New Administrative Posts for Nine Women in Higher Education

Kimberly Hewitt was appointed vice provost for institutional equity at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, effective March 6. She has been serving as director of the Office for Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action at the University of Minnesota. She also has served as deputy chief of staff for the Office of Equity and Diversity.

Hewitt is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Minnesota Law School.

Madelyn F. Wessel was appointed university counsel and secretary of the corporation at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, effective May 8. She has been serving as university counsel at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. From 2001 to 2014, Wessel held several legal posts and was an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia

Wessel is a graduate of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, where she majored in history and philosophy. She earned her law degree at Boston University.

Krystal Toups is the new assistant vice provost for the Office of Sponsored Projects and Research Compliance at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Since 2014, she has been serving as director of grants for the University Texas Health Science Center in Houston.

Toups is a graduate of Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she majored in biology. She is currently studying for an MBA from Texas Woman’s University.

Missy Kennedy was promoted to associate vice chancellor for university advancement at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. For the past seven years, she was director of development for annual giving.

A native of High Point, North Carolina, Kennedy is a 2001 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

Abigail Esguerra is the new director of development for the West Virginia University Extension Service. She is the former manager of the capital campaign for the United Hospital Center in Bridgeport, Virginia.

Esguerra is a graduate of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where she majored in psychology and communication studies. She earned a master’s degree in communication studies from West Virginia University.

Erika K. Davis was named director of adult and graduate admissions at Neumann University in Aston, Pennsylvania. She was director of enrollment management and marketing for the School of Graduate Studies and Research at Delaware State University.

Dr. Davis is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, where she majored in communication. She holds a master’s degree in professional writing from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and a doctorate in community college leadership development from Morgan State University in Baltimore.

Abigail Rider was selected to be the next vice president for administration and finance at the University of Rhode Island. She has been serving as assistant vice chancellor for planning and real estate at the University of California, Merced. From 2007 to 2014, Rider was assistant vice president and director of university properties for Yale University.

Rider is a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Jean A. Bertrand was named associate dean for undergraduate studies for the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences at Clemson University in South Carolina. Since 2006, she has served as assistant dean for academic affairs for the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia.

Before joining the staff at the University of Georgia, Dr. Bertrand served for 20 years on the faculty of the department of animal and veterinary sciences at Clemson. She holds a Ph.D. in animal nutrition from the University of Georgia.

Valeria Riccardo was named head of engineering at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory on the university’s Plainsboro, New Jersey, campus. For the past five years, Dr. Riccardo has been the chief of engineering for the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire, England.

Dr. Riccardo holds a master’s degree in nuclear engineering and a doctorate in energetics from Politecnio di Torino in Italy. She earned Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Imperial College London.