Next UNC system leader: In his own words

Tom Ross will start his new job on New Year's Day. Here are some of his comments from Thursday about the challenges ahead:

On the budget

"Budget problems come, they've come, and hopefully they go. They're here now, but I think we can work through those and keep our eye on the ball of what the mission of this university is."

On partnerships with community colleges

"We've got to look for ways to work together to educate more people and to do it in a quality way. There are new technologies that come available all the time. ... We've got to figure out how to be ahead of it, get on top of it and use it to better educate students."

On moving from a small private college to a large public university system

"I suspect that in some ways there won't be a huge difference. It is just a larger, more complex organization. There will be issues I'm sure that I haven't faced, but budget issues, personnel issues, those kinds of issues are still there."

On his experience in higher education

"What I've learned about higher education is excellence is important. Excellence is part of the mission of this university, and that ought to be our goal in everything we do. So I don't have a specific agenda at this point. I have a lot to learn about where we are and about where the university is headed."

On tuition and affordability

"What Davidson has been fortunate to be able to do and what I hope the university can also continue to do is to provide financial aid for those students who need that aid, and try to give people access and an opportunity, because that's so important to the state. If you look at changing demographics, not just in this state but everywhere, the question of affordability is growing more and more every day."

On lobbying the legislature

"Starting in 1990, I spent probably ... eight or 10 years at least in the legislature walking the halls a lot, because I was chair of the N.C. Sentencing Commission from 1990 to 1999. That commission addressed what I think was a serious problem in this state, but it took a lot of time and energy to work with legislators, to educate them and to encourage them to support that. And we were able to get that legislation passed with a near-unanimous vote. ... This state has great leaders from both political parties, and I've worked with a number of them over the years, and I hope I can continue to do that."

On the length of his tenure

"It's my intention to stay and serve this university for the foreseeable future. I don't think in terms of this period of time or that period of time. So I have no minimum. My wife probably has a maximum. But in the interim, I'm going to give it all I have. I'd be surprised - if the Board of Governors still wanted me - if I wasn't here five or six or seven years from now. I think it's a time in which it's important to the state that there be some continuity. ... It's also a job that's very complex, and I think it takes time to fully understand it and fully be able to figure out the right directions. So I'm here, I'm here for a while. I'm committed to this."

On the decision to leave Davidson to become UNC president

"It's been a real struggle. I want something I can't have, which is both. ... What won out was really a feeling of commitment to the state and to public service and the need to answer the bell."