WINSTON-SALEM (May 30, 2024) – Winston-Salem State University’s new chancellor is no stranger. As a little girl in a red-and-white dress, she even twirled a baton in WSSU’s homecoming parade.
“I don’t know a life without Winston-Salem State University,” says Bonita J. Brown, whose parents met as undergraduates at WSSU. Brown was born in Winston-Salem and earned her undergraduate and law degrees from Wake Forest University.
Nominated yesterday by UNC System President Peter Hans and elected by the UNC Board of Governors, Brown will succeed Interim Chancellor Anthony Graham and former Chancellor Elwood Robinson on July 1. She will be the first permanent female chancellor in the university’s 132-year history.
Brown served as assistant university attorney at WSSU from 2004-06. But in addition to WSSU, Brown also knows her way around the UNC System. She was general counsel at the UNC School of the Arts in 2006, and chief of staff at UNC Greensboro from 2010-2016 under former chancellor Linda Brady.
She also served as chief of staff at the University of North Texas for four years.
Most recently, Brown served as interim president at Northern Kentucky University, where Hans said she worked to increase student retention and on-time graduation and eliminated a budget deficit.
“She stepped into a challenging moment of financial stress for the university, offering calm, steady leadership that helped put the institution on sound footing,” Hans said.
WINSTON-SALEM STATE has faced its own stress of late, with a $3.3 million deficit due to declining enrollment. Interim Chancellor Graham recently announced the elimination of 55 jobs, though 43 of those positions are vacant.1
“Higher education is in a tricky space right now,” Brown says in the accompanying video. “There’s a lot of pressures both internal and external.
“But I want Winston-Salem State to rise above all of that. We have to make sure that we are fiscally stable. We have to make sure we focus on our enrollment. Because again, if we are about access, we have to make sure we are reaching those people who want us and who need us.
“The industries are needing certain talents and skills, and I think it’s our responsibility to make sure that our students are getting those talents.”
A SELF-DESCRIBED avid reader, Brown says that as a lawyer, she expects to ask a lot of questions.
“When your mother is a teacher, you have to learn. I was reading by the time I was 3 and always at the top of my classes,” she says. “It wasn’t really an option.”
She brought those same high expectations, Hans said, to every role.
Hans and Brown both noted that Winston-Salem State is known for raising the economic prospects of its graduates.
“WSSU stands out as a leader in social mobility, which I have personally benefited from through my parents, and I want to provide that same opportunity to others in this region,” said Brown.
“I look forward to working with the amazing WSSU faculty, staff, students and alumni as we build upon the historical trig this of this university that will launch us into the future. I have been preparing for this moment my entire carer and I am overjoyed to serve this great institution.”
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