The selection of Dr. Jane Weintraub as dean of the School of Dentistry is a welcome departure from a conspicuous trend of internal picks since Chancellor Holden Thorp assumed the helm.
Additionally, her background in public health will serve the dentistry school well in its mission to serve the state and in the broader mission of the UNC-system meeting the goals of UNC Tomorrow.
It was just over three months ago that the editorial board last noted how insular the administration looked like it was becoming.
Having looked abroad but settled internally for a chancellor, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and provost, UNC has waited long enough for outside perspectives.
After an exhaustive and lengthy 16-month search, the quest for a new dean of dentistry seems to have yielded an outsider who brings needed perspective to the University.
It isn’t that outside candidates are categorically better. But it is often the case that even original thinkers become habituated to one institutional environment. Outsiders come with different life experiences and often a unique mind-set that is an aid to an institution facing unique challenges.
And ours is an institution facing such challenges — primarily budgetary ones. That Weintraub is coming from the University of California system may prove to be especially helpful for the dentistry school and even the broader university in meeting its fiscal challenges. The University of California this year alone is facing a $1 billion budget gap.
And Weintraub herself has stated that her experience in that system will prepare her for looming cuts.
It is also worth noting that Weintraub has a public health background. Assuming she makes it a priority to incorporate that background into her leadership, it might aid the dentistry school in finding innovative ways to serve the needs of the state, even in spite of intense cuts.
