Maintaining Value

The liberal arts are more essential than ever

By Karen Gil, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The College of Arts and Sciences has always been at the academic center of the “Carolina experience.” Now our teaching and research are more essential than ever, as we prepare our students for the complexities of the 21st century.

Our academic mission is to create new knowledge, discover innovative solutions, teach what we’ve learned to outstanding undergraduate and graduate students, and engage meaningfully with the state, nation and world.

We give our students the best aspects of a liberal arts college experience with all of the benefits of a major research university. No matter what academic majors they choose, Carolina students learn about the fine arts and humanities, the social sciences and the natural and mathematical sciences. They have opportunities to work closely with world-class scholars and teachers through special seminars, research projects and study abroad. By the time students graduate, they are prepared for leadership and engagement, wherever they choose to live and work.

This is what makes the College a vibrant and stimulating intellectual community. Through scholarship and creative work, our extraordinary colleagues shed light on the past, communicate new ideas and interpret the world. They also take on some of the biggest challenges of our time: social and economic disparities, drug addiction, climate change, international conflict, life threatening diseases and more.

My primary goal as dean is to ensure that the College thrives as a vital hub of learning, discovery and innovation for our faculty and students.

To fulfill this vision, we must work together to establish priorities for faculty support and program development. We want to retain our best teachers and scholars and increase faculty diversity. We should strengthen core academic programs and interdisciplinary initiatives, such as undergraduate research and the internationalization of the curriculum.

To better understand the needs of all academic units, I will visit the departments to meet with faculty. I have also appointed a Dean’s Advisory Group comprising department chairs from each academic division and the office of undergraduate education. They will help us develop general principles and guidelines to maximize our strengths.

I am mindful of the need to respond to economic realities. This means managing a smaller state budget while fulfilling our academic mission at the center of North Carolina’s leading public university. In the past year, we have reduced our workforce and decreased state funding for important centers and day-to day operations. All of our departments have made sacrifices so that the College can continue to offer vital classes, seminars, research and study-abroad opportunities to our students.

Our ability to fulfill our vision has been enhanced by the generous public and private support the College has received over the last decade. Funds from state construction bond revenues and the Carolina First campaign have supported state-of-the-art facilities, innovative new programs and numerous scholarships that students in the College enjoy today.

As a result, the College increased in size and stature in recent years by recruiting and retaining world-class scholars and rising stars. We also launched new advising and support services that enhanced Carolina’s graduation rates, which are among the best in the nation today.

As a result of past support, more than 60 percent of the incoming class can participate in First Year Seminars, nearly 40 percent are likely to study abroad, and more than half will have a research-intensive class on their transcripts when they graduate. Within a few years, the size of the Honors Program will double.

I will work to attract additional financial support to preserve these critical gains and advance our priorities. We will continue to focus on private fundraising, interdisciplinary collaborations, strategic partnerships and innovative research grants. These efforts have already resulted in funds for new faculty positions in several key areas of the College.

The Institute for the Arts and Humanities is important to faculty development. I participated in the “Faculty Boot Camp” on Entrepreneurship in May of this year and was an Academic Leadership Fellow in 2006. Three years later, McKay Coble, a fellow from my cohort, is presiding as chair of the University faculty, and I am privileged to oversee the largest academic institution on campus.

As Leadership Fellows we were taught to focus on our academic goals and set strategic priorities to build toward the future. That’s what the College will do, with your help. As we work together – colleagues, students, alumni and friends – the College of Arts and Sciences will continue to distinguish Carolina as a world-class public research university with the liberal arts at its heart.