Virginia‘s General Assembly has voted to approve the appointments of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell to the University of Virginia Board of Visitors.

The governor’s appointments cleared the House of Delegates on Tuesday, following earlier Senate approval.

The legislative green light includes reappointment of Rector Helen E. Dragas for a second four-year term that runs through June of 2016. It also confirms the governor’s appointment of six new members of the board.

Appointments endorsed by the legislature include:

• Frank B. Atkinson, chairman of McGuireWoods Consulting LLC and a partner in McGuireWoods LLP. Long active in higher education issues in the state, Atkinson served in the cabinet of former Virginia Gov. George Allen as counselor and director of policy. He also served on the governor’s 1998 Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education. Atkinson is a 1979 graduate of the University of Richmond and a 1982 graduate of U.Va.‘s School of Law.
• Dragas, first appointed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine in 2008 and the University’s first woman rector. Since 1996, she has served as president and chief executive officer of the Dragas Companies. She is a 1984 graduate of the College of Arts & Sciences and an 1988 graduate of the Darden School of Business.
• Victoria D. Harker, recently named chief financial officer of Gannett Co. Inc. Prior to that she was chief financial officer and president of Global Business Services at AES Corp., a global power company. Harker, a 1986 graduate of the College, holds a master’s in business administration from American University.
• Bobbie Kilberg, president and CEO of the Northern Virginia Technology Council. She served on President George W. Bush’s President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. She was an associate counsel to President Ford, was director of the Aspen Institute’s Project on the Future of Private Philanthropy, and held two consecutive positions for President George H.W. Bush, as deputy assistant to the president of the Office of Public Liaison and as director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. She holds degrees from Vassar College, Columbia University and the Yale University Law School.
• Dr. Edward D. Miller, who served as the chief executive officer of Johns Hopkins Medicine, the dean of Hopkins School of Medicine and vice president for medicine from 1997 until June 2012, when he retired from his administrative duties. Miller joined Hopkins in 1994 as a professor and director of the department of anesthesiology and critical care medicine. Prior to that, he spent eight years at Columbia University and 11 years on the faculty of the U.Va. School of Medicine. He holds degrees from Ohio Wesleyan University and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
• Linwood H. Rose, who retired June 30 as the fifth president of James Madison University. He began his career at JMU in 1975 and became president in 1998. During his tenure, JMU’s budget more than doubled, 20 academic programs and 25 major buildings have been added, student enrollment grew by 37 percent, and the university’s first capital campaign was completed 40 percent over goal.

Rose has served in higher education leadership capacities and in 2010 was appointed to the Governor’s Commission on Higher Education Reform, Innovation and Investment. He holds degrees from Virginia Tech, the University of Tennessee, and his doctorate in higher education administration from U.Va.’s Curry School of Education.

• William H. Goodwin Jr., who served on the U.Va. Board of Visitors for two terms from 1996 to 2004. He previously chaired the board of trustees of the Darden School. He is currently chairman of the board of CCA Industries Inc., a holding company whose assets include CCA Financial, Bag Boy Company, Pompanette Inc., and various investments and real estate holdings. Goodwin holds degrees from Virginia Tech and is a 1966 Darden graduate.