Executive Voices

Majoring in Jobs
The UNC System is crucial to North Carolina's economic future

By J. Bradley Wilson

As chairman of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, I have come to understand that this state is at an economic crossroads as significant as when railroads were first introduced and the industrial revolution moved south. And the University is standing squarely in the middle of that crossroads.

From day one of her tenure, UNC President Molly Broad has challenged our 16 campuses to lead and prepare North Carolina for the “new economy.” Given daily news reports of the demise of textile, furniture and farming, it is imperative that the university rise to the challenge.

State voters have done their part. In 2000, 73 percent of them approved $3.1 billion in bonds to build and renovate facilities on university and community college campuses. It was the largest higher education bond issue in the history of America, and NCCBI took a strong and visible leadership role in its passage. With their votes, citizens in all 100 counties voiced their belief that the state’s economic future hinges on higher education. They were right.

North Carolina’s economic and educational landscapes are shifting in ways we could not have imagined a few short years ago. The sobering challenge before UNC administrators, faculty, and the Board of the Governors is to ensure that UNC is leading and leveraging all available resources to provide better jobs and better opportunities for our citizens. To succeed, we must understand where we are as a state, where we need to go, and how the university can help get us there. We must understand new and complex technologies such as biomanufacturing and how UNC can foster them for the benefit of our people.

Much is already under way. Earlier this year, for example, President Broad restructured her office to provide greater leadership for university-wide economic development activities. UNC’s Small Business and Technology Development Center, which provides management counseling and technology development services to small and mid-sized businesses across the state, is a key player in this expanded effort. Likewise, many UNC campuses have begun to recognize economic development as a vital component of their outreach mission. They are working more closely with local business leaders and regional economic development partnerships. As a board, we also are stepping up efforts to address workforce shortages in high-need areas, including teaching, nursing and biotechnology.

In addition, a UNC-wide Technology Development Initiative is identifying research strengths, promoting commercialization, and building greater capacity to capitalize on the research that occurs across our 16 campuses. Supported by the National Science Foundation, this effort is resulting in innovative ways of conducting business on UNC campuses, particularly on our smaller and medium-sized campuses. On a related front, UNC is developing an economic development portal that will help make university-wide resources readily available to North Carolina businesses. This project has the enthusiastic support of the N.C. Economic Development Board, other economic development entities, and industry associations.

Yet even as UNC’s importance to the state has increased, state budget problems threaten to stifle our progress. In fairness to Governor Easley and the General Assembly, state leaders have gone to great pains to shield education — including the university — from the worst budget cuts. By passing a budget that positions UNC to respond to enrollment growth, increases need-based financial aid, and addresses other high priorities of the Board of Governors, they have acknowledged the university’s growing importance in the life of this state. By enabling each UNC campus to retain full use of its overhead receipts earned through research activity, they have acknowledged the pivotal role that faculty research and innovation play in stimulating job growth in North Carolina. And in a year in which double-digit tuition hikes were commonplace at public universities across the country, mandated increases for UNC students were held to 5 percent.

UNC should do its fair share to help balance the state’s budget, and we’ve met that responsibility. Nonetheless, we know that UNC cannot continue to sustain the cuts it has suffered in recent years without hindering our ability to provide North Carolina students the opportunity to get a quality education at a state-supported university. Although the governor and legislature have supported important university priorities, since 2001 UNC has absorbed $151 million in permanent cuts to our operating budgets, $235 million in required reversions and spending restrictions, and the elimination of more than 900 positions. Few businesses could continue to provide the same level of services to a customer base that’s growing as fast as the university’s enrollment.

Throughout the current budget crisis, a guiding principle of the Board of Governors has been protecting the classroom and academic programs. While a noble goal, the reality is that the classroom has been affected. Students and faculty tell me that classes are larger, sections are fewer, and resources to support their academic endeavors are shrinking. We must recognize that to continue to cut the university budget — as has been done over the past four years — and to fail year after year to reward our faculty, administrators, and staff with the raises and benefits they deserve, and to ask our students to pick up more of the tab will shut down our significant efforts to help the state transition from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy. This is akin to farmers eating their seed corn, which we simply must not do.

J. Bradley Wilson of Cary, the senior vice president, corporate secretary and general counsel to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, was first appointed to the UNC Board of Governors in 1997 and elected chairman in 2002.


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