Durham, North Carolina (PRWEB) June 07, 2013
Accompanied by the Marching Sound Machine band, the universitys new leader entered the student union to a standing ovation. Saunders-White is the 11th chancellor and the initial female appointed to the permanent position.

We are grateful that Chancellor Saunders-White accepted the call to stand at the helm of NCCU, said Wendell Davis, vice chancellor for administration and finance and co-chair of the chancellor transition committee.

Durham Mayor Bill Bell welcomed Saunders-White with a key to the city and a joke: You dont require a key, he mentioned. We havent changed the locks. Bell also praised the partnership among NCCU and the City of Durham. We pride ourselves on fine partnerships, and Durham shares Dr. Shepards motto of Truth and Service, he stated.

Additional speakers greeting Saunders-White incorporated NCCU Student Government Association president Stefan Weathers Paul Pope, a member of the NCCU Board of Trustees Frankie Perry, president of the NCCU Foundation Board of Directors and Calvin Kearney, vice president of the NCCU Alumni Association. Kearney presented the chancellor with an alumni association lapel pin. That is a statement of her support to much more than 30,000 NCCU alumni, Kearney said.

Saunders-White is the 1st lady appointed to the permanent position of chancellor at NCCU and the second female chancellor to serve at any of the UNC systems 5 historically black universities. It is excellent to see a sister rise to the best, mentioned Perry. Her credentials are impeccable.

In her own remarks, Saunders-White vowed to continue the universitys strategic plan and its 5 targets, speaking particularly about escalating 4-year graduation rates, leadership in neighborhood engagement and improved internal communication through technologies.

I return to North Carolina to be a single of the men and women our founder spoke of, Saunders-White said, one particular who builds men and women up, not pulls them down. Her promise to students was straightforward: To make sure that every single dream you come here with is fulfilled. We will make sure that no dream gets deferred.

Ahead of her appointment as chancellor of NCCU on Feb. eight, Saunders-White served as assistant secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education. She previously worked as a technology administrator at both Hampton University and UNC Wilmington and began her profession as a systems engineer at IBM, and she said she has often been identified as the technology lady. In the 21st century, all of us need to have to embrace the good components of technologies, she said.

She invited the NCCU community to join her on a journey to excellence via what she known as E-squared, Eagle Excellence.

In conversations with reporters later in the morning, Saunders-White amplified on her plans to concentrate on the universitys 4-year graduation price, rather than the six-year price that is the frequent benchmark for universities nationwide. Its a signal Im sending to the campus neighborhood, she stated. We need to have to make sure that our students are crossing the stage in four years. The longer students stay in the academy, the much more debt they take on.

Responding to a reporters query about the goal of historically black colleges and universities, she acknowledged that in the 21st century, some people query the relevance of HBCUs. But she added, I think in our mission, far more so now than ever. We serve the under-served extraordinarily well.

On Tuesday, Chancellor Saunders-White connected to students through Google Hangout. Employing the hashtag #NCCUWelcome the chancellor took queries and encouraged students to keep speaking to me.





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