Visitors look at ways to help retain faculty

Last week’s meeting of the Board of Visitors was more than just an opportunity for a number of UNC alumni to return to their alma mater.

The group, which comprises a few hundred people across the nation associated with the University, spent time Friday discussing ways in which they could support campus efforts to recruit and maintain faculty.

Provost Robert Shelton prefaced the discussion with a message of urgency. “This is the single most important issue on my desk.”

Several board members proposed ways in which the board could lend its resources effectively to help the campus.

“This is one of our opportunities to roll up our sleeves and help the University,” said Claude Snow, a member of the board.

The group focused on how the board could allocate its most valuable resource: government and corporate relationships.

The group first discussed lending its influence to the issue of campus-based tuition hikes, which many administrators say play a role in recruiting and retaining faculty.

The UNC-system Board of Governors decided in February to freeze all in-state students’ tuition for the next year, effectively placing the burden of tuition revenue squarely on the shoulders of nonresident and graduate students.

UNC officials expect this year’s increases to earn $2.6 million for faculty retention and teaching assistant salaries. The tuition plan favored by administrators would have brought in $5.5 million for those priorities.*

And the change to the revenue structure will hurt faculty retention, many administrators say.

A number of graduate students serve as TAs and research assistants, and the promise of assistance in the lab or classroom can entice faculty to take a job at the University.

But placing too much emphasis on out-of-state student tuition could reduce the number and quality of graduate students — about 40 percent of whom hail from out of state.

“So this current budget hits not only at our instruction, but it cripples our ability as a premier research institution,” Shelton said.

Mark Carpenter, a member of the board’s retention committee, encouraged the group to use its political clout and petition UNC-system administrators to lift the freeze on in-state tuition.

The Board of Visitors also discussed possible ways to employ the spouses of incoming faculty. An enticing second job opportunity for a partner can be a crucial factor in convincing a prospective faculty member to take a position at UNC.

“It becomes very important that we place the spouses of these academic hires,” Snow said.

Snow proposed establishing an electronic network through which board members could help find placement for faculty spouses.

“We are all 200 business contacts,” he said. “We’ll circulate appropriately the resumes and backgrounds of spouses that are coming in.”

Kevin Jones, a member of the board from Washington, D.C., approved of the proactive stance.

“We have a number of resources. I think’s it just the framework we need to get our priorities together.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.