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It's just not possible for a university to monitor every student and predict trouble, he says. Not everyone who acts oddly will commit violence. Not everyone who is capable of violence exhibits signs beforehand. It's a balancing act.

"You want to care for people and get them the help they need," he says. "You have to question at some point whether that can happen safely on campus."

Judith Wegner, a law professor and former law dean, first spotted Crisp's sensitivity and good judgment when she offered him a job right out of law school. "He's one of the most intuitive people I've ever met," she says. "He's gifted in that regard. He's also not a softie either."

An Army brat raised in Europe and various military towns in the United States, Crisp had a knack for student leadership in college. He is a talented orator who could have been a trial lawyer, Wegner says.

It didn't happen. He was drawn to education. Crisp, a tall and burly man, has a comforting manner and an easy rapport with students.

As a dean, Crisp, who has a self-described "caretaker personality," stepped up in times of crisis. If a student died, he would assemble a team of classmates to pack up belongings so that sad task would not fall to the family.

Crisis skills tested

His crisis management skills have gotten a workout in the past few years.

Crisp helped overhaul the university's counseling services after a string of suicides in 2002-03. Last year, a student fell to his death from a dorm window. Then a former student drove a sport utility vehicle through a crowded lunchtime gathering spot, injuring nine people.

This year, the university grieved the death of student mascot Jason Ray, hit by a car during the NCAA basketball tournament.

UNC-CH is a small city with 27,000 students. "Stuff happens more often than you think it happens," Crisp says. "You automatically go into a mode that there are people who need me, and things that need to be done.

"You do your own grieving, questioning and second-guessing later."

WINSTON BOYD CRISP

BORN: June 20, 1967, in Bellefonte, Pa.

FAMILY: Single. Parents, Bill and Joan Crisp of Fayetteville, where Bill Crisp is running for City Council. Siblings are William, Sylvia and Sonja, his twin sister.

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree in history from Johnson C. Smith University, 1989. Law degree from UNC School of Law, 1992.

CAREER: Assistant dean for student affairs at UNC School of Law, 1992-1999; associate dean for student services at the School of Law, 1999-2005; senior associate dean of students at UNC-Chapel Hill main campus, 2005; assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, main campus, 2006-present.

COMMUNITY WORK: Coaches youth basketball. Member of the board of directors of the Orange County Rape Crisis Center.

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