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By Amy Cherry 12:09pm, March 13, 2015 - Updated 5:24pm, March 13, 2015
Nancy Target, the interim President of the University of Delware. (Photo/Univ. of Delaware)
The University of Delaware's Board of Trustees has named the institution's interim president.The Board of Trustees has chosen Nancy Targett, dean of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, to lead the school. Targett will take over at the helm effective July 1, Board Chairman Gil Sparks announced Friday. She told WDEL the news was unexpected.
"I had some suggestions for folks that I thought would make a good president, and when the chairman of the board said, 'But what about you?' I was very surprised; I did not see this coming down the pike," she said.
Targett has been a member of the university faculty since 1984. She's been dean since 2005 and lives in Sussex County. She said she's served as a change agent within her college and will bring those skills to her new job.
"What I really see myself doing in the role as interim president is really bringing faculty students and staff together to talk about what the University of Delaware needs to be as it moves forward," she said.
Current university President Pat Harker announced on March 2 that he'll step down this summer to become CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
She plans to build on Harker's legacy.
"Universities now are doing a lot more with the private sector, with the communities around them, they're innovating and engaging in ways and we want to continue along that trajectory," she explained.
Targett has big hopes for UD graduates.
"I'd like to see us educating students, who go out and be global citizens; they become citizens of the world really that are curious," she siad. "they are people that go out and are committed to making a difference in the world."
A 15-member committee, co-chaired by trustees Terri Kelly and Don Puglisi, will conduct a search for the permanent, 27th president of the university.
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Contact Amy Cherry at acherry@wdel.com or follow her on Twitter at @acherry13.
Copyright © Mar 13, 2015, WDEL/Delmarva Broadcasting Company. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
