Five Women Who Have Been Appointed to New Administration Positions at Universities

Kelly Lucas has been named associate vice president for research and coastal operations at the University of Southern Mississippi. She oversees all coast-based research units and will coordinate all coast-based research functions for the university. Dr. Lucas has served in the role on an interim basis since March. She is the former chief scientific officer at the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.

Dr. Lucas earned a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from Mississippi State University. She holds an MBA from the University of Alabama-Birmingham and a Ph.D. in coastal sciences from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Azmera Hammouri-Davis was appointed Africana spirituality advisor in the Office of the Chaplain at Tufts University in Massachusetts. She was a diversity and explorations assistant with Harvard Divinity School and a race relations proctor for the dean of students first-year experience office.

Hammond-Davis is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where she majored in visual and performing arts and psychology. She holds a master’s degree in theological studies from Harvard University.

Rachel James-Terry is the new associate director of public relations in the Office of University Communications and Marketing at Jackson State University in Mississippi. She has been serving as media relations chair for Jackson Indie Music Week – the largest independent music festival in the state of Mississippi.

James-Terry is a graduate of Jackson State University, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English.

Keiko Price was appointed assistant vice president of campus life and director of athletics at Emory University in Atlanta. She is the former senior associate athletics director at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.

Price is a native of Hawaii and holds an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a graduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Kimberly Reese was named associate vice president for institutional advancement at Xavier University in New Orleans. Reese joined the staff at the university in 1995 as coordinator for volunteer services. In her most recent role, she was assistant vice president for alumni relations.

Earlier in her career, Reese served as assistant director for student development and director of leadership at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Xavier University of Louisana.