CHARLOTTE – A burgeoning city demands a burgeoning university – and North Carolina’s largest city has one.

“From the beginning, going all the way back to our founding in 1946 … this place has been all about opportunity,” UNC Charlotte Chancellor Philip Dubois says in the accompanying video.

“We offer opportunity, as in the view of our founder, Bonnie Cone, to every deserving student capable of doing college work and who would benefit from a college degree.  And that’s been our mission from the very beginning.”

Though it is relatively young, UNC Charlotte bills itself as North Carolina’s urban research university and has more than 29,000 students, making it the second-largest undergraduate campus in the UNC System.  Dubois says its eventual target is 35,000 students.

What will it take to make UNC Charlotte greater?

“It’s all about the people – in order to keep a great university, you’ve got to have great faculty, great staff, and continue to attract really good students,” Dubois says.

“Faculty salaries will be an issue – compensation and benefits.  When you’re out there fishing for talent, money does talk.

“The good news for us is that we’re in Charlotte – and that’s also a very attractive place to attract quality faculty and staff. They love being in Charlotte – it’s a dynamic region.  It’s got lots of things to do, high quality of life.  So it’s an easy sell for a lot of the people we try to recruit,” he says.