The NCAA News - News and Features

May 11, 1998

Lubbers, Johnston named chair, vice-chair of II Presidents Council

Arend D. Lubbers, president of Grand Valley State University, has been selected as chair of the Division II Presidents Council and Gladys Styles Johnston, chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Kearney, has been selected as the Presidents Council's vice-chair.

Lubbers replaces former University of North Florida President Adam W. Herbert, who resigned in January as chair and as a Region 2 representative on the Presidents Council when he was selected as chancellor of the Florida State University System, and Johnston replaces Anthony F. Ceddia of Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, who decided to step down early as vice-chair and Region 1 representative to assume increased duties within the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

Lubbers and Johnston will serve in the posts for one year, then will switch positions, in order to give both an opportunity to chair the group.

Following is biographical information about the new Presidents Council officers:

Lubbers

Lubbers has been active in Division II governance since 1984, when he was selected for the first of three terms on the NCAA Presidents Commission. He served on that group from 1984 through 1986, 1990 through 1993 and in 1997 until the completion of the Association's restructuring, when he became a Region 3 representative on the new Presidents Council.

He served as Division II chair of the Presidents Commission in 1992 and 1993.

Lubbers became Grand Valley State's second president in 1969. He also served for nine years as president at Central College (Iowa), after teaching history and political science at Wittenberg University from 1956 to 1958.

The football stadium at Grand Valley State is named in Lubbers' honor.

Lubbers holds degrees in history from Hope College and Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey (New Brunswick).

Johnston

Johnston, chancellor at Nebraska-Kearney since 1993, joined the NCAA Presidents Commission in 1995 and became a member of the Presidents Council upon the completion of restructuring.

Before arriving at Nebraska-Kearney, she served as provost and executive vice-president at DePaul University; dean and professor of education at Arizona State University; and chair of two departments at Rutgers.

While at Rutgers, she also was Distinguished Commonwealth Visiting Professor in the school of education at the College of William and Mary.

Johnston holds a bachelor's degree in history from Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, a master's degree in educational administration from Temple University and a doctorate in educational administration and organizational theory and behavior from Cornell University.