Eight Women Who Have Been Assigned New University Administrative Positions

Christa Johnson, a longtime executive in the Office of the Vice President for Research, has been appointed interim vice president of research at Colorado State University, effective July 1. She will be the first woman to serve in this post. She has been serving as senior associate vice president and as chief of staff in the Office of the Vice President for Research.

Dr. Johnson holds an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis. She earned a Ph.D. in humanities and German studies from Stanford University,

Dana McPherson was named assistant vice president in the Office of University Communications at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She has been serving as the executive director of marketing and brand management for the Office of Strategic Communications and Marketing at the University of Florida.

McPherson is a graduate of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee, where she received a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a concentration in public relations.

Jacari Henderson is the new director of Saluki Cares, the campuswide student support and care effort at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She has been serving as the interim assistant athletic director for compliance at the university and had previously served as the director of compliance and compliance coordinator.

Henderson earned her bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in criminology and criminal justice and a master’s degree in public administration from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Justine Tydings was promoted to director of the Peter M. and Paula Green Johnson Student Success Center in the College of Business at the University of Wyoming. She has been serving as the assistant director of MBA and graduate programs for the College of Business.

Tydings received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Eastern New Mexico University. She holds a master’s degree in sports and fitness administration from Missouri Western State University.

Kate Engel has been named interim executive director of the Nebraska Innovation Campus Development Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation owned by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. She has been with the organization since 2011 and most recently was director of strategic partnerships and communications.

Engel holds a bachelor of fine arts degree from Nebraska Wesleyan University, She earned a master’s degree in management from Doane University in Crete, Nebraska, and a master’s degree in leadership from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Frederica Suess will lead the International Short Programs division at the University of Kansas. For seven years, Suess was the director of the English Language Center at the University of Wyoming, where she was the founding director of the university’s Intensive English program as well as the comprehensive English as a second language support services center.

Suess holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and anthropology and a master’s degree in teaching English to speakers of other languages from the University of Illinois.

Emily E. Roper-Doten was named vice president for undergraduate admissions and financial assistance at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Since 2015, she has served as dean of admission and financial aid at the Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts. Earlier, she was on the admissions staff at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, for nine years.

Roper-Doten is a graduate of Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, where she majored in educational studies and theater. She holds a master’s degree in higher education administration from Boston College.

Jeanine A. Irons was appointed director of institutional culture and employee experience for Syracuse University Libraries in New York. She has served as a faculty developer for diversity, equity, and inclusion at Syracuse University’s Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence. Earlier, she was an instructional designer and educational developer at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina.

Dr. Irons holds bachelor’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Alabama.