UNCW Chancellor pushes for community engagement

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — There have been a lot of changes in staffing at UNCW recently. That includes UNCW’s new chancellor Zito Sartarelli, who spoke with media Wednesday.

UNCW Senior Tim Voorheers says he wants to see a strong connection between UNCW and the rest of Wilmington.

“I think it is very important to have people come on campus and to integrate the college with Wilmington itself,” Voorhees said. “I’ve helped one of the professors here teach programing to some of the older adults in the area.”

That is also a goal of Sartarelli. He says he wants to see more community engagement.

“We have a lot of expertise in many areas. We have centers, we have institutes, we have programs, we have professors that are nationally renowned. How do we utilize those talents to help the community?” Sartarelli said.

And Sartarelli says the school has some new talent. It has hired a new dean of the College of Education, a dean of the College of Business and a director of the School of Nursing.

“I think in the next two or three months we will have our ‘cabinet’ fully replenished with great talent to take this university to a much better place,” Sartarelli said.

And while community engagement and restoring leadership top the list of priorities, Sartarelli says in the end it’s about giving students the best education possible.

“We want to make sure that this is not just a great location for a student to come, to live, to spend four or five years of his or her life, but it is a great place to get a great education,” Sartarelli said.

Sartarelli says he also wants the university to be more involved with local community colleges. Also there are plans to introduce new medical and health programs in the coming months.