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A man with vision.
That's how people at Carolina describe Chancellor Michael Hooker, who died
June 29 of cancer after leading the University since 1995.
"Michael Hooker brought a remarkable level of energy and a compelling vision
to this campus over the past four years," Provost Richard J. Richardson said.
"Chapel Hill has been forever changed by the agenda that Michael placed before
all of us. He was a wonderful harbinger of the new millennium. We will all be
challenged by what he wanted this place, which he loved so much, to become."
And what was Hooker's vision?
Using technology to bolster Carolina classrooms and to take Carolina
classrooms to the state. Creating a campus climate that nurtured intellectual
debate and pursuits. Reconnecting the University to its roots of service to
North Carolinians. Mapping out a land-use strategy to take Carolina into the
next century.
And, above all, making Carolina the nation's best public university.
Seeing the future
From day one, Hooker preached the need to ride technology rather than be run
over by it.
"In ways not yet imagined, technology will change the way humanity orders life
on this planet," he said in his Oct. 12, 1995, installation address. "The
change from an energy-based economy to a knowledge-based economy will change
the rules of international economic competition and will thrust universities in
roles they have not traditionally played."
Of all Hooker's efforts to move Carolina to the forefront of technology-rich
education, perhaps none were as ambitious as the Carolina Computing Initiative,
or CCI. The sweeping plan's most prominent feature is the requirement that all
freshmen, beginning in Fall 2000, have laptop computers to perform their
academic work.
CCI will be among Hooker's most lasting legacies, said Marian Moore, whom
Hooker brought on board in 1997 as chief information officer and who later
joined the Chancellor's Cabinet as vice chancellor for information
technology.
"[His vision] wasn't replacing faculty members with computers -- it was about
enhancing what faculty could do for students in the classroom," Moore said.
"That's a wonderful thing to leave this campus. The guy really, really saw the
future."
Hooker didn't simply want students to show up for class toting laptops, with a
faculty unequipped to take advantage of CD-ROMs, the Internet and other
microchip-driven wonders.
So CCI also includes departmental purchases of new machines and training for
professors, ending years of computer haves and have-nots on campus. And Hooker
established special grants to fund innovative faculty projects using
technology.
"Michael challenged us to compete," said Richard "Pete" Andrews, Faculty
Council chair. "He believed passionately that in an increasingly global economy
and society, driven by rapidly evolving applications of information
technologies, a few of the best and most dynamic universities would rapidly
come to dominate the others -- and he was determined that Carolina be one of
them, and that our faculty rise to that challenge."
For Hooker, the need to prepare students for a knowledge-based economy wasn't
limited to students sitting at desks in Greenlaw and Sitterson. He felt the
state's flagship university should help bring all North Carolina citizens
"fully and productively into the economic stream of life."
Toward that end, the University launched its first Internet-based courses and
programs during Hooker's tenure, making Carolina-quality instruction just a
mouse-click away for North Carolinians.
Pushing the intellect
But while Hooker advocated learning from afar, he also stressed learning on
campus, learning complemented by technology but based in people.
"We must educate young men and women for an age of swiftly developing,
sophisticated technology," he said in his installation address. "Yet the
strength of a university education lies in the constant exchange between
teacher and student, between student and student, and between learning students
and the world of persons into which we will send them."
With the backdrop of a 1995 reaccreditation self-study that revealed the need
to improve intellectual life on campus, Hooker created a panel charged with
finding ways to do just that.
The August 1997 report of the Chancellor's Task Force on Intellectual Climate
recommended several measures aimed at making students the centerpiece of the
educational experience, weaving intellectual content into the fabric of
everyday campus life and connecting students' education with the world outside
the academy.
The First Year Initiative topped the task force's priority list, and the
program's three main thrusts -- improving freshmen academics, orientation and
residential life -- all took root under Hooker:
* Freshman Seminars will be offered in large numbers for the first time this
fall, teaming students with senior faculty members in classes of no more than
20;
* A summer reading program debuting this year will culminate in August with
faculty and staff discussing a work of literature with incoming freshmen and
transfer students, adding an intellectual component to orientation;
* The Living/Learning Program starts this fall in Ehringhaus Residence Hall,
mixing faculty members with freshmen in settings ranging from sharing meals to
participating in service projects to holding discussion sessions.
A major factor in getting Freshman Seminars off the ground was the hiring of
40 new faculty members to free up senior professors to teach the classes.
"[Hooker] was very enthusiastic and championed the idea, ensuring its eventual
funding," said Risa Palm, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, who
proposed the new hires to the chancellor in the fall of 1997.
Cynthia Wolf Johnson, associate vice chancellor for student learning, said the
summer reading program provides a concrete image of Hooker's ambition for
intellectual life on campus.
"I can see him envisioning groups of students at 170 locations around campus
talking about the same work of literature," said Wolf Johnson, organizer of the
program. "It really puts his vision into action."
So, too, will the Living/Learning Program, she added.
"He had a real understanding that students learn in all sorts of environments,
that learning outside the classroom can have a large impact, and sometimes even
a larger impact," she said.
The intellectual climate task force also stressed the need to revamp student
advising, and Hooker supported subsequent efforts that brought an additional
$240,000 to advising and restructured that office.
Reconnecting with roots
The chancellor also pushed the University's commitment to North
Carolinians and his administration's theme: "For the People."
"There is only one reason to have a public university, and that is to serve
the people of the state," he often said. "That should be the touchstone of
everything we do: whether it's in the interest of North Carolina and our
citizens. Our litmus test is the question: Is what we do in Chapel Hill
helping the factory worker in Kannapolis?"
To show that conviction, Hooker drew from the tradition of UNC President Frank
Porter Graham, who barnstormed the state more than a half century ago to boost
support for education at all levels during the economic shift from farming to
manufacturing.
Hooker spent 1996-97 personally visiting all 100 North Carolina counties to
reconnect the University with the people and learn firsthand about the state's
economy and educational system.
The issue-oriented tour included speeches to civic, business and education
groups in dozens of Tar Heel towns and cities. He visited public schools,
community colleges, small businesses and manufacturing facilities. He met with
legislators, alumni and Carolina students in their hometowns.
The chancellor also helped launch a weeklong bus tour across the state aimed
at introducing new faculty and administrators from other states and countries
to the "real" North Carolina, as well as to see firsthand where 82 percent of
the University's undergraduate students come from. The tour was suggested by a
faculty group devoted to public service.
"Michael Hooker meant everything to the bus tour -- he was the bus tour," said
Mike Smith, co-chair of the Public Service Roundtable and director of the
Institute of Government.
Hooker funded the tour with private income from a bequest for the University's
unrestricted use. But he did much more than cover gas and lodging -- he took
the trip himself.
"Not just the first year when it was brand new and received more media
coverage, but also the second year," Smith said. "He would have gone this year
if his health had permitted. A weeklong commitment from the chancellor
represented a real and symbolic statement by Michael -- he embraced the bus
tour because he believed strongly in Carolina reaching out to the state."
The intellectual climate task force also identified a need for a central
clearinghouse to coordinate the University's outreach efforts, planting the
seed that led to the Carolina Center for Public Service.
Hooker's support was "critical to its existence," Smith said.
"For me it was just another logical step in his intentional creation of
different structures to support and enhance public service at Carolina," Smith
said. "He didn't want more administrators -- instead he wanted to create a
structure that would facilitate and support the work of service."
Public education was another major priority for Hooker, who ardently supported
LEARN North Carolina (Learners' and Educators' Assistance and Resource Network
of North Carolina), the University's one-stop World Wide Web site offered free
to all N.C. school systems through the School of Education.
Teachers, curriculum or technology specialists, and others in all 117 public
school districts have been trained on the site, which includes an electronic
database of exemplary lesson plans indexed by grade, subject and the N.C.
Standard Course of Study, set by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction and
considered to be the teacher's bible.
Planning ahead
Hooker laid the groundwork for what could become one of the most concrete
symbols of his legacy, planning for the Horace Williams tract.
The chancellor named a committee to explore uses for the property, a 972-acre
parcel of land in northwest Chapel Hill that gives the University space to
grow.
Among the prospects for the property -- and one Hooker showed particular
interest in -- is a biosciences research park that would enhance the
University's research partnerships with businesses and government.
The chancellor also supported the Board of Trustees' decision to bring in the
consulting firm Ayers Saint Gross to develop a comprehensive master plan for
the main campus.
Scheduled to wrap up in May 2000, the blueprint is intended to take Carolina
well into the next century, and -- provided funding -- will result in new
buildings, greenspaces, and transit and parking patterns.
Gaining support
Vision without funding often goes nowhere, and Hooker worked hard to
see that his vision had dollars behind it. He talked with legislators,
preaching the importance of Carolina in particular and universities in general
to the state and nation's welfare.
"He wasn't too proud to get up there and mix it up," said Evelyn Hawthorne,
associate vice chancellor for government relations, who described Hooker as one
of the nation's most "eloquent and elegant" spokespersons for higher education.
"He sold his own programs. It was one-on-one."
As an example of the chancellor's roll-up-your-sleeves effectiveness,
Hawthorne cited his lobbying efforts on behalf of LEARN North Carolina, which
helped secure permanent funding for the program.
Hawthorne said Hooker found special satisfaction in that success because the
web-based resource touches every North Carolina student and teacher.
"And to him, that epitomized his mantra to serve the people," she said.
Along with working to increase public funding for Carolina, Hooker devoted
much time and energy to raising private dollars. He traveled the state and
country meeting prospective donors, selling his vision and the Carolina story.
In part thanks to him, private fund raising set records each year of his tenure
and in 1997-98 topped $130 million for the first time.
"Chancellor Hooker was relentless in pursuing his vision for the University,
and people responded when he described how we were going to be the best
university in the country," said Matt Kupec, vice chancellor for University
advancement. "His love for the University and his passion to be the best
inspired people.
"I loved working with him and seeing first-hand how our alumni and friends
were moved to action. They couldn't help but be excited about Carolina's
future, and want to invest in it, after they spent a few minutes with him."
On the job
While Hooker may be best remembered for his vision, he also dealt with several
major issues that crossed his desk. The chancellor:
* Helped work out an agreement with University housekeepers who were
dissatisfied with job conditions, providing them career training and other
benefits;
* Formed a task force on substance abuse among students, which led to a shorter
rush week for fraternities and sororities, as well as Fall Fest, an
alcohol-free back-to-school party;
* Formed an advisory panel on labor practices of companies that manufacture
licensed University apparel, which led to the University requiring that these
companies disclose plant locations, among other measures; and
* Formed a task force on enrollment growth, which led to Carolina agreeing to
grow by 3,200 students by 2008.
Throughout it all, Hooker remained a faculty ally, said Andrews, Faculty
Council chair.
"He pushed for change, sometimes challenging faculty members to move beyond
their comfort zone," Andrews said. "But he consulted frequently with the
faculty leadership.
"He took on a lot of initiatives that were important to faculty, especially
the intellectual climate report. He was a tireless advocate for increasing
faculty salaries to a competitive level. He truly believed that the faculty
were the core of the University."
Andrews also noted that Hooker named many deans and top administrators during
his stint as chancellor, another important mark he leaves on campus.
"They will have an impact for some time to come," Andrews said.
Linwood Futrelle, a former Employee Forum chair who worked closely with
Hooker, said the chancellor also responded to staff concerns. He attended the
forum's monthly meetings and updated members on news and issues affecting
Carolina employees. He also made a point to include the forum at all major
University events.
"This is a sad loss for the University," Futrelle said. "He was such a booster
of the staff and of the work of the Employee Forum. We all hoped for his
recovery. UNC has lost a great booster and a friend."
Futrelle said Hooker was quick to respond to forum requests. When a forum
member recommended that there be a written policy on parking permit
distribution, for example, the chancellor saw to it that work on the policy
began within a week.
"The point is, whenever he had knowledge of an intervention needed, he did
it," Futrelle said.
A physical mark the Hooker tenure leaves staff is the University Child Care
Center, which was planned, built and opened during his time here. The
employees' child care subsidy also increased on his watch.
The final analysis
There are many other pieces of the Hooker legacy, such as millions of dollars
in construction projects started on campus and communication lines opened with
the local community.
But for Hooker, these all were just ways to put flesh on the bones of his
most overarching vision for Carolina -- to become the nation's best public
university.
"Michael challenged us," Andrews said. "He challenged us to raise our
sights: to aspire to be not just one of the best public universities, not just
the best public university in the South, but the best in the United States and
even the world.
"He also challenged us to define what that should mean: not just magazine
rankings, not even just National Research Council rankings, but best in the new
knowledge we produce, best in the educational experience we provide and best in
our commitment to public service, especially to the state that supports us."
So perhaps the chancellor's greatest legacy will not be the programs he leaves
behind, but the feelings.
"No one dared to believe that [Carolina could be the nation's best public
university] before Michael came here," Richardson said. "Because he believed
it, he gave us confidence to believe in ourselves and believe it too."
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