On the Move February 2020: Recent Hirings and Promotions in Higher Education

Livingstone College in Salisbury, NC, has announced former NFL defensive lineman Sean Gilbert as its new head coach. Gilbert spent 11 years in the NFL, including five seasons as a Carolina Panther from 1998 to 2002.

Indiana Wesleyan University-National & Global has selected Christopher Davis, D.M., to take over as dean of the DeVoe School of business. Prior to being named dean of the DeVoe School of Business, Davis served as associate professor in the Paul R. Carter College of Business at Harding University in Searcy, AR.

Florida’s Jacksonville University has announced the selection of Dr. Barbara A. Ritter as the next dean of the Davis College of Business. Dr. Ritter currently serves as the dean of the Wall College of Business at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC. The university will welcome her to campus in July.

Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, KY, in partnership with the Kentucky Small Business Development Center, has announced Catherine Glover as the new director of its award-winning Small Business Development Center. She has previously served as president/CEO for several chambers of commerce and a state-wide manufacturers association. She assumed her new post on February 3.

Quinton Staples has been selected as the first director of diversity initiatives at College of Coastal Georgia in Brunswick, GA. Previously, Staples worked in multicultural outreach and education at the University of South Florida in Tampa and Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Northeast Community College in Norfolk, NE, has selected Carla Streff as its new director of its extended campus operation in West Point, NE. Streff, who previously served as executive director of technology services at Northeast, began her new position in early January.

Dr. Douglas Palmer has been selected as president of Culver-Stockton College in Canton, MO. Dr. Palmer has served as provost–vice president of academic affairs and as assistant dean of academic innovation at Walsh University in North Canton, OH, since 2015. He will assume his new role on July 1st.

The University of Massachusetts board of trustees has selected Marcelo Suarez-Orozco to serve as the new chancellor for the system's Boston campus. Suarez-Orozco is the Wasserman Dean at the University of California Los Angeles, where he leads a graduate school, 16 research institutes, and two academic programs. He has also previously held positions at Harvard University and New York University.

Robin Fretwell Wilson, a professor and associate dean at the University of Illinois (U of I) College of Law, has been appointed director of the U of I Institute of Government and Public Affairs. Wilson will assume her new role at the U of I System’s public policy research institute in a designate capacity effective February 16.

The board of trustees of Caldwell University has announced the selection of Matthew Whelan as the next president of the Catholic Dominican University in Caldwell, NJ. He is currently vice president for University Enrollment Strategy and Relationship Development at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY.

Christine Wilson, a professor and director of undergraduate programs for Kansas State University’s agricultural economics department, has been appointed associate dean and director of academic programs for Purdue University’s College of Agriculture in West Lafayette, IN, effective February 17.

Kasia Gonnerman has been selected as the next dean of Libraries at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Gonnerman, who is director of Vanderbilt University’s Central Library in Nashville, TN, will begin her work at UAB on April 1.

Featured

  • University of Kansas Opens $400M Football Stadium Reconstruction

    The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., recently announced that the $400-million reconstruction of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium is complete in time for the 2025 football season, according to a news release. The university partnered with Turner Construction Company on the project.

  • California Boarding School Opens New Inquiry Collaborative Facility

    Cate School, a boarding school in Carpinteria, Calif., for students grades 9–12, recently announced that it has finished renovating a historic dining hall into a new academic hub, according to a news release. The school partnered with Blackbird Architects and Tangram Interiors on the two-story, 16,000-square-foot Inquiry Collaborative.

  • How One School Reimagined Learning Spaces—and What Others Can Learn

    When Collegedale Academy, a PreK–8 school outside Chattanooga, Tenn., needed a new elementary building, we faced the choice that many school leaders eventually confront: repair an aging facility or reimagine what learning spaces could be. Our historic elementary school held decades of memories for families, including some who had once walked its halls as children themselves. But years of wear and the need for costly repairs made it clear that investing in the old building would only patch the problems rather than solve them.

  • Longwood University Selects Builder for $73M Performing Arts Center

    Longwood University in Farmville, Va., recently announced that it has selected Swedish construction company Skanska as the builder of its new performing arts center, according to online news. The project involves the demolition of the current building and constructing a new, 64,500-square-foot facility.