CHAPEL HILL -- The UNC system will pay a Dallas consultant $100,000 to help search for its next president.
R. William Funk & Associates ran the search at UNC-Chapel Hill that resulted in the hiring of current Chancellor Holden Thorp. The firm also was involved in a recent provost search at UNC-CH.
Universities routinely hire consultants to assist with searches. Funk, who has led searches at dozens of large universities and university systems, including a recent search at the University of Virginia, will help find candidates, compile resumes and coordinate interviews.
Funk's flat-fee contract runs from April 23 to Dec. 31 or until the next leader is chosen. The $100,000 was the most the UNC system was willing to spend, said Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the UNC system's Board of Governors.
"Some people might look at it like it's a waste of money," said Kelley Eaves-Boykin, a UNC Charlotte employee and head of the UNC system's Staff Assembly. "But when you're hiring someone for this job, I would think we would want the best of the best."
State funds will not be used. The money comes from interest gleaned from unrestricted donations to the university system over the years, saidJoni Worthington, a university spokeswoman.
A UNC system committee interviewed five firms before picking Funk; he pledged not to work for any other university system while he was under UNC's employ, Gage said.
Gage said Funk was a good candidate in part due to his prior work in North Carolina. "He understands North Carolina and has worked closely on searches for our system," Gage said.
President Erskine Bowles has announced that he would retire at the end of the year or when a successor is named.
Besides taking part in recent searches at UNC-CH, Funk was enlisted by the UNC system to speak last summer at a workshop during which campus chancellors defended retreat rights. The policy gives campus leaders payouts, with few strings, when they leave their jobs. The UNC system has scaled back the policy.
Funk said this state's retreat rights policy was not unusual and thatmany public universities have one .
