Thorp opens year

Just a year removed from the chemistry lab, Chancellor Holden Thorp is still getting used to his new position.

His speech at Convocation was punctuated by nervous laughter, and he twiddles his pen during interviews. Sitting among his staff of vice chancellors, Thorp is the young one.

The 44-year-old is a new breed of UNC chancellor, selected to succeed James Moeser in May because of his enthusiasm and fundraising prowesss instead of experience in university administration.

And he spent just as much time at Convocation introducing his colleagues to the crowd of first-year students as he did giving his own advice, just as he said he his main job as chancellor is listening to and encouraging his staff.

"This isn't a command and control job," he said. "My job is to help them do well."

Since taking the position July 1, Thorp has kept in place the experienced administrative team assembled under Moeser. He has relied on those former bosses to get acquainted with the various parts of campus.

Seated to his right at Convocation was Bernadette Gray-Little, whom Thorp succeeded as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences last year when she was promoted to provost. Thorp has met 15 times so far with the woman he leapfrogged.

And next to her was Bruce Carney, a 28-year UNC veteran who hired Thorp to be chairman of the chemistry department three years ago.

Carney is now the interim arts and sciences dean.

In comparison, Thorp has spent just three years in an academic leadership role and said he is well aware of the doubts his selection elicited.

"There were a lot of people saying I couldn't do this job until I'm 60," said Thorp, who spent the past few years collecting $74 million for UNC in private donations.

To compensate, he's spent the last month in meetings and phone calls with campus leaders, state politicians and local movers-and-shakers -- everyone from Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, to Atlantic Coast Conference sports columnist Barry Jacobs.

"When you get home and your wife asks, 'How was your day,' there's no easy answer," Thorp said.

In the process, the lofty goals he proclaimed at his election ceremony - to cure disease, invent alternative fuel and feed 7 billion people among them -- have begun to be broken down into smaller chunks.

He's stressed the importance of getting faculty salaries to the 80th percentile of public institutions and already secured several private donations.

And he's finalized his talking points. Thorp used his Convocation speech to try them out in front of a large group of students for the first time as chancellor.

Mixed in with admonishments to the first-year students to take advantage of UNC's academic resources, he stressed the University's role in groundbreaking research.

He continued Moeser's emphasis on globalization, encouraging students to learn new languages and study abroad.

And he showed that he won't be quitting his former role as fundraiser.

"One day, after graduating and hitting it big, I'll be coming to talk to you about those private donations," he said.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.