JANICE BRANCH HALL has been appointed as Pamplin’s first director of diversity and inclusion.  Her responsibilities will include the assessment, strategic planning, and coordination of diversity and inclusion efforts to advance stakeholders of the college.  She will coordinate diversity efforts in the college and be Pamplin’s liaison with the university’s Office of Inclusion and Diversity.

A core component of her work will include partnering with department heads to advance faculty diversity.  She will work to proactively create opportunities for outreach and engagement with other university and community partners as well as national organizations to identify ways to increase and retain underrepresented faculty.

Hall has more than 10 years of professional experience.  She has led diversity initiatives for the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee – Knoxville (UTK) – where she served recently as assistant director for academic support and partnerships for the Office of Diversity and Community Relations – and the Wake Forest University School of Business.

She has facilitated leadership workshops for the Argentinian Fulbright Scholars Program, the UTK Professional Development Conference for Women, the SEC Business Diversity Officers Conference, the Virginia Tech Faculty Women of Color Conference, and various student organizations.

Hall received the 2018 UTK Greek Council President’s Choice Award and was inducted in the 2018 Knox.biz Top 40 Under 40 class.

A Richmond, Virginia, native, Hall received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of William and Mary, and a master’s degree in management from the Wake Forest School of Business.

She is working on her Ph.D. in higher education administration at UTK.  Her research interests focus on diversity in business education – specifically, understanding the lived experiences of black female tenure-track faculty in business schools at predominantly white institutions in an effort to increase and retain this underrepresented group.

MARISE ROBBINS-FORBES has been appointed director of development.  She will work closely with Pamplin assistant dean of advancement Elizabeth Mitchell to solicit principal gifts and manage the advancement team. 

Robbins-Forbes has 23 years of advancement experience, the past 10 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  She has extensive major gift experience, including creation and management of capital campaigns and successful solicitation of seven-figure commitments from individuals and corporations. 

Robbins-Forbes has two master’s degrees in the sciences from Indiana University.  She is past president of the East Central Illinois chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and a recipient of the 2017 Lisa Mauney Fundraising Executive of the Year Award.

GRETCHEN TUCKER has been appointed associate director of major gifts.  She has 20 years of experience in higher-education enrollment management, working with such institutions as Gardner-Webb University, Emory & Henry, and Sweet Briar College.  She founded an admissions consulting company.  Tucker has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and religion and a certificate in business management from Sweet Briar, and an MBA from Lynchburg College.

GENE BOURNE has been appointed associate director of major gifts.  He has 19 years of combined experience in all aspects of higher-education fundraising, including at Roanoke College, and, more recently, at Ferrum College.  Bourne received a bachelor’s in history from Roanoke College.  He also volunteers with the Salem Rescue Squard as a senior member with EMT-B certification since 2011 and on their board of trustees since 2017.