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Harold Martin took the chancellor's job at A&T with super high expectations.

And he's raising them.

Our edit board (Allen Johnson, Ken Irons and I) just finished an hour-long conversation with Martin. Allen is now taping a NewsMaker video interview with the new chancellor.

Martin told us he wants A&T to reach the top 25 percent, "at least," among its peer institutions across a range of measures within five years. In the UNC system, peers include East Carolina and UNC Charlotte.

Martin wants people to think of A&T as a "research-intensive doctoral institution."

But to be successful it's got to improve undergraduate time to degree by strengthening support for freshmen and sophomores. One way: Identify "the very best faculty" to teach them.

Radical. Don't upperclassmen usually get the top profs? But then, it makes sense to engage students right off the bat.

Martin added that he fully embraces efforts begun by predecessor Stanley Battle to raise admission standards.

Incoming freshmen now arrive with high expectations, Martin said, relating his meeting at an orientation session recently. Nearly all the new students said they want to attend graduate or professional schools. It's A&T's responsibility, Martin asserted, to prepare them for that.

He knows the challenges. An A&T engineering grad, then professor, then administrator, he led Winston-Salem State University during a time of progress there before moving to a position as academic chief for the UNC system in Chapel Hill.

Rising among strong peers means competing for students, faculty and grants. It requires fundraising. Martin said he's already asked the development staff to draw the framework for the next capital campaign, which should seek more than $100 million and target a much broader spectrum of potential donors than just alumni or even local, regional and state corporations.

A&T, alone and in partnership with UNCG, is a major force in regional economic development. The research park and school of nanoscience are key components.

Martin strongly endorses UNCG's bid for a school of pharmacy, which would benefit A&T as well as Greensboro and the entire region.

Martin said it wasn't a difficult decision for him to return to A&T, even though he admits it passed through his mind that he might have been in line to succeed UNC system president Erskine Bowles when Bowles retires in a year or two.

Now there's an expectation that Martin is here to stabilize A&T after some rapid turnover at the top. Battle served only two years as chancellor. Martin confirms that expectation. Hearing him talking about five years from now, I was convinced he means to be here and to accomplish ambitious goals.

Martin drew an important lesson from his tenure at WSSU: If you set high expectations, plan well, execute in partnership with everyone who has a stake in the university, "it's amazing what you can achieve."

A&T's potential is enormous, Martin said.

He's already raising expectations.