SPARTAN ALUMNUS NAMED CHANCELLOR OF UNC-WILMINGTON

Jose V. "Zito" Sartarelli has been elected chancellor of the University of North Carolina Wilmington by the Board of Governors of the 17-campus University of North Carolina.

"Zito Sartarelli brings to the role of chancellor a rare combination of corporate and academic leadership experience, strategic thinking, and a truly global perspective,” said UNC System President Tom Ross.

Sartarelli took office on July 1. He has been the Milan Puskar Dean of the College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University since 2010 and was named the university's first chief global officer in 2013. As dean, he led a college that enrolls more than 2,700 students.

As WVU's chief global officer, Sartarelli is charged with expanding the university's global footprint. In that role, he has strategically focused international recruiting efforts and achieved double-digit increases in international undergraduate applications. Under this leadership, WVU also has forged new partnerships and signed student exchange agreements with top universities and colleges in Germany, China, Israel, and Brazil, among others.

A native of Brazil, Sartarelli attended Michigan State University as a Fulbright Scholar, earning an MBA in marketing (’75) and a doctorate in business administration (’79).

Before transitioning into higher education, Sartarelli spent three decades in marketing and management for the international pharmaceutical industry.

Sartarelli and his wife, Katherine Ann "Kathy" Sartarelli, met as graduate students at Michigan State, where she earned a master's degree in biophysics. She has been an active volunteer in civic and community organizations.

Located in Morganton, W.V., West Virginia University is a public land-grant research institution that enrolls roughly 32,000 students from every U.S. state and more than 110 other countries.