Nine Women Who Will Be Taking on New Administrative Positions in Higher Education

Rachel McBride-Praetorius is the inaugural director of tribal relations at Chico State University in California. For the past 12 years, she has served as executive director of Four Winds of Indian Education in Chico.

A member of the Yurok Tribe, McBride-Praetorius is a graduate of Chico State University.

Emily Watrous was appointed director of the Office of Human Resources and chief human resources officer at Clemson University in South Carolina, effective March 5. She has been serving as chief human resources officer for Southern First Bank.

Watrous is a graduate of Clemson University, where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree in human resource development from Webster University.

Darrylinn Todd was named interim associate vice chancellor of student affairs and enrollment services at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. She has been serving as executive administrator in the Office of Academic, Faculty, and Student Affairs and will continue in this role.

A native of Chicago, Dr. Todd holds a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Northern Colorado. She earned a master’s degree from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, and an MBA and a doctoral degree from Northern Illinois University.

Louise Paskey has had her duties expanded by being vice president for student development and institutional mission at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa. Since 2013, she had been serving as vice president for student development. Earlier, she was dean of students at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Paskey is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Points. She holds a master’s degree in education from Indiana University and is currently at work on a doctorate in educational leadership at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin.

Georgia Luann Carter is the new annual giving director at Mississippi State University. She joined the staff at the university in 2016. Earlier, Carter was a resource manager for Luckie & Company in Birmingham, Alabama.

Carter holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi.

Meshea Poore was appointed vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at West Virginia University. Poore is president of the West Virginia State Bar and has been practicing law in the state capital in Charleston.

Poore is a graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she majored in political science. She earned a juris doctorate at the Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Missy Matella was promoted to senor director of employee and labor relations in the Office of Human Resources at the University of Oregon. She has been serving as assistant general counsel at the university. She joined the staff at the university in 2014.

Matella is a graduate of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where she majored in government. She earned her law degree at the University of Oregon.

Michelle Turek was named principal gifts officer at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. Since 2012, Turek has been vice president for commercial banking at Tompkins Trust Company in Ithaca, New York.

Turek earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural and applied economics from Virginia Tech in 2000.

Sheila Johnson-Willis was appointed associate vice president, chief opportunity officer, and Title IX officer at Syracuse University in New York. She has served in these posts on an interim basis since June 2015. From 2012 to 2015, Johnson-Willis was director of equal opportunity and inclusion at the university.

Johnson-Willis is a graduate of Albion College in Michigan, where she majored in sociology. She earned a juris doctorate at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan.