Nineteen Women With New Administrative Posts at U.S. Colleges and Universities

Renee Baumgartner was appointed director of athletics at Santa Clara University in California. She was deputy athletics director and chief of staff for athletics at Syracuse University in New York. She joined the staff at Syracuse University in 2011 after 17 years on the athletics staff at the University of Oregon.

Dr. Baumgartner is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where she was captain of the golf team. She holds a master’s degree and a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Oregon.

Laura Jacek was promoted to assistant dean of the Graduate School at the University of Oregon. She has been serving as assistant registrar for operations at the university.

Dr. Jacek holds a master’s degree in geography and cartography from San Diego State University. She earned a Ph.D. in geography at Oregon State University.

Donna A. Boswell was elected chair of the board of trustees at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She recently retired as partner in the health group of the law firm Hogan Lovells. She has served on the faculty at Wesleyan University. Dr. Boswell is the first woman to chair the Wake Forest board of trustees.

Dr. Boswell holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Wake Forest University. She earned a law degree at the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. at Pennsylvania State University.

Redgina Hill was appointed director of diversity and inclusion at Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana. Since 2010, she has been an admissions counselor at the college.

Hill is a graduate of Indiana University in Bloomington. She earned a master’s degree in business from Indiana Wesleyan University and is currently pursuing a doctorate in higher education from Azusa Pacific University.

Casey Maugh Funderburk was named interim associate provost at the Gulf Park campus of the University of Southern Mississippi in Long Beach. She is the associate chair of interdisciplinary studies at the Gulf Park campus. She joined the faculty at the university in 2008 as an assistant professor of communication studies.

Dr. Maugh Funderburk is a graduate of Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama. She holds a master’s degree from Colorado State University and a Ph.D. in communication arts and sciences from Pennsylvania State University.

Nyeema Watson was named assistant chancellor for civic engagement at Rutgers University-Camden. She has been serving in the post on an interim basis for the past year. From 2010 to 2014, Dr. Watson was director of public school relationships for the Office of Civic Engagement at the university.

Dr. Watson holds a bachelor’s degree and a doctoral degree in childhood studies from Rutgers University-Camden. She also earned a master’s degree in education/psychological services from the University of Pennsylvania.

Kathy E. Johnson, a professor psychology at Indiana University/Purdue University Indianapolis, was given the additional responsibility of serving a one-year term as interim executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer at the university.

Professor Johnson joined the faculty at the university in 1993. Dr. Johnson holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Massachusetts. She earned a Ph.D. at Emory University in Atlanta.

Allison C. Perkins was appointed associate provost for Reynolda House and Reynolda Gardens at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Since 2006, she has served as executive director of the Reynolda House Museum of American Art. The Reynolda complex is a 178-acre area that once was the estate of tobacco kingpin R.J. Reynolds.

Perkins received a bachelor’s degree in art history from Lake Forest College in Illinois. Before joining the staff at Wake Forest, she was the deputy director of the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Susan M. Barone is the new executive director of global learning and education at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She has been serving a director of the English Language Center at the university, and will continue to do so.

Dr. Barone joined the staff at Vanderbilt University in 1991.

Nyote Calixte is the inaugural director of academic engagement and quantitative sciences in the Academic Advising Center at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Dr. Calixte is a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans. She earned a Ph.D. in chemistry at Louisiana State University.

Nila Bhakuni was appointed director of technology transfer in the Office of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. She was director of the Office of Technology Transfer at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

Bhakuni holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Ohio State University and an MBA in marketing and strategy from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Lisa Cassis was named vice president for research at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Cassis has served on the faculty at the university since 1988 and currently is a professor in the College of Pharmacy.

Professor Cassis holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from West Virginia University.

Ericka Zimmerman is the new director of the School of Health Sciences at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. Dr. Zimmerman was an associate professor and chair of the department of athletic training at the University of Charleston in West Virginia.

Dr. Zimmerman holds a master’s degree from Indiana State University in Terre Haute and a doctorate in leadership studies from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.

Jaime Russell was promoted to director of the Office of Student Leadership and Engagement at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She was the assistant director and joined the staff at the university in 2012.

Russell holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in student personnel services from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She is pursuing an educational doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

Karla Mongeon-Stewart was appointed associate vice president for finance at the University of North Dakota. She was the chief financial officer at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana.

Mongeon-Stewart is a graduate of North Dakota State University, where she majored in business and accounting. She earned an MBA at the University of Mary in Bismark, North Dakota.

Toni DiChiacchio was named assistant dean for faculty practice and community engagement in the School of Nursing at West Virginia University. She was owner and operator of Health True Care in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Dr. DiChiacchio is a graduate of Shepherd University in Shepherdstown,West Virginia. She earned a master’s degree in nursing from Florida Atlantic University and a doctor of nursing practice degree from West Virginia University.

Marie Gilot was appointed director of professional development at the Graduate School of Journalism of the City University of New York. She was a manager of journalism grant programs at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Miami, Florida.

Gilot is a graduate of City College of New York and holds a master’s degree in political science from the University of Texas at El Paso and a master of public policy degree from Princeton University.

Meg Evans was named director of the LGBT Resource Center at the University of Georgia. She has been serving as the LGBTQ resources coordinator at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. She will begin her new job on August 10.

Evans is a graduate of Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina. She holds a master’s degree in community leadership from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

Alison Weaver was appointed executive director of the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University in Houston. She is the former director of affiliates for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

Weaver is a graduate of Princeton University, where she majored in religion. She holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a master’s degree from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Weaver is expected to complete a Ph.D. in art history at the City University of New York this coming fall.