The University of North Carolina board of governors has announced the appointment of Darrell Allison, president of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, to the North Carolina Central University board of trustees. Allison is an alumnus of the university.

“I am honored to have been invited to serve on the board of trustees for my alma mater,” Allison said. “In many ways, this university provided me a solid foundation on which I stand today fighting for those causes that matter most in our state. I look forward to working alongside the talented and committed board of trustees at NCCU and Chancellor Saunders White to further the strong mission of North Carolina Central University.”

Allison graduated magna cum laude from NCCU in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He was a recipient of the Chancellor’s Scholarship (a four-year academic scholarship) and a White House intern.

After working in D.C. at the U.S. Department of Justice, Allison came back to North Carolina to receive his juris doctor from the University of North Carolina School of Law.

His ability to build support from diverse communities for education legislation comes from his experience working with White House officials and congressional leaders on Capitol Hill.

For the past decade, Allison has been able to strategically harness the power of philanthropic giving to drive positive social change by crafting and pioneering statewide K-12 reform measures that primarily benefit underserved children in North Carolina. Under his statewide leadership, Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina has become the state’s leading parental school choice organization with a membership base of more than 60,000 supporters.

The NCCU board of trustees includes 12 voting members plus the student body president and serves as adviser to the board of governors and the chancellor. System leaders appoint eight trustees, the governor four. Trustees can serve consecutive four-year terms, but are then ineligible for a year.

Allison, a Kannapolis native, graduated from A.L. Brown High School in 1990. He is the son of Guerleane Allison and the late Thomas Allison of Kannapolis.