New Administrative Duties for Eight Women at Major Universities

Gail D. Barksdale is the new senior director of athletics at Sonoma State University in California. She is the first woman to serve in this position at Sonoma State. Since 2014, Barksdale has been deputy director of athletics at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Barksdale is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, where she majored in marketing and management. She holds a master’s degree in sports management and athletic administration from Indiana University.

Aisha Haynes was promoted to assistant director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of South Carolina. She joined the center in 2011 as an instructional designer and was named program manager of distributed learning in 2014.

Dr. Haynes holds a bachelor’s degree in integrated information technology, a master’s degree in educational technology, and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction, all from the University of South Carolina.

Laurie Jones was named director of human resources at Albany State University in Georgia. Since 2001, Jones has served as the chief human resources officer at Columbus State University in Georgia.

Jones holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master of public administration degree from Columbus State University.

Alonda Thomas was appointed director of public relations for Howard University in Washington, D.C. She is the former director of media relations at Florida A&M University.

Thomas holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations from Florida A&M University and a master’s degree in integrated marketing communications from Florida State University.

Angie Chrestman was named director of the Career Center at Mississippi State University. She has served as interim director since July 2017. She is a former extension agent for the university.

Chrestman holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in community counseling from Mississippi State University.

Allyson Livingstone is the new director of diversity, equity, and inclusion for education, training and development at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. She has served on the social work faculty at Simmons College in Boston and Salem State University in Massachusetts.

Dr. Livingstone is a graduate of Haverford College in Pennsylvania, where she majored in religion. She holds a master of social work degree from New York University and a doctorate in social work from Simmons College.

Jennie Hall was promoted to director of corporate and foundation relations at the University of Idaho. She has been serving as director of communications and strategic initiatives for the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences.

Hall is a graduate of the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences at the University of Idaho.

Linda Cook was appointed chief of staff and director of community relations at Kansas State University. She has been serving as assistant vice president of communications for the Kansas State Alumni Association.

Cook is a graduate of Kansas State University, where she majored in journalism and mass communications. She earned an MBA at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.