Academia

H. Holden Thorp has announced that he will step down on June 30, 2013, as chancellor of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He assumed this role in July 2008.

Thorp, who holds a Kenan Professorship, will return to the university’s chemistry department faculty, where he was a longtime professor, researcher, and former chair.

“Whether you’re measuring the quality of its students, the productivity of its faculty, or the benefits of its world-class research, Carolina has made great strides during [Thorp’s] tenure,” says UNC President Tom Ross.

Thorp has led ongoing reform efforts to help UNC address several recent challenges. Most notably, he guided the university’s responses to problems uncovered as a result of a National Collegiate Athletic Association investigation of the football program and a review of courses in the department of African and Afro-American studies.

Thorp, who is 48, joined the UNC faculty to teach chemistry in 1993, after a one-year teaching stint at North Carolina State University. His research expertise includes the electronic properties of DNA and RNA, and he cofounded Viamet Pharmaceuticals, which is developing drugs for prostate cancer and fungal infections.