New Administrative Appointments for 14 Women in Higher Education

Megan Pierson was appointed chief of staff for the president of Stanford University in California. She has been serving as senior associate provost and senior university counsel at the university. She joined the administration at Stanford in 2006.

Pierson is a graduate of Stanford University and the law school at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Makeda Best is the new Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography at the Harvard Art Museums. She was an assistant professor of visual studies at the California College of the Arts. Earlier, she was an assistant professor in the department of art and architecture at the University of Vermont. Dr. Best is the co-editor of Conflict, Identity, and Protest in American Art (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015).

Dr. Best earned a bachelor’s degree and a master of fine arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Julie Peterson was named chief business officer at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. She has been serving in the post on an interim basis since June and earlier was university controller.

A certified public accountant, Peterson is a graduate of the University of Missouri, where she majored in operations management. She holds a master’s degree in accounting from Kennesaw State University.

Kathleen Maloney is the new executive director of government and community relations at Towson University in Maryland. She has been operating her own government relations consulting business. Earlier, Maloney was executive vice president for the Maryland State Builders Association.

Maloney holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master of public administration degree from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

Andrea M. Bordeau was hired as the inaugural manager of global safety and security in the Global Extension Office at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. In this role, she will oversee all safety and security issues for student travel, particularly for students who study abroad. Bordeau was assistant director of international safety and security at the University of Illinois.

Bordeau is a graduate of Union College in Schenectady, New York, where she majored in anthropology. She earned a master’s degree in Middle East history and security studies at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Jolene Lane was named chief diversity officer and associate vice president for inclusion and equity at the University of Akron in Ohio. For the past nine years, she has served as senior director in the Office for Diversity and Community Affairs at Teachers College of Columbia University in New York City.

Lane holds a master’s degree in educational administration, planning and social policy from Harvard University. She is completing work on a doctorate in adult learning and leadership from Teachers College.

Robin Burr was hired as the chief design and construction officer at the University of Utah. She has been serving as executive director of capital projects at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California.

Burr is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. She holds a master of architecture degree from Harvard University.

Amy Jamison was promoted to co-director for international research and engagement for the Center for Gender in Global Context at Michigan State University. Since 2010, Dr. Jamison has been the assistant director and grant writer for the center.

Dr. Jamison holds a master’s degree in history and African studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. She earned a Ph.D. in educational policy from Michigan State University.

Jutta-Annette Page was appointed executive director of the Barry Art Museum on the campus of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. The museum is scheduled to open in 2018. Dr. Page has been serving as the senior curator of glass and decorative arts at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio.

Dr. Page is past president of the Glass Art Society. She holds master’s and doctoral degrees in the history of art and architecture from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Tiffany Turley, manager of Women’s Services and Resources at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, has been named Title IX coordinator at the university. Before joining the staff at BYU, she worked for the state of Utah for 10 years.

Turley is a graduate of Brigham Young University, where she majored in marriage, family, and human development. She earned an MBA at Westminster College in Salt Lake City.

Marie Bowen was appointed assistant vice chancellor for human resources at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Since 2015, she has been serving in the identical position at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Bowen is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Virginia School of Law. She also earned a master’s degree at Simmons College in Boston.

Monica Tisack-Kathmann was named director of the Mississippi Polymer Institute, the industrial outreach service of the School of Polymers and High Performance Materials at the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Tisack-Kathmann has been serving as North America regional business manager in fluoroproducts for the Chemours Company, created from the DuPont Performance Chemicals business.

Dr. Tisack-Kathmann holds a doctorate in polymer science from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Jennifer M. Cruse-Sanders was hired as director of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia. She has been serving as vice president for science and conservation at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

Dr. Cruse-Sanders is a graduate of Boston University, where she majored in biology. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Georgia.

Kawanna Leggett was named the inaugural director of residential life at Washington University in St. Louis, effective March 20. She has been serving as director of residential education at the University of California, Berkeley.

Leggett is a graduate of Clemson University in South Carolina. She holds a master’s degree in higher education from the University of Arkansas.