University of North Carolina Chancellor James H. Mullen Installed;
UNC Asheville to Become Nation's First Intergenerational College Campus

UNC Asheville Chancellor James H. Mullen Jr., in his installation address Friday, told an audience of some 1,500 that the university is on the threshold of becoming the nation's first intergenerational campus.

"We are creating America's first truly intergenerational college campus -- a place joined in breaking the false barriers that exist between age groups. We are building a community where generations share in the enterprise of learning; a place enlivened by the unbounded potential of young children and a place nurtured by the wisdom and the strength of retirees. The University of North Carolina at Asheville will be a place where our students are inspired by the lives of those who comprise America's Greatest Generation as they at the same time help to build the future for our nation's youngest generation," Mullen said.

UNC Asheville is the home to the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement and its College for Seniors, a national model for lifelong learning. Some 600 people over the age of 50 take classes through the center each semester. The university is actively planning for a Youth and Family Collaborative, which will provide a range of new programs that will complement the tutoring and youth outreach programs UNC Asheville currently provides.

Chancellor Mullen also spoke of UNC Asheville's commitment to the community that surrounds it. "The University of North Carolina at Asheville has never been and will never be an island. We will not be aloof and apart from the community and its needs. To the people of Asheville, to the people of Buncombe County and our surrounding counties, to the people of North Carolina, I promise you that service is and will remain integral to our identity as a place of learning. This is your university. We intend to live the lessons we teach and, in doing so, to work in humble partnership wherever and however this community believes we can make a difference," he said.

The installation ceremony, with University of North Carolina President Molly Corbett Broad presiding, was held on UNC Asheville's main quadrangle. Robert Pinsky, the 39th Poet Laureate of the United States read, and Henry E. Frye, the North Carolina Supreme Court chief justice, administered the oath of office.

Chancellor Mullen, 42, was named as UNC Asheville's fifth chancellor in April 1999 and took office the following August. He came to UNC Asheville from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., where he was senior vice president and executive director of Project 2002. In that role, he was responsible for Trinity’s $300 million public/private neighborhood revitalization, which includes a 16-acre Learning Corridor.

He holds a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a bachelor's degree in history from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.

UNC Asheville is North Carolina's designated undergraduate liberal arts university, with 3,200 students, and is part of the University of North Carolina's 16-campus system.

Media Contacts:

• Merianne Epstein, UNCA Public Information Director, 828/251-6526