Eight Women Who Have Been Appointed to Administrative Positions at Universities

Chelsea Haines has been named chief of staff in the Office of Student Affairs at Virginia Tech. Dr. Haines has been part of the Virginia Tech community since 2013. She began her career as the manager of academic affairs and business operations with the program in real estate in the Pamplin College of Business.

Dr. Haines earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from what is now Mars Hill University in North Carolina. She earned an MBA from what is now the University of Lynchburg in Virginia and a Ph.D. in higher education from Virginia Tech.

Patrice Moorer has been appointed assistant vice president of academic affairs at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. Dr. Moorer joined the staff at the university in 2013 as the director for student retention initiatives and was previously the assistant dean of the Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering.

Dr. Moorer is a U.S. Navy veteran and holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Southern New Hampshire University. She earned a master’s degree in counseling from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, and an educational doctorate at the University of West Florida.

Mandy Distel was named chief financial officer at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She has been serving in the role on an interim basis since June. She also holds the titles of vice president and treasurer. Earlier, she was the senior director of finance for the university’s Feinberg School of Medicine from 2013 to 2019.

Distel earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Veronica Griego-Sanders is the new director of the Family Development Program at the University of New Mexico. After serving as a public school teacher and principal, Griego-Sanders worked for the New Mexico Public Education Department in the Student, Schools, and Family Support Bureau as well as the College and Career Readiness Bureau.

Griego holds a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of New Mexico and is working toward a doctorate in education leadership from Loyola University Chicago.

Debra Johns was appointed assistant vice president for undergraduate admissions at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, effective September 5. She has spent the last 15 years on the staff of the admissions office at Yale University.

Johns earned a bachelor’s degree from Saint Michael’s College in Burlington, Vermont, and a master’s degree in education from the University of Vermont.

Kelly Brennan has been named vice chancellor for enrollment management for the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. She has been serving as associate provost for enrollment management at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina.

A native of Worcester, Massachusetts, Dr. Brennan earned a bachelor’s degree in history, a master’s degree in counseling and student development, and a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Alabama.

Gwendolyn Caples was appointed interim vice president of institutional advancement at Jackson State University in Mississippi. She will also serve as executive director of the JSU Development Foundation.

Caples holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Jackson State University. She earned a master’s degree in mass communications at Mississippi College.

Laure Marest was named associate curator of ancient coins at Harvard Art Museums. This is one of the very few numismatic positions based at a U.S. university museum. The numismatic collection of the Harvard Art Museums includes over 20,000 coins. Df. Marest has been serving as the Cornelius and Emily Vermeule Associate Curator of Greek and Roman Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where she was previously assistant curator from 2017 to 2022.

Dr. Marest holds degrees from California State University, Northridge, and the Sorbonne in Paris. She earned a Ph.D. in the history of art from the University of California, Berkeley.