Nelson Schwab III ’67, immediate past chair of the Board of Trustees, is chairing the search committee to recommend a successor to Chancellor James Moeser.
Board Chair Roger Perry ’71 and Trustee Karol Mason ’79, the board’s vice chair, are serving as vice chairs of the 21-member committee, which also will represent students, faculty, staff and alumni.
Erskine Bowles, president of the 16-campus UNC System, gave the committee its charge at its first organizational meeting, held Oct. 12 in the Wilson Library Assembly Room.
At the committee’s second meeting, on Oct. 16, the committee engaged R. William Funk and Associates, a Dallas-based firm specializing in searches at the senior leadership level for major colleges and universities, especially those that, like Carolina, are members of the Association of American Universities.
“We are confident that Bill Funk will conduct a successful search for the University,” Schwab said. “We are pleased to reach this milestone and anxious to move on to the next phase of the search — the forums for the campus community.” Those forums are planned for Oct. 26 and 30.
Funk assured the committee that he would personally handle the search. He outlined plans to visit the campus and meet with key constituent groups in addition to the search committee to understand the University, its current challenges and opportunities, and what the chancellor’s job entails.
Funk has conducted more than 250 educational searches for college and university presidents and chancellors and has helped recruit nearly 70 currently sitting presidents or chancellors. He started his own firm slightly more than a year ago. His recent presidential searches include Cornell and Syracuse universities. Others include Vanderbilt, Purdue and Tulane universities, as well as the universities of Miami, Washington, Illinois and Wisconsin.
The contract terms finalized with Funk include providing services such as meeting with key University constituents, using that information to develop a position description, conducting a broad-ranging search for prospective candidates (both traditional and nontraditional), seeking a diverse candidate pool, conducting pre-screening interviews and preliminary background checks, conducting full reference checks, participating in and helping to coordinate interviews, and conducting other business on behalf of the committee.
The University agreed to pay Funk a flat fee of $90,000 plus reimbursement for expenses related to the search, as well as administrative and support costs. The University will cover those costs using nonstate-appropriated funds. Typically, search firm fees are based on a percentage of the placed candidate’s first-year compensation plus expenses.
Funk agreed not to initiate another AAU president or chancellor search for three months after starting Carolina’s search or until the committee makes an initial cut from the candidate pool, whichever comes first.
Funk also agreed not to solicit the person hired as UNC chancellor for five years from the date he or she takes office. In addition, the contract terms say Funk may not target any current vice chancellor or dean for a post on another campus for a year after the new chancellor starts the job without permission from the University.
Perry said, “We want another great leader who shares the same ideals that James has of making this the leading public university in America and one whose primary mission is to educate and serve the people of North Carolina.”
Moeser, Carolina’s ninth chancellor, announced on Sept. 26 his decision to leave the chancellor’s post as of June 30, the end of the current academic and fiscal year. He will take a research leave and return as a professor. He began the job in August 2000.
In addition to the public forums, the search committee plans to provide an opportunity for North Carolinians and alumni to share recommendations about people, characteristics or other ideas about the new chancellor, Perry said. A University Web site is posting updates on the chancellor search process.
The search committee eventually will recommend finalists to the full Board of Trustees, who will vote to recommend finalists to Bowles. Then Bowles will recommend one candidate to the UNC System Board of Governors, which elects the new chancellor.
Other search committee members are:
News and updates about the search committee will be available at www.unc.edu/chan/special.
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