The University of Alabama at Birmingham has appointed Dr. Milena Stanislavova as the new Chair of the Mathematics Department. Dr. Stanislavova will join UAB from University of Kansas where she is a Professor of Mathematics. She was Director of Graduate Studies in the Mathematics Department from 2012-2017. She is currently Chair of the Economics Department at KU. Professor Stanislavova received her M.S. in Mathematics from Sofia University in Bulgaria in 1993 and her PhD from the University of Missouri in 2000. She was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts before joining KU as Assistant Professor in 2002. Her major fields of study are Dynamical Systems and Partial Differential Equations. Stanislavova has published in journals such as Nonlinearity, Studies in Applied Math, Physica D, Communications in Math Physics, SIAM Journal of Applied Math, Journal of Math Physics, ZAMP, Proc. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh A, Journal of Evolutions Equations etc. Her research has been continuously funded by NSF since 2004. Dr. Stanislavova's spouse will also join UAB as a full professor of mathematics.
Mount Mercy University has announced the appointment of Dr. Todd Olson as its 11th president. Dr. Olson will begin his duties as president on July 21, 2021. Since 2003, Dr. Todd Olson has served as the Vice President for Student Affairs at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. A Minnesota native, Dr. Olson earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota-Morris and went on to receive his master’s degree in counseling psychology at the University of Kansas. He earned his PhD in higher education from the University of Denver, where he also worked in a variety of positions and was one of the founders of the Pioneer Leadership Program, a signature academic and residential learning program. Read more here.
Fairleigh Dickinson University has appointed Dr. Uchenna Baker as FDU’s Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, effective August 1, 2021. Dr. Baker is currently the Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students at The University of Puget Sound. A New Jersey native, Dr. Baker holds a Ph.D. in educational policy with a focus on urban education, an M.Ed. in counseling psychology, and a B.A. in English and sociology, all from Rutgers University. She is currently completing her MBA at the Louisiana State University Shreveport School of Business. Read more here.
Mr. John Sanders has been appointed as Interim Director of Human Resources at Earlham College.
Springfield College has announced that Dr. Rachel Rubinstein of Florence, MA, has been named dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. She will officially begin her role on July 12, 2021. Most recently, she has been serving as Senior Advisor to the Deputy Commissioner of Academic Affairs and Student Success at the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. Dr. Rubinstein received her BA from Yale University in English and her PhD from Harvard University in English and American literature. Read more here.
The Board of Directors of the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research has named Dr. Jacqueline Bussie, an award-winning author, speaker, public theologian, and religion professor at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, as its 5th executive director. Dr. Bussie will begin her new role on September 1, 2021. She received her PhD in Theology, Ethics, and Culture from the University of Virginia, where she was the Graduate School Dissertation Year Fellowship Winner in 2001-2 among other distinctions. Dr. Bussie also holds a MA in Religion from Yale University and a BA from Davidson College, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with Honors. Read more here.
The Kansas Board of Regents has appointed Dr. Richard Muma as the 15th president of Wichita State University, effective immediately. Dr. Muma has been serving as interim president of Wichita State since September 2020. He has been a cornerstone of the campus community for over 25 years as a professor, department chair, executive vice president and provost, acting president and most recently, interim president.