New Administrative Positions for Three Women in Higher Education

Jessi Hitchins has been named the new senior director for student life at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Dr. Hitchins has been at the university since 2015 serving as the founding director for the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center. Earlier, Dr. Hitchins was the assistant director for the Women’s Resource Center at the University of Alabama.

Dr. Hitchins is a graduate of Western Illinois University, where she majored in social science secondary education. She earned a master’s degree in college student personnel administration from Illinois State University and a Ph.D. in social and cultural foundations of education from the University of Alabama.

Valerie S. Fields was appointed vice president for student affairs at the University of Louisiana Monroe. Dr. Fields is the first woman to serve in a vice president’s position at the university in its 89-year history. She has been serving in the position on an interim basis since June. Earlier, Dr. Fields served as chief academic officer/vice president of academic affairs and chief student affairs officer at Denmark Technical College in South Carolina.

Dr. Fields is a graduate of Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she majored in elementary and early childhood education. She earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Lousiana Monroe and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Louisiana Tech.

Tamara Williams has been appointed interim vice president for workforce solutions at Tidewater Community College in Virginia. Earlier, Williams served as dean of academic affairs at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina, and as associate vice provost at Owens Community College in Toledo, Ohio.

Williams holds a bachelor’s degree in communications, a master’s degree in higher education and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in higher education administration at the University of Toledo.