Ana Bakshi is the new executive director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has served as founding director of the entrepreneurship centers at King’s College in London and Oxford University. Most recently, she served as the chief operating officer for Quench.ai, an artificial intelligence startup.
Bakshi holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Queen Mary University of London and a master’s degree in international development from the University of Manchester in England.
Karen Imgrund Deak has been promoted from interim executive director to permanent executive director of the IDEA Center at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. She has held several roles at Notre Dame throughout her career, including director of network engagement for the IDEA Center, commercialization specialist in the Office of Technology Transfer, and director of a master’s-level program teaching patent law to prospective patent agents.
Dr. Deak received her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Chicago.
Jennifer H. Stephens is the vice president for marketing and communications at Texas Southern University. With over two decades of higher education leadership experience, she most recently served as the chief communications and marketing officer at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Earlier, she was deputy chief of staff to the president, associate vice president for public affairs, and interim executive director of government and external relations at Georgia Gwinnett College.
Dr. Stephens is a graduate of Auburn University in Alabama, where she double-majored in psychology and graphic design. She holds a master of divinity degree in biblical studies from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Georgia.
Rolanda Horn has been appointed vice president for institutional effectiveness and SACSCOC liaison at Georgia Piedmont Technical College. Prior to her new role, she was director of assessment at Wallace Community College in Alabama. Earlier in her career, she was the quality enhancement plan coordinator for Alabama State University.
Dr. Horn received her bachelor’s degree in therapeutic recreation and Ph.D. in educational leadership, policy, and law from Alabama State University. She holds master’s degrees from Auburn University at Montgomery and Troy University in Alabama and is currently pursuing a second doctorate in health sciences at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama.
Julianna King was recently appointed assistant director of student involvement for programing in the Office of Student Involvement at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. She has spent the past three years working in Boston, gaining experience in student involvement and campus recreation.
King holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in higher education from Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts.