The hierarchy of university leadership is rather complex, but it’s important to understand the influential role that the Board of Trustees plays in directing the university.
“In essence, the Board of Trustees serves as the advisory board to the chancellor,” said Student Body President Paul Nolan. “All of the bigger decisions, the vision and the value of the university, Chancellor [Randy] Woodson is not making these decisions on his own. He’s got people on people on people to help make these decisions for him.”
North Carolina voters elect General Assembly legislators and the governor, who are tasked with directing the policy of higher education. The General Assembly then elects members to the Board of Governors, which oversees all 17 institutions in the UNC System.
This is different from a UNC-System school’s Board of Trustees, which is charged with promoting the “sound development” of each of these institutions and advising both the Board of Governors and the university’s chancellor with matters concerning the management of each university, according to the UNC code.
The NC State Board of Trustees is composed of 13 members: the current student body president, eight members elected by the Board of Governors and four chosen by the governor. While the student body president is elected for a one-year term, six of the other 12 members are selected every odd-numbered year for a four-year term.
The members of NC State’s Board of Trustees have had careers in a variety of fields such as business, banking, consulting, farming and art. Ten of the Trustees are alumni of NC State, including the chair James Owens, who earned his doctorate in economics from NC State. Only two women, Board Secretary Ann Goodnight and Susan Ward, serve on the Board of Trustees.
To advocate for students, Nolan networks with other board members, he is able to vote on decisions the board makes and he works on two committees: University Affairs and Audit, Risk Management and Finance.
“The SBP role is dual-hatted,” Nolan said, “You’re both a trustee and running student government.”
During his service, Nolan plans on prioritizing two issues: maintaining NC State’s sense of community in the face of academic competition and pushing diversity and inclusion initiatives. However, he and the board face some difficulty.
“We are in a very difficult time right now with North Carolina as a whole because a lot of, especially the UNC System, it’s reactionary, honestly,” Nolan said. “There are some things that come out of the General Assembly that NC State has to react to. We have been reacting for so long, that it’s hard to push a specific agenda.”
Members of the Board of Trustees cannot simultaneously be in the NC General Assembly, on the Board of Governors or an employee of the UNC System. Also, after serving two consecutive terms, members of the Board of Trustees are ineligible to serve again for at least one year.
The Board of Trustees will meet a total of four times during the course of the academic year: Sept. 16, Nov. 18, Feb. 17 and April 21. Each main meeting will occur on a Friday at 9 a.m. in the Dorothy and Roy Park Alumni Center. Both the full board and committee meetings are open to the public; however, the board will go into closed session when discussing legally sensitive matters, such as personnel issues.
