Seven Women Who Have Been Appointed to New Administrative Posts in Higher Education

Tiffany Mendez was appointed director of financial aid at Pomona College in Claremont, California, effective August 2. She has been serving as director of financial aid at Occidental College in Los Angeles. Earlier, she was associate director of financial aid at Scripps College in Claremont.

Dr. Mendez holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees all from the Univerity of La Verne in California.

Lawrencina Mason Oramalu is the new director of the Center for Student Leadership at Texas Woman’s University. She is the former associate dean of educational partnerships at El Centro Community College in Dallas.

Oramalu is a graduate of Rice University in Houston. She earned a master’s degree at the University of Minnesota and a juris doctorate from the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Amynah Mithani is the new assistant vice provost and university registrar at Johns Hopkins Univerity in Baltimore. Mithani has served as a manager at Deloitte Consulting since 2019. Prior to her work with Deloitte, she served as deputy university registrar at Georgetown University for two years.

Mithani received a bachelor’s degree in business administration and an MBA in information systems management, both from DeVry University.

Donica Thomas Varner has been named vice president and general counsel at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, effective July 25. She has been serving as vice president, general counsel, and secretary at Oberlin College in Ohio.

Varner earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from North Carolina State University in 1991. She holds a juris doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School.

Aarika Dorsey was appointed director of human resources at River Parishes Community College in Gonzales, Louisiana. She brings 20 years of human resources experience to the college with experience working with the state Department of Education.

Dorsey received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Louisiana State University. She holds an MBA from the University of New Orleans.

Tanya Hockman was named athletic director at Malone University in Canton, Ohio. She has served as interim athletic director since the fall of 2019. She will leave her position as head volleyball coach at the university after 22 seasons to focus on her new duties full time.

Hockman graduated from Malone University in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in Christian ministries.

Alicia Dorn was appointed extension specialist for the School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Sciences at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Prior to joining the staff at the university, Dorn served as communications director and part-time deputy for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

Dorn holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication and broadcast journalism from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. She earned a master of public administration degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.