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The R. in R. Carter Pate must stand for Rescue.

With financially distressed Greensboro College desperately in need of a rescue, Pate's elevation to chairman of the Board of Trustees comes just in time. He brings a record of business success and an attitude of determination and confidence. At a moment when hopelessness could have gripped the campus, Pate's arrival restores a sense that things can get better.

His background couldn't be more perfectly suited to the task. A 1976 graduate of Greensboro College with a degree in accounting, Pate later founded Turnaround Management Association, saving troubled companies. A certified insolvency and reorganization accountant, he's currently U.S. managing partner for advisory services at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He and his wife, Angie, also a Greensboro College graduate, live in McLean, Va.

Pate gives lots of credit to Greensboro College and pledges his continued love for the school. "I am going to do everything I can and devote all the time that's necessary to make sure it's a success," he told the News & Record's Joe Killian Thursday.

With long-time President Craven Williams gone, and no successor or even interim president named, Pate now becomes the college's effective leader. A hands-on chairman with his energy and enthusiasm is exactly what's needed.

The greatest danger for Greensboro College, beyond its heavy debt, was pessimism. Students won't come to a college they think is declining, or worse. Faculty won't stay. Donors won't give if they fear they're throwing good money after bad. Only if they all believe better days lie ahead will they make a commitment to the institution.

Greensboro College must attract more students willing to pay significant tuition for the college to achieve operational solvency. It must attract large contributions to reduce its debt and rebuild its endowment.

No doubt, it also will have to find more cost savings. Pate couldn't save many companies without making them run more efficiently. Some painful decisions will still have to be made.

But the new chairman also pledges to talk openly with all parties involved, listening to ideas from faculty, staff, students and community leaders. That will allow better decisions and avoid surprises.

Positive leadership can make a huge difference. In higher education locally, that's proven by what Nido Qubein has accomplished in only a few years at High Point University.

If Pate replicates some of that spirit at Greensboro College, R. really will stand for Rescue.