Sixteen Women Who Have Been Appointed to New Administrative Positions in Higher Education

Hokulani Aikau was named general education director at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She is an associate professor of native Hawaiian and indigenous politics at the university. She is the author of A Chosen People, A Promised Land: Mormonism and Race in Hawaii (University of Minnesota Press, 2012).

Dr. Aikau is a graduate of the University of Utah, where she majored in women’s studies. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Memphis and a Ph.D. in American studies from the University of Minnesota.

Janet Kistner was appointed interim vice president for faculty development and advancement at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Since 2012, Dr. Kistner has been associate vice president for academic affairs. From 2002 to 2012, she chaired the university’s psychology department.

Professor Kistner is a graduate of Rutgers University in New Jersey. She holds a Ph.D. in psychology from Binghamton University of the State University of New York System.

Kari Peterson was named director of creative services in the Office of Advancement Communication and Marketing at Ohio University. For the past 15 years, she has worked in communication design at the university’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Peterson is a graduate of Ohio University and is working on a master’s degree in commercial photography.

Jennie Levine Knies was appointed head librarian at the Wilkes-Barre campus of Pennsylvania State University. Since 2012, she has been manager of digital programs and initiatives at the University of Maryland Libraries.

Knies holds a bachelor’s degree in Russian studies and a master of library science degree from the University of Maryland.

Linda Hack is the new director of benefits and compensation in the department of human resources at Washington University in St. Louis. She joined the staff at the university in 1999.

Hack is a graduate of Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri, where she majored in business.

Barbara Grover was promoted to vice president of institutional effectiveness and planning at Salt Lake Community College in Utah. She was assistant provost for institutional effectiveness.

Grover is a graduate of Princeton University in New Jersey. She holds a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Oregon.

Sarah Porter was named the inaugural director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy in the Morrison Institute for Public Policy on the campus of Arizona State University. Since 2010, Porter has been the executive director of Audubon Arizona.

Porter is a graduate of Harvard University and the Arizona State University College of Law.

Melinda K. Hartwig was appointed curator of ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art at the Michael C. Carlos Museum on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta. She was a professor of Egyptian and Near Eastern art and archaeology at Georgia State University.

Dr. Hartwig is a graduate of Pitzer College in Claremont, California. She holds a master’s degree in Near Eastern studies from the University of California, Berkeley and a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern art and archaeology from New York University.

Emma Sky, a senior fellow at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale University, was appointed to a three-year term as director of the Yale World Fellows Program. The initiative brings mid-career professionals from around the world to Yale for a four-month leadership development program.

Sky is a graduate of the University of Oxford in England, where she majored in Oriental studies.

Debra Bright was appointed associate dean of student services at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland. She was interim associate dean of student services at the College.

Dr. Bright is a graduate of Syracuse University in New York. She holds a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and an educational doctorate from The George Washington University.

Linda Wolk-Simon was named the director of the Bellarmine Museum and the Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery at Fairfield University in Connecticut. She will also serve as university curator. Dr. Wolk-Simon spent the last two years as the Charles W. Engelhard Curator and Department Head at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. Previously, she was the curator of drawings and prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Dr. Wolk-Simon is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan. She also holds a Ph.D. in the history of art from the University of Michigan.

Rita Sheffey was appointed the inaugural assistant dean for public service at the Emory University School of Law. For the past decade, she has been a partner at the Hunton & Williams law firm.

Dr. Sheffey is a graduate of the University of Virginia. She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Duke University and earned her law degree at the Boston College Law School.

Kathy Humphrey was named senior vice chancellor for engagement and chief of staff for the chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh. For the past nine years, she has served as vice provost and dean of students at the university.

Dr. Humphrey is a graduate of Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg. She holds a master’s degree in higher education administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a doctorate in educational leadership from Saint Louis University.

Kelly K. Mahoney is the new executive director of external relations and communications at the University of Rhode Island. She was the policy director for the gubernatorial campaign of Clay Pell and previously was director of policy for former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee.

Mahoney is a 2002 graduate of the University of Rhode Island and holds a master’s degree in leadership from Northeastern University in Boston.

Rosalynn Martin was named associate vice chancellor for human resources at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She has been serving as director of human resources at Jacksonville State University in Alabama.

Dr. Martin is a graduate of Alcorn State University in Mississippi. She holds an MBA from Jackson State University in Mississippi and an educational doctorate from the University of Memphis.

Nena Bauman was appointed senior director of development for the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. She was the director of development for the College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio State University.

Bauman is a graduate of Ohio State University. She holds a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master of divinity degree from the Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio.