Nine Women Who Have Been Appointed to New Administrative Positions in Higher Education

Talia Palacio is the inaugural manager of multicultural admissions and marketing communications at Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi. She has been serving as director of bilingual communications for Shelby County Schools, the largest school district in the state of Tennessee.

Palacio earned a bachelor’s degree in foreign language from the University of Memphis and has studied abroad at the University of Costa Rica in San Jose.

Haley Gingles has been appointed chief marketing communications officer at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. She has been serving as the director of communications and media relations at the university.

Gingles holds a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Rachel Niemer, director of outreach and access in the Center for Academic Innovation at the University of Michigan, has been appointed the new managing director of the Women in Science and Engineering program at the university. She has worked a the university since 2001.

Dr. Niemer earned bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and women’s studies from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology.

Santee Ezell was promoted to director of the department of health promotion and wellness at Mississippi State University. She had been serving as assistant director of health promotion and wellness.

Ezell holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Southern Mississippi and a master’s degree in community development from Delta State University. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in human development and family science at Mississippi State.

Selena Hriz was appointed director of project management for information technology services at the University of Arkansas. She joined the staff at the university in 2019, after working as an IT professional for Walmart.

Hriz is a graduate of the University of Arkansas, where she majored in communication. She is currently in the master’s degree program in human resource and workforce development at the university.

Erica Alexander was named deputy chief compliance officer at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Most recently, Dr. Alexander served as administrative chief of staff for Inova Health System’s Clinical Enterprise in Northern Virginia.

Dr. Alexander received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Western Michigan University. She also earned a post-professional clinical doctorate in occupational therapy from Chatham University in Pittsburgh.

Butterfly Blaise Boire has been named civil rights and Title IX coordinator at Middlebury College in Vermont. She has been serving as the Title IX coordinator at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh.

Boire earned a bachelor’s degree in communication studies and a master’s degree in mental health counseling from SUNY-Plattsburgh.

Mea E. Ashley was promoted to director of student life at Mississippi University for Women. She has been serving as interim director. Ashley is the former assistant director for student involvement in the Center for Student Engagement and Leadership at Jackson State University in Mississippi.

Ashley is a graduate of Jackson State University, where she majored in multimedia journalism. She earned a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York City and currently is a doctoral student in leadership and change at Antioch University.

Lindsay Klee has been named senior director of technology commercialization at Wayne State University in Detroit. She previously served as both interim managing director and commercialization director for the University of Michigan Medical Innovation Center.

Klee holds a master’s degree in healthcare management and finance from the University of Michigan.