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Welcome to the UNC-Chapel Hill Office of Faculty Governance! The Office provides administrative support for the Faculty Council, the Chair of the Faculty, the Secretary of the Faculty, and many of the standing committees of the General Faculty. We also conduct all the faculty-wide elections, held in the spring each year.  Our work is guided by the policies and procedures outlined in the Faculty Code of University Government, which has, since 1950, outlined a system of representative participation by the university’s faculty in decision-making about key academic matters at the heart of the university’s work and mission.

What is Faculty Governance?

Since the University of North Carolina opened its doors in 1795, faculty have shared responsibility with a Board of Trustees for running the campus.  At UNC and many other universities, today’s system of representative “shared governance” evolved out of massive growth in higher educational institutions that took place after World War II.  But principles of shared governance and best practices for keeping the faculty voice in university policy-making strong were articulated as early as 1920, when the American Association of University Professors published its first statement on shared governance between faculty, administrators, and trustees.

Some helpful resources about both the general idea of “faculty governance” and the specific history of faculty governance here at UNC-Chapel Hill are:

• About faculty governance at UNC-Chapel Hill
• American Association of University Professors, “Governance of Colleges and Universities”
• Gary A. Olson, “Exactly What Is `Shared Governance’?” Chronicle of Higher Education, 23 July 2009