ASHEVILLE – Nancy J. Cable suspected she’d like being UNC Asheville’s chancellor.
But it’s even better than she thought.
“This is a gem within the UNC System, and it’s been known a long time as a gem,” Cable says in the accompanying video, citing UNC Asheville’s strength in academics and the humanities in particular.
The chance to lead the UNC System’s designated arts and sciences institution felt like an “extraordinary privilege” after years in higher education, she says. Cable has also held leadership positions at Davidson College, the University of Virginia and Bates College in Maine.1
UNC Asheville is distinctive among liberal-arts colleges as “top-quality – similar to private institutions like a Davidson or a Duke or a Washington and Lee or a Furman – but at a public school price,” Cable says. “I know a number of liberal arts and sciences institutions who would really give their eye tooth, so to speak, for our price point.”
Cable, who was installed in April as the university’s eighth chancellor, says she would like to see the UNC Asheville model replicated across the country.
Given the school’s reputation, Cable says she wasn’t entirely surprised by what she found.
“It’s even better than I expected, with the quality and the dedication of the faculty and the staff. These are extraordinary people here, who’ve done such dedicated work educating young people and educating our adult students,” she says.
She also notes that Asheville’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute now has close to 2,400 retirees who avail themselves of the university’s offerings.
Cable says she also was pleasantly surprised to discover the depth and breadth of UNC Asheville’s community partnerships, from the city schools to the Martin Luther King Jr. Association to AB Tech.
And oh, what a community….
“We have a very proud relationship not just with the City of Asheville and Buncombe County, but frankly with the 18 to 20 counties out here in Western North Carolina,” Cable says.
Leave a Reply