[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 96 (Thursday, July 1, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H5327]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2350
    TRIBUTE TO CHANCELLOR MICHAEL HOOKER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH 
                        CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ose). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, this week the University of 
North Carolina at Chapel Hill lost a bold leader when its eighth 
chancellor, Michael Hooker, died from complications of cancer. Memorial 
services will be held at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning on the UNC Chapel 
Hill campus.
  During a short 4-year tenure Chancellor Hooker brought a great vision 
to the university, constantly pushing Carolina with the declared goal 
of making it the greatest public university in the Nation. His legacy 
will live in the university community and beyond, wherever the impact 
of his enthusiasm and his leadership were felt.
  Mr. Speaker, Michael Hooker had an abiding love for Carolina. When he 
came to Chapel Hill to serve as Chancellor in 1995, he was returning to 
his school to which he had first come as a young man from the mountains 
of southwest Virginia and which he always felt had opened up the wider 
world to him. He graduated from Carolina in 1969, the first member of 
his family to graduate from college. He had a degree in philosophy. 
After earning graduate degrees in philosophy, he taught at Harvard, he 
held posts at Johns Hopkins University and then served as president of 
Bennington College in Vermont, the University of Maryland Baltimore 
County and the five campus University of Massachusetts system.
  But Michael Hooker always wanted to return to Carolina. He brought to 
the job of Chancellor a spirit of innovation, seeking to build on the 
traditions of America's oldest public university. He believed that 
education is our greatest engine of opportunity, and he reached out to 
the entire State to share his belief. His administration's theme was: 
``For the people,'' and he crisscrossed North Carolina visiting every 
county to promote his vision and to renew the university's connection 
to the State.
  When students came to Chapel Hill, they knew they would be taught in 
a way that prepared them for the challenges of the 21st century. Hooker 
said, and I am quoting:
  In the 21st century the only thing that will secure competitive 
advantage for our regional, State and national economies is the extent 
to which we have developed, nutured, fostered, cultivated, and deployed 
brain power.
  Students will remember his active involvement in making their 
education reflect those values. He emphasized the need for increased 
access to computers and technology, made this a priority for UNC 
students, and he recruited and supported teachers who were willing to 
cross disciplinary boundaries and to innovate in their teaching 
methods.
  North Carolinians who knew Michael Hooker will remember his energy 
for innovation and for effective teaching, his belief in the promise of 
a great public university and his passion for leading Carolina into the 
next century.
  My wife and I are sad for the loss suffered by Michael's wife, 
Carmen, their family and our entire community. I deeply regret that 
Michael will not be with us to see his bold vision unfold. However, I 
am comforted in the knowledge that so many people are prepared to carry 
that vision forward, embracing the traditions that shaped Carolina and 
its late chancellor and shepherding the spirit of inventiveness and 
boldness that Michael Hooker embodied.

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