Implementing Honors Faculty Status: An Adventure in Academic Politics (Administrative Designs‪)‬

I joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina Pembroke in 1999. At that time there were about 3200 students, and we were mostly a commuter campus. Currently we have just over 6000 students, and the campus has shifted to a much more residential student body. The physical plant has expanded and improved, and the faculty has almost doubled. We have added several new degree programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The focus of this essay is the expansion of the honors college, particularly the implementation of a system granting official honors faculty status. This system has helped us establish a stronger community and identity on campus, and it has been a key step in improving the programs within the college. When I took over as dean in 2005, I had several ideas for change within the college, one of the most important being the implementation of a formal honors designation for the faculty who teach in the college. I had taught in the honors college myself prior to my appointment, so I had already experienced the system, or lack of a system, first hand. I had also served as chair of the UNCP faculty senate, a duty that gave me valuable knowledge about how things worked at many levels of the university.