Faculty chair candidates introduce themselves
Thomas A. Kelley and Beth Moracco shared their experience and priorities at the March 24 Faculty Council meeting.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Thomas A. Kelley’s name.
The next chair of Faculty Council will be a Peace Corps veteran.
Both candidates for the position — Thomas A. Kelley of the School of Law and Beth Moracco of the Gillings School of Global Public Health — mentioned that shared experience when introducing themselves at the March 27 General Faculty/Faculty Council joint meeting in Carroll Hall.
Thomas A. Kelley (Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill)
Kelley, who served the Peace Corps in Niger, is the James Dickson Phillips Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law, director of the law school’s Institute for Innovation and director of the Community Development Law Clinic.
“I am a part-time administrator, so I see the struggles of our talented staff. I work with nonprofit community organizations, and I understand both their reliance on and frustration with UNC. Finally, I am a lawyer and I have insight into the legal aspects of our many self-inflicted crises,” Kelley said.
Beth Moracco (Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill)
Moracco, whose Peace Corps service took her to Zaire, is associate professor of health behavior and associate director of the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center.
“As chair, my priorities will be to protect and enhance our efforts toward building an inclusive, equitable environment for Carolina’s faculty, staff, and students; safeguard the integrity of the role of faculty in decision-making; and advocate for full and timely information-sharing in matters that concern faculty,” Moracco said.
All members of the voting faculty will receive an individualized ballot for the 2023 election via email on March 29. Ballots will be accepted through April 12. A voter guide with information about the candidates and a sample ballot are available on the Office of Faculty Governance website. Results will be posted online shortly after the election concludes.
Dawn Osborne-Adams, University ombuds, describes the services her office offers. (Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill)
Presentation and resolution
In other action, the faculty heard a presentation on faculty resources from Dawn Osborne-Adams, University ombuds, and Elizabeth Hall, associate vice chancellor of equal opportunity and compliance/Title IX.
“Anybody on campus who’s facing a challenging situation can come to the Ombuds Office and get help,” Osborne-Adams told the group. The office’s services are confidential, impartial, informal and independent.
Hall focused on how the Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office addresses protected status discrimination and harassment, including sexual misconduct, interpersonal violence and stalking.
The faculty also voted its approval of a resolution on principles for work-related data, presented by Dan Anderson, English and comparative literature professor and chair of the Faculty Information Technology Advisory committee.
The four principles described dealt with transparency, prohibition of surveillance, privacy and data ownership, and promotion of education.
Watch a recording of the March 24 joint meeting of the General Faculty and Faculty Council.
