Background
A native of Akron, Ohio, Folt is the granddaughter of immigrants from Albania.
A native of Akron, Ohio, Folt is the granddaughter of immigrants from Albania.
She graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1976 with a bachelor"s degree in aquatic biology.
She was previously provost (chief academic officer) and interim president of Dartmouth College. She assumed her duties on July 1, 2013, and is the first woman to lead University of North Carolina.
She earned a master"s degree in biology from the same institution in 1978, and a doctorate in ecology from the University of California, Davis in 1982. After conducting postdoctoral studies at the Kellogg Biological Station at Michigan State University, she joined Dartmouth in 1983 as a research instructor in biological sciences, and has conducted extensive research in metal toxicity.
Since 2007, she has held an endowed professorship in biological sciences.
Folt joined Dartmouth"s administration in 2001, when she was named dean of graduate studies and associate dean of the faculty. She became dean of the faculty in 2004.
She was tapped as acting provost in 2009, and appointed provost in 2010. When Dartmouth president Jim Yong Kim was named as president of the World Bank in July 2012, Folt was named acting president
Folt was chosen as University of North Carolina"s chancellor by the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina System to succeed Holden Thorp.
She described her selection as "the honor of a lifetime" and vowed to ensure that University of North Carolina"s students "don’t simply learn what we know but they learn how to create what will be.".