Debra Saunders-White, 57, an officer in the Obama administration, has been selected as the new chancellor of North Carolina Central University by the board of governors, Friday.

Saunders-White, a Virginia native will replace interim Chancellor Charles L. Becton, who joined the university in August 2012 following the retirement of Charlie Nelms.

She will commence her new duties from June.1, becoming the 11th leader of the black university.

"With her broad experience in business, higher education, and government; her proven integrity and sound judgment; and her profound understanding of the changing marketplace in which our students must compete, Dr. Saunders-White will be a forceful and effective leader for NCCU," UNC system president Tom Ross said.

Currently, Saunders-White serves as the deputy assistant secretary for higher programs at the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).

At DOE, she was responsible for creating federal programs to increase access to post-secondary education for low-income and disabled college students.

Earlier, Saunders-White worked as a systems engineer and marketing official at IBM, chief information officer at Hampton University and as the vice chancellor for information technology systems at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Her academic achievements include a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Virginia in 1979; an MBA from the College of William & Mary in 1993 and a doctorate in higher education administration from The George Washington University in 2004.