New Administrative Posts for 22 Women at U.S. Colleges and Universities

Maria Elana Chelala was named head of school for the University of Miami Global Academy. The university’s preparatory school is for students in grades 6 to 12. She has been an adjunct professor of early childhood education at Nova Southeastern University.

Dr. Chelala is a graduate of the University of Miami. She holds a master’s degree and an educational doctorate from Nova Southeastern University.

Stacie Mercier was named interim executive director of the University of Southern Mississippi Foundation. She has been a member of the staff at the foundation for the past 10 years.

Mercier holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in professional accountancy from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Susan R. Rugh was appointed associate dean for general education at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. She joined the faculty at the university in 1997 and previously served as associate dean of the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences.

Dr. Rugh is a graduate of Brigham Young University, where she majored in history. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Chicago.

Amy Glynn was named senior director of executive communications at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is the former associate vice chancellor for university relations at the university.

Glynn is a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she major in English. She holds a second bachelor’s degree in computer science from City University of New York and a master’s degree in educational technology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Inge-Lise Ameer was named vice provost for student affairs at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. She has been serving as interim Dean of the College. Previously, Ameer was senior associate dean and has led the Student Academic Support Services and Campus Life units of the Dean of the College division.

Before joining the staff at Dartmouth College, Ameer was an assistant dean at Harvard University.

Tamica Smith Jones was named director of intercollegiate athletics at the University of California, Riverside. She has been serving as senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Dr. Jones is a graduate of Alabama A&M University, where she majored in business administration. She holds a master of public administration degree from Savannah State University and a Ph.D. in business administration from Warren National University.

Margaret Klawunn was appointed vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has been serving as vice president for campus life and student services at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Dr. Brown has served on the staff at Brown for 19 years. She is the former director of the university’s Sarah Doyle Women’s Center.

Dr. Klawunn is a graduate of Colby College in Waterville, Maine, where she majored in English. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English literature from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Megan Fitch was named director of Instruction and Information Technology Services and chief information officer at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. She was the chief information officer at Beloit College in Wisconsin.

Fitch is a graduate of Grinnell College in Iowa. She holds a master’s degree in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia and a master of library and information science degree from the University of Michigan.

Mautra Jones was named vice president of institutional advancement and external affairs at Langston University in Oklahoma. She will also serve as executive director of the Langston University Foundation. She was the director of development for White Fields Inc., a nonprofit organization that cares for abused and neglected boys who are wards of the state of Oklahoma.

Jones is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and holds an MBA.

Terri Yvette Ofori is the new chaplain at Bloomfield College in New Jersey. She has been serving as the interim pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Levittown. Previously, she has held chaplain posts at Brown University, Wellesley College, Emerson College, and Simmons College.

Rev. Ofori is a graduate of the Mississippi University for Women in Columbus. She is a graduate of the Princeton Theological Seminary and holds a master of divinity degree from Harvard University.

Hannah Levinson is the inaugural director of entrepreneurship and innovation at Davidson College in North Carolina. She was operations and communications manager for Social Venture Partners.

Levinson holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a master’s degree in ethics and applied philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Kathleen Bobbitt was named director of student financial aid at the University of Wyoming. She has served as interim director since March and has been on the staff of the financial aid office since 1990.

Bobbitt is a graduate of the University of Wyoming, where she majored in accounting.

Terri Fiez was appointed vice chancellor for research at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She was director of strategic initiatives and a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Oregon State University. She had been on the faculty at Oregon State since 1999.

Dr. Fiez holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Idaho. She earned a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering at Oregon State University.

Tammara Durham, vice provost for student affairs at the University of Kansas, will take on the additional duties of interim vice provost for undergraduate studies. She has been on the administrative staff at the university since 1998.

Dr. Durham holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield. She earned doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Kansas.

Brittany Longsdorf was named the next multifaith chaplain at Bates College in Maine. She has been serving as a chaplain at Boston University.

Rev. Longsdorf is a graduate of Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa. She holds a master of divinity degree from the Princeton Theological Seminary and is working on a doctorate in ministry at Boston University.

Geovette E. Washington was appointed senior vice chancellor and chief legal officer at the University of Pittsburgh. She has been serving as general counsel and senior policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget in Washington, D.C.

Washington is a summa cum laude graduate of Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. She earned her law degree at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Jane Gordon was named interim vice provost for University of Oregon programs in Portland. She has been on the university’s staff for 25 years, most recently serving as senior project leader for the Office of Academic Affairs.

Gordon is graduate of Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York. She earned her law degree at the University of Oregon.

Amanda Kruger Hill was appointed executive director of the Cowen Institute at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. The institute’s goals are to support public education and student success in New Orleans.

Hill holds a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of California, Berkeley.

Vivian May was named director of the Humanities Center at Syracuse University in New York. She is an associate professor and chair of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the university. Dr. May’s latest book is Pursuing Intersectionality, Unsettling Dominant Imaginaries (Routledge, 2015).

Dr. May is a graduate of McGill University in Montreal. She holds a Ph.D. in women’s studies from Emory University in Atlanta.

Denise Drury was promoted to executive director of the Fine Art Museum on the campus of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. She joined the staff at the museum in 2010 as a curatorial specialist.

Drury holds a master’s degree in art administration from Florida State University.

Heather Stur was appointed co-director of the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Southern Mississippi. She is an associate professor of history at the university and a fellow of the Dale Center for the Study of War and Society. Dr. Stur is the author of Beyond Combat: Women and Gender in the Vietnam War Era (Cambridge University Press, 2011).

Dr. Stur holds bachelor’s and master’s degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She earned a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin.

Debora Halbert was named associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. She is an associate professor and chair of the political science department at the university. From 1996 to 2008, Dr. Halbert taught at Otterbein College in Ohio.

Dr. Halbert holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Western Washington University in Bellingham. She earned a Ph.D. in political science at the University of Hawaii.