Got the sample layers populating all lists so far
It seems that for GeoServer 2.2, the role name for admin changed to "ADMIN" and had to be changed in the REST role properties in order to allow GeoUtils to work with GeoServer 
Added configuration element to get GeoServer's data directory
File uploads are now being created in a workspace that is the session ID
Workspaces/stores are now automatically being created when a user begins a new session on the front-end