Nineteen Women Who Will Be Taking on New Administrative Roles in Higher Education

Kathy E. Johnson was appointed executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. She has been serving in the post on an interim basis for the past year. Dr. Johnson joined the faculty at the university in 1993 as an assistant professor of psychology.

Dr. Johnson holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She earned a Ph.D. in psychology at Emory University in Atlanta.

April Blackmon Strange was appointed program manager for the Student Veteran Center at the University of Kansas. She is the former community engagement communications director for the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Strange holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in mass communication from Kansas State University.

Christine Rawak was named director of intercollegiate athletics and recreation services at the University of Delaware, effective June 5. She will be the first woman in history to hold the post on a permanent basis. Rawak has been serving as executive senior associate athletic director at the University of Michigan.

Rawak was student body president and member of the swim team as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. She earned a master’s degree in communications from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Kathleen Chavira was appointed assistant vice chancellor for advocacy and state relations for the California State University System, effective August 1. She has been serving as staff director for the Senate Education Committee in Sacramento.

Chavira is a graduate of Stanford University, where she majored in human biology. She holds an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Sharon O’Hare was named vice president of enrollment management at Central Washington University in Ellensburg. She has been serving as associate vice president for enrollment management and student success at the University of Montana.

O’Hare holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Colorado State University and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from the University of Montana.

Katharine S. Brooks was appointed the Evans Family Executive Director of the Center for Student Professional Development at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Since 2013, she has served as the executive director of the Office of Personal and Career Development at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Brooks is the author of You Majored in What? Mapping Your Path From Chaos to Career (Viking Books, 2009).

Shay Davis Little was appointed vice president for student affairs at Kent State University in Ohio. She has been serving in the post on an interim basis since August. She joined the staff at Kent State in 2012 as associate vice president for student affairs.

Dr. Little is a graduate of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree from Oklahoma State University and a Ph.D. in counseling and student personnel services from the University of Georgia.

Sheree M. Marlowe was named chief officer of diversity and inclusion at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Since 2013, Marlowe has been the campus diversity officer at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Earlier, she was a diversity officer at the University of California, San Francisco.

Marlowe is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she majored in English. She holds a juris doctorate from the Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco.

Susi Elkins was promoted to interim director of broadcasting and general manager of WKAR Public Media at Michigan State University. Since 2012, Elkins has been the television station manager for WKAR.

Elkins holds a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications and a master’s degree in educational technology from Michigan State University.

Jodi Phelps was named executive director of university communications and marketing at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. She was the chief operating officer for Action Pathways Inc., a nonprofit human services agency in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Phelps holds a bachelor’s degree in communication and history from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. She earned an MBA from Thomas University in Thomasville, Georgia.

Linda McCabe Smith was appointed vice provost for institutional equity and diversity at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. She has been serving as associate chancellor for institutional equity and diversity at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Dr. McCabe Smith holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from North Carolina Central University in Durham. She earned a Ph.D. in speech-language and hearing pathology at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Mary Dunker was named director of Secure Identity Services at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. She has been on the staff at Virginia Tech for 38 years.

Dunker is a graduate of Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, where she majored in music. She completed master’s level coursework in computer science at Virginia Tech.

Mandy Hanson was appointed manager of the career success center in the Beacom School of Business of the University of South Dakota. She had been working on the staff at the Graduate School at the university.

Hanson is a graduate of Mount Marty College in Yankton, South Dakota, and holds a master’s degree in educational administration from the University of South Dakota.

Yohna Chambers was selected as the next vice chancellor for human resources at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. She was director of faculty initiatives in the human resources division at Virginia Tech.

Chambers is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi. She holds a master’s degree in public policy and administration from Mississippi State University.

Andrea Angel was promoted to associate vice chancellor for alumni and development at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock. She has been serving as senior director of development and earlier was director of development for the university’s College of Business.

Angel holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Arkansas-Little Rock and is currently pursuing an MBA at the university.

Caroline Laguerre-Brown was named vice provost for diversity, equity, and community engagement at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Since 2010, she has served as vice provost for institutional equity and chief diversity officer at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Laguerre-Brown is a graduate of Binghamton University in New York and the University of Virginia School of Law.

Abigail L. Palko will be the new director of the Maxine Platzer Lynn Women’s Center at the University of Virginia. She has been serving as associate director of the gender studies program at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

Dr. Palko is a graduate of Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. She earned a master’s degree in English at Rutgers University in New Jersey and a Ph.D. in literature from the University of Notre Dame.

Samantha S. Earp was named chief information officer at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, effective September 1. She has been serving as executive director of HarvardX, an online learning platform. Earlier, she was managing director for academic technology services at Harvard.

Earp is a graduate of Berea College in Kentucky, where she majored in French. She earned a master’s degree in French linguistics and completed doctoral coursework in instructional systems technology at Indiana University.

Jennifer Jordan was appointed director of development for the College of Creative Arts at West Virginia University. For the past three years, she has been associate director of development for the university’s College of Law.

Jordan is a graduate of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Montgomery, where she majored in history and government. She earned a master’s degree in public policy and political science at West Virginia University.