Five Women Appointed to New Administrative Positions in Higher Education

Padma Raghavan was selected as the next vice provost for research at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She has been serving as a distinguished professor of computer science and engineering at Pennsylvania State University. Earlier in her career, Dr. Raghavan served on the faculty at the University of Tennessee and as a research scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Dr. Raghavan will begin her new job on February 1.

Professor Raghavan earned a Ph.D. in computer science at Pennsylvania State University.

Elizabeth Canning was appointed Title IX coordinator and director of Title IX initiative and Cleary Act compliance at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. She is the former director of equity and compliance services at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Canning is a graduate of Harvard University and the Boston College Law School.

Julie Hooper is the new vice chancellor for university development and alumni relations at the University of California, Berkeley. She has been serving in the post on an interim basis since October 2014 and earlier was associate vice chancellor for university relations. Before joining the staff at Berkeley in 2014, Hooper was associate vice president for development at the University of Texas at Austin.

Hooper holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Boston University and a master’s degree in historic preservation from the University of Georgia.

Precious Porras was appointed director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs at the University of Kansas. She has been serving as interim director since May. She joined the administrative staff at the university in 2005.

Porras is a graduate of Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville. She holds a master’s degree in counselor education from Emporia State University in Kansas and is currently working on a doctorate in educational leadership at the University of Kansas.

Connie Merriman was promoted to associate dean for undergraduate programs at the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Since 2007, she has served as assistant dean. She has been on the staff at the university since 1998.

Dr. Merriman holds a master of public administration degree and a doctorate in higher education administration from Old Dominion University.