Steven L. Thomas was named vice president for academic affairs at Harford Community College in Bel Air, Maryland. He was dean of the Health and Human Services Division at North Seattle College in Washington. Earlier, he served on the faculty at Paine College in Augusta, Georgia.
Dr. Thomas is a graduate of Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where he majored in communications education and film studies. He holds a master’s degree in college student personnel from Ohio University and a Ph.D. in education policy, planning, and administration from the University of Southern California.
Barbara Cohen-Pippin was appointed director of government relations at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. From 2000 to 2011, she served as special assistant to the president at Broward Community College in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Cohen-Pippen is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island, where she majored in history. She holds a master’s degree in education from the University of Massachusetts.
Kim D. Kirkland was named executive director for equal opportunity and access at Oregon State University in Corvallis. For the past eight years, she has served as director of the Office of Equal Opportunity at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. She will begin her new role at Oregon State on February 28.
Dr. Kirkland is the author of Enough with the Stuff (Something That U Find Frustrating): Strategies for Defusing Organizational Noise (Outskirts Press, 2015). She is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, where she majored in marketing. Dr. Kirkland holds a master’s degree from Xavier University in Cincinnati and a doctorate in leadership studies from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
Leah Cox was named the inaugural vice president for inclusion and institutional equity at Towson University in Maryland. For the past six years, she has been special assistant to the president and chief diversity officer at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Dr. Cox is a graduate of McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland, where she majored in secondary education and art. She holds a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling from the University of Arizona and a doctorate in college student personnel from the University of Maryland, College Park.
