Four to Receive Honorary Degrees

Posted on April 10, 2024

A founder of a company that promotes the use of data to address health inequities. Two who dedicated their careers to serve North Carolina. A dancer.

Deitre Allen Epps, Howard Lee ’66 (MSW) and Richard Stevens ’70 (’74 MPA, JD) will receive doctor of laws degrees, and Michelle Dorrance will receive a doctor of arts degree during Commencement May 11.

Epps is founder and CEO of Results Achieved through Community Engagement for Equity, a Durham-based organization that helps nonprofits center equity in their work. She promotes equity by addressing social determinants of health, including structural racism, and supports leaders to rely on data to make decisions.  Epps often partners with faculty and students at the Gillings School of Global Public Health to advance strategies that are sensitive to cultural differences to promote community well-being. Epps is a graduate of Howard University and Coppin State University.

Lee, former mayor of Chapel Hill, taught at the UNC School of Social Work and N.C. Central University. When elected in 1969, Lee was the first African American to lead a majority-white Southern city since Reconstruction. Lee served as secretary of the N.C. Department of Natural Resources and Community Development, where he oversaw the development of the state’s Mountains-to-Sea trail. He served in the state Senate for more than a decade and was chair of the State Board of Education. In 2009 he was named the first executive director of the N.C. Education Cabinet. Lee received the GAA Distinguished Service Medal in 1999.

Stevens served five terms as a state senator and was the senior budget leader under both Democratic and Republican majorities. Stevens also served as the county manager of Wake County and was on the UNC Board of Trustees, where he served four terms as chair. He served as chair of the GAA Board of Directors and was the GAA’s treasurer for a decade. Stevens also served on the GAA task force, which identifies areas of significant concern to alumni, and recommended how the GAA could help. He chaired two chancellor search committees leading to the selections of James Moeser and Kevin Guskiewicz. Stevens received the GAA Distinguished Service Medal in 1994 and the inaugural GAA Tony Rand and Tom Lambeth Advocacy Award in 2022.

Dorrance, founder of the New York-based Dorrance Dance Co., is a choreographer and MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” recipient. She has been described as one of the best tap choreographers by publications such as The New Yorker. Dorrance grew up in Chapel Hill and her company often performs at Carolina Performing Arts. In 2022, she spoke and danced as part of the Eve Marie Carson Lecture Series. Dorrance graduated from New York University.

— Cameron Hayes Fardy ’23