Ms. Holly Fincke has been appointed as the new Senior Director of Development, College of Science and Engineering, at San Francisco State University. She will begin her role on November 14th. Ms. Fincke currently serves as the Director of Development for the College of Science and the College of Education and Allied Studies at California State University East Bay, where she has worked for the past 5 years. Prior to that, she was the Associate Director of Annual Giving at the University of California Berkeley's School of Law. At Cal State East Bay, Ms. Fincke increased giving from major donors in her portfolio by 900% in four years and was a key member of the team that achieved four of the five top fundraising years in CSUEB's history. She received her bachelor’s degree in sociology/anthropology and women's studies from Oberlin College.
Mr. Ray Kliewer, M.Ed. has been appointed as Gonzaga University’s inaugural Vice President for Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer. Mr. Kliewer previously served as the Senior Director of Human Resources for the School of Medicine at Indiana University. A native of Louisville, Kentucky, he earned both Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Master of Education in Human Resource Development degrees from the University of Louisville. Mr. Kliewer will take up his responsibilities as Vice President for Human Resources/CHRO on Monday, August 1, 2022. Read more here.
Dr. Senthil Kumar has been appointed as the new vice president for strategic enrollment management at Regis University, effective September 26, 2022. Dr. Kumar was most recently vice president for strategic enrollment management at Saint Leo University and has more than 20 years of higher education experience and a proven track record in strategic enrollment planning and global engagement. At Regis, he will oversee recruitment, admissions and financial aid. Read more here.
Texas State University System has appointed Sidney E. Valentine, Ph.D., as president of Lamar Institute of Technology in Beaumont. He will assume office August 16. Since 2015, Dr. Valentine has served as chief academic and student services officer at South Florida State College, where he provided academic leadership for the college’s transfer, vocational, technical, adult and community education, and workforce education programs. He also supervised the college’s applied research activities, grants, and institutional effectiveness efforts. Previously, Dr. Valentine served as associate vice president of industrial and engineering technology at York Technical College (SC) and as director of workforce and economic development at the West Virginia Community and Technical College System. He earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from The University of South Carolina and his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from West Virginia University Institute of Technology. Read more here.
Huston-Tillotson University announced that Melva K. Williams, Ph.D. has been appointed as the institution’s seventh President and Chief Executive Officer, effective August 15, 2022. Dr. Williams has held numerous positions within the Southern University System (LA), including Executive Associate to the Chancellor, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management at SU-Shreveport, Vice Chancellor at SU-New Orleans, and System Chief of Staff. A former associate dean of College at Centenary College of Louisiana, Williams has concurrently served as a professor, lecturer and board member at several colleges and universities. She earned a doctorate in higher education from Jackson State University (MS) and a master’s in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from Grambling State University (LA). Read more here.
Arizona State University has appointed Dr. Beth Huebner, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, to the role of Director of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, as well as the inaugural Watts Professor of Public Safety. Dr. Huebner will begin January 3, 2023. Dr. Huebner is recognized as a top scholar. Her principal research interests include the collateral consequences of incarceration, racial and gender disparities in the criminal justice system, and public policy. She serves as the current chair of the Division on Corrections and Sentencing for the American Society of Criminology. She is the editor for the Oxford Bibliographies in Criminology and is Associate Editor for Criminal Justice and Behavior. She earned her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University. Read more here.
James “Jamie” Jorgensen has accepted the role of Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel at the University of Iowa beginning September 30, 2022. Mr. Jorgensen, Senior Counsel at Husch Blackwell LLP since 2021, advises colleges and universities on numerous issues, including workplace and academic accommodations, accreditation, student conduct and faculty discipline, negotiation of real estate transfers, and academic programming partnerships. Previously, he was Chief of Staff and Chief Legal Counsel at Pitzer College in California. There, he conducted investigations under Title IX and other campus policies, led training sessions on Title IX, and helped develop the consortium’s response to COVID-19. Mr. Jorgensen has also served as an associate counsel and deputy general counsel at the University of Iowa. He received a B.A. degree in economics and political science, with distinction, from Iowa State University; a JD from the University of Michigan Law School and a PhD in education policy and leadership studies from the UI. Read more here.
Arizona State University has appointed professor and sociologist Dr. Rebecca Sandefur as the new director of the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics. Dr. Sandefur previously taught at the University of Illinois, is a faculty fellow at the American Bar Foundation and the editor of Law & Society Review, and is the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" Fellowship in 2018 and the Warren E. Burger Award in 2020. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago and B.A. from the University of Wisconsin. Read more here.