UNC-system President Erskine Bowles has been greeting the campus on its birthday every year since he took the job in 2006.
And today’s University Day address will be his last as president.
Many school leaders say Bowles, who is an alumnus of the University, will keep his familiar address short and sweet.
Ron Strauss, executive associate provost for UNC, said this won’t be the last the University hears from Bowles before he steps down at the end of the year.
“I think he’ll have other opportunities to speak to the University,” Strauss said. “To treat this as though it is goodbye in summary is an incorrect saying.”
Thomas Ross, president of Davidson College, was selected in September after a national search to replace Bowles.
Ross will take over on Jan. 1.
Strauss said Bowles will keep his last University Day greeting short because it is Heather Munroe-Blum — an alumna of the Gillings School of Global Public Health — who is the primary speaker of the event.
“Knowing him he will not steal the thunder on the day,” Strauss said. “He’s just too humble to do that.”