Seven Women Who Have Been Appointed to New Administrative Posts at Universities

Esmilda Abreu was promoted to vice president for student affairs at Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, New York. She had been serving a associate vice president for student life and dean of students at the community college since 2020. Before that, she was the assistant vice for student affairs and Title IX coordinator at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

Dr. Abreu holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology, women’s studies, and dance from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. She earned a master’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology from Teachers College at Columbia University and a Ph.D. in organization and management from Capella University.

Jackie Ferree is the senior vice president for operations and business services at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She has been serving as the interim chief operating officer at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Ferree came to W&M in 2015 and spent more than five years as associate dean of finance and administration at the university’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business.

Ferree holds a bachelor’s degree in business and an MBA in applied leadership from Franklin University in Columbus, Ohio.

Devin Geraci was appointed associate director of operations at the University of New Mexico Art Museum. She joined the staff at the museum in 2018 as coordinator of events and visitor services, Most recently she served as the manager of communications and audience engagement.

Geraci is a graduate of Florida State University, where she majored in anthropology. She holds a master’s degree in museum studies and an MBA with a concentration in organizational behavior and human resource management from the University of New Mexico.

Melinda Spaulding Chevalier has been appointed vice president for public affairs at Rice University in Houston, Texas. She most recently served as vice president of communications and advancement at Texas Southern University and as executive director of the TSU Foundation. Earlier, she was an Emmy Award-winning journalist for a television station in Houston.

A native of New Jersey, Spaulding Chevalier earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Howard University.

Karen Price is the new director of institutional assessment at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. She was the vice provost and dean of institutional effectiveness at Belmont Abbey College in Gastonia, North Carolina.

Dr. Price holds a bachelor’s degree in communication science from the University of Pittsburgh. She earned a master’s degree in sport psychology and behavior counseling at West Virginia University and a doctorate from the University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky.

Holly Rachel is the new executive director of the Darrell S. Freeman Sr. Incubation and Innovation Center at Fisk University in Nashville. Previously, Rachel and her business partner launched a technology consulting firm specializing in helping small to midsize businesses strategically scale with data.

Rachel is a graduate of Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama, where she majored in biochemistry. She earned a master’s degree in chemistry at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Maria Harris Tildon was named director of the Office of Government, Community, and Economic Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She joined the university in 2022 as vice president for state and local affairs.

Tildon earned a bachelor’s degree in International Relations at Boston University. She holds a juris doctorate from American University in Washington, D.C.