Debra Saunders-White was officially installed Friday as the 11th chancellor at North Carolina Central University. She has been serving as the school's leader since last June. She is the university's first female chancellor and only the second woman to lead one of the five historically black colleges in the UNC System.
Saunders-White encouraged NCCU students to be fearless in choosing their career paths..and promised the school's best efforts to help them reach their goals.
"We will provide the gateway to opportunity which will allow all students to hold a vision in their hands..to work with our faculty and our staff to develop that vision into a dream..and to have the skills necessary to follow through," says Saunders- White.
Saunders-White says she will continue to push NCCU students to make bold career choices that will allow them to make valuable contributions to society.
"We ask our students to allow their intellectual curiosity to create new thought. We teach our Eagles the reward of selflessness," she said
Saunders-White also announced new academic initiatives that North Carolina-Central is pursuing. The plans range from a technological partnership with MIT to a planned trip to China this month to share NCCU's research in treating children with autism. She also announce a new Hip-Hop Institute within the school's College of Arts and Sciences. One of the genre's top producers, , will be an artist-in-residence.
