Judy Billings, executive vice president of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce and director of the Lawrence Convention & Visitors Bureau, begins a one-year term as immediate past chairwoman of the Kansas Humanities Council on Saturday.

In March, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius reappointed Billings to a three-year term on the 22-member council’s board of directors, which was being reconstituted after months of inactivity. Billings had been chair of the council’s board of directors for the previous two years.

The nonprofit council works to promote understanding of history, literature and cultural traditions and supports more than 700 programs in 150 communities in Kansas.