A Dozen Women Named to Administrative Positions in Higher Education

Victoria L. Bastecki-Perez was named provost and vice president for academic affairs at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. She has served in the position on an interim basis since July 2010 and has been on the faculty and held various administrative posts at the college for 15 years.

Dr. Bastecki-Perez is a graduate of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and holds a master’s degree and an educational doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh.

Sheri R. Notaro was appointed associate dean for inclusion and professional development at Cornell University. The appointment is effective August 19. She has been serving as associate dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Notaro holds a master’s degree, a master of public health degree, and a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of Michigan.

Margot Pritzker was named chair of the governing board of the University of Chicago Charter School. She has served on the governing board since 2007. The charter school has four campuses on Chicago’s South Side. Pritzker is a director of the Pritzker Early Childhood Foundation and founder and president of WomenOnCall.org.

A graduate of Northwestern University, Pritzker earned a master’s degree at the University of Chicago.

Esther S. Powell, director of nontraditional adult student services at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina, was elected vice president of the Alpha Sigma Lambda Society.

The society which honors adult students who achieved high academic standards while maintaining responsibilities outside of academia, has more than 300 chapters nationwide. The society is headquartered at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

Stephanie McClay was appointed the founding principal of the Hybrid High School at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The school will open this fall. The school will be open seven days a week and 50 weeks a year to accommodate students with family and job responsibilities.

Previously, she was the founding principal of the Cal Burke High School and was an IT officer for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Amy Glynn, associate vice chancellor for university relations at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, was named director of the UMass Amherst/Springfield Partnership, a program designed to promote collaborations between the university and the city that will lead to the revitalization of Springfield’s economy.

Glynn holds bachelor’s degrees from Smith College and the City University of New York. She earned a master’s degree at the University of Massachusetts.

Karen J. Wheeler was appointed associate vice chancellor for policy, assessment, and diversity at the University of Arkansas Little Rock. She has been serving as associate director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.

Dr. Wheeler is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Martin. She earned a master’s degree in psychology at Austin Peay State University and a doctorate in education from Bowling Green State University.

Karen Timberlake was named director of the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. She has been serving as director of the Partnership for Healthcare Payment Reform. Previously, she was secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

Timberlake, a graduate of Harvard Law School, will being her new duties on October 1.

Tessa Gould was appointed associate director of development for the University of South Dakota Foundation. From 2004 to early 2011, she served on the staff of U.S. Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin of South Dakota.

Gould is a graduate of Jamestown College in North Dakota.

Ellen Smith was named director of the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program at Brandeis University. The program offers four graduate-level, dual-degree programs. She is an associate professor in the program and an affiliate faculty member of the department of Near East and Judaic studies.

Smith is the former curator of the American Jewish Historical Society and the National Museum of American Jewish History.

Cheryl J. Polson was named associate dean of the Graduate School and director of the outreach program at Kansas State University. She will be responsible for coordinating research and academic programs with Fort Leavenworth, a major U.S. Army post. She was a part-time associate dean at the Graduate School.

Dr. Polson holds bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees from Kansas State University.

Jamie Shutter was appointed interim director of University Health Services at the University of Texas.  She has served as associate director since 2007.

Shutter holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in health education from Southern Illinois University.