gchildress@heraldsun.com;
419-6645
CHAPEL HILL — The UNC Board of Governors has called a special meeting for Thursday at 11:30 a.m. to begin the process of naming a new UNC system president to replace Erskine Bowles when he retires this month.
A system spokeswoman said the teleconference to be held in the board room of the Spangler Center is being called to initiate the process because the board has no regular meeting scheduled this month.
Bowles announced last month that he is resigning the post he took in 2006 to spend more time with his grandchildren and to pursue other professional opportunities. He said he would retire at the end of 2010 or when his replacement is found.
A couple of weeks later, President Barack Obama appointed Bowles co-chairman of a bipartisan national commission that will recommend how to reduce the mounting federal debt. Bowles will share the chairmanship with former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson.
Bowles, a Greensboro native, is a 1967 graduate of UNC Chapel Hill. In 1993, he was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as director of the Small Business Administration. Clinton also tapped Bowles to serve as deputy White House chief of staff from 1994-95 and White House chief of staff from 1996-98.
