Pope Foundation Gives $10 Million for Teaching, Research, Service
Posted on April 23, 2018
With this $10 million commitment, the Pope Foundation and family members have more than doubled their lifetime giving to Carolina. (UNC photo)
The John William Pope Foundation has made a $10 million commitment to support a combination of core areas in which Carolina excels: cancer research, multidisciplinary and innovative thinking, excellence in sport and serving the people of North Carolina.
The gift supports For All Kind: the Campaign for Carolina, the most ambitious fundraising campaign in the University’s history.
“The foundation supports the challenge to give back to UNC’s ‘strategic triad’ of teaching, research and public service,” said Art Pope ’78, chair of the foundation. “When Chapel Hill and other state institutions of higher education succeed at their core missions, we all succeed. My family and I are honored to contribute to that success — to achieve the Lux et Libertas, the ‘Light and Liberty,’ that graces the University’s seal. We encourage other North Carolinians to do the same.”
The commitment announced on April 23 will provide:
• $5 million to the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center to establish the John William Pope “Tomorrow’s Best Hope” Endowed Fellowship Fund. The fund is intended to generate nearly $250,000 each year for competitively awarded fellowships to recruit, educate and train future oncologists and cancer researchers to reduce cancer’s burden in the state and beyond. Lineberger is one of 49 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the U.S.; it is the only public comprehensive cancer center in North Carolina. John William Pope Sr. ’47 was Art Pope’s father.
• $3.75 million to the philosophy, politics and economics program in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences to support hiring two new faculty positions and two visiting assistant professorships. The gift also will fund a lecture series to bring prominent speakers to campus to discuss public issues from a philosophical, political and economic perspective. The funds will help the college’s efforts to elevate one of the most popular and fastest-growing academic minors to a major. The philosophy, politics and economics program aims to develop students’ analytical skills to help them see issues from the perspective of all three of the core disciplines.
• $1 million to track and field in the athletics department to create two in-state scholarships, one for men and one for women. It will be the program’s 16th scholarship in men’s track and field and the 14th in women’s track and field. Carolina’s program has won 37 ACC team championships and 30 NCAA event championships.
• $250,000 to the UNC Horizons Program to conduct a follow-up study with up to 125 women and their children enrolled in the program that helps women and children break the cycle of addiction and poverty. The data from the study are expected to help other states and countries shape similar programs. The funds also will work to eliminate a barrier to completion of the Horizons program by ensuring child care services for women undergoing treatment. UNC Horizons provides an outreach service to the state to treat pregnant and parenting women with substance use disorders.
With this latest commitment, the Pope Foundation and family members have more than doubled their lifetime giving to Carolina.
Last fall, Carolina launched the second-largest fundraiser for a public university in the nation. Its goal is $4.25 billion by the end of 2022.
The Pope family has given money in all corners of the campus, including the College of Arts and Sciences; the Ackland Art Museum; the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute; the schools of law, business, social work and medicine; the General Alumni Association; and the athletics department. Within Kenan Stadium are the Pope Family Box and the John W. Pope Academic Support Center for athletes.
