Skip to content

Local figure

Molly Corbett Broad

Molly Corbett Broad was president of the University of North Carolina System from 1997 to 2005, the first woman in the job, and afterward taught as a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. She oversaw the $3.1 billion higher education bond that voters approved in 2000.

Source: WUNC: Molly Broad, UNC's first female system president, dies at 81

4 works about Molly Corbett Broad are indexed here.

Molly Corbett Broad, photograph, 2010
Molly Corbett Broad, photograph, 2010

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 3 dated events in the chronology →

  1. State and university leaders welcome UNC President Molly Broad at a dinner in Chapel Hill On the eve of her inauguration as the 15th president of the UNC system, hundreds of state and university leaders, including Gov. Jim Hunt and former presidents Bill Friday and C. D. Spangler, gathered at the George Watts Hill Alumni Center to welcome Molly Corbett Broad. People: William C. Friday, C. D. Spangler Jr. Place: George Watts Hill Alumni Center, Chapel Hill · Also named: Jim Hunt · Also mentions: UNC systemSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel: Hundreds officially greet Broad (April 29, 1998)
  2. UNC President Molly Broad names William McCoy to lead Chapel Hill after Chancellor Hooker's death After Chancellor Michael Hooker died of cancer in June 1999, UNC system president Molly Broad appointed William O. McCoy, who had served as acting chancellor during Hooker's medical leave, to lead UNC-Chapel Hill until a permanent chancellor was chosen. People: Michael Hooker Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: William O. McCoy · Also mentions: UNC systemSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel: McCoy Called 'Natural' Choice (July 15, 1999)
  3. The Board of Governors elects James Moeser chancellor at the Carolina Inn At a Board of Governors meeting in the Carolina Inn ballroom, UNC system president Molly Broad introduced University of Nebraska-Lincoln chancellor James Moeser, and the board unanimously elected him the ninth chancellor at Chapel Hill, ending an eight-month search. People: James Moeser Place: Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: UNC systemSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel: BOG Names Moeser as 9th Chancellor of University (April 17, 2000)

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Molly Corbett Broad, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Indexed works

Works about or by Molly Corbett Broad. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

"Three University Presidents"

Morton, Hugh M. · 1997

Three presidents of the University of North Carolina system, Clemmie Dixon Spangler, Molly Broad and William Friday, together at UNC-Chapel Hill's University Award ceremonies in 1997. Photographed by Hugh Morton.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

The inauguration of Molly Corbett Broad.

University of North Carolina (System) · 1998

Program for the inauguration of Molly Corbett Broad as president of the University of North Carolina system, held on April 29, 1998 and printed at Chapel Hill. Topics include college presidents and their inaugurations along with the system and its presidents.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

UNC

Office of President of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (System) records, 1968-2015

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (System). President · 1968

Records from the office of the president of the University of North Carolina system, 1968 to 2015, roughly 98,400 items across 123 linear feet, University Archives at UNC, collection 40009. Subjects include the presidents William Friday, C. D. Spangler, Molly Corbett Broad, Erskine Bowles and Thomas Ross, and reach every constituent campus, from East Carolina and North Carolina Central to Winston-Salem State.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

UNC

Broad, Molly: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)

Two items on Molly Broad, a portrait and a set of 37 slides, undated. They belong to the UNC Faculty and Administration binder of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Prints and Photographs Collection.

Included because: Its title names this person.

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

All places and the county map →

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

Background

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Molly Corbett Broad Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

Local help

Search further

Search other catalogs and collections for this name. Results may include other people with the same name and have not been reviewed by the Friends.

Books about Molly Corbett Broad

Find copies at other libraries

Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

These searches use Molly Corbett Broad’s name without birth or death dates, so results may include namesakes. Links open in a new tab.

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

Picture: Molly Corbett Broad, photograph, 2010. Public domain. U.S. Department of the Treasury photograph; via Wikimedia Commons

More to discover

Keep Reading Local

The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.

Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026