DETAILS, DETAILS: A FOCUS ON PRECISION SERVED PHIL DUBOIS WELL DURING HIS 15-YEAR RUN LEADING THE STATE'S EMERGING URBAN UNIVERSITY.

• Author: Elkins, Ken

If there were a book describing his years at UNC Charlotte, Phil Dubois has a title in mind: Details Matter: UNC Charlotte 2005-2020. The "Details Matter" part is imprinted on the side of his favorite office coffee mug. It's also drilled into the minds of university staff.

Dubois retires at the end of June after 15 years as chancellor of what has become the third largest university in the UNC System. He sweats the little stuff and expects his staff to do the same. He acknowledges his status as a micromanager: He picked the color of the bricks used in construction of campus buildings. He chose interior wall colors and patterns for floor coverings.

The approach worked as he became the longest-tenured chancellor currently in the UNC System. The California native served as provost of the Charlotte campus from 1991 to 1997 before spending eight years as president of the University of Wyoming. He returned to North Carolina in 2005, lured in part by the pleas of Charlotte banker Mac Everett and developer Smoky Bissell, key UNCC boosters.

During his tenure, enrollment increased by 40% to about 29,000, more than $1.2 billion of campus buildings were constructed, 38 degree programs were added and a football program was started. The expansion included a 12-story downtown building that has been named for Dubois and his wife, Lisa. It sits near the city's light-rail system, which connects the university and the center city.

Dubois and the university community have also seen tragedy. On April 30, 2019, two UNCC students were killed and four others injured in a shooting on campus.

Business North Carolina interviewed Dubois at his campus office, where cardboard boxes were half-filled with books and documents from a 44-year academic career. While he is retiring to Georgia, he will remain on the payroll as an adviser for a year under terms of his contract. His successor had not been named at press time.

> DID YOU EXPECT TO HAVE A 15-YEAR TENURE?

I returned to Charlotte hoping that I would end my career here. I was in my mid-50s and thinking if I was going to make a move, that would be the time to make it. When I learned about Jim Woodward's retirement, I just decided to make that leap, knowing that Jim was going to have served 16 years.

So this place has had a tradition of long leadership, long chancellorships. I came back with the intention that I would end my career here. But I didn't know exactly what the number would be.

> WHY ARE MOST CHANCELLORS...