Lee Pelton, the president of Willamette University in Salem, Ore., has been appointed to serve as the 12th president of Emerson College, the college announced today.
"Emerson is an exciting, cutting-edge college of communication and arts," Pelton said in an interview this morning. "I am passionate about the arts. I am deeply engaged in what I call the techno-cultural revolution that we are in. And I believe that Emerson has the capacity to be an intellectual and academic leader in both of these areas."
Jacqueline Liebergott, who had been president of the college since the early 1990s, announced in December that she would step down in 2011.
Pelton is "a dynamic leader with an impressive record of accomplishment in higher education, a steadfast commitment to academic excellence and diversity, and what those who know him well describe as a calm but confident demeanor and a passion for stewardship," Peter Meade, president of the college's board of trustees, said in a letter to the college community.
Pelton previously served as dean of the college at Colgate University and at Dartmouth College.