Holden Thorp
Encyclopedia
Herbert Holden Thorp is a chemist
, inventor
, musician
, professor
, and entrepreneur
who is the tenth and current chancellor
of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
(UNC). He began in that position on July 1, 2008, succeeding James Moeser
, and, at age 43, was noted at the time as being among the youngest leaders of a university in the United States
. At the time of his selection as chancellor, Thorp was the dean
of the College of Arts and Sciences and a Kenan Professor of chemistry at the university. Thorp is a 1986 graduate of UNC; he later earned a Ph.D in chemistry from California Institute of Technology
, and was a postdoctoral associate at Yale University
.
. He was an attorney who earned an undergraduate degree from UNC in 1954 and a law degree - also from UNC - in 1956. His mother, Olga "Bo" Thorp (née Bernardin, b. 1933), a 1956 UNC graduate, is a native of Columbia, South Carolina
; her parents were Italian
immigrants who died when she was 15. Both of Thorp's parents were involved in creating Fayetteville Little Theater, now known as the Cape Fear Regional Theater, in 1962. Herb Thorp was its first president, and Bo Thorp has been its creative director since its inception.
Thorp's parents moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina
in 1960, and Thorp was born there on August 16, 1964. He spent much of his youth involved with the theater, performing in productions led by his mother, and met his future wife, Patti Worden, in 1974 at the theater. He attended St. Patrick Catholic School, a private
middle school
. He is remembered as a good student who finished the algebra textbook by Thanksgiving, and a geometry book the following Easter.
In the summer of 1981, at age 17, while studying guitar
at Boston's Berklee College of Music
, Thorp won first place and a $500 prize in a northeast regional competition to solve a Rubik's Cube
puzzle. His motivation for entering the competition was to earn money to buy jazz
records
. Winning the competition also earned him a trip to the national competition, which was aired on the television program That's Incredible!
He placed fifth in that national competition, and again won first place in a regional competition the following year, in Charlotte, North Carolina
.
After graduating from Terry Sanford High School
in 1982, Thorp attended the only university he had applied to, the University of North Carolina. He was a pre-medical
student initially, and later turned to chemistry and academia, earning a BS degree in 1986. He completed doctoral work in three years (instead of the normal five) at the California Institute of Technology
in 1989, earning a Ph.D under Harry B. Gray
at the age of 24. He completed post-doctoral work at Yale
in 1990.
In 1991, Thorp began teaching as an associate professor of chemistry at North Carolina State University
.
in 1991 by the National Science Foundation
, which provided $100,000 of research funding annually for five years. Later in 1991, Thorp was one of 20 people awarded a grant by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation
; the $500,000 fellowship was for research on compounds used in genetic therapy. Both grants were for research to develop cancer
and AIDS
drugs as alternatives to chemotherapy
.
In 1996, Thorp co-founded biotechnology
company Alderaan Diagnostics, later renamed Xanthon, Inc., to commercialize a technology he co-developed. The technology involved using electricity to test compounds that could later become new drugs. It was intended to turn a process that previously took months into an electronic process that would instead take hours. In 2001, Thorp was recognized by Fortune Small Business
as a Small Business Innovator for the work that led to the founding of the company. Xanthon raised several rounds of venture capital
, totaling $25 million, before folding in 2002, after technical glitches had delayed release of its commercial product and it could not find further funding.
In 2005, Thorp co-founded Viamet Pharmaceuticals, another biotechnology company, to develop treatments for cancer and other diseases. It raised $4 million in venture capital funding in 2007, and an additional $18 million in 2009. Thorp is no longer involved in operation of the company.
Thorp is a member of the scientific advisory board of Ohmx, a biotechnology firm based on technology developed by his doctoral mentor, Harry B. Gray
. He was previously a venture partner at Hatteras Venture Partners, co-founded by his brother Clay. He gave up that role after being named chancellor of UNC in 2008, and his equity stake in the firm was transferred to a blind trust
.
Thorp is a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
.
and University of California, Berkeley
, Thorp returned to his alma mater in 1993 to teach, rising from visiting assistant professor to professor in six years. In 1998, he received a Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
In 2001, Thorp became the director of the Morehead Planetarium
, part of UNC. That fall, he co-led a student focus group responsible for exploring and providing feedback on the University's consideration of a branch campus of the Kenan–Flagler Business School in Qatar
. In 2005, he was named a Kenan Professor and chair of the chemistry department of the College of Arts and Sciences. He led the 2005 committee that selected the book as recommended reading for that fall's incoming freshmen, Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story
, by North Carolina native Timothy B. Tyson.
He became the dean
of the College of Arts and Sciences in 2007, after a nationwide search. One year later, he was named chancellor of the University, after being nominated by Erskine Bowles
, president of the University of North Carolina System and unanimously chosen by the Board of Governors.
, Thorp has been involved with many aspects of performance. He worked in lighting for productions at the theater company directed by his mother, and later took on the music. He took piano and guitar lessons and formed a garage band as a teenager. While doing post-doctoral work, he wrote some music for the Yale Cabaret and a musical production for the River Renaissance on the Cape Fear River
. He has written several musicals and has played piano with his local church. He has also played with Equinox, a local jazz band.
In 1998, Thorp was the musical director for a performance of The Sound of Music
, in which his wife played Maria von Trapp
, and as a result, missed the ceremony at which the Tanner award recipients were recognized.
In 2010, Thorp wrote a book on entrepreneurship called "Engines on Innovation". With his co-author Buck Goldstein, they insist that the world's biggest problems can be solved through innovation at large research universities. They also created a website to encourage innovation on college campuses.
and Yale University
, since 1991. They have two children. He has a younger brother, Clay, who is also a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
.
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
, inventor
Invention
An invention is a novel composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived, in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social...
, musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, professor
Professors in the United States
In the U.S., "Professors" commonly occupy any of several positions in academia, typically the ranks of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Full Professor....
, and entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
who is the tenth and current chancellor
Chancellor (education)
A chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....
of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
(UNC). He began in that position on July 1, 2008, succeeding James Moeser
James Moeser
James Charles Moeser was the ninth chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also a trained concert organist...
, and, at age 43, was noted at the time as being among the youngest leaders of a university in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. At the time of his selection as chancellor, Thorp was the dean
Dean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
of the College of Arts and Sciences and a Kenan Professor of chemistry at the university. Thorp is a 1986 graduate of UNC; he later earned a Ph.D in chemistry from California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
, and was a postdoctoral associate at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
.
Early life and education
Thorp's father, Herbert Holden "Herb" Thorp (d. 1996), was a native of Rocky Mount, North CarolinaRocky Mount, North Carolina
Rocky Mount is an All-America City Award-winning city in Edgecombe and Nash counties in the coastal plains of the state of North Carolina. Although it was not formally incorporated until February 28, 1867, the North Carolina community that became the city of Rocky Mount dates from the beginning of...
. He was an attorney who earned an undergraduate degree from UNC in 1954 and a law degree - also from UNC - in 1956. His mother, Olga "Bo" Thorp (née Bernardin, b. 1933), a 1956 UNC graduate, is a native of Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...
; her parents were Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
immigrants who died when she was 15. Both of Thorp's parents were involved in creating Fayetteville Little Theater, now known as the Cape Fear Regional Theater, in 1962. Herb Thorp was its first president, and Bo Thorp has been its creative director since its inception.
Thorp's parents moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville is a city located in Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is the county seat of Cumberland County, and is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a U.S. Army post located northwest of the city....
in 1960, and Thorp was born there on August 16, 1964. He spent much of his youth involved with the theater, performing in productions led by his mother, and met his future wife, Patti Worden, in 1974 at the theater. He attended St. Patrick Catholic School, a private
Parochial school
A parochial school is a school that provides religious education in addition to conventional education. In a narrower sense, a parochial school is a Christian grammar school or high school which is part of, and run by, a parish.-United Kingdom:...
middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
. He is remembered as a good student who finished the algebra textbook by Thanksgiving, and a geometry book the following Easter.
In the summer of 1981, at age 17, while studying guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
at Boston's Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
, Thorp won first place and a $500 prize in a northeast regional competition to solve a Rubik's Cube
Rubik's Cube
Rubik's Cube is a 3-D mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik.Originally called the "Magic Cube", the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by Ideal Toy Corp. in 1980 and won the German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle that...
puzzle. His motivation for entering the competition was to earn money to buy jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
. Winning the competition also earned him a trip to the national competition, which was aired on the television program That's Incredible!
That's Incredible!
That's Incredible! was an American reality television show that aired on the ABC television network from 1980 to 1984.-Synopsis:In the tradition of You Asked For It, Ripley's Believe It or Not! and Real People, the show featured people performing stunts and reenactments of allegedly paranormal events...
He placed fifth in that national competition, and again won first place in a regional competition the following year, in Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
.
After graduating from Terry Sanford High School
Terry Sanford High School
Terry Sanford High School is a public high school in Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States. It is named after Terry Sanford, who was a North Carolina state senator, Governor of North Carolina and a United States Senator...
in 1982, Thorp attended the only university he had applied to, the University of North Carolina. He was a pre-medical
Pre-medical
Pre-medical is a term used to describe a track an undergraduate student in the United States pursues prior to becoming a medical student...
student initially, and later turned to chemistry and academia, earning a BS degree in 1986. He completed doctoral work in three years (instead of the normal five) at the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
in 1989, earning a Ph.D under Harry B. Gray
Harry B. Gray
Harry Barkus Gray is the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry at California Institute of Technology. He won the Priestley Medal in 1991, Harvey Prize in 2000, The Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry in 2004, and the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 2004.-Career:Gray received his B.S...
at the age of 24. He completed post-doctoral work at Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
in 1990.
In 1991, Thorp began teaching as an associate professor of chemistry at North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution...
.
Research and entrepreneurship
Thorp was awarded a Presidential Young Investigator AwardPresidential Young Investigator Award
The Presidential Young Investigator Award was awarded by the National Science Foundation. The program operated from 1984 to 1991, and was replaced by the NSF Young Investigator Awards and Presidential Faculty Fellows Program...
in 1991 by the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
, which provided $100,000 of research funding annually for five years. Later in 1991, Thorp was one of 20 people awarded a grant by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a private foundation that provides grants to not-for-profit organizations. It was created in 1964 by David Packard and his wife Lucile Salter Packard. Following David Packard's death in 1996, the Foundation became the beneficiary of part of his estate...
; the $500,000 fellowship was for research on compounds used in genetic therapy. Both grants were for research to develop cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
drugs as alternatives to chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
.
In 1996, Thorp co-founded biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
company Alderaan Diagnostics, later renamed Xanthon, Inc., to commercialize a technology he co-developed. The technology involved using electricity to test compounds that could later become new drugs. It was intended to turn a process that previously took months into an electronic process that would instead take hours. In 2001, Thorp was recognized by Fortune Small Business
Fortune Small Business
Fortune Small Business ' was a magazine published ten times each year. The publication was a joint venture by The Fortune Group at Time Inc. and American Express Small Business Services...
as a Small Business Innovator for the work that led to the founding of the company. Xanthon raised several rounds of venture capital
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
, totaling $25 million, before folding in 2002, after technical glitches had delayed release of its commercial product and it could not find further funding.
In 2005, Thorp co-founded Viamet Pharmaceuticals, another biotechnology company, to develop treatments for cancer and other diseases. It raised $4 million in venture capital funding in 2007, and an additional $18 million in 2009. Thorp is no longer involved in operation of the company.
Thorp is a member of the scientific advisory board of Ohmx, a biotechnology firm based on technology developed by his doctoral mentor, Harry B. Gray
Harry B. Gray
Harry Barkus Gray is the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry at California Institute of Technology. He won the Priestley Medal in 1991, Harvey Prize in 2000, The Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry in 2004, and the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 2004.-Career:Gray received his B.S...
. He was previously a venture partner at Hatteras Venture Partners, co-founded by his brother Clay. He gave up that role after being named chancellor of UNC in 2008, and his equity stake in the firm was transferred to a blind trust
Blind trust
A blind trust is a trust in which the fiduciaries, namely the trustees or those who have been given power of attorney, have full discretion over the assets, and the trust beneficiaries have no knowledge of the holdings of the trust and no right to intervene in their handling...
.
Thorp is a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center is a matrix cancer center at one of the United States’ premier public universities. The center achieved National Cancer Institute designation in 1975 and became a comprehensive center in 1990. Now under the direction of Dr...
.
University of North Carolina
Turning down employment offers from Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
and University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, Thorp returned to his alma mater in 1993 to teach, rising from visiting assistant professor to professor in six years. In 1998, he received a Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
In 2001, Thorp became the director of the Morehead Planetarium
Morehead Planetarium
Morehead Planetarium and Science Center is located on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is one of the oldest and largest planetariums in the United States having welcomed over 7 million visitors by its 60th anniversary in 2009...
, part of UNC. That fall, he co-led a student focus group responsible for exploring and providing feedback on the University's consideration of a branch campus of the Kenan–Flagler Business School in Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
. In 2005, he was named a Kenan Professor and chair of the chemistry department of the College of Arts and Sciences. He led the 2005 committee that selected the book as recommended reading for that fall's incoming freshmen, Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story
Blood Done Sign My Name
Blood Done Sign My Name is an autobiographical work of history written by Timothy B. Tyson while he was a professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The book, published in 2004 and based in part on an M.A...
, by North Carolina native Timothy B. Tyson.
He became the dean
Dean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
of the College of Arts and Sciences in 2007, after a nationwide search. One year later, he was named chancellor of the University, after being nominated by Erskine Bowles
Erskine Bowles
Erskine Boyce Bowles is an American businessman and political figure from North Carolina. He served from 2005 to 2010 as the President of the University of North Carolina system...
, president of the University of North Carolina System and unanimously chosen by the Board of Governors.
Music
Beginning with his first theater appearance at age 3 in Carnival!Carnival!
Carnival is a 1961 musical with the book by Michael Stewart and music and lyrics by Bob Merrill. The musical is based on the 1953 film Lili.-Background:...
, Thorp has been involved with many aspects of performance. He worked in lighting for productions at the theater company directed by his mother, and later took on the music. He took piano and guitar lessons and formed a garage band as a teenager. While doing post-doctoral work, he wrote some music for the Yale Cabaret and a musical production for the River Renaissance on the Cape Fear River
Cape Fear River
The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina in the United States. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The overall water quality of the river is continuously measured and monitored by and conducted by the , , and the...
. He has written several musicals and has played piano with his local church. He has also played with Equinox, a local jazz band.
In 1998, Thorp was the musical director for a performance of The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
, in which his wife played Maria von Trapp
Maria von Trapp
Maria Augusta von Trapp , also known as Baroness Maria von Trapp, was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers...
, and as a result, missed the ceremony at which the Tanner award recipients were recognized.
Awards and publications
Thorp was named a Distinguished Young Alumnus in 2002 by the UNC General Alumni Association.In 2010, Thorp wrote a book on entrepreneurship called "Engines on Innovation". With his co-author Buck Goldstein, they insist that the world's biggest problems can be solved through innovation at large research universities. They also created a website to encourage innovation on college campuses.
Personal
Thorp has been married to the former Patti Worden, a graduate of the University of North Carolina at GreensboroUniversity of North Carolina at Greensboro
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro , also known as UNC Greensboro, is a public university in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States and is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina system. The university offers more than 100 undergraduate, 61 master's and 26...
and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, since 1991. They have two children. He has a younger brother, Clay, who is also a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
.