Six Academic Women in New Administrative Posts

Lauren Harrell was named interim executive director of the Office of Institutional Advancement at Bainbridge State College in Georgia. Since 2010 she has been president of DeHildren Realty in Bainbridge.

Harrell earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

Paula Edgar was appointed the inaugural chief diversity officer at New York Law School in New York City. She was an associate director of career services at the Seton Hall University School of Law in New Jersey.

Edgar is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton, where she majored in anthropology. She received a J.D. from the City University of New York School of Law.

Sheryl Tucker, dean of the Graduate College at Oklahoma State University, was named interim vice president for research and technology transfer. She will take on her new duties on January 1. Prior to joining the staff at Oklahoma State University in 2011, Dr. Tucker served as director of the Graduate Research Fellowship Program of the National Science Foundation. Earlier, she was a professor of chemistry and associate dean of the graduate school at the University of Missouri.

Dr. Tucker is a graduate of Kent State University in Ohio. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Texas.

Susan Ballabina was promoted to associate director for program development of the AgriLife Extension Service at Texas A&M University. Since 2005, she has been the agency’s East Region program director based in Dallas. She has been with the AgriLife Extension Service since 1994.

Dr. Ballabina is a graduate of Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas. She holds a master’s degree from Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas, and a Ph.D. in public affairs from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Carla Wilson was named director of athletics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She is the first woman to hold the post at the university and is the only woman athletics director in the Western Athletic Conference. Less than 9 percent of all athletics directors in the NCAA’s Division I are women.

Wilson has been on the staff of the university’s athletics department for the past 16 years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the university.

Renee A. Middleton, dean of the College of Education and professor of counselor education at Ohio University in Athens, was elected to the board of directors of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. She will serve a four-year term.

Dr Middleton received a bachelor’s degree in speech and hearing from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. She holds a master’s degree in clinical audiology from the University of Tennessee, and a Ph.D. in rehabilitation administration from Auburn University in Alabama.