UNC system President Erskine Bowles says he's a big believer in transparency.

But he but won't recommend openness when it comes to finding the next leader for N.C. State. That, he said, could discourage top candidates from seeking the chancellor's job.

Bowles, who has been open about recent troubles the university, said this week, "It's my responsibility to make sure we get the best candidates possible to run N.C. State, or any of the campuses."

During the last search for a UNC-Chapel Hill chancellor, Bowles said, several candidates would not have participated if their identities had been released."One is today still running a major university and had that person's name been made public, they would not have allowed us to consider them as a candidate," he told reporters and editors at The News & Observer.

"My job is to get the best field, and to try to make the best decision from that field, and I think if we have to make their names public it would reduce the quality of the field," he said.

Members of a UNC-Chapel Hill search committee have interviewed about 20 candidates for the university's top job.

"We're very pleased with that pool and I think it bodes well for the rest of the process," Nelson Schwab, the search committee's chairman, said Thursday in brief remarks before the committee went behind closed doors to discuss those candidates, Eric Ferreri reports.

The committee is looking for a replacement for James Moeser, who has been UNC-CH's chancellor since 2000. The university hopes to have Moeser's successor in place by July 1. Bill Funk, a headhunter assisting in the search, credited the search committee Thursday for spending the time to go out and interview that many candidates.

"This is the way all searches should be done," Funk said, adding that universities often only hold face-to-face interviews with about eight finalists.

The committee has not publicly identified any candidates.

The committee looking for UNC-Chapel Hill's next chancellor may have some competition in the marketplace.

A flurry of vacancies in higher education recently make for an interesting search climate, particularly in the South, consultant Bill Funk told the search committee at a meeting in Chapel Hill this afternoon, Jane Stancill reports.

Funk gave an overview of other searches now under way. Openings were recently announced at Louisiana State University, University of Tennessee in Knoxville, University of Arkansas and the University of South Carolina, he said.

"I don't know what's going on in the South, but presidents and chancellors are turning over at an amazingly rapid rate," Funk told the panel.

Other universities looking for new leaders include the University of Wisconsin, Vanderbilt University and the University of California system.

"So it's a pretty active president/chancellor market right now," Funk said. Vanderbilt may be the only campus on a similar timeline as UNC-CH, Funk added.

After the brief report from Funk, the panel met behind closed doors to discuss potential candidates to replace the retiring James Moeser.

Everybody has an opinion on the next UNC-Chapel Hill chancellor.

At a hearing Tuesday afternoon on the qualities desired in the next chancellor, the opinions were as diverse as the speakers, Jane Stancill reports.

During the four-hour open mic session at the Carolina Inn, the chancellor search committee heard from scientists, liberal arts professors, groundskeepers, office managers, students and graduate students.

They all had ideas about what UNC-CH needs in the next chancellor. Among the suggestions:

* Someone who won't let the university grow too big.

* Someone with Tar Heel roots, or at least a familiarity with North Carolina history and culture.

* Someone who understands the importance of humanities and social sciences, not just a chancellor of "big science."

More after the jump.

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