Molly Corbett Broad, former president of UNC System and education leader, dies

Molly Corbett Broad, who dedicated a large part of her life to higher education as a leader and advocate, died Monday, according to the UNC System. She was 81.

Broad has a lengthy resume, but perhaps most notable is her time serving as president of North Carolina’s public university system from 1997 through 2005. She was the first woman to serve in that role.

“She will be remembered as one of the giants of American higher education,” said Peter Hans, president of the University of North Carolina System, in a statement released Tuesday. “I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to work alongside her, and grateful for all she did on behalf of North Carolina.”

Hans wrote that Broad was a “trailblazer and a visionary,” who came to the state at a pivotal moment laying “the groundwork for growth and progress.” She oversaw a historic $3.1 billion higher education bond and created the state’s first need-based scholarship program, he wrote.

While president, she also focused on doubling overall minority enrollment, according to the UNC System.

While president, Broad did not shy from acknowledging the failures of the institution she led, telling The News & Observer in 2001, that it was “arguably the most challenging time in higher education in the past century,” she said.

“We were not the exemplar of best practices when I arrived here as president,” she said. “This is a great university that in my judgment was at risk on multiple fronts. So I have been in a hurry. We don’t have time to screw around.”

She was named The N&O’s 2001 Tar Heel of the Year, which honors someone who has made a significant contribution to North Carolina and beyond.

Daughter of educators

Broad, the daughter of two public school teachers, was born in Pennsylvania and earned her undergraduate degree from Syracuse University and her master’s degree in economics from Ohio State University, according to the UNC System.

She began her career at Syracuse, where she held several positions, before serving as chief executive officer for Arizona’s three-campus university system and then as an executive at the California State University System, according to the UNC System.

As president of the UNC System, she was energetic and ambitious. She challenged the state’s allegiance to rock-bottom tuition costs — raising tuition but increasing financial aid — and continuously searched for projects to generate more money for the system and the state’s economy. She pushed for greater independence for individual campuses and sought to make higher education more accessible with technology, The N&O previously reported.

On Tuesday, officials across North Carolina and in higher education remembered Broad’s leadership, particularly as enrollment in higher education grew.

Former North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt called her “one of the great visionary leaders of higher education in America.”

“She led our UNC System during a time of tremendous growth and was a tireless champion for the students that our public universities served,” Hunt said in a statement.

On Twitter, N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper wrote that Broad helped elevate the UNC System.

“Molly Broad was a leader for higher education and her stewardship helped the UNC System, which is the envy of the nation and a powerhouse for North Carolina’s students and economy. Our prayers are with her family,” wrote

Broad told The N&O in 2001 that one of her biggest challenges was her lack of North Carolina roots.

“Not being a North Carolinian was a huge disadvantage, and it remains a huge disadvantage,” she told The N&O, “There is a connectedness among those whose families are from here. Even though I studied hard, it’s just not the same as being a North Carolina native.” However, she added, “I also think I see things in this state that native North Carolinians just don’t see.”

An advocate for access

After leaving the UNC System, she served as president of the American Council on Education, a nonprofit advocacy organization focused on higher education, from 2008 to 2017, becoming the 12th president of ACE and the first woman to lead the organization since its founding in 1918.

Broad “was a pathbreaking and innovative higher education leader whose work made a profound impact on thousands of students at the institutions she served and all of American higher education,” ACE president Ted Mitchell wrote in a statement released Tuesday.

Mitchell wrote that Broad spearheaded initiatives aimed at improving access to postsecondary education, and “enabling colleges and universities to anticipate and respond in innovative ways to an evolving higher education landscape.”

Mitchell also wrote that she was “a friend, colleague, and mentor” who “leaves a legacy of excellence, leadership, and service.”

Since 2018, Broad had been a partner in the Education Practice of RIDGE-LANE LP, a strategic advisory and venture development company. She also held a seat on the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund – a Fortune 100 financial services organization – and served as the past chair of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, a multi-national research, policy and advocacy organization focused on public universities.

Broad was married to Robert Broad, who died in 2020, and is survived by her two adult sons.