When the college-raters come calling, North Carolina’s public universities stack up very, very well. In a flurry of rankings released over the past year – but particularly in recent weeks – schools in the University of North Carolina System have drawn high marks: • UNC-Chapel Hill was the 5th-ranked public university in the nation for… READ MORE
Spellings walks toward the protesters
Since taking office in March, University of North Carolina President Margaret Spellings has faced small but insistent protests about her perceived agenda for public higher education. And at every opportunity, she has gone out of her way to meet those protesters and talk through their concerns. It’s not easy to walk toward people who are… READ MORE
NCGAP: You’re in, but you’re not
The General Assembly needs to defer its deferred admissions program. In a provision tucked into the state budget last year, legislators declared that 6-year graduation rates at our state’s public universities are too low – even though they are nearly 10 percentage points above the national average.1 Legislators ordered the University and Community College systems… READ MORE
ROSS: Ensure Spellings’ success
By Thomas W. Ross President Emeritus University of North Carolina System Almost every day, someone asks me how I feel about Margaret Spellings as my successor. After acknowledging that I would have preferred to continue in the role myself, I say to those who ask that we must all do everything in our power to… READ MORE
Lagging university benefits: “That’s real money”
CHAPEL HILL – Stagnant pay for University faculty and staff remains a major problem in North Carolina, hampering the state’s ability to hire and keep top-tier teachers and researchers. State lawmakers have offered a single 1.2% raise in the past seven years, even as other states have recruited aggressively to poach talent. But it’s more… READ MORE
UNCG Chancellor: “That’s who you want in the classroom.”
GREENSBORO – Though he’s new to campus, Chancellor Frank Gilliam of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro knows UNCG lost a star health economist to the University of Virginia. “If faculty salaries stagnate, you will have retention problems,” Gilliam says in the accompanying video. “Our faculty, the best ones, are as good as anybody… READ MORE
A&T biomaterials: “As strong as steel bolts”
NC A&T State University Chancellor Harold Martin speaks from experience – it’s no fun carrying steel bolts inside you long after broken bones have healed. But with help from the National Science Foundation, biomaterials researchers at A&T have developed new materials to bond fractures that then degrade and disappear when their work is done. “We’ve… READ MORE
What about us?
When the Board of Governors that oversees North Carolina’s public universities granted raises recently to 12 chancellors, it prompted faculty across the system to ask: What about us? There is no doubt that faculty – who’ve gone seven years with just one insignificant raise – are long overdue for a raise. This year University faculty… READ MORE
Faculty Assembly Chair: Trouble at all levels with recruitment, retention
Dr. Stephen Leonard, professor of political science at UNC Chapel Hill, is serving his second year as chair of the UNC System’s Faculty Assembly. He represents more than 16,000 professors across North Carolina’s public universities. Leonard sat down with the Higher Education Works Foundation to talk about the importance of recruiting and retaining high-quality faculty…. READ MORE
ROSS: Faculty salaries a “glaring weakness” for North Carolina
CHAPEL HILL (Oct. 10, 2015) – University of North Carolina System President Tom Ross told a roomful of supporters Saturday that North Carolina’s public universities weathered the recession quite well — with one major exception. “We’ve fallen behind in faculty salaries, and we’re falling farther behind,” Ross said. “We’ve got a problem there we have… READ MORE