Three Women Stepping Down From High-Ranking Posts at Leading Universities

Lauren Benton, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, announced that she is stepping down at the end of the calendar year. After taking a sabbatical to conduct research, Dr. Benton will return to the university for the spring 2019 semester as the Nelson O. Tyrone Jr. Chair in history. She holds a secondary appointment at the university’s law school.

Professor Benton came to Vanderbilt University in 2015 after serving for 12 years on the history department faculty at New York University. She is the co-author of Rage of Order: The British Empire and the Origins of International Law, 1800-1850 (Harvard University Press, 2016). Dr. Benton holds a Ph.D. in anthropology and history from Johns Hopkins University.

Jackie O’Neil is stepping down from her post as University Marshall at Harvard University. She is the first woman to have served in this position since it was created in 1896. The University Marshall plans inaugurations, convocations, commencements, and the visits of dignitaries to campus.

O’Neill first joined the staff at Harvard in 1976. She has served as the university’s chief of protocol since 2004.

Anne Massey is stepping down as dean of the School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has served less than five months as dean. In her letter of resignation, Dean Massey stated that “my vision for the school differs from Chancellor Rebecca Blank’s.” Dr. Massey will remain at the business school as a professor.

Before becoming dean in August 2017, Dr. Massey served as Dean’s Research Professor of information systems at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in Bloomington. She is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, where she majored in management. Dr. Massey also holds a master’s degree in industrial engineering and a Ph.D. in decision sciences and engineering systems from RPI.