Lee Roberts has been named the permanent chancellor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after serving as the interim chancellor for the past seven months.
UNC System President Peter Hans made the announcement Friday morning, after the full UNC Board of Governors approved the selection. Hans called Roberts "a calm, steady and focused leader."
“He offers a broad understanding of Carolina’s role and potential as a Tar Heel by choice,” Hans said. “Someone who didn’t grow up here but fell in love with the place and its possibilities.”
Roberts has been the interim chancellor in Chapel Hill since January. He was previously a finance and real estate executive, and was a state budget director for former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. Roberts has an undergraduate degree from Duke University and a law degree from Georgetown.
"This is an exceptional place with an unparalleled mission," Roberts said at a celebration event in the afternoon. "Not only to teach and learn, but to serve others and improve the state and the world around us."
Before becoming interim chancellor, Roberts had never held a position in academia, other than serving as an adjunct instructor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. From 2021 until his appointment as interim chancellor, he served on the UNC Board of Governors.
He is also the son of longtime NPR broadcaster Cokie Roberts, and grandson of two members of Congress, Hale and Lindy Boggs.
The search itself was conducted relatively quickly, as "flagship" university and UNC-Chapel Hill searches go. Hans appointed the search committee members in February and told them he was "confident we can work thoughtfully and efficiently toward the goal of recommending a nominee to the UNC Board of Governors before the year’s end."
Instead, the entire process was concluded in just six months. UNC-Chapel Hill’s last chancellor search in 2019 took about 10 months after an interim chancellor was named.
“The (job) announcement did attract a really wide and broad pool of extremely qualified applicants,” said Beth Moracco, chair of the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty and a member of the chancellor search committee. “The discussion among the search advisory committee was robust, spirited, and respectful.”
Moracco says she believes Roberts has the best interests of the university at heart and hopes his leadership will include “authentic shared governance” with faculty.
“Engaging in open dialogue and participatory shared governance will go a long way to rebuild trust among faulty who have been concerned over the past several years that there’s been an erosion of the core of shared governance and our core responsibilities in terms of the life of the university,” she said.
Roberts has strong backing from Republican political leaders in Raleigh, including Senate leader Phil Berger, who called for Roberts to be given the permanent job as chancellor after his handling of protests and encampments on campus in April.
During a confrontation, some pro-Palestinian protestors pulled down the American flag and hung a Palestinian one in its place. Roberts, flanked by security and police, then moved to re-fly the flag. The act of Roberts marching on campus with law enforcement beside him to restore the U.S. flag created a powerful image.
"That flag represents all of us,” Roberts told assembled media at the time. “To take down that flag and put up another flag no matter what other flag it is, that's antithetical to who we are, what this university stands for, and what we have done for 229 years. That flag will stand here as long as I'm chancellor."
Critics of Roberts’ decision, including several town council members from Chapel Hill and Carborro, said the move was an “overreaction” and led to the arrests of peaceful protestors.
As permanent chancellor, Roberts succeeds Kevin Guskiewicz, who left the school on Jan. 12 to become president at Michigan State University. Guskiewicz, a neuroscientist, had been chancellor for nearly five years.
When Roberts became interim chancellor, he outlined priorities that included campus safety, updating outdated facilities and forming the university's next strategic plan.
“We need to make sure that everybody in this state, and of course, more broadly, recognizes that this is an institution for them," Roberts said in January. "Where they can belong, where they are welcome and where they can be successful.”
Hans said UNC-Chapel Hill has extensive needs in infrastructure and modern business practices.
“Its next leader will need to deliver on the promise of operational excellence that matches Carolina’s academic prowess,” Hans said.
Tar Heels' athletic director Bubba Cunningham applauded Roberts' hire in a social media post Friday morning, saying, "Excited to continue working with Chancellor Roberts here at Carolina. Appreciate your leadership and congratulations to you and your family on being named the chancellor of this great university."
WUNC Digital Producer Mitchell Northam contributed to this report.
