The University of Georgia has announced four finalists for the position of vice president for student affairs. All four candidates are visiting the Athens campus this month for interviews and meetings with various members of the university community. Two of the four finalists are women.
Jeanie Ward-Roof is the dean of students at Florida State University in Tallahassee. She is a past president of the National Orientation Directors Association. She is the associate editor of The Journal of College Orientation and Transition and associate editor of the College Student Affairs Journal.
Dr. Ward-Roof received her bachelor’s degree in communication from Ohio University, her master’s degree in college student personnel from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and a doctorate in educational leadership from Clemson University in South Carolina.
Melissa Exum is vice president for student affairs at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Dr. Exum has been in her current post since 2010. Previously, she was on the staff at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she served as associate vice chancellor and dean of students. She has also served in the administration at Ohio University and the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Dr. Exum is a graduate of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she majored in sociology. She holds a master’s degree in medical sociology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and a doctorate in higher education administration from Ohio University.