Public Institution

The Montana Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education has announced the appointment of Dr. Les Cook as Montana Technological University's 12th Chancellor. Dr. Cook will begin his role as chancellor on July 1, 2019, succeeding Don Blackketter who is retiring after serving as the university’s chancellor since 2011.  Dr. Cook currently serves as Vice President for Strategic University Partnerships at Michigan Technological University. Read more here.

Florida State College at Jacksonville’s District Board of Trustees unanimously selected Dr. John Avendano, from Kankakee, Illinois, to serve as the sixth president of FSCJ.

Missouri Western State University has announced the appointment of Matthew Wilson, J.D., as its fifth President.  Mr. Wilson is a former president and current faculty member in the School of Law at the University of Akron. While president, Mr. Wilson helped lead the University of Akron to a remarkable two-year budgetary turnaround, eliminating a projected $30 million deficit in 2016-2017 and adding $12 million to reserves. Wilson also participated in fundraising efforts that saw a substantial increase in donations including a $20 million Making a Difference Moving Forward student scholarship campaign and the largest single gift in university history.  Read more here.

Lebanon Valley College has selected Dr. Monica Cowart as their new vice president of academic affairs effective July 1, 2019.  Dr. Cowart is currently the vice provost at Merrimack College and will bring with her to campus extensive leadership experience with graduate and online education, enrollment management, assessment, strategic planning, global education, honors programming, budgeting, faculty hiring, and fundraising. She has spent nearly 20 years at Merrimack, where she rose from professor to department chair, associate dean, and vice provost. During that time, Merrimack has grown from an enrollment of 2,500 to more than 4,500. Last year, Dr. Cowart was named a fellow of the American Council on Education (ACE). Dr. Cowart received her bachelor’s degree in philosophy with research honors from Illinois Wesleyan University, a graduate certificate in women’s studies from the University of Georgia, and a master’s in counseling psychology from Lesley University. She completed her doctorate in the philosophy of psychology with a dissertation on embodied cognition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She joins LVC with tenure and full professorship status. For more information: https://www.lvc.edu/news/details/dr-monica-cowart-named-next-vice-president-of-academic-affairs/

Following a national search, Jason Woods has accepted the position of Vice President for Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) at St. Cloud State University.

The University of the District of Columbia has appointed Renee Hutchins as the next Dean of the David A. Clarke School of Law at the University of the District of Columbia. Ms. Hutchins comes from the University of Maryland Carey School of Law where she was the Co-Director of the Clinical Law Program. She begins her professional progression at UDC in April 2019.

The University of Wisconsin - La Crosse has appointed Mr. John Acardo as the new Director of Human Resources/Chief Resources Officer. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Acardo served as the Chief Human Resources Officer at North Central College since 2016.

The San Diego State University dean of the school of sciences search committee has appointed Dr. Jeffrey Roberts to the position. Prior to the appointment, Dr. Roberts was a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Purdue University. Dr. Roberts will begin his appointment on January 31, 2019.

The University of Minnesota Board of Regents appointed Joan T.A. Gabel as the University's 17th President by unanimous vote on the morning of December 18, 2018. She assumed the office on July 1, 2019.