An engineering school in Chapel Hill? NC House budget proposes new program at UNC

It’s been almost a century since UNC-Chapel Hill hosted a School of Engineering on its campus. Are legislators trying to bring it — or something similar — back?

That’s what a budget proposal from Republicans in the state House released Monday night, and amended Wednesday, appears to indicate.

The budget proposes the university’s chancellor and the UNC System Board of Governors establish a “School of Applied Science and Technology,” which would include degree programs in engineering, computer science, biomedical sciences, natural resources, physical sciences and other areas. The budget would allocate $8 million to the university in the upcoming fiscal year “to develop, operate, and offer degrees and related programs at the college.”

The university has not operated a school specifically dedicated to engineering since 1935, when the engineering programs at UNC and NC State University — then NC State College — consolidated and merged. NC State continues to operate the College of Engineering today, and a handful of other schools in the public UNC System also operate colleges or academic departments dedicated to the topic.

Leaders at UNC and in the state House indicated Tuesday that the proposed college is not intended to be a competitor with NC State or other UNC System schools.

“We are a growing state. STEM is the fastest-growing profession and is where we have been unable to meet the job needs, and so we believe that UNC-Chapel Hill can be a key part of that,” Republican House Speaker Tim Moore told reporters, adding that the proposed school would focus on “a different type of engineering” than the concentrations offered at NC State.

“I certainly don’t view it as a competitive thing with NC State,” Moore said. “I view it as as complementary.”

UNC spokesperson Kevin Best echoed that sentiment in a statement, saying the university “aims to produce graduates in high-demand fields and meet critical needs for the state of North Carolina, while complementing the existing strengths of other UNC System institutions.”

The proposal is in the House’s budget, which is not likely to come to fruition in its current state. The House and Senate are in the midst of a standoff over the budget, and the Senate has indicated it is unwilling to consider the House’s spending plan once it passes that chamber.

Still, the proposed funding and creation of the school is a new sign of increased interest in the applied sciences at UNC, including from the university’s interim chancellor. But the proposal also is raising questions among some university faculty, who were largely surprised by the move — and have concerns about its possible implications.

Interim chancellor formed working group on applied sciences

Roughly two months into his time as interim chancellor at UNC, Lee Roberts — a former state budget director under Republican Gov. Pat McCrory — informed the campus community in March that he was forming four working groups to explore areas at the university “that have emerged deserving of focused attention” following conversations he’d had around campus.

Among the four areas: applied science.

The 16-member committee consists of the university’s provost, other academic leaders and several faculty, as well as top administrators and members of the campus Board of Trustees.

“There is increasing demand for specialized fields like biomedical engineering, applied sciences, data science, and environmental engineering, among others,” a webpage about the working group states. “This committee will evaluate how the University can produce graduates in high demand fields while complementing existing programs and meeting critical state needs.”

The subject isn’t entirely new to the university, which currently operates a Department of Applied Physical Sciences. The department, which already offers graduate programs and an undergraduate minor, is set to begin offering a major in the discipline this fall, with focuses in materials engineering and environmental engineering.

“As a Carolina engineering student, you’ll build the fundamentals to become a modern problem solver,” a webpage about the upcoming major states. “It’s your chance to explore and work with the latest future-focused solutions, materials and technologies of today — while building the fundamentals you’ll need to one day design possibilities not yet imagined.”

The university also operates a Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, which will offer the upper-level environmental engineering classes for the new applied sciences major. And the university partners with NC State to operate a joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, which allows students to take classes at either campus.

The House budget proposal calls for “existing and related programming” in applied science and technology at the university to be reorganized into the new school. It also proposes the university expand academic programs that are “critical” to research, industry and workforce needs in the state — a call that appears to be in-line with the work of the chancellor’s working group.

Best, the UNC spokesperson, said Tuesday the budget proposal “reflects a recognition of UNC-Chapel Hill’s important role in driving innovation and meeting North Carolina’s growing demand for degrees in applied sciences.” A school dedicated to applied sciences would “leverage the benefits of UNC’s existing world-class research and strengths in life sciences, biomedical and pharmaceutical research programs,” Best said.

Moore said the proposed school would likely bring “additional federal research dollars” to the state, and would bring UNC in-line with the many other “R1” universities — or those with very high research activity, according to the Carnegie Classification system — that offer engineering programs.

Faculty chair was surprised by proposal

Beth Moracco, the chair of the UNC faculty, told The News & Observer she was surprised to see a proposal for a new school included in the proposed budget. Though she was aware of the chancellor’s working group dedicated to applied science — she serves on one of the other working groups, dedicated to enrollment planning — she said the proposal of a new school in the area seemed “premature.”

“It seemed like before there would be anything as drastic as establishing a college at UNC-Chapel Hill, that, you know, we would have some recommendations from this working group, there would be more discussion among faculty, which there hasn’t been,” Moracco said.

Under traditional models of shared governance — in which faculty, administrators and governing board members bear different duties and responsibilities in the development of policies and decision-making — faculty have typically directed the development of curriculum and proposed new academic units.

As the bill was initially written, the campus Board of Trustees would have been directed to establish the new school. Moracco said Tuesday such a legislative mandate was “definitely a concern.”

“It’s not the typical way that academic programs, let alone schools and colleges, are established,” she said.

But it wouldn’t be the first time the UNC trustees have proposed a new academic unit in recent years. In January 2023, the board directed the university to develop a School of Civic Life and Leadership, a move Moracco’s predecessor in the faculty-chair role said she was not consulted on ahead of the proposal being introduced in a public meeting.

Moracco said she’s heard concerns from faculty regarding the House budget proposal “that this, again, feels like an initiative that hasn’t engaged the people who are most closely involved with the curriculum on campus.”

The bill now directs the UNC System Board of Governors to establish the school. Per system policy, that board, which directs policy for all public universities in the state, holds the power to approve new degree programs for all campuses, based on the recommendations of system staff.

Consolidating, eliminating other programs

The House budget proposal, as amended Wednesday, also includes a provision that would allow Roberts and the Board of Governors to “review other existing academic programs” at the university and “consider consolidating or eliminating programs that have a low return on investment or low enrollment.”

Roberts and the campus Board of Trustees would then be required to “reinvest any savings realized from consolidating or eliminating programs pursuant to this subsection into academic programs at [the university] that have a high return on investment or high enrollment.”

An initial version of the provision would have given the trustees the sole power to review and eliminate programs.

The bill does not define how it would characterize “return on investment.” But the UNC System in November released a report, commissioned by the legislature in the 2021 budget, that analyzed the price students pay for their degrees as compared to their lifetime earnings after earning the degree.

The report found that 94% of undergraduate programs and 91% of graduate programs in the system provide a positive return on students’ investments. Programs in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, subject areas generally provided the greatest returns on students’ investments.

UNC System President Peter Hans told The N&O in November that programs without a positive return on investment would not necessarily or automatically be candidates for elimination, but emphasized a need for a “public-interest standard” in approving programs.

Moracco said she believes there should be several additional factors considered in discussing a degree program’s return on investment, and noted that the university has “well-established procedures” for examining existing programs, with heavy involvement from faculty and academic leaders, such as deans and the university provost. She said giving the trustees the power to eliminate programs could set a “dangerous precedent.”

Moracco said the development of the university’s curriculum, including developing new academic programs and units, is “an ongoing process, and it’s always welcome.” But she said she would like faculty to lead the process, and she hopes that any proposal for an applied sciences school would rely heavily on recommendations from the chancellor’s working group.

The House planned to vote on its budget proposal Wednesday and Thursday.

Best said the university “appreciates inclusion of this important initiative in the House budget and looks forward to working with members of the General Assembly as a budget is finalized.”

Under the Dome

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