Three Women University Executives Announce They Are Stepping Down

Mary H. Manhein, the director of Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services (FACES) at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, has announced that she is retiring on April 30. Manhein also serves as the director of the Louisiana Repository for Unidentified and Missing Persons Information Program.

Manhein, who holds a master’s degree from Louisiana State University, is the author of three nonfiction books including the autobiographical work The Bone Lady: Life as a Forensic Anthropologist (Louisiana State University Press, 1999) and a novel, Floating Souls: The Canal Murders (Margaret Media, 2012).

Brenda Thompson, associate vice president for enrollment management at West Virginia University, will step down from her post on March 1. She has served in her current role since 2002. Thompson will continue her ties with the university by serving as senior adviser for student aid strategies for the vice president of administration and finance.

Thompson is a graduate of Concord University in Athens, West Virginia, where she majored in elementary education. She holds an MBA from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.

Leslie Taylor, chief legal counsel at Montana State University, has announced that she will retire in June. She has served as the chief legal counsel to five university presidents over the past quarter century.

Taylor is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Montana Law School.