The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions that faculty members have regarding the impact that faculty unionization has on shared governance at public universities in the United States. An exploratory sequential design mixed methods study was conducted in which 25 faculty senators from 13 universities were interviewed to determine their perceptions on the effect of faculty unionization on shared governance. Next, all the remaining faculty senators from those same institutions were surveyed with a questionnaire to generalize the findings to a larger population. The main findings were that participants perceived that faculty unionization had a positive impact on shared governance and that unionization improved faculty members’ working conditions and salaries. Through this study, it was determined that it would be in the best interests of improved shared governance if unions would be less confrontational with administrators, that there were perceptions by faculty members who de-unionized that shared governance was worse as a result of de-unionization, and that faculty felt safer when they were represented by a union. The findings were consistent with the literature in that there was the perception of the erosion of shared governance at institutions of higher education. However, the literature indicated more ambivalence regarding the appropriateness of faculty unionization than was reflected in the findings. Some lessons learned from the findings were that unionized faculty members today value their unions and value what their unions do for them. The findings also indicated a perception that a crisis of shared governance at universities continues to persist today and, indeed, may be worsening. Based on the findings, this study provides recommendations of how faculty unionization can have a positive impact on shared governance and some suggestions for university leaders with respect to improving shared governance by embracing unionized faculty.