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GREENSBORO — When Linda Brady became chancellor of UNCG last August, she couldn’t have known what kind of freshman year she was about to have.

In her first nine months, the country entered a financial crisis, the state was forced to slash its budget, and Gov. Bev Perdue asked for major cuts to the university system. Layoffs followed and classes disappeared without faculty to teach them.

Brady also found herself embroiled in a controversy over whether to replace or renovate some of the campus’ oldest, most run-down dormitories.

Last week, with the concern about swine flu, what Brady had on her mind was a group of UNCG students studying in Mexico, ground zero for the sickness. But she took time to answer a few questions ahead of her installation Tuesday.

Q: I guess the first question has to be: You haven’t been officially installed yet and you’ve already had a heck of a year. Is it too late for you to back out?

A: (Brady laughs). Actually, I spent all day yesterday in Raleigh visiting with people in the legislature, and I had one of my regular meetings with (UNC President) Erskine Bowles. He says it’s too late to back out.

Q: It has been a trying year. But in the ’70s and ’80s you worked for the Departments of Defense and State (as a political analyst in the State Department’s Office of Disarmament and Arms Control, among other positions). I guess that’s sort of a different standard of pressure.

A: Two parts of my experience have been the most relevant and helpful. The first is that I’ve been in North Carolina before, between 2001 and 2006, as a dean at N.C. State. I took a budget cut at my college every year. So we were dealing with some similar issues in terms of freezes on travel, laying off faculty, particularly adjunct faculty. We went through that and we developed budget principles there. We also developed a Web site there to help people keep up to speed — which is something we’ve also done here, to help people. This is, of course, a very different scale now, but that experience was helpful.

The other experience was spending seven years in Washington in the State and Defense departments and having been in an environment where you have to respond very quickly to events. That helped. I developed a philosophy there that panic is just never a productive response. That helps you put things in perspective.

Q: Let’s talk about what UNCG has to look forward to in the second decade of the new century.

A: One of our top priorities for this year was a development of a new strategic plan for UNCG. That plan will be posted on the UNCG Web site, under the UNC Tomorrow link. The first area is access and student success. That’s more challenging as we take budget cuts. We’re hopeful that we’ll receive enrollment increase funds from the state and that will offset part of the cuts. We do want to continue to grow.

Q: There’s a tension between wanting to grow and wanting make sure your standards stay high. A lot of people wonder, what is the obsession with becoming bigger?

A: It’s an important matter of principle for universities to continue to serve the needs of their communities. We know that North Carolina will continue to gain population. As it grows, we have to make sure we have an educated workforce. Without that we cannot attract companies. We know from surveys that availability of an educated workforce is always the No. 1 factor for companies who are looking to relocate. The other reason, frankly, is the way the universities are funded. We receive enrollment increase dollars, and though they never completely offset the cuts we’ve been experiencing, they allow us to invest in programs in which there is growing demand.

Q: How do you balance that need for growth with the need to keep standards and rates of graduation high?

A: That’s a tension everywhere. We have to continue to work with K-12 to make sure students who enter the universities are ready for college-level work. We want to make sure students keep coming to UNCG and they’re successful here, that they graduate in five years, if not four. We’re also developing more learning communities (like the Mary Foust Residential College and Strong College communities). We’d like to make sure every incoming freshman has the opportunity to be part of one of those communities. We know that students do better there.

Q: The other growth problem is the size of the campus. You recently ran into that with the controversy over what to do with the buildings on the Quad.

A: We have 210 acres. It really is a challenge. We have a desire to preserve the residential character of the university. The Carnegie Foundation defines a residential university as a place where a minimum of 28 percent of the traditional-age undergraduate population lives on campus. When you drop beneath that core, it really has an impact on the intellectual life of the university. Our board has directed us that as we grow, we try to keep within that ballpark. We’re looking for ways to do that as we try to reach our goal of growing to 24,000 students. Our goal is to have a strategic housing plan done in the next few months and then to see how that works with our master plan, then look at our options for residence halls. I don’t think it’s a black-and-white issue, renovation or rebuilding, as it’s unfortunately been painted. We want to preserve the past, but we can’t live in the past. We do have to find a balance.

Q: Another priority for UNCG is recommitting to the athletic program. Spartan basketball has moved to the Coliseum. I know people used to see “Spartan Athletics” as sort of an oxymoron. Is it now a major priority?

A: Ouch! Well, athletics are important. It’s a way that students continue to identify with the university after they leave. When I think of my goal for athletics, it’s not to build a Florida State or an Oklahoma. It’s to be more competitive and maintain our commitment to academic quality. I think Davidson is a great example of that within our conference. The key is always finding that balance.

Q: You hear a lot of people say, especially in this economy, that some schools spend too much on their athletics programs. What’s too much?

A: One of the major challenges we’ve had in athletics is our philosophy has been to support athletics through student fees and that relates to our history as a Division III program, then Division II and then (Division) I. When you move to Division I, you cannot simply rely on student fees. We’re not in a position to say we’re going to double student athletic fees. It’s irresponsible and it just doesn’t make sense. Until we make a much greater investment in fundraising and development, we’re not going to be able to take it to the next level. We need funds for scholarships for student-athletes, but also to create an endowment for student athletics to make sure it can grow and thrive without putting a burden on the rest of the university. That’s our goal. And we’re working on it.

Contact Joe Killian at 373-7023 or joe.killian@news-record.com