Five African Americans Appointed to Administrative Posts in Higher Education

Demetrius Johnson was named vice president for student affairs at Bowie State University in Maryland. Most recently, Dr. Johnson served as associate vice president for student engagement and earlier as the dean of student success at Marymount University in Virginia. Earlier, he was the dean of student affairs/director of residential life at Dillard University in New Orleans.

Dt. Johnston is a graduate of Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, where he majored in psychology. He holds a master’s degree in college student personnel from Western Illinois University and a doctorate of management in organizational leadership from the University of Phoenix.

Daryl Lowe has been named associate vice president for health, wellness, and student services, at Spelman College in Atlanta. Previously, Lowe was assistant vice president/dean of students, at Valdosta State University in Georgia, the first African American to ever hold that post.

Lowe is a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he majored in philosophy and political theory. He earned a juris doctorate at the University of Massachusetts School of Law.

Camille Edwards is the new public health workforce and community engagement director for the department of population and public health sciences in the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State Univerity in Dayton, Ohio. Edwards previously worked in roles at Indianapolis Healthy Start, Indiana Minority Health Coalition, and Powerful Health.

Edwards is a graduate of the University of Indianapolis.

Roderick Little was appointed director of bands at Jackson State University in Mississippi. At 34, Dr. Little is one of the youngest band directors and arrangers in the school’s history. He joined the music department in 2012 as an assistant band director. He was promoted to associate director of bands in 2013 and was named marching band director in 2015.

Dr. Little holds bachelor’s and master’s in music education and a doctorate in urban higher education from Jackson State University.

Cynthia Pickett will be the next associate provost for diversity, equity and inclusion at DePaul University in Chicago. She will take office on July 1. Dr. Pickett currently serves as associate vice-provost for faculty equity and inclusion, as well as an associate professor of psychology, at the University of California, Davis.

Dr. Pickett is a graduate of Stanford University, where she majored in psychology. She then went on to earn a master’s degree in social psychology and a doctorate in social psychology with a minor in quantitative psychology from Ohio State University.