Friday Center’s director retires

After a career dedicated to continuing education for others, Norman Loewenthal is ready to continue his own.

Loewenthal, 66, has worked at the University for 37 years and served as director of the William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education since 1991. He will retire June 30.

He said he looks forward to continuing his own education after retirement by taking personal enrichment classes and pursuing his interest in singing.

Located a few miles from campus, the Friday Center serves adult learners seeking to continue their education as part-time students or through enrichment programs.

As director, Loewenthal oversees a variety of programs ranging from online and self-paced courses to an inmate education program. Course offerings include certificate programs for paralegal work and sessions on infection control in long-term care facilities, among others.

Carol Tresolini, associate provost of academic initiatives, said she will remember Loewenthal for his integrity and knowledge of continuing education.

“Norm has been a wonderful colleague, someone who understands the University well and is unfailingly dedicated to it and its mission,” she said.

Loewenthal said he became director because he believed in the potential for continued education at UNC. His main goal as director was to strengthen the center’s finances by eliminating its deficit, a goal Loewenthal said he accomplished.

“I’d say despite the current economic challenges that we all face, the Friday Center is more financially secure than it was 11 or 12 years ago,” he said.

Tresolini said one of the new director’s biggest challenges will be finding creative ways to handle budget cuts.

“The new director will have to address the continuing effects of reductions in state funding, and this will require creativity, perseverance and optimism,” she said.

Journalism professor Jan Yopp, chairwoman of the selection committee, said the committee is reviewing applications for the position.

She said a new director should understand the needs of a public research university and have the administrative skills to orchestrate Friday Center events.

Yopp said she could not release any information about the applicants until the finalist round in April.

The new director should assume the position July 1, Yopp said.

Loewenthal said retirement will give him a chance to spend more time with his family and to become more involved in the community — but the Friday Center, with its mission to connect North Carolinians with the University, will remain close to his heart.

“We have a responsibility to continue education beyond the campus,” he said. “We bear the name of the University of North Carolina as we reach to the wider community.”

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