The American Council on Education has appointed Ada Meloy, a senior vice president and general counsel for New York University, as its new director of legal and regulatory affairs. The position Ms. Meloy will fill at the council is a new one, created this past summer after the organization’s vice president and general counsel, Sheldon E. Steinbach, announced that he would step down to join a Washington law firm. In seeking a replacement, the council redefined the job to focus less on providing internal legal advice and more on advising colleges about legislative and regulatory issues that affect them. Both the council’s president, David Ward, and its senior vice president for government and public affairs, Terry W. Hartle, said Ms. Meloy’s experience at New York University would be a plus in that role. Ms. Meloy has served in the university’s Office of Legal Counsel since 1978.