Nine Women Taking on New Administrative Duties in Higher Education

Lizbeth Ellis was appointed general counsel at New Mexico State University. She has been serving as interim associate dean for academics at the university’s College of Business. She has been a professor of business law at the university since 1989.

Professor Ellis is graduate of New Mexico State University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. She earned her law degree at Arizona State University.

Laverne Lewis Gaskins, University Attorney for Valdosta State University in Georgia, was named editor-in-chief of the National Bar Association Magazine. She previously served as the publication’s associate editor. She also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of College and University Law.

Dr. Gaskins is a graduate of Valdosta State University, where she majored in psychology. She earned a master’s degree in education and a juris doctorate from Florida State University.

Carol Tallarico was named executive director of the department of business, accounting, and economics at Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin. She was a professor of economics at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. She is the author of Does Simultaneity Matter? The Relationship Between Economic Growth and the Socio-Political Environment (VDM Verlag, 2009).

Dr. Tallarico holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from DePaul University in Chicago and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Amy Backus was appointed director of athletics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. She will be the first woman to hold the position on a permanent basis. Backus has been serving as senior associate athletic director at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

Backus is a graduate of Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant. She holds a master’s degree in higher education administration and supervision from Loyola University of Chicago.

Kathleen Powell was chosen as the next assistant vice president for student affairs and executive director of career development at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She will begin her new job in July. Currently, Powell is director of career exploration and development at Denison University in Granville, Ohio.

Powell is a graduate of the University of Akron in Ohio and earned a master’s degree at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Pamela DiSalvo Lepley was promoted to vice president for university relations at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Previously, she has served as executive director of the Division of University Relations and director of the Office of Communications and Public Relations. She has been on the staff at the university since 2002.

Lepley is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, where she majored in journalism. She holds a master of public administration degree from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Chacona W. Johnson was appointed vice president for development and alumni affairs at Wayne State University in Detroit. She has been serving as associate vice president for principal gifts and executive vice president of the Wayne State University Foundation.

Johnson is a graduate of Saint Augustine’s College in Raleigh, North Carolina. She earned a master of public administration degree from Ohio State University.

Lillian Hallstrand was named director of stewardship and vocational planning at the Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee. She has been serving as a chaplain and a bereavement coordinator at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Hallstrand is a graduate of the University of Denver. She earned a master’s degree in college student personnel from the University of Tennessee and a master of divinity degree from Vanderbilt University.

Barbara Meehan is the new executive director for counseling and psychological services at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She was the director of counseling services at Arizona State University.

Dr. Meehan holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Texas A&M University.