UNC Asheville searches for a new chancellor; who's on the search committee?

ASHEVILLE- UNC Asheville is on the search for a new chancellor seven months after its longtime leader stepped down.

The school announced on June 28 that a search committee has been selected to look for a new chancellor following Nancy Cable's last year. Cable stepped down to become executive director of the Chapel Hill-based William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust.

After Cable left, Kimberly van Noort stepped in as interim chancellor in January, who served as senior vice president for academic affairs and chief academic officer at the UNC system for almost six years, according to a news release from the university.

Cable was the chancellor for four years before stepping down last year.

More: UNCA interim provost to work as interim chancellor; search for chancellor in coming months

The university put together a search committee of 13 people, and under UNC policy these members have to be representative of the trustees, faculty, staff, students and alumni. The policy also states that a current or former chancellor of a UNC system, the president, and representatives of the UNC Board of Governors must serve on the committee.

The Interim Chair of the UNCA Board of Trustees, Roger Aiken, will lead the group in choosing a new chancellor.

“The committee is composed of accomplished individuals who will bring energy and dedication to an important task ahead – identifying the best candidates to advance the work of our great university,” Aiken said in a news release from the university on June 28.

“I’m enormously grateful to them for being willing to invest their time and talent in this process, and I look forward to our collaboration and engagement with the broader campus community.”

Members of the search committee

• Roger Aiken, interim chair of the UNCA Board of Trustees

• Alondra Barrera-Hernandez, UNCA Student Government Association president

• Karen Brown, secretary of the UNCA Board of Trustees

• Tim Burns, UNCA staff council chair-elect and information security officer at UNCA

• Janet Cone, UNCA senior administrator for university enterprises and athletics director

• Carolyn Coward, Asheville attorney and member of the UNC Board of Governors

• Philip Dubois, chancellor emeritus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte

• Dee Eggers, UNCA faculty senate chair and associate professor of environmental studies

• Joel Ford, member of the UNC Board of Governors and UNC Asheville liaison

• Peter Hans, president of the UNC System

• Peter Heckman, member of the UNCA Board of Trustees

• Jim Peterson, member of the UNCA Board of Trustees

• Steve Tuttle, UNCA Alumni Association Board of Directors chair-elect

More: UNC Asheville chancellor Nancy Cable to step down at end of year

How a search committee is chosen

The University of North Carolina System President Peter Hans and Aiken announced the 13-person committee on June 28. According to UNC policy, it is up to the president and trustee chair of the university to appoint the search advisory committee.

• The members of the committee have to be knowledgeable on what a chancellor does and their duties as a leader of the school.

• The chosen search committee must represent various members of the community such as, student body, staff and alumni.

• The committee has to include a current or retired chancellor from another UNC system with two years or more of experience as a permanent chancellor.

• The search advisory committee will propose a list of finalists to the board of trustees who will then recommend to the president.

UNCA spokesperson Hannah Epperson, told the Citizen Times in an email on June 30 that the university won't know the total cost until the end of the search process.

More: Gov. Cooper in Asheville says schools will lose $8 million with GOP school voucher bill

Enrollment numbers

In the fall semester of the 2019-20 academic year 3,600 students were enrolled, and in the fall semester of the 2022-23 academic year 2,914 students were enrolled, according to the university's enrollment information on their website. Out of the students enrolled in the 2022-23 academic year, some 19% were students of color while close to 75% were white.

"I’m confident we’ll see a strong pool of candidates to lead UNC Asheville, a mission-driven institution with a deep commitment to the liberal arts,” Hans said in a news release by the University on June 28.

“The members of this committee have a strong devotion to public higher education and UNC Asheville’s unique mission. I appreciate Roger Aiken answering my call to serve as chair of the committee.”

UNC Asheville has implemented a public input survey so the community can have a say in the process. The survey sates that there will be more opportunities for public input throughout the search of the new chancellor and will hold on-campus listening sessions in the fall.

Some of the questions in the public input survey include things such as current strengths of the university, priorities for advancing the university and it allows the community to give their opinion on what the search committee should be looking for in a new chancellor.

The search committee is scheduled to start meeting within the next month and the vice president of communications for the UNC system Jane Stancill said the university doesn't have an exact date set for the conclusion of the search.

McKenna Leavens is the education reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at mleavens@citizentimes.com or follow her on Twitter @LeavensMcKenna. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: UNC Asheville forms search committee for new chancellor