|
Ex-shortstop hits homer in
chancellor sweepstakes
From Bonesville.net Staff and Wire Reports
Steven Ballard, the provost and
chief academic officer at the University of Missouri-Kansas
City, will be the new chancellor at East Carolina University.
Ballard, 55, was selected to lead the
school in part because he has administrative experience in a number of
university settings, UNC President Molly Corbett Broad said. His selection
was announced at the meeting of the University of North Carolina Board of
Governors.
Ballard takes over for William Muse, who
resigned in September after two tumultuous years on the job and two critical
internal audits. William E. Shelton, vice chancellor of university
advancement, has served as interim chancellor since Muse's resignation.
Ballard has worked at universities that encompass a public medical school,
Broad said, alluding to a key qualification on Ballard's resume that helped
him win the job. ECU and the region place strategic importance on the
school's burgeoning medical school.
Jim Talton, the chairman of the ECU trustees and head of the chancellor
search committee, said Ballard would play an integral role in ECU's economic
impact on eastern North Carolina.
"We are the beacon of the east," Talton said.
Ballard, a one-time shortstop who played in the College World Series as an
undergraduate at the University of Arizona, said he understood the
university's leading role in the region.
"My job is always to keep the gold-star future in front of us," he said.
Ballard holds a doctorate in political science from Ohio State University
and was a professor at the University of Maine. He also was an administrator
at Bowling Green State University.
The board also considered Roderick McDavis, 55, provost and vice president
for academic affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University for the post.
Eastern N.C. native Janie Fouke, 53, dean of the College of Engineering at
Michigan State University, withdrew her name from consideration after it
became public that she was a candidate.
Copyright 2004
Bonesville.net. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 11:20:30 AM
|
