Five Women Who Have Been Appointed to New Administrative Positions in Higher Education

Heather M. Messina is the senior contract and grant specialist for the  College of Health at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She was serving on the staff of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at the university. Earlier, Messina was a grant specialist for the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Messina holds a bachelor’s degree in communication, a master of public administration degree, and is working on a Ph.D. in strategic leadership all from Marywood University in Scranton.

Sherri Braxton was named the inaugural senior director for digital innovation at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Dr. Braxton comes to Bowdoin from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she has served as senior director for instructional technology. Before joining UMBC, she served for three years as the director of course redesign at Bowie State University in Maryland.

Dr. Braxton is a graduate of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She holds a master’s degree in computer science from North Carolina State University and a doctorate in computer science from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Shana L. Warkentine Meyer will be the next vice president for student affairs at McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas. She will take office this coming summer. Meyer currently serves as interim vice president for student affairs at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Earlier, she served as vice president for student affairs at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri, and as assistant vice president of student affairs at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas.

Meyer is a graduate of Emporia State University in Kansas, where she majored in English and journalism. She holds a master’s degree in counselor education from Emporia State University and is completing work on a Ph.D. in student affairs in higher education at Kansas State University.

Pepper Jo Six has been hired as program coordinator to launch the Ranch Management and Agriculture Leadership Program in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming. She previously served as the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources student recruitment coordinator, in the university admissions office, and as a University of Wyoming Foundation major gifts officer.

Six is a graduate of the University of Wyoming, where she majored in communication and media studies.

Elizabeth McClanahan, a former justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia, has been named CEO of the Virginia Tech Foundation, effective June 1, 2021. McClanahan has served as an adjunct professor of finance and senior advisor to the dean in Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business since September 2019. She has also served as dean of the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia.

McClanahan earned her bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and her law degree from the University of Dayton School of Law in Ohio.