Smart Growth

How can Carolina expand without undermining quality?
by Nelson Schwab III
Chair, UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Search Committee
Member, UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees

One pressing issue faces the College of Arts and Sciences and the University. It touches a lot of bases, but it’s really one issue—growth. Over the next five to ten years, the state of North Carolina will grow significantly, and we’re going to be asked to expand what we do.

The University currently stands at about 28,500 undergraduate and graduate students. Projections are that those numbers could increase to between 33,000 to 35,000. Just imagine an additional 7,000 students on campus and the impact that will have on everything from dorm rooms to classrooms to faculty and advising. There isn’t any part of the University that won’t be touched.

Where do we cap the growth? That is part of the debate. I think the key metric to keep in mind is delivering a quality education that we’re proud of and that fulfills our mission to the state. If there comes a point at which we feel we are undermining the quality of the education that we deliver, then that should be a concern to everyone in the state. UNC-Chapel Hill provides a tremendous amount of intellectual capital that then turns into economic development—jobs created and businesses attracted. If we allow the University to falter, then those jobs and growth will decline as well.

Faculty provide the bedrock for smart growth

So we can’t let the pressure to grow diminish our quest to provide the highest quality education. Because the College of Arts and Sciences educates about 75 to 80 percent of the student population, that growth will hit the college harder than anyone. We will need to examine the areas where we choose to excel and concentrate on those, to ensure that we deliver that quality education to everyone who enrolls at the University.

In striving for that quality, the faculty are our bedrock. If we don’t emphasize the quality of the people we are attracting and their personal growth, then we’re not going to succeed at our goal of providing the best quality education. If we don’t give professors, associate professors, assistant professors and graduate students the opportunity to grow at Carolina, then they will leave, and we will lose out on all that talent.

That’s why the Institute for the Arts and Humanities has been, in a way, the conscience of the University. The IAH has focused on faculty retention and leadership from the very beginning. It has challenged the University to keep the quality of education as its first and foremost goal and to really keep the flame of the Carolina way alive.

The pressure to grow is such a huge issue that we obviously need to engage the whole university community in finding ways to continue to excel while meeting the demands for growth. And that will be topic one for the new chancellor.