Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, has announced the appointment of three women as directors of three cultural centers on campus. All three women appointees will also hold the title as assistant dean for Yale College.
Rise Nelson Burrow was named director of the Afro-American Cultural Center, effective July 31. Since 2012, Burrow has been director of student success programs in the Office of Academic Diversity Initiatives at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Burrow is a graduate of Northeastern University in Boston, where she majored in English and multiethnic American studies. She earned a master’s degree in higher and postsecondary education from Teachers College at Columbia University.
Eileen Galvez will be the new director of La Casa Cultural at Yale. Since 2013, she has been the assistant director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington. Earlier in her career, she worked in the Office of Student Life at Austin Community College in Texas. Galvez holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Texas State University in San Marcos.
Kelly Fayard was appointed director of the Native American Cultural Center. She has been an assistant professor of anthropology at Bowdoin College in Maine. She is a member of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in southern Alabama. Dr. Fayard is a graduate of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where she majored in cultural anthropology and religion. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology and a certificate in museum studies from the University of Michigan.
Dr. Soufleris, a three-time alumna of the State University of New York System, has more than 35 years of higher education experience spanning student affairs, enrollment management, retention, and student success initiatives.
Most recently, Dr. Van Vlerah served as vice president for student success and institutional strategy at Manchester University in Indiana. She is slated to become the fifteenth president of Notre Dame of Maryland University on July 6.
Dr. Egan comes to her new role as president of Bennington College from Connecticut College, where she has been serving as the Fuller-Maathai Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies, dean of the faculty, and chief academic officer.
Dr. Pfluger has spent the past year as Bakersfield College's interim president. She previously served as vice chancellor of educational services and student success at the Kern Community College District.
Dr. Geneco comes to her new role from Tufts University in Massachusetts, where she has served as provost for the past four years. She is slated become the University at Buffalo's first woman president on August 10.