Larry King Monteith (born 17 August 1933) is a

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

electrical engineer and academic leader. He retired from

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

following a distinguished career of leadership positions, culminating with service as the university's eleventh chancellor from 1989 to 1998. In 1960, Monteith graduated from

with a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

. He later earned a

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, also in electrical engineering. After serving as a research scientist at the Solid State Laboratory of the

Research Triangle Institute Research Triangle Institute, trading as RTI International, is a nonprofit organization headquartered in the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. RTI provides research and technical services. It was founded in 1958 with $500,000 in funding f ...

, Monteith joined the faculty of the NCSU Department of Electrical Engineering in 1968. He was later appointed Department Head (1974) and Dean of Engineering (1978). As dean, Monteith led the engineering faculty to a top 30 ranking among all engineering schools in the nation and to a major increase in members of the National Academy of Engineering. Following the resignation of then-chancellor

Bruce Poulton Bruce Poulton (March 7, 1927 – June 19, 2015) was the tenth chancellor of North Carolina State University from 1982 to 1989. Poulton was born in Yonkers, New York. He was educated at Rutgers University, where he received a Ph.D. in endocrinolog ...

in 1989, Monteith was named interim chancellor, a position that he was thereafter named to on a permanent basis. He inherited an intercollegiate sports program in turmoil that had been recently penalized by the NCAA. By the time he completed his service as chancellor, the program was stable and graduation rates of student-athletes had increased dramatically. In spite of difficult statewide budgetary conditions throughout his chancellorship, Monteith presided over a strong period of growth and advancement at NC State. The university's research campus, the Centennial Campus, grew from a single building housing the university's College of Textiles to a multi-tenant campus housing academic, corporate, and government researchers. Plans were developed then for a public golf course and executive center, as well as a new alumni building. Under Monteith's leadership, the office of the provost (chief academic officer) underwent major changes, resulting in significant new responsibilities and power. Academic honor programs were also enhanced, with the addition of a First Year College, a chapter of the

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

honor society, and the Park Scholarship program, a prestigious full-expense merit scholarship, similar to the Morehead Scholarship at sister institution

UNC Chapel Hill UNC is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to: Education * University of Northern California (disambiguation), which may refer to: ** University of Northern California (Santa Rosa), in Petaluma, California, United States ** University of Nor ...

. He led the transformation of the university library, dramatically improving its ranking among research libraries from next to last place to 32nd the year he left. In addition, the College of Management was established during his tenure and NCSU also became the first Atlantic Coast Conference member to become accredited by the NCAA. On his retirement, Monteith was succeeded as chancellor of NCSU by

Marye Anne Fox Marye Anne Payne Fox (9 December 1947 – 9 May 2021) was an American physical organic chemist and university administrator. She was the first female chief executive of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. In April 2004, Fo ...

. The Engineering Graduate Research Center on centennial campus was renamed Monteith Research Center in his honor by the NCSU Board of Trustees. NCSU Librarie
Special Collections Research Center
currently houses Larry King Monteith's manuscript collection.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monteith, Larry K. 1933 births Duke University Pratt School of Engineering alumni Living people Chancellors of North Carolina State University North Carolina State University alumni People from North Carolina