UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp examines the way universities select faculty

University of North Carolina Chancellor Holden Thorp (blog at http://holden.unc.edu) delivered the opening keynote at the 2009 iConference and challenged universities to rethink the way they hire faculty and to support goals that will make graduates successful in the global 21st century.

Thorp suggests that leadership, entrepreneurial thinking, and an institutional mindset are three key ingredients that makeup the 21st century knowledge worker.

He outlined his definition of leadership to include:

• being able to articulate the problem you’re interested in studying or the field you’ll be leading, why it’s worthwhile, and why it’s challenging


• getting resources to succeed


• being able to help people in and out of organization


• keeping your head in crisis

Then we went on to explain what he means by "entrepreneurial thinking." This doesn't necessarily mean creating new businesses, rather Thorp says it means being more committed to an idea than the process, looking for the next problem to solve, breaking through academic silos, and taking advantage of opportunities to pursue an idea.

Thorp said another necessary trait of a 21st century knowledge worker involves the ability to create an institutional mindset. To do this, one must put the common good in front of protecting personal interests, have a diverse decision-making teams, and promote people based on their ability to work "between the silos" or between divisions in the organization.

In the current economy of tightening state budgets and with venture capitalists retracting from new projects, Thorp said he sees a silver lining. Universities, particularly their graduate programs, are seeing increases in the application pools and the millennial generation filling classrooms are more committed to creativity and public service. President Obama has promised new funding for science, health care, energy, and higher education.

"I'm extremely optimistic about what our students will do when they graduate."

He concluded by questioning the current criteria most universities use to select its faculty members, and suggested that they need to value other characteristics, including teamwork, crisis management, perserverance, people skills, institutional mindset, and compassion.

Following his presentation, he answered questions ranging from how to promote interdisciplinary work to discussing the value of liberals arts education versus job preparation programs.

Most great leaders--from UNC and others--are mostly liberal arts majors, Thorp said. Liberal arts education is American, and some would argue it is the reason why the country is most of the most innovative in the world, he said.