Seventeen Women Who Are Taking on New Administrative Roles in Higher Education

Jane Miyashiro is the new vice president of human resources at El Camino College in Torrance, California. She has been serving as vice president for human resources and development at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. Earlier, she worked for 15 years in human resources at the University of Southern California.

Miyashiro is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles. She earned a master’s degree at Northern Illinois University.

Kellie Knight was promoted to assistant vice chancellor for university development at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. She has been serving as executive director of university initiatives in university development.

Knight joined the staff at the university in 2000. She holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural communications from the University of Illinois.

Teare Brewington was promoted to vice president for finance and management and chief financial officer at South Carolina State University. She is the first woman to hold the position. Since 2014, Brewington has served as university controller.

A certified public accountant, Brewington holds a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from the University of Akron in Ohio.

Tiffany Rogers was named executive director of Hot Springs Academic Initiatives for Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. She was the director of development for continuing education and workforce training at the Stuttgart campus of Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas.

Rogers holds an associate’s degree from Arkansas State University. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Margie Smith-Simmons was appointed assistant vice chancellor for finance and administration at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, effective September 5. She has been serving as assistant vice president for strategic communications at Indiana University.

Smith-Simmons earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice at Indiana University.

Shannon Mantaro was named director of the Center for Women in Business at Texas Woman’s University. She was the managing director of the Partnership for Community Development, a collaboration between Colgate University and the town of Hamilton, New York.

Mantaro is a graduate of St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, New York. She holds a master’s degree in communications management from Syracuse University in New York.

Felicia Blow is the new associate vice president for development and campaign director at Hampton University in Virginia. She has served as vice president for institutional advancement at Paul D. Camp Community College in Franklin, Virginia, and Tidewater Community College in Norfolk, Virginia.

Blow is a 1988 graduate of Hampton University, where she majored in media arts. She earned a master’s degree from Strayer University.

Crystal Clayton was hired as the new director of the Hegi Family Career Development Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She was director of student services and associate director of career management for the full-time MBA program at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University in Houston.

Dr. Clayton is a graduate of Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. She earned a master’s degree in educational leadership and policy analysis at the University of Missouri and an educational doctorate at the University of Nebraska.

Charlene Johnson was appointed vice president for enrollment management and student affairs at Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina. She will also serve as the college’s director of athletics. Johnson is the former director of athletics at South Carolina State University.

Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education and a master’s degree in counselor education from South Carolina State University.

Lauren Seganos Cohen is the new director of the Wilson Center for Spiritual Exploration and Multifaith Dialogue at the University of Maine. She had served as the inaugural interfaith service coordinator at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.

Most recently, Rev. Cohen was the interfaith chaplain at the Maine Medical Center. She earned a master of divinity degree at the Andover Newton Theological School in Newton, Massachusetts.

Nika Gueci was promoted to executive director for university engagement at the Center for Mindfulness, Compassion and Resilience at Arizona State University. She was the associate director of Wellness and Health Services at the university.

Gueci is a graduate of Columbia University in New York City, where she majored in Russian. She holds a master’s degree in communication studies from New Mexico State University and is studying for an educational doctorate at Arizona State University.

Kimberly Fair Reese was named executive director of the Office of University and Donor Events at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. She has served a director of the annual fund and as assistant director of admissions at the university.

Reese is a graduate of Winston-Salem State University and has a certificate in fundraising management from Indiana University/Purdue University’s School of Philanthropy.

Cheri Fisher Wilson is the new executive director of advancement and development at Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama. She has been working as a fundraising professional for the United Negro College Fund.

Wilson is a graduate of Oakwood University, where she majored in elementary and early childhood education. She holds a master’s degree in special education from La Sierra University in Riverside, California.

Monique DiCarlo was appointed Title IX coordinator at the University of Iowa. She joined the staff at the university in 1994 as the director of the Women’s Resource and Action Center. In 2009, she was named sexual misconduct response coordinator.

DiCarlo is a graduate of Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, where she majored in English and social work. She holds a master of social work degree from the University of Michigan.

Karla Foster was promoted to director of the Black Cultural Center on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has been serving in the post on an interim basis since last November. Foster joined the staff at the center in 2012.

Foster is a graduate of Indiana University in Bloomington. She holds a master’s degree in student affairs in higher education from Indiana State University.

Jing Li was appointed associate director of the Center for Health Services Research at the University of Kentucky. She will also serve as the director of the Office of Value and Innovation in Healthcare Delivery. She joined the staff at the university in 2014.

Dr. Li earned her medical degree at Tianjin Medical University in China. She holds a master’s degree in computer and information science from the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Shari Clarke was named the inaugural vice president for diversity and inclusion at Eastern Washington University in Cheyney. Since 2014, she has served as vice provost for diversity and inclusion at Ohio University in Athens. Earlier, she served as vice president for multicultural affairs at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.

Dr. Clark is a graduate of Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee. She earned a master’s degree from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and a Ph.D. in educational leadership from the University of Nebraska.

SaveSave