North Carolina Now; 4205; Interview with UNC President elect, Molly Broad

The the. It's Friday April 11. Tonight an exclusive interview with NEW ONE think President elect Molly Corbett broad on North Carolina now. Hello I'm ready to try thanks for joining us from North Carolina now on this Friday edition we're honored to have as our in-studio guest the newly named president of the University of North Carolina Molly Corbett broad and as usual will head over to the General Assembly and talk politics with legislative correspondent John basin.

The governor's excellent teacher is actor will be the focus of a report by Sonya Williams this evening and will get you in the mood for this weekend's Wilmington Azealia festival. But first the election of Molly Corbett broad as the new president of the University of North Carolina is truly a history making event for our state. She becomes the first woman to hold the position and the first president to come from outside of North Carolina. Education reporter Maria Lundberg covered the announcement yesterday. And tonight she brings us an extended interview with you and see President elect Molly broad. Miss Broad Congratulations on your new position and welcome to North Carolina now. Thank you. Well yesterday was quite a day for you you were chosen from a nationwide search to lead the U.N. system into the future. Wonder how you feel your background in higher education has helped to prepare you for this position. You know as the search was drawing to a close one evening the thought came to my mind you know everything that I have done throughout my career

has prepared me for this position. I've worked in research universities in comprehensive institutions in Langrigg universities. I've been in the northeast in the Midwest in the southwest in the Far West but never in the southeast. I've been involved with medical schools and hospitals and fortunately prior experience with public television. And so I am delighted to have the opportunity to come to the southeast and in particular to the University of North Carolina. It's a perfect opportunity and for me a capstone in my career in higher education. We're so happy to have you here yesterday in your acceptance speech you spoke very highly of you in CS reputation and the quality of our system. Are there any particular areas or priorities that you have that you really would like to focus on. One of the most important things about the University of North Carolina if your viewers are not aware of it is there are a long standing interest commitment to

this oldest of public universities is. Very unique in America because through thick and through thin the citizens of this state have supported their university and believed in the university and its importance in improving the quality of life not just for individuals but for communities and for the economy and to continue to carry on that tradition. I believe we're going to have to focus a lot more priority and energy and resources to enhancing the relationship between the university and K-12 so that the quality of our schools will continue to improve that we can position the state for increased globalization and that we can take advantage of the advances of technology. These are all things that the university can make a major contribution and help the state of North Carolina. Well one of the directions that's currently taking place in our state as I'm sure you know is the the move toward trying to establish stronger partnerships between the universities and not only the public

sector but also with the public schools and teacher training as you mention. How do you see your role fitting in with this to make sure that you can accomplish this effort. I think this may be one of the most important areas where universities can change in the years ahead. And we have the tremendous intellectual resources in a vast array of faculty members who can contribute to both public and private ventures. And where if I can facilitate improving and enhancing the connections between schools and libraries and businesses to take advantage of the resources and the capabilities of the university that will be a great contribution I believe. What do you see as the biggest challenge facing you in your new position. Well I'm going to work very hard to learn the history of the culture and mores the geography and economy of North Carolina so that I can be a contributor to the

university as quickly as possible. I certainly hope to early on. In fact even before I arrive on a full time basis. To make acquaintances with the legislators I had the privilege of meeting with the governor today and I look forward to meeting with the key policy makers in the business community as well as in the governmental communities. These are the most important stakeholders and patrons of the university and I'm very eager to get acquainted with them. Well you know the NC system has a very strong research institutions but also others that are dedicated primarily to teaching is their mission. What do you feel about striking that balance between research and teaching. It's a very important balance. You can't have good teaching without good research and you can't have effective research if you don't have strong faculty who are able to teach both undergraduate and graduate students. That balance doesn't remain the same over the years. It is not stable and

it is very important for us to continue to evaluate and to recalibrate that balance. As undergraduate students are able to take advantage of the instrumentation and the advances in the laboratory undergraduate students can be engaging in research as the information technologies transform the teaching and learning process and they become more student centered than our faculty need to learn how to utilize that technology to teach more effectively. So if this is a time in higher education when those issues are off for reconsideration and it's a healthy thing to be doing well your election to this position is quite historic for a couple of reasons. First of all I wonder how you feel being the first woman to lead our university system. Well it is historic and I didn't quite realize that because this is the oldest public university system. Being the first

woman makes it at least for me. Especially touching like to think that the search process had some other goals in mind but it was a happy coincidence that the final candidate also was a woman. Well also you have the distinction of being the first North Carolinian to hold this position do you think that's going to be an advantage or a disadvantage. Well I will focus my efforts to quickly as I can learn what it means effectively to be a citizen of North Carolina. I have lots of people in the last 24 hours who have encouraged me to. Just move right in and assured me that I would be accepted as a North Carolinian. I had the opportunity to meet with all of the chancellors this afternoon and it turns out that only a couple of them were born in North Carolina. So while I may not have been a North Carolinian before I was appointed I have lots of company of people who

have chosen to come to this state because they think it is a fine place to live to raise a family and to gain a university education. Well Ms broad We are truly delighted to have you with us here this evening and again congratulations on your new position and we'll look forward to having you here back again to visit with us on our program perhaps in the near future. I'd be happy to do that. Thanks Maria. The best teachers of the 16 campus USC system were recognized today with the third annual awards for excellence in teaching handed out by the UN C. board of governors a faculty member from each campus is honored to underscore the importance of teaching and to reward good teaching across the university while 16 educators were singled out one teacher was chosen to speak on behalf of the group. We commend you for your efforts in trying to encourage and promote. Lesson teaching and on behalf of my colleagues here who are also recipients of

this Board of Governors award I thank you for come fer in on us the university's highest honor for excellence in teaching. We feel very honored and very special to be selected to receive this award winning educator's must have taught at the present institution for at least seven years and no teacher can win the award more than once. Well this has been a busy news week here in North Carolina the announcement of the new UN S. president the emerging issues forum under way at NC State and a lot of activity at the General Assembly here to hit the highlights of what our lawmakers have been up to. Is legislative correspondent John basin Good to see you John. Hi Maria. Though earlier in the sessions things seem to be moving along at a snail's play pace and now there is this flurry of activity while the action all of a sudden well Merida lawmakers like all of us have a tendency to procrastinate and as a way of fighting that tendency. A few years ago they started instituting what they called a crossover deadline. And what that

means is that by a certain date any bill or on most bills or a few categories that are exempt but most bills have to pass either the House or Senate by that date in order to remain eligible for further activity. And so the crossover deadline is starting to come up and that means any lawmaker who has a bill that they hope to get passed they have to get it through the chamber that they are a member of and over to the other side before that date in order for it to remain eligible and that's why things are starting to pick up. Well let's talk about some of that action that took place this week I understand that the Senate passed the tax referendum regarding the triad baseball stadium. What's the meat of that legislation. Well the meat of that legislation is that a resident if it passes the House in its current form residence in a 12 County area. Would go to the polls and vote on whether to impose a one year one cent sales tax on themselves. The revenue from that sales tax would be used to help build a stadium to help bring Major League Baseball to North Carolina. And the stadium would be built I believe on the border

between Guilford and for site counties and of course it would need to be near an interstate highway. And the idea is that North Carolina with its success with the Panthers and the Hornets might be ready for a Major League Baseball. There are concerns this is no one likes to levy taxes this is one of those times when people will consider it. The bill did pass the Senate easily forty two to seven I believe but it's believed to have a tougher road ahead of it in the house. So remains to be seen if it will pass but if it does. Residents in those 12 counties will go to the polls and decide whether to tax themselves to try to link try to bring Major League Baseball to here. Now last week we aired a story in regard to dogfighting and I understand that there has been some movement on this legislation. Tell us about that. Yes. The House committee that was considering the bill has passed it. They have made it a felony to participate or to Raj to even be a spectator at a at a dog fight North Carolina was one of a few states that had not made it a felony and there was some talk that people were coming here to fight their dogs so this committee has moved the bill out. It will go to the full house. It's believed that

there is probably enough motion behind this bill that it will probably pass. All right John thanks for the insight we look forward to talking to you next week when I suppose we'll be talking about the budget a little bit. Yes we both like Marie. Thanks for your time. Other action taking place at the General Assembly this week the House unveiled its version of the excellent schools act it calls for more accountability for teachers and greater rewards for excellence. House leaders say these are provisions that will attract and keep good teachers in our schools and give taxpayers their money's worth at the same time. Sonia Williams reports. Put simply we have taken a good bill and made it better. House Speaker Harry Baker praised the House version of the excellent school at a press conference on Tuesday. Sponsors said the committee substitute added more changes to the bill passed by the Senate is the House version focuses on improving student performance by training and evaluating teachers more extensively on the category of raising student performance.

We have implemented a test for teachers and certified educators competency and low performing schools according to the ABC plan. In addition we also provide remediation for those teachers who cannot or have failed the test. ABC plan the state will pay for that remediation. But if a teacher fails that test a third time then they will no longer be able to beat teachers in the state of North Carolina. Another measure in the House version that would keep teachers from teaching in the state is if they don't get tenure by their sixth year teachers can begin trying for 10 year during their fourth year. But whether or not it would be granted would be up to the local school board. Under the Senate's version 10 you would automatically be granted the fifth year teaching in a school system. We would have mobs that will occur in salary when tenure is in fact granted.

The House plan keeps the current 30 year salary schedule for all teachers. The Senate partially cuts the salary schedule to 25 years. Representative Robert Grady explained the difference in the two. But if you look at the ones that compare that came out the Senate starting in your CSS 25 what that schedule does is freeze teacher salaries starting in years 25 to 30. The teachers would receive no increase in their salaries. So you're saying your teacher's pay would be frozen. But we have done is that we have turned around and unfrozen that salary schedule. Our bill spoken to you this morning regarding accountability. The bill also incisor student achievement as a major part of teacher evaluation. Representative Grady said this is a crucial part of teacher accountability and cash incentives should be increased under the ABC plan that we use currently schools that exceed what the teachers will receive a thousand dollar

bonus. We take that up to fifteen hundred dollars. But really I'm to me almost more important part that we put in is schools that meet their goals. Who do carry their students for year. Those teachers are receiving no bonus. And we have really thought about that a long time and came to the conclusion that for these people for the hard work they're putting into it we want to recognize people are doing the right things. So we're going from no bonus to $750 bonus. As the bill was discussed in the House Education Committee some lawmakers voiced concern that the cash rewards were based on the entire school's performance rather than the individual teachers. You could have screwed him but not get that. Fifty seven hundred fifty dollars to a problem.

The best teachers get it. Yes exactly correct about something to get around it but I already have an objective. Judge the action just by the school right by the school committee members who want to change parts of the bill. We'll have that opportunity next week. But folks from the education and business community are on hand for the presentation. So these guidelines set forth change the pace of education in our state for the better.

I don't think there's any doubt that this bill has to progress and the greatest commitment this state is ever in my education. And that's exciting. Also under the House version the State Board of Education will have more responsibilities. The board will develop a variety of performance evaluations for students teachers and school administrators and the General Assembly will review the excellence schools act each year and the program will continue only if there is evidence that it's working. If you would like additional information about this past week's activities at the General Assembly make sure to tune into legislative week in review tonight at 10:00 on U.N. see TV. Well coming up touring the azalea gardens of historic Wellington. But first let's get an update of the other events making news around our state. For that we turn to Mitchell Lois at the North Carolina now news desk. Hello Mitch. Hello Marina. Good evening everyone. A state Supreme Court decision ruling in favor of confidential HIV testing tops our news tonight. North Carolina's

high court determined a confidential testing is not unconstitutional. The gay and lesbian activist group known as ACT UP filed suit against the state's plan to replace anonymous testing with confidential testing confidential testing requires a patient to give his or her name anonymous testing has no such requirement. Just as Henry Frye writing for the court said the state has a justified interest in tracking some communicable diseases in order to fight them. The FBI is launching a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of a black woman by Charlotte police officers. The officers fired 22 shots at the car in which the woman was a passenger after the driver trying to run a police checkpoint. The white officers say they acted in self defense when the car tried to run them down. Black leaders in Charlotte say their confidence in the police force is lower than ever. This was the second fatal shooting of an unarmed black motorist by Charlotte police in five months. And the third in three years. The county efforts to aid residents in the prevention of future church

burnings has gotten the attention of a documentary film crew. The crew is shooting footage to be used in a training film commissioned by the National Sheriffs Association in Virginia. So far fire prevention efforts and Tama and Lincoln Counties have been filmed by the crew. A number of other Tarheel counties are conducting similar programs. The finished film will be shown to law enforcement and fire officials at seminars across the country. 3rd District U.S. Representative Walter Jones is urging Congress to support a bill concerning the care of a herd of barrier island horses. The Shackleford banks wild horses Protection Act would put the animals under the control of a local nonprofit group the National Park Service is currently responsible for the herd and opposes the legislation. Jones initiated the bill after 75 of the herds one hundred eighty five horses were euthanized. Those animals had tested positive for equine infectious anemia. A subcommittee is scheduled to vote on the measure next week. Looking ahead to tomorrow's weather. Temperatures in the mid to upper 60s are expected across

most of the state. Boone will be the coolest spot with a high of around 16 while Wilmington should be in the low 70s. The entire state should see cloudy rainy conditions for Saturday afternoon thunderstorms are also possible in most areas. And business news poor earnings performance as U.S. Airways executives asking for wage concessions from its pilots and other employees. Officials with the Charlotte based carrier say certain cost cutting measures will have to be taken if jobs are to be spared counted. Well company executives say they will cut back the airlines Baltimore hub reduce fl. service and rethink the planned purchase of 400 new Airbus jets. Company Chairman Steven Wolf stressed that no layoffs are planned. Well another plunge for the Dow Jones today. The Dow fell almost 150 points. Now let's take a look at the numbers. The 50th annual North Carolina Festival is underway in

Wilmington. The event offers fun for the whole family while showcasing the spectacular natural beauty of Cape Fear. But he and producer Simone focused on the stunning Azalea gardens of Wilmington and she brings us this video essay. You are.

Well

that finishes out the way here in North Carolina now on Monday Maria Lundberg starts a special March five part series examining the challenges facing the teaching profession. She'll look at teacher retention in teacher training and many other issues impacting the lives of our state's educators. Have a great weekend. We'll see you back here Monday. Goodnight everyone.