Eight Women Who Have Been Appointed to University Administrative Positions

Smitha S. H. Haneef was named managing director of Harvard University Dining Services. Haneef, currently an assistant vice president of university services at Princeton University, will join the department in early April.

Haneef is a graduate of Osmania University in Hyderabad, India, where she majored in commerce and economics.

Christian Abigail Gonzalez was appointed associate director for student empowerment and undocumented/DACA student support at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Gonzalez was a coordinator of undocumented student services at the University of California, San Diego.

Gonzalez is a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder, where she majored in ethnic studies. She received a master’s degree in higher education administration and leadership from Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado.

Sierra Mello-Miles is the new director of military and veterans programs at Texas Tech University. She joins Texas Tech after more than three years as a veteran’s service representative at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Milwaukee.

Originally from Alaska, Mello-Miles joined the U.S. Army in 2001 and served in Operation Iraqi Freedom during 2003 and 2004. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business management and an MBA both from the University of Phoenix.

Andrea Jekabsons has been promoted to the post of chief human resources officer at the University of Mississippi. She joined the staff at the university in 2006 and has served as interim chief human resources officer since March 2020.

Jekabsons holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology and business administration from Humboldt State University in Arcata, California.

Katherine Hammer will become the next vice president for finance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, effective February 16. She has been serving as the chief deputy CFO for the City of Detroit. Before moving to Michigan, Hammer served in leading public finance roles for the City of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Hammer holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University.

Akua Johnson Matherson is the new chief financial officer and vice chancellor for administration and finance at North Carolina Central University. Matherson previously served as interim chief financial officer and vice chancellor for administration and finance, associate vice chancellor for administration and finance, and budget director at the university. Prior to joining NCCU in 2016, Matherson worked for 17 years at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

Matherson earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in adult education from North Carolina A&T State University.

Roma Khanna was appointed associate provost for strategy and policy at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She had served previously as senior director in the Office of Organizational Strategy and Change at the university.

Khanna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in learning and organizational change, both from Northwestern University.

Ashley Brown is the new director of the Student Center for Social Justice and Identity at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Brown comes to Vanderbilt from Georgia State University, where she served as the assistant director for equity, diversity, and inclusion for university housing for three years.

Brown is a graduate of Texas State University. She holds a master’s degree in college student personnel from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and is completing work on an educational doctorate from the University of Georgia.