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Gray-Little selected to serve as next provost

CHAPEL HILL – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser has chosen Dr. Bernadette Gray-Little, currently dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, as the university’s next executive vice chancellor and provost.

Moeser announced the appointment of Gray-Little today (Feb. 8) at a special meeting of the university’s general faculty. Gray-Little, a UNC faculty member for 35 years, will succeed Dr. Robert Shelton, who was recently named the next president of the University of Arizona. Her appointment begins July 1.

The executive vice chancellor and provost serves as chief academic officer and oversees all academic operations, including 13 schools and the College of Arts and Sciences, the University Library, a variety of centers and several cultural and educational units.

Moeser said Gray-Little’s appointment had the unanimous approval of the Faculty Advisory Committee to the Chancellor, as well as the vice chancellors, deans and Board of Trustees. "In my entire experience in academe, I have never known such unanimity or enthusiasm for an appointment, especially one as important as that of chief academic officer," Moeser said.

A professor of psychology, Gray-Little became dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in March 2004. As dean she leads the largest academic unit at the university, including about 700 faculty, 13,500 undergraduates and 2,300 graduate students in more than 60 departments, programs, curricula and centers.

Previously, Gray-Little was executive associate provost, starting in that post in 2001. She oversaw a study of faculty salary equity, directed searches and reviews of senior administrators, helped develop and implement the academic plan, and advised the provost on the annual budget process and key funding decisions.

In the College of Arts and Sciences, she was the first senior associate dean for undergraduate education from 1999 to 2001. Gray-Little led the development of innovative programs to enhance the intellectual climate, including the First Year Seminar Program. She was instrumental in expanding academic advising services and providing new opportunities for undergraduates to engage in research with leading faculty.

A native of Washington, N.C., she received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1970 from St. Louis University, which presented her with the William Stauder Alumni Merit Award in 1997. She graduated from Marywood College in Scranton, Pa., which honored her as a distinguished alumna in 1996.

Her research interests include the association of ethnicity and social status to self-esteem, decision-making strategies in marital relationships, relationship violence, and the influence of demographic characteristics on diagnostic accuracy. She earned fellowships from the National Research Council, the Fulbright program, the Ford Foundation and the National Institute of Mental Health. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association.

Moeser said he would immediately begin consulting with the university community about the search for Gray-Little’s successor as dean. He said he expected to name an interim dean in the near future.

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Contact: Mike McFarland, (919) 962-8593, mike_mcfarland@unc.edu