Mann bids adieu, retires

Dick Mann slept in Thursday morning.

The former vice chancellor for finance and administration, who has been UNC’s chief financial officer through the last five years of financial instability, had nothing scheduled for the morning.

Retirement hadn’t quite sunk in yet, and Mann said Thursday felt like a Saturday.

“When you retire, apparently every day feels like a Saturday,” Mann said.

Mann’s successor, Karol Kain Gray, took office Thursday. Gray worked with Mann for a decade at Stony Brook University.

Gray will be charged with steering the University through an economic climate that has seen UNC lose more than $100 million in state funding in the past year.

But Gray said she still has a lot of learning to do.

“I don’t know what the plans are,” she said.

“I need to understand what the next year’s budget cuts look like.”

This year, UNC’s department of finance and administration had its state funding cut 32 percent.

But Gray said she’s not nervous.

“I’m excited, a little overwhelmed, but not nervous,” she said. “I went through some very serious budget cuts at Stony Brook. I know how it tests the system.

“You want to continue the academic and student life quality.”

Mann said that despite painful cuts, the University has achieved its main goal during the past three years: preserving the classroom experience.

“We’ve had some very tough budget years, but we’ve kept the academic programs going,” he said.

Gray said lessening budget constraints will depend on the proposed tuition increases and the state government’s support of higher education.

Gray said she also plans on pursuing smaller initiatives, including getting involved with Carolina Counts — a group of UNC faculty working to make the University more financially efficient — and creating an internship program for UNC students interested in finance in her own office.

Looking back, Mann said he is proud of having contributed to the Carolina North project, 250-acre mixed-use satellite campus, and the purchasing of University Square and Granville Towers.

In terms of the most recent decisions regarding tuition increases, Mann said it was the only option.

“We [had] to find a way to replace the budget cuts we’ve taken.”

After working at four different universities, Mann said UNC is his favorite. He said he hopes to one day teach a class and do some consulting.

“I don’t want to be idle,” he said. “I’m not someone who’s going to be able to sit around. I need to get out and do things.”

Which is exactly why Mann said he is planning to spend ample time on his sailboat in Chesapeake Bay in the spring.

“My wife has been retired for five years,” Mann said. “She wants some company.”

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