Wilmington, N.C. ? The chief academic and research officer at Wichita State University is the choice to become the new chancellor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

The University of North Carolina’s Board of Governors on Tuesday elected 57-year-old Gary L. Miller to take over the coastal campus by July. He’s succeeding Rosemary DePaolo, who is retiring after eight years as chancellor. The school has 13,000 students and 900 faculty members.

Miller has been provost and vice president for academic affairs and research at Wichita State. The UNC system says Miller is credited with strengthening relationships with the business community and leading changes required by reduced state funding.

Miller began his academic career in 1983 at Mississippi State University as an assistant professor of entomology, the study of insects.