CHAPEL HILL (June 19, 2020) – Peter Hans is just 50 years old. But he has already spent decades preparing for his new job as President of the 17-campus University of North Carolina System.
Hans, who grew up in Southport and Hendersonville, served six years on the State Board of Community Colleges, two of them as Vice Chair. He served three terms on the UNC Board of Governors and as Chair from 2012-14. He spent two years as an advisor to former UNC System President Margaret Spellings.
And for the past two years he has been President of the 58-college, 700,000-student NC Community College System, which saw a 4.4% increase in enrollment last fall – the first increase in nearly a decade.
“We believe there is no one better suited to lead our university system into the future – even if the future may be very different than the one we all thought it would be six months ago,” Board of Governors Chair Randy Ramsey said Friday as the board unanimously elected Hans after a year-long search.1
Hans has a background in Republican politics – he worked as an advisor to U.S. Sen. Lauch Faircloth, then-Rep. Richard Burr, and U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Dole.
But he also has a bipartisan one.
He joined Democratic former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker to build a government-relations practice. And Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper appeared with Republican Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore when Hans was named Community College System President. The three issued a joint statement– a news event in itself – praising Hans on Friday.
“He has a proven record of bringing all kinds of people together, and God knows we need that right now,” former Board of Governors Chair W. Louis Bissette Jr. said before the board elected Hans.
“In Peter Hans,” said Ramsey, “we found someone who is not particularly partisan….someone who can talk to someone from any walk of life, whether it’s Jones Street (in Raleigh) or the cornfields of Eastern North Carolina.”
AFTER HIS ELECTION, the soft-spoken Hans emphasized access and affordability for the state’s public universities “while maintaining quality along the way.”
He said he has known each of the UNC System’s last six presidents, starting with William Friday, and had learned from each of them.
“I’ll never forget Erskine Bowles saying, ‘This is the hardest job I’ve ever had,” he said, noting that Bowles had also served as White House chief of staff, yet found universities slow to change.
Despite rich traditions, “We must avoid resting on our laurels, becoming too comfortable in our ways,” Hans said. “To serve our students and our citizens, the ‘University of the People’ must embrace change.”
Families find higher education too expensive and employers expect skilled graduates, he said.
“And the world is telling us at this moment in our nation’s history – and on Juneteenth, no less – to provide opportunity for all, no matter who they are, what they look like or where they live. All North Carolinians.”
Hans is Co-Chair of myFutureNC, an effort to have 2 million North Carolinians with a degree or high-quality credential by 2030. He said Friday that universities must work with K-12 schools and community colleges to achieve it.
“There are hundreds of thousands of students relying on us, millions of North Carolinians counting on it,” he said.
“The university can actually learn from the community colleges how to extend opportunity to all North Carolinians, how to stretch a dollar a little bit more effectively, how to focus on the students and their futures, and the taxpayers and their stake,” Hans said.
Universities and community colleges have adopted agreements to make transfers smoother. “Yet it still isn’t as easy as it should be,” Hans said. “There is work to be done on that front.”
Hans will start Aug. 1 at a base salary of $400,000 – about the average of chancellors’ pay across the System.
He will be eligible for as much as $600,000 in incentive pay based on increased graduation rates, reduced expenses and reduced student-loan debt as a percentage of income. Board members said Hans suggested a performance-based approach himself.Peter Hans has been preparing for this job for years, and we are optimistic about the University System’s future under his leadership.
Charles Heck says
The “University of the People” that claims to “serve” the students should not have a housing policy that will not have a prorated refund of the housing fee when residents are forced to leave. Change the policy. Actions speak louder than words.
G. Phillip Allen, Jr. Roxboro says
Peter Hans is not only an excellent choice but the best choice to be the President of the University of North Carolina System. I think all North Carolinians should and will be excited about this choice. He will bring a common sense approach to this job backed by wisdom and experience and Peter is in a unique position to make both the University and Communuity Colleges systems stronger. All the best to his success.