Linda G. Mills

NYU has named Linda G. Mills to be the University’s 17th president. Mills - currently vice chancellor and senior vice provost for Global Programs and University Life; the Lisa Ellen Goldberg Professor of Social Work, Public Policy, and Law; and a filmmaker - is the first woman to be appointed president of NYU.  She joined the NYU community in 1999 as associate professor of social work and in 2001 was promoted to full professor. Before joining NYU's faculty, she was a lecturer at the School of Law and an assistant professor at the UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research. The President-Designate received her PhD in Health Policy in 1994 from Brandeis University; her MSW from San Francisco State University in 1986; her JD from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, in 1983; and her BA in history and social thought from the University of California, Irvine in 1979. 

Karen K. Petersen

Hendrix College has named Dr. Karen Petersen its 13th president, beginning in June 2023. A native of northwest Arkansas, Petersen joins the Hendrix community from the University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she is a professor of political science and dean of the Henry Kendall College of Arts and Sciences. Before joining the University of Tulsa, Petersen served for nearly 16 years at her undergraduate alma mater Middle Tennessee State University. In addition to being a faculty member, she served in three progressively responsible leadership roles culminating with her tenure as dean of the College of Liberal Arts. Petersen earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in political science from Vanderbilt University. 

Damián J. Fernández

Dr. Damián J. Fernández has been appointed the 10th president of Warren Wilson College. Dr. Fernández, a Cuban immigrant and first-generation student, comes to Wilson with more than 30 years of experience in teaching and leadership positions at private and public institutions. He recently served as president of Eckerd College. He sat on the Board of the American Council on Education (ACE) and the Association of Governing Boards Council of Presidents. Fernández received his bachelor’s from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, master’s in Latin American Studies from the University of Florida, and Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Miami.