Chair of the Faculty
About the Chair of the Faculty
As stated in Section 3-1 of the Faculty Code, the chair of the faculty has the following duties, in addition to those that may be determined by the chancellor or Faculty Council:
- To serve as chair pro tempore of the Faculty Council and of the General Faculty,
- To make an annual report to the Faculty Council on the state of the faculty, and
- To represent the chancellor in all academic matters whenever requested by the chancellor
The position of chair of the faculty was created on 26 October 1951 as a requirement of The Faculty Code of University Government.
The chair of the faculty serves a three-year term and is ineligible for immediate reelection. Nominations take place every third year and are made by the Advisory Committee. (As of the 2024-2025 academic year, terms will change to two years per Resolution 2022-6.) The elected chair takes office on July 1 of the election year. Interim vacancies in the office of chair of the faculty are filled through appointment by the Advisory Committee.
Current Chair of the Faculty: Beth Moracco
Professor Beth Moracco was elected as the University’s 26th chair of the faculty in April 2023. She is an associate professor in the Department of Health Behavior in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and the associate director of the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center.
After completing her B.A. in Political Science with a certificate in African Studies at the University of Florida, Professor Moracco served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) where she stayed for a total of five years, teaching at a Teachers’ College and working on health and sanitation projects. She returned to the U.S. to pursue her Master of Public Health and then Ph.D. in Health Behavior at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.
She joined the Health Behavior faculty in 2008 and has held several important leadership positions in the department. Professor Moracco is widely known as an outstanding teacher, mentor, practitioner and researcher. Her research and practice are centered on violence prevention, with a focus on gender-based violence in both local and global settings. She was honored with the University’s Edward Kidder Graham Faculty Service Award in 2021 in acknowledgement of her dedication to the reduction and prevention of domestic and other types of gender-based violence. Skilled in intervention development and evaluation, Moracco is an expert in community-based engagement, in which stakeholders are active participants in the design and evaluation of interventions that meet their community’s needs. Her excellence in teaching and mentorship was recognized with the Edward G. McGavran Award for Excellence in Teaching from the public health school in 2019.
A “Triple Tar Heel” (alumna, faculty member and parent), Professor Moracco has served in leadership roles at the departmental, school, and university levels. Her Faculty Governance experience includes three terms as an elected representative on the Faculty Council, and membership on the Agenda Committee, Fixed-Term Faculty Committee and Educational Policy Committee.
As Chair of the Faculty, Professor Moracco seeks to engage faculty, administrators, staff, and students in order enact authentic shared governance at the University. Her priorities are to protect and enhance Carolina’s efforts toward building an inclusive, equitable environment; safeguard the integrity of the role of faculty in shared governance; and advocate for complete and timely communication and information-sharing.
If you wish to contact Professor Moracco regarding faculty governance-related matters, please email facultychair@unc.edu or call the Office of Faculty Governance at 919-962-2146.
Chairs of the Faculty, 1952-present
From 1952 until 1974, the term of Chair of the Faculty began January 1. Effective with the 1974 election, the beginning date of the term has been July 1. Due to this change, Prof. Okun’s term was extended by six months.
| Years served | Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1952-1955 | William S. Wells | Kenan Professor of English |
| 1955-1958 | Dudley DeWitt Carroll | Kenan Professor of Economics |
| 1958-1961 | William S. Wells | Kenan Professor of English |
| 1961-1964 | George M. Harper | Professor of English |
| 1964-1967 | Corydon P. Spruill | Alumni Distinguished Professor of Economics |
| 1967-1970 | Frederic N. Cleveland | Professor of Political Science |
| 1970-1974 | Daniel A. Okun | Kenan Professor of Environmental Sciences and Engineering |
| 1974-1977 | George V. Taylor | Professor of History |
| 1977-1980 | E. Maynard Adams | Kenan Professor of Philosophy |
| 1980-1983 | Daniel H. Pollitt | Graham Kenan Professor of Law |
| 1983-1986 | Doris W. Betts | Alumni Distinguished Professor of English |
| 1986-1989 | George A. Kennedy | Paddison Professor of Classics |
| 1989-1991 | Harry Gooder | Professor of Microbiology and Immunology |
| 1991-1994 | James L. Peacock III | Kenan Professor of Anthropology |
| 1994-1997 | Jane D. Brown | Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication |
| 1997-2000 | Richard N. Andrews | Professor of Environmental Sciences and Engineering |
| 2000-2003 | Sue E. Estroff | Professor of Social Medicine |
| 2003-2006 | Judith W. Wegner | Professor of Law |
| 2006-2009 | Joseph Templeton | Francis Preston Venable Professor of Chemistry |
| 2009-2011 | McKay Coble | Professor of Dramatic Art |
| 2011-2014 | Jan Boxill | Master Lecturer of Philosophy |
| 2014-2017 | Bruce A. Cairns | John Stackhouse Distinguished Professor of Surgery and Director of the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center |
| 2017-2019 | Leslie Parise | Professor and Chair of Biochemistry and Biophysics |
| 2019-2020 | Lloyd S. Kramer | Professor of History |
| 2020-2023 | Mimi V. Chapman | Frank A. Daniels Distinguished Professor for Human Service Policy Information in the School of Social Work |
