Dr. Willie James Gilchrist became the ninth chief executive officer of Elizabeth City State University having been appointed chancellor as of March 15, 2007. Prior to this appointment, he served as interim chancellor of ECSU from September 1, 2006.   With an extensive background as an educator and administrator for over 30 years, he last served as superintendent of Halifax County Schools (NC) since 1994.

Chancellor Gilchrist holds an undergraduate degree in health and physical education from ECSU (1973), a master’s degree in administration from Brockport State University in New York (1975), and a doctorate of education in administration from Nova Southeastern University in Florida (1998). He has also completed additional graduate work at Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

After graduating from ECSU, Dr. Gilchrist spent four years as a teacher and counselor in the Rochester, NY, public schools before returning to northeastern North Carolina. He began his administrative career as an assistant principal at Eastside School in Jackson in 1977 and was soon promoted to assistant principal of Gumberry High School. He was named principal of Gumberry High in 1979, and after three years in the post, he was named principal of Northampton County High School-West in Gaston. After 11 years in that post, he was recruited to serve as associate superintendent of schools for Northampton County. Less than a year later, in May 1994, he was named superintendent of Halifax County Schools, overseeing a rural district serving nearly 5,500 children.

In 2001, Dr. Gilchrist was elected by the NC Senate to the UNC Board of Governors, the policy-making body for the 16-campus University of North Carolina. He began his second four-year term in 2005 and resigned from this Board to accept the appointment at ECSU.  During his years as a Board of Governor member, Dr. Gilchrist chaired the Board’s Committee on Educational Planning, Policies, and Programs; the Task Force on Teacher Supply and Demand; and the Gardner Award Committee. In addition, he served on the Committee on University Governance, the Committee on the Future of Information Technology, and several other ad hoc committees.

In addition to his work on the Board of Governors, Dr. Gilchrist has served on the Governor’s More at Four Committee, the Governor’s Education First Task Force, the Halifax County Airport Authority, the Halifax-Warren Smart Start Board of Directors, and the boards of the Roanoke Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Halifax Development Commission, and the BMB Shelter Home.

Active in professional and civic organizations, Gilchrist has received numerous awards and other recognitions for his contributions to education and service to children. A 1994 recipient of ECSU’s Outstanding Alumni Award, he has also been named Middle-Level Superintendent of the Year by the NC Middle School Association (2003), Halifax County Schools Administrator of the Year (1999), Region 3 Superintendent of the Year by the NC High School Administrators Association (1998), and Principal of the Year for Northampton County Public Schools (1986, 1992-93).

Dr. Gilchrist and his wife, Jacqueline, have three adult children, all of whom are ECSU graduates.