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Campus Life

Allison Newhart Named General Counsel

Spring morning sun illuminates the Holladay Hall and the Memorial Belltower.
Managers across campus have worked hard to cut expenditures since the COVID-19 pandemic forced NC State to reduce campus operations in March.

An attorney with wide-ranging experience in higher education will become NC State’s chief lawyer early next year.

Chancellor Randy Woodson announced the appointment of Allison B. Newhart to the position of vice chancellor and general counsel on Wednesday following a nationwide search. She’ll take the helm in the Office of General Counsel by Feb. 1, leading a team of attorneys providing legal services and advice to the university on matters ranging from compliance and ethics to business contracts and employment law.

Headshot of Allison Newhart.
Allison B. Newhart is NC State’s new vice chancellor and general counsel.

Newhart has extensive legal experience, both in higher education and in private practice. She currently serves as associate general counsel at Pennsylvania State University, where she focuses on labor and employment matters, student affairs, litigation, athletics, and Title IX and Clery Act compliance.

Newhart says she’s pleased that her new position at NC State gives her the opportunity to continue her service at a public land-grant university.

“NC State is uniquely positioned — both as a land-grant institution and a major research university — to widen access to higher education and benefit society through the threefold mission of teaching, research and service,” she says. “I truly believe in the land-grant mission.”

Prior to joining Penn State in 2013, Newhart was an associate with Saul Ewing LLP in Philadelphia, where she represented and counseled colleges and universities in litigation, risk management, compliance and employment matters.

Newhart is an active member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys. She regularly coordinates and presents at NACUA conferences and has served on several of the association’s committees, including the editorial board for NACUANOTES.

Newhart graduated cum laude from Lehigh University with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology. She graduated magna cum laude with a J.D. from Villanova University School of Law (now the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law), where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and the Villanova Law Review.

Newhart is admitted to practice before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania and the District of New Jersey. She is admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.