criminal justice.

Jennifer Seal was promoted to vice president for planning and institutional research at Pearl River Community College in Poplarville, Mississippi. She has been on the staff at the college since 2006 and most recently has been serving as director of institutional effectiveness.

Dr. Seal holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics education from the University of Southern Mississippi and a doctorate in community college leadership from Mississippi State University.

Nevada Winrow was named director of institutional research and reporting at the Carey School of Business of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She was dean of special projects in the division of academic affairs at Baltimore City Community College.

Dr. Winrow is a graduate of The Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in neuropsychology from Howard University in Washington, D.C. She completed two post-doctoral fellowships at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Cindy Claycomb was appointed director of WSU Ventures, an organization that is charged with spurring innovation and entrepreneurship at Wichita State University in Kansas. She has been serving as interim dean of the School of Business at the university.

Dr. Claycomb hold a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from Wichita State University. She earned a Ph.D. at Oklahoma State University.

Stacy Strauss is the new associate director of the Innovation Center at Ohio University in Athens. She director of career services and a student affairs coordinator at Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio.

Strauss is a graduate of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where she majored in history. She holds a master’s degree in education from Ohio State University.

Jenny Tate was appointed campus communication officer for the Gulf Park Campus of the University of Southern Mississippi in Long Beach. She has been serving as chief of marketing and development for the Mississippi Museum of Art.

Tate is a graduate of Mississippi College in Clinton. She holds a master’s degree in communication studies from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Jin Liu was named director of the new Princeton Center in Beijing. The center supports students, faculty, and staff of Princeton University who are studying or conducting research in China. Liu was the assistant director of the Columbia University Global Center in East Asia.

Liu is a graduate of Shanghai Maritime University, where she majored in business English. She holds a master of public administration degree from Kansas State University and a master’s degree in financial management from New York University.

Joyce Wilkerson was appointed senior adviser to the president for community relations and development at Temple University in Philadelphia. She was the executive director of the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority and previously served as chief of staff for former Philadelphia Mayor John Street.

Wilkerson is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

Carol Dillon Kissal was named vice president for finance and chief financial officer at Emory University in Atlanta. For the past five years, she has served as the chief financial officer for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. She is the former treasurer of Amtrak.

Kissal holds an MBA in corporate finance from the Lubin School of Business at Pace University in New York.

Kim Spang was promoted to vice president for development and college relations at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. She has been serving in the post on an interim basis since April. Previously, she served for four years as associate vice president. Earlier in her career, Spang was a senior sales and marketing manager for Walt Disney Company.

Spang is a graduate of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania.

Angel Mason was appointed associate director of athletics at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. For the past two years, she was an assistant athletics director at the California Institute of Technology.

Mason is a graduate of Butler University in Indianapolis, where she majored in communication. She holds a master’s degree in sports management from California University of Pennsylvania.