BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Inside Indiana Business) – The Indiana University Board of Trustees has selected Pamela Whitten as the university’s 19th president. Whitten, who most recently served as president of Kennesaw State University in Georgia, will become IU’s first female president when she begins her new role in July.

Whitten succeeds Michael McRobbie, who last August announced plans to retire at the end of the current academic year after 24 years in Bloomington.

During her time at Kennesaw State, which is the second-largest university in Georgia, IU says Whitten helped transition the school into a formal research university. IU also touts Whitten’s efforts to increase summer enrollment at Kennesaw, and create or expand high-demand majors such as cybersecurity, engineering, computer science and data analytics.

“As IU’s first female president, she follows an accomplished group of distinguished IU presidents,” Michael Mirro, chair of the IU Board of Trustees. “Her work advancing one of the nation’s leading research universities will be championed by a wealth of faculty and staff talent at a time of record-level research funding and philanthropic support.”

Whitten has spent the majority of her career at Michigan State University, where she held numerous roles, including dean of the university’s College of Communication Arts & Sciences. She did have a one-year stint as a professor in the Department of Communication and Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering at Purdue University in 2005.

IU says Whitten will meet with various student, faculty, and staff groups as part of a transition plan before taking the assuming the role of president on July 1.