Dean’s List: In a first, UNC System board officer roles to be held entirely by women
For the first time in its 50-plus-year history, the UNC System Board of Governors will be led by an officer team composed entirely of women.
The board, which oversees all of North Carolina’s public universities, held officer elections Thursday, the same day it voted to repeal the university system’s diversity, equity and inclusion policy. Randy Ramsey, the board’s longest-serving chair, will remain on the board to complete his term, which ends in 2025.
After a unanimous vote by the full board, the new officers are: Wendy Murphy, chair; Kellie Blue, vice chair; and Pearl Burris-Floyd, secretary. Murphy had been serving as the board’s vice chair, and Burris-Floyd was reelected as secretary. Blue had been the chair of the board’s university governance committee.
Board member Reginald Holley noted the historic moment following the vote to elect the group, calling it “remarkable.”
“I don’t want to let this moment pass without recognizing the significance of this moment,” Holley said. “And speaking of diversity, I don’t know that there’s ever been a time in the history of the university system that we’ve had three dynamic women leading at the helm of our university system. This is a remarkable day in our university system.”
So, what are the new officers’ backgrounds, and what should you know about them?
Welcome to Dean’s List, a regular roundup of higher education news in the Triangle and across North Carolina from The News & Observer and myself, Korie Dean.
This edition takes a deeper look at the Board of Governors’ new officers, the NC State University professor who was awarded the UNC System’s highest honor for faculty and a new doctoral program at UNC Pembroke.
Board of Governors to be led entirely by women
Each of the women elected to officer positions bring several years of experience on the Board of Governors. Two of them also served on campus-level Boards of Trustees in the UNC System.
▪ Wendy Murphy, who was elected chair, has served on the board since 2017, and previously served 10 years on the UNC Wilmington Board of Trustees. She holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from UNCW and is a former teacher.
On the board, she has emphasized the UNC System’s role in preparing future teachers to teach North Carolina’s students, showing particular concern in the past year over a progress report that showed a majority of teacher-preparation programs at the system’s universities failed to make adequate progress toward implementing the “science of reading” framework into their curriculum.
Murphy, a registered unaffiliated voter, is the daughter-in-law of Wendell Murphy, a former state legislator and pork mogul. She is involved in the hospitality arm of Wendell Family Ventures, which includes more than 10 companies ranging from a car dealership and boat company, to a restaurant and inn, to farm management services.
Originally from Rose Hill, she currently lives in Wallace. Her current term on the board expires in 2025.
▪ Kellie Blue, who was elected vice chair, has also served on the board since 2017, and previously served on the UNC Pembroke Board of Trustees. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from UNCP, and is a recipient of the university’s Outstanding Alumnus Award.
Blue, a registered unaffiliated voter, is the county manager of Robeson County. She has worked in county government since 1997, also holding the position of finance director. She previously worked in both public and private finance positions.
Blue lives in Pembroke. Her current term on the board expires in 2025.
▪ Pearl Burris-Floyd has served on the board since 2015. She was reelected as the board’s secretary.
Burris-Floyd holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from UNC-Chapel Hill and also received cytology training at the UNC School of Medicine. She received a master’s degree in health administration from Pfeiffer University. She has a professional background in health affairs, working as chief government affairs officer at Partners Behavioral Health in Gastonia and as an administrator for the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Burris-Floyd is a registered Republican and previously served in the state House of Representatives, representing Gaston and Cleveland counties. She also served on the Gaston County Board of Commissioners and was the first Black person elected to the board. She was also Gaston County’s first DEI officer before retiring at the end of last year.
Burris-Floyd lives in Dallas, North Carolina, and is an ordained minister.
She spoke prior to the board’s vote Thusday to repeal DEI requirements across the system, saying that she hoped the campuses would “not feel as though we have turned our backs on them.”
The group will serve in their officer roles for a two-year term. The board will hold elections again in 2026.
NC State professor receives Gardner award from BOG
Also Thursday, the Board of Governors awarded the 2024 O. Max Gardner Award to Craig Yencho, an NC State University professor and renowned plant breeder whose research on sweet potatoes has greatly influenced the crop’s cultivation and resilience around the globe.
The Gardner Award, named for the former North Carolina governor, is the board’s highest honor given to faculty. It honors faculty members who have “made the greatest contribution to the welfare of the human race.”
Yencho, a distinguished professor in NC State’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, in 2005 developed and introduced the Covington variety of sweet potatoes. The variety is known for “its high yield, flavor, nutritional value and appearance,” and now accounts for 90% of sweet potato production in North Carolina and 20% of production worldwide.
Yencho is also “committed to enhancing the global welfare of humanity, especially in regions grappling with food insecurity and nutritional deficiencies,” a news release said. That commitment includes breeding and developing sweet potatoes for tropical and subtropical climates, which are prevalent in developing countries.
“Dr. Yencho’s work in sweet potato research not only helps drive economic prosperity for our state, it also helps fortify the health of populations across the globe,” NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson said in a news release. “His research is a shining example of work that improves the world around us, and we congratulate him on this well-deserved, prestigious honor.”
UNCP to establish doctor of optometry program
UNC Pembroke will become the state’s only public university — and one of just 24 schools nationwide — to offer a doctorate degree in optometry.
The Board of Governors approved the program Thursday. The university plans to welcome its first class of students to the program in the fall of 2027.
The program will play a key role in addressing a shortage of optometrists in rural communities in the state, including the 12 counties with no optometrist, according to a news release from the university. In addition to the academic degree program, the university “plans to establish a community clinic for uninsured and low-income patients that will provide students with hands-on patient experience under the supervision of experienced clinical faculty,” the news release said.
“The optometry program will have an exponential impact not only on UNC Pembroke, but on southeastern North Carolina and the state as a whole,” state Sen. Danny Britt, a Lumberton Republican, said in a news release. “By adding an in-demand doctoral program that is not available at any of the other UNC System schools, UNCP is elevating its profile and helping to positively impact the healthcare landscape of southeastern North Carolina. This is a historic moment for the university, optometry, other health science career fields and especially for rural North Carolina.”
The optometry program will be the university’s second, following the addition of a doctor of nursing practice to the university’s offerings in January.
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That’s all for this roundup of North Carolina higher education news. I hope you’ll stay tuned for more.
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