Chancellor Lee H. Roberts sets ambitious goal for Carolina
“We should be committed to being, head and shoulders above, the best public university in the U.S.,” he said.
As he begins his first academic year as Carolina’s chancellor, Lee H. Roberts sat down with The Well to talk about his impressions, his goals and his hopes for the new semester.
How does it feel to be named the 13th chancellor of the nation’s first public university?
I couldn’t be more excited. There’s not a more important institution in North Carolina. For 230 years, this has been the most important pillar on which we’ve built a better future for North Carolina’s families, and that’s going to be true for the next 230 years.
How has your initial impression of Carolina changed as you have gotten to know the people and the campus?
I continue to be astounded by this place. Each student I meet is more impressive than the one I’ve met before. I’m continually impressed by how thoughtful and committed they are. That’s been one of the best parts of the past eight months: doing my best to learn and meet as many people as possible. Just recently, I was able to tour the NC Pure Project labs, which are working on cleaning up the problem of forever chemicals in the Cape Fear River. I don’t think most people know the great work that we’re doing there. We need to continue telling the story of what an extraordinary place this is.
The NC Pure Project is developing technologies that efficiently remove PFAS from water. (Megan Mendenhall / Office of Research Communications)
What are your goals for the University?
We should be committed to being, head and shoulders above, the best public university in the U.S. In many ways, it’s clear to me that we already are. But I think we should set as an ambition, an unambiguous view — in academia, in the broader public — that there’s Carolina and then there’s everybody else. That’s not going to happen overnight. But that’s a goal worthy of the history of this extraordinary institution.
We obviously have challenges. But I wouldn’t trade Carolina’s challenges for those of any other university in America. We’re in a fast-growing, vibrant state. We have very strong enrollment demand. We have exceptional support from our state legislature, from the taxpayers of North Carolina. We’re extremely well positioned.
What are the greatest opportunities for the University?
There’s opportunity everywhere you look. We’re excited about what we can do with artificial intelligence, what we can do to grow our capabilities in engineering, and about our new School of Civic Life and Leadership, which is off to an exceptionally fast and strong start. We already have the most crucial building blocks, which are extraordinary students, faculty and staff.
What do you feel are your greatest strengths as a leader?
If I have a greatest strength, it’s that I know that there’s a lot of things that I need to keep working on. I’m always trying to be a better listener, more patient, more focused. I think my college-age kids would tell you I’ve got a long way to go.
What are you looking forward to most about the new academic year?
Every day is a great day to be a Tar Heel, but Aug. 19 is going to be an exceptionally great day to be a Tar Heel. That’s when we welcome almost 5,000 first-year students and welcome back our returning undergraduate and graduate students. It’s going to be a fantastic semester. We couldn’t be more excited about the year ahead. It’s going to be a great sports season, among other things. I’m excited to see our field hockey team defend their national championship with coach (Erin) Matson.
My message to students, particularly our first-year students, is to take advantage of all the extraordinary things happening on this campus every day. Even if you’re working hard at doing that, you’ll never be able to do it all, but you owe it to yourself to try.
What do you want people to know about you and how you approach your role as the leader of the state’s flagship university?
I’ve been working hard every day over the last eight months to play my small part in helping this remarkable institution fulfill its mission of service to the people of North Carolina. And I’m excited to continue to do that in the academic year ahead.
