New Dean Appointments for Eight Women in Higher Education

MarQuita Barker has been named vice president of student life and dean of students at Davidson College in North Carolina. She comes to her new role from Knox College in Galesberg, Illinois, where she has been serving as vice president for student development. Prior to assuming her current role in 2022, she held various roles in diversity education and residence life at Elon University in North Carolina.

Dr. Barker holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in higher education administration from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. She received an MBA from Elon University and a doctorate in leadership and learning in organizations from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Jennifer Reynolds has been promoted from interim dean to permanent dean and was named to the Dave Frohnmayer Chair in Leadership and Law at the University of Oregon School of Law. A faculty member with the law school for over 16 years, she has held several leadership roles, including interim university ombudsperson, associate dean for faculty research and programs, associate dean of academic affairs, and faculty director of the Appropriate Dispute Resolution Center. She currently holds the title of Orlando John and Marian H. Hollis Endowed Professor of law.

Professor Reynolds completed her undergraduate education at the University of Chicago. She holds a master’s degree in English from the University of Texas at Austin and her juris doctorate from Harvard Law School.

Ashley Stokes has been appointed dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis. A full professor of veterinary large animal clinical sciences, she served as dean of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture’s UT Extension program from 2021 to 2024. With over 30 years of higher education experience, she previously held leadership roles with Colorado State University and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Dr. Stokes received her bachelor’s degree in physiological psychology from the University of Alabama and her MBA from Colorado State University. She earned her doctor of veterinary medicine degree and her Ph.D. in cardiovascular physiology and pharmacology from Louisiana State University.

Mary E. Earick has been named dean of the College of Education at Northern Illinois University. She has been serving as dean of the School of Education and as the executive director and founder of the Institute for Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Learning and Teaching at New Mexico Highlands University. A scholar of early childhood education, she previously taught at the University of New Mexico, the University of South Carolina, and Plymouth State University in New Hampshire.

A veteran of the United States Army, Dr. Earick holds a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and a master’s degree in urban pre-K to sixth grade education from Southern Connecticut State University. She earned her Ph.D. in language, literacy, and sociocultural studies from the University of New Mexico.

Erika Marsillac has been promoted from interim dean to permanent dean of the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. Prior to her interim appointment, she served as the college’s associate dean. She has been a faculty member with the university for the past 15 years. Earlier, she conducted research with the University of Toledo in Ohio.

Dr. Marsillac received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Pennsylvania State University, an MBA in information technology and a comprehensive MBA from Goldey-Beacom College in Wilmington, Delaware. She holds a Ph.D. in manufacturing management and engineering from the University of Toledo.

Kate Murphy has been promoted from interim dean to permanent dean of the College of Liberal Arts at California Polytechnic State University. A Cal Poly faculty member for nearly two decades, she previously served as the college’s associate dean for student success. Her research focuses on the history of science and the transatlantic slave trade. She is the author of Captivity’s Collections: Science, Natural History and the Transatlantic British Slave Trade (University of North Carolina Press, 2023).

Dr. Murphy earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia. She holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Angela Shaffer has been appointed dean of nursing at Danville Area Community College in Illinois. Her appointment marks a return to the community college, where she previously taught as an instructor of nursing. More recently, she helped to launch a bachelor of nursing program at Bryan College in Tennessee. Outside of academia, she has served as a registered nurse in several different healthcare settings.

Dean Shaffer holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a master’s degree in nursing education from Western Governors University.

Jill Jumper has been named dean of the College of Health Professions at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. She has taught in the university’s doctor of physical therapy program for the past eight years. For the past three years, she has served as program director. Earlier in her tenure, she was the program’s director of clinical education.  She previously served as director of clinical education for the physical therapist assistant program at Weatherford College in Texas.

Dr. Jumper received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Abilene Christian University. She holds a master of physical therapy degree and doctor of physical therapy degree from Hardin-Simmons University, as well as a Ph.D. in physical therapy from Texas Woman’s University.