Seven Women Who Are Stepping Down From Their Higher Education Posts

Gail E. Carberry, president of Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, Massachusetts, announced that she will retire at the conclusion of the 2016-17 academic year. She had led the college for the past decade. Women make up 58 percent of the 8,000-member student body at the college.

A graduate of Worcester State University, Dr. Carberry holds master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Michelle Roberge, director of the Carpenter Performing Arts Center at California State University, Long Beach, reigned her position after the administration dropped support for the performance of the play N*gger, Wetb*ck, Ch*nk at the center. Roberge believed that the lack of university support amounted to censorship of the controversial play on the issue of race.

Roberge is a graduate of Saint Mary’s College and holds a master’s degree in theater from the University of Michigan.

Glenda Hammond, the director of the Upward Bound program at Michigan State University in East Lansing, has announced that she is retiring in December. Hammond has led the Upward Bound program at the university since 1981.

Hammond holds a master’s degree in  education from Michigan State University.

Elizabeth Struthers Malbon was named professor emerita of religion and culture in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech. The author of five books, she specializes in scholarship on the Gospel of Mark. She joined the faculty at the university in 1980.

Professor Malbon holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, all from Florida State University.

Linda Marchesani is retiring from her post as director of workplace learning and development at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She became director of what was then called training and development in 1994.

Dr. Marchesani holds a doctorate from the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Rita Patterson, director of the Armstrong Browning Library at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, retired on September 1. She worked at the Armstrong Browning Library for 45 of the 50 years that she was on the staff at the university.

Patterson also served as an associate professor at the university, earning tenure in 2002. She holds a master of library science degree from Texas Woman’s University.

Tina Hancock, director of the School of Social Work at New Mexico State University, announced that she will retire at the end of the current semester. She has served in this role since 2011.

Dr. Hancock earned a master of social work degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She holds a doctoral degree in social work from the University of Alabama.