Howell is the first UNCG faculty member to hold the position, which serves as the chief faculty liaison with the administration of the UNC system. He has been a UNCG representative to the Faculty Assembly for three years, and has served as chair of the faculty welfare committee for the past two years.

His duties will include convening and presiding at assembly meetings, attending all meetings of the UNC Board of Governors, meeting periodically with UNC President Molly Broad and relaying faculty concerns to her.

The UNC Faculty Assembly, which meets four times a year, has 56 delegates representing the UNC system’s 16 campuses. Its first meeting is on Sept. 17. The assembly’s purpose is to provide advice and counsel to the system president on issues of university concern. The assembly also serves to make recommendations, through the president, to the UNC Board of Governors. It has committees on academic freedom and tenure, budget, faculty governance, faculty welfare, planning and programs, and professional development.

A UNCG faculty member since 1982, he has served two terms as head of the Department of Public Health Education. He is currently director of the Master of Public Health graduate degree program in the department. He has received more than $820,000 in federal and state grants to support public health education projects in the state on AIDS and drug abuse. The total included an $84,000 tour program on drug abuse prevention for officials from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Nepal and Bangladesh, with funding through the U.S. Information Agency.