Now officially UNC-CH’s new leader, Guskiewicz vows to be accessible and transparent
Kevin Guskiewicz, the internationally known concussion researcher who has been interim chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill since February, was named permanent chancellor Friday.
“I believe he’s the right individual to lead Carolina forward into the future,” UNC System Interim President Bill Roper said.
Guskiewicz will receive a $620,000 salary. Members of the UNC Board of Governors, holding their monthly meeting over the phone, voted unanimously for Guskiewicz.
“As chancellor, I will shine an honest and stark light on our campus, and I will act on the challenges that we face,” Guskiewicz said Friday afternoon. “On the other side of every challenge is an opportunity, and we’ll find them and act on them.”
He acknowledged that he will make mistakes but vowed to listen and work to change when he does. And he wants to embody “servant leadership” as chancellor.
“Leadership must be accessible, transparent and clear, and that’s how a public university is supposed to work,” Guskiewicz said.
Guskiewicz has served as interim chancellor at the UNC System’s flagship campus since February, after Carol Folt abruptly resigned amid the continued furor over the Silent Sam Confederate statue that once stood on the Chapel Hill campus. Folt had been forced out early by the board, which thrust Guskiewicz into the role immediately.
“I love this university and the opportunity to lead it is a profound honor,” Guskiewicz said. “There is no institution in the world that is more capable of changing our future than our nation’s first university.”
At the end of his speech at Friday afternoon’s celebratory event, Guskiewicz made clear he’s ready for the challenge of leading UNC by saying “easy is boring.”
Silent Sam continues to be an issue
Guskiewicz’s appointment on Friday came as he, the UNC System board and the Chapel Hill campus are again embroiled in controversy over Silent Sam, following a settlement that handed over the statue and $2.5 million to the N.C. Sons of Confederate Veterans to preserve and display it. The decision was made behind closed doors and has drawn much suspicion.
In January, Folt had announced her resignation on the same day she ordered the removal of the base of the statue, which had been torn down by protestors on campus in August 2018.
Guskiewicz stepped in and made clear he did not want Silent Sam to go back up on campus. But the decision wasn’t up to him. The Board of Governors had the final say, after rejecting UNC’s proposal of building a $5.3 million building on campus to house the statue.
The controversial conclusion the UNC board came to in November, especially the $2.5 million that is going to the Confederate group, sparked outrage across campus and inspired protests from students, faculty and alumni who say the action supports white supremacy and poses a threat to campus safety. Even the North Carolina attorney general has criticized the settlement, and lawyers have questioned the legality of the deal.
Guskiewicz made a statement the day the settlement was reached, applauding the resolution because it meant the statue would not return to campus. About a week later, after protests and growing concern on campus, he released another statement addressing those concerns but still supporting the deal.
Then, he drew fire from faculty who peppered him last week with questions that he couldn’t fully answer at an emotional and intense faculty council meeting. They demanded he take a stronger stance to condemn the $2.5 million payment. Some said the situation proved he wasn’t fit for the job. He listened and relayed their concerns to the UNC System leaders that signed off on the settlement, being careful not to directly oppose it.
“I join with others on my campus in stating that the values expressed by the SCV are inconsistent with and antithetical to the values of the University,” Guskiewicz wrote. “I also request that the Board and the UNC System consider providing additional information to our University community about this matter.”
At the event marking Guskiewicz’s first day as chancellor Friday, UNC student body president Ashton Martin delivered a pointed speech that addressed the Silent Sam settlement head on.
“When giving advice to someone preparing to take on a new role, especially this one, I think it’s important to first provide some context,” she said. “The Carolina many of us call home today is fraught with tension.”
She said many students were happy to see that the statue wouldn’t return, but are disappointed that UNC is paying a Confederate group $2.5 million “to effectively handle this statue, and by extension this problem.”
“This is not enough,” she said bluntly. “Silent Sam may be gone, but the feelings and sentiments associated with it remain prevalent both on campus and on the minds of students everywhere.“
She told Guskiewicz that he now bears the responsibility to make sense of this new situation and to move the campus forward.
“We want you to confront UNC’s history and acknowledge the wrongs it has committed in the name of the Confederacy and furthering racist agenda with this settlement,” Martin said. “We want to see you take an active stance against the sentiments of racism, hate and suppression that have taken space up on our campus for far too long.”
She asked him to publicly denounce hate and provide actionable solutions for the minority populations who have been harmed time and time again because of this statue.
“I hope that you will rely on the student voice when making decisions that ultimately impact students and stand for students always,” Martin said. “Now is the time to be bold, and it’s certainly the time to be students-focused.”
Guskiewicz’s vision for Carolina
First and foremost, Guskiewicz said he plans to keep UNC the “leading global public university in the United States.”
The way that happens is with UNC’s people, who fight for the values they believe in and constantly challenge themselves to be better, he said.
“My vision for Carolina is that we will move forward into the future with boldness and confidence,” Guskiewicz said. “And that our work is vital for the people of North Carolina, the nation and the world.”
He said he hopes UNC will be a place that “inspires innovation, motivates excellence and serves as a welcoming community” for every student, faculty and staff member.
Guskiewicz explained his new strategic plan called Carolina Next: Innovations for Public Good. Its very first initiative is called “build our community together” that will make diversity and inclusion a priority.
“We must ensure that every person on our campus feels safe, welcomed and included,” Guskiewicz said. “It is more important now than ever.”
With that, Guskiewicz announced a $5 million investment to create a stronger community at UNC.
The money will seed the History, Race and A Way Forward Commission, which will include academic initiatives to strengthen research and teaching, help study Carolina’s past and learn and grow from that past to move forward together. The fund will also support the work of the Campus Safety Commission and diversity training and initiatives.
Guskiewicz also announced a financial commitment to keeping UNC accessible and affordable as a “best-value” university. He said they will raise $1 billion in scholarships in the Campaign for Carolina. That campaign has already reached $3 billion.
He said he will help build UNC’s research enterprise, which is currently more than $1.1 billion annually, to cure diseases and solve the world’s most difficult problems.
Guskiewicz’s background
Before he was interim chancellor, Guskiewicz was dean of UNC-Chapel Hill’s College of Arts and Sciences for three years, leading the university’s largest academic institution, which consists of 70 departments, programs and centers and nearly 20,000 students.
He’s a neuroscientist, Kenan professor in exercise and sport science and an internationally recognized expert on sport-related concussions. Guskiewicz also co-directs the Matthew Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center and directs UNC’s Center for the Study of Retired Athletes.
“Kevin Guskiewicz possesses the leadership qualities needed to take Carolina forward: strength, poise, humility, vision, the strong proficiency to listen, and the ability to bring people together,” Roper said in a statement. “Throughout his distinguished career in higher education, Kevin has demonstrated a sustained track record of success. I have the utmost confidence that UNC-Chapel Hill will continue to flourish and prosper under his continued leadership.”
Guskiewicz was one of two final candidates for the position, chosen by a 20-member search committee of students, faculty, staff, alumni and trustees. Community members were also invited to share input throughout the search process.
“Not only is Chancellor Guskiewicz a visionary leader in his field of neuroscience, but he has already proven himself to be a visionary leader in the administration of UNC-Chapel Hill,” Board of Governors Chairman Randy Ramsey said in a statement. “Under his leadership as both interim chancellor and dean, he has won praise from his peers as the university has celebrated many successes.”
When he became interim chancellor of this global public research university, Guskiewicz said his goal was to be ”strategic, bold and student-focused.” He has maintained that focus while developing his strategic plan, continuing fundraising for Campaign for Carolina, working to improve relationships between the campus and the community and making diversity, equity and inclusion a priority at UNC. He held listening sessions with students faculty and staff, put together task forces to address key issues on campus and traveled across the state on a bus in an effort to connect the university with the people it serves.
Richard Stevens, chair of the chancellor search committee and UNC-CH Board of Trustees, said Guskiewicz is the visionary leader that Carolina needs. He described Guskiewicz as “authentic, genuine, humble and effective.”
“He is deeply committed to our University and its mission, prioritizing student success, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and addressing the critical needs of North Carolina and the world,” Stevens said in a statement.
An ‘authentic’ leader
Anita Brown-Graham, UNC professor of public law and government, talked at Friday’s event about how she’s seen Guskiewicz’s commitment to the university’s service to the state of North Carolina.
She was on the Tar Heel bus tour with Guskiewicz and said she was “awed by his genuine curiosity” of the faculty’s work and his authentic, intellectual engagement with faculty throughout the trip.
As a member of the search committee, Brown-Graham also shared that during the process someone asked Guskiewicz to name his favorite place on campus. He immediately answered, “in a classroom with our students.”
She said it was “a better than perfect answer,” and that’s when she knew Guskiewicz was the right person for the job.
“At the end of the day, we are all here to develop the next generation of leaders at every level and for every sector,” Brown-Graham said.
Shayna Hill, chair of the UNC employee forum since July 2017, touted Guskiewicz’s authenticity as a leader at the event.
“He listens with the intent to understand, and he has always made me feel valued and important,” Hill said. “He recognizes the tremendous contribution that staff make to the university, and it is my belief that he will guide us through the changes ahead with grit and determination.
“The time is now for this authentic leader to become his true self by standing for inclusion and community,” Hill said, “and helping to heal and unite us all, everyone, no exceptions.”
Additional challenges
Though Silent Sam is the biggest controversy Guskiewicz has had to tackle, several others arose in his first few months on the job.
He oversaw the transition of leadership and hired a new police chief in the UNC police department, that was investigated after facing scrutiny over its handling of incidents involving an armed intruder on campus and Confederate and anti-racist protesters.
He had to address the release of a federal investigation that showed UNC-Chapel Hill violated the Clery Act, a federal campus safety law, for years. That report came on the heels of a survey that found ”alarming” rates of sexual assault on UNC’s campus.
Guskiewicz was also the subject of an investigative article by The Athletic that questioned his credibility and his concussion research. The story claims Guskiewicz and his team failed to disclose certain variables in published peer-reviewed articles related to abnormally high rates of learning disability and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnoses among incoming UNC football players, along with the use of those athletes as test subjects in his concussion and research. That work provides data used by the NFL, NCAA schools, and even the Department of Defense and could be invalid, according to The Athletic.
Guskiewicz declined to be interviewed by The Athletic but said in a statement disputing the key points of the article: “I stand by our concussion research 100 percent. The allegations about our research are baseless, without scientific merit and completely false.”
More than 100 top concussion researchers also sent a letter calling The Athletic’s accusations “baseless and unfounded.”
Mostly, Guskiewicz’s work on concussion research has been celebrated. He won a MacArthur “genius grant” in 2011, and Time magazine named him a “Game Changer” in 2013 for his innovation and problem-solving. His research has made football safer by influencing changes in protective football equipment and new rules in the NCAA and NFL, The News & Observer previously reported.
In addition to his research, Guskiewicz promoted the development of interdisciplinary teaching and high-structure active learning techniques to make Carolina a national leader in those areas, according to his university biography. It says he also increased experiential learning opportunities for UNC students, including study abroad, internships, hands-on research and service-learning.
“I’m trying to create opportunities for more cross-disciplinary research,” Guskiewicz said in a video for the university’s fundraising campaign. “I’m trying to provide our students with a global education for an increasingly interconnected world. I’m trying to prepare them for careers that haven’t even yet been invented.”
Guskiewicz’s fundraising skills will also serve him well in his new role.
In 2017, Guskiewicz brought in the largest gift in the college’s history that doubled the size of the university’s entrepreneurship program, according to UNC. While he was dean, the college raised more than $400 million, which is more than half its $750 million goal to reach by December 2022.
In his nearly 24-year career at UNC, Guskiewicz was also a senior associate dean of natural sciences and chair of his department.
He earned his undergraduate degree in athletic training from West Chester University, a master’s in exercise physiology/athletic training from the University of Pittsburgh, and a doctorate in sports medicine from the University of Virginia.
This story was originally published December 13, 2019 at 10:17 AM with the headline "Now officially UNC-CH’s new leader, Guskiewicz vows to be accessible and transparent."
