May 3. Douglas A. Hicks becomes Davidson College’s 19th president on Aug. 1, succeeding Carol Quillen, who announced in August that she is stepping down after 11 years as president.

The Davidson alum, 54, earned a Master of Divinity degree at Duke University and master’s and doctorate degrees in religion and economics at Harvard. He has been dean of Oxford College at Emory since 2016.

Anthony Foxx, former US Transportation Secretary and chair of the search committee, said Davidson conducted “the most wide-open search in the history of the college.”

Anthony Foxx

“We could have selected any candidate in the world,” the former Charlotte mayor said. “Doug emerged out of that competition as the absolute right candidate with the best combination of qualifications and characteristics to best guide Davidson in its next chapter.”