WHARTON NAMED NEW DIRECTOR OF NO. VA. CENTER

Charles H. Wharton, an assistant dean of student services at George Mason University, has been named director of Old Dominion University's Northern Virginia Center in Sterling, effective March 1.

Wharton has served as assistant dean of student services in GMU's School of Public Policy since May 2001. He previously was associate dean of admission for Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania and had held various admissions positions with Pennsylvania State University. Wharton has a master's degree in counseling, with a concentration in college student personnel, from Shippensburg.

He succeeds Michele Spires, who has served as director of the Northern Virginia Center since it opened in 2000. She is stepping down due to the reassignment of her husband, who serves in the U.S. Air Force.

"Mr. Wharton's enthusiasm, energy and knowledge of the area will result in new opportunities for Old Dominion University to increase its statewide recognition as an outstanding educational institution," said Anne Savage, ODU's vice provost for distance learning. "I would like to commend Michele Spires for her work as director. She did a great job."

The Northern Virginia Center is a state-of-the-art facility designed to meet the educational needs of working professionals and adult students. It offers 22 undergraduate (upper-level classes), 12 graduate, and four certificate and professional development programs. In addition to traditional instruction, the center provides access to sophisticated university distance learning courses, including those offered via videoconferencing, videostreaming, satellite and the Web.

More than 300 students currently take classes at the center.