The current dean of Yale University Divinity School, Dr Richard J Wood, has been appointed as the new President of the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia. Dr Wood will take up the new position in January 2001.

"Dr Woods brings to this position a rich background and knowledge of Asia," said the Honourable James Laney, Chair of the United Board, "as well as significant leadership experience as an outstanding academic administrator and teacher. His career has been marked by his deep and abiding commitment as a Christian leader, and his expertise about the roles and responsibilities of boards of trustees will further enhance his work at the United Board."

Dr Woods, who is an ordained minister of the United Methodist Church and a recorded Quaker minister, has experience in Asia, as well as achievements in higher education administration, teaching and governance. He is the chairman of the Japan-US Friendship Commission of the United States Government.

For many years Dr Woods was responsible for the administration of the Japan Study Program of the Great Lakes Colleges Association and the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. A specialist in Japanese philosophical and religious thought with special emphasis on ethics, he has twice been visiting professor at Waseda University in Tokyo.

The United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia was founded in the 1920s and is both grant-making and programmatic organisation that works co-operatively with other organisations that share its goals. The United Board is a non-profit agency whose work centres on higher education, the Christian faith and Asia.