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The Faculty Council got a glimpse into the University's future at the group's February meeting.
That glimpse came from reports from two committees trying to determine what is needed 10 to 20 years from now to make Carolina the nation's best public university.
The committees -- one for the sciences, the other for the arts and humanities -- are serving as pathfinders, trying to determine what programs, departmental groupings, buildings and other resources the University's academic programs need.
Greg Forest, associate dean for the sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, talked about the sciences committee. Bill Balthrop, chair of the communication studies department, spoke about the group addressing needs in the arts and humanities.
The two groups work independently, yet share a similar approach. That approach includes: forming a group of top faculty members to brainstorm both needs and possibilities; including input from a broad range of colleagues; meeting with campus planning groups such as master plan consultants Ayers Saint Gross; identifying barriers to better research and teaching; considering how regrouping departments and personnel might spur new research; and determining what resources are needed.
The committee addressing the sciences was formed first and is therefore further along.
Forest said one of his objectives has been to identify existing strengths so that the University could accentuate those areas and create world-class programs.
To do that, he had department chairs recommend top faculty members to serve on a Science Advisory Committee. That group gazed into the future, Forest said, and tried to determine the most promising areas for future research in their various disciplines. Then the group made a list of what would be needed to enable Carolina scientists to succeed in those areas.
Topping that list is improving the physical proximity of various science departments. That's because breakthroughs in scientific research typically come at the edges where various disciplines meet, Forest said.
For example, one area the committee envisions focusing on is genomics, the work of mapping the structure of DNA. To pursue such research thoroughly, there needs to be ample cooperation among not only genomics experts and biologists, but also faculty from chemistry, computer science, physics and other specialties. Ideally, the University would have modern facilities that grouped all these people together.
Forest cited a recent General Administration report that showed Carolina should have an additional 900,000 square feet of research laboratory space. While that space shortage will not be eliminated with an imminent construction boom, part of his committee's work is to determine how that space should be designed and organized whenever any new construction does occur.
Other goals listed by the committee include: recruiting new faculty; retaining best current faculty; helping recruit top students; and working to improve science education in elementary and secondary schools in North Carolina.
Balthrop said his committee on the arts, humanities and social sciences also sees the need to promote interdisciplinary teaching and research. Other emphases his committee wants to see are retaining disciplinary excellence, recognizing the increasingly global nature of intellectual endeavors and enhancing the creative and performing arts.
As with the sciences, Balthrop said his committee identified long-term, future groupings of experts that could spur research through interdisciplinary work. An example of a possible future center would be a Center for Global and International Education to house disciplines focusing on international studies.
"We are terrifically excited about the possibilities that have been generated," Balthrop said.
Both committees have more work to do before issuing any kind of final report. And any significant restructuring, especially involving new buildings, has not reached even the planning phase.
The two committees' work is crucial to the University's future success, said Risa Palm, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Palm termed the two committees' work "revolutionary" in terms of the long-range thinking being done by faculty members.
"This will put us in the position to do what we all say we want to do, which is be the top public university," Palm said. "We can get there only by looking at where the sciences, or the humanities, will be, and how people will work at the edge of knowledge."
In other business, Chancellor Michael Hooker told the Faculty Council that increasing faculty salaries remains the cornerstone of his legislative lobbying, but that the financial picture does not look promising in the foreseeable future.
Hooker worried that the University and the entire state system are in a "financial crunch" given the combination of a tight state budget, the high cost of adding facilities for the oncoming enrollment increase and the severe shortage of space that already exists on campus.
"It's unreasonable to believe the legislature will be in a position to appropriate the necessary dollars," Hooker said.
He said that he expects General Administration to help the situation by suggesting some ways of raising money for capital projects that are used successfully in other states, although not in North Carolina.
He also suggested that the University, General Administration and the legislature need to discuss increasing tuition to the level of Carolina's peer institutions to help finance the needed raises in faculty salaries.
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