Hughes selected for national leadership program

Karla Hughes, dean of the College of Human Ecology at East Carolina University, has been selected to participate in the American Council on Education Fellows Program for 2005-2006.

The ACE Fellows Program, established in 1965, is one of the longest-running leadership-development efforts in the United States and focuses on identifying and preparing senior leaders for the nation’s colleges and universities.

Karla Hughes

Hughes was nominated for the program by ECU Chancellor Steve Ballard and chosen among a class of 40 fellows nationwide who will spend time working with a college or university president and other senior officers at a host institution, attending decision-making meetings and focusing on issues of concern.

Hughes said that she will spend the fall semester working with the chief executive of another university. She is interviewing now to determine where she will work. In the spring semester, she said, she will return to ECU and participate in projects with Ballard and Provost James LeRoy Smith.

“This is a wonderful professional opportunity,” Hughes said. “When I return to the deanship, the experience will be invaluable in taking this new college to the next level.” The College of Human Ecology comprises the School of Social Work, and the Departments of Child Development and Family Relations, Interior Design and Merchandising, Nutrition and Hospitality Management, and Criminal Justice.

Margie Lee Gallagher, associate dean of the college for research and graduate studies, will serve as acting dean for the 2005-06 academic year.

The 2005-06 class of ACE Fellows will bring to 1,495 the number of higher education leaders who will have participated in the program since its inception. Of those who have participated, more than 260 have gone on to serve as chief executive officers of more than 300 colleges and universities. In addition, more than 1,100 have served as provosts or vice presidents and more than 1,100 have served as deans.