Hessick, Carissa

UNC Service

I previously served on the Faculty Hearings Committee, including one year as Chair of the committee. I currently serve on the University Naming Committee, and I previously served as the Associate Dean for Faculty Development at the law school.

Candidate Statement

The Faculty Hearings Committee performs an essential function--it ensures that the faculty has a voice in decisions about whether to suspend, demote, or discharge a faculty member, as well as in decisions not to reappoint a non-tenured tenure-track faculty member. These decisions are just as important as decisions whether to hire a faculty member and whether to grant a faculty member tenure, and so the faculty must take an active role in ensuring that those decisions have been made according to appropriate criteria.
In my previous service on this committee, I found my background in law to be very helpful. The committee is required to read and apply university regulations. It also must conduct hearings and issue opinions. In other words, to some extent, the committee functions as a court, making legal skills a plus for committee members.