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New UNC Chapel Hill chancellor will bring new energy to the university
(This editorial originally appeared in The Herald-Sun of Durham.)
The installation of a new leader is an exciting time in the life of a university, a day to be reminded of the past and to look to the future with new energy.
And it was especially exciting on Oct. 12 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, when H. Holden Thorp was installed as its new chancellor.
Thorp is a different kind of leader for the beloved 215 year-old university. He’s young, for startersâ — only 44â — to be taking the helm of North Carolina’s flagship university. He’s also remarkably unpretentious for such a lofty post, preferring to be called Holden, driving to work in a Mazda Miata and known for his fondness for playing keyboard and guitar in a rock band.
He also has deep Carolina roots, growing up in Fayetteville and graduating from UNC in 1986. Originally intent on a career in medicine, he switched gears to chemistry and ultimately, to administration. After a stint in graduate school in California, he came back to Carolina as a chemistry professor and eventually became chair of the department. He has also run the university’s planetarium and was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
He also seems firmly grounded. In a conversation with Neil Offen and Daniel Goldberg of The Chapel Hill Herald, Thorp said his youth gives him the luxury of taking a longer view of things.
“I don’t have to be in a huge rush to announce this initiative or that initiative. I can look at some of the more structural things, the things that have to do more with the environment, the people, and focus on building that so the new initiatives can come from the ground up.”
He said his age also means he can relate better to students and to faculty, since he was teaching just three semesters ago.
Thorp’s deep ties to the university and the state also gave him an insight into what he called the university’s unique calling to try to do “two historic things at once. One was to aspire to the highest academic standards globally and the other was to serve a single state.”
Carolina has done amazingly well over the years in achieving both goals. It’s a good sign that, as he begins what we hope is a long tenure, Thorp has his eye firmly set on the big picture.
The installation of a new leader is an exciting time in the life of a university, a day to be reminded of the past and to look to the future with new energy.
And it was especially exciting on Oct. 12 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, when H. Holden Thorp was installed as its new chancellor.
Thorp is a different kind of leader for the beloved 215 year-old university. He’s young, for startersâ — only 44â — to be taking the helm of North Carolina’s flagship university. He’s also remarkably unpretentious for such a lofty post, preferring to be called Holden, driving to work in a Mazda Miata and known for his fondness for playing keyboard and guitar in a rock band.
He also has deep Carolina roots, growing up in Fayetteville and graduating from UNC in 1986. Originally intent on a career in medicine, he switched gears to chemistry and ultimately, to administration. After a stint in graduate school in California, he came back to Carolina as a chemistry professor and eventually became chair of the department. He has also run the university’s planetarium and was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
He also seems firmly grounded. In a conversation with Neil Offen and Daniel Goldberg of The Chapel Hill Herald, Thorp said his youth gives him the luxury of taking a longer view of things.
“I don’t have to be in a huge rush to announce this initiative or that initiative. I can look at some of the more structural things, the things that have to do more with the environment, the people, and focus on building that so the new initiatives can come from the ground up.”
He said his age also means he can relate better to students and to faculty, since he was teaching just three semesters ago.
Thorp’s deep ties to the university and the state also gave him an insight into what he called the university’s unique calling to try to do “two historic things at once. One was to aspire to the highest academic standards globally and the other was to serve a single state.”
Carolina has done amazingly well over the years in achieving both goals. It’s a good sign that, as he begins what we hope is a long tenure, Thorp has his eye firmly set on the big picture.
