New High-Level Administrative Posts in Higher Education for a Dozen Women

Stephanie Kurtzman was appointed the Peter Sortino Director of the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement at Washington University in St. Louis. She has been on the staff at Washington University for the past 19 years.

Kurtzman is a summa cum laude graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles, where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree in higher education and student affairs administration from the University of Vermont.

Marcine Pickron-Davis is the new chief diversity and community relations officer at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. She was the chief community engagement and diversity officer at Widener University.

Dr. Pickron-Davis holds a bachelor’s degree in individual and family studies from Pennsylvania State University. She holds a master’s degree in social work administration from Temple University and an educational doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.

Lisa M. Coleman was named senior vice president for global inclusion, diversity, and strategic communication at New York University. She will be the university’s first Chief Diversity Officer. Dr. Coleman has been serving as chief diversity officer and special assistant to the president at Harvard University.

Coleman is a graduate of Denison University in Granville, Ohio. She holds a master’s degree in Black studies and women’s studies from Ohio State University and a Ph.D. in American studies from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

Kimberly McCormick was named vice chancellor for external affairs for the Tennessee Board of Regents. She is the former provost and vice president for academic affairs at Chattanooga State Community College.

Dr. McCormick is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction design from Vanderbilt University in Nashville and a doctorate in higher education administration from Tennessee State University.

Luisa Havens was appointed vice provost for enrollment management at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. Since 2012, she has been serving as vice president for enrollment management and services at Florida International University in Miami. Earlier, Dr. Havens was executive director for enrollment services and director of admissions and recruitment at the University of Texas, El Paso.

Dr. Havens earned a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and a Ph.D. in educational administration, all from the University of Idaho.

Constance Tucker was named vice provost for educational improvement and innovation at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. She was the assistant dean of faculty development at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.

Dr. Tucker is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, where she majored in French. She holds a master’s degree in higher education student development from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Memphis.

Christina VerHeul was named director of communications for the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University. She was vice president of ReviveHealth, an integrated marketing agency in the healthcare industry based in Nashville.

VerHeul is a graduate of Washington State University, where she majored in public relations.

Mary S. Croughan was appointed vice president for research and economic development at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, effective July 31. She has been serving as executive director of the Research Grants Program Office at the University of California. She also was a faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.

Dr. Croughan is an epidemiologist who holds a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University.

Charima Young was named director of local government and community relations at Pennsylvania State University. She has been serving as the associate state director of community outreach in Georgia for AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons.

Young is a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, where she majored in history. She earned a master’s degree in public policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Melissa Barrett was appointed senior associate director of athletics at Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina. Since 2011, she has been serving as director of athletics at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Barrett is a graduate of Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina, where she majored in business management and was captain of the softball team. She earned an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Susan Ridge was named vice president for communications at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She has been serving as the chief marketing officer at the nonprofit organization Save the Children. She joined the nonprofit in 2010.

Ridge is a graduate of Ohio University.

Dina Deitsch was named chief curator and director of the university art galleries at Tufts University in Massachusetts. She has been serving as the John R. and Barbara Robinson Family interim director at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University.

Deitsch earned a master’s degree in art history at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.