A longtime vice president for Bethel University has been named its first woman president.

University’s trustees have chosen Barbara Bellefeuille to assume the institution’s top leadership role, effective immediately.

She succeeds former president Gregg Chenoweth, who accepted an appointment last year as president of Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois.

Bellefeuille had been serving as Bethel’s interim president since last June.

She had previously served for nine years as the university’s vice president for academic services.

In that role, she was responsible for hiring and developing faculty, implementing academic programs and setting a vision for the university.