Author Archives: Holden

The Conversation: John Kao on innovation, jazz and wicked problems

Thanks to the generosity of David and Judy Frey, John Kao was in town to talk about innovation as a Frey Distinguished Visiting Professor. Before his public talk, he came to the studio to talk to me about innovation and related topics. John definitely has the big view of innovation. He has written on the [...]

Econ 125: Session Musicians and Entrepreneurship

In our pop and jazz musical selections, we have been talking a lot about the importance of session musicians to pop music and how they knit together pop music history.  The difference between a great song and a great song that becomes a hit record has to do with execution, and getting the right session [...]

Five forces of concern for public universities, part 5: intercollegiate athletics

In the last of five posts, I’ll look at one more force faced by public universities, as described by Hunter Rawlings during his recent talk at Carolina. Rawlings is president of the American Association of Universities. Watch his talk on the video at the end of this post. Finally, Rawlings cited intercollegiate athletics as an [...]

Five forces of concern for public universities, part 4: liberal arts education and access

In the fourth of five posts, I’ll look at one more force faced by public universities, as described by Hunter Rawlings during his recent talk at Carolina. Rawlings is president of the American Association of Universities. You can watch his presentation at the end of this post. The next force cited by Rawlings was ‘ideological [...]

Five forces of concern for public universities, part 3: relations between systems and flagships

In this third of five posts, I’ll look at one more force faced by public universities, as described by Hunter Rawlings during his recent talk at Carolina. Rawlings is president of the American Association of Universities. The third force mentioned by Rawlings is the tension between systems and flagships. In some states, this tension has [...]

Five forces of concern for public universities, part 2: institutional complexity

In this second of five posts, I’ll look at one more force faced by public universities, as described by Hunter Rawlings during his recent talk at Carolina. Rawlings is president of the American Association of Universities. Rawlings’ second force facing public research universities is the complexity of the institutions. Rawlings refers to this as ‘corporatization,’ [...]

Five forces of concern for public universities: strain on state budgets, part 1

A few weeks ago, Hunter Rawlings came to campus to give a talk about the future of public higher education. You can watch the talk on Carolina’s YouTube channel or at the end of this post. Hunter has a special vantage point – he is the president of the American Association of Universities, which represents [...]

Mr. Friday’s legacy will live on for future generations

On the morning of University Day, we were planning for the honoring of our distinguished alumna and alumnus awards and getting ready for the ceremony where Jamie Bartram would talk about The Water Institute and its work. Before I left for the office, I got a text from News Services that said, ‘please call. urgent’. [...]

Doris Betts lived ideals of originality, equity and democracy

On October 7, 2012, I was honored to make some remarks at a gathering to remember and honor Doris Betts, beloved writer, teacher and public servant. ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————– Thank you, Bland (Simpson), for allowing me to be with you today. Today is an important celebration. I’m pleased to be able to welcome you all on behalf [...]

An important date in UNC’s history

  When the history of the university of the last few years is written, April 24, 2012 will be an important date. Whenever a sitting president of the United States visits a college campus, it is an important day in the university’s history. The visits of Jack Kennedy, Bill Clinton, James K. Polk and others [...]