Erskine Bowles to Deliver UNC Asheville Commencement Address at May 5 Ceremony

Erskine Bowles

Staff reports

Erskine Bowles, one of North Carolina’s best-known public servants, will deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree when UNC Asheville holds its May 2012 commencement ceremony at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 5. Al Whitesides, a lifelong Asheville resident and leader in civil rights, business, and education, will also receive an honorary degree.

Bowles, known nationally and internationally for his public service
at the highest levels, has a particularly close relationship with the
University of North Carolina. A graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, he served
as president of the UNC system from 2006 to 2010. Bowles continually
sought ways to operate the University system more efficiently and
effectively, streamlining administration and implementing numerous
operational improvements. Bowles was a staunch and effective advocate
for keeping UNC campuses accessible and affordable, while working to
raise admissions standards and improve retention and graduation rates.

Before
assuming the leadership at UNC, Bowles had already become an important
figure on the national and global stages. He served as the Clinton
Administration’s director of the Small Business Administration, and then
as the president’s Chief of Staff. In that role, he helped negotiate
the first balanced federal budget in a generation.

Bowles was
named United Nations Deputy Special Envoy to coordinate the global
response to the catastrophic tsunami that struck Southeast Asia in 2004,
and in 2010 he was appointed by President Obama to co-chair the
bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

Bowles
has also made important contributions outside of the university to his
native North Carolina. A graduate of Columbia University Graduate School
of Business, Bowles began his business career at Morgan Stanley &
Co. in New York, but returned to the Tar Heel State where he helped
launch the investment banking firm of Bowles Hollowell Conner. He also
helped found Dogwood Equity, chaired the Rural Prosperity Task Force,
and served as a trustee of the Golden LEAF Foundation – three entities
designed to bring economic development to rural North Carolina. Family
illness inspired him to help lead efforts to create an ALS (Lou Gehrig’s
Disease) Center in Charlotte and to serve as the international
president of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Al Whitesides

Whitesides, who currently serves as vice chair of the Asheville
City Schools Board, began making contributions to the city as a high
school student and member of ASCORE (Asheville Student Committee on
Racial Equality), whose boycotts and protests were instrumental in
bringing about non-violent desegregation in Asheville. Whitesides went
on to a long and distinguished career in banking with First Union
National Bank, Wachovia Bank, and Mountain First Bank. He has served as
Chair of the Board of Trustees of UNC Asheville, and he currently chairs
the Bulldog Athletic Association. He has as also served on the boards
of many other Asheville institutions and organizations.

UNC
Asheville’s May 2012 Commencement will take place on the University
Quadrangle. Graduates will begin lining up at the Justice Center on
campus at 8 a.m. before processing to the quad for the 9 a.m. ceremony.
In case of severe weather, the ceremony may be moved indoors to the
Kimmel Arena.

For more information about commencement, visit
http://alumni.unca.edu/may-2012-commencement or call the Office of
Alumni Relations at (828) 251-6512.