Five Receive Distinguished Alumni Awards
Posted on Oct. 9, 2013As part of the Oct. 12 University Day ceremony to install Carol L. Folt as the 11th chancellor of the University, five Carolina alumni received Distinguished Alumna/Alumnus Awards and another received the Edward Kidder Graham Award.
The Distinguished Alumna/Alumnus Award was created in 1971 to recognize alumni who had distinguished themselves in a manner that brought credit to the University. This year’s recipients are:
Stuart Bondurant ’50
Stuart Bondurant ’50, professor and dean emeritus of the UNC School of Medicine and a native of Winston-Salem. After attending Carolina, he earned his bachelor’s and medical degrees from Duke University. At the National Heart Institute, he led the establishment of the first national program of myocardial infarction research. He served as dean of the UNC School of Medicine from 1979 to 1994 and again from 1996 to 1997. Bondurant Hall is named for him.
William Easterling III ’76
William Easterling III ’76, dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State University and a Chapel Hill native. Easterling, who also received his master’s in 1981 and his doctorate in 1985, all from UNC, is an internationally recognized expert on how global warming likely will affect the earth’s food supply. He assisted with production of the groundbreaking National Academy of Sciences report, “Changing Climate.” He was a coordinating lead author on the report from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the group that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.
Karol Mason ’79
Karol Mason ’79, U.S. assistant attorney general for the Office of Justice Programs and a native of Amityville, N.Y. Mason received her bachelor’s degree in mathematics from UNC before earning her law degree from the University of Michigan. After being admitted to the Georgia Bar in 1983, she joined the Atlanta law firm of Alston & Bird, becoming the first African-American woman to achieve partner status in a major Atlanta law practice. Before taking on her current role in the Obama administration, she served as U.S. deputy associate attorney general, where she led the Defending Childhood Initiative and helped create the Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence. She is a past member of the GAA Board of Directors.
Todd Miller ’78
Todd Miller ’78, founder and executive director of the N.C. Coastal Federation, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Ocean, and a native of Carteret County. Miller also received his master’s from UNC in 1981. Since 1982, the federation has worked with all 20 of the state’s coastal counties to take an active role in the stewardship of coastal water quality and natural resources. Led by Miller, the federation has protected and restored more than 50,000 acres of coastal waters and habitats and helped North Carolina to adopt some of the most effective coastal management safeguards in the nation. He was profiled in the November/December 2011 issue of the Carolina Alumni Review.
Gary Parr ’79
Gary Parr ’79, who grew up in Charlotte, vice chair of Lazard Ltd., a global financial advisory firm. Parr, who also has an MBA from Northwestern University, is a longtime investment banker who provides strategic advice and advising on mergers and acquisitions for financial institutions. Through the Gary W. Parr Family Foundation, he established UNC’s Parr Center for Ethics, which addresses a broad and innovative range of ethical issues.
Bruce Cairns
The Edward Kidder Graham Award, established in 2010 to recognize outstanding service by a member of the voting faculty at Carolina, is another honor bestowed on University Day. This year’s recipient is Bruce Cairns of Pittsboro, medical director of the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center since 2007 and director of research since 2003. A graduate of Johns Hopkins with a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Navy veteran, Cairns is the John Stackhouse Distinguished Professor of surgery at UNC.
An estimated 2,500 students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends and local residents attended this year’s the installation ceremony on University Day. The festivities on Polk Place began at 1:30 p.m. with special music and a processional of faculty, students, staff, alumni, visiting dignitaries and other leaders. A public reception followed on Polk Place.
More online…
- Water Institute Director to Speak on University Day
October 2012 news report - Head of UNC System Speaks at University Day
October 2011 news report - Alumna Noted for Innovation to Speak at University Day
September 2010 news report
