Appointments, Promotions, and Resignations

• Jonathan Modica was appointed assistant director of development for university programs at the University of Arkansas. He previously held positions at the university’s multicultural center and in the department of intercollegiate athletics.

Dr. Modica holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and an educational doctorate from the University of Arkansas.

• Onye Ozuzu was named chair of the department of dance at Columbia College in Chicago. She was associate chair and director of dance in the department of theater and dance at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Ozuzu earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Florida State University.

• Kim Vaz was appointed associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Xavier University in New Orleans. She was an associate professor and founder of the Florida Consortium for Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of South Florida.

Dr. Vaz holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Tulane University. She earned a doctorate at Indiana University.

• Shawn Moyo Bediako has been promoted to associate professor of psychology with tenure at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.  He is the first African American to gain tenure in the department.

Dr. Bediako, who has taught at UMBC since 2005, is an Arkansas native and graduate of Florida A&M University.  He earned a Ph.D. in social/health psychology from Stony Brook University.

• Joshua A. Busby was promoted to annual giving officer at Langston University in Oklahoma. He had been serving since 2008 as coordinator of counseling in the Office of Financial Aid at Langston. 

Busby is a graduate of Langston University.  He also holds a master’s of public affairs degree from Indiana University at Bloomington.

• Cerri Banks was appointed dean at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She will assume her new position on July 15. Dr. Banks has been serving as dean and professor of education at William Smith College in Geneva, New York.

Dean Banks holds bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from Syracuse University.

• Charlotte H. Johnson was named dean at Dartmouth College. She was vice president and dean of the college at Colgate University.

Johnson was valedictorian at the University of Detroit, where she majored in psychology. She holds a law degree from the University of Michigan.

Copyright © 2011. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.