MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Michele Wheatly, a veteran educator at Ohio's Wright State University, was named West Virginia University's new provost Wednesday.

Wheatly, 53, is a native of London, England, who has been head of the Dayton university's College of Science and Mathematics since 2002. President James Clements said his new chief academic officer will begin work Jan. 1 at an annual salary of $295,000.

Wheatly was chosen over two other finalists -- James Coleman, vice provost for research at Rice University in Texas and Jeffrey Armstrong, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University.

The job came open last year when former Provost Gerald Lang resigned his administrative duties amid a scandal involving a master's degree improperly awarded to Gov. Joe Manchin's daughter, Heather Bresch.

The decisions made in October 2007 also ultimately took down former president Mike Garrison and led to the demotion or departure of other administrators and employees.

A panel of investigators concluded Lang and others "showed seriously flawed judgment" in adding missing courses and grades to an incomplete transcript, then retroactively awarding Bresch the degree she claimed she had earned.

Though it did not directly fault Garrison, the panel cited a failure of leadership within the administration and suggested there was pressure from Lang and others to accommodate Bresch, who is now head of one of the nation's largest generic drug companies in Canonsburg, Pa.

WVU has since publicly committed to ensuring degrees are never wrongly awarded again.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Michele Wheatly, a veteran educator at Ohio's Wright State University, was named West Virginia University's new provost Wednesday.

Wheatly, 53, is a native of London, England, who has been head of the Dayton university's College of Science and Mathematics since 2002. President James Clements said his new chief academic officer will begin work Jan. 1 at an annual salary of $295,000.

Wheatly was chosen over two other finalists -- James Coleman, vice provost for research at Rice University in Texas and Jeffrey Armstrong, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University.

The job came open last year when former Provost Gerald Lang resigned his administrative duties amid a scandal involving a master's degree improperly awarded to Gov. Joe Manchin's daughter, Heather Bresch.

The decisions made in October 2007 also ultimately took down former president Mike Garrison and led to the demotion or departure of other administrators and employees.

A panel of investigators concluded Lang and others "showed seriously flawed judgment" in adding missing courses and grades to an incomplete transcript, then retroactively awarding Bresch the degree she claimed she had earned.

Though it did not directly fault Garrison, the panel cited a failure of leadership within the administration and suggested there was pressure from Lang and others to accommodate Bresch, who is now head of one of the nation's largest generic drug companies in Canonsburg, Pa.

WVU has since publicly committed to ensuring degrees are never wrongly awarded again.

Wheatly said she has been impressed by the new administration's shared commitment to accountability and responsibility.

When she accepted the job, Wheatly said she promised Clements she would seek not to disappoint him.

Clements responded with, "I'm going to do everything in my capability not to disappoint you," she recounted, "and I thought, 'Wow. How cool is that?'"

She described a modest upbringing and an illiterate grandmother who regularly pawned her wedding ring to make ends meet, always buying it back later. WVU, she said, is a good fit for a "humble, down-to-earth, ordinary person" like herself.

Wheatly, who replaces interim Provost E. Jane Martin, has been a principal investigator on research that won nearly $22 million in grants. Her work has focused on comparative physiology, and she has taught biology, marine animal physiology, women in science and other courses.

Wheatly also helped double her college's research spending from nearly $7 million to $15 million a year, while boosting graduate student enrollment by 68 percent.

She taught zoology at the University of Florida from 1984 to 1994, has degrees from Birmingham University and held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Calgary in Canada.