Wanted: Chancellor
with variety of qualities

NC State’s next chancellor should be an energetic, visionary leader who understands the needs of students and can connect with alumni and other university stakeholders.

NC State’s next chancellor should hold to the university’s land-grant mission while building the institution into a leading-edge model of higher education.

NC State’s next chancellor must have an international vision, while continuing to address the needs of North Carolina.

NC State’s next chancellor must understand the landscape of North Carolina, but not necessarily be a native of the state.

In the third and final Chancellor Search Forum, students, faculty and staff outlined many qualities – some that were contradictory – they would like to see in NC State’s new chancellor. Sixteen people from a crowd of about 100 shared the characteristics they desire in NC State’s new leader with the Chancellor Search Committee on Thursday, Aug. 26, in the Walnut Room of Talley Student Center.

Now the committee is charged with the daunting task of selecting a candidate who possesses the qualities that university constituents desire in the next chancellor.

“I don’t know that one person will fit all the bills,” committee chairman Bob Jordan said. “I heard somebody say that ‘You’re not going to satisfy everybody,’ but I think we’ve gotten a very clear message that you want a special person who can work with all the people, all the students, give the faculty room to grow and the deans to run their departments and continue to climb on that ladder to being the very best in the country.”

Jordan said the committee will be “expeditious” in its work and hopes to identify a successor to Marye Anne Fox by Jan. 1, 2005. Fox left NC State to become chancellor at the University of California at San Diego in July.

Terry Wood, vice chancellor for university advancement, told the committee the next chancellor should have a grasp of the people, programs and initiatives already in place at NC State and be unwavering in their commitment to the university.

“Please give us a chancellor who will not be satisfied with merely inheriting and presiding over (what is already in place),” Wood said. “In order for NC State to reach its highest aspirations and potential, our new chancellor should have an uncommon understanding and appreciation of what’s already in place here at this great university….Our new chancellor should think there is no better place and no better job.”

Raising the university’s image, status and profile were common themes that speakers addressed.

Physics professor Ray Fornes said NC State is poised to become an internationally recognized leader in transforming the model of higher education. Based on his experience of working with the National Academy of Sciences’ Government, University, Industry Research Roundtable, Fornes said NC State currently has one of the leading future models of major universities.

“We probably have the boldest experiment going on in the world with our Centennial Campus and how that integrates with the rest of the university,” Fornes said. “We have a chance to take this model and demonstrate to the world what we can do based on our land grant heritage, where we are in the Research Triangle and where we are in the evolution of this university.”

Several speakers also encouraged the committee to be mindful of the needs of students in tough economic times. The next chancellor will face challenges in allocating funds that will have an impact on class sizes, course availability and advising opportunities.

“If we don’t make room for students in classes or with resources, we’re really not serving them or ourselves,” said Andrea Irby, director of the virtual advising center. “Sure we have businesses that we want to grow, but if we don’t look where our demand areas are and try to grow those areas as well, then we’re not serving students.”

Regardless of who is ultimately selected as NC State’s next chancellor, committee members said there will be no shortage of strong candidates.

“One of the things we’ve found out in this search already is NC State is not only in our eyes one of the great universities in the country, but it is also one of the great universities in the eyes of people all across the nation,” Jordan said. “It’s been rewarding to talk to people about this opportunity, and it has been a chance for us to see how other people view us.”

Bill Funk, who works with the executive search firm Korn/Ferry and is serving as a consultant to the committee, agreed with Jordan.

“We’ve had a wonderful response to our overtures to prospective candidates around the country,” Funk said. “We believe that the committee will have an opportunity to consider a number of very attractive and highly qualified individuals over the next days, weeks and months of the chancellor search. The people that I’ve talked to have responded positively about the institution.”

Posted September 3, 2004

Return to the Bulletin homepage