An Obama administration official is the new chancellor at North Carolina Central University.

Debra Saunders-White was named Friday as the 11th leader of the historically black university in Durham. Saunders is currently the deputy assistant secretary for higher education programs at the U.S. Department of Education. She will assume her new duties June 1.

The 57-year-old Virginia native will replace former Chancellor Charlie Nelms, who retired in August.

Saunders-White previously worked for 15 years as a systems engineer and marketing official at IBM. After a stint as a teacher, she served as the chief information officer at Hampton University and as the vice chancellor for information technology systems at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Founded in 1910, NCCU was the nation's first public liberal arts college for African-Americans.