Williams Welcomes New Staff Members

Two new staff members recently joined the campus community—Shawna Patterson-Stephens as director of the Davis Center and Jim Reische as chief communications officer. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Creighton ’01 was named to the newly created position of dean of admission and financial aid.

Patterson-Stephens most recently served as a house dean at the University of Pennsylvania and has worked at Michigan State, Penn State and Florida State universities. At the Davis Center, she is responsible for leading the campus conversation on issues of diversity and equity; advising, supporting and developing students from historically underrepresented and underserved groups; supporting affinity groups and their programming; and working with academic departments and programs to advance pedagogical and curricular initiatives that foster inclusion and address issues of power and equity.

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Reische most recently served as chief communications officer at St. John’s University and, before that, as vice president of communications at Grinnell College. In his new role he provides institutional leadership of a comprehensive communications program that helps to advance the college’s mission, enhance its national and international visibility and reputation, and deepen its engagement with the entire Williams community, including students, faculty, staff, alumni, prospective students and their families, and prospective faculty and staff.

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Creighton joined Williams’ Office of Admission in 2006 and most recently served as deputy director, providing strategic and operational leadership. As the college’s first dean of admission and financial aid, she is responsible for advancing and reshaping the ways the two offices work together to build and support a diverse population of approximately 2,000 students.