Agnes Scott College Elects Three New Members to its Board of Trustees

Decatur, Georgia — Agnes Scott College announced that three newly elected members joined its Board of Trustees July 1, 2026. Vernita Bowden Lockhart ’76, Kecia Cunningham Vaughn ’87 and Barbara K. Altmann will each serve a four-year term.

“I look forward to working with our newly elected trustees, who bring a remarkable depth of experience to the boardroom,” said President Leocadia I. Zak. “Vernita’s lifelong commitment to Agnes Scott and her distinguished career in science and industry, and Barbara’s exceptional record of leadership in higher education, will strengthen our board as we continue to build on the college’s momentum and advance our mission.”

Lockhart earned a B.A. in chemistry from Agnes Scott College in 1976 and joined The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta one week after graduation, becoming only the second Black professional chemist the company had ever hired. Over a career spanning more than 37 years, she held progressively senior roles including Assistant Laboratory Supervisor, Director of Global Analytical Laboratories, Director of Customer and Consumer Quality, and Director of Strategic Initiatives, retiring in June 2013. A founding member of the African American Technical Network at Coca-Cola, she has been an active leader in the Georgia Section of the American Chemical Society (ACS), serving as treasurer and chair of the Minority Affairs Committee. In 2021, she was named an ACS Fellow and received the Georgia Section’s Outstanding Service Award. Lockhart has maintained a long record of engagement with Agnes Scott, including two terms on the Alumnae Board, service on the Atlanta regional committee for The Greatness Before Us campaign, and co-chairing the advisory group that planned President Zak’s inauguration. She resides in Decatur.

Kecia Cunningham Vaughn is the current president of the Agnes Scott College Alumnae Association, having previously served on the association. A financial services professional with more than 30 years of experience in investment management for governmental and nonprofit entities, she held positions at Wachovia Capital Markets, Northwestern Mutual Investment Services and U.S. Bancorp Investments before retiring

in 2025. She served as a City of Decatur City Commissioner from 1999 to 2013 and as Mayor Pro Tem from 2013 to 2015. She received the Agnes Scott College Outstanding Alumna Award in 1999 and earned her undergraduate degree from Agnes Scott College in 1987.

Altmann served as president of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from 2018 until 2025, where she led the largest capital campaign in the college’s history, oversaw the completion of a major arts facility, guided the institution to greater financial sustainability, and created and implemented a new strategic plan. Prior to her presidency, she served as provost at Bucknell University. Altmann began her academic career at the University of Oregon, where she was a professor of French, a scholar of late-medieval French literature, and a recipient of three of the university’s major teaching awards. She also served there as head of the department of Romance languages, director of the Oregon Humanities Center, and senior vice provost. She currently serves as Senior Advisor and Director of the New Presidents Program at the Council for Independent Colleges and on the board of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Altmann holds a doctorate from the University of Toronto.

The board has honored two trustees whose service on the board concluded June 30: Ellen Parker Gaffney ’87, former chair of the Alumnae Association, and Joanne Smith, executive vice president and chief human resources officer, Delta Air Lines.