Fourteen Women Who Are Taking on New Administrative Duties in Higher Education

Julia Allen has been named assistant dean of advancement in the College of Natural Resources and Environment at Virginia Tech. She most recently served as the chief development officer at Gaston College in North Carolina.

Allen is a graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina, where she double-majored in English and philosophy. She is currently completing a master’s degree in higher education from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina.

Teesa Brunson was appointed director of development and associate vice president for institutional advancement at Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina. She was assistant vice president for institutional advancement and development officer for major and planned gifts at Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina.

Dr. Brunson is a graduate of South Carolina State University, where she majored in English. She holds a master’s degree in print journalism from Florida A&M University and an educational doctorate from Nova Southeastern University.

Sandra Miles was appointed vice president for student affairs at Flaglar College in St. Augustine, Florida. She was vice provost for student affairs and dean of students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Dr. Miles holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Central Florida. She earned a doctorate at Florida State University.

Leia Hill is the new vice president of advancement and executive director of the Meridian Community College Foundation in Meridian, Mississippi. For the past year, she has been associate vice president for college communications and will continue to hold those duties.

Hill is a graduate of the Mississippi University for Women. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Mississippi.

Pamela Mason was promoted to director of the Office of Compliance & Equity at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She will hold the title of chief compliance officer. Mason had been serving as Title IX coordinator and interim chief compliance officer. She started her career at the College of William and Mary in 2004 as the associate director of development for athletics.

Mason is a graduate of Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She holds an MBA and a law degree from the College of William Mary.

Denise Boston was appointed vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion at Walden University, which is headquartered in Minneapolis. Dr. Boston most recently served as the dean of diversity and inclusion at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where she was also a professor of professional psychology and health.

Dr. Boston is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, where she majored in drama. She holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Goddard College, headquartered in Plainfield, Vermont, and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Walden University.

Francesca Vega was selected to serve as vice chancellor for community and government relations at the University of California, San Francisco. She was assistant vice president of government and community relations at California State University, Northridge.

Vega earned a bachelor’s degree in government with a minor in sociology from California State University, Sacramento.

Sarah Workman was appointed assistant director of proposal development for the humanities in the College of Arts and Science at Syracuse University in New York. In this role she will help faculty identify funding sources for their work. Dr. Workman was a learning design specialist in the Center for New Designs in Learning & Scholarship at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Workman is a graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where she majored in English and Spanish. She holds a master degree in English from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Joy Moore was named vice president for student affairs at Boston College. She has been the interim head of student affairs since August 2018. Earlier, Moore was associate vice president for college communications. She joined the staff at Boston College in 2011.

Moore is a 1981 graduate of Boston College, where she majored in education.

Suzanne Stluka was chosen to serve as the associate director of Montana State University Extension. Since 2011, Dr. Stluka was the Food and Families Program leader for South Dakota State University Extension.

Dr. Stluka is a graduate of South Dakota State University, where she majored in family and consumer sciences education. She holds a master’s degree from Eastern Illinois University and a Ph.D. in nutrition and health sciences from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Laura Sample McMeeking is the new director of the Colorado State University STEM Center. She has been on the staff at the center for the past eight years.

Dr. McMeeking earned her bachelor’s degree in meteorology from Texas A&M University. She holds a master’s degree in atmospheric science and a Ph.D. in education and human resource studies from Colorado State University.

Amie Stepanovich will be the next executive director of the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado Law School. She previously served as U.S. policy manager and global policy counsel at Access Now in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, she was director of the domestic surveillance project at the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

Stepanovich is a graduate of Florida State University and earned a juris doctorate at New York Law School.

Brenda González was appointed director of community relations at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has been serving as the diversity manager for Agrace Hospice & Palliative Care. Earlier, she was the health equity career development program manager with the Collaborative Center for Health Equity at the university’s School of Medicine and Public Health.

González has a bachelor’s degree in social psychology from Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Xochimilco in Mexico City.

Kimberly Whitehead is the new chief of staff to University of Maine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy. For the past five years, Whitehead has been at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, where she has served as interim associate vice president for academic affairs, vice provost for academic affairs, interim provost and vice president, and, most recently, program coordinator in the International Development Programs Office.

Dr. Whitehead is a graduate of Norfolk State University in Virginia. She holds a Ph.D. in genetics from North Carolina State University.