Some are local businessmen who took an interest in the university, others are politicians, but then there are those who are just professors and worked their way up until they became No. 1.
Recent trends show that many universities tend to lean toward those who have experienced the closest thing to being the chancellor itself: serving as provost.
The UNC provost who preceded Provost Bernadette Gray-Little, Robert Shelton, left to become president of University of Arizona in 2006. He had previously been considered for the position of president of the University of Texas at Austin.
Shelton said his experience as provost and executive vice chancellor at UNC prepared him for his role as president at Arizona.
"It's very clear to me that the provost is - I wouldn't say an absolute necessity - but pretty close to it, in preparing someone to be a president of a large, complicated university," he said.
"The core strength of any university is its faculty, is its students; and they need to know that their leader shares their values as an academic institution."
Chancellor James Moeser himself stepped from the position of provost at the University of South Carolina to the chancellorship at the University of Nebraska, before coming to UNC.
Saturday, Vanderbilt University not only chose a provost for its chancellorship, but its very own. And the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign also chose its own provost to become chancellor in 2005.
"It is not surprising that campuses such as Vanderbilt and UI-Urbana-Champaign have selected their provosts to serve as chancellors," Gray-Little stated in an e-mail. "In many universities the provost is considered the No. 2 position."
The UNC model for the chancellor-provost relationship is pretty common among peer institutions.
While the chancellor mainly focuses on community relations, the budget, the university system and fundraising, the provost works as the chief adviser for academics while keeping pace side-by-side with the chancellor on everything else.
"It is critical that at any point on any subject at any time the president can walk into the provost's office, and they'll each have wisdom and experience and vice-versa," Shelton said. "The only way you get that is by working closely together on everything."
Gray-Little said she has been pursued by other university search committees, even as she continues to emphasize her commitment to her role as provost.
And Shelton said although Gray-Little has served as UNC's provost for only a year and a half, her experience in both that and her previous positions makes her a sought-after candidate for higher education positions.
"I think that Bernadette could be a very strong candidate for the right presidency or chancellorship."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
