Senior vice president

David J. English, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs | 919-962-2620

The senior vice president for Academic Affairs and chief academic officer advises the UNC System President and the Board of Governors on academic affairs and leads in the development and implementation of the academic mission of the University, which is to discover, create, transmit, and apply knowledge to address the needs of individuals and society. The division focuses on ensuring that teaching and instruction, research and scholarship, and service and engagement are of the highest quality. These activities should catalyze innovation, optimize effectiveness, and harness partnerships in order to promote lifelong student achievement. Academic Affairs enables and inspires excellence in academic initiatives across the UNC System, while also respecting and promoting the distinctive character and mission of each UNC System institution.

Hallie Knuffman
Vice President for Academic Initiatives | 919-962-4614

Beth Sanders
Executive Assistant | 919-962-4614

Cassandra Jones
Business Officer | 919-962-4614

Academic and REgulatory Affairs

Daniel Harrison, J.D.
Vice President for Academic and Regulatory Affairs | 919-962-2676


The Vice President for Academic and Regulatory Affairs (VPARA) works with the constituent institutions to shape the future direction of academic programs, faculty development, and research activities across the University, and to provide leadership for special projects that represent innovative collaborations among institutions and with other constituencies. The VPARA is responsible for University-wide academic program planning and assessment, cultivation of innovative approaches to curriculum development and prior learning assessment, faculty development, and research initiatives. The VPARA is also responsible for overseeing the licensing responsibility of the Board of Governors, working with non-public and out-of-state institutions seeking to offer post-secondary degree programs in North Carolina in the authorization and licensure process for degree programs. 

Mandy Dough
Academic Programs Learning Specialist | 919-962-7049

Jennifer Gerz-Escandón, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President for Academic Programs & Research | 919-265-9232

Charlene Lee
Licensure & State Authorizations Program Specialist | 919-962-4558

Giana Malak
Director of Academic Planning and Analysis | 919-962-4544

Heather McCullough, Ph.D.
Director of Learning and Technology | 919-962-6981

Mary Ellen McMillan
Academic Programs Specialist | 919-962-3542

Kaity McNeill
Assistant Vice President, Higher Education and Regulatory Affairs | 919-962-4550

Rondall Rice, Ph.D.
Executive Director for Academic and Regulatory Affairs | 919-843-4962

Michelle Solér, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice President, Undergraduate Programs | 919-966-3202

Allison Stockweather
Director of Environmental Health and Safety, NC Research Campus | 704-250-5056

Tisha Wallace
Director of Research Information Systems | 919-843-5100

Academic and Student Affairs

Bethany Meighen, Ed.D.  
Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs | 919-843-6744


Dr. Bethany Meighen serves as the chief student affairs officer of the University and is the liaison between the University and the 17 constituent institutions on policy matters related to financial aid, athletics, and student health. In addition, she is the UNC System lead representative to the College Foundation of North Carolina (CFNC) partnership. The department of Academic and Student Affairs works closely with the leadership, faculty, and staff at our institutions to foster System-wide, data-driven strategies for enhancing student success and improving time-to-degree efficiency. Student Affairs collaborates with System Office and institution administrators to implement policies and regulations regarding student affairs, financial aid, admissions, and campus safety. The department is also responsible for access programs (including the CFNC Pathways Partnership) and works closely with committees and educational agencies on policies related to minimum admissions and course requirements. Student Affairs also works alongside the NCSEAA (North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority) to coordinate the distribution of student financial aid information and state awards.

Stephanie Bailey
Project Coordinator, Credential As You Go (CAYG) | 919-962-4907

Suzie Baker, Ed.D.
Director of Student Affairs | 919-962-6065

Christopher Bouzane
Behavioral Health Programs Associate

Ulisa E Bowles
Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs | 919-843-8941

Jami Dawkins
Transfer Coordinator | 919-962-6065

Eric Fotheringham, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice President, Transfer Student Success and Partnerships | 919-843-6967

Kelley Greer
Behavioral Health Programs Consultant

Lydia Mayer
Program Specialist | 919-962-4623

Kimberly Mitchell
Director for Student Development and Association of Student Government Advisor | 919-445-0494

Kristen Moran
Behavioral Health Programs Specialist

Wesley Armstrong
Director of Financial Operations and Technology | 919-445-1345

CFNC Personnel

Mark Wiles
Director, CFNC Pathways | 336-256-0117

Addison Miller
Assistant Director, CFNC Pathways | 336-334-4915

Breé Shepard
Campus Services Manager, CFNC Pathways | 336-340-4448

Constance H Pierce
K-12 Services Manager, CFNC Pathways | 336-256-0117

The university of north carolina press

John Sherer
Spangler Family Director | 919-962-3748

The University of North Carolina Press, a nonprofit publisher of both scholarly and general-interest books and journals, operates simultaneously in a business environment and in the world of scholarship and ideas. The Press advances the University’s triple mission of teaching, research, and public service by publishing first-rate books and journals for students, scholars, and general readers. The Press has earned a distinguished reputation by publishing excellent work from the nation’s leading scholars, writers, and intellectuals and by presenting that work effectively to wide-ranging audiences.

Established in 1922, UNC Press was the first university press in the South and one of the first in the nation. Our regional publishing program—aimed at general readers and offering engaging, authoritative work on all aspects of the region’s history and culture, its natural and built environment, its music, food, literature, geography, plant and animal life—has been widely adopted in other parts of the country. Over the years, UNC Press books have won hundreds of prestigious awards including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and those of many national scholarly societies.

The north carolina arboretum

George Briggs
Executive Director | 828-665-2492

For more than 30 years, the North Carolina Arboretum has been cultivating connections between people, plants and places amid a 434-acre public garden. The Arboretum is located within the Bent Creek Experimental Forest just south of Asheville and adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway at Milepost 393. Surrounded and crisscrossed by forested coves and meandering creeks in the botanically diverse Southern Appalachian Mountains, The North Carolina Arboretum is set in one of the most beautiful natural settings in America.

The Arboretum was established as an affiliate of the University of North Carolina System by the State General Assembly in 1986, nearly a century after Frederick law Olmsted, the Father of American Landscape Architecture, first envisioned a research arboretum as part of his legacy and plan for George Vanderbilt at Biltmore Estate.

The north carolina research campus

Cory Brouwer, Ph.D.
Executive Director of Research, NC Research Campus | 704-687-8357

The North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, NC, is a 350-acre research center located just north of Charlotte, NC. The campus is a scientific community that collaboratively works to empower human health through nutrition. Eight universities, the David H. Murdock Research Institute, companies and entrepreneurs focus research and development on safer, more nutritious crops, healthier foods and precision nutrition.

Research and product development are collaborative and multi-disciplinary. Focus areas are as varied as phytochemicals in fruits, vegetables, grains and herbs; exercise physiology; post-harvest physiology; population-based, genetic studies; and precision nutrition. The growing base of scientific knowledge combines new understandings of how nutrients, plant phytochemicals, the environment and lifestyle choices impact brain and fetal development, cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, fatty liver and other metabolic disorders.