New Administrative Positions for Eight Women in Higher Education

Nichole Capitanio was named director of the Personal Assistance Service at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. The office helps faculty and staff with counseling and other services to deal with work/life issues. She has been serving as director of staff and employee assistance programs at the Cleveland Clinic.

Capitano is a graduate of Cleveland State University, where she majored in social work. She holds a master’s degree in social administration from Case Western Reserve University.

Stephanie Wiles was appointed the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Yale University Art Gallery, effective July 1. She currently serves as the director of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Dr. Wiles is a graduate of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. She holds a master’s degree in art history from Hunter College of the City University of New York and a Ph.D. in art history from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Melinda Lothes is the new associate general counsel for intellectual property and business transactions at Syracuse University in New York. She has been serving as counsel for the Oneida Indian Nation and the Turning Stone Resort Casino.

Lothes is a graduate of the University of Rochester in New York. She earned her law degree at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Rachel Switzky will be the inaugural director of the Siebel Center for Design at the University of Illinois. The new center is expected to open in 2020. Switzky has been serving as executive director of IDEO, an international design and consulting firm.

Switzky holds a bachelor’s degree and a master of fine arts degree in industrial design from the University of Illinois.

Devon Ragen is the new director of the Wool Lab at Montana State University. The lab tests more than 10,000 samples of wool each year to determine strength and quality. She is a research associate in the university’s department of animal and range sciences.

Ragen holds a bachelor’s degree in animal science and a master’s degree in animal and range sciences from Montana State University.

Ann Marie Alexander was promoted to assistant vice president for strategic corporate partnerships at Clemson University in South Carolina. She has been serving as senior director of corporate and foundation relations.

Alexander is a graduate of Duke University. She earned a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University in New York City and an MBA at Fordham University in New York.

Valerie Bailey Fischer was appointed chaplain at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, effective July 1. She currently serves as a priest associate at Calvary Episcopal Church in Summit, New Jersey. She is the former chaplain at Framingham State University in Massachusetts.

Rev. Fischer is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and holds a master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. She is currently completing work on a doctorate at General Theological Seminary in New York.

Doreen Fisher-Bammer is the new associate provost of virtual learning at Harrisburg Area Community College in Pennsylvania. She was director of online learning and instructional technology at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Fisher-Bammer holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in higher education administration from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. She earned an educational doctorate at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania.