Three Women College and University Presidents Get Contract Extensions

Beverly J. Warren became the 12th president of Kent State University in Ohio on July 1. 2014. Now just two years later, the university has extended her contract through June 30, 2020.

Dennis Eckart, chair of the board of trustees at Kent State University, stated that “Kent State has developed tremendous momentum under President Bev Warren’s exceptional leadership. Extending Bev’s contract expresses our strong confidence in her leadership and the university’s direction. She is critical in enabling us to meet our key goals moving forward.”

Before taking the helm at Kent State, Dr. Warren was senior vice president and provost at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Dr. Warren joined the faculty at Virginia Commonwealth in 2000. She served there as chair of the Division of Health, Physical Education and Recreation and as associate dean of the faculty and dean of the School of Education. Before coming to VCU, she served on the faculty at Lander University in Greenwood, South Carolina, Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, Auburn University in Alabama, Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and the University of Montevallo in Alabama.

Dr. Warren is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She holds a master’s degree from Southern Illinois University. She earned an educational doctorate at the University of Alabama and a Ph.D. in exercise physiology from Auburn University.

Margaret L. Drugovich, president of Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, has had her contract extended through June 30, 2024. She became the college’s tenth president in 2008.

Francis D. Landrey, chair of the Hartwick College board of trustees, said that “the board is confident that Dr. Drugovich will continue to inspire and to lead this community of dedicated scholars, teachers, administrators, and students and that she is the right leader to this time in Hartwick’s history. Dr. Drugovich is a dedicated and exemplary leader.”

Dr. Drugovich is a graduate of Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut. She holds a master’s degree in medical sociology from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and a doctor of management degree from Weatherhead School of Management at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Susan J. Hunter, president of the flagship campus of the University of Maine at Orono, has had her contract extended through June 30, 2018. Dr. Hunter became president of the University of Maine in 2014. She is the only woman to serve as president of the flagship campus in its 151-year history.

James H. Page, chancellor of the University of Maine System, stated that “the advancement of UMaine’s statewide mission and the many contributions the flagship is making to our collective efforts to strengthen and extend public higher education for all Maine learners is testimony to President Hunter’s leadership and the dedication of her outstanding team.”

Dr. Hunter joined the full-time faculty at the University of Maine in 1991. She is a graduate of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where she majored in biology. President Hunter holds a Ph.D. in physiology from Pennsylvania State University.