Chadron State College has named 4 finalists for the position of Vice President for Academic Affairs, the school’s top academic officer. Dr Jim Powell is retiring after 4 years in the post at the end of the current school year.
        Two of the finalists currently hold similar positions elsewhere: Oklahoma Panhandle State Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs Dr Theresa Billiott and Dr Matthew Redinger, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Providence in Great Falls, MT
The other 2 finalists formerly held similar positions: Dr Kent Buchanan at Adams State and Dr Kimberly Paddock-O’Reilly at Missouri’s Logan University.
Each finalist will make a campus visit that will include interviews with the search committee, a meeting with CSC President Dr Ron Patterson and his Cabinet, and discussions with faculty, staff, and student representatives in separate forums.
Dr Theresa Billiott
Billiott has been Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs at Oklahoma Panhandle State University in Goodwell, OK, since 2022. Before that, she taught marketing and served as chair and assistant dean at Woodbury University in Burbank, CA, for 3 years.
She also spent 7 years as a tenured associate professor of marketing at Cameron University in Lawton, OK, and 2 years as an assistant professor of marketing at Fort Hays State in Kansas.
Outside of higher education, Billiott was a solution manager for Clear Channel Radio and iHeart Media, as well as a new business development executive for the Florida Panthers.
Her bachelor’s degree is in mass communications from Nicholls State University, and she holds two Masters degrees: Master of Arts in Mass Communication and Media Arts from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and Master of Business Administration in Marketing from Florida Atlantic University. Billiott’s Ph.D is in Mass Communication and a Cognate in Marketing from Texas Tech University.
 Dr Kent BuchananÂ
Buchanan was Vice President for Academic Affairs at Adams State University in Alamosa, CO, from 2020 to 2023 and was the school’s interim president in 2022 and 2023.
He spent 13 years in a variety of positions at Oklahoma City University, including 4 years as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs as well as stints as Assistant Provost and Professor of Biology, and Department Chair while still teaching and advising students.Â
Buchanan was an Assistant Professor of Microbiology and the Interdisciplinary Program in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the Tulane University Health Science Center. He also taught and conducted research at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.
All three of his degrees were awarded by schools in Oklahoma. He has both a bachelor’s and a master’s in microbiology from the University of Oklahoma, while his PhD in microbiology and immunology is from the UO Health Sciences Center.
Dr Matthew Redinger
Before joining the administrative ranks at the University of Providence, Redinger spent 22 years at Montana State-Billings for 22 years.
He taught history for nearly 20 years, rising to department chair and tenured professor, overlapping the start of his 6 years as Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, a position he had for six years. He also taught history at North Carolina A&T and Bennett College.
Redinger earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Montana while his PhD in history is from the University of Washington.
Dr Kimberly Paddock-O’Reilly
Paddock-O’Reilly is co-founder of KPL Coaching, whose mission is to help companies, organizations, and individuals grow and improve through coaching executives and helping them be collaborative and support..
Prior to entering the private sector, Paddock-O’Reilly was at Logan University for 8 years in a variety of administrative posts culminating in Provost and Professor, and at Salem University for 2 as Dean of Online Education and Associate Vice President for New Programs.
Paddock-O’Reilly spent 7 years in the College of Health Sciences at A-T Still University in Kirksville, MO, in positions that included associate professor and Associate Dean, Vice Dean, and Dean. She was also at ITT Technical Institute in Indiana as Academic Success Coordinator with responsibilities for training and hiring new faculty.
Paddock-O’Reilly has 5 degrees: a Bachelor of Arts from Purdue, Master of Social Work from Indiana, an MBA the University of St. Francis (IL), Master of Science in marriage and family studies from Lee University (TN), and a doctorate in Health Education from A-T Still University.