WASHINGTON, D.C. — F. Javier Cevallos, president of Framingham State University (Mass.), assumed the chair of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ (AASCU) Board of Directors during the association’s Annual Meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018.

Cevallos started his tenure as president of Framingham State University on July 1, 2014. He is an advocate for bringing a global perspective to the university, creating partnerships with universities in Ecuador, Costa Rica and Brazil. He began his career in education in 1981 as an assistant professor of Spanish at the University of Maine at Orono and went on to serve as a professor, department chair and vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He became president of Kutztown University (Pa.) in 2002.

Cevallos joined AASCU when he became president of Kutztown University and has been actively involved with AASCU since. He served on the Millennium Leadership Initiative (MLI) Executive Board and as an MLI mentor for the last 12 years. He also served twice on AASCU’s board and on many AASCU committees. Cevallos served as the immediate past chairman of AASCU’s Council of State Representatives, which prepares the association’s annual Public Policy Agenda, and as the vice-chair of the Committee on Student Success.

Charles L. Welch, president of the Arkansas State University System, was appointed chair-elect of the board; he will serve as chair in 2020. As the head of the Arkansas State University System, he oversees one four-year research institution, the first comprehensive U.S. public university campus in Mexico, and four two-year colleges. Welch graduated from AASCU’s New Presidents Academy in 2008, is a member of AASCU’s Rural Coalition, and served as a key presenter during AASCU’s 2018 Spring Symposium on Strategic Planning.

The following presidents and chancellors will serve on the AASCU Board of Directors in 2019: 

Past Chair: 
Dana Hoyt, president, Sam Houston State University (Texas)

Secretary-Treasurer: 
Cynthia Teniente-Matson, president, Texas A&M University-San Antonio

Newly elected directors include:
Virginia Arthur, president, Metropolitan State University (Minn.)
Susan E. Borrego, chancellor, University of Michigan-Flint
Steve M. Dorman, president, Georgia College & State University
Brian O. Hemphill, president, Radford University (Va.)
Bonita Jacobs, president, University of North Georgia
John Jasinski, president, Northwest Missouri State University
Brian Noland, president, East Tennessee State University
Linda Schott, president, Southern Oregon University
David Wilson, president, Morgan State University (Md.)

Those continuing their terms as members of AASCU’s board:
Denise A. Battles, president, State University of New York at Geneseo
M. Christopher Brown, II, president, Kentucky State University
Dianne F. Harrison, president, California State University, Northridge
Sandra J. Jordan, chancellor, University of South Carolina Aiken
Jack Thomas, president, Western Illinois University 
Ramon Torrecilha, president, Westfield State University (Mass.)

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AASCU is a Washington, D.C.-based higher education association of 400 public colleges, universities, and systems whose members share a learning- and teaching-centered culture, a historic commitment to underserved student populations, and a dedication to research and creativity that advances their regions’ economic progress and cultural development. These are institutions Delivering America’s Promise of Opportunities for All.