Bonita J. Brown Named 14th Chancellor of Winston-Salem State University

WINSTON-SALEM, NC — The University of North Carolina Board of Governors has named Bonita J. Brown as the 14th Chancellor of Winston-Salem State University. She was nominated by University of North Carolina System President Peter Hans. Brown will be the first female to serve in the position.

Brown will assume her role on July 1, 2024. She will succeed Interim Chancellor Anthony Graham, who was appointed in July 2023 and who previously served as the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Winston-Salem State University.

Brown recently served as the Interim President at Northern Kentucky. During her tenure, she led the campus through a leadership transition, navigating significant financial challenges and declining enrollments.

Prior to being Interim President, she served as the Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for Northern Kentucky University, where she led the campus in implementing Success by Design, the university’s strategic plan solely focused on student success. This work increased retention and persistence rates by over five percent.

She previously worked as the Vice President of Network Engagement at Achieving the Dream, a national nonprofit leader that champions evidence-based institutional improvement in community colleges nationwide. In this role, Brown was responsible for supporting a network of over 220 community colleges in 41 states as they implemented sustainable, campus-wide student success efforts.

Prior to this position, she served as the Director of Higher Education Practice with the Education Trust in Washington, D.C. While at the Education Trust, she created and led an initiative entitled Optimizing Academic Success and Institutional Strategy (OASIS), a national network of regional, comprehensive, minority-serving institutions that enroll large numbers of low-income students and students of color.

As the Director of Higher Education Practice, she worked with institutions to assess data and implement national best practices for improving student success and closing completion gaps. Previously, she served as the Vice Chancellor and Chief of Staff and as Assistant Secretary to the Board of Trustees at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Over the course of her career, Brown has also served as the Chief of Staff at the University of North Texas, General Counsel at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and Assistant Attorney at Winston-Salem State University.”In

Her Own Words”: Brown Talks About Her Ties To And Vision For WSSU

The Education Design Lab most recently chose her as one of eleven national Designers in Residence to reimagine the role of higher education in closing racial and economic opportunity gaps.

In the past, she served on the Boards of United Way of Denton County, Presbyterian Hospital in Denton, TX and on the Board of the Greensboro History Museum in Greensboro, NC. She has participated in the HERS Leadership program, the AASCU Millennium Leadership Initiative, and is a graduate of the Harvard Institute of Educational Management. 

Brown received her BA in history from Wake Forest University and her JD from Wake Forest University School of Law.  She is married to Wesley Brown, and they have two children, Joshua Brown and Myliah Brown, and one granddaughter, Angelic.

Photos courtesy of Winston-Salem State University