Tom Ross, former UNC president, headed to Duke

UNC system President Emeritus Tom Ross, who stepped down earlier this month, is going to Duke University.

Ross has been named the first Terry Sanford Distinguished Fellow at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. He’ll start Feb. 1, and the fellowship will last at least through the spring semester, according to a news release from Duke.

Ross remains a tenured faculty member at UNC-Chapel Hill and is slated to return to the School of Government there after a one-year sabbatical.

The fellowship and accompanying Sanford lecture were created to attract “men and women of the highest personal and professional stature,” such as presidents, prime ministers and cabinet members, chief executive officers of corporations, artists and scholars.

At Duke, Ross will work with the university’s new Center for Politics, Leadership, Innovation and Service to launch a bipartisan project aimed at changing the way political district lines are drawn in the United States.

Kelly Brownell, dean of the Sanford School, said Ross will be instrumental to a new effort by the school to have more of an impact in North Carolina. The fellowship and lecture are endowed by the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust.

Ross, a former judge and former president of Davidson College, led the UNC system for five years. He was forced out by the UNC Board of Governors in what some observers said was a politically motivated move.

This story was originally published January 30, 2016 at 2:29 PM with the headline "Tom Ross, former UNC president, headed to Duke."