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Linda Brady's tenure as UNCG chancellor has just started, but she's already immersed in long-range planning for the university. Foremost for the 60-year-old chancellor, who last served as senior vice president and provost at the University of Oregon, is following UNC President Erskine Bowles' commitment to involving the system's 16 campuses more closely with their communities. To that end Brady has drawn together people from both college and community to craft a new mission statement for the campus. It's too early to know its specifics, but they are likely to focus on answering the question Brady posed in her convocation address: How can UNCG help?

Brady recently met with members of the News & Record editorial board to talk about that and other big-picture issues facing UNCG.

Q: UNCG has had to put construction of a School of Education building on hold because of the economy. What other impacts will the faltering economy have on UNCG?

A: Gov. (Mike) Easley has asked state agencies to begin identifying up to 3 percent in terms of hold-backs in the current fiscal year and we anticipate this may go higher. We are appreciative that he and the Office of State Budget and Management alerted us early in the fiscal year of the measures the state was taking to minimize the impact on our operations as well as the flexibility for us to determine where the cuts would have the least impact. Of greater concern is the real possibility of more significant reductions next fiscal year, which we believe could be permanent, versus this year's one-time cuts. We are being very careful as we fill vacant positions to think ahead to next year to give us as much flexibility as possible at that time should the economic situation not improve.

The University's endowment supports many scholarships and academic departments' needs. While the formula used for distribution of the endowment's income is based on a three-year average of the market value as of Dec. 31, due to declines in the market value of many of our investments, we anticipate that the funds available for spending in the 2009-10 year may be less than that available in 2008-09.

Historically we often see increased interest in graduate programs, particularly master's programs (in an economic downtown), either because new graduates are having difficulties in the job market and may decide to remain in school until things improve or individuals who are newly out of a job look to enhance their skills and make themselves more competitive.

Q: What's the impact on students?

A: More students attempt to work and go to school or simply go full time to a community college, which is less expensive, and then look to transfer to a four-year institution.

That's also something that tends to happen in difficult economic times. That would be difficult, though, because the community colleges are strapped as well. They have record enrollment.

We are also working on a number of online degree programs. That in conjunction with our iSchool program. iSchool is part of Gov. Easley's Learn and Earn program. We have many students, actually 2,500 across the state, high school students who are taking college courses, taking UNCG credit courses for free, including their books, as part of the iSchool program, which was funded by the state. We are exploring a program that would enable students through high school and online courses to complete their degree in three years by transferring up to one year credit through the iSchool program. Obviously, if a student is only paying tuition for three years as opposed to four, the education ends up being a bit less expensive.

Q: UNCG has been extremely successful in recent years in fund-raising. What about from here on out?

A: Well, we were very fortunate to have achieved our $100 million goal at the end of the last fiscal year before all of this hit. The campaign was extremely important to (retired) Chancellor (Pat) Sullivan. It was just marvelous that we were able to get there before she left her position.

We continue to be out there raising funds. I've engaged with about 500 people. I've working my way through the list of the 200 top donors to UNCG and expect to have visited with all of them by the end of January.

Part of what we are doing is thanking people who have already made gifts. But we're also talking about that need even after you have reached your goal. There are always needs.

One of those needs is need-based scholarships. We have about 17,500 students on our campus. We know that about 8,500 of those students have documented financial need and even after we are able to apply all of the funds that we have available to us 6,200 of those 8,500 students have unmet need. So in the remaining month of the campaign, I will be continuing to talk about the importance of funding for need-based scholarships.

Part of what we are doing is obviously thanking people who have made contributions that have enabled us to reach that $100 million goal. Obviously, as a new chancellor I want them to understand the continuity in terms of our priorities and their importance in helping me understand the history and the culture of the institution.

We are now engaged in a strategic planning process that will continue through next summer. That strategic planning process will establish priorities for the next five years. Following the development of that plan we will then begin thinking about the next campaign and designing the campaign based on the priorities that we identify. My hope will be that in two-and-a-half to three years the economy will have improved and we then can launch the next campaign.

Q: Would you like to go to a Pack Promise, Carolina Covenant kind of program? (Programs at N.C. State and UNC-Chapel Hill that guarantee the most needy students full financial aid and other support.)

A: I would love to do that. One of the things that I'm most proud of in terms of my experience at the University of Oregon is we instituted a program there last year called Pathway Oregon that is modeled on Carolina Covenant, Pack Promise. Indeed, given the financial need of our students and that many of our students are first generation [college students], I would love for us to reach that point. In order to accommodate all of the current unmet need we would need $30 million in additional funds. Currently, it's clear that we have a ways to go in getting a Carolina Covenant, but I would love to see us get there.

Q: Are you creating a new position for vice chancellor for research and economic development?

A: That's correct. That's the plan. Obviously we need to receive approval from our Board of Trustees and general administration in order to be able to put that position in place. I have spoken with our Board of Trustees at our last meeting about the importance of that position.

I think that it's absolutely critical. I see it as an investment in moving the university to the next level in terms of the kind of work that we are already doing in terms of research and economic development. I think it's a recognition of the transformation that has occurred in the last decade. UNCG is indeed a research university with high research activity. We are in the same category as Wake Forest, William & Mary and Georgetown in that regard. We need a deeper infrastructure to support the work of our faculty in this area to provide pre-award and post-award support, to provide greater support in the areas related to technology transfer, which is extremely important to us in terms of the generation of patents and the translation of research into new businesses.

Hopefully (it will mean) new jobs in this part of the state. I believe that it is critically important that we move in this direction.

Q: Could there be some public/private partnership funding for a position like this?

A: I don't know of many vice chancellor positions that are not publicly funded, including advancement positions on university campuses. We are very interested in collaborating with the private sector. There may be ways in respect to economic development -- enhancing quality of life and quality of the community -- that we can indeed partner. I just don't know the answer to that question whether private sector funding might be helpful.

Q: Could it also perhaps pose a conflict of interest?

A: That would be one of the issues that would be a consideration in looking at that. Obviously, there are other ways to engage in public-private partnerships as they relate to student housing and other areas as well. But on the research and economic development front there might indeed be concerns about conflict of interest.

Q: Talking further on the issue of economic development, I've been talking to a number of people in the community recently about High Point Road and several have mentioned UNCG as a critical partner in getting that corridor out of the doldrums. Are there any thoughts you have at this point about the future of that corridor and UNCG's plans?

A: The university, before I arrived, developed what I think is a very impressive master plan. And the master plan does include opportunities that might exist, specifically along the Lee Street corridor. I think there is a range of things that may be possible there and that we would want to explore.

We expect to grow in terms of our enrollment from about 17,000 students to about 24,000 students by 2016. That is part of the growth statewide that will occur. Those additional 7,000 represent the UNCG share, or expected share, of growth.

We are really strapped for land. A new academic classroom building will accommodate our School of Education. That would be located right next to the Bryan School (of Business and Economics) on Spring Garden. That really is our last remaining on-campus property unless we elect to build on our recreation fields and our green spaces. I just don't believe that we can do that.

We are looking forward to a replacement for McIver Building. That's premised on moving the current occupants of McIver out in order to be able to rebuild on that site. Once we do that we really have no other opportunities that I can see in the near term on our current campus. That does mean that we will have to be looking at other locations.

I firmly believe that we should locate academic buildings on the core campus as much as possible. It makes it easier for students to be able to move around between classes. It certainly enhances interaction among our faculty if we do that. So one strategy would be to relocate administrative functions around the periphery of the campus, whether that's information technology services or indeed some of the administrative functions that are currently located in the Mossman Building, including my office. We are looking at reusing those spaces on the core of campus for academic purposes. Lee Street corridor might be a real option in terms of locating or relocating administrative functions that don't absolutely have to be on the core campus.

Another option would be to think about residence halls. Public-private partnerships in the development of student living environments would make a lot of sense. Lee Street might be a very good option for public-private partnerships that would enable us to provide more housing for students.

The other piece of this, and I'm not certain if this is formally part of our master plan or not, would relate to (whether) our future involves a closer relationship with the Greensboro Coliseum. We might and they might want to move even closer together. I think that's in the early stages of discussion. But I think it would certainly make sense for us.

There are some other properties that are out there that are not specifically part of the master plan and that are a little bit farther away from campus that would provide sites for additional recreation fields and perhaps even student housing. That would require an extension of the bus system in order to enable students to move back and forth.

Q: It's interesting from a visual standpoint. I've never been excited about the creation of another parking lot. But that space being cleared on Lee Street actually raises the profile of the university You can actually see it. It not only makes Lee Street look more pleasant but the profile of UNCG looks a little higher.

A: Correct. We are looking at the Industries of the Blind on Lee Street that is on the market. I believe we made an offer on that property. That is an example of a building that would obviously require a great deal of renovation. It could either be used for academic purposes or could be used for administrative functions.

Q: Do you have any idea when something may play out on that property?

A: I know we have to receive approval from the Council of State. It is my understanding that these things take many months, even when you have an interested seller and interested buyer.

Q: You've probably gotten some history about the university's relationship with its neighbors, particularly its residential neighbors. What you are saying here they probably would love to hear because you are moving away from encroaching on residential areas and more toward commercial areas.

A: We have a lot of faculty and staff who live in those neighborhoods. I think part of what we want to make certain that we do is that, as we look at the eastern boundary of the campus and we do have some opportunities here, that we are sensitive to the kind of presence that would be compatible with the residential area. For example, the master plan does include the possibility of a new child development center that would include a child care facility that would be on the eastern part of campus. But it would be a maximum of two stories and it would blend well with the residential neighborhood and be an excellent location on the border of the campus for families to drop off their children.

I do think it's important that we're not thinking about putting a high rise building right next to that neighborhood.

I've not been in direct communication with the Glenwood neighborhood, which is south of Lee Street. I am told by my staff who have had conversations with that neighborhood that they would welcome a university presence on Lee Street. I have driven through the Glenwood neighborhood and indeed there are some real opportunities for faculty, young faculty and staff living in the Glenwood neighborhood. I think that would help provide good housing for faculty and staff close to the university.

Working on the Lee Street corridor would actually help that neighborhood. Everything that I'm hearing is that the neighborhood is interested as well.

Q: Have you had communication with other learning institutions in the area? What sort of cooperative efforts do you see?

A: Yes. Absolutely. I certainly have spent more time with (N.C. A&T) Chancellor (Stanley) Battle than with any of the other higher education leaders in the community. Obviously that is because of the importance of our relationship. And we're working very closely on issues related to the new Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering and the Joint Primary Data Center. That's a really important relationship for us. Indeed, we have a joint social work program with A&T, so our relationship is not simply just in the nanoscience and technology area.

One of the things that drew me to UNCG is the opportunity to expand the relationship with one of our historically black colleges and universities. That was important to me when I was at Georgia Tech.

Q: Do you see a further combining of programs?

A: I think partnerships are important to both institutions and I think one of the things that we would want to explore is whether there are other areas in which we can leverage the different strengths of our respective faculties to be able to offer programs at both institutions that neither one of us could do alone. I think we're early in that process.

Q: I've heard some people in the business community say that, while they have been pleased by some of the efforts, they felt that it's too slow, that the universities aren't doing all that you ought to be doing together. Again, I know you've only been here a couple of months, but have you heard anything to that effect?

A: Well, I have. I've been involved in collaborative efforts in Oregon and in Georgia. Particularly when you begin talking about joint academic programs and creating joint schools and the hiring of faculty and establishing criteria for promotion and tenure those issues are so critical to the mission of each institution that it takes a lot for the faculty and academic leadership to work through the process. Working through that is extremely important. The faculty will want to know very clearly how they will be evaluated and how they will be promoted.

I'm sensitive to the fact that we need to move quickly, particularly on the issues related to Gateway. We established Gateway as a separate organization, not part of either university, in the hopes that would facilitate efforts related to hiring and development of the property. We are still finding our way through that in terms of how we govern Gateway. We obviously have a separate board of directors for Gateway University Research Park. Each of our institutions informs our individual boards of trustees about progress there.

Q: Do you have a master plan for online learning? Are there degrees that people can get now through online learning?

A: UNCG has traditionally been known for its distance programs and online learning. We have a lot of working students. We have a lot of nontraditional students and it's traditionally been important for the university to do this.

We have an online major in liberal studies that has been very successful. We have a number of programs under development. One is an online program in public health that we do in collaboration with the community colleges that would enable students who have done two years of work in public health to then complete their four-year degree by doing an online program with us.

I think online learning is important particularly at the graduate level. I know that we are looking particularly at professional programs related to nursing, education and business.

Online learning is also important for our traditional undergraduate student population because we are pressed for classrooms and faculty. Online learning and the availability of online courses enables students to make good progress toward their degrees if they are unable because of facility limitations to enroll in traditional classes on campus.

iSchool is another part of our online learning. We have almost doubled enrollment in iSchool from 1,300 students in the first year to 2,500 this year. We expect that to grow as high school students and their parents look at more ways to gain college credit.

We're looking at online and distance learning from the perspectives of what can we do to help high school students to get a head start; to how can we collaborate with community colleges to enable students seamlessly to get a four-year degree; to how we can provide online opportunities and courses for our traditional students to accelerate progress to a degree; to what kinds of graduate programs, particularly master's programs, can we offer for the working professional. It runs the gamut.

When we talk about online learning we're not talking about the traditional correspondence courses. Online learning is very different from what it was 20 years ago. But I think it is important to understand the tremendous diversity when we talk about online and distance.

Q: We've had a number of problems with student attrition at a number of the UNC campuses. Some people say it's the result of two things. One is that students who are being admitted can't do the work. The other part is that it's taking students a long time to complete their education. Are these problems at UNCG?

A: I have not gone through a full cycle in terms of the enrollment management process. But my sense is that, as we're at record enrollment, that we're managing to maintain the quality of our student population. That's important because we know that the better prepared students are when they arrive, the more likely we are to retain them and the more likely they are to graduate.

At the same time, we're a public institution. I'm a product of public education. I was the first person in my family to go to college. I would not have been able to go had I not received scholarships and worked in the college dining hall and done many things that many first-generation students still do. I think we have an obligation to provide access. We need to look beyond access to how do we support students once they are here. It makes no sense to admit them if they are not going to be able to come back for the second year because they are trying to work full time or they are not academically prepared.

So I think part of what we have to do is balance the importance of access with the ability to provide the kind of academic support that students need to be successful.

Programs like Carolina Covenant or Pack Promise or Pathway Oregon make a substantial investment in academic support with those students. Many of those students are first generation, and so we don't simply want to provide additional aid. We have to provide the kind of academic support they know they need to be successful.

The issue of how we accommodate growth and ensure that we can also improve our retention and graduation rates is important to consider.

We have the largest freshman class ever, with about 2,500 entering students. If we are able to accommodate more students through distance ed, that will relieve some of our pressure on the residence halls to accommodate students on campus and relieve pressure in our classrooms to accommodate students.

Q: Do you get a lot of out-of-state students with the online program?

A: Right now we don't, but I think that is a real market. I believe that of our entering freshman class only about less than 8 percent is from out of state. I would like to see that grow a bit.

I think recruiting out of state helps us enhance the diversity in the student population. I think that's important for the educational experience for all of our students.

Q: As the school grows do you see a growth of athletic programs?

A: Absolutely. I really do believe that athletics is an important part of the university experience. I think it's important to students who are here. It's certainly important to alumni, particularly alumni who may leave the state. One of their most immediate connections may be with athletics. One of the things that I'm really impressed about here is the fact that our athletic program focuses on the welfare of the student athletes.

We really do focus not only on winning but on graduating students. I think as we enhance our emphasis we need to keep that in mind.

Q: UNC-Charlotte is very aggressively pursuing a football program.

A: Part of what we need to do at UNCG is build our fan base and enhance fund-raising related to athletics. I think the way to do that is to focus on where we already are invested. We're already invested in men's and women's basketball, soccer, volleyball, baseball, softball, wrestling.

Since we're in North Carolina and since we're in Greensboro and given the fact that the coliseum is right down the street, my goal over the next several years is to develop a closer relationship with the coliseum and particularly to schedule more of our men's basketball games in the coliseum, to use that as a platform to build our fan base and enhance our fund-raising for athletics.

Q: What athletic events have you enjoyed going to?

A: So far, soccer and I attended the rugby match during Fall Fest between our current rugby team and alumni and I'm proud to say that it did not appear that any of our alumni were injured.

I really am a fan, particularly of college basketball. I became a fan at Georgia Tech.

Men's basketball in terms of the coliseum is a real opportunity for us. We don't have to build a facility. I really believe that it is our best way to test the waters. If we can't do it with the facility down the street, I don't see how in the world we can think about football. I would never say never. Five years from now, ten years from now, maybe it makes sense. But I just think we need to demonstrate that we can build a fan base and we can raise the funding before we think beyond basketball.

Q: Does UNCG lack a distinctive identity?

A: I met with the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and all the department heads of that college. We were talking about that.

I said, "Take a look at our mission statement as it currently stands. If you deleted any reference to UNCG and you read that mission statement, it would read like the mission statement of 500 other universities around the country."

Part of the challenge is, How do we define an identity for UNCG that's not, "We want to be like Chapel Hill" or "We want to be like N.C. State," but that really takes advantage of where we are located, our relationship with this community, the historic strengths and how they relate to the needs of the state.

I would love for us to come out with a mission statement that if we deleted UNCG and I sent it around to ten of my colleagues around the country they would say, "Oh that's UNCG."

Arizona State has done this. I'm not necessarily saying that I agree with the direction that they have gone. But if you look at their mission statement and you delete Arizona State, everyone in higher education around the country would say that that's Arizona State.

They have an incredible relationship with the city of Phoenix. They have gotten a huge buy-in from the state of Arizona because they are doing something that is distinctive. They are not looking at what the University of Arizona is doing or Berkeley is doing or the University of Washington.

Instead of doing the traditional strategic plan where you look at undergraduate education, graduate education, research, service and engagement. I'm suggesting that we think about big questions that academic institutions focus on and that our society needs to address.

That's why in my convocation address I posed the question, How can UNCG help? The big questions that I think about are: How can we build and sustain healthy communities? How do we educate the next generation of informed citizens and citizens who are engaged with their communities? How do we pursue economic development in a way that is sustainable? What does it mean to lead a meaningful life in the 21st century?

When you think about those kinds of questions, they engage academics; they engage people in philosophy, in nursing and in business. What if we structure a strategic plan around big questions and got out of the traditional boxes that universities normally engage around?

There was a great response by the academic side of the house to that. So, as I think about what's the distinctive identity, What if UNCG was the institution in North Carolina, in the Southeast that focuses on helping society address the big questions?

Q: You also talked about a new model, so it's structural as well as thematic?

A: That's correct. The part of the new model is how do we continue the transformation that UNCG has embarked on into greater emphasis on research, but do that in a way that does not abandon the historic commitment to undergraduate education.

We need to increase our sponsored research. But we will never approach Chapel Hill or N.C. State. We will never have an engineering school; we will never have a medical school. So those metrics don't make a lot of sense. What I would like for us to do is to focus, then, on how can we translate our research in ways that help us address the big questions? Instead of talking simply about how many dollars were we able to bring in, the real question is What has been the impact of the research that those dollars have funded on our society? That is a very different way to approach it.

What society is really asking higher education is, What are you doing to help? What are you doing to help the next generation? What are you doing to help to ensure that we have an educated workforce to help us solve problems? It's also a way to really be able to address the issues of accountability that are being raised nationally as well as at the state level.

Q: At one time the university attracted the best and brightest in a certain segment of North Carolina society: women. How can the university do that today? Attract the best and the brightest?

A: I spend a lot of time talking to alumni of Woman's College. One of the things that I always emphasize with them is that it offered opportunities to women at a time in our history when other doors were closed.

We're still about access. Part of the challenge when you come into a new institution is how do you build on the values, but how do you move those values into the future? Access will continue to be extremely important. It has to be. That's why I'm in the public sector. I've never had any interest in doing administration at a private institution. There are wonderful private institutions out there, but the real challenge is for the public sector.

Q: Are you going to have a process to involve all of UNCG in the planning, including alumni?

A: Absolutely. Normally when universities do strategic plans they pull faculty and staff together and write a plan, but we have just appointed a strategic planning committee. It's a large committee, but we'll be working with subcommittees on different areas.

We have deliberately included members of our Board of Trustees, alumni and members of the Greensboro community. If one of the goals of the plan is how UNCG can help, we can't write that plan without engaging in the communities to find what the needs are.

How does the community think UNCG can best help? It's going to be a very different kind of planning process. My goal is to have a plan that fits on one page. We need to have a plan that is clear enough that can actually provide direction for the allocation of resources and also clear enough to be able to be communicated.

Q: Was the Arizona State plan shaped by the larger community?

A: It was. Michael Crow came in as president and said that we're doing things differently. They have restructured the entire university. They do not have traditional academic departments. They have a School of the Environment, a School of the Arts, and faculty were invited to choose where they wanted to reside. It's very controversial. A lot of faculty left the university because they were not comfortable in that kind of environment, but the one thing that is the case with Arizona State is that everyone knows what they have done. The faculty they hire are going there specifically because they want to be part of that kind of institution.

Q: Did it change the way their degrees are done too?

A: It has reinforced the development of interdisciplinary degrees and the hiring of faculty to have interdisciplinary interests.

Interdisciplinary degrees are of great interest now to students and obviously to employers.

I'm a political scientist by training. All of my degrees were in political science. I do academic work in international security and negotiation, which is an interdisciplinary field. So we are looking, for example, at a master's program in globalization and international development that would be housed in our political science department but involve faculty from other disciplines. We will be seeing more and more of that.

It's just wonderful to be able to come into a place where you can just move forward. Of course we have issues. But you don't have to spend the first three years trying to rebuild before you can move forward. To be at one of the best places to work in the country and to have that featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education really says something.