Saturday, October 12, is University Day: UNC’s annual celebration of its founding in 1793, marking the anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone at UNC’s first building, Old East. The University is marking the occasion a day early this year, with a ceremony in Memorial Hall on Friday, October 11, starting at 11:00 a.m. – and this year’s ceremony will include the official installation of Lee Roberts as the university’s new permanent chancellor.
Click here for more on UNC’s University Day celebration.
Ahead of University Day, Lee Roberts joined Aaron Keck last week for a wide-ranging discussion about the first month of the fall semester – and long-term plans for the university’s future.
Click here to listen to the full conversation. The transcript below has been edited for clarity.
Aaron Keck: The last time I saw you was in Ann Arbor, at the Inter-City Visit (hosted by the Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro). What were your thoughts about it?
Lee Roberts: I really thought that was a terrific visit. Ann Arbor’s about twice (our) size, so not everything they’re doing is relevant to what we’re doing here, but they’re doing some interesting things on affordable housing – and I was very impressed with the professionalism (with which) they’re dealing with challenges around crime, homelessness, affordable housing. That’s something we can take away: most municipalities are dealing with the same issues broadly around the country, (so) we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. We can apply best practices from other places.
Keck: Getting a little bit closer to home, obviously all of our thoughts here are out west in the mountains with the folks recovering from Hurricane Helene. You posted a statement about what’s happening on campus to help students who are affected and (to) help the recovery effort. What should folks know?
Roberts: It’s a really tough situation. It reminds me a lot of Hurricane Katrina. I’ve got a lot of family in Louisiana – and there, the full extent of the devastation wasn’t known for quite some time, and I have a sense that we’re going to see the same here. So we’re doing everything we can, obviously supporting our UNC system schools, UNC Asheville, Appalachian State, Western Carolina. And our health system has a crucial role to play in the relief effort. And then there are some things we do at Carolina that maybe not everybody thinks about – like our School of Public Health, (which) has particular expertise in testing and treating drinking water, which is going to be a crucial factor in those mountain counties for the foreseeable future. So we’re doing everything we can.
Keck: It hadn’t occurred to me until you mentioned those three schools, but – are the other system schools talking about eventually needing to bring in some of their students?
Roberts: A lot of dialogue about that. I think it will depend on how long those schools are suspending classes for, (but) candidly, I’d be surprised if that didn’t become necessary.
Keck: Getting now to Chapel Hill: the US News & World Report rankings just came out, and I know you’re particularly proud of being their top-value public university.
Roberts: Right. Twenty years in a row, Aaron. And that’s really something we need to do a better job telling the story about. We did a poll recently of North Carolinians…and we were surprised, and a little bit dismayed, to see how many folks thought a Carolina education might be unaffordable or out of reach for their families. We have a terrific story to tell about affordability. Tuition’s been flat now for eight years, which means it’s actually gone down in price (adjusting for inflation) by about 20 percent over those eight years. I don’t know of anything else that’s gone by down by 20 percent in price – no matter what it is, let alone tuition. So that’s a story we need to do a better job telling around the state. We give away $200 million in financial aid a year, and I want to make sure every North Carolinian knows that a Carolina education can be within reach.
Keck: And that the door is open for everyone too.
Roberts: Right.
Keck: I still remember a conversation I had with a student at Durham Tech: he was brilliant, (and) he eventually did apply to UNC, and got accepted and got his degree. But he was hesitating to even apply to UNC – and I don’t think it was an affordability thing, he just didn’t feel like it was a place that was open to him. (Eventually) he applied, he got accepted and it was fantastic. But getting that (idea) out there too –
Roberts: That’s right. Carolina’s for everybody. We were founded to be the university of the people. We have an obligation to reflect the state as it continues to grow and change. And we have to make sure that folks around the state understand that we want them at Carolina, that Carolina is a place for everybody. You mentioned Durham Tech: we have an exceptionally strong partnership with the community colleges, (like) the C-STEP program, which allows students to start at one of our excellent community colleges and then transfer to Carolina. We’ve worked hard, both (at) UNC and the community colleges, to make it as smooth a pathway as possible from community college to the UNC system. And everybody should be aware of that.
Keck: Speaking of bringing people in: over the summer, you commissioned the Enrollment Planning Working group, which issued its report on August 1 – and (it) immediately flew under the radar, I don’t think it got half the coverage that it should have. But this is a really exciting development on campus, potentially for the future of UNC and the future of Chapel Hill as well: setting a goal of increasing undergrad enrollment by 5,000 over 10 years.
Roberts: The working group was just making recommendations, it’s not necessarily what we’re going to do. But we asked the working group to look at this issue (because) the state is growing very quickly, and Carolina has not grown very much. We used to enroll about 5 percent of North Carolina’s graduating high school seniors. Now it’s about 3.5 percent. That’s a 30 percent drop – (and) if we don’t do anything, that number will continue to drop. So we asked the working group to look at whether that should continue. Should our percentage of North Carolina high school seniors here in Chapel Hill continue to fall every year? Or should we do something about our enrollment? It would have to be slowly over time. Any growth that we put in place, there’d be significant implications for our infrastructure, for our housing. Anybody who’s walked into Lenoir at lunchtime knows how crowded the dining hall is. So it’s something that has to be thought through carefully. But I do think it’s worth going through that exercise…
(And) in terms of our infrastructure: when we were in Ann Arbor, I got on a scooter and rode up to their north campus, which started as an engineering campus. They’ve done a nice job building it out, making it more dense, making it more of a live/work/play type of environment. We (also) have land we can develop. We have the Carolina North property, the old airport property. And that’s a resource that can make a meaningful difference to affordable housing in Chapel Hill – I’ve talked with the mayor and the city manager about that – as well as provide an opportunity for the university itself to expend.
Keck: And I know conversations are ongoing about the Co-Gen Rail Transformation project, creating that greenway that would connect Carolina North to the main campus. This is part of that conversation too, right?
Roberts: The greenway, and (also) the bus rapid transit line that’s going to run down MLK and connect that whole part of town back to Franklin Street. That’s exciting.
Keck: Let’s discuss the UNC system’s direction for all campuses to undertake periodic reviews of all academic programs. What are the plans for that, and what are your expectations for what might end up happening out of that?
Roberts: We’ve already (been) doing that. And I think that’s common for our peer institutions as well. These kinds of regular reviews are routine, and (it’s good) on a periodic basis to look at your academic programming: is the student demand still there? Is the demand for those students still there? Are the students having the results that you would hope? And what the system policy does is just make sure that every program in the UNC system is being reviewed at least once every seven years – (just) putting some structure and consistency on that best practice across the system.
Keck: There are a lot of intangibles when it comes to some majors. Again, teaching at Durham Tech, I remember having conversations about majors – and I came to the opinion that there are garden majors and jungle majors. Garden majors, the path is clear: if you major in accounting, you become an accountant. You know what jobs are out there. Jungle majors, the path is less clear: if you major in philosophy, you don’t become “a philosopher” – but you’re (set up to succeed) at any job at all that looks for a college degree. But that’s hard to measure, when it comes to (determining) what the demand is for a philosophy major, or a classics major. How do you work that into these reviews?
Roberts: You’re right, not everything can be measured. The people who are most interested in this question are the students, right? And they’re looking out over the course of a 50-year-plus career and trying to figure out what’s going to serve them best, not just as professionals, but as people. And that answer is going to be different for every student. Our job is just to provide them with the tools to help make an informed decision.
Keck: And the Carolina Career Hub just launched, right?
Roberts: The Carolina Career Hub is really exciting. We’re trying to upgrade our ability to show students the implications of different career paths, help them think through what they might be interested in doing with their degree, and help give them the resources they need and hopefully the contacts they need to pursue their interests. We’re blessed with an extraordinarily loyal, avid group of Tar Heel alumni across the state and across the country, and they’re eager to stay involved with the university – and in particular to be in dialogue with students. We’re trying to do a better job harnessing that: (networking) is a crucial element to many if not most successful careers, and we can do a better job helping students with that through the new career hub.
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Related Stories
‹
New Report Ranks UNC Hospitals as Second-Best Hospital in North Carolina
The latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of hospitals once again sees UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill grabbing a top spot.
UNC Named A ‘New Ivy’ Institution in New Forbes List
Forbes has named UNC one of its 10 “New Ivies,” a group of schools which approach the quality and prestige of an Ivy League institution while producing “smart, driven graduates craved by employers of all types,” according to a release. In compiling the list, Forbes analyzed 2022 admissions data from more than 1,700 schools, then (…)
UNC Rises to No. 4 in Princeton Review’s List of Best Public University Value
UNC is ranked highly once again in The Princeton Review and U.S. World & News Report’s latest university rankings.
UNC, Durham Tech Leaders Discuss Measuring Higher Ed Success
For many years, publications have ranked and rated higher education institutions, saying the goal is to better inform people about the value of their education. But after several schools began declining to participate in the latest round of law school rankings by the U.S. News & World Report, more people began questioning their (…)
UNC Named Best Value Among Public Universities for 18th Straight Year
The latest edition of the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges list once again ranked UNC as the best value among all public institutions in the country. It’s the 18th straight year Carolina has topped the list. In addition, UNC tied for fifth place with the University of Florida for top public schools in (…)
UNC’s Reputation Holds Steady in National, Global College Rankings
UNC tied for 28th – unchanged from last year – in this year’s edition of U.S. News & World’s Report’s list of “America’s Best Colleges.”
New World Ranking Places UNC Among Top 30 Universities
UNC earned one of the higher spots in a recent ranking of universities across the globe. The 2021 Academic Ranking of World Universities, released each year by the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, placed the Chapel Hill institution 29th in the world and 20th in the country. Additionally, the list ranks UNC seventh among public universities in the (…)
U.S. News & World Report Ranks UNC Fifth Among Public Universities
The U.S. News & World Report has ranked UNC-Chapel Hill fifth in their list of top public schools among national universities. This marks 20 years that UNC has been ranked among the nation’s best universities. The ranking from the U.S. News & World Report also placed UNC among their best value schools list among public national (…)
UNC Earns 30th in Global Academic Rankings for 2020
A worldwide ranking recently listed UNC as one of the top universities in the world. According to the 2020 Academic Ranking of World Universities completed by the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ranked 30th out of the top 1,000 universities. UNC also tied for 20th within the United States among global (…)
‘Carolina’s For Everybody’: UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts on Growth, Affordability, Careers, and Hurricane Relief
With UNC’s University Day approaching, Chancellor Lee Roberts joined Aaron for a wide-ranging conversation about the state of the university.
›
