April 25, 2008
Meeting of the General Faculty and the Faculty Council
Friday, April 25, 2008
3:00 p.m.
Hitchcock Multipurpose Room
Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History
Chancellor James Moeser and Faculty Chair Joseph Templeton presiding
Agenda
3:00 Welcome and Opening Remarks
- Chancellor James Moeser
- Provost Bernadette Gray-Little
3:25 Presentation of the 2008 Thomas Jefferson Award
- Chancellor Moeser
- Reading of the citation for Prof. Shelton Earp
- Dean Barbara Rimer
3:35 Remembrance of Deceased Faculty
- Prof. Joseph Ferrell, Secretary of the Faculty
3:40 UNC Quality Enhancement Plan Annual Update
- Prof. Bobbi Owen, Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, College of Arts and Sciences
3:50 Committee Report: Faculty Committee on Research
- Prof. Harvey Seim, Chair
4:00 Committee Report: Fixed-Term Faculty Committee
- Prof. Suzanne Gulledge, Chair
4:10 2008 Faculty Election Results
- Prof. Joseph Ferrell, Secretary of the Faculty
4:15 Encomium for Chancellor Moeser
5:00 Adjourn
Minutes
The General Faculty and Faculty Council of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill convened at 3:00 p.m. in the Hitchcock Multipurpose Room of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History.
The following 47 members of the Council attended: Aaron, Andrews, Ashby, Bagnell, Balthrop, Barreau, Blocher, Bloom, Boukhelifa, Broome, Campbell, Conway, Couper, Earp, Ernst, Gerber, Glazner, Gulledge, Halloran, Heenan, Hobbs, Kamarei, Katznelson, Kramer, Leonard, Lesneski, Meade, Melamut, Murray, Oatley, Papanikolas, Parsons, Pruvost, Rhodes, Rodgers, Saunders, Sheldon, Silversmith, Stein, Sweeney, Threadgill, Visser, Williams, and Wissick.
The following 33 members were granted excused absences: Bachenheimer, Bangdiwala, Bickford, Blackburn, Brice, Chin, Copenhaver, DeSaix, Dupuis, Ewend, Gilligan, Hendrick, Hightow, Hodges, Kelly, Kendall, Koroluk, Lauen, Mauro, McGrath, Moss, Orth, Peirce, Perrin, Renner, Temple, Toews, Wegner, Weil, Weinberg, Whisnant, Wilder and Yankaskas.
The following 11 members were absent without excuse: Ammerman, Belger, Coleman, Marshall, McCombs, Paquette, Rosamond, Thorp, Vernon-Feagans, Votta, and Wilson.
Call to Order
Prof. Joseph Templeton, Chair of the Faculty, called the meeting to order.
Provost’s Remarks
Provost Bernadette Gray-Little reported briefly on a number of senior administrator searches:
- Dr. G. Williamson McDiarmid, Boeing Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Washington, Seattle, has been appointed dean of the School of Education. Effective January 1, 2009.
- Prof. Steve Matson (Biology) has been appointed dean of the Graduate School, effective July 1, 2008.
- Prof. Larry Band (Geography) has been appointed director of the Institute for the Environment, effective July 1, 2008.
- Prof. Joe Templeton will chair the search committee for executive associate provost.
- The search committee for dean of the Kenan-Flagler Business School, chaired by Dean Barbara Rimer, has identified a group of finalists. A decision is anticipated in July.
- Prof. Reginald Hildebrand is chairing the search committee for director of the Institute for African-American Research.
- Dean Linda Cronenwett of the School of Nursing has decided to step down next year; Dean Robert Blouin will chair the search committee for her successor.
The provost said that advance indications are that the 2008-09 state budget will provide only modest salary increases, and a budget cut in the vicinity of up to 10% is anticipated.
The provost reported that the quarterly meeting of chief academic officers discussed a number of issues related to fixed-term faculty. She said that a committee to inquire into the status of fixed-term faculty will be appointed in the fall semester.
Finally, the provost said that the recent changes in provisions of the Code of the Board of Governors pertaining to academic tenure were much more modest than originally proposed. She characterized them as more like housekeeping with little substantive impact.
Chancellor’s Remarks
Chancellor Moeser began with what he called a “high note.” He said that the most recent report on national faculty salary data (for tenure-stream faculty only) in the Chronicle of Higher Education shows that Carolina is in a very favorable position in comparison to our peer institutions. Here, average salaries of full professors were up 10% from the previous year. Carolina now ranks slightly ahead of the University of Michigan, Georgia Tech, and the University of Virginia for full professors. We have also made good progress in the associate professor and assistant professor ranks. By contrast, the University of Wisconsin is losing faculty at an alarming rate, the University of Florida and Florida State are having difficult times, and the University of California System is looking at serious budget cuts.
The chancellor noted that this is the last meeting of the Faculty Council he will attend as chancellor. He said that one of the most satisfying aspects of his tenure at Carolina has been his relationship with the faculty. He said that he has had the benefit of experiencing faculty governance as a senior administrator at Pennsylvania State, the University of South Carolina, and the University of Nebraska. On those campuses the core faculty have, by and large, turned away from faculty governance, leaving that important aspect of university life to those who feel marginalized and who tend to use the governance structures to hammer the administration. He said that he found a very different culture at Carolina. Here, he said, the Council, the Faculty Executive Committee, the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee, and other committees are peopled by the very best of our faculty. He said that we take shared governance seriously at Carolina and respect it. He thanked the Council for helping to keep that tradition alive and strong.
Thomas Jefferson Award
Chancellor Moeser presented the 2008 Thomas Jefferson Award to Prof. H. Shelton Earp III. This award was established in 1962 by the Robert E. McConnell Foundation to be given annually to that member of the faculty “who most closely approximates in his teaching and personal life the philosophy and conduct of Thomas Jefferson.” Dean Barbara Rimer read the citation and Prof. Earp responded with gratitude.
Remembrance of Deceased Faculty
Prof. Joseph Ferrell, Secretary of the Faculty, led the Council in a remembrance of faculty colleagues who died in the past year.
Quality Enhancement Plan Update
Sr. Assoc. Dean Bobbi Owen presented a brief update on continued implementation of the Quality Enhancement Plan developed during the most recent SACS Reaccreditation Study.
Annual Report of the Research Committee
Prof. Harvey Seim, chair of the Committee on Research, presented the committee’s annual report by title. There were no questions or discussion to add to the Council’s discussion of the committee’s work at the January 25, 2008, meeting.
Annual Report of the Committee on Fixed-Term Faculty
Prof. Suzanne Gulledge, chair of the Council Committee on Fixed-Term Faculty, presented the committee’s annual report by title.
Prof. Diane Leonard (English & Comparative Literature) noted that Prof. Carl Ernst, president of the Carolina Chapter of AAUP, has made a presentation to the committee. She said that AAUP is concerned that “contingent faculty,” i.e., those who do not have tenured or tenure-track appointments, do not enjoy the same level of academic freedom as their tenured colleagues and that, consequently, growth in the number of contingent faculty constitutes a real and present danger to academic freedom. She hoped that the committee would bear this in mind.
2008 Elections Report
Prof. Ferrell reported the results of the 2008 faculty elections. He said that 3,294 ballots had been distributed and 800 completed and returned. This is a 23.3% voter participation rate which, while low, is considerably better than the 14% participation rate in 2007.
Farewell to Chancellor Moeser
Prof. Terry Rhodes, soprano, and Prof. Brent Wissick, cello, bade farewell to Chancellor Moeser on behalf of the Council by serenading him.
General Discussion
Prof. Diane Leonard expressed regret that, in her view, Council meetings no longer entail the lively discussion that she thinks should be encouraged.
Adjournment
Its business having been completed, the Council adjourned at 4:03 p.m.
Joseph S. Ferrell
Secretary of the Faculty
