Universities Announce the Appointment of Six Women to New Administrative Positions

Lauriane Quenee, who served as the biosafety officer at the California Institute of Technology for more than seven years, has been promoted to senior director of environmental health and safety. Before coming to Caltech, She was the assistant biological safety officer at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Quenee holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from the Universite Joseph Fourier in Grenoble, France.

Liza Saunders has been named the new director of marketing at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Saunders joins UNCW after serving for the past five years at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, as the social media marketing and communications manager for the School of Art.

Saunders holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a certificate in marketing communications from Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, Virginia.

Debbie Magyar was appointed director of the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. Magyar previously served as a business advisor and course instructor at the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Chatham University in Pittsburgh.

Magyar is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, where she majored in business administration. She holds an MBA from Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Ohio.

Denise Kwok was promoted to deputy athletic director for internal operations and senior woman administrator at the University of Southern California. Prior to her role as interim executive administrator and executive senior associate athletic director for student-athlete development, Dr. Kwok served as the associate athletic director for student-athlete academic services. She has been on the staff since 2004.

Dr. Kwok is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she majored in psychology and Asian American studies. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Southern California.

Mary Sechrist is the new research compliance director for Florida State University. Dr. Sechrist comes to FSU from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she worked in the Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development since June 2021. Earlier, she served as a research compliance specialist at the University of Mississippi.

Dr. Sechrist holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in psychology from the University of Mississippi.

Megan Witherspoon Evans has been named the director of the Veteran and Military-Affiliated Student Center at the University of Arkansas. She was the associate director for residence education for university housing at the University of Arkansas.

Evans holds bachelor’s and master’s degree in communication from the University of Arkansas.