Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Daniel Rodriguez, the University of Texas School of Law’s Minerva House Drysdale Regents Chair in Law, has been appointed dean of Northwestern University School of Law. Rodriguez, a former dean at the University of San Diego Law School, will replace David Van Zandt, who served as dean of Northwestern¹s law school since 1995.

J. Bonnie Newman, who has served in the administrations of two U.S. presidents, has been named the chancellor of the Community College System of New Hampshire, which includes seven community colleges across the state. Newman has also served as executive dean at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Charles House has been named the chancellor of Cogswell College in Sunnyvale, Calif., after leaving his post as executive director of Media X, Stanford University’s research program on innovation, media, and technology. House headed a team of 15,000 engineers at Hewlett-Packard.

Thomas Jefferson University President Robert Barchi announced in July that he would leave his leadership post at the Philadelphia campus, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal. Barchi helped establish two new schools, the Jefferson School of Pharmacy and Jefferson School of Population Health.

University of Illinois officials selected Former University of Washington (UW) provost Phyllis Wise as the next chancellor and vice president of the Urbana-Champaign campus, The Chicago Tribune reports. Wise, who served as interim president at UW during the 2010-11 academic year, was the first Asian American woman to head a major U.S. university.

Mark Murray, former president of Grand Valley State University in Michigan, was appointed to the state’s 11-member Education Achievement Authority Board. The board will suggest strategies for reforming the lowest-performing schools in Michigan.

Georgia Gwinnett College announced in July that Darin Wilson will serve as the school’s first athletics director, Patch.com reports. Wilson was the longtime athletic director at Union College in Barbourville, Ky., before taking the Georgia Gwinnett College post. He was the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Athletic Director of the Year in 2008, 2009, and 2011.

Steven Brown, who served as dean of liberal arts and sciences at Emporia State University (ESU) in Kansas, was named the dean and associate vice president of Mississippi State University’s Meridian campus Aug. 1. Brown, who was a professor and chair of the music department at ESU, helped establish a dual-admission program with Kansas community colleges during his time at the university.

Purdue University President France Cordova said she will leave the school after the 2011-12 academic year. Cordova has served as Purdue’s president since 2007.