Wittenberg University names new president

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (AP) — Wittenberg University has hired a Florida college’s vice president to lead the southwest Ohio school.

The liberal arts university in Springfield said today that Laurie Joyner will be its 14th president. Joyner currently is vice president for planning and dean at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla.

Wittenberg says Joyner will be the first woman president in the school’s 167-year history. She will succeed Mark Erickson on July 1.

Erickson has been Wittenberg’s president since 2005 and will take over June 30 as president of Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, Pa.

Joyner formerly was associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University New Orleans. The New Orleans native graduated from Loyola and earned master’s and doctoral degrees in sociology from Tulane University.