RALEIGH (March 3, 2021) – When state legislators choose members for the UNC Board of Governors, those candidates must have the skillsets and knowledge to guide the UNC System in meeting the higher education needs of all North Carolinians.

In our recent webinar Making UNC Governance Work, former UNC Board of Governors Chair W. Louis Bissette Jr. noted that first and foremost, board members must demonstrate an interest in higher education.

“I have seen a couple of instances … where people came on our board and they said, ‘When I was asked to come on the board, I didn’t really know what it was,’” Bissette said.

“It is crucial who you put on these boards and what their backgrounds are and … whether or not when you step back and look at that board in the end, whether it generally looks like your state or not.”

Belle Wheelan, president of the agency that accredits colleges and universities in 11 Southern states, said legislators should adopt a list of criteria for board members.

Some states ask university presidents what skillsets they need on their boards, Wheelan said. Virginia set up a committee of alumni and business leaders to match needed skills, gender and racial diversity with potential nominees and make recommendations to legislators.

Many Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in Virginia had all-Black boards, she said, and many predominantly White institutions had predominantly White boards.

But board diversity takes many shapes.

“Those boards that were having fiscal difficulty had nobody on their board who spoke finance – or who were building a building had no one who understood construction,” Wheelan said. “So this committee was able to look at the needs of each individual institution and match up potential board members to serve on those boards…. And it’s made a difference.” 

As part of our Making Governance Work series last year, Bissette said a “perfect” UNC Board of Governors needs more professional diversity.

“Speaking as a lawyer, a board only needs a few of us. It also needs educators. It needs CEOs and CFOs. It needs respected civic leaders and credentialed policy wonks,” he wrote.

“Some corporate boards have experience targets that they use informally to build the right diversity of skills. That’s not a bad idea for a public board as well.”¹ 

Former UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp and UNC Entrepreneur in Residence Buck Goldstein wrote that board members need to understand how specialized higher education is.

“When we asked one long-serving trustee what it takes to understand how a university works, he stated, ‘I hope I live that long,’” they wrote.

“The details of very specific areas, such as research compliance, information technology operations, technology transfer, export controls, health care finance, student affairs compliance, take years to master. Beyond that, the fundamental ideals of shared governance, tenure, and academic freedom are indispensable advantages of the American higher education system. Creating structures for educating and preparing trustees about the unique complexities of universities must be a priority.”² 

After the departures of multiple leaders across the UNC System, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and former UNC System President Erskine Bowles wrote that our public universities need stable leadership to achieve ambitious goals.

“Most importantly, we need policies that encourage university board members to shift their focus from short-term wins toward long-term goals,” they wrote.³ 

Gordon Gee, who’s served as chief executive at five universities, said the public notices when prominent figures join university boards.

“If they see people of real merit and heft in these roles, rather than just a political agenda, it gives an institution more credibility,” Gee wrote.⁴ 

Bank of America Chief Administrative Officer Andrea Smith and Curi CEO Dale Jenkins wrote that the state won’t achieve its goal of 2 million North Carolinians with a postsecondary credential or degree by 2030 if it doesn’t analyze why the system thrives or falters.

“We need a system with strong, stable leadership that is committed to an expansive vision of how education can power a state and its economy,” Smith and Jenkins wrote.⁵

And former Gov. Jim Martin emphasized that diversity of thought “is a bedrock principle of this country. Nothing drives discontent more than feeling your voice is excluded from a conversation.

“Our universities deserve praise for how they’ve structured governance over the years, ensuring that chancellors, political board appointees, and faculty leadership all have important roles in leading the university,” Martin wrote. “This diversity of professional perspectives improves decision making.”⁶ 

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¹ https://hew.aveltsagency.com/2020/02/bissette-perfect-board-of-governors/. 
² https://hew.aveltsagency.com/2020/01/thorp-goldstein-governance-reform/. 
³ https://hew.aveltsagency.com/2020/02/burr-and-bowles-unc-system/. 
⁴ https://hew.aveltsagency.com/2020/02/gee-put-the-skunk-on-the-table/. 
⁵ https://hew.aveltsagency.com/2020/02/jenkins-and-smith-stable-leadership/.⁶https://hew.aveltsagency.com/2020/03/martin-diversity-classroom-boardroom/.