Elizabeth City State chancellor named. Why his HBCU pedigree made him top pick
Keith Hargrove, an engineer who has experience in leadership roles at three historically Black colleges, will be the next chancellor of Elizabeth City State University.
The UNC System Board of Governors unanimously approved system President Peter Hans’ recommendation to hire Hargrove for the university’s top job at a regularly scheduled meeting Thursday in Raleigh. Hans said, among other traits, ECSU needed a leader “with a profound respect for the historic mission and cultural vitality of a proudly public HBCU.”
“I believe we have found just such a person,” Hans said, “a talented manager, an academic administrator, an experienced leader with strategic vision, someone who knows the unique challenges and strengths of a small HBCU with ambitious plans.”
Hargrove will succeed Karrie Dixon as chancellor of the HBCU in Eastern North Carolina that is home to more than 2,200 students. Dixon last summer was named chancellor of NC Central University.
Hargrove most recently served as provost of Tuskegee University, a private, land-grant HBCU in Alabama. He previously served as dean of the College of Engineering at Tennessee State University and as a department chair at Morgan State University, also HBCUs. He has also worked as an engineer and supervisor with General Electric.
“He’s been a professor, a department chair, a dean and a provost, steadily building a resume of growing responsibility and a reputation for careful and effective planning,” Hans said.
His experience at Tuskegee — widely known for the role it played in educating the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II — is likely to serve him well at his new school. ECSU has made aviation science a signature offering, making it the only four-year college in North Carolina with such a program. Hargrove developed an aviation program at Tuskegee, Hans noted Thursday.
Hargrove holds three degrees in engineering: a bachelor’s degree from Tennessee State; a master’s degree from the Missouri University of Science and Technology; and a doctorate from the University of Iowa. He also holds a master’s in business administration from Tennessee State and completed post-doctoral work at the University of Michigan.
“Throughout my career in higher education, I have been a strong proponent of student achievement,” Hargrove said in a news release. “I am excited to lead Elizabeth City State University with a focus on academic excellence and success, fiscal and leadership stability, and a vision for growth and elevated reputation.”
Board praises interim leader
The search for ECSU’s next leader attracted more than 50 candidates, with three of those becoming finalists, per a news release from the UNC System.
Catherine Edmonds, who previously served as chief of staff at NC Central and as superintendent of both Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public Schools and Bertie County Schools, has served as interim chancellor of ECSU since Dixon’s departure last year.
Members of the Board of Governors and Hans praised Edmonds for her interim leadership during meetings Wednesday and Thursday. Hans said Edmonds will “serve in another role within the UNC System” after Hargrove arrives to ECSU, but did not offer details of the position.
“You were dispatched to Elizabeth City State to be a caretaker for a moment in time,” board member Reggie Holley said of Edmonds during a Wednesday meeting focused on the system’s historically minority-serving colleges. “You’ve done it well.”
Hargrove will now carry ECSU into its next chapter, building on the growth and success it experienced under Dixon. The university flourished under her leadership, with enrollment increasing by nearly 70% — a significant accomplishment for a school that was on the brink of closing nearly a decade ago.
The appointment of Hargrove brings to an end a series of more than half a dozen chancellor searches that unfolded across the UNC System over the past year-plus, with new leaders being named for the flagship campuses of NC State University and UNC-Chapel Hill, as well as regional universities and four HBCUs.
In all, over his five-year tenure as president of the UNC System, Hans has appointed new chancellors for 11 of the system’s 17 campuses — a feat recognized by the board Thursday as it voted to give Hans an extension in his role for an additional five years.
This story was originally published May 15, 2025 at 2:49 PM with the headline "Elizabeth City State chancellor named. Why his HBCU pedigree made him top pick."
