Wheaton College has announced the appointment of Dr. Vanessa Wynder Quainoo as Chief Intercultural Engagement Officer. Dr. Quainoo will serve as a member of the Senior Administration Cabinet and provide leadership for defining and meeting campus-wide diversity and inclusion goals and play a central role in fostering and sustaining a vision for biblical diversity. Dr. Quainoo currently serves as an Associate Professor at the University of Rhode Island, with joint appointments in the Departments of Communications Studies and Africana Studies. Dr. Quainoo’s expertise includes social rhetoric and race discourse. In addition to earning a Bachelor’s in Speech Communication from Wheaton College, she holds a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and a Master's in Oral Performance from Western Illinois University. Read more here.
University of Portland (UP) has appointed its 21st president, Dr. Robert Kelly, most recently Vice President, Special Assistant, and Clinical Professor at Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland. He becomes the first lay president and African American to lead UP in its 121-year history. Dr. Kelly has had an accomplished career in higher education, much of which at Catholic and other faith-based institutions. He holds a PhD in Philosophy, Education Policy, Planning and Administration from the University of Maryland; a master’s degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration from the University of Vermont; and a bachelor’s degree in Arts and Political Science from Loyola University Maryland. Dr. Kelly served as Vice President for Student Development and adjunct professor of Education at Seattle University; Chief of Staff to the President of Union College; Associate Dean of Students, and Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of Vermont; and Assistant Director of Residential Life at Colgate University. Read more here.
The University of Nebraska at Kearney has announced the appointment of Dr. Kristen Majocha as Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs beginning July 1, 2022. Dr. Majocha currently serves as Dean of Education and Liberal Arts and the Dean of Social Sciences and Human Services at California University of Pennsylvania. Previously, she served as the Assistant to the Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown, as well as the Director of International Program Support and Services in Student Affairs. She is the current editor of the Iowa Journal of Communication. Dr. Majocha earned a Ph.D. in rhetoric and a Master’s in communication from Duquesne University and a Bachelor of Arts in communication from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. She is a veteran of the US Navy. Read more here.
The University of Colorado has announced the appointment of Ms. Jamie Mager as Director of Gift Planning/Philanthropic Advisor for the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. She will begin on May 17, 2022. Ms. Mager will join the University from her current role as Senior Director of Estate and Gift Planning for the American Cancer Society. Earlier, she held other roles with the American Cancer Society and served as a Certified Financial Planner with The Planned Approach. Ms. Mager received the 2020 Paul Jonas Emerging Leadership Award from the Colorado Planned Giving Roundtable and was the American Cancer Society's 2017 National Winner for Exemplary Mission Delivery. She received her B.S. from Kansas State University.
Pratt Institute has announced the appointment of Dr. Donna Heiland as their new provost, effective April 18, 2022. Dr. Heiland has been serving as interim provost and prior to that post, served as Pratt’s vice provost for academic affairs. Dr. Heiland has served on the Board of the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP), as vice president of the Teagle Foundation and as director of fellowship programs at the American Council of Learned Societies. She was for many years a tenured faculty member at Vassar College. Dr. Heiland received her Ph.D. in English from Yale University. Read more here.
University of South Carolina has appointed Dr. Donna K. Arnett as its new Executive VPAA and Provost. Dr. Arnett currently serves as the University of Kentucky’s Dean of the College of Public Health. She will begin her new position at USC on Aug. 1, 2022. Prior to joining Kentucky, Arnett was associate dean and chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, and is a past president of the American Heart Association. Dr. Arnett earned a nursing degree from University of South Florida, a master’s in epidemiology and biostatistics from South Florida, and a doctorate in epidemiology from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Read more here.
Gonzaga University has appointed Dr. Sacha E. Kopp as its new Provost. Dr. Kopp currently serves as the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). Previously, Dr. Kopp served in a number of administrative and faculty positions at Syracuse University, the University of Texas at Austin, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He holds a bachelor’s, master’s, and a doctorate from the University of Chicago, and his research has been conducted at particle accelerator facilities nationally and internationally. Read More here.
Eastern University's search for a Dean of Business and Leadership has concluded with the appointment of Dr. Christa Lee-Chuvala, Assistant Professor of Business and Leadership, as Interim Dean. Dr. Lee-Chuvala joined the Eastern community in 2017 and has since demonstrated strengths in all aspects of academic operations, from executive leadership to classroom instruction to distinguished administrative service. Dr. Lee-Chuvala received an MUP from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Studies from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.