A Dozen Women Taking on New Administrative Duties in Higher Education

Lynn Okagaki is the new deputy provost for academic affairs at the University of Delaware. She has served in the post on an interim basis since July 2015. Earlier, she was dean of the College of Education and Human Development at the university. Earlier in her career, Dr. Okagaki was commissioner for education research in the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education.

Dr. Okagaki is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, where she majored in applied behavioral sciences. She earned a Ph.D. in developmental psychology at Cornell University.

Evelyn P. Leathers was appointed vice president of institutional advancement at Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina. She has served as vice president for institutional advancement at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, and Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Leathers holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro and currently is a doctoral student in leadership studies.

Sonja A. Bennett-Bellamy was named associate vice president of advancement at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. She was vice president of institutional advancement and university relations at South Carolina State University.

Bennett-Bellamy is a graduate of Indiana University in Bloomington, where she majored in journalism. She holds an MBA from Strayer University.

Stephanie M. Graham was promoted to associate vice president and deputy general counsel at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She joined the university’s legal staff as assistant general counsel in 1993 and was promoted to associate general counsel in 1996.

Graham is a graduate of the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago Law School.

Laura Cutway was named the first full-time Title IX coordinator at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She has been serving as the sexual assault and relationship violence liaison in health education services at the Georgetown University Law Center.

Cutway holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in counseling and human relations from Villanova University in Pennsylvania.

MaryFrances McCourt was named vice president for finance and treasurer at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, effective March 21. Since 2013, she has served as vice president and chief financial officer at Indiana University in Bloomington.

McCourt is a graduate of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and holds an MBA from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Susan Ballard was appointed associate vice president for alumni engagement at Syracuse University in New York. She was a donor relations officer for the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Ballard has previously held development posts at the College of Mount St. Joseph and Bowling Green State University.

Ballard is a graduate of Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, where she majored in political science. She earned a master’s degree in college student personnel at Bowling Green State University.

Monika Royal-Fischer was named director of experiential learning and career services at Clermont College of the University of Cincinnati. She was a career and training strategist at Gateway Community and Technical College in Florence, Kentucky.

Royal-Fischer is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati.

Kassandra Jolley was appointed vice president for advancement at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, effective March 1. She has been serving as vice president for institutional advancement at Spelman College in Atlanta. She is the former vice president for institutional advancement at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island.

Jolley is a graduate of Simmons College in Boston, where she majored in communications and women’s studies.

Marcellina Melvin is the new access and inclusion coordinator at the Psychological and Counseling Center of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She was a case management coordinator and clinical supervisor for Centerstone, a not-for-profit mental health services provider in the Midwest.

Melvin is a graduate of Xavier University in New Orleans, where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Fisk University in Nashville.

Judy Jarvis was named director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Center at Princeton University in New Jersey. She was the director of the LGBT Center and the Women’s Center at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Jarvis is a graduate of Vassar College, where she majored in psychology and media studies. She earned a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.

Colleen Fitzpatrick was appointed vice president for advancement at Middlebury College in Vermont, effective July 1. She currently serves as assistant vice president for development for Trinity College and the Graduate School at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Fitzpatrick is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where she majored in English language and literature. She holds a master’s degree in gerontology from Rutgers University in New Jersey.