Lee Heywood (Woody) Pelton has been named the next Dean of International Programs and Director of the Isabella Cannon Centre at Elon University. Pelton, who begins his duties at the end of May, comes from Winthrop University in South Carolina where he has directed The International Center for the past two years.
“I consider it an honor to be invited as part of such a forward-leaning university with such dynamic international programming,” Pelton said. “I look forward to maintaining the impressive momentum others have developed and discovering ways to further expand the global horizons of the campus and community.”
Pelton earned an undergraduate degree in psychology and a master’s degree in student personnel services from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the mid 1970s. From 1978 to 1980 he served with his wife, Chris, as Peace Corps volunteers in Morocco, teaching in a local high school. They then worked for one year with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Malaysia before returning to the United States to attend law school.
Pelton earned his law degree from George Washington University in 1984 and practiced international trade, immigration, and antitrust law in Washington, D.C., prior to joining Saginaw Valley (Mich.) State University, where he served as special assistant to the president for international programs from 1992 to 2006.
Pelton is a member of NAFSA – Association of International Educators and served as co-chair of local arrangements for the 2008 regional conference. He currently chairs the York County International Center in South Carolina and was a past chair for the Midwest Consortium for Study Abroad, the Midland Zoning Board of Appeals, and the Japanese Cultural Center & Tea House of Saginaw.