Former State Rep. Cecil Staton named new chancellor at ECU

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) – The UNC Board of Governors has chosen a former Georgia legislator as the new chancellor at East Carolina University.

Local media outlets report Cecil Staton, currently the interim president of Valdosta State University, was unanimously elected during the board’s specially called meeting in Chapel Hill on Wednesday. His salary will be $450,000.

From 2005 to 2014, Staton represented Georgia’s 18th Senate district. He was vice-chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus and also was a member of seven committees, including the higher education committee.

Staton, a native of Greenville, South Carolina, spent 12 years as a professor and administrator at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. He began his academic career as a religion professor at Brewton-Parker College in Mount Vernon, Georgia.

Staton also founded and ran several broadcasting and publishing companies.