THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 20, 1995 TAG: 9508200048
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Helen M. Caldwell is the dean of faculty in charge of academic affairs. She was Jenkins' chief executive and daily operational liaison.
Helen M. Caldwell, a no-nonsense senior vice-chancellor of Elizabeth City State University, is the latest candidate to be mentioned as the interim or full-time successor to Chancellor Jimmy R. Jenkins.
Caldwell, dean of the faculty in charge of academic affairs, has been Jenkins' chief executive and daily operational link between students, instructors and administrators on the ECSU campus.
The vice-chancellor has avoided media contact since Jenkins' resignation and could not be reached for comment on reports of her candidacy.
An interim chancellor probably will be named after Jenkins steps down at the end of this month, said Joni Worthington, a spokesperson for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jenkins announced his resignation Aug. 3 in a letter to C.D. Spangler Jr., president of the UNC school system.
``President Spangler plays his cards very close to the vest in such matters and we have no idea who's on his list,'' said Worthington.
While Spangler will appoint the interim chancellor, the full UNC Board of Governors must vote on a permanent successor after receiving a list of candidates from a search committee.
``This process can take months,'' said Worthington.
Like Jenkins, Caldwell is described as an occasional autocrat who can sometimes polarize her ECSU faculty and administrative associates. However, the detractors are generally outnumbered by supporters who admire her fierce and unswerving support of Jenkins.
Caldwell's name began circulating as a candidate, at least as interim chancellor, after an ECSU faculty-staff banquet last week.
Caldwell got second billing - after Jenkins - at the banquet in the Kermit White Center and repeatedly emphasized her approval of Jenkins' goal of making ECSU ``a techno-cultural university - living, learning and leading in cyberspace.''
Prior to the banquet, names of candidates included Ronald G. Penny, an Elizabeth City attorney who is Gov. James B. Hunt's state personnel director in Raleigh; Janice McKenzie Cole, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina; and Paul Vandergrift Jr., who until recently was Jenkins' executive assistant at ECSU.
Vandergrift's candidacy is questionable. Several months ago, he was sent to ECSU by Spangler to ramrod the Jenkins' administration on the Elizabeth City campus.
Jenkins' abrupt resignation was widely reported to have followed a shouting match with Vandergrift. Since then Vandergrift has not been seen on campus, but Spangler and others have mentioned his name as a possible interim successor to Jenkins.
An unexpected endorsement of Caldwell came Thursday from Golden Frinks, an Edenton civil rights activist, who is frequently identified with drives to improve living conditions for the poor.
``Why are they talking about Ron Penny and Janice Cole for Jimmy Jenkins job?'' asked Frinks, ``What's the matter with Helen Caldwell? A lot of people think she'd be excellent.'' by CNB