New interim chancellor named at ECU

Days after Interim Chancellor Dan Gerlach resigned from East Carolina University amid questions over his drinking, University of North Carolina Interim President Dr. Bill Roper named a new interim chancellor for the school on Thursday.

Posted 8:12 p.m. Oct 31, 2019 — Updated 8:12 p.m. Oct 31, 2019

GREENVILLE, N.C. — Days after Interim Chancellor Dan Gerlach resigned from East Carolina University amid questions over his drinking, University of North Carolina Interim President Dr. Bill Roper named a new interim chancellor for the school on Thursday.

Roper tapped Ron Mitchelson, who has been acting chancellor since Gerlach stepped down last Saturday and has served as provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs since 2015.

"As a longtime member of Pirate Nation, Ron will do a great job leading the university while the ECU Chancellor Search Committee begins the vital work of identifying the university’s next chancellor," Roper said in a statement.

Gerlach was put on leave last month after images from the night of Sept. 25 or the morning of Sept. 26 surfaced showing him dancing and drinking with young people. At the time, he acknowledged poor judgment and having "too good a time," but he said he didn't break the law.

As Gerlach resigns, new video emerges from night out drinking

Last Saturday, someone leaked to WRAL News footage from traffic and security cameras in downtown Greenville from that night that appear to show Gerlach walking unsteadily down a sidewalk, getting into a car and driving off.

Gerlach said in a statement following his resignation that he failed to live up to ECU's standards.

"There is no one to hold accountable for the situation except me," he said.

Mitchelson, who came to ECU in 1999 as a professor and chair of the Department of Geography, has also held faculty and administrative positions at the University of Georgia and at Morehead State University in Kentucky.

"My 20 years at ECU have been, by far, the most rewarding years of my life," he said in a statement Thursday. "The university has afforded me so many opportunities to grow as an educator and as a leader. I am humbled and privileged to lead this great university, and I appreciate the responsibility that President Roper has entrusted to me.

"While we face some significant challenges, I am so excited about our recent successes and our expanding capacity to assist our students and the region," he added.

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