For Immediate Release 

  

Shaw University Elects New Board Chair, Officers

RALEIGH, NC (May 16, 2012) – Shaw University, the first historically black university in the South, today announced the election of new officers to its Board of Trustees. Dr. Joseph N. Bell, Jr. was elected as board chairman and will succeed Dr. Willie E. Gary, who was re-elected as a board member. In addition, Dr. Lorenzo Williams was elected vice-chairman and Dr. H. Donell Lewis was elected secretary. Each officer will serve a two-year term effective July 1, 2012.

Dr. Bell, a Shaw alumnus, currently serves as the vice-chair of the Board and holds several Board positions, including vice chair of the Executive Committee; chair of the Fiscal Affairs Committee; chair of the Trusteeship Committee; member of the Investment Committee and member of the Property Acquisition and Business Development Committee. He has also served as chair of two Transition Committees during changes in administrations. 

After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree from Shaw University in 1970, Dr. Bell established himself in the banking industry, having served as Executive Vice President of Carver State Bank in Savannah, GA. His wife, Carolyn Hodges Bell, a 1971 Shaw graduate, was recently elected Alderman-at-Large for the Savannah City Council. In addition, Dr. Bell served as Executive Director of the Chatham Association of Educators, an affiliate of the Georgia Association of Educators and the National Education Association, for almost 25 years.

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Shaw University was founded in 1865 and is the oldest historically black university in the south. Shaw University is a private, co-educational liberal arts University, that awards degrees at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The primary mission of Shaw University is teaching with the commitment to maintain excellence in research and academic programs that foster intellectual enhancement and technological skills.