New Administrative Positions in Higher Education for Six African Americans

Boyd Copeland is the new vice president for multicultural student services on the Forest Park campus of St. Louis Community College in Missouri. He was director of student compliance and Title IX coordinator at Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Missouri.

Copeland holds a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Georgia State University. He earned a master’s degree in sports administration from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. Copeland is currently pursuing a doctorate in higher education administration at Saint Louis University.

Alecia Shields-Gadson was promoted to director of athletics at Delaware State University. She joined the Delaware State staff as senior associate director of athletics for compliance and senior woman administrator in 2016. In 2020, she was named deputy athletics director. Prior to joining the Delaware State staff, she was an athletics administrator at Coppin State University in Baltimore.

Shields-Gadson, a  native of New Orleans, earned a bachelor’s degree in English and communications from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She holds a master’s degree in athletic administration and secondary education/physical education from Alcorn State in Mississippi. Currently, she is enrolled in the doctoral program in educational leadership at Delaware State University.

Reginald Wilson was named provost of the North Campus of Pasco-Hernando State College in Brooksville, Florida. He had been serving as acting provost of the North Campus and the associate dean of academic affairs and retention services.

A native of Dayona Beach, Florida, Wilson earned a bachelor’s degree in history at Gilford College in North Carolina and a master’s degree in education with a focus in curriculum and instruction from the University of Phoenix.

Melissa Thrasher has been named director of media relations at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. She has been serving as the senior communications specialist at Ascension Michigan, a local health system.

Thrasher earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in organizational communication from Wayne State University in Detroit.

Dawna Jones was appointed director of the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She was the assistant dean of students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jones is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, where she majored in sociology. She holds a master’s degree in social work from West Chester University in Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in higher education management from the University of Pittsburgh, and is enrolled in a doctoral program at North Carolina A&T State University.

Tammy A. Bagby was appointed director of athletics at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. She has been serving as head coach of the women’s basketball program at the university.

Bagby, who played professional basketball in Europe, is a graduate of Langston University in Oklahoma, where she majored in early childhood education. She earned a master’s degree in public administration from West Chester University in Pennsylvania.

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