§ 116-41.18.  Selection of distinguished professors.

(a) Each constituent institution that receives, through private gifts and an allocation by the Board of Governors, funds for the purpose shall, under procedures established by rules of the Board of Governors and the board of trustees of the constituent institution, select a holder of the Distinguished Professorship in a STEM area. Once given, that designation shall be retained by the distinguished professor as long as the distinguished professor remains in the full-time service of the institution as a faculty member, or for more limited lengths of time when authorized by the Board of Governors and the board of trustees at the institution when the Distinguished Professorship is originally established or vacated. When a distinguished professorship becomes vacant, it shall remain assigned to the institution and another distinguished professor shall be selected under procedures established by rules of the Board of Governors and the board of trustees of the constituent institution.

(a1) No rule shall prevent the constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina from selecting holders of Distinguished Professorships from among existing faculty members or newly hired faculty members.

(b) The Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina shall promulgate rules to implement this section.

(c) There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina the sum of two million dollars ($2,000,000) for fiscal year 1985-86, and the sum of two million dollars ($2,000,000) for fiscal year 1986-87, to implement this section. (1985, c. 757, s. 202; 1991 (Reg. Sess., 1992), c. 1030, s. 31; 1995, c. 507, s. 15.12; 1997-443, s. 10.6; 2023-134, s. 8.18(a).)