Board of Visitors refocuses

When the Board of Visitors comes to campus Thursday, the group of 160 influential individuals will do more than “pregame in the chancellor’s box.”

The group of alumni, community leaders and prominent businessmen who compose the board will tackle some of the most important issues facing the University. And they are doing it for free.

UNC has asked the board for input on issues of importance — undergraduate recruitment, legislative lobbying and recommendations from Bain & Company — because of the enthusiasm and diverse skill sets members bring to the board, administrators said.

The volunteers have increased their presence at the University in recent years, working with the Board of Trustees and the chancellor to represent the interests of UNC throughout the state.

“When I was on the Board of Visitors, it wasn’t nearly as active as it is today,” said Roger Perry, a trustee who served on the Board of Visitors more than 10 years ago.

“When I was on it, we would come to town and learn what was going on at the University and go back to our communities to be goodwill ambassadors. Today they do a lot more than that.”

The board, 160 members appointed by trustees to serve four-year terms, has recently worked to recruit and lobby for UNC. They have also formed a committee to address the recommendations from Bain & Co.’s study of UNC’s efficiency.

“Their role on campus is a much more activist one,” Perry said. “They get involved in particular issues, they set up committees to study these issues and they give advice to the chancellor and to the trustees.”

In the 2008-09 school year, the board began a partnership with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, pairing members with high-achieving applicants to answer students’ questions and encourage them to apply. The program targeted high school students in Raleigh, Charlotte, Winston-Salem and Atlanta last year. This year the board is looking to expand to other cities.

“We are more than happy to have any enthusiasm that we can have to help in recruitment because there are a limited number of us on staff, and we rely heavily on alums to help us out,” said Erin Breese, senior assistant director of admissions.

Board members, about 50 percent of whom live in North Carolina, also work closely with state legislators on behalf of the University.

“It’s important that the legislature understands what their investment is doing,” said current Board of Trustees Chairman Bob Winston. “Because they’re from all over and have personal relationships with the legislature, they can reach out and use those relationships to share what we’re doing here at Chapel Hill and make an impact.”

Perry and Winston said the board members’ enthusiasm has had a major impact on the organization’s growing influence in University affairs.

“People love this University, and we want to put them to work,” Winston said. “That’s been the theme of the last few years, to take the talent and the passion that these people bring and try to find ways for them to give back to the University.”



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.