Looking Ahead
Posted on March 1, 1994Since 1843 your General Alumni Association has served you, our Association members and our University. Like alumni associations at many other member institutions of the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU) — including the universities of Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin, California, Virginia, Kansas and Stanford — our alumni association is self-governing. This self-governance permits us to represent to the University the independent thoughts and concerns of our loyal Carolina alumni and to provide programs and services that involve and inform our alumni.
After a decade-long process, we happily opened the doors to the much-needed George Watts Hill Alumni Center one year ago. It is reassuring to see the enthusiasm and participation by our faculty, staff, students, alumni and University friends in the many programs and services now provided within our new campus home. Clearly, the Alumni Center is helping in this Bicentennial season to add a spirit of community to our campus.
However, the Association is much more than a building. We continue to expand our programs to involve and inform Carolina alumni. In the months and years ahead, we anticipate that our initiatives will be concentrated largely in three areas.
First, your Association will monitor, be concerned about and help shape the quality of the student experience. Only those students who leave the University with positive experiences will want to be involved in alumni activities and supportive of the University. While a student’s undergraduate experience usually lasts four to five years, their alumni experience may last more than a half century.
Our Association will continue to expand our programs and services for students. We will also assess what is happening-both in and out of the classroom — that involves our students. Residence hall life, the Greek system, career planning and placement services and the advising system — these represent just a few of the areas that alumni may have helpful experience and expertise to offer.
Second, we are eagerly expanding educational programming for our alumni. For several years our enrichment programs have experienced increasing success by adding much enjoyed features to our clubs, reunions and international travel programs. Our alumni enjoy the stimulation of Carolina’s most outstanding faculty and the opportunity again to experience the intellectual life of our University. Our faculty enjoy the challenging questions and curiosity of our alumni.
Finally, and perhaps most important to many, we will continue to find ways to empower our alumni to help build public support for Carolina. For more than a decade our Tar Heel Network has quietly but effectively worked with UNC officials on issues before the N.C. General Assembly. As competition for limited public dollars increases, some are concerned that a few public officials do not fully appreciate what is required to be an internationally competitive university. Others worry that too few appreciate the economic impact that our University has on North Carolina. Still others fear that we are not effectively conveying the scope of our unparalleled public service.
Our alumni can help leverage the University’s resources by ensuring that our critical state appropriations are not only sustained but also whenever possible are increased. Our avid support for Carolina should be pursued in cooperation with other campuses within the UNC System. It is clear that the University System’s reputation nationally and internationally rests on the strength and vitality of our flagship campus.
It was reassuring that the Faculty Assembly represented by the faculty delegates from each UNC System institution voted unanimously to have the System set as an objective moving each institution to a Level 1 within its peer group in faculty salaries as reported by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). (In the past decade Carolina has declined from the top quintile to the third or fourth quintile, depending on faculty rank.) While we should not become obsessed by national ranking, clearly the growing perception is that Carolina has declined. Our faculty chairman, Professor Jim Peacock, has referred to our being a “complete University,” noting that no institution provides, with across-the-board distinction, what Carolina offers in public service, teaching and research. We, nevertheless, must recognize that public perception matters.
In conclusion, it is our hope that you will assist us as we seek to continue to expand our programming for students and look for ways to enhance the quality of the student experience, expand our educational programming and leverage the power and influence of our alumni in building public support for our University. These are exciting but challenging times for Carolina. You can help us ensure that our “priceless gem” continues to shine brightly.
Yours at Carolina,
Douglas S. Dibbert ’70
