CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WNCN) – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has announced that interim chancellor Lee Roberts will now oversee the university permanently.
On Friday, the UNC Board of Governors confirmed that Roberts’ interim tag will be removed as he officially becomes the 13th chancellor in school history. The board held a special virtual meeting Friday morning to “discuss and elect a chancellor” for the university, according to a news release from the UNC System.
“For 230 years, UNC-Chapel Hill has been the most important pillar on which we build a better future for North Carolina and its people,” Roberts said in a statement. “I’m deeply honored to be asked to play a role in serving this great university. There’s a lot of exciting work ahead.”
Roberts took over the role on an interim basis when former chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz announced in December that he accepted the president job at Michigan State University. He started as interim chancellor on January 12.
During the Pro-Palestinian protests on UNC’s campus last spring, police had escorted Roberts to the middle of the quad after protestors took down the American flag and replaced it with the Palestinian one. He assisted in putting the American flag back on the pole with the help of UNC fraternity brothers.
UNC System President Peter Hans chose Roberts among a small list of finalists, which followed a six-month national search that attracted nearly 60 candidates, UNC officials said.
“When I appointed Lee Roberts as interim chancellor, I said that Carolina would benefit from his calm, steady and focused leadership, and it has,” Hans said in a statement. “He has a deep respect for the university’s traditions and excellence, but also a conviction that Carolina has room to grow and improve. He is someone with the right combination of reverence for this university’s history and restless aspirations for its next chapter.”
Roberts, a Duke graduate who obtained his law degree at Georgetown University, previously served as budget director for the state of North Carolina from 2014 to 2016 under former Gov. Pat McCrory. Along with launching his own private investment firm based out of Raleigh, he taught public budgeting classes at Duke and was appointed to the UNC Board of Governors in 2021.
He begins his tenure as the university’s permanent chancellor on Monday.
Source: Fox 8 News Channel
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