Ballard named ECU chancellor

GREENVILLE, NC   (Mar. 19, 2004)   —   Steven Ballard, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, has been elected chancellor of East Carolina University by the Board of Governors of the 16-campus University of North Carolina. UNC President Molly Corbett Broad placed Ballard’s name in nomination today (March 19) during the Board’s regular March meeting. Ballard, 55, will assume his new duties on or before June 1, succeeding William E. Shelton, who has served as interim chancellor since William Muse stepped down from the post last September.

In recommending Ballard to the Board of Governors, Broad said:

“Steve Ballard is a seasoned, energetic administrator with extensive experience in complex university settings, including those that encompass a public medical school. He brings to the position of chancellor a proven commitment to faculty scholarship, teaching, and research, as well as a determination to explore new opportunities for service to the eastern region of our state. East Carolina University is fortunate to gain a leader with this wealth of talent, enthusiasm, and commitment.”

Part of the four-campus University of Missouri system, the University of Missouri-Kansas City houses a school of computing and engineering, as well as graduate and first-professional programs in law, medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, and nursing. The university currently enrolls more than 14,000 students Ballard spent his childhood in Galesburg, Ill., then attended the University of Arizona, where he graduated with distinction in 1970 with an undergraduate degree in history. As shortstop and co-captain of the UA baseball team, he played in the College World Series during his senior year.

After earning his doctorate in political science from Ohio State University in 1976, he spent the next two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oklahoma.

In 1978, Ballard was named associate director of the Science and Public Policy Program at the University of Oklahoma; nine years later he was promoted to director of the program and professor of political science. In 1989, he moved to the University of Maine as founding director of the Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy, a post he held until 1998. While at UMaine, he also served as director of the University of Maine System-State Government Partnership Program from 1990-92 and as chair of the Department of Public Administration from 1991-94.

Ballard was recruited to Ohio in 1998 as vice provost for research and dean of the Graduate School at Bowling Green State University. Three years later, he was named provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at UMKC.

As UMKC’s chief academic officer, Ballard has been credited with promoting a more student-centered focus and advancing health sciences education and biomedical research. In the process, he has forged university partnerships with local government and other entities that provide new opportunities for student internships and other experiential learning.