Fifteen Women Appointed to Administrative Roles in Higher Education

Heather Mechler has been named associate vice provost and director of institutional research at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She comes to her new role from the University of New Mexico, where she serves as the director of institutional analytics. Earlier in her career she was a faculty member in education at Bucknell University in Lewsiburg, Pennsylvania and the University of Alabama.

Dr. Mechler holds a bachelor’s degree in music and Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Alabama.

Andreia Wardlaw has been appointed as the director of the Walter and Linda Evans Center for African American Studies in the Museum of Art at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. She previously held teaching roles with the New York Historical Society and the University of South Carolina Upstate.

Wardlaw received her bachelor’s degree in history from the University of South Carolina and a master’s degree in African American and Black studies from Columbia University in New York.

Christy Rikard has been promoted to vice president of student affairs at Ogeechee Technical College in Georgia. She has served as the institution’s assistant vice president of student affairs for the past five years. Prior to her current role, she held several positions within the Office of Admissions at Georgia Southern University.

Rikard holds a bachelor’s degree in communication studies and master’s degree in higher education administration from Georgia Southern University.

Fiona Coffey has been named director of the Office for the Arts at Harvard University. For the past six years, she has served as the associate director and curator for performing arts in the Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

Coffey completed her undergraduate education at Stanford University in California. She holds a master’s degree in Irish drama and film from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and a Ph.D. in theatre and performance from Tufts University in Massachusetts.

Dacia Read has been appointed chief of staff to the president at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She has extensive experience in public, private, and nonprofit administrative positions, most recently serving as vice president of strategic government growth at Unite Us, a health and social services technology provider. She previously held various leadership support roles within the Rhode Island state government.

Read holds a bachelor’s degree in urban studies from Columbia University and a juris doctorate from Brooklyn Law School in New York.

Emily Zimmerman has been promoted to director of exhibitions and curatorial affairs for the Arthur Ross Gallery at the University of Pennsylvania. She has served as the gallery’s assistant director for the past two years. Before her current role, she held various curatorial positions with the University of Washington in Seattle and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

Zimmerman earned her bachelor’s degree in visual studies from New York University and a master’s degree in curatorial studies from Bard College in New York.

Jennifer Rosales has been named senior vice president for community and campus life at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. She previously severed in several roles at Barnard College in New York, including vice president for inclusion and engaged learning, chief diversity officer, director of the Center for Engaged Pedagogy, and assistant professor of practice in education.

Dr. Rosales received her bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and doctorate from the University of Southern California.

Liudmila Tahai has been selected as the inaugural director of the Social, Behavior, and Educational Research Institutional Review Board at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Previously, she served as the assistant director of the Office of Human Research at George Washington University.

Tahai holds a master’s degree in public health and health systems from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

Rylee Gould has been promoted to assistant athletic director at Cedar Crest College, a women’s college in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She has been with the college since 2021, currently serving as the head coach for the lacrosse team and recruiting coordinator for the athletics department.

Gould received her bachelor’s degree in sport management and master’s degree in sports leadership from Wesley College, which has since become the downtown Dover campus of Delaware State University.

Porscha Miner has been named associate vice president of business and finance at Jackson State University in Mississippi. For over a decade, she has served as the lead senior budget analyst for the Mississippi Legislative Budget Office. Throughout her career, she has held budgetary analyst roles with several higher education institutions across the state of Mississippi.

Miner is a graduate of Tougaloo College in Mississippi, where she double-majored in economics and accounting. She earned her MBA from Jackson State University.

Beth Kransberger has been appointed assistant dean of admissions for the Western State College of Law at Westcliff University in Irvine, California. She has nearly three decades of higher education administrative experience, previously holding positions with the University of Wisconsin, the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Pennsylvania State University, National University, Williams College, and Michigan State University.

Kransberger holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and a juris doctorate from the University of Wisconsin.

Tiffany D. Tucker has been appointed director of athletics, physical education, and recreation at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. For the past three years, she has served as deputy athletics director for the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Previously, she held athletic administrative roles at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina, Hampton University in Virginia, and South Carolina State University.

Tucker is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she majored in philosophy. She holds a master’s degree in sports administration from Hampton University.

Lisa Ryan has been named chief marketing officer for the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She most recently led marketing initiatives for the executive education program at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to transitioning to higher education, she held senior marketing roles with several different private companies.

Ryan received her bachelor’s degree in finance from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and an MBA from Northwestern University in Illinois.

Erika Jordan has been named associate senior vice president of alumni relations at the University of Southern California. She most recently served as vice president of alumni engagement at Boston University. Previously, she held various event planning, alumni relations, and fundraising positions with the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and the University of California, Irvine.

Jordan holds a bachelor’s degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and a master’s degree from the University of Southern California.

Melanie Schramm has been appointed associate vice president for marketing and brand strategy at Rice University in Houston, Texas. She comes to her new role from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she served as associate vice president of marketing. She previously held marketing positions with the University of Florida, Michigan State University, Purdue University, Virginia Tech, and Ohio Northern University.

Schramm received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ohio University and her master’s degree in education from the College of William & Mary in Virginia.