North Carolina's flagship university has a new captain at the helm. H. Holden Thorp has risen from the ranks at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill to its top job as chancellor.
Doing so places him in the ranks among the likes of Gov. Mike Easley and N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper: All three have Rocky Mount ties and hold the top post in the state in their respective offices.
It's great to see folks with Twin Counties roots making good on their home-grown education.
Thorp, a chemistry professor and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill, grew up in Fayetteville but hails from generations of Thorps who live in Rocky Mount.
The grandson of a city of Rocky Mount attorney and great-grandson of a local judge and former Rocky Mount mayor, Thorp, 43, will become one of the youngest university leaders in the country.
Thorp succeeds UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser, who will retire June 30 after eight years at the post.
The job attracted more than 100 applicants from 32 states and the District of Columbia, according to The Associated Press.
North Carolina's own rose to the top of the applicant pool. That says quite a bit about our state's success in educating our youth to be globally competitive.
Not only does the Tar Heel state claim Thorp as a native son, he's a Tar Heel alumni. Thorp graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill and later returned to the university to teach. It's a fitting representation of what this state has to offer and what our prodigies can, in turn, do for our state. And we're proud Rocky Mount could play a part in it.
