Fundraising skills seen as key for next NCCU chancellor

University of North Carolina system President Tom Ross told a chancellor’s search committee Thursday that the next person to lead N.C. Central University should be a gifted fundraiser.

As state and federal money becomes harder to come by, Ross said the university needs someone who can build the kinds of relationships that will lead to substantial private dollars to help propel the university forward.

“Regardless of what happens to state support, private funding is the margin of excellence at any institution,” Ross said. “That’s what can take the institution farther faster than anything else, so we’ve got to have someone who knows how to raise money and who is willing to raise money.”

Ross made his statement during the 19-member committee’s first meeting held Thursday in the chancellor’s dinning room inside W.G. Pearson Cafeteria.

He said the committee should bring him three names to replace former chancellor Charlie Nelms, who abruptly resigned the post last month.

No deadline has been set for the selection process, but NCCU and UNC administration officials have said it could take between six and nine months.

Once the three finalists have been identified, Ross said he would interview them and make a recommendation to the board of governors.
He said the person selected for the job should have integrity, understand shared governance, be transparent and inclusive, have great people skills and understand the balance between academics and athletics.

Ann W. Lemmon, the UNC system’s associate vice president for human resources, said the new chancellor would likely earn between $275,000 and $300,000.

She said the committee should keep an “open mind” about possible candidates, including nontraditional candidates, those who have not spent their careers in academia.

“We want to cast as wide a net as possible,” Lemmon said.

NCCU must find new ways to generate revenue and also create more public-private partnerships.

Nelms’ unexpected announcement that he was stepping down from his post stunned the campus because it came just several weeks before the beginning of fall classes.

Ross named Charles Becton, a Durham attorney, law professor and former judge on the state Court of Appeals, as interim chancellor.

He said Thursday that Becton plans to serve no more than one year in the interim role.

“He was pretty clear with me that this is a one-year gig at most,” Ross said.