BATTEN ELECTED BOARD OF VISITORS RECTOR

Frank Batten Jr. was elected to a two-year term as rector of the Board of Visitors at the university governing body's quarterly meeting Friday afternoon.

Also elected to two-year terms were Mary Haddad as vice rector and Ross A. Mugler as secretary. All of the terms begin effective immediately.

Batten, who is the chairman of Landmark Communications Inc., succeeds Walter D. Kelley Jr. in the position. He also will be following in his father's footsteps. Frank Batten Sr., then publisher of The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, was appointed as the school's first rector in the summer of 1962, when the former Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary became an independent state institution known as Old Dominion College. The Batten Arts and Letters Building was later named in his honor.

Frank Batten Jr. was appointed to the Board of Visitors April 11, 2002, by Gov. Mark Warner. Haddad has served on the board since 1997, and Mugler was appointed this summer by Gov. Warner.

Both Haddad and Mugler are Old Dominion graduates. Haddad received her bachelor's degree in history in 1992 and Mugler is a 1984 graduate with a bachelor's in business administration.