Bonnie Guiton, 1st Black Woman in Cabinet, to Quit

Bonnie Guiton, the first African-American woman to serve in the Cabinet of a California governor, is expected to resign her position with the Wilson Administration and become a dean at the University of Virginia, it was learned Thursday.

Administration sources said Guiton, secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency, will leave the $100,000-a-year post next month to accept an appointment as dean of the university’s business school. She was unavailable for comment, but her deputy, Kevin Eckery, said a formal announcement is expected today.

Before accepting the state job, Guiton held various jobs in the Bush and Reagan administrations in the 1980s. Early in 1991, Gov. Pete Wilson appointed her to head the state agency, which has jurisdiction over a wide range of regulated businesses and professions.