In the chancellor search committee's first meeting on Thursday, UNC System President Peter Hans said the committee's goal is to select the permanent chancellor by the end of the calendar year.
The committee, chaired by the Executive Dean of the School of Medicine Cristy Page, will be meeting throughout the coming months to discuss and select chancellor candidates. The committee consists of a range of University leaders, including Faculty Chair Beth Moracco, current Student Body President Christopher Everett and John Preyer, the chair of the UNC Board of Trustees.
“President Hans has named an eager and excellent committee who love this University and love this state,” Page said in an interview with The Daily Tar Heel.
The committee will also hire an executive search firm to aid the process. The search firm will help the committee build a leadership profile and collect outside stakeholder input by facilitating listening sessions with students and faculty on campus.
Hans delivered the committee's charge, stressing the importance of all committee members' involvement. He named the qualities he believes best suits UNC’s next chancellor, including intellectual humility and comfort with public scrutiny. Hans said the committee will keep an open mind for candidates' ideas but wants the chancellor to share the committee's visions.
“Now that’s quite a lot to ask of any one person, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask on behalf of this vitally important institution,” Hans said.
Committee members reviewed a conflict-of-interest statement and signed a confidentiality agreement to ensure the integrity of the search. Each meeting involving the entire committee will open and available to the public. However, for confidentiality reasons, a large part of the committee's business will be conducted in closed sessions, including candidate interviews, David Lambeth, legal counsel to the committee, said.
“We will roll out the exact plan of what happens after we narrow it down to a small group of people,” Page said.
All communication about the process will be communicated through Page, who will serve as the sole spokesperson for the committee, Hans said. The committee plans to gather stakeholder input — faculty and students — through monitored listening sessions and various surveys, aimed at learning what skills, qualities and behaviors an ideal chancellor would have, Page said.
