Fifteen Women Who Are Taking on New Administrative Duties at Colleges and Universities

Olufunmilayo Adebayo is the new assistant dean for inclusion and engagement for the Graduate School at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

Dr. Adebayo is a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Cornell University.

Suzanne Glassburn was named senior vice resident and secretary of the MIT Corporation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since 2008, she has been an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel at MIT. Earlier, she was a partner for the Boston law firm Nutter, McClennen and Fish.

Glassburn is a graduate of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Kimberly M. Lowery was appointed associate vice chancellor of student engagement and success at Houston Community College in Texas. She has been serving as associate vice president for academic affairs and student success at Eastfield College in Mesquite, Texas.

Dr. Lowery holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in counseling from California State University, Long Beach. She earned a doctorate in higher education from the University of North Texas.

Nancy E. Paton will be the next vice president for strategic communications and marketing at the University of Florida. She has been serving as the inaugural vice president for communications at the University at Buffalo of the State University of New York System.

Paton is a graduate of the University of Akron in Ohio, where she majored in mass media and communications. She holds a master’s degree in management from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Patrice Lombard is the new director of athletics at the Hazleton campus of Pennsylvania State University. She has been on the staff at the university for 16 years and most recently as a records specialist in the registrar’s office.

Lombard holds a bachelor’s degree in business marketing and management and a master’s degree in higher education administration from Pennsylvania State University.

Dawn Osborne-Adams was named director of the University Ombuds Office at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been serving as a consultant ombuds at Shell Oil in Houston. Earlier, she was university ombuds at Binghamton University in New York.

Osborne-Adams is a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where she majored in business administration. She earned a juris doctorate at the New York University School of Law.

Ariel Owens is the new assistant director for women and gender programs at the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center at Northern Illinois University.

Owens is a graduate of Northern Illinois University, where she majored in English. She recently completed a master’s degree in education and professional development at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Hallema Sharif was appointed director of public relations and communications in the Office for Inclusion and Diversity at Virginia Tech. She has been serving as interim director of communications for the School of Arts in Qatar of Virginia Commonwealth University.

Sharif is a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana, where she majored in mass communication. She is studying for an MBA in marketing through the University of Phoenix.

Melissa Nergard was named the inaugural director of sustainability for facilities planning and management at the University of Wisconsn-Madison. She has been serving as director of sustainability at Illinois State University.

Nergard is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. She holds a master’s degree in history and is completing work on a doctorate in higher education administration from Illinois State University.

Wanda Lynn Riley was selected to become director of university auditing and advisory services at Georgia State University in Atlanta. She was the director of audit and advisory services and chief audit and risk executive at the University of California, Berkeley.

Earlier in her career, Riley held staff posts at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Boise State University in Idaho, and Tuskegee University in Alabama. She is a graduate of Hampton University in Virginia, where she majored in accounting.

Rachel DuBois was promoted to director of undergraduate recruitment for the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University in New York. She has been an academic advisor at the school for the past four years.

DuBois is a graduate of the University of Maryland, where she majored in finance. She holds a master’s degree in higher education from Syracuse University.

Allison Monyei is the new staff ombuds at Clemson University in South Carolina. She was associate ombuds at the Center for Tobacco Products at the Food and Drug Administration.

Monyei is a graduate of the University of Florida, where she double majored in criminology and health science. She earned a juris doctorate at the Mercer University School of Law in Macon, Georgia.

Sarah J. Rogers was appointed director of the Kent State University Museum in Ohio. Since 2012, she has been the executive deputy director of the Columbus Museum of Art.

Rogers is a graduate of Wells College in Aurora, New York, where she majored in French. She holds a master’s degree in art history from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Nicole Pride was named interim vice provost for academic strategy and operations at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro. She was chief of staff to the university’s chancellor and earlier served as associate vice chancellor for university relations and interim vice chancellor for university advancement. She has been on the university’s staff since 2010.

Pride is a graduate of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where she majored in business management and economics. She holds a master’s degree in corporate and public relations from Seton Hall University in New Jersey and is completing work on a doctorate in leadership studies at North Carolina A&T State University.

Audrey Harris was appointed director of the Office of Research Assurances at the University of Idaho. She is the former manager of the Lab Animal Research Facility at the university.

Harris is a graduate of Washington State University, where she majored in animal science. She holds a master’s degree in microbiology from the University of Idaho.