A Half Dozen Women Who Are Taking on New Administrative Roles at Colleges and Universities

Michele Kilburn was appointed vice president and chief human resources officer at the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute in Marcy. She has been working as a human relations consultant

Kilburn is a graduate of SUNY’s Empire State College, where she majored in business administration. She hold an MBA from Clarkson University and is pursuing a master’s degree in labor and employment law at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Andrea Ricketts-Preston is the new director of athletics at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Ricketts-Preston previously served as the senior associate director of athletics at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland. Ricketts-Preston joined Goucher College in 2017 as the women’s basketball coach. She was then promoted to senior woman administrator and associate director of athletics in 2019.

Ricketts-Preston earned a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. She later pursued a master’s degree in exercise and sports science with a concentration in sports administration from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Megan Myers has been named the assistant dean of advancement for Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics at Syracuse University in New York. Myers joined the Falk College’s advancement team as assistant director of development in December 2018 and was promoted to director of development in December 2021.

Myers holds a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and sociology from Pennsylvania State University, where she was co-captain for the women’s swimming and diving team. She earned a master of public health degree from Syracuse University.

Jessica Smith was named chief operating officer for the Relay Graduate School of Education, which is based in New York but has offices throughout the United States. Smith was vice president of employee relations and engagement at Alliance College-Ready Public Schools.

Smith is a graduate of the University of Miami, where she majored in history and English. She earned a juris doctorate at Emory University in Atlanta.

Rita Farlow will be the new vice president for marketing and communications at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia, effective March 1. She has been serving as associate vice president for marketing and strategic communications at St. Petersburg College in Florida. Earlier, she had a 14-year career as a journalist with the Tampa Bay Times.

Farlow holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Virginia Tech and a master’s degree in mass communications from the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg.

Ann Nelson was appointed director of fiscal operations for the College of Arts and Sciences at Oklahoma State University. She has more than 25 years of experience in finance and accounting, including positions at IBM, the University of Oklahoma, and Tulsa’s Family and Children’s Services.

A native of Tulsa, Nelson earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. She holds an MBA from Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma.