CHAPEL HILL – What makes the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill great?

“It’s just a joyful place,” Chancellor Carol Folt says in the accompanying video.  “When the students are here, the energy and buzz on this campus is just amazing.

“The research here is phenomenal.  It is a biomedical juggernaut for the nation.  The research in cancer, the Big Data, the research that’s looking at global health, and then the arts – it comes together to make it a place that every corner is ringing with discovery.”

Folt notes that the university is consciously dedicated to keeping prices low to remain affordable.

“Those three – excellence, excitement and real dedication to being public – make it a very special university,” she says.

What will it take to make it greater?

“You cannot rest on your laurels – it’s about what are you doing today to make it better for tomorrow?” Folt says.

The Chancellor lists a number of factors, including continued state support, as well as support from alumni, foundations, business partnerships and increasingly, commercialization of the university’s own research.