Bonita J. Brown
Bonita J. Brown is the 14th Chancellor of Winston-Salem State University. She was elected by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, following her nomination by University of North Carolina System President Peter Hans. Brown assumed the role on July 1, 2024.
Brown recently served as the Interim President at Northern Kentucky. During her tenure, she led the campus through a leadership transition and in 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. From this work, retention and persistence rates increased 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 across the country. In this role, Brown was responsible for supporting a network of over 220 community colleges in 41 states as they work to implement 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), which was a national network of regional, comprehensive, minority serving institutions that enroll large numbers of low-income students and students of color.