University of North Carolina Asheville - Archive Yearbook (Asheville, NC)

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UNC A 75 ' % Onomic5 . FACULTY SENATE 16

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Dr. Highsmith: The Center of Power OvS y the nature of government, in whatever shape it may take, there must be an official who holds the final authority in his hands. The name does not matter. He might be called king . Or president . At UNC-A, he is called chancellor . And his is the power. The Chancellor of UNC-A is Dr. William E. Highsmith. Most students at UNC-A know the name. Only a few probably know his job functions. Admittedly ignorant, I asked Chancellor Highsmith what these functions are. The Chancellor acts as the executive head of the institution. It is his responsibility to know the laws applying to higher education, to know the code of the University of North Carolina System, to identi- fy the needs of both the University and the surrounding community, to develop programs and pro- vide the resources necessary for their successful implementation, and to assess both the academic and non-academic needs of the students. One of the Chancellor ' s main concerns at this time is the much discussed Five Year Plan. The Plan will provide for opportunities for graduate and under-graduate degrees in such fields as Health (Clinical and Technological), Physical Education, Environmental Studies and Music. Approval of the Plan, or the accepted part, is expected by the end of 1975. The Chancellor, qualifying his state- ment to the utmost, stated: I think we are going to be approved to go into all of these programs, eventually. I don ' t know exactly which ones they ' re going to want us to go into first, because that will depend upon the needs and also on the resources we already have. As the interview concluded, the Chancellor stressed his availability for consultation on matters of policy, If something comes along, and you ' re puzzled about it, and you ' re getting mixed statements, and confused about what ' s going on, come see me. If I can straighten it out, I will. This IS the man to talk to. His is the power. 15

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The UNC-A Faculty Senate, designed as the deliberative and representative body of the Faculty, meets as a body once a month on a regular basis, with additional meetings as required. Aside from meetings of the entire body, the four subcommittees — The Executive Committee, the Academic Policies Committee, the Institutional Devel- opment Committee, and the Welfare Com- mittee — meet with more frequency. Of the subcommittees. Dr. Shirley Browning (Chairman of F.S.) has labeled the Academic Policies Committee the most powerful , as it is a source for determining program development, and course additions and deletions. In commenting on the effective- ness of the Senate as a whole. Dr. Browning stated that it is really too early to tell. For, while there has been a Faculty Senate in years past, this — the ' 75- ' 76 academic year — is the Senate ' s . . first year in this form. Dr. Browning does feel if the people involved ... take their work seriously . , the Senate will be effective. But it will take at least three or four years to prove the value — or lack thereof — of the body ' s current organizational form. 17