Dr. Karrie G Dixon
Chancellor Karrie G. Dixon was named the 12th Chief Executive Officer and 7th Chancellor of Elizabeth City State University on December 14, 2018. Before her appointment, Dr. Dixon served as the interim chancellor from April 9, 2018, after having played a crucial role as co-lead on the ECSU New Directions Phase 2 Operational Team since early 2017.
As a seasoned senior administrator in the University of North Carolina System, Dixon has served in a higher education leadership role since 2008. In 2014, she was promoted to Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, overseeing the Division of Academic and Student Affairs across the System's 17 institutions. During her tenure, she played a crucial role in shaping policy and guiding best practices within academic and student affairs divisions by providing expert guidance on academic policy to the UNC System Office while spearheading initiatives to improve student success, increase access and enrollment, and boost retention and graduation rates. Her collaborative efforts fostered innovative partnerships between the UNC System, the NC Community College System, independent colleges and universities, and the NC Department of Public Instruction, driving significant policy changes and projects that have profoundly impacted students across the University of North Carolina System and beyond.
As the Chief Student Affairs Officer for the UNC System, Dixon played a crucial role in shaping the system's approach to student affairs. She worked closely with Vice Chancellors and other university leaders to develop and implement initiatives to improve community college transfers, enrollment and minimum admission requirements, campus safety, and military student success. Under her leadership, statewide programs such as the College Foundation of North Carolina (CFNC) Pathways and the federally funded NC State Approving Agency were established.
Before joining the UNC System, she spent a decade at two other UNC campuses. Most recently, she held the position of Assistant Vice Provost at North Carolina State University, where she continues to serve as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Leadership, Policy, Adult and Higher Education at the College of Education. In this role, she takes pleasure in mentoring graduate students interested in pursuing careers in higher education leadership and serving as a mentor on dissertation committees.
Dixon is a highly engaged and respected leader in the higher education community. She serves on the Board of Directors for Project Kitty Hawk and is a charter member of the Black Women Collegiate Presidents and Chancellor. In 2022, she was appointed to the Campus Compact Board of Directors and the North Carolina Campus Engagement Executive Board. Additionally, she was elected to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) Board of Trustees in 2021. Dixon was also appointed to the Board of Directors of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) for a three-year term and to the Association of Governing Boards (AGB) Council of Presidents. Other notable appointments include the 2020 appointment by U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao to the national Women in Aviation Advisory Board (WIAAB). Before her appointment at ECSU, she was a 2016-17 American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow hosted by Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC.
Dixon's impressive list of accolades includes several significant awards and recognitions for her outstanding service, including the Old North State Award, one of the highest honors granted by the State of North Carolina; in 2013, she received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Education and the Black Alumni Legacy Award from North Carolina State University (NCSU) in 2014. She is also a member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) Millennium Leadership Initiative, class of 2013. Additionally, Dixon was recognized as one of the "40 Under Forty" leaders by the Triangle Business Journal in 2014, received the Alumni Distinguished Service Award from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2015, and was named one of "The Ten Most Dominant HBCU Leaders of 2020" by the HBCU Campaign Fund. In recent years, Dixon has received the Toastmaster D117 Award for Communication & Leadership in 2023, was named a Black Business Ink Magazine Power 100 honoree in 2023, and in 2024, she was awarded the prestigious William C. Friday Lifetime Achievement Award by the University of North Carolina Association of Student Governments (UNC ASG).
Dixon is a highly educated individual who has earned a bachelor's degree from North Carolina State University, a master's degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a doctorate from North Carolina State University. In addition to her academic achievements, she is also a devoted mother of two daughters.