UNC ASHEVILLE CHANCELLOR - DR. ANNE PONDER Dr. Anne Ponder became the sixth Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Asheville in October 2005 after serving for 10 years as president of Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H. A nationally known expert on strategic planning, she began her UNC Asheville tenure by leading a campus-wide collaboration to create a dynamic and viable strategic plan and revised mission statement; she then established a dashboard that measures UNC Asheville’s progress toward the strategic plan goals, with a continued emphasis on quality and sustainability. With this focus, UNC Asheville has made major strides as a national leader in the liberal arts and has become one of the top choices for students seeking a rigorous and multi-faceted educational experience.
American Council on Education’s book Leading America’s Branch Campuses.
During Chancellor Ponder’s tenure, the university was chosen as the first national headquarters for the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. Several new majors from anthropology to religious studies, art history to jazz and contemporary music have been added to the curriculum.The academic profile and diversity of the student body, as well as the proportion of students living on campus, increased to their highest levels during this time. The university received its 10-year re-affirmation of accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 2012 with no major findings, one recommendation, and high praise from the assessment committee.
In 2011, UNC Asheville celebrated the dedication of the Wilma M. Sherrill Center, which houses academic and outreach programs focused on disease prevention and healthy living, as well as the 3,800-seat Kimmel Arena.This $41 million project was funded through a $35-million state appropriation in 2004 and an additional $6 million in private gifts and grants. It is the largest construction project ever undertaken at UNC Asheville.
A hallmark of Chancellor Ponder’s tenure at UNC Asheville is her commitment to strengthening the university’s outreach and partnerships with Western North Carolina communities and businesses, as well as with sister UNC institutions. She has encouraged innovative collaboration that resulted in a UNC-Chapel Hill Eshelman School of Pharmacy satellite program in Asheville. New partnerships with local governments, scientific agencies and nonprofit organizations have resulted in agreements with Mission Health System, the City of Asheville, the Renaissance Computing Institute and others for enhanced learning and research opportunities for students and faculty. The university is a founding member of the AshevilleBuncombe Regional Sports Commission, a major contributor to the region’s economic development. This emphasis on collaboration also led to the cultivation, with other campus and community leaders, of some of the largest multi-million dollar donations in the university’s history. An Economic Impact Study completed for 2012 revealed that UNC Asheville’s economic impact on the region was $268 million.
Chancellor Ponder has overseen the largest building program in UNC Asheville’s history – most recently Overlook Hall, home to more than 300 students. The new residence hall boosts the number of students living on campus from 35 percent to more than 40 percent and is one of the “greenest” buildings on campus with cutting-edge sustainability features including geothermal heating and cooling. Other major building projects have included the New Hall classroom building, Sam Millar Facilities Management Complex, Zeis Science and Multimedia Building, and the Wilma M. Sherrill Center, which houses the North Carolina Center for Health & Wellness and Kimmel Arena. Major renovations have been made to Rhoades Hall and several residence halls. These efforts, combined with countless others across campus, have earned the university repeated recognition as a model of sustainability among UNC institutions and across the state. In 2010, the university opened the Janice W. Brumit Pisgah House, which serves as a location for university-sponsored events, meetings receptions and dinners, and also is the Chancellor’s residence. The $2.9-million multi-purpose building, required of all UNC campuses, was funded by private donations.
The university also expanded its campus boundaries under Chancellor Ponder’s leadership, purchasing several nearby properties including the 10-acre Rhoades property in 2008, which was the first major gift/ purchase of property for the campus since moving to its current location in 1961. The property now hosts a community garden and residence for the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, both of which are favorite gathering places for students. Other acquisitions have included a 10-acre parcel adjacent to campus on Broadway Avenue which is being developed as a part of Asheville’s greenway to link campus and downtown. In 2013, UNC Asheville acquired adjacent acreage and the health facility formerly owned by MAHEC on W.T.Weaver Boulevard, which will house an expanded Student Health and Counseling Center and the offices for University Advancement and Alumni Relations. Chancellor Ponder earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was the first woman and first pre-tenure professor at Elon University to receive the Daniels-Danieley Award for Excellence in Teaching. During her nine years at Elon, she taught English and communications. She then held faculty and administrative posts at Guilford College in North Carolina, where she was an associate professor of English and interdisciplinary studies and served as associate academic dean. In her next appointment at Kenyon College in Ohio, she served as professor of English and drama, academic dean, and vice president for information technology. In 1995, she was selected to become president at Colby-Sawyer College, a private liberal arts college in New Hampshire.
Chancellor Ponder is a national leader in higher education garnering accolades for her athletic administration and academic leadership as well. In 2013, she received the inaugural Van Ummersen Presidential Leadership Award from the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators, in recognition of her demonstrated leadership and promotion of women’s opportunities in athletics administration and In addition to serving UNC Asheville, Chancellor Ponder is a memcoaching. Under her tenure, UNC Asheville added a women’s swimming team, bringing the university’s total to 15 Division I athletic teams, with an ber of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce Board, Mission Health Systems Audit Committee, and the Asheville Children’s Welfare League. average academic progress rate of 983 out of a possible 1,000. She also serves as a member of the HUB Community Economic DevelopIn 2012, Chancellor Ponder was named a fellow by the National Col- ment Alliance. legiate Honors Council, a national professional association of colleges and A native of Asheville, Chancellor Ponder is the daughter of the late universities with honors programs. She is a past president of the organization, and she founded and directed Elon University’s Honors Program Eleanor and Herschel Ponder, both of whom traced their Asheville family during her first faculty appointment. She is a former faculty member of roots to the 1780s. She is married to award-winning writer and publisher Harvard Institutes for Higher Education, is past president of the Southern Christopher Brookhouse. University Conference, and wrote the chapter on strategic planning in the
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