Committee will begin work to identify candidates to lead NCCU
RALEIGH, N.C. – University of North Carolina System President Peter Hans today announced the formation of a 13-member committee that will search for the next chancellor of North Carolina Central University.
James H. Johnson Jr., a 1975 NCCU alumnus and William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, will chair the search advisory committee.
“I’m grateful to Dr. Johnson for his willingness to serve in this role. His expertise in higher education, passion for his alma mater, and deep ties to the Durham community make him the ideal leader of the committee. I would also like to thank Trustee Chair Kevin Holloway (’75) for his unwavering support of NCCU,” Hans said. “We have a distinguished group that will be committed to finding the best leader for North Carolina Central, and I’m excited about the future of this great university.”
“We are fortunate to have a group of talented individuals ready to engage with the Eagle community to identify the qualities we want to see in our next chancellor,” Johnson said. “I’m looking forward to the process and I’m honored to be a part of it. The committee’s members care enormously about the mission of North Carolina Central University, and we expect to have a pool of excellent candidates.”
The next leader of NCCU will succeed Chancellor Johnson Akinleye, who recently announced he would retire June 30 after eight years in the role.
Under UNC System policy, the search advisory committee is composed of up to 13 voting members, including representatives of the trustees, faculty, staff, students and alumni. The policy also calls for a current or former chancellor of a UNC System institution to serve, as well as members of the Board of Governors and the president or his designee.
Opportunities for public input will be offered during the search process, including an online survey, on-campus listening forums, and focus group interviews with key campus stakeholders. Forums will be held early in the spring semester. Representatives of faculty, staff, students, alumni and other campus stakeholders will be able to engage directly with candidate finalists.
The search advisory committee will work with Tomeika Bowden (’00), president of the North Carolina Central University Alumni Association, to involve alumni during the search process, including during interviews of finalists. More information about the search process will be available in the near future on the NCCU website.
The members of the committee are:
- James H. Johnson Jr. (’75), Kenan-Flagler Business School faculty member and search advisory committee chair
- Keith Chadwell, member of the NCCU Board of Trustees
- Sean Colbert-Lewis (’17), NCCU Faculty Senate chair and associate professor of history and education
- Emily Dickens (’95, ’99, ’02), member of the NCCU Board of Trustees
- Cameron Emery, NCCU Student Government Association president, NCCU Board of Trustees member, and middle-grades education major from Champaign, Illinois
- Kevin Holloway (’75), chair of the NCCU Board of Trustees
- Alex Mitchell, member of the UNC Board of Governors and Board of Governors liaison to NCCU
- Wendy Murphy, vice chair of the UNC Board of Governors and Board of Governors chair’s designee
- Raymond Pierce, former dean of the NCCU School of Law
- Todd Roberts, chancellor of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
- Shun Robertson, UNC System vice president for access and success strategy and president’s designee
- DeAndres Royal (’10), NCCU Staff Assembly chair and university photographer and multimedia specialist
- Kimberly Williams (’95), member of the NCCU Board of Visitors
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