The University of North Carolina Board of Governors has selected Margaret Spellings as president of the University of North Carolina System. The state university system operates 16 university campuses statewide and enrolls more than 220,000 students.
Spellings has been serving as president of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas. She will begin her new role at the University of North Carolina on March 1, 2016.
Spellings served as senior adviser to Texas Governor George W. Bush. After Bush was elected President of the United States, Spelling served as domestic policy adviser at the White House from 2001 to 2005. During President Bush’s second term, Spellings was U.S. Secretary of Education.
In accepting the appointment, Spellings said that “I believe that there is no more important area of public policy than education. It is not an overstatement to say that education is not only fundamental to each individual North Carolinian, but to the success and future of this state, this country and to peace and stability in the world. I believe this with every fiber of my being, and that is why I will work tirelessly with all of you to ensure that each and every student in North Carolina has not only access to higher education, but the skills and abilities to fully access the American Dream.”
Spellings is a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, but grew up in Houston. She is a 1979 graduate of the University of Houston, where she majored in political science.