BIOGRAPHY

Harold L. Martin Sr., who has served since 2006 as senior vice president for academic affairs of the multi-campus University of North Carolina, has been elected chancellor of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University by the UNC Board of Governors.

As the 17-campus University’s top academic officer, Martin has been responsible for leading the University’s educational and research missions. He has advised the president and Board of Governors on academic issues and policies of University-wide importance and overseen academic planning and budgeting, student affairs, sponsored programs and research, faculty support, international programs, and strategy development and analysis. He also has worked closely with campus chancellors and chief academic officers on University wide academic initiatives and helped focus diverse campus missions to meet University and state goals and objectives.

Martin holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from A&T and a doctoral degree in the field from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He joined the A&T faculty in 1980 and was named chair of the department of electrical engineering in 1985 after a nine-month stint as acting chairman. Four years later, he was named dean of A&T’s College of Engineering, a post he held until being named vice chancellor for academic affairs in 1994. From 1987 to 1994, Martin also served as an adjunct faculty member in the department of electrical and computer engineering at North Carolina State University. In 2000, he was tapped by the UNC President at that time to provide interim leadership for Winston-Salem State University following the resignation of their chancellor. Sixteen months later, he was elected to the position on a permanent basis by the Board of Governors. Specializing in the field of computer engineering, Martin has written and lectured widely on computer architecture and increasing the representation of underrepresented minorities and women in engineering.

Named 2001 Man of the Year by the Winston-Salem Chronicle, Martin also received the 2008 Thurgood Marshall College Foundation Award for Excellence, Duke Power’s 2005 Citizen and Service Award, and McDonald’s 2005 African American Achievement Award for Education. The A&T Alumni Association named Martin Alumnus of the Year (1976), while Virginia Tech inducted him into its Academy of Engineering Excellence (2008) and honored him with its Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award (2004) and the Bradley Department of Electrical Engineering Academy of Distinguished Alumni Award (1998). He was awarded an honorary degree from Wake Forest University in 2007.

Martin currently serves on the SACS Commission on Colleges and Schools and on the boards of MCNC and Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation (serving as chair in 2009). Previously, he served on advisory committees of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, chaired the board of directors of the Southern Consortium for Minorities in Engineering, and served on the boards of trustees of the NC School of Science and Mathematics, the NC Board of Science and Technology, and the NC Biotechnology Center Advisory Board.

A native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Martin is married to Davida Martin, an A&T alumna. They have two sons, Harold Jr. and Walter.

Excerpted from the Aggie Report, May 29, 2009