Aondover Tarhule is the New Leader of Illinois State University

The board of trustees of Illinois State University announced that vice president for academic affairs and provost Aondover Tarhule will assume the role of interim president, effective immediately. Terri Goss Kinzy, president of Illinois State University, recently resigned from her post after less than two years on the job. No explanation was given for the resignation. Dr. Tarhule’s appointment is effective through June 30, 2024.

Illinois State University enrolls nearly 18,000 undergraduate students and more than 2,500 graduate students, according to the most recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Education. African Americans make up 10 percent of the undergraduate student body.

“I am humbled that the board of trustees has asked me to serve as interim president. I accept this great honor with humility,” said Dr. Tarhule. “The university has a long-standing reputation for excellence, and I look forward to working with my colleagues across campus to further raise Illinois State’s reputation.”

Dr. Tarhule joined Illinois State University as vice president for academic affairs and provost in 2020. His immediate prior administrative appointment was vice provost and dean of the Graduate School at Binghamton University of the State University of New York System. Before that, he was executive associate dean and department chair of the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences at the University of Oklahoma.

Dr. Tarhule earned a bachelor’s degree in geography and a master’s degree in environmental resources planning from the University of Jos in Nigeria. He holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in geography from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

Three African Americans Women Who Have Been Appointed to Diversity Posts

Vernese Edghill-Walden will be the inaugural vice president of equity and inclusive excellence at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, effective July 31. Edghill-Walden is currently vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion and chief diversity officer at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. Earlier in her career, she was the director of the Center for Black Culture and Multicultural Programs at the University of Delaware for 12 years.

Dr. Edghill-Walden earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology with minors in counseling and human service systems from Bucknell University. She went on to earn a master’s degree in education from the University of Delaware and a Ph.D. in sociology from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

B. Afeni McNeely Cobham has been named the first associate vice chancellor and vice provost for equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. Dr. McNeely Cobham was the inaugural chief equity and inclusion officer at Grand Rapids Community College in Michigan, serving from 2018 to 2022. Earlier, Dr. McNeely Cobham served as an associate dean at Connecticut College, associate provost of student life and affiliate faculty at the University of Denver, and assistant dean at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Dr. McNeely Cobham is a graduate of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. She holds a master’s degree in education from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. in higher education administration from Indiana University.

Shawna Watkins is the new director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Tulsa campus of the University of Oklahoma. She was the director of workforce education at Texarkana College in Texas. Watkins has also been serving as the executive officer of the Northeast Texas Alliance of Black School Educators.

Watkins is a graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma, where she majored in criminal justice. She holds a master of public administration degree from Arkansas State University.