Seven African Americans Who Have Been Named to Administrative Posts in Higher Education

Brandon Harris was named associate dean for the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Since 2016, he has been a Protestant chaplain at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He has also served as an adjunct lecturer, teaching courses in spirituality and leadership, African American religious and intellectual history, and 20th-century Protestant theology.

Harris is a graduate of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He earned a master of divinity degree at Emory University in Atlanta.

Lillian Wanjagi is the new vice chancellor for business and finance and chief financial officer at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. She was the chief financial officer and vice president of administration and finance at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Earlier, Dr. Wanjagi held the post of executive director of facilities administration at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Dr. Wanjagi earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in accounting from Wingate University in North Carolina. She holds an MBA in international business from Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, and a doctorate in higher education administration and leadership from the University of Houston.

Chanel Derricott was appointed assistant vice president for housing and facilities at Virginia Union University in Richmond. Prior to joining Virginia Union University, Derricott was n executive in facilities management at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Derricott earned a bachelor’s degree from Old Dominion University in Norfolk Virginia. She holds a master of public health degree from Eastern Virginia Medical School.

Tiffani Dawn Sykes was named vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. She was the executive senior associate athletic director for varsity sports and senior woman administrator at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Sykes is a graduate of Virginia State University. She earned a master’s degree in sport administration from Grambling State University in Louisiana

Anita B. Walton is the new vice president for institutional advancement at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. She was vice chancellor for university advancement at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina and executive director of the ECSU Foundation. Earlier, she was vice chancellor of student affairs at North Carolina Central University in Durham.

Walton holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned a master’s degree in higher education administration from North Carolina State University.

Kareem D. Kenney has been promoted to assistant athletic director at Talladega College in Alabama. Since 2021, he has been director of intramural sports and summer camps at the college. Earlier, he was was coach at Morehouse College in Atlanta and Fort Valley State University in Georgia.

Kenney is a graduate of Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City, Tennessee, where he majored in communications. He earned an MBA from the University of Phoenix.

Nicole McDonald has been appointed senior vice president for transformation initiatives at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was the assistant vice provost for student success strategies at the University of Houston.

Dr. McDonald is a graduate of Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, where she majored in political science. She holds a master’s degree in higher education administration and a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy studies from Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

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