New Administrative Positions for Women at Nine Colleges and Universities

Allison Fitzpatrick will be the new vice president at the Monroe Campus of Northampton Community College in Tannersville, Pennsylvania. Dr. Fitzpatrick comes to Northampton from Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, New Jersey, where she served as interim dean of regional locations.

Dr. Fitzpatrick is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, where she majored in anthropology and human biology. he holds an MBA from Rutgers University in New Jersey and a doctorate in community college leadership from Ferris State Univerity in big Rapids, Michigan.

Sheryl Nichols has been promoted to associate vice president of student engagement and success at Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida. She has been serving as director of the Center for Student Success at the college. Prior to joining Beacon College in 2015 as an admissions counselor, Nichols served as director of admissions at DeVry University.

Nichols is a graduate of SUNY Oneonta in New York, where she majored in business economics. She holds a master’s degree in human services counseling and is completing work on an educational doctorate from Regent University in Virginia Beach.

Laura Quinn has been named director of human resources at Mississippi University for Women in Columbus. She has served in the position on an interim basis since May 2019. Quinn started her career at the university four years ago as a payroll accounting assistant.

Quinn is a graduate of Mississippi University for Women, where she majored in business administration.

Vanessa Fry will serve as interim director of the Idaho Policy Institute in the School of Public Service at Boise State University. She has been serving as research director. Earlier in her career, Dr. Fry was the co-founder and former chair of what is now Sun Valley Economic Development.

Dr. Fry is a graduate of Wittenburg University in Springfield, Ohio, where she majored in fine arts and biology. She holds an MBA from Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco and a doctorate in public policy and administration from Boise State University.

Nicole G. Price has been appointed the first vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. Most recently, she served as chief executive officer for the Northeast Region and chief equal opportunity and compliance officer at KIDSVAX. Earlier, Price was the inaugural chief diversity and inclusion officer at Suffolk University in Boston.

Price is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where she majored in rhetoric and communication studies. She earned a juris doctorate at William and Mary School of Law in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Melinda West has been appointed interim assistant vice president for finance and university controller at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Unversity. West has served as university bursar since 2010.

West received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Radford University in Virginia and an MBA from Averett University in Danville, Virginia.

Sherri Ann Charleston has been named chief diversity and inclusion officer at Harvard University. Her appointment is effective on August 1. She has been serving as the assistant vice provost for diversity, equity, and inclusion and chief affirmative action officer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A native of Detroit, Dr. Charleston earned a bachelor’s degree at Columbia University, where she majored in history and African American studies. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Michigan and a juris doctorate from the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Kathryn Stieber was appointed University Secretary at DePaul University in Chicago. She will also hold the titles of vice president and general counsel. Stieber first joined the Office of General Counsel at DePaul in 2005. She later served as deputy general counsel, interim vice president for human resources, and assistant university secretary.

Stieber earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She holds a juris doctorate from Southern Methodist University School of Law in Dallas.

Cheryl Gittens, an assistant vice provost in the Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been named interim deputy vice chancellor and chief diversity officer at the university. Dr. Gittens joined the staff at the university as an assistant vice provost in 2017.

Dr. Gittens earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work at Rutgers University in New Jersey. She earned an educational doctorate at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.