Colleges and Universities Announce the Appointments of Nine Women to Administrative Positions

Grace Liang-Franco was named new division operations officer for chemistry and chemical engineering at the California Institute of Technology. Since 2013, she has been serving as senior research administrative director for the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute at the University of Southern California.

Liang-Franco is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, where she majored in history. She holds an MBA from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.

Parice Bowser has been named assistant vice chancellor for Greek Life and associate dean of students at the University of Arkansas. She joined the staff at the university in 2004 as the associate director of Greek Life. She was promoted to director of Greek Life in 2008. Earlier, she served as the coordinator for Greek Affairs at the University of Memphis.

Bowser holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Arkansas State University.

Brahmacharini Shweta Chaitanya was named Hindu chaplain at Emory University in Atlanta. Before coming to Emory, she served as a spiritual teacher at the Chinmaya Center in Houston, Texas.

Chaitanya completed her undergraduate degree in South Asian languages and cultures (Sanskrit) at the University of Texas at Austin. She holds a master’s degree in South Asian studies from Columbia University.

Mary Jo Callan has been appointed executive director of the Swearer Center and associate dean for engaged scholarship at Brown University, effective May 17. She has been serving as the director of the Edward Ginsberg Center at the University of Michigan, which helps students, staff and faculty create positive social change through community-engaged teaching, research, and service.

Dr. Callan earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Michigan. She holds a doctorate in educational policy and leadership from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Kristina Astrup has been interim director of human resources at North Dakota State University. She has been serving as associate director of employee development at the university. Astrup joined the staff at North Dakota State in 2019 as associate director of organizational development.

Astrup earned her bachelor’s degree in communications and art from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and an MBA from the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Heidi Hoskinson is the new vice president for enrollment management at Bethel College in Kansas. Since 2015, she has served as vice president for enrollment management and registrar at Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma.

Dr. Hoskinson holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. She earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from Central Connecticut State University and a Ph.D. in adult and higher education administration from the University of Oklahoma.

Debbi Howard is the new director of alumni relations at Tennessee State University in Nashville. She spent 26 years as a civil/structural engineer with the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Howard earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Tennessee State University. She holds a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Tennessee.

Mary Jo Daniel was named associate vice president for research at the University of New Mexico. She has been serving in the post on an interim basis and has been at the university since 2010. Earlier, Dr. Daniel served as the State Science Specialist and the Math and Science Bureau Chief in New Mexico’s Public Education Department.

Dr. Daniel is a graduate of St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, She earned a Ph.D. in multicultural teachers and childhood education from the University of New Mexico.

Robyn S. Hadley was appointed vice president and chief student affairs officer at the University of Virginia, effective June 1. She has been serving as associate vice chancellor and dean for scholar programs at Washington University in St. Louis.

Hadley is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she majored in public policy analysis, She earned a master’s degree in political science as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford.

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