University board announces new chancellor at NC A&T

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the country’s largest historically Black university, has a new chancellor after nearly nine months of searching.

The University of North Carolina Board of Governors unanimously voted to name James Martin as the next chancellor of North Carolina A&T during a special meeting Friday.

Martin is the vice chancellor of STEM research and innovation at the University of Pittsburgh, where he previously served as dean of the university’s engineering school.

Martin, who was UNC System President Peter Hans’ nominee, has worked primarily in civil engineering, a profession Hans said will help Martin with “leading a public institution through an unquiet era.”

Among the many challenges chancellors may face, Hans said maintaining “public confidence in an era of rising skepticism and polarization” would be one task for Martin to tackle.

“Doctor Martin recognizes all of those challenges, and he isn’t deterred by any of them,” Hans said before the board vote.

Located in Greensboro, North Carolina A&T has more than 13,000 students. It’s one of ten historically Black colleges and universities recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in North Carolina, which has the second-highest number of HBCUs behind Alabama.

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The chancellor search was initially prompted in September when Chancellor Harold L. Martin announced his retirement at a university board meeting. His retirement came after 15 years serving as North Carolina A&T chancellor.

Friday’s vote marks the end of another chancellor search in the state’s public university system within the last month.

A few weeks ago, the university system board wrapped up chancellor searches for Winston-Salem State University and North Carolina Central University — two other HBCUs located in Winston-Salem and Durham, respectively. The search process is still ongoing for the state’s flagship campus, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, after former Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz left earlier this year to become Michigan State University’s president.