Lara Hodgson was named executive director of the Georgia Institute of Technology’s new startup accelerator, The Venture Arcade. Hodgson, a trustee of the Georgia Tech Foundation, comes to her new role with more than two decades of experience in entrepreneurial leadership, capital markets, and global operations. She is the co-author of Level Up: Rise Above the Hidden Forces Holding Your Business Back (Portfolio Penguin, 2022).
Hodgson earned her bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech and her MBA from Harvard Business School.
Marla A. Vickers was appointed vice president for university advancement at Georgia State University and president of the Georgia State University Foundation. Dr. Vickers comes to her new role from Florida State University, where she was vice president for university advancement and president of the FSU Foundation. Earlier, she was associate vice president of advancement at Emory University in Atlanta. Dr. Vickers has also held advancement leadership roles at Yale University, the University of Chicago, Washington University, Duke University, and Georgetown University.
Dr. Vickers is a graduate of the University of Georgia. She holds a master’s degree from Florida State University, an MBA from George Washington University, and a doctorate from Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Chidi Blyden is the new executive director of the Harvard University Center for African Studies. An expert in foreign policy and security, Blyden has held key leadership positions across four U.S. presidential administrations and has served as the senior advisor for peacekeeping at the Pentagon to the African Union and United Nations. Under the Biden-Harris administration, she was deputy chief executive officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation and deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs.
Blyden is a graduate of Texas A&M University, where she majored in sociology. She holds a master’s degree from the Carter School of Conflict Resolution at George Mason University in Virginia.
Lindsay Gavin has been appointed director of the Counseling Center at Towson University in Maryland. Dr. Gavin has spent the past eight years leading trauma-informed care at Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital in Baltimore. As director of the hospital’s trauma and healing program, she worked to improve screening, assessment, and treatment for youth experiencing trauma in order to improve a culture of misdiagnosing youth, particularly youth of color, with behavioral disorders rather than understanding that their behaviors and difficulties were rooted in trauma.
Dr. Gavin holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Loyola University Maryland, and a Ph.D. in clinical and community psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Lindsey Hunter is the inaugural vice president for strategic enrollment management at Langston University in Oklahoma. Hunter comes to the university from Oakton College in Illinois, where she was director of enrollment services. Earlier in her career, she held leadership roles at Emory University, Clark Atlanta University, and Chicago Public Schools.
Hunter is a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, where she majored in theater and drama. She holds a master’s degree in higher education leadership and policy studies from Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.
Renee Craig-Marius has been named vice chancellor for student services and support at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. Dr. Craig-Marius has more than three decades of higher education experience, including 29 years in the California Community Colleges system. Most recently, she was assistant superintendent and vice president of student services at Gavilan College in Gilroy, California.
Dr. Craig-Marius received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and her master’s degree in counseling from California State University, Fresno. She holds a doctorate in organizational leadership from the University of Massachusetts.
Terri L. Winfree has been appointed interim vice president of academics at Gogebic Community College in Ironwood, Michigan. Dr. Winfree currently serves as president of Terri L. Winfree & Associates, focusing on leadership, communication, personal development, and organizational growth. She also serves as co-president of the Illinois Community College System Foundation.
An alumna of Prairie State College in Illinois, Dr. Winfree holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Governors State University in Illinois and a Ph.D. in education and human resources from Colorado State University.