For immediate use

Nov. 25, 1997 -- No. 884

Washington state administrator named UNC-CH director of scholarships, student aid

CHAPEL HILL – Shirley A. Ort, senior associate director for student financial aid with the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board, has been named to the top student aid post at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Ort's appointment as director of scholarships and student aid takes effect Dec. 1. She succeeds Eleanor Morris, who is retiring Dec. 1 after 33 years in student aid, including 17 years as UNC-CH director. Morris will continue to direct the university's Johnston Scholars Program.

“Shirley Ort is a real visionary in the financial aid community and has garnered a reputation of tremendous respect on both the East and West Coasts,” said Chancellor Michael Hooker. “Her policy analysis into how students finance their education, in particular, will be a major asset as we head into the 21st century. Shirley also has a deep understanding of the process by which need-based aid is delivered – from both her campus experience and her broad work with professional organizations. UNC and its future students are extremely fortunate that she will be joining our team.”

Ort said she was excited to be heading to UNC-CH. Her first focus, she said, would be to learn more about the university.

“I want to preserve the fine operation Eleanor has in place and figure out how we can sustain that momentum,” Ort said. “I hope, though, to be able to concentrate initially on ways to increase financial aid funds and support staff in their efforts to serve students.”

After a recent visit to campus, Ort said she was struck most by the high regard that is given students by faculty, the administration and their peers. “Walking around this institution is a celebration of talent,” she said. “It feels good; I will learn much.”

She said the move to UNC-CH will round out her previous experience by allowing her to work on initiatives that reward excellence as well as those that protect access. “The goals of access and excellence are not mutually exclusive,” she said. “We must continue to strengthen our financial aid programs to serve both goals.”

Throughout her career, Ort has examined policy relationships in higher education. “I have come to understand that student financial aid policy can either strengthen or impede the achievement of a state's goals or a university's mission,” she said. “ I bring that understanding and a commitment to probe those relationships at UNC-CH.”

Ort joined the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board in 1979 and has been responsible for managing the student financial aid division of the board, which is the state's higher education planning agency and student financial aid commission. She administered state-funded student financial aid programs – such as grants, student employment and loans – totaling $183 million for the 1997-99 biennium. That included $5 million in financial aid administrative funds.

Ort was responsible for all functions of the division, ranging from staff and operations to policy recommendation and implementation to program development. She also served as the board's liaison with Washington's legislature during the 1988 and 1989 legislative sessions.

Previously, the administrator spent 11 years at Seattle Pacific University. She held posts including dean of student development, financial aid director and associate dean of students, and coordinator of grant development and director of student resources for the 2,400-student liberal arts college.

Ort was president of the National Association of State Scholarship and Grant Programs in 1988-89 and also has served as a council member at large and chair of its Federal Relations Committee. She was a gubernatorial appointee to the Washington State Commission for National and Community Service, a member of the Executive Committee of the College Scholarship Service Council and its National Committee on Standards of Family Ability to Pay for Higher Education, and a member of the College Scholarship Service Council.

She has served as an elections observer in El Salvador with the National Lawyers' Guild, coordinated through the United Nations, and as a labor union elections observer in Washington.

A first-generation college graduate who was raised on a Midwest farm, Ort holds a bachelor's degree in history from Spring Arbor College in Michigan and a master's degree in medieval history from Western Michigan University. She attended law school at night while working full time, earning her degree from Seattle University School of Law in Tacoma, Washington.

Morris, a 1955 UNC-CH graduate, was assistant director of scholarships and student aid at Carolina from 1964 to 1969 before going to UNC-Greensboro to serve as director for 11 years. She returned to take the helm of the UNC-CH office in 1980. At Carolina she received a 1992 C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Award and a 1996 Distinguished Alumna Award from the UNC General Alumni Association.

Morris has served as president of the Southern Association of Financial Aid Administrators and of the N.C. Association of Financial Aid Administrators. She chaired the College Scholarship Service Assembly and was a trustee of the College Board.

“Eleanor's skills and knowledge, as well as her compassion, have made her the kind of person students fondly remember from their college days,” Hooker said. “There is no telling how many thousands of Financial Aid Forms that have passed through her hands. Eleanor has always looked beyond the sheer numbers to the individuals represented. She was totally devoted to making sure that all qualified students had an opportunity to attend Carolina, regardless of their means, and she was willing to go the extra mile to craft the right financial aid package to help make a UNC education a reality.”

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Note: Mug shots of Ort available from News Services upon request.

Contact: Liz Lucas