Carolina’s Next Chancellor

Posted on Aug. 3, 1994

From the University Report (published by the GAA 1970-94)

Alumni, University faculty and staff, students and friends of Carolina anxiously await word on who will serve as the nation’s oldest public university’s new chief executive officer.  Many believe that our University is at a crossroads and suggest that continuing strong leadership for Carolina is critical if we are to build upon our proud record of service to North Carolina, the South, the nation and the world.

Many have readily volunteered their hope that a visionary leader – deeply rooted in Carolina, experienced in the challenges of a complex public research University — will be chosen.

Preserving and enhancing the generous public support that Carolina enjoys will require a sophisticated, ambitious public and government relations capacity for Carolina and is increasingly recognized as important.

There is some concern that Carolina should work to reclaim any ground that we may have lost in various national rankings.  Others observe that Carolina will always need to be a good steward of the resources we generate and receive.  All emphasize that Carolina must have nationally competitive salaries, benefits and facilities if we are to derive the greatest benefit from our unique, 200-plus-year-old special relationship with the people of North Carolina.

From my service on the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, as president of the Council of Alumni Association Executives and alumni trustee on the board of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, I have come to personally appreciate the transient tenure for senior higher education administrators.  This revolving door may serve some institutions in their eagerness to advance their institution or emulate some ideal model.  Fortunately, Carolina does not need to attempt to measure up to some other model.  We should be proud that we are the model for those public universities that seek to serve their states while providing internationally recognized teaching and scholarly research.

More than anything, I hear from many quarters an emphasis on finding a visionary leader who is from, understands, and is committed to Carolina.  There is hope and expectation that such an individual can serve as the spokesperson for higher education in North Carolina and the South.  As the chief executive officer of one of only a handful of the member institutions of the prestigious Association of American Universities, Carolina’s new chancellor is expected also to be a national leader in higher education.

What are your thoughts, concerns or suggestions?  Once again, we invite you to share these by sending them to the following:

Chancellor Search Committee, c/o General Alumni Association, The University of North Carolina, P.O. Box 660, Chapel Hill, NC 27514-0660

 

Yours at Carolina,

 

 

 

 

Douglas S. Dibbert ’70