Holden Thorp, Chancellor
Biography
At Carolina, Holden Thorp has been an undergraduate student, a chemistry professor, a planetarium director, an inventor and entrepreneur, as well as a dean. He graduated with honors, won teaching awards, led a powerhouse academic department, developed technology for electronic DNA chips, founded spin-off companies, and succeeded as an administrator.
Now, as the 10th chancellor, Thorp is drawing from all of those experiences in leading Carolina among the ranks of the great research universities in the United States and around the world.
“We must make Carolina the best place to teach, learn, and discover.”
A North Carolina native, Thorp grew up in Fayetteville in a family steeped in Carolina traditions dating to the 1800s. His father, Herb, used to sing the alma mater, “Hark the Sound,” at bed time. When it was time to graduate from Terry Sanford High School, there was only one school on his college application list – UNC. He earned a bachelor of science degree with honors in 1986.
Attending a world-class research university – where research and teaching are done by the same people – gave Thorp opportunities to work in chemistry labs alongside some of Carolina’s very best faculty. Those experiences inspired him to become a college professor. He pursued that dream at the California Institute of Technology, where he earned a doctorate in chemistry in 1989, and at Yale University for postgraduate work. After a year teaching at N.C. State, he came back to UNC’s chemistry department in 1993.
Because he has lived it from both sides of the classroom, Thorp is passionate about the undergraduate experience. “Carolina is perfectly suited to leverage our students’ interests in the great problems facing our world to enhance their academic success and position them to lead us,” Thorp says. “Our greatest contributions are the UNC alumni who go on to be leaders in communities across North Carolina.”
He says the University’s future depends on aspiring to global academic excellence and serving the needs of North Carolina’s students and people. “We’re the university of both – and: Both academic prominence and a commitment to our state.”
Before becoming chancellor on July 1, 2008, Thorp served a year as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He chaired the chemistry department, led a $17 million fundraising effort for the Carolina Physical Science Complex as faculty director, and spent four years as director of the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.
Nationally, Thorp serves on the Associations Patent Reform Task Force, an advisory body to six associations representing U.S. higher education in a Congressional effort to reform patent law. He has published 130 scholarly articles on the electronic properties of DNA and RNA. He invented technology for electronic DNA chips that led to 19 issued or pending U.S. patents. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Defense and Business, a non-profit research and education organization created by the UNC system and the State of North Carolina.
“It’s on us to do more than teach, more than educate. We must inspire our students to reach beyond themselves and take on the great problems facing the world.”
Although Thorp has lived mostly in North Carolina, he conducted a state tour during part of his first year as chancellor to show his personal commitment to the University’s mission of serving the state. Stops included visits with high school students, university students, alumni and all UNC system chancellors.
An accomplished musician who plays jazz bass and keyboard, Thorp is married to Patti Worden Thorp, a Hope Mills native and UNC Greensboro graduate. Their children are John and Emma.