Templeton
prepares to leave the
‘bully pulpit’
Joe Templeton never sought to become faculty chair. But he
didn’t back away when he was asked to be a candidate three years ago. Neither
did he sidestep thorny issues or milestone events that emerged
during his tenure.
Much like the all-star soccer goalie he was in college,
Templeton deftly led by being in the right place at the right time and knowing
when to move and when to stay put. Characteristically, he addressed each new
challenge with a blend of directness, aplomb and humility underscoring his
Midwestern roots.
“I like to think I can be either a sheep or a shepherd,” he
said. “I like to fill the role I’m supposed to, but I have a slight preference
for being in the background, which sounds a little incompatible with being
chair of the faculty.”
An inorganic chemist who has spent three decades at Carolina
teaching – or preparing students to learn, to use his description –
and conducting research, Templeton is no stranger to leadership. The Francis
Preston Venable Professor of Chemistry has been chair of the chemistry
department, a member of the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee and the Faculty
Executive Committee and chair of the Summer Reading Program Book Selection
Committee.
He is a Civil War history buff who enjoys the power of
words, and often reads passages from literature to graduate students in his
chemistry classes; yet he chooses his words carefully and uses them sparingly,
humorously and pointedly.
“I think using too many words dilutes the power of each
one,” he said. “There’s always a pill in the pudding. It’s one of Alan Alda’s
lines, but I like it because it conveys that there’s a lot of humor, but
there’s always a message. Sometimes it surfaces and sometimes not.”
Joe Ferrell, longtime secretary of the faculty, said working
with Templeton was delightful.
“He is blessed with uncommonly good judgment, a sunny
disposition and a sly sense of humor. With his guidance, we have usually
managed to get to the right place while having fun on the journey,” Ferrell
said.

Outgoing Faculty Chair Joe Templeton works with chemistry
graduate student Kristi Engelman in his lab on campus. Throughout his
three-year term as chair, Templeton maintained his teaching and
research efforts. “Faculty like to teach, and in my case it provides a
stability. There are times I don’t feel productive on other fronts, but I can
always go in and share information with students that’s useful,” he said. |
The ‘bully pulpit’
Faculty governance is not the powerhouse people assume it to
be, Templeton said.
“It’s parallel to the administration, almost independent.
There are connections between faculty governance and what’s happening at the
University, but they are not as direct, or the linkages are not as strong, as
some people might anticipate or wish.”
In fact, one unexpected aspect of his role was the battery
of questions about anything related to Carolina he suddenly received because
“people think you get a magic wand with all areas of intelligence on the day
you become chair of the faculty.”
Instead of trying to master an unfathomable number of
details, the key is to build credibility so people hear what you have to say, he
said.
“The faculty chair is really a bully pulpit. The number of
resources you control is close to zero, but the number of settings in which you
can provide input and hope it has value is really staggering,” Templeton said.
Tackling major issues
Templeton didn’t have far to look for such opportunities; a
major topic of faculty discussion emerged each year of his tenure.
Just after he was elected, and as Judith Wegner was winding
down her term as chair, the Faculty Council took on the then-controversial $5
million, six-year proposal by the John W. Pope Foundation to expand the
University’s studies in Western cultures within the College of Arts and
Sciences.
“That was THE topic as I started,” Templeton said, “and then
it kind of drifted away.”
Topics the following two years came from the Educational
Policy Committee. First, in spring 2007, there was a proposed achievement index
to supplement GPA as a measure of undergraduates’ performance relative to that
of their classmates. The following academic year, the issue was priority
registration in which a small number of undergraduates could qualify to
register for courses ahead of their classmates.
The first issue was narrowly defeated, the second passed by
a clear majority. In each case, though, the outcome wasn’t as important to
Templeton as the process.
Although he supported the achievement index, Templeton said
he was pleased that the civil discussion and exploration of both sides of the
issue served as a model for how to broach topics in which people had staunchly
opposing viewpoints.
Priority registration, another hot topic, was an example of
trying to allocate a scarce resource – classes. “Faculty teach students
every year and pound a stake into the ground a little farther every year, and
when you say you’re going to move that stake, they say no and here’s why.”
Even so, the issue passed, Templeton believes, because the
discussion showed that priority registration was a transparent experimental
process that would be evaluated in four years.
“This was another example where UNC was leading something –
whether it’s the Carolina Covenant or dropping early admission or priority
registration – and saying, ‘Here’s the way we do it,’” he said.
Challenges and opportunities
Templeton’s tenure was marked by landmark events in 2008,
from the death of former student body president Eve Carson to the search for,
and transition to, a new chancellor.
By far, he said, crafting a fitting message for the
thousands of people gathered for Carson’s memorial service was the most traumatic
event of his tenure.
At the other extreme, serving on the chancellor search
committee that recommended Holden Thorp to succeed James Moeser, he conceded,
was something any faculty member would enjoy.
“But if you wanted to ask me to do something for which I was
ill suited, chairing the installation of the new chancellor would be high on my
list of no capabilities,” he said.
Once again, Templeton said yes because he was asked. “In the
end, it was a beautiful Carolina day, the installation went well and I was
delighted to be a part of it.”
At Carolina, connections run exceptionally strong, he said.
“Being exposed to all the intelligent, hard-working, well-intentioned
individuals who are trying to make Carolina better has been one of the most
rewarding experiences of this job.”
The list includes students, faculty and staff, alumni,
trustees and legislators.
“As chair, you get to see the ways people contribute,” he
said. “Through opportunities such as serving on the Massey Awards committee or
in conversations with the alumni association, it’s clear what makes this place
so special. There are grad students here who pay more attention to Carolina
than to their undergraduate school. That isn’t the case everywhere.”
Words of advice
If the incoming faculty chair, McKay Coble, wants to build
on some of the lessons Templeton learned, he can pass along a thing or two.
Being right is worth far less than people think, Templeton
found. “You’re far better off building some consensus and getting movement.
Being right is almost worthless by itself.”
Another fundamental lesson: Balance the risks and rewards.
To illustrate his point, Templeton cited a quote he liked
from John A. Shedd’s 1928 book “Salt From My Attic,” which says, “A ship in
harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”
Neither, apparently, is the role of faculty leadership.
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