PEMBROKE — Four people spoke Tuesday at a public forum held to give a committee leading the search for the next chancellor of The University of North Carolina at Pembroke ideas about what kind of individual should be chosen.

The forum, which drew an audience of about 20, was the first of six the committee is holding. Today, four forums will be held for various university constituencies, beginning with one for students from 10 to 11 a.m. in the student lounge area of the University Center. Staff can offer their ideas from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at the Givens Performing Arts Center on campus; faculty from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Givens; and alumni and community members from 6 to 7 p.m. at Givens.

Breeden Blackwell, a university trustee and search committee member, told the sparse audience that community members will also have the opportunity to personally address the committee when a final community public forum is held Tuesday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the University Center Annex.

Blackwell called the forums a chance for the public to offer the search committee information that will help to determine the “qualities and qualifications’ the university’s next chancellor should possess. Questions the committee wants the public to answer include: What are the major strengths of UNC Pembroke?; How should success of the new chancellor be measured?; What are the immediate priorities (initial 18-24 months) facing the new chancellor?; What are the longer term priorities for the university?; What are the qualities, skills, experience and credentials the new chancellor should have?

Jason B. Lowry, 90, of Pembroke, told the committee that the next chancellor should have two major qualifications. That person should be someone educated in the University of North Carolina System and be experienced in running a university.

“The past has been great,” said Lowry, who graduated from what is now UNCP in 1948 when fewer than 100 American Indians attended the school. “But the future should be greater.”

Garth Locklear Sr. said that the next chancellor must be someone who understands the cultural diversity of the school’s population and “knows how to treat his fellow man.”

Locklear noted especially the need for the next chancellor to understand the Lumbee people and the tribe’s culture.

“The Lumbees have been rejected by the educational community in the past,” he said. “There is nothing worse than to experience that rejection.”

Raisa Jones, a UNCP senior, also said that the next chancellor must have the qualifications and ability to bring together the university’s diverse student population, be adept in financial management, and be willing and able to address some of the housing and parking issues students encounter.

Jones also told the committee that she believes the next chancellor should be someone familiar and experienced with large university administration.

“We are growing and we do want to grow some,” she said. “Someone from a larger school would know how to deal with a growing university.”

Charles Chrestman, president of Robeson Community College, told the committee that running a university is a “very unique business.”

“I know how important a good chancellor is for the university,” he said. “I work very closely with them ... . You need someone who can hire, has financial savvy and understands technology. You need to find someone who’s got a vision and can look to the future.”

UNC President Erskine Bowles, who will make the final selection, told the UNCP search committee last month that he wants a proven fund-raiser, someone with people skills who sees the Pembroke area as an asset and not a liability; a person focused on improving retention and graduation rates; a leader; a strong administrator; someone he can work with; and a community partner.

Information from the forums will be used by the search firm of Witt/Kieffer in the recruiting and candidate selection process. The search became necessary when UNCP’s chancellor of 10 years, Allen Meadors, resigned to accept the same position with the University of Central Arkansas, his alma mater.