CHAPEL HILL – A former president of the United States, two governors, a State House speaker and a former UNC president all took time Wednesday evening to thank President Margaret Spellings for leading the University of North Carolina System.

As Spellings prepares to leave the University after three years as president, Higher Education Works sponsored a dinner to congratulate and thank her.

Even amid the mourning over the recent death of his father, former President George W. Bush, whom Spellings served as U.S. Secretary of Education, somehow found time to send a letter congratulating her.

In a video tribute, Gov. Roy Cooper thanked Spellings for leading “the greatest state university system in the country” and thanked her for her friendship.

“A strong public education system is the key to creating successful, purpose-driven communities. It’s the driving force behind a prosperous workforce and economy,” Cooper said.

Former UNC System President Erskine Bowles said North Carolina has been blessed to have Spellings lead the University.

“Standing between the red and the blue in North Carolina today, and in the nation, is very tough,” Bowles said. He noted controversies Spellings confronted over transgender restroom access and Confederate monuments.

“None of these controversies fazed her even one little bit,” Bowles said.

Bowles praised Spellings for the University System’s strategic plan, which places new emphasis on accountability, opportunity and affordability. He also singled out the implementation of NC Promise – $500-a-semester tuition for in-state students at Western Carolina, UNC Pembroke and Elizabeth City State universities.

“That program did no less than open up the American Dream for thousands of current and future North Carolinians,” he said.

“Margaret Spellings truly leaves our state far, far better than she found it.”

NC House Speaker Tim Moore thanked Spellings as well.

“Sometimes politics can be a little polarizing,” Moore said. “So it’s been refreshing to deal with someone like President Spellings who can come in and immediately command respect from both sides.”

Lou Bissette, who served as Chairman of the UNC Board of Governors for most of Spellings’ service, quoted Spellings: “‘We need to serve more people more affordably, more conveniently and more rapidly.’”

“That’s exactly what we need to do,” Bissette said. “She gets what our University System means to North Carolina and why the University is this state’s greatest asset.

“Thankfully, she will leave the University System with dual citizenship in Dallas, Texas and Bald Head Island, North Carolina,” he said.

Former Gov. Jim Hunt wrote that he first worked with Spellings when she was an aide to then-Gov. George W. Bush in Texas.

“I learned a lot (and North Carolina learned a lot) from Texas. And we all learned a lot from Margaret Spellings,” Hunt wrote, noting her commitment to higher standards, accountability and measuring results.

“As North Carolina’s longest-serving Governor, I want to say that she is one of our state’s finest leaders at one of the most crucial moments in our history. We will forever be in your debt, Margaret.”

Between jokes about barbecue, speakers also noted Spellings’ pointed sense of humor.

“Even though you are important … you don’t take yourself seriously – and that’s one of the best attributes I think someone can have,” Roger Perry, a Higher Education Works board member, told Spellings. “We are in your debt, we hate that you’re leaving us, but we’re so happy that you were here.”

UNC Health Care CEO William Roper, who will serve as Interim President after Spellings’ departure, read the letter from President Bush and told Spellings: “Thank you for being our leader.”

Higher Education Works Co-Chair Paul Fulton noted that Spellings arrived at a stressful time.

“You came to us in a really difficult environment: Political upheaval, extraordinary challenges to the cost and value of a college education, philosophical challenges to the purpose of college education, and the advent and impact of technology on instruction,” Fulton said.

“Through all of this, you have been steadfast and purposeful in your belief that a college education must not only be affordable, but is readily available to everyone in the state, resulting in a better-educated populace ready for the jobs of the future. In addition, you always reminded us that it did not end with access and affordability – a kid also must graduate.”

After a champagne toast, Spellings said she was both touched and humbled.

“This University is what has made the difference in this state. It is because of the University of North Carolina System that North Carolina is North Carolina,” she said.