Seven African Americans Appointed to New Administrative Positions in Higher Education

Reginald Ruffin, the head football coach at Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama, has been given the added duties as director of the athletics at the historically Black educational institution. Ruffin has coached at Miles College for the past seven years.

Ruffin is a graduate of the University of North Alabama in Florence. He holds a master’s degree in educational administration from Nova Southeastern University.

Brian O. Clemmons will be the inaugural vice president for enrollment management at Bowie State University in Maryland. He was dean of enrollment management at Middlesex County College in New Jersey.

Dr. Clemmons is a graduate of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where he majored in public policy studies. He earned a master of public administration degree from North Carolina Central University and an educational doctorate from the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine.

Anita A. Davis was appointed vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. She has been serving as director of diversity and inclusion for the Associated Colleges of the South, a group of 16 higher educational institutions.

Dr. Davis is a graduate of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in clinical/community psychology from the University of Illinois.

Erika McKinley is the new general counsel at the University of Mississippi. She is the former chief operating officer for the National Basketball Players Association. Earlier, McKinley served as associate general counsel for Wal-Mart.

McKinley holds a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from the University of Mississippi.

Carlos Kelly was named chief of police at Grambling State University in Louisiana. He was the lieutenant commander of the police force at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Earlier in his career, Kelly served on the police force of the Philadelphia Housing Authority and Bucks County Community College in Newtown, Pennsylvania.

Edward Brown Jr. was appointed chief of staff and special assistant to the vice provost and chief diversity officer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was chief of staff to the president of Tuskegee University in Alabama.

Prior to joining the staff at Tuskegee University, Brown was director of diversity programs and assistant director of student services for the College of Textiles at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

Vann Graves will be the new executive director of the Brandcenter at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. He has been serving as the chief creative officer at the Atlanta branch of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency.

Graves is a graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he majored in marketing. He holds a master degree in communication design from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and a master’s degree in visual arts from Harvard University.

 

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