Faculty Governance records

Prior to 1965, the director or president of the college served as chairman of the faculty. When Charlotte College became part of the University of North Carolina (1965), the chancellor of the university also served as chairman and presiding officer at the meetings of the faculty and the newly organized Faculty Executive Committee (FEC). In 1972, a new constitution was adopted, and a separate president of the faculty was elected by faculty members to represent them to the administration. Previously, the secretary of the faculty was often perceived as the spokesman for the group, rather than the chairman, since the secretary was an elected officer.

In 1978, further modifications were made to the faculty constitution with the creation of the Faculty Council, which took over most of the functions of the General Faculty. The council membership changes as new administrative positions are created, but it has included the chancellor, members of the FEC, several of the vice chancellors, deans of the colleges, the director of the library, and one faculty member from each department.

Since 2000 many of these records have been kept electronically on the Academic Affairs Faculty Governance website; very little is transferred to the University Archives. As of 2017, minutes dating from 2005 are available on the Faculty Council’s website (http://facultygovernance.uncc.edu/faculty-council/agendas-minutes). This site is preserved and made available via Archive-It, a partner of the Internet Archive. Please see Special Collections and University Archives staff for access.

The Faculty Course and Curriculum Committee was appointed as the Curriculum Committee in the Constitution of the General Faculty of UNC Charlotte, September 15, 1965. It reported to the General Faculty and was charged with reviewing proposals for new courses, changes in catalogue descriptions of courses, and changes in degree programs and majors.

The Faculty Research Grants Committee (FRGC) is a standing committee of the Faculty Council. Originally named the Faculty Research Committee, it was created under the first UNC Charlotte constitution (September 15, 1965) and was charged with the responsibility for recommending policies to stimulate faculty research and publication. The Committee's duties included the review of factors affecting research and writing and the making of appropriate recommendations; defining and making known to the faculty rules for allocation of research monies; recommending policy concerning acceptance and administration of contracts and grants for research; and exploring sources of funds for research.

With the ratification of the Constitution of the Faculty and Bylaws of the Faculty Executive Committee (November 18, 1972), the Faculty Research Committee (FRC) became the Faculty Grants Committee (FGC). The FGC initially consisted of seven members--six from the faculty, who were required to have demonstrated evidence of scholarly research or creativity, and, as of March 24, 1977, the Academic Research and Contracts Officer as a non-voting ex-officio member.

The FGC received applications from faculty members and made recommendations to the vice chancellor of academic affairs on the distribution of summer research funds allocated by the state of North Carolina, the UNC Charlotte Foundation, and National Science Foundation Institutional Grants for Science. The University offered the first six foundation grants in the summer of 1966.

Prior to 1995, the FGC included two subcommittees: the Faculty Research Grants Committee (FRGC) and the Curriculum and Instruction Development Grants Committee. Eventually, these subcommittees were made to be stand-alone committees, and in the mid-1990s, the number of committee members of the FRGC was expanded to include three members from the College of Arts and Sciences, one from each other college, one from the library, and one chairperson, in addition to an ex officio member. This ex officio member was the Dean of the Graduate School until the early 2000s when oversight of the committee was moved from the Graduate School to Research and Federal Relations (now called Research and Economic Development), at which point the ex officio member became the Director of Proposal Development. In later years, membership of the FRGC was expanded to fifteen, but was subsequently reduced back to ten.

In 2017, according to the university website, the FRGC formulates guidelines for grant proposals, reviews such proposals, and makes recommendations concerning them (http://facultygovernance.uncc.edu/faculty-council-committees/committees/committees-policy-making-responsibilities/faculty-research).

The FRC should not be confused with the ad hoc faculty research committee, appointed March 7, 1966, by the acting vice chancellor of academic affairs, which functioned as a "clearinghouse for information relating to public and private grants, which are available to the faculty and the UNC Charlotte institution." A faculty research committee with a charge and responsibilities similar to the subsequent FRC existed at Charlotte College, and was outlined and charged in the proposed constitution of 1964.

Faculty Presidents

2019- Joel Avrin - Mathematics and Statistics

2017-2019 Richard Leeman - Communication Studies

2016-2017 Lisa Walker - Sociology

2015-2016 Jeffrey Leak - English

2014-2015 Gregory Starrett - Anthropology

2013-2014 Eddy Souffrant - Philosophy

2012-2013 Ed Jernigan - Management

2011-2012 Michael Green - Reading and Elementary Education

2010-2011 Charles Bodkin - Marketing

2009-2010 Alan Freitag - Communications

2008-2009 Sonya Harden - Nursing

2007-2008 Mary (Kim) Harris - Mathematics [served two terms, see 2004-2005]

2006-2007 Margaret P. (Meg) Morgan - English

2005-2006 Rosemary Booth - Management

2004-2005 Kim Harris - Mathematics

2003-2004 Richard Toenjes - Philosophy

2002-2003 Yogendra Kakad - Electrical and Computer Engineering

2001-2002 Ann Newman - Family and Community Nursing

2000-2001 Lee Gray - Architecture

1999-2000 Richard White - Counseling and Special Education

1998-1999 Jeff Passe - Reading and Elementary Education

1997-1998 Pamela Sofras - Dance and Theater

1996-1997 Richard Lejk - Computer Science

1995-1996 Rafic Z. Makki - Electrical Engineering

1994-1995 Sallie Middleton Ives - Geography and Women's Studies

1993-1994 Michael Andrew Pearson - Sociology

1992-1993 Albert Anthony Maisto - Psychology

1991-1992 Thomas Michael Corwin - Physics

1990-1991 Loy Hahn Witherspoon - Religious Studies [see also: 1976-1977]

1989-1990 Paula Ann Goolkasian - Psychology

1988-1989 Terrel Lee Rhodes - Political Science

1987-1988 James Holt McGavran, Jr. - English

1986-1987 Timothy Dean Mead - Political Science

1985-1986 Robert Joseph Coleman - Electrical Engineering

1984-1985 James Winford Selby - Psychology

1983-1984 Theodore Self Arrington - Political Science

1982-1983 Virginia Shaw Guerin - Business Administration

1981-1982 Anne Royal Newman - English

1980-1981 James Richard Kuppers - Chemistry

1979-1980 Robert John Mundt - Political Science

1978-1979 George Seymour Rent - Sociology

1977-1978 Edward Spalding Perzel - History

1976-1977 Loy Hahn Witherspoon - Religious Studies [see also: 1990-1991]

1975-1976 Gerald Whitney Stone, Jr. - Economics

1974-1975 Edward Byron St. Clair - Religious Studies

1972-1974 Robert George Williams - Economics and Business Administration