UNC-W Head to Resign After 13 Years at Helm

Chancellor James Leutze said he plans to retire in June 2003.

Leutze also served as a history professor at UNC-Chapel Hill for 19 years.

"I want to retire while I still have the energy and enthusiasm to do something else," he said.

Leutze said he does not know what that "something else" is yet but that it will be something in the area of public affairs.

He said that he plans to stay in Wilmington and that economics, education and the environment are issues that he hopes to work with.

He also said the time seemed right for him to leave because UNC-W is looking for a new provost.

He said if he were to select the new provost, he would have to make a three- to five-year commitment to the university so the provost would know who he was going to be working with.

Leutze said leaving next summer would allow the new chancellor to choose a provost.

"I have really enjoyed the students and the community here," he said.

Leutze said one of the best things about his time in Wilmington was the university's and community's willingness to make needed changes and modifications. He said it was very hard to make changes at the other universities he worked at.

"Wilmington has been surprisingly interested in making constructive change," he said.

Leutze said he was able to update things like the school colors and the school mascot while he was chancellor.

He said it has also been rewarding to work on planning changes to the campus. He said the changes funded by the bond referendum will be a renaissance for the campus.

Leutze said the biggest challenge has been working around economic problems.

Fifty percent of the university's employees make less than $50,000 per year, he said.

"It has been increasingly difficult on the lowest-paid employees," he said.

Leutze said it was anguishing to watch these staff members go without pay raises while the costs for their health care coverage increased.

Leutze said watching the state's economic issues trickle down to the universities has given him "mixed feelings about how we are taking care of education in North Carolina."

He said he also enjoyed reaching out to poor communities surrounding the university. "New Hanover County is an island of privilege in a sea of poverty," he said.

Leutze said he hopes to continue working on these issues after he retires.

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.