The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- January 4, 1999

Wethington to head Executive Committee

Charles Wethington, president of the University of Kentucky, has been selected as chair of the NCAA Executive Committee, effective at the conclusion of the 1999 NCAA Convention in San Antonio.

Wethington, whose term on the Executive Committee runs through January 2000, replaces Samuel H. Smith, president of Washington State University, whose term expires in January 1999.

Wethington, who also is a member of the Division I Board of Directors, was elected as Kentucky's 10th president in 1990.

He began his career in higher education in 1965 as a faculty member on the Lexington campus of the university and two years later was named chief administrator of Maysville Community College. In 1971, he moved to Lexington as assistant vice-president, then in 1981 he became president of the university's community college system, one of the three major sectors of the university.

When the university reorganized in 1982, Wethington was named chancellor of the community college system. In 1987, he was given university-wide responsibilities for public and governmental relations in addition to his community college role, and his title was changed to Chancellor for the Community College System and University Relations. Wethington, who earned master's and doctoral degrees from Kentucky, served as chair of the Southeastern Universities Research Association's Council of Presidents from 1995 to 1997. He also served as president of the Southeastern Conference from 1993 to 1995.

He has been a member of the Executive Council of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' Commission on Colleges and has served as its vice-chairman. Wethington also has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools from 1986 to 1989.