Five Women Appointed to Administrative Roles in Higher Education

Jill Blondin has been named the inaugural vice chancellor for global affairs at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Blondin, who is the current president-elect of the Association of International Education Administrators, comes to her new role from Virginia Commonwealth University, where she has been serving as vice provost for global initiatives. Her professional expertise includes strategic budgeting, internationalization, global learning, risk management, and global partnerships.

A graduate of Indiana University, Dr. Blondin received her master’s degree and Ph.D. in art history from the University of Illinois.

Beth Leaver was promoted to assistant vice president for housing, dining, and hospitality at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Leaver, who has worked at Rice for nearly two decades, has served in the role on an interim basis for the past year. Earlier in her tenure, she was senior director of operations for residential and dining offerings.

Leaver holds a master’s degree in hospitality administration from the University of Houston.

Shawna Lynch-Watkins has been appointed director of transfer, adult, and graduate admissions at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina. Most recently, Lynch-Watkins served as Meredith’s senior associate director of graduate admissions and lifelong learning. Earlier, she was director of strategic initiatives at the University of Oklahoma.

Lynch-Watkins holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Central Oklahoma and a master of public administration degree from Arkansas State University.

Megan Haughey is the incoming athletic director at Rutgers University-Newark. Since 2018, Haughey has served as deputy athletic director and senior woman administrator at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. She was also the head coach of the institute’s women’s basketball team.

Haughey earned her bachelor’s degree in history from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, and her master of social work degree with a focus on nonprofit management from Rutgers University.

Jenny Boyden was appointed vice president for finance and administration and chief business officer at the University of Maine and the University of Maine at Machias. She has served in the role on an interim basis for the past year. Before joining the University of Maine System, she was associate commissioner for the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services.

Boyden holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and finance from Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts, and an MBA from Thomas College in Waterville, Maine.

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