Dean Mike Smith Honored with Faculty Service Award

The UNC General Alumni Association honored School of Government Dean Mike Smith with the 2017 Faculty Service Award, which celebrates faculty members who have performed outstanding service for the University or the Alumni Association. Each year the award recognizes two UNC faculty members. In addition to Smith, a 2017 award was presented to Joseph D. Simone, the Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of chemistry at UNC and the William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of chemical engineering at NC State.

In honoring Smith, the association cited him as "a dean who champions nonpartisan service to the state’s leaders." During his tenure as dean, Smith expanded the School’s traditional focus on public law to include management, leadership, finance, and economic development. He transitioned the Master of Public Administration program to the School in 1997. He has led efforts to diversify the School's faculty, expand fundraising, and secure a legislative appropriation that enabled renovating the School’s Knapp-Sanders Building in 2004. He also hosts and blogs monthly about Faculty Lunches with the Dean in an effort to improve internal communication around faculty initiatives.