Peter Hans expected to be named UNC system president

FILE - In a May 1, 2018 file photo, Peter Hans, the newly elected president of the N.C. Community College System, delivers remarks while North Carolina Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, from left, House Speaker Tim Moore and Gov. Roy Cooper listen during a news conference in Raleigh, N.C. Hans, North Carolina's community college system president will become the next head of the University of North Carolina's 17-campus system, a UNC governing board member said on Thursday, June 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File)

RALEIGH – Peter Hans, the ninth president of the North Carolina Community College system, is expected to be named the new permanent University of North Carolina system president at tomorrow’s Board of Governors meeting. 

Television station WRAL reported the news earlier, citing a conversation with state Rep. Darren Jackson (D-Wake) where he was told that Hans would get the job. 

A press release was sent late Thursday afternoon by the Board of Governors that they will meet virtually at 9:30 a.m. Friday to elect a President.

According to his biography on the NC Community College website, Hans served three terms on the Board of Governors, including two years as chair. From 2016 to 2018, he advised former UNC System President Margaret Spellings on issues related to technology, health care, strategic planning and K-12 education. served a six-year term on the State Board of Community Colleges, where he was vice chair.

He is currently a co-chair of myFutureNC, a bipartisan organia broad, bipartisan push to raise the state’s educational attainment level. In 2019, the myFutureNC Commission issued a goal for two million North Carolinians to have a degree or credential beyond high school by 2030.

Hans grew up in Southport on the coast and Hendersonville in the mountains. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies from Harvard University.