From Staff Reports

Mary K. Grant was sworn in Sept. 19 as chancellor of UNC Asheville, North Carolina’s designated public liberal arts university. 

Grant, who had previously served for 12 years as president of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, took the helm as UNCA’s chancellor in January.

Thomas W. Ross, president of the University of North Carolina system, presided over the official installation ceremony. “In Mary Grant, you have gained a leader who personifies what UNC Asheville is all about,” said Ross. “She is absolutely passionate about the enduring value of the liberal arts and improving lives and communities through higher education. And after just nine months in the role, she has already demonstrated the creativity, commitment, and boundless energy that will be required to be an outstanding chancellor and advocate for this institution and the people it serves.”

Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, N.C. State Sen. Terry Van Duyn, and Terri Henry, Tribal Council chair of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians; welcomed Chancellor Grant as part of the ceremony, which as was attended by elected officials and higher education leaders from the region and beyond, in addition to the campus community.

Grant emphasized community collaboration in her remarks. “This installation is less about me – it is about UNC Asheville, this relatively young institution,” she said. “I take the helm of this outstanding university at an exciting time but also at a time of uncertainty. We face a future of unknowns as well as opportunities. We do understand a bit better now the challenges that we brought with us from the 20th century: the challenge of climate change, of global inequality and global conflict, the ongoing challenges of race, class and gender, the challenges of hunger, poverty, ignorance and disease. 

“But we do not face these challenges unarmed. … In fact, our most powerful tool in taking on these challenges is right here – the combination of optimistic, courageous, bright hardworking students and a university of liberal arts with a faculty and staff ready, willing and able to take on the task of preparing the next generation. … In just a couple of years, we will admit a class of students, nearly all of whom will have been born in this rapidly changing, fast-moving 21st century. The future is now and I say that we are ready,” Grant asserted.