Hooker's Vision, Moeser's Direction Merge to Shape UNC

The University's top administrative official inherited an ambitious plan to give every student Internet access, a blueprint for 50 years of campus growth and a lofty goal of making UNC the best public university in the nation.

They all came from the unfinished agenda of the late Michael Hooker, who died of cancer in June 1999.

Board of Trustees members and faculty who worked with Hooker said the late chancellor was a man driven by his goals and ideas.

"I would characterize Michael Hooker as a visionary," said Billy Armfield, who served as BOT chairman during Hooker's tenure. "He saw things in terms of being the number one public university that others had not seen nor articulated nor endeavored to do."

That vision now lies on Moeser's desk.

But while Moeser said he has maintained the direction of several programs implemented under Hooker's reign, he also said aspirations to become the best public university in the nation have been redefined under his lead. "I've changed the rhetoric a little bit from Chancellor Hooker," he said. "I think he was really focusing on the U.S. News & World Report (rankings), and I've tried to pull us away from that. I think that's a trap."

Moeser said he hopes the University's greatness will be seen in its students' and faculty members' commitment to service, development of intellectual capacity and demonstration of leadership.

Such qualities, Moeser says, will not be reflected in national rankings but in the personal standards held by the University community. "We don't hear people at Harvard (University) talking about whether they are the best university in America or not," he said. "They just know they're good.

"My sense of being the best public university is that we get to the point where we have so much confidence in ourselves that we don't really talk about it."

Moeser also said he sees UNC's fundamental goals as different from those of other large public universities, which he feels are too great for UNC's tastes. "I think maintaining the balance between being a great research university and a university that prides itself on teaching is an important part." he said. "I don't think (the University of) Michigan or (the University of California at) Berkeley defines themselves that way at all or ever has."

An aspect of Hooker's definition of a great public university was providing Internet access and up-to-date technology for every student and faculty member. These goals led to the January 1998 creation of Carolina Computing Initiative, which required all freshmen to own laptop computers by fall 2000 and promised to help students who could not afford the purchase.

The program made its official debut this year but has yet to fully incorporate the new technology into the classroom.

Moeser said such development has proceeded smoothly without an active role on his part. "(CCI) was a well-developed plan ready to be implemented," he said. "I could walk in and basically bless a process that was already well under way and would have happened without me because the leadership was in place."

But Marian Moore, vice chancellor for information technology services, said simply having Moeser's full support was essential for CCI to move forward into licensing new computers to professional schools' faculty members and students. "If the leadership at the top doesn't support this, it's not going to happen," she said. "We've been very fortunate to have a chancellor who's behind the program."

Moore said that it has not been Moeser's responsibility to undertake direct involvement in CCI but that the program is proceeding as planned under his authority. "I think Michael would be really proud," she said.

But CCI wasn't the only long-term program ignited by Hooker's vision for the University. The UNC Master Plan, a 50-year blueprint for campus growth, was placed under the guidance of a new architectural firm during Hooker's tenure to redesign the plan, which was approved last month by the BOT.

Jonathan Howes, the director of the Master Plan, said it was Hooker's idea to hire Ayers Saint Gross, a Baltimore-based firm, to redevelop the plan and improve the aesthetic beauty of campus.

Moeser said some of his most important work as chancellor has been providing input on revisions made to the plan, although he said his influence on the final product was only minimal. "I was only one voice among many, which was scores of people," Moeser said. "I saw my role as one of asking hard questions."

Moeser said his primary focus when making suggestions to the plan has been keeping campus traffic to a minimum and preserving UNC's ambiance, priorities he suggested came from his background as a doctorate in musical arts. "I may have a heightened sensitivity to aesthetic issues," he said. "I have a great concern that the construction we do and the landscapes we make are a heavy, heavy responsibility."

Howes said Moeser holds an appreciation of the the campus' historic elements that resembles the perspective of Hooker, who had a doctorate in philosophy. "They both came from humanistic disciplines," said Howes. "They respected the human scale of the plan and the effort to make it a pedestrian campus."

But Faculty Chairwoman Sue Estroff said that while Moeser and Hooker share similar ideas and goals for the University, their styles of leadership differ. "The chancellor we have now is tremendously at ease with himself," she said. "Hooker was more edgy in some ways, which I personally found invigorating but some of the other faculty saw as unnerving."

Armfield agreed, saying Moeser probably possesses better communication skills. "In James Moeser, I see someone who is better than Michael at execution," he said. "He has the ability to bring people along in a more timely manner and give success a better chance."

And as Moeser strives to make his goals -- and Hooker's -- a reality, Armfield said the chancellors' differences could serve as complements. "We have some great opportunities ahead of us with the ideas Michael envisioned and initiated and that James is carefully and methodically implementing."

But on a day-to-day basis, Estroff said Moeser displays an aggressive work ethic that moves the University's plans forward at a fast pace. "He likes to think about something, talk about something and then get moving," she said. "Sometimes it's hard to keep up."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.