New Administrative Roles in Higher Education for Five Black Americans

Kafui Kouakou has joined Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, as the assistant vice president of career development and experiential learning. Dr. Kouakou comes to Quinnipiac from Albion College in Michigan where he served as dean of the School for Public Purpose and Professional Advancement.

Dr. Kouakou earned bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and business administration from York College. He earned a master’s degree in economics from Brooklyn College and a doctorate in higher education administration from Northeastern University in Boston.

Rashonda Austin is the new director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. She has served as interim director of undergraduate admissions since June 2022. Earlier, Austin served as associate director of undergraduate admissions since 2019.

Austin earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Teriya Richardson was named university physician at Texas Southern University in Houston. In this role, she will oversee the daily medical operations of Student Health Services. She is a former assistant professor at the University of Texas at Houston

A native of Chicago, Dr. Richmond received a bachelor’s degree from Mount Saint Clare College in Clinton, Iowa. She earned both a medical doctorate and a master of public health degree from the University of Illinois.

Troy Miller has been named vice president for strategic enrollment management at the University of Southern Indiana, effective April 3. Most recently, Miller served as the vice president for enrollment management and intercollegiate athletics at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. Earlier, he was the associate vice provost and director of admissions at the University at Buffalo of the State University of New York System.

Miller earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina. He holds a master’s degree in human resource management and labor relations from the New York Institute of Technology and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in higher education at Morgan State University in Baltimore.

Christian Mitchell has been named the next vice president for civic engagement at the University of Chicago, beginning April 1. He has been serving as the deputy governor for public safety, energy, and infrastructure under Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Mitchell is a 2008 graduate of the University of Chicago, where he majored in public policy. He earned a juris doctorate at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

Robert Bullard Honored by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education

Robert D. Bullard, Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Texas Southern University in Houston, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. The award honors outstanding leaders (both academics and practitioners) who have made significant contributions to the advancement of sustainability in higher education over their lifetimes. Dr. Bullard is the fifth recipient of this award.

“It is indeed a great honor to be named winner of the AASHE Lifetime Achievement Award,” Dr. Bullard said. “I accept this award on behalf of and in recognition of the many individuals and organizations I’ve worked in partnership with over the past four decades — who sacrificed, struggled, and persevered in pursuit of dismantling and eradicating injustice wherever and whenever we saw it.”

From 2011 to 2016, Dr. Bullard was dean of the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University. Prior to coming to TSU he was the founding director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University.

Dr. Bullard is the author or co-author of many books including Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality (Westview Press, 1990) and The Wrong Complexion for Protection: How the Government Response to Disaster Endangers African American Communities (New York University Press, 2012).

Dr. Bullard is a graduate of Alabama A&M University. He earned a master’s degree at Atlanta University and a Ph.D. in sociology from Iowa State University.