UNC-Chapel Hill dean named interim chancellor
Kevin Guskiewicz, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was tapped Wednesday to be interim chancellor of the campus.
“After widespread and helpful input, I strongly believe Kevin is the best person to lead UNC-Chapel Hill,” UNC Interim President Dr. Bill Roper said in a statement. “Kevin is an outstanding researcher, innovator, and strategic thinker, and I look forward to working with him over the coming months."
Guskiewicz succeeds Carol Folt, who stepped down last week after nearly six years leading the UNC system's flagship campus.
The College of Arts & Sciences, which he has headed since January 2016, is the largest academic institution at UNC-Chapel Hill, with more than 17,000 undergraduate students and 2,400 graduate students in more than 70 academic departments, programs, centers and institutes.
“It is an honor to be asked to lead the nation’s first public university into the next chapter of its storied history,” Guskiewicz said in a statement. "I am excited and energized by the possibility and promise of the things the Carolina community can accomplish together.”
Folt had planned to retire at the end of the school year in May, but the UNC Board of Governors forced her out last Thursday after she ordered what was left of a controversial Confederate monument removed from campus.
Protesters topped the "Silent Sam" statue from its century-old pedestal on McCorkle Place in August. Folt had crews remove the pedestal and all markers related to it in the middle of the night, calling the site an ongoing public safety risk.
A neuroscientist and nationally recognized expert on sports-related concussions, Guskiewicz received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" in 2011 for his work on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of such concussions. In 2013, Time magazine named him a Game Changer, one of 18 "innovators and problem-solvers that are inspiring change in America."
A member of UNC-Chapel Hill’s faculty since 1995, he is the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Exercise and Sport Science, co-director of the Matthew Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center and director of the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes. He is principal investigator or co-investigator on three active research grants, totaling more than $16 million.
His work has garnered numerous awards, including fellowships in the American College of Sports Medicine, the National Academy of Kinesiology and the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. His research has also influenced concussion guidelines and recommendations made by these organizations, as well as the NCAA and the NFL.
"As I’ve said, UNC-Chapel Hill needs its interim chancellor to be a leader of stature, someone who knows the institution, knows the state and is ready to drive the university forward," Roper said. "Kevin is that leader."
Roper has said that he expects the interim chancellor to lead UNC-Chapel Hill for up to 18 months as a national search is conducted for a new chancellor.
Guskiewicz earned a bachelor's degree in athletic training from West Chester University, a master's degree in exercise physiology/athletic training from the University of Pittsburgh and a Ph.D. in sports medicine from the University of Virginia.
Before becoming dean, he was senior associate dean for the natural sciences and chair of the Department of Exercise and Sport Science.
