New High-Level Administrative Duties for Nine Women in Higher Education

Monica Terrell Leach was promoted to senior associate vice chancellor for enrollment management and academic affairs at North Carolina Central University in Durham. For the past two years, she has been the associate vice chancellor in the division. Dr. Leach is the former assistant dean for academic affairs at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

Dr. Leach is a graduate of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She holds a master’s degree and a doctorate in education from North Carolina State University.

Mercedes Ramirez Fernandez was appointed associate vice provost for strategic affairs and diversity at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. She has been serving as interim assistant chancellor and assistant provost for student diversity at the University of Illinois.

Dr. Fernandez is a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Iowa and an educational doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.

Kate Gregory was named senior vice president for university services at Iowa State University. A retired rear-admiral in the U.S. Navy, she was chief of civil engineers and commander of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Washington, D.C.

Admiral Gregory is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where she majored in engineering. She holds master’s degrees from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and George Washington University in the nation’s capital.

Elizabeth Erickson was promoted to director of disability services at Princeton University in New Jersey. She was worked in the Office of Disability Services at the university for the past decade. Earlier she worked for Bearse Manufacturing in Chicago.

Erickson is a graduate of Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, where she majored in business administration.

Theresa Capule was named director of international students and study abroad programs at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. Since 2012, she has been the assistant director of the global education office at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.

Capule holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in history from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

Sonia Feigenbaum was selected to be the new associate vice chancellor for international engagement at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has been serving as the associate provost for global engagement at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Dr. Feigenbaum holds a bachelor’s degree in cello performance, a master’s degree in Spanish and a Ph.D. in Hispanic literatures and cultures, all from Indiana University.

Jennifer Cohen was promoted to director of athletics at the University of Washington in Seattle. She has been serving as interim director since January and previously was senior associate athletic director. She joined the staff at the university in 1998.

Cohen is a graduate of San Diego State University. She earned a master’s degree in physical education with a concentration in sports administration from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington.

Melinda S. Hancock was appointed senior executive vice president and chief financial officer for the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. She is a partner in the health care practice of Dixon Hughes Goodman, LLP. Hancock is the national chair of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.

Hancock is a graduate of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She holds an MBA in health care administration from the University of Phoenix.

Lynne Dempsey is eighth director of athletics at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. She has served in the role on an interim basis for the past year. Earlier, she served as senior associate athletic director at the university.

Dempsey is a 1993 graduate of Brandeis University where she played soccer, basketball, and softball. She holds a master’s degree from the Heller School of Public Policy at Brandeis.