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ways, I see myself as a continua
was liis vision that we be the best
the nation. It was his vision that
vmmit itself to public service. I
cpts.
initiatives or what new tiveakings
you bring to the table?
jakings, I think, will come in the
egie planning and an attempt to
I the academic strengths of the
vat - as wi; raise money we'll know
ul it -
sm of Chancellor Hooker was that,
>rctivein terms oj visibility on eam
with students, he was larking. How
see.you outside the office?
strong desire to be a presence on
think it is important. At the same
nee the need for presence on cam
iol presence off campus. Woody
ercenf ot success is showing up. So
e you is I will not hide in my office.
w higgest weakness as a leader?
trrible manager of administrative
v terrible chief of staff.
don’t you like?
n t.like trivia. For example, my wife
tnager at our house. She pays the
k of all that stuff and relieves me of
very grateful for that.
Chancellor-Elect
Proves Master
Of Many Tunes
- -
Iy 'll
'v v
DTH: Did you want this job, or did you have to be
somewhat courted?
Moeser: No one ever had to court me. I had to be
convinced that they were really seriously interested. I
knew that I was nominated, but I thought ‘My gosh,
that’s the best job in America. That’s like being nomi
nated for king.’
DTH: What were the main negotiating points along
the way?
Moeser: 1 didn’t even ask the salary. That was not an
issue. The issue was whether it was really a good bid.
And so when it came to the point when they said, ‘Do
you want to come to Chapel Hill?’ I just said yes.
DTH: Do you consider this a professional step up?
Moeser: There is no step above this one.
DTH: Hooker came in and restructured his Cabinet
somewhat. Do you have any kinds of plans to restruc
ture the University hierarchy?
Moeser: 1 don’t know enough about the structure to
be able to answer that question. That’s a possibility, but
at this point I don’t know. But I can tell you that it won’t
be my intention to come in and make any changes in
the first year.
DTH: There have been some questions about your age
in terms of what that means about how long you’ll be
here. What kind of time commitment are you prepared
to make to Carolina?
Moeser: I’ve said, assuming the University wants me
this long and assuming there are no changes to my
health, 1 think realizing the goals I’ve laid out will take
Bv Lauren Beal
Assistant University Editor
Ask Donald Greiner about his experi
ences with James Moeser, and he’ll tell sto
ries of singing parties and Academy Award
contests.
The current associate provost for under
graduate studies at the University of South
Carolina was chairman of the provost search
committee that brought Moeser to USC in
1992.
But in addition to reviewing Moeser’s
In Nebraska, South Carolina, Kansas and
Pennsylvania, he’s also known for his ener
gy and high principles as a university
administrator.
The transition from musical performer to
higher education leader has taken UNC’s
next chancellor through high positions in four
states -a trip that began 61 years ago in Texas.
Bom April 3, 1939, in Lubbock, Texas,
Moeser was raised by a mother who taught
music and a father who worked as a bank
clerk and sold advertising and cottonseed.
While Moeser’s father did not go to col
lege, he raised two sons who went on to hold
high posts in different universities -
Moeser’s brother, John, is a political science
professor at Virginia Commonwealth
University in Richmond, Va.
Moeser graduated from Monterey Senior
High School in Lubbock in 1957. From
there, he went on to the University of Texas,
where he earned a bachelor’s degree in
music with honors in 1961.
Greiner remembers tales Moeser used to
tell of his days as an undergraduate.
“He told stories about playing the piano
- in the fraternities or the common room -
someone would yell out a hymn and tell him
to play it as a Methodist would play it, then
as a Baptist.”
We'll be the bCSt public university in America
... in any measurable way that you can
measure a university's reputation.
Chancellor-elect James Moeser
PHOTOS BY SEfTON IPOCK
us to the end of this decade. That’s nine years. And that
takes me to my 70th birthday, which is the
Constitutional limit for my service.
DTH: Would you rank thefollowing rolesfor a chan
cellor at this University in order of importance:
Administrator, spokesman, fund-raiser, scholar?
Moeser: I don’t like the term administrator. I like the
term leader. I’d put leader at No. 1, spokesman No. 2
and fund raising No. 3. My scholarship, which was the
prerequisite for my position, I’d now put last. I don’t
really use it any more other than the fact that I have
credibility with the faculty that I’ve earned my stripes
as a scholar and demonstrated that I can do something
well. I think it’s critical that 1 have that in my back
ground, but it’s not now as important.
DTH: Some say that it’s important that the leader of
the flagship university have ties to North Carolina. You
dispelled that theory yesterday. Can you explain the
rationale why you don’t think that’s critical?
Moeser: As special as North Carolina is, it doesn’t
require a degree from this institution or a history of
having lived in this state to understand what the issues
are and to provide the critical leadership that this insti
tution needs. In fact, I would argue that one of my
strengths is that all of my education has been in two
major flagship universities in other states, and that all
my academic career has been in other flagships. So 1
bring multiple perspectives into North Carolina.
DTH: You’re going from a four-campus system to a
16-campus system. Explain the team player component
Moeser would play the songs slower,
faster, solemnly or raucously depending on
the religion that was “ordered” by the crowd.
After four years of playing and studying
music at Texas, he was off to Berlin and Paris
for a year of advanced study on a Fulbright
Scholarship.
Moeser returned to Texas after studying
and performing abroad for a master’s degree
in musicology in 1964. He received his doc
torate in musical arts in 1967 from the
University of Michigan.
It was at the University of Kansas, where
he worked from 1966 to 1986, that Moeser
met his future wife, Susan Dickerson, a fel
low concert organist.
Moeser has two children, now grown,
from a previous marriage. His son, Chris,
works as a reporter for The Arizona
Republic, while his daughter, Carter, is a
doctoral candidate in physical therapy at the
Arizona School of Health Sciences.
Moeser began his work in Kansas as an
assistant organ professor and played as the
university organist. His future wife was one
of his graduate students.
But he soon rose to serve as dean of the
School of Fine Arts in 1975 and was named
a distinguished professor of music in 1984.
Moeser took a bigger jump into the
administrative side of university life when he
accepted a position at Pennsylvania State
University in 1986.
He served as dean of the College of Arts
and Architecture and executive director of
University Arts Services in State College,
Pa., before moving to anew position at a
third state university.
Moeser had his first taste of the South when
he worked as vice president of academic
affairs and provost at the University of South
Carolina from 1992 to 1996. But he continued
to bring his love of music to the job.
Moeser was in his second year in the post
and Greiner had just been named associate
provost when Moeser hosted an Academy
Awards party for about two dozen adminis
trators.
takrfHf 1 part had to mark thefr
choiceffor eactvtalegory. The winners were
awarded with iffiocolates and movie tickets,
Greiner said.
“The first few were pretty easy, like best
picture, but how was I supposed to know
who the best microphone holder was?” he
said.
“It was firnny because most of us missed
90 percent of them.
“He’s one of the funniest people I know.
But he has a dry wit”
Moeser took his humor and creativity
with him to Nebraska when he accepted the
chancellorship at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, the flagship of the four
school system.
In addition to their musical backgrounds,
the Moesers are known for the parties they
occasionally host some similar to the Oscar
themed celebration in South Carolina.
The two are routinely seen walking
through their Lincoln neighborhood and are
planning several trips to Chapel Hill and a
vacation before Moeser officially assumes
the chancellorship at UNC on Aug. 15.
academic and adminis
trative accomplish
ments, Greiner was
witness to the UNC
chancellor-elect’s ideas
of ftm - many of which
involved his love of
music.
Moeser once enter
tained the prestigious
deans of the university
during a formal dinner
at the president’s
house.
“He sat down at the
piano and started
banging out songs,”
Greiner remembered.
“He had us singing
songs like ‘Danny
Boy.’ And our voices
were just terrible.”
Moeser’s musical
talents, though, go far
beyond sing-alongs
over wine and cheese,
as UNC’s ninth chan
cellor has also built an
international reputa
tion as a concert organ
ist.
of your job.
Moeser: I think there is an aspect of being a mem
ber of a system, respecting the special missions of the
other campuses. There are some statewide system
issues that we need to work together on, not the least of
which is transferability from one campus to another.
What I’m saying is that while I’m going to be protec
tive of Chapel Hill’s interest and there will be times
when I do oppose initiatives on other campuses, there
are other times when I think we need to work togeth
er as a system. It’s a matter of give and take.
DTH: If all goes well, where will we be when you step
down?
Moeser: We’ll be the best public university in
America ... in any measurable way that you can mea
sure a university’s reputation.
DTH: Tell me about James Moeser - the man not the
chancellor. What do you do when the work day is over?
Moeser: I take off my tie. 1 like to pad around the
house in shorts and tennis shoes. Get some physical
exercise. 1 spend some rime with my wife. We usually
cook dinner together. We tape the television news so
we can watch the important stuff. On weekends we try
to get away. We like to travel, we like to garden, and we
like to hike. We love the outdoors. We’re really looking
forward to getting around the state and experiencing
the beauty.
DTH: Is there one word or one guiding philosophy
behind the work that you do?
Moeser: Integrity.
Sip lath} Sar Urol
Search for a Leader
One committee's nine-month search for
UNC's ninth chancellor ended April 14.
p- June 29,
1999:
Chancellor
Michael
Hooker dies.
- July 9,1999:
Bill McCoy
named interim
chancellor.
July 29,
1999: Fourteen-member Chancellor
Search Committee has first meeting.
UNC-system President Molly Broad sets
deadline of May Commencement to
select the new chancellor.
August 1999: Committee sets
December deadline to have two or
more names to the Board of Trustees.
Aug. 26,1999: Committee holds open
forum, allowing students, faculty and
staff to put forth qualities they want in
the new chancellor.
—■ Aug. 26,1999: North Carolina
journalists gather to push for an open
search process.
Sept. 16,1999: Student Body
President Nic Heinke presents his
recommendations to the committee of
the most important qualities students
want to see in the chancellor.
Late September 1999: Broad
decides die next chancellor will
represent UNC to the Association of
American Universities.
Oct. 7,1999: Search committee adopts
a finalized job description for die
incoming chancellor.
Oct 7.1999: Search comraif&sjects'
a proposal to give students a grfefter
voice in the search.
Nov. 16,1999: Committee member
Bill Jordan said the committee might
not reach its December deadline and
the search could extend well into the
new year.
Dec. 7,1999: December deadline
could still be met by Chancellor Search
Commidee.
- Dec. 11,
1999: Local
media leak
the names of
four top can
didates in the
search:
■ Former
Executive Vice
Chancellor
Eison Floyd,
president of
Western Michigan University.
■ University of Alabama President
Andrew Sorensen
Two of the candidates end their
candidacies immediately:
■ Jeffrey Houpt, dean of the UNC
School of Medicine
■ Carol Christ vice provost at the
University of California-Berkeley
March 6,2000: University of Alabama
President Andrew Sorensen officially
removes his name from the search.
March 9,2000: Donna Shalala, U.S.
secretary of health and human services,
is rumored to take the chancellor's post.
She later says she turned down the
position months ago.
March 2000: Commidee Chairman
Richard Stevens schedules meetings
through May 25, past Broad's May
Commence
ment deadline.
- April 5,2000:
The University
of Florida
releases a list
of finalists for
its president
search. James
Moeser, chan
cellor of the
i
University of Nebraska- Lincoln, is
among the six finalists.
“ April 13,2000: The Board ot nustees
calls an emergency meeting to discuss
personnel matiers.
- April 14,2000: The Board of
Governors officially approves James
Moeser as UNC's ninth chancellor.
SOURCE: DTH ARCHIVES DTH/DANA CRAIG
9