Ten Women Taking on New Administrative Roles in Higher Education

Lorraine A. Goffe-Rush was promoted to vice chancellor for human resources at Washington University in St. Louis. She was the assistant vice chancellor for human resources. The promotion is effective on January 1. She joined the staff at the university in 2000 as director of employee relations.

Goffe-Rush is a native of London, England and moved with her family to St. Louis when she was teenager. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Williams Woods University in Fulton, Missouri, and an MBA from National University in La Jolla, California.

Suzanne Harrington was named chief wellness officer at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. She was the director of health, safety, and wellness for the American Nurses Association in Silver Springs, Maryland.

Dr. Harrington is a graduate of Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas. She holds a master degree from the California College for Health Sciences and a doctorate in nursing from Rush University in Chicago.

Renee Zientek was appointed director of the Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement at Michigan State University. She was the senior director of civic engagement and fund advancement for the Michigan Nonprofit Association. Earlier, she served as vice chancellor for institutional advancement at the University of Michigan-Flint.

Zientek is a graduate of the University of Michigan-Flint and holds a master’s degree in American cultural studies from the University of Michigan.

Renee Reijo Pera was named vice president for research, creativity, and technology transfer at Montana State University. She has been serving as the director of the Center for Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Research and the Center for Reproductive and Stem Cell Biology at Stanford University. She will begin her new duties on January 15.

Dr. Reijo Pera is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Superior. She holds a master’s degree in entomology from Kansas State University and a Ph.D. in molecular cell biology from Cornell University.

Cynthia L. Roth was appointed president and CEO of the West Virginia University Foundation. She has been serving as associate vice chancellor of institutional advancement at the University of Pittsburgh. When she begins her new job on January 1, she will become the first woman to serve as president of the foundation.

Roth has been on the staff at the University of Pittsburgh since 2005. She holds a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

Dawn Thompson was named vice president for student life at the University of Delaware. Since 2009, she has served as associate vice president for student life and dean of students at the university. She is the former executive director of housing and residence life at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Thompson is a graduate of Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, and holds a master’s degree from Ohio State University.

Cheri Soileau was appointed director of the Office of Transportation services at the University of Louisiana Lafayette. She is a former senior transit planner for the Denton County Transportation Authority in Texas.

Soileau is a graduate of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. She earned a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Houston-Clear Lake.

Lorna Stern is the new vice president and director of global studies at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania. She was promoted from her previous post as associate vice president and director of strategic development for the College of Global Studies. She has been on the staff at the university since 1990.

A native of South Africa, Stern is a graduate of Wells College in Aurora, New York. She holds a master’s degree in law and diplomacy from Tufts University.

Sara Barton is the new chaplain at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. She was an assistant professor of religion at Rochester College in Rochester Hills, Michigan. Previously, for eight years she was a missionary in Uganda.

Barton is a graduate of Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, where she majored in English. She holds a master’s degree from Spring Arbor University in Michigan and is working toward a doctor of ministry degree at Lipscomb University in Nashville.

Mary Phillips was promoted to director of the Office of Research Development at Oregon State University in Corvallis. She has been serving as associate director of the Office of Commercialization and Corporate Development. Phillips has been at Oregon State since 2006.

Dr. Phillips holds a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine of the University of London.