In lieu of a formal introduction, please let this suffice for now: Chapel Hill, meet Ivy Ruth Taylor; Dr. Taylor, meet Chapel Hill. You’ll want to know each other.
Leadership transitions at UNC bring with them a significant impact on the townspeople, business, economics and the future of Orange County, and some university positions always garner special interest.
One of those positions, Community Relations Director for the University, garners quite a bit. After all, our town and its university are joined at the cultural and political hip, and how crucial issues are communicated and prioritized affect most of the community.
So, when the former mayor of San Antonio Ivy Ruth Taylor was announced as the new local relations director, attention was paid. Ivy Taylor was already working in the University system for President Peter Hans, who recently took part in the hiring of Lee Roberts as Chancellor of UNC. Hans moved Ivy into a split role: she still works with the system but now she does it in Chapel Hill, working alongside the Chancellor’s cabinet.
On the face of it, it’s just another appointment. But there is always a bigger story. The good news is that in this story Ivy Taylor is eminently well-suited to take local relations at UNC to a new level.
A little background. Taylor earned a degree in American Studies from Yale University. As she began exploring different career possibilities after college, she discovered a love of urban planning and enrolled, of all places, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning. While at Carolina she took the summer between programs to participate in an internship program in San Antonio. That’s where she met and married her husband, Rodney Taylor, who works in commercial real estate. Today they have one daughter, Morgan, who studies at Florida A&M University.
Ivy Taylor with her husband Rodney and daughter Morgan at her 18th birthday.
“My UNC degree in urban planning was focused on community development and I became passionate about affordable housing,” she says. “While living in San Antonio I worked for the city as a municipal manager and then for a nonprofit organization. It was a fulfilling experience. Later, community members asked me to consider running for city council. I ran and I won in a runoff by 54 votes. Every vote counts!”
San Antonio Women magazine.
When then San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro was tapped by the Obama Administration to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development his successor by law had to be selected by the council. They selected Ivy Taylor. She subsequently won a citywide election. Taylor looks back on those years positively, happy for what she was able to contribute.
But she also knew that politics was a steppingstone to a bigger role in public service.
After receiving a doctorate of education from University of Pennsylvania she developed an interest in working with HBCUs. While in Texas she served on the board of trustees at Huston–Tillotson University, a private historically black university in Austin. Then, when she was offered the position of president of Rust College, an HBCU in Mississippi located one hour from Memphis, she said, yes, and served in that role for three years.
“But my heart was still in North Carolina,” she says. As are her parents, who live in Wilmington. “When the opportunity arose to be the senior advisor to President Hans the timing was perfect.”
Ivy’s office is in the School of Government where she plans to teach.
With Beth Moracco, UNC Chair of the Faculty, Jess Anderson, Mayor of the Town of Chapel Hill, and Anita Brown Graham, Director of ncIMPACT Initiative.
“With a background in political leadership and community building, and with the blessing of Chancellor Roberts, I’m dedicated to serving Chapel Hill and Orange County by collaborating on key challenges like housing and downtown revitalization,” she says. “I hope to strengthen connections between the community and UNC’s resources, helping more people benefit from the opportunities the university offers.
“I am excited to work with partners like the Chapel Hill /Orange County Visitor’s Bureau to strengthen the experience for visitors to the area. When I walk around the campus, I still remember what it was like to be a new student there and I love discovering and sharing the community’s other treasures.”
Ivy Taylor at Chapel Hill’s annual holiday parade.
Welcome back to Orange County, Ivy Ruth Taylor. We can’t wait to work with you now and into the future. Our challenges are real, and your experience and expertise will take us a long way toward the fair and equitable community we are all striving to create.
If you would like to share ideas with Dr. Taylor, please drop her an email at irtaylor@sog.unc.edu.
