EDITOR’S NOTE: A delegation of Higher Ed Works board members met last week with Randy Ramsey, Chair of the UNC System Board of Governors and Co-Chair of the Board’s Presidential Search Committee; and Kim Strach, Executive Director of the Presidential Search, to discuss the search process. The following letter summarizes the group’s major points.

December 6, 2019

Mr. Randy Ramsey, Co-Chair
Ms. Kim Strach, Executive Director
UNC Presidential Search Committee
UNC System Office
P.O. Box 2688
Chapel Hill, NC 27514

Chairman Ramsey and Ms. Strach,

We sincerely appreciate the invitation and the opportunity for an open discussion Wednesday about the ongoing and important work of the UNC Presidential Search Committee.  Higher Ed Works is committed to the future of the UNC System and we are thankful for the opportunity to provide meaningful input to the presidential search process. This is an important time in the history of the System and we applaud your willingness to seek out varied and diverse voices as you look to identify the next president.

While we discussed a variety of personal characteristics and experiences that might prove helpful in our current environment, our conversation continued to focus on the need for the successful candidate to possess unquestioned independence and integrity. Presidential job performance and public faith in the UNC System will each be enhanced when the next leader of the University arrives without obligations or indebtedness to any organization, commercial or political – and without any appearance of such.  Additionally, the next president’s record of integrity must be unblemished, without even a hint of scandal or question. Combining independence and integrity should yield a leader who is committed to and acts on his or her beliefs, who can weather a storm in uncertain times, and who can disagree civilly. 

To the critical characteristics of independence and integrity, we would add that the Search Committee should focus on finding someone with stature, and who embraces diversity and change. Stature is that polished reputation and successful track record of growth, development and achievement that will command respect right out of the gate. The diversity of our state continues to change and the diversity of our campuses will continue to set us apart nationally; the next President will have to work effectively with all of our diverse components. Higher education has seen profound transformations in the last decade with no end in sight. We believe that embracing change is necessary to effectively and flexibly adapt to change – to view it, as Paul Fulton put it, as an opportunity.

As we discussed, while higher education leadership experience might be preferable, there are an infinite number of career paths an applicant could have travelled to become a viable candidate to lead the UNC System. Extensive experience in fields as varied as education, law, medicine, private business and government service could provide the foundation of leadership necessary. The varied backgrounds of successful campus chancellors around the System highlight this. Similarly, while we believe hiring a graduate of the UNC System or a resident of North Carolina has significant and obvious advantages, we strongly believe it would not be wise to limit the search only to candidates who meet those two criteria.

Again, we appreciate the opportunity to provide input to the presidential search process and we trust that you and the Committee will maintain a focus on the importance of independence, integrity and stature as premiere qualities of the future President of the UNC System. We trust that you will also share our feedback with others on the Search Committee who were not able to attend.

Best regards,

Paul Fulton
King Prather
Sam Bowles
William Dudley
Jan Capps
Emma Battle
David Rice