No pressure, chancellor...

Some thoughts from UNC Chapel Hill's University Day celebration:

Holden Thorp can do no wrong, apparently.

Erskine Bowles, who as the UNC system's president is Thorp's boss, told a packed house at Memorial Hall Monday that he was, shall we say, quite pleased with himself for naming Thorp to the UNC-CH chancellorship last year.

_{(UNC photo by Dan Sears)}

"Holden Thorp is doing a phenomenal job," Bowles told the crowd. "He is, without a doubt, the single best decision I've made in my life."

Both Thorp and Gov. Beverly Perdue - who gave Monday's featured speech - pointed out to Bowles that perhaps he'd like to temper his enthusiasm just a smidge so as not to enrage his wife, Crandall Close Bowles.

"The governor and I think marrying Crandall was the best decision you ever made," Thorp retorted. "We can debate that later."

UNC-CH had several milestones to recognize Monday, its 216th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone of Old East, the first building at what would be the state's first public university.

The journalism school is 100 years old this year. The Carolina Center for Public Service is 10 years old this year. And the university is now unveiling a new education center at the N.C. Botanical Garden, expected to be the first public building in North Carolina to receive a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum status.

Among the five UNC-CH graduates to receive distinguished alumni awards Monday was Mia Hamm, the soccer star. 

Hamm's husband is Nomar Garciaparra, the professional baseball player. On Monday, there was Garciaparra, just another dad and husband on the sidewalk outside Memorial Hall, pushing the couple's twin girls in their stroller while waiting for Hamm to emerge from the ceremony.

Another award winner was Janie McLawhorn Fouke, a biomedical engineer who has excelled in a field traditionally dominated by men.

That's a fact not lost on Joe Ferrell, the faculty secretary. Among Ferrell's duties is to intruduce award winners at events like University Day, and he did so Monday with his usual wry wit.

"Don't ask Janie Fouke about a glass ceiling for women in engineering," he intoned. "She's standing on the shards."