WASHINGTON, D.C. — Hinton native Sylvia Mathews Burwell was named the new president of American University Thursday, according to a news release from the Washington, D.C.-based school.
Burwell will be American’s 15th president when she begins her duties June 1.
Burwell held a high-ranking position in the administration of former President Barack Obama. She was the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and the administration’s main spokesperson for Obamacare.
“This isn’t a conversation about a word — Obamacare — it’s a conversation about people’s lives,” Burwell during a visit last November to the University of Charleston.
Her time at HHS separated her as a candidate for the American job, a professor said.
“Secretary Burwell’s success at HHS reflects three key abilities that will make her an excellent president for our university,” Kiho Kim, professor of environmental science at AU and a member of the Presidential Search Committee, said in a news release.
Burwell has degrees from Harvard University and the University of Oxford.