May 24,
2013
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Becton to
Serve as Interim Chancellor of Elizabeth City State
University
ELIZABETH
CITY, NC -- UNC President Tom Ross announced today that former NC Court of
Appeals Judge Charles L. Becton, who is completing a ten-month assignment as
interim chancellor of North Carolina Central University, will become interim
chancellor of Elizabeth City State University on July 1. Becton will succeed
Willie Gilchrist, who last week announced that he will retire from the
University on June 30 after nearly seven years in the post and four decades in
public education.
In announcing
Becton’s appointment, President Ross said: “Judge Charles Becton is known and
respected throughout the state of North Carolina for his sound judgment and
ability to get things done. As he has demonstrated yet again during his tenure
as interim chancellor at NCCU, he tackles every challenge handed to him with
full commitment, great passion, and absolute integrity. I can think of no one
who is better qualified to lead ECSU during this time of transition, and I am
grateful that he has accepted this new assignment.”
Born in
Morehead City and raised in Ayden, Becton earned his undergraduate degree at
Howard University and holds law degrees from Duke University (J.D.) and the
University of Virginia School of Law (LL.M.). He began his legal career in
1969 with the New York-based NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and joined
the Charlotte law firm of Chambers Stein Ferguson & Lanning the following
year. He soon helped establish the firm’s Chapel Hill office, where he
practiced until being appointed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals in
1981. Becton remained on the appellate bench until 1990, returning to private
practice with the Raleigh law firm of Fuller, Becton, Slifkin & Bell.
Becton also
has taught and lectured at trial advocacy skills institutes across the U.S. and
beyond, and prior to becoming interim chancellor at NCCU, was the John Scott
Cansler Lecturer at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law and a visiting professor
of the practice at the Duke University School of Law. In 2010, he served as the
Charles Hamilton Houston Chaired Professor of Law at the NCCU Law School.
Becton has
served as president of the NC Association of Black Lawyers, the NC Academy of
Trial Lawyers, and the NC Bar Association. His many awards and honors include
NC Appellate Judge of the Year; the Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. Trial
Advocacy Award; the Roscoe Pound Foundation’s Richard S. Jacobson Award; and the
NC Academy of Trial Lawyers’ Trial Advocacy Award, which was named in his
honor. He and his wife, Brenda, have three adult
children.
The ECSU
Board of Trustees will be asked to form a search committee of trustees, faculty,
students, and alumni to help identify a permanent successor to Chancellor
Gilchrist. The Board of Trustees will forward a slate of finalists to President
Ross for consideration. The new chancellor, upon nomination by the President,
must be elected by the UNC Board of Governors.
—end—
NOTE TO
EDITORS: An electronic copy of this release and a photo of Judge Becton can be
found on the University of North Carolina website at www.northcarolina.edu.
Photo URL:
http://www.northcarolina.edu/news/images/becton.jpg
Joni B.
Worthington
Vice
President for Communications
The
University of North Carolina
P.O. Box
2688
910 Raleigh
Road
Chapel Hill,
NC 27515
Phone: (919)
962-4629
FAX: (919)
962-5463
Email:
worthj@northcarolina.edu
Kesha
Williams
Director
of Media Relations| University Relations and Marketing
Elizabeth
City State University
1704
Weeksville Rd. | Elizabeth City, NC 27909
Phone:
252.335.3686 | Fax: 252.335.3769
Email: kdwilliams@mail.ecsu.edu | www.ecsu.edu
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