"He's a cool guy," said senior Arnab Saha, waiting to meet Thorp as the 43-year-old made the rounds at the Campus Y.

"Students are really excited about Holden," Student Body President J.J. Raynor said, mockingly chastising herself for using his first name instead of his new title.

"He's not just any chancellor."

High praise for a man who hadn't actually started work yet. But it captured the expectations many students have for Thorp, who they see as a mix of Everyman and Superman.

Carlyn Cowen, a 21-year-old senior, says Thorp is "generally a great guy."

"I've seen him with his family at Weaver Street and he's always very friendly," she said.

She added, "I think that Chancellor Thorp can play a really good role in working to solve global poverty while simultaneously working to make Carolina a more globally engaged university."

Students took it as a good sign that Thorp's first step as chancellor was to reach out to students.

"He seems like a very personable person, very down to earth," said graduate student Paul Walsh.

"He seemed interested in what we do outside of just student government, which is always nice when somebody in his position wants to get to know the student."

Thorp said Tuesday's chat wasn't just lip service.

"The fact that we started out with that I hope people will see as an emblem of the fact that we're going to interact with the students, take their input and try to build a university that they want to be a part of," Thorp said.

Students seemed to take him at his word.

"I think he's done that in some of his other roles on campus," said graduate student Theresa Reynolds, referring to Thorp's past roles as chemistry professor, director of the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center and, most recently, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

"That was part of what made him attractive for this position. I don't think he's going to change."

The rock star label Thorp enjoys can be attributed to his youth -- he's one of the youngest chancellors ever -- and the fact that he's actually in a rock band.

But it's not as if Thorp walks about with a Johnny Rotten sneer or spiked hair.

Bespectacled and dressed in a low-key beige suit, Thorp is soft-spoken and seems most comfortable talking about his first love: chemistry.

He chatted with chemistry undergraduates Katy Deigan and Nick Swisher about the heady days at the California Institute of Technology researching inorganic photochemistry, whatever that is.

He then discussed the wild nights at Yale University, fueled by oxocluster and electrochemistry flights of fancy.

The rock star finally settled down with ribonucleic acid research at Carolina.

"Do you miss talking about science?" Deigan asked.

"Oh yeah, I do," Thorp said.

Rock on.

"I imagine he'll be a little more in tune to the scientific community's interest, but I don't think he's going to play favorites," Deigan said later when asked if she and her fellow chemists would benefit from having one of their own in South Building.

"It's certainly nice to have someone who knows where we're coming from."

Thorp said he's not quite ready to lay out detailed goals for his tenure as chancellor.

"Carolina's a huge place, and there are a lot of things that go on here that are fantastic and really important to the people of North Carolina and nationally," he said.

"I need to be an expert on all that. I have a lot of homework still ahead of me between now and when school starts."

He has said he wants to be a better partner with the town of Chapel Hill. A key part of that likely will be working with the town to decide what to do with the University Square shopping center UNC recently acquired.

Raynor said she couldn't discuss details, but a road map will be unveiled soon for how the school will retool to better prepare students for the technological and cultural challenges of the new world economy.

Raynor said students would be integral to that process. She's confident that will be the case: Holden told her it would be.