New Endowment Funds Asia Study

Posted on Oct. 17, 2006

Up to 50 undergraduates each year will be able to spend a semester or summer session studying in Asia with a new scholarship endowment in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The Phillips Ambassadors Program, the creation of Earl N. “Phil” Phillips Jr. ’62 of High Point, will place students in academic programs in China, India and other countries. “The 21st-century belongs to Asia,” said Phillips, who said he intends to stimulate interest in “this increasingly vital region of the world.”

A quarter of the scholarships will be reserved for qualified undergraduate business majors and minors. Recipients will be selected by a committee chaired by the director of the University’s Study Abroad program and including representatives from the college and the Kenan-Flagler Business School. The first ambassadors will be chosen in early 2007.

“International travel is one of life’s great educational experiences,” Phillips said. He credits his parents with giving him that opportunity – they traveled the globe when he was a teenager. “That opened my eyes to the world, and I have been traveling and exploring ever since. I want Carolina undergraduates to experience that same thing.”

Phillips’ family has embraced his international interests. His daughter, Courtney Phillips Hyder ’96, spent a semester at sea as a Carolina undergraduate; his son, Jordan Phillips ’04, studied abroad in Spain and worked for a private equity firm in Hong Kong.

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Related coverage is available online:

• Students Win Scholarships For Program in Southeast Asia
  July 2006 news report
• 13 to Study Abroad On Donors’ Scholarships
  June 2006 news report

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