New University Positions for a Half Dozen African Americans

Erik A. Bey was appointed assistant professor at the School of Pharmacy at West Virginia University in Morgantown. He will also hold an assistant professorship at the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center.

Dr. Bey received a Ph.D. in regulatory biology from Cleveland State University.

Ayana Davis Hernandez was named director of public relations at North Carolina Central University in Durham. She was vice president of the Raleigh office of Fleishman-Hillard International Communications.

Hernandez is a graduate of Spelman College where she majored in English. She holds a master’s degree in journalism and mass communications from New York University.

Natasha Jackson was appointed interim director of internal audit at Tuskegee University in Alabama. She was the finance manager for the human resources division of Aflac Insurance.

A certified public accountant, Jackson graduated from Hawaii Pacific University and holds an MBA from Auburn University.

Seddrick T. Hill was named director of alumni relations at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was director of alumni affairs/development at Talladega College in Alabama.

Hill is a graduate of Talladega College and holds a master of public administration degree from Jacksonville State University.

Michael Thomas, vice president for finance and operations at Jackson State University, was appointed to the board of directors of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce. Thomas joined the university’s administration in 2010 after a 16-year career with the Jackson Public School District.

Jackson is a 1985 graduate of Jackson State, where he majored in finance.

Harl R. Tolbert is the new associate vice president of technology commercialization at Wayne State University in Detroit. He was the associate director for biological sciences in the Office of Technology Transfer at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Tolbert is a graduate of Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He holds a master’s degree in animal science and an MBA from the University of Illinois.