Reasons for Optimism
Posted on July 13, 2002Developments over the past academic year have made it understandable if some Carolina alumni are concerned about our University. State budget cuts last fall coupled with additional cuts this spring and more cuts and layoffs likely for 2002-03 clearly have impacted Carolina. Campus controversies about night parking, tuition increases and whether to establish a UNC campus in Qatar absorbed much of the campus’s attention. And, of course, as the men’s basketball season went on, concern grew about the reasons underlying the disappointing season and prospects for the future.
Whatever the signs for concern, any objective review of the past year reveals many reasons to remain optimistic about Carolina’s future. In his first “State of the University” address in early September, Chancellor James Moeser noted that “the challenge today is not to become distracted by these short-term issues from our long-term vision for Carolina.What is that vision? It is to do what Carolina has always done best: to lead.”
Carolina enjoyed a record number of applications for admission to next year’s freshman class — in excess of 17,000. Last summer, the first of our Robertson Scholars began classes. Undoubtedly, the beauty of Chapel Hill continues to attract many students, and the opening next fall of four new residence halls, the addition to the Student Union and the renovated Undergraduate Library should greatly enhance the quality of the student experience. And to better serve the citizens of North Carolina, we opened the new Women’s Hospital as well as the new Children’s Hospital.
However, what happens in the classrooms and research facilities earns Carolina our national and international reputation. Professor Oliver Smithies received the highly coveted Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, the nation’s most distinguished honor for outstanding contributions to basic medical research and often a precursor of a Nobel Prize. Carolina is now 20th in federal science and engineering support, and we are the only North Carolina university in the Top 20 in funding from the National Science Foundation. Carolina is first among public universities in the South in funding from the National Institutes of Health and 13th overall. Forty-two of our graduate programs are in the Top 25, and we rank 11th in the number of our faculty — at 35 — who are members of national academies.
William Ferris, noted Southern historian and former director of the National Endowment for the Arts, has accepted an endowed professorship at Carolina. This professorship was made possible by a generous gift from a UNC alumnus. Further, while unfortunately Carolina has again lost some faculty to other institutions, we also have enjoyed great success in recruiting outstanding new faculty from other prestigious institutions.
The Chapel Hill Town Council approved a new zoning classification for our 550-acre central campus that, coupled with their approval of a campus development plan, permits $1 billion of planned construction to take place on our central campus, including a new science complex.
While the men’s basketball team struggled through an un-Carolina-like season, UNC in mid-June was fourth in the competition for the prestigious Sears Directors Cup, which symbolizes overall athletic excellence. For the first time, Carolina’s men’s soccer team won the NCAA Championship while the women’s team finished second. And the football team defeated Florida State and again won the Peach Bowl. For the 15th consecutive year Carolina led the Atlantic Coast Conference in conference championships.
The academic year 2001-02 will forever be remembered for the tragic events of Sept. 11. None of us who participated in the services on Polk Place the next day will ever forget that poignant occasion and the respectful, profound silence of 10,000 people quietly leaving. Happily, in April Good Morning America originated live from Polk Place and shared with a national audience much of the beauty and the sights and sounds of our campus — concluding with the GAA-sponsored Clef Hangers singing Chapel Hill native James Taylor’s Carolina in My Mind.
These are challenging times for our University. As they have in the past, Carolina’s alumni and friends are doing all that we can to preserve the academic excellence that generations have worked so hard to create. We are advocating for Carolina with members of the General Assembly, and alumni and friends have responded so generously during the “silent” phase of the yet-unannounced Carolina First Campaign that expectations grow that when the campaign goes public this fall, the goal will be greater than the often-whispered $1.5 billion target. Yes, there are many reasons to remain optimistic about Carolina’s future.
Yours at Carolina,
Douglas S. Dibbert ’70
