Local News in Brief : Whittier College Picks New President

James L. Ash Jr., vice provost of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., has been chosen as the next president of Whittier College. He was selected Wednesday night with a unanimous vote of college trustees and will assume office in July.

Ash, 43, is a historian and ordained Presbyterian minister with a doctorate from the University of Chicago in American social, religious and intellectual history. He will replace Eugene S. Mills, who is retiring.