Former Interim Chancellor Edmonds Named Interim Provost

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (July 2, 2025) – A former interim chancellor and university chief of staff with a decade of combined leadership experience in the University of North Carolina System Office and the N.C. Department of Public Instruction has been tapped to serve on an interim basis as chief academic officer at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, her alma mater.

Catherine Edmonds, Ed.D., ’92, began work in her new role Tuesday, July 1. Her prior service as interim chancellor of Elizabeth City State University and as chief of staff at North Carolina Central University – both historically Black universities (HBCUs) – give her a unique and well-informed perspective to lead academic affairs at N.C. A&T, America’s largest HBCU for the past 11 years, said Chancellor James R. Martin II.

“I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with Dr. Edmonds over the past year at UNC System and Board of Governors meetings,” said Martin. “Her breadth of experience in higher education as well as in public instruction for the state of North Carolina have given her a perspective on university academic processes, instructional needs and education overall that few other professionals possess.

“As we say farewell this week to our current provost, Dr. Tonya Smith-Jackson, who will soon assume the presidency of Rutgers University-Newark, Dr. Edmonds’ insight, collaborative leadership and steady hand will serve us well during our search for a new permanent provost.”

Edmonds’ year-long service as interim ECSU chancellor ended last month. On her watch, the university enrolled its largest entering class in more than a decade and its largest transfer class while setting an overall enrollment record.

That followed two successful years as chief of staff for N.C. Central. Before Central, she served for a year as deputy superintendent of the statewide Department of Public Instruction in Raleigh.

Edmonds was superintendent of Bertie County Schools and then Elizabeth City Pasquotank Public Schools from 2019-21. For two years prior, she was director of Educational Leadership and Development and state director of the Principal Fellows Program for the UNC System after serving as director and executive coach of North Carolina State University’s Northeast Leadership Academy.

Prior to that role, she served for seven years as district transformation coach team lead for the state Department of Public Instruction after working as an instructional improvement officer for Guilford County Schools.

In addition to many educational leadership roles, Edmonds has presented at and served as a panelist at numerous professional conferences on topics ranging from diversity in education leadership to the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on classroom learning to the economic impact of ECSU.