Thirteen Women Taking on New Administrative Duties in Higher Education

Khristina Gonzalez is the new assistant dean of the college for programs of access and inclusion at Princeton University in New Jersey. She was director of the Princeton Writing Center. She joined the staff at Princeton in 2012 as a postdoctoral lecturer in the writing program.

Dr. Gonzalez is a graduate of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. She earned a master’s degree at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and a Ph.D. in English from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Leykia Brill was named the inaugural assistant provost for diversity at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She has been serving as associate director for student activities at nearby Amherst College. From 2009 to 2014, she served as assistant dean and associate dean in the admissions office at Amherst.

Brill is a graduate of Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. She holds a master’s degree in higher education policy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Juliette Tennert was appointed director of economic and public policy research at the David Eccles School of Business of the University of Utah. She has served as state budget director and chief economist for the governor of Utah. Earlier in her career, Tennert was a research analyst for the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

Tennert is a graduate of the University of Chicago and earned a master’s degree in economics from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

Mary Lui was named to a five-year term as master of Timothy Dwight College on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. She is the director of graduate programs in American studies at the university. Dr. Lui joined the Yale faculty in 2000.

Dr. Lui is a graduate of Princeton University and holds a Ph.D. in history from Cornell University.

Lori S. Gonzalez was appointed vice chancellor of academic, faculty, and student affairs at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. She has been serving as special adviser to the chief academic officer of the University of North Carolina General Administration. She is the former provost at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina.

Dr. Gonzalez is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, where she majored in speech pathology and audiology. She holds a master’s degree in communication disorders from Eastern Kentucky University and a Ph.D. from the University of Florida.

Paige Briggs was promoted to director of the Office of Institutional Analytics at the University of New Mexico. She was the applications program manager in the university’s Office of Information Technology.

Briggs previously was an information technology manager for the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center and earlier was a technical analyst for Sandia National Laboratories.

Deidre Labat was appointed interim senior vice president for academic affairs at Xavier University in Louisiana. Dr. Labat is a professor emerita at the university, who retired from teaching in 2012.

Dr. Labat holds a Ph.D. from the Louisiana State University Medical Center.

Constance Harsh was named interim provost and dean of the faculty at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. She is a professor and chair of the department of English at the university. She will take on her new role on July 1.

Professor Harsh joined the faculty at Colgate in 1998. She holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, all the University of Pennsylvania.

Undi Hoffler was appointed interim vice chancellor for the Division of Research and Economic Development at North Carolina Central University in Durham. She has been serving as director of research and compliance in the university’s Office of Technology Transfer.

Dr. Hoffler is a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana, where she majored in biology. She holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology from Meharry Medical College in Nashville.

Almeda Jacks was named vice president for student affairs at Clemson University in South Carolina. She served in this position for 14 years before retiring in 2006 and then agreed to return on an interim basis this past December.

Dr. Jacks holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, all from Clemson University.

Linda Bachman was appointed director of university experimental learning at the University of Georgia. She has been serving as assistant dean in the university’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Bachman is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. She holds a master’s degree in English from the University of Michigan and a doctorate in high education management from the University of Georgia.

Leslie Parent was named vice dean for research and graduate studies for the College of Medicine and associate vice president for research at Pennsylvania State University. She has been serving as chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology at the College of Medicine.

Dr. Parent is a graduate of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and the Duke University School of Medicine.

Shannon Finning was appointed vice president for student affairs at Springfield College in Massachusetts. Since 2013, she has been serving as associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students at Clemson University in South Carolina.

Dr. Finning is a graduate of Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island. She holds a master’s degree from Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts, and a doctorate in educational leadership from Clemson University.