For more than 75 years, local and state government officials in North
Carolina have relied on the School of Government at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill for assistance in matters of public law,
administration, leadership, and finance. Established in 1931 as the
Institute of Government, the School provides educational, advisory,
and research support for local and state governments. Our mission is
to improve the lives of North Carolinians by engaging in practical scholarship
that helps public officials and citizens understand and improve state
and local government.
As the largest university-based local government training, advisory,
and research organization in the United States, the School of Government
offers up to 200 classes, seminars, schools, and specialized conferences
for more than 12,000 public officials each year. In addition, faculty
members annually publish approximately 50 books, periodicals, and other
reference books related to state and local government. The School of
Government is also home to a nationally ranked graduate program in public
administration and specialized centers focused on information technology,
civic education, and environmental finance.
The School of Government assists North Carolina's local and state officials
in obtaining information and honing skills they need to conduct public
business. The School helps them learn what the law requires them to
do and what the law prohibits them from doing, how best to manage their
departments and agencies, how to ensure fiscal soundness and how to
prepare proper financial reports, how to plan effectively for community
and economic development, and how to make informed policy decisions.
Officials attend classes taught by the 53-member faculty; stock their
professional libraries with bulletins, monographs, and books written
by faculty members and other professionals; and consult with individual
faculty specialists.
Despite their roles as educators and advisors to officials at all levels
of government, School faculty do not initiate or advocate changes in
governmental policies and programs. The School also strives to be nonpartisan.
Thirty-six of the current 53 faculty members hold law degrees and specialize
in particular areas of law: local government, taxation, public health,
the court system, and public employment, to name a few. Other faculty
hold the specialty degrees of their professions: for example, conflict
analysis and resolution, economics, finance, political science, public
administration, public affairs, and public policy administration. About
ninety percent of the faculty have tenure-track or tenured appointments
at the University. A number have been honored with awards from professional
organizations or by scholarships clients have established in their honor.
Clients include city, county, and agency budget officers; school officials;
city and county managers; county commissioners; city mayors; public
defenders; state judges; social services workers; planners; mappers;
city and county attorneys; and a host of other elected and appointed
officials.
The School's reputation extends beyond North Carolina's borders. Moody's
bond-rating service called the School of Government "a university
for public officials" and commended its "rigorous and highly
respected certification programs." Though the Institute was the
nation's first "university for public officials," it has served
as the model for similar ones in Georgia and New York and has hosted
delegations from many other states to find out how it does what it does.
More than 90 professional staff provide administrative support for
courses and conferences, manage finances and operations, prepare faculty
members' manuscripts for printing, market and distributes publications,
print bulletins and classroom materials, and provide library and computer
support services.
Sixty-six percent of the School's $16.2 million annual budget comes
from state appropriations to the University; the remaining portion comes
from revenues received from local government membership dues, publication
sales, course fees, private contributions, and payments from governmental
agencies for long-term consulting projects or specialized teaching.
Teaching
The School offers up to 200 classes,
seminars, schools, and courses annually, each tailored to fit a
specific purpose: for example, to introduce new social services attorneys
to the social services system, to improve the management skills of local
government department heads, or to keep trial judges up-to-date with
civil and criminal law and procedure developments. Each year more than
12,000 clients attend or participate in training that lasts from one
day to 16 weeks.
Faculty members teach through lectures, panel discussions, question-and-answer
sessions, problem-solving sessions, experiential exercises, and small-group
discussions. Course content is highly practical: it deals with real
problems officials face in their work.
The highly ranked Master of Public
Administration (MPA) Program serves up to 60 students annually and
offers a strong focus on local government management. Established in
1966, the program is accredited by the National Association of Schools
of Public Affairs and Administration. Many School faculty--especially
those with expertise in subjects other than law--teach in both traditional
School of Government courses and in the MPA Program. A few faculty also
teach in other parts of the University, including the School of Law,
the School of Public Health, and the Department of City and Regional
Planning.
Scholarship
Only a limited number of public officials can attend School classes,
but through publications written by faculty specialists, officials can
still get the information they need to perform their jobs well. The
School publishes a great deal of faculty
research. However, faculty also publish in other forums, including
governmental agency publications, professional journals, and with outside
publishers. A law bulletin or monograph published at the School may
analyze the implications of a Supreme Court decision on zoning for planning
officials or a state appeals court ruling on child support for family
court judges. Faculty-written books may serve as texts in School and
other courses (County and Municipal Government in North Carolina,
for example); serve as reference works for public officials and members
of the bar (Legislative Zoning Decisions: Legal Aspects); or
serve as texts at community colleges and the North Carolina Justice
Academy (Arrest, Search, and Investigation in North Carolina).
The School publishes two periodicals. In Popular
Government, both faculty and nonfaculty authors write on topics
of current public interest. Recent articles have explored local governments'
use of community visioning, legal issues in juvenile curfews, supervising
in the intergenerational workplace, and when a government employer may
require a drug test. The School
Law Bulletin deals with issues of concern to school administrators,
including recent articles on First Amendment issues in the sale of public
school naming rights, liability for peer harassment of gay students,
and the constitutionality of school searches and interrogations.
Advising
Advising at the School covers a wide range of activities. Some faculty
members answer frequent telephone or email queries from clients. Examples
include: May a county legally stop a business from hauling petroleum-contaminated
soil into the county and dumping it on vacant farmland? How many bids
must a city receive to award a contract for purchase of police cars?
How should a prosecutor approach an evidence issue in the courtroom?
Advising also involves projects that require a longer time frame. An
accountant may be asked to evaluate a local government's financial statements
or provide assistance solving complex accounting and reporting issues;
a specialist in public administration may help a town or county plan
and administer delivery of services and evaluate their effectiveness;
a member of the leadership faculty may conduct a retreat for a governing
board dealing with implementation of welfare reform; a lawyer may review
a school system's disciplinary policy, draft a firearms policy for a
police department, or serve as counsel to a legislative committee.
Legislative Reporting Service
When the General Assembly is in session, the Legislative Reporting
Service publishes the Daily Bulletin, in print and electronic
format, for members of the legislature and others who need to follow
the course of legislation. Faculty and staff produce these reports,
working both in the State Legislative Building and in Chapel Hill. At
the end of every legislative session, faculty members collaborate to
produce a
book that summarizes and analyzes newly enacted statutes.
Faculty
Faculty
in conflict analysis and resolution, economics, finance, political science,
public administration, public affairs, and public policy come to the
School with the doctorate and other specialized degrees and expertise
of their professions. Most lawyer faculty are hired initially for their
general interest in public law and government, though they are expected
to become specialists in particular areas of law. They develop their
expertise on the job, through research and teaching. In defining the
work assignments for new law faculty, the dean of the School tries to
accommodate both School needs and an individual's interests.
New members of the faculty quickly acquire much the same duties as
senior members; all faculty are responsible for identifying and meeting
the needs of public officials in their areas of specialization. This
early assumption of responsibility, combined with considerable discretion
in carrying out the work, is a main attraction of work at the School.
Typically, the dean appoints a committee of three tenured faculty members
to advise and assist each new colleague and review his or her work.
Background of current faculty
Among the 53 current faculty members, the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill is represented most with 17 law or doctoral degrees.
Six faculty have their highest degrees from North Carolina State University,
five from Harvard, four from Duke, and two from Michigan. Other schools
from which faculty have received law and doctoral degrees include Columbia,
Cornell, Indiana, NYU, Pennsylvania, Syracuse, Texas, UC Davis, UCLA,
Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Yale. Thirty-three faculty are men, and
20 are women. The School is committed to achieving a racially diverse
faculty. Currently, two faculty are African-American.
Faculty rank
The School most often hires faculty for tenure-track appointments,
subject to the same rules governing other faculty appointments at the
University. An initial appointment for a new faculty member is typically
for a four-year term as an assistant professor. Employment is for the
full 12 months of the year (less state holidays and 24 days of paid
vacation) rather than for the academic year.
Qualifications
The School looks for strong academic qualifications in faculty candidates.
A candidate must have strong analytical skills, as well as possess the
ability to write and speak well and to deal effectively with a wide
range of clients. We expect faculty to contribute both to the Schools'
public service outreach mission and to their professional disciplines.
Lawyers appointed to the faculty are expected to seek admission to the
North Carolina bar by examination or comity. A candidate's graduate
or law school record must demonstrate superior ability.
Continuity of the faculty is perhaps more important at the School than
it is in other departments of the University. Public officials with
whom we work don't "graduate" after a set time; rather, they
often remain clients for many years, and it is important that they establish
strong, ongoing working relationships with faculty members. Therefore,
the School hopes that each newly appointed faculty member will remain
for the long term; these positions are not intended to be short-term
preparation for other employment.
Salary
Annual salary increases depend primarily on state legislative appropriations;
therefore, salaries do not rise as quickly or as far as they would in
management, a consulting practice, or at a large law firm. Because of
potential conflicts with School work, opportunities for paid outside
consulting in North Carolina are limited. University faculty members
receive employment benefits comparable to state employees, including
state retirement or TIAA-CREF retirement, and access to state health,
disability, and life insurance plan options.
Recruiting
The School's recruitment techniques depend upon the particular faculty
expertise for which we are searching. We always advertise via the university's
and our web site. We typically advertise in the Chronicle of Higher
Education and other relevant professional publications, as well
as with relevant professional associations. For law faculty recruitment,
School representatives typically interview at about a half dozen law
schools during the fall hiring cycle, including Duke, Harvard, North
Carolina, North Carolina Central, University of Michigan, University
of Texas, and University of Virginia law schools. We welcome candidates
from other law schools as well. We may also recruit law faculty through
other processes, like the Equal
Justice Works Career Fair and the American
Association of Law Schools faculty recruitment process. For each
faculty vacancy, several prospective candidates are invited to campus
to interview.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is an equal opportunity
employer. Applicants will be accepted without regard to race, color,
religion, sex, national origin, age, disability status, veteran status,
or sexual orientation.
