University administrators will be occupied with managing budget cuts this summer. But they will still find time to travel the world on UNC business.
Chancellor Holden Thorp and Dr. Ron Strauss, executive associate provost, will travel to the Galapagos Islands and east Asia, respectively, to oversee potential future academic programs.
Thorp will depart for South America on May 11 to meet with officials from the University of San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador to discuss the development of research programs in the Galapagos, he said.
But after that trip, Thorp said he will spend most of the summer in Chapel Hill and Raleigh planning for budget cuts and negotiating the extent to which budget cuts will affect the University.
“The most important part of the budget season will begin once the (N.C.) Senate has proposed their budget, which will probably be in the later part of May,” he said. “And that’s when the (UNC-system) president and I really need to crack down and do the best we can.”
On the other side of the world, Strauss, also the University’s chief international officer, will be away for two weeks of the summer visiting Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore working to develop partnerships with universities there, he said in an email.
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Bruce Carney, who will only be taking two short vacations throughout the summer — one to San Jose State University, where his wife will receive an award, and a short trip to Colorado in June — said the administrators plan accordingly, so one of them is always on campus, just in case.
If both Thorp and Carney are away at the same time, Carney said the various vice chancellors assume the responsibilities. Dick Mann, vice chancellor of finance and administration and Winston Crisp, vice chancellor for student affairs, in particular take leadership roles.
Carney added there will be times when both he and Thorp must be on campus for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication dean search, along with the search for a new vice chancellor for finance and administration.
