Donald Julian Reaves was elected Chancellor at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU), in February 2007, by the Board of Governors of the 16-campus University of North Carolina System, and assumed his duties as Chancellor on August 16, 2007.
Prior to his election as Chancellor at WSSU, he had served as Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer at the University of Chicago and Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer at Brown University.
In his role as vice president and CFO, Dr. Reaves had primary oversight of the University of Chicago’s fiscal and administrative operations. Key areas of responsibility included budgeting, human resources, capital planning and facilities services, construction, risk management, and fiscal and strategic planning. Dr. Reaves also supported five committees of the university’s Board of Trustees.
Dr. Reaves' 14-year tenure at Brown University in Providence, RI, included leadership positions as Assistant Vice President and University Budget Director, Vice President for Finance, and Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer. He served in the latter position for nine years prior to being named Vice President for Administration and CFO at the University of Chicago in 2002.
A native of Cleveland, OH, Dr. Reaves majored in political science at Cleveland State University. He graduated in 1976. After completing his master’s degree (1978) and a doctoral degree (1981), both in political science and public administration at Kent State University, he accepted a tenure-track faculty position at Northeastern University in Boston. Although Dr. Reaves soon joined the Massachusetts Department of Public Welfare (1984-88), rising to Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Budget and Cost Control, he continued to teach as an adjunct professor in Northeastern’s Graduate School of Arts and Science until 1993.
Active in professional and higher-education organizations, Dr. Reaves is a former chair of the Roxbury (Boston, MA) Community College Board of Trustees and a former vice chair of the Tougaloo (MS) College Board of Trustees. He has previously served as a director of the Eastern Association of Colleges and University Business Officers (ECUBO), and the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). Dr. Reaves currently serves on the boards of the American Student Assistance Corp., the William Blair Mutual Funds, and the Amica Mutual Insurance Company.
Dr. Reaves is married to Dr. Deborah Ross Reaves, a clinical psychologist. They have two adult children: Marc, a graduate of Cleveland State University employed as a real estate agent in Cleveland; and Katherine (Katie), a graduate of Yale University who presently attends the University of Chicago Law School.