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.
The Albizu University Board of Trustees announced the appointment of Dr. Nelson Edward Soto as the university’s sixth president. Dr. Soto came to Albizu University from Union Institute & University in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he served as the executive vice president for academic affairs and provost. Dr. Soto has served as faculty at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis in the School of Education; Indiana University, College of Arts and Sciences; the University of Missouri-Columbia, College of Education; and the University of Cincinnati, University College. He has received multiple grants for his research. Read more here.
The University of Colorado System (CU Anschutz, CU Boulder, CU Denver, and CU Colorado Springs) has appointed Mr. Jason Sprinkle as the new Executive Director of Gift Planning and Gift Administration. He will begin his role on August 16th. Mr. Sprinkle currently serves as Director of Gift and Estate Planning at the University of Texas at Austin, where he has closed gifts of roughly $51 million over the last 3 years. Previously, he served as Associate Director of Gift Planning at the University of Chicago and, earlier, as a Gift Planning Attorney for the Indiana University Foundation. Mr. Sprinkle received his bachelor’s degree in English and political science, Master of Public Affairs in nonprofit management, and Juris Doctor, all from Indiana University.