FACULTY ASSEMBLY, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA

April 13, 2000

Lolly Gasaway

The UNC Faculty Assembly experienced an unusual year with three major disruptions but also captured some unique opportunities. Most important of these which was a disruption but also an opportunity is the change of administration at GA with the retirement of Dr. Roy Carroll, Vice President for Academic Affairs. Dr. Carroll was a member of the Assembly from the early 1970s and served as chair 1977-79 when he resigned to become Vice President for Planning at GA. From that time until January, 2000, he was the GA liaison with the Assembly and attended most of its meetings. Dr. Gretchen Bataille from Washington State University replaced Dr. Carroll this spring, and will be the liaison with the Assembly. She brings a wealth of experience and great ideas for working with faculty across the system and will create even more opportunities for interaction with faculty. It is anticipated that the transition will be smooth, and the entire Assembly looks forward to working with her.

The second disruption involved meeting space. Since its inception in 1972, the Assembly has met at the General Administration Building in Chapel Hill with few exceptions. The remodeling at GA displaced the Assembly meetings which were scheduled in a variety of venues in Chapel Hill, none of them adequate for the Assembly. By the April 8 meeting, however, the Board Room at GA was once again available.

The final disruption was caused by Hurricane Floyd which necessitated the cancellation of the September meeting. It was impossible to reschedule an additional session, so the Faculty Assembly met only three times this year rather than its normal four.

Despite these disruptions, the Faculty Assembly made progress. Dr. Keith Howell, from UNC-Greensboro became chair of the Assembly in July, 1999 and was just reelected to a second term. Under his leadership, contact with members of the Board of Governors increased and he has also generated increased contact with legislators.

A number of important initiatives are underway, many at the request of the Faculty Assembly. These include a GA study on the impact of phased retirement on the campuses, a study of the trend of the increasing use of fixed-term faculty members, and internal dispute resolution on the campuses. One additional review concerns post-tenure review and how it is working. Last year, 1162 faculty were reviewed across the system; 427 were rated above average and 15 as deficient.

At the request of the Faculty Assembly, two years ago GA began a study of UNC faculty benefits. The task force had representation from both campus human resources and faculty members across the system. As a result of this report, GA is asking the legislature to increase their contribution into retirement programs to 9.29% with immediate vesting. It is felt that this will make benefits more competitive in comparison with other universities.

Also at the request of the Assembly, President Broad created the Professional Development Advisory Committee (PDAC) two years ago to ensure that adequate attention was paid to the professional development of faculty. This group recommended and the Assembly resolved that each campus should have a center for teaching and learning. At that time only half the campuses had such a center. Today all do except the North Carolina School of the Arts. The new Vice President for Academic Affairs is very supported for faculty development and indicated her support for the recommendations of PDAC and continuing efforts to further faculty development.

The Faculty Assembly Budget Committee has continued efforts to determine the level of faculty participation in the budget process on their campuses. This is done with an annual survey of the campuses and a report back. At present 10 campuses have a budget committee with faculty representation. The Committee has developed characteristic model for a faculty budget committee for the campuses which include the following:

t Sponsored by either the university or the faculty senate/council

t Membership is faculty or a combination of faculty, staff and students

t Participate in and monitor budget decisions and to educates faculty

t Chair is either a faculty member or administrator

At present a letter is being sent to each faculty senate chair to prod the creation of these committees on campuses that do not have them and increasing the scope of those that fall outside the model.

On April 6, the Faculty Assembly, in conjunction with the Vice President for Information Technology, held a Faculty Forum on Instructional Technology to which members of the Faculty Assembly were invited along with other faculty and staff. The purpose of the forum was to review GA’s Technology Initiative, the new Technology Collaborative and to consider the problems with faculty involvement in technology planning and implementation across the system. The Assembly’s Faculty Development Committee and Ad Hoc Committee on Technology participated in the planning of this forum. Future such programs are also planned.

For the first time in its history, the Assembly is asking to have its own budget. Before it has simply been funded by GA and there was never any indication of how much money was available for Assembly activities. Additionally, this year there was experimentation with the meeting time to readjust the time from the old 1:00 p.m.until far too late at night, to 8:00 p.m. over the past two years, and now to move the meeting to begin in the late morning with a luncheon and then ending by early evening. This represents a significant change.

In addition to the reelection of Keith Howell as chair, new officers for 2000-01 are Jimmy Smith, ASU, vice chair and Beryl McEwen, NCS&T as secretary.