President Lambert named chair of NCICU Board

Leo M. Lambert, president of Elon University, has been elected to a two-year term as chair of the board of the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (NCICU). Lambert began service as chair on July 1, leading the board, which is made up of the presidents of the organization’s member institutions.

Additional officers elected to the board’s executive committee include Dan Lunsford, president of Mars Hill University, as vice-chair; Dianne Boardley Suber, president of Saint Augustine’s University, secretary; and Jerry M. Wallace, president of Campbell University, treasurer.

Other presidents elected to the Executive Committee include A. Frank Bonner, Gardner-Webb University; Ronald Carter, Johnson C. Smith University; Nathan O. Hatch, Wake Forest University; Brien Lewis, Catawba College; Nido R. Qubein, High Point University; Pamela Davies, Queens University of Charlotte; Michael C. Miller, Pfeiffer University; Susan E. Pauly, Salem College; Wayne B. Powell, Lenoir-Rhyne University; and M. Christopher White, Chowan University.

NCICU is comprised of the 36 nonprofit, private liberal arts, research and comprehensive colleges and universities across North Carolina. NCICU represents private higher education on public policy issues with state and federal governments and the other education sectors in the state. In addition, NCICU oversees the Independent College Fund of North Carolina, coordinates the NCICU Collaboration Initiative, provides research and information to and about private colleges and universities, and supports the College Access and College Success programs.

Lambert has served as Elon’s president since 1999, advancing an ambitious agenda to establish the university as a premier residential liberal arts university with a national reputation for engaged teaching and learning.

Under Lambert’s leadership, the university established the Elon University School of Law in downtown Greensboro and created a new School of Health Sciences. The academic climate of the campus has been strengthened through special initiatives to shelter a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and achieve top accreditations for Elon’s professional schools. Elon’s campus has grown tremendously during Lambert’s presidency, adding more than 100 buildings, and the university’s enrollment has passed the 6,000 mark.

Lambert has a Ph.D. from Syracuse University, a master’s degree from the University of Vermont, and a bachelor’s degree from State University of New York at Geneseo. Prior to coming to Elon, he was provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse.