Biographical/historical information

Ronald Leon Mitchelson was appointed interim chancellor of East Carolina in October 2019 following the resignation of Chancellor Dan Gerlach. Mitchelson joined the ECU faculty in 1999 as professor and chair of the Department of Geography, a position he held until 2009. He then served as interim chair of the English Department for a year before being named senior research fellow, 2010-2012. In May 2011, Chancellor Steve Ballard appointed Mitchelson chair of the Program Prioritization Committee (PPC) tasked with assessing productivity and prioritizing academic programs in light of budget cuts and increasingly limited state funding. Mitchelson also co-chaired the Committee on Fiscal Sustainability with Rick Niswander, university vice chancellor for administration and finance. In 2012, Mitchelson was appointed interim vice chancellor for research and graduate studies, a position he held until 2014. Following the departure of Provost Marilyn Sheerer in 2014, Mitchelson was named interim provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. He was subsequently appointed, following a national search, provost.

Before coming to ECU, Mitchelson held faculty positions at the University of Georgia and Morehead State University in Kentucky. Earlier, in 1975, Mitchelson had graduated from the State University of New York in Buffalo with a bachelor's degree in geography. He also earned master's and doctoral degrees in geography from Ohio State University.

Scope and arrangement

This collection contains the records of Ronald Leon Mitchelson throughout his career at East Carolina University.

Administrative information

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Related material

This collection is a part of Records of the Chancellor.

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