University of North Carolina Wilmington’s new chancellor has big plans for growth at the university, but increasing the student population is only one aspect of the kinds of growth he would like to pursue.

Speaking at Friday’s quarterly meeting of the UNCW Board of Trustees, Jose “Zito” Sartarelli outlined his vision for the campus, which he said he plans to include in a draft strategic plan that will circulate within the university community this fall. That vision includes growth in the number of programs and students – notably programs and students that enhance the global connections of the university; an increase in giving from alumni and other donors; a heightened emphasis on research; and a greater collaboration within the university and with other universities to create online and joint programs to benefit students.

Sartarelli introduced his presentation to the board with three watchwords: “better, engaged, global,” and cited his three basic values: diversity/globalization, ethics/integrity and excellence/innovation.

The chancellor, who assumed his new role July 1, then outlined in his first presentation to the full trustees board his five strategic priorities for the university:

• Attract the best diverse, global talent
• Educate students well and advance research
• Enable students to succeed
• Engage the world
• Fund the vision

“If these bookend priorities – ‘attract the best’ and ‘fund the vision’ – are going well, everything else is easy,” he said, adding that he wants to increase fundraising efforts and establish a goal of creating an endowment of $300 million – an amount equal to the current UNCW budget. At present, UNCW has an endowment of about $90 million, he said.

The opportunities UNCW should take advantage of as it seeks to grow, Sartarelli said, include building on its already high-quality students, strong programs and experiential learning and community engagement activities, and “selective and competitive” sports programs. In addition, he said, the number of high school graduates in North Carolina and the Southeast is growing, as is the number of international students studying in the U.S.

Currently, UNCW has only 350 international students, so there is plenty of room for growth, Sartarelli pointed out. There are ways of working around the state-imposed cap of 18 percent out-of-state students, he pointed out.

“That refers to freshmen in fall semester only,” he said. “It does not apply to transfer students or students starting in January. There are many places in the world, as in the Southern Hemisphere, whose academic calendar runs from February to December.”

That out-of-state cap is one of the challenges Sartarelli outlined, along with the “continuing challenge of state funding.” In fact, several of the areas he views as challenges are funding related: becoming competitive for talent and paying competitive salaries to retain that talent as well as identifying funding for endowed faculty positions, research and programs. The chancellor said he would like funds for sponsored research, currently at about $10 million per year, to double.

Another challenge, he said, is to find a balance between remaining selective in admissions and growing the student population – for which he has set a tentative goal of reaching 20,000 students by 2020.

“We don’t want to sacrifice quality,” Sartarelli said.

Along with expanding annual giving efforts, the chancellor told trustees that he envisions a new capital campaign that might kick off in 2017, the university’s 70th anniversary.

New trustees
Three new members officially joined the UNCW Board of Trustees on Friday. They are UNCW alumnus and Wrightsville Beach resident Henry “Hank” Eugene Miller III, a real estate company and equipment rental company owner; Wilmington resident Agnes Beane, an independent attorney and self-employed real estate professional; and Wilmington resident Christopher Leonard, CEO of Velocity Solutions.

The three replace retiring members Carlton Fisher, Phil Marion and Wendy Murphy.

The trustees also elected new officers for the 2015-16 academic year. Michael Shivar, who chaired the board for 2014-15, was reelected to that post. Wilma Daniels, the board’s previous secretary, was elected vice chairwoman. Yvonne “Gidget” Kidd was elected secretary.

New dining facility
In other business Friday, the trustees unanimously approved the site and design for a new dining facility to be located near freshman dorms Galloway Hall, Belk Hall, Graham-Hewlett Hall and University Apartments.

The $5.5 million facility would be built through an agreement with Aramark, the food service contractor for the university. Plans are for the project to break ground in November and for the facility be open for fall semester 2016, according to Rick Whitfield, vice chancellor for business affairs.