Tom Ross admits to some sleepless nights following his decision to leave his role as president of Davidson College to become president of the University of North Carolina system.

"I've woken up several times thinking, 'I hope I haven't made a mistake,'" he said in a recent interview. "I've given up something very special."

Ross, 60, couldn't be more intertwined with Davidson. His father went there, as did his two children. A 1972 graduate, Ross was a trustee before he became its president three years ago. He tears up explaining the decision to leave.

"This place has really been a powerful force in my life," Ross explained, sitting in his Davidson office dotted with baseball memorabilia. "But I think there are times in somebody's life when you know you have a responsibility you have to fulfill."

In a career marked by public service, Ross has built a reputation as a methodical problem solver who considers all views. Those skills will be important when he starts the UNC job Jan. 1. He'll face pleas for resources from the state's 17 campuses and demands from legislators to limit spending.

It was during his student years at Davidson when Ross got the public service bug.

He took on service projects as a student, studied political science and became fascinated with government. He and his wife, Susan, were married June 17, 1972 - the day of the infamous Watergate break-in. Ross spent his law school years at UNCChapel Hill, intently following the scandal's subsequent twists and turns.

He went on to teach at the School of Government at UNCChapel Hill. He then practiced law and spent a year as chief of staff for a member of Congress. In 1984, Gov. Jim Hunt appointed Ross to the state's Superior Court, and in 1990, Ross began leading a commission that would push through sweeping changes to the state's criminal sentencing laws.

In 1999, N.C. Chief Justice Burley Mitchell needed a director for the state's court system, an unwieldy job balancing the needs of judges and other court officers in the state's 100 counties. He turned to Ross.

"In that position you lead by example, moral suasion and by bringing people together," Mitchell said. "Judge Ross was just superb at it."

He expects more of the same when Ross takes over as UNC system president.

"Anybody who can handle the Administrative Office of the Courts, the hundreds of judges in this state - all of whom are elected - will find running the University of North Carolina not so terribly challenging," Mitchell said.

After the court system job, Ross directed the Z. Smith Reynolds charitable organization before taking over at Davidson in 2007.

All along, Ross has been a problem solver.

Earlier this year, Bill Shelton wanted to learn a bit more about Summit House, a residential alternative to prison for women with children. He was still new as the nonprofit agency's executive director, and everyone told him he needed to speak with "Judge Ross."

"All that time he talked about Summit House, he never talked about himself," Shelton recalled. "I had to drag out of him the fact that he was a founder. He was always deflecting the credit."

Ross helped create Summit House, which has locations in Charlotte and the Piedmont, and a third coming soon in Durham. His interest was spurred by the procession of young women with children he saw in his courtroom. He saw Summit House as a way for women who aren't violent offenders to maintain their grip on family while in prison.

"As a judge, you see all sorts of life in front of you, all different kinds of problems and issues," Ross said. "I've always been the kind of guy to look for solutions."

While Ross was head of the sentencing commission in the 1990s, some felt he was actually too tough on crime. Ross persuaded legislators to change a system in which criminals were serving fractions of sentences. The change mandated that violent offenders serve out their terms; the resulting predictability let the state manage its money more efficiently.

"It had a significant and almost immediate impact on the state's ability to manage its prison population," said Jim Drennan, a courts administration expert with the UNC Chapel Hill School of Government. Open-door president

Ross is a congenial man of measured words who carved out a solid reputation in three years at Davidson, said Terry Hartle, vice president with the American Council on Education, a Washington organization representing more than 2,000 colleges and universities.

Ross' academic star has risen in recent years, in large part because of the Davidson Trust, the college's ambitious program that offers loan-free financial aid packages, Hartle said. The program, created when Ross was a campus trustee and Robert Vagt was president, was a significant investment that diversified the student population.

Davidson's total enrollment is less than half of this year's freshman class at UNC Chapel Hill. Davidson students lounge under massive oak trees and swing by Ross' home to play with his golden retriever, Chelsea.

Ross has mingled easily with Davidson students. He learns names. He has been a fixture at basketball games, cheering the Wildcats from the front row.

His office door is always open.

"Tom Ross wasn't one of those behind-the-scenes, fundraising-type presidents," said former Davidson trustee K.D. Weeks, a Charlotte cardiologist.

That was clear in March 2008, when the Wildcats basketball team made an unlikely run through the NCAA tournament. After Davidson, led by All-American Stephen Curry, made the Sweet 16, trustee Janet Wilson of Lenoir suggested the college find a way to get students to the games in Detroit.

The idea caught fire, and hundreds of frantic phone calls, hotel reservations and ticket requests later, trustees eventually paid for more than 500 students to attend.

When Ross got to the game, students began chanting "Tom-my Ross, Tom-my Ross," said Christie Mason, a recent graduate who is now a college fellow coordinating community service programs.

"He walked through the student section, slapping hands, while everyone chanted his name," Mason said. "Instead of hamming it up, he looked down at his shoes, and the tips of his ears turned red."

'One agenda'

At UNC, Ross will work under the glare of public scrutiny. He already has critics.

Ross spent about seven years running the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, a nonprofit that awarded some grants to abortion-rights groups. That has rankled some conservatives who are concerned that Ross will bring a liberal bent to the UNC job.

Current President Erskine Bowles, though a staunch Democrat, has been viewed as a largely apolitical university president lauded by conservatives for reducing spending.

"(Ross') role at Z. Smith Reynolds indicates his interests tilt to the left, and I do not think that's what the university needs," said Jane Shaw, president of the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, a conservative Raleigh-based think tank.

But Ross says the Reynolds foundation gave money to groups across the political spectrum during his tenure. He points to his track record as a builder of consensus.

"I come to the University of North Carolina with one agenda," he said. "And that is educational excellence in the state of North Carolina."