Former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has been elected president of the 17-campus University of North Carolina system. Spellings is currently president of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
She served as secretary of education from 2005 to 2009, during which she led the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act and spearheaded an access and affordability plan for higher education. Spellings also serves on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Education Advisory Board and the board of the National Endowment for Democracy.
On March 1, 2016, she will succeed Thomas W. Ross, who is stepping down after five years in the post. Spellings’ appointment was met with some controversy. Three days after the selection, UNC Chairman John Fennebresque resigned following criticism that the board of governors were “secretive” about the search process and did not consult staff and students.
Other people news:
- Joseph E. Steinmetz has been selected as the sixth chancellor of the University of Arkansas. Steinmetz currently serves as executive vice president and provost at The Ohio State University. His official start date is Jan. 1, 2016.
- Marshall University in West Virginia named Mississippi State University Provost Jerome A. Gilbert its 37th president. Gilbert begins his presidency in January. He was selected following the sudden death of long-term President Stephen J. Kopp, who passed away in December 2014.
- Margaret Venable has been appointed president of Dalton State College in Georgia, ending the interim status she held since replacing retiring President John Schwenn.
