The trustees of the State University of New York (SUNY) Wednesday named Michigan State University President Clifton R. Wharton Jr. '47 as the next chancellor of SUNY, making him the first black ever to serve as chancellor of the university system.

Wharton's selection ends a ten-month review of the credentials of 250 candidates for the position of chief executive of the 345,000-student university system.

Wharton will act as the main liaison between the presidents of the 64 campuses of SUNY, Harry E. Charlton, communications officer at SUNY, said yesterday.

He will face obtaining funding for the university and coping with state regulation of SUNY as major challenges of his new position, Charlton added.

Wharton has served as president of Michigan State University (MSU) since 1970. During his administration, Wharton helped set up a college of urban development anb a commission to study admissions and student body composition at MSU.

After graduating cum laude from Harvard College, Wharton studied at the University of Chicago, and at the Johns Hopkins School of International Studies, where he was the first black to be admitted.