A Year to Remember
Posted on Nov. 10, 2017When Carolina’s Bicentennial Campaign was launched nearly 30 years ago, the goal — labeled “ambitious” — was $320 million.
As the campaign ended in 1995, then-Chancellor Paul Hardin pointed to how Carolina “blew by” what it had first put in its sights, raising $440 million.
Douglas S. Dibbert ’70
Dollars, given across the years, make a difference in the lives of our students every day. In the past year alone, $543 million was raised — more than $100 million beyond what was raised in the six years of the Bicentennial Campaign combined. (And in the eight and a half years of the Carolina First Campaign, Carolina raised $2.38 billion.)
The vast majority — more than 85 percent in each case — of alumni gifts in the Bicentennial and Carolina First campaigns came from Carolina Alumni members. The GAA’s comprehensive alumni records of 322,000-plus living alumni, with the GAA’s award-winning communications and award-winning programs, inform and engage alumni — providing the foundation essential to fundraising.
I’ll have more to say about “For All Kind: The Campaign for Carolina,” publicly launched just before University Day with a $4.25 billion goal, but there have been other notable milestones between University Days in 2016 and ’17:
■ Twenty-one Carolina Firsts were announced by Chancellor Carol L. Folt on University Day 2016, with grants and fellowships named for these path-breaking Tar Heels.
■ Also on University Day 2016, an anonymous $20 million match challenge was announced for two signature scholarships: the Morehead-Cain and the Carolina Covenant. (The first are awarded based on merit, the second are based on need.) By University Day 2017, as a result of that challenge, a total of $65 million had been raised for those scholarships.
■ Michael Jordan ’86 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then-President Barack Obama.
■ Dr. Sheldon Peck ’63 (’66 DDS) and his wife, Leena, unveiled their $25 million gift to the Ackland Art Museum.
■ Undergraduate applications rose for the 12th consecutive year — increasing 13.7 percent to 40,792.
■ A renovated Hill Hall reopened with the auditorium named for Chancellor Emeritus James Moeser and his wife, Susan.
■ The men’s basketball team won its sixth NCAA championship.
■ Construction began on renovations to Fetzer Field for soccer and lacrosse, a new indoor practice facility for football, relocation of field hockey to a new stadium and the relocation of the outdoor track to Finley Fields.
■ H.R. McMaster ’94 (MA, ’96 PhD) was named national security adviser; J. Michael “Mick” Mulvaney ’92 (JD) became director of the Office of Management and Budget; Kristan King Nevins ’13 (MBA) is chief of staff to Karen Pence; and Ray Starling ’02 (JD) is special assistant to the president for agriculture, trade and food assistance.
■ An $18 million gift by the Shuford family of Hickory is doubling UNC’s undergraduate entrepreneurship program.
■ To the relief of many, the day after University Day 2017 the NCAA infractions panel announced it could not conclude that Carolina violated NCAA academic rules when it made available paper-only classes to the student body, including student-athletes. Accordingly, it announced no penalties.
We also have ongoing concerns:
■ Passage of House Bill 2 by the N.C. General Assembly in 2016 prompted the NCAA to withdraw seven championship events from North Carolina; legislation enacted in 2017 is expected to avoid withdrawals of future championship events.
■ The UNC System Board of Governors voted to prohibit the law school’s Center for Civil Rights, founded by the late Julius Chambers ’62 (LLBJD), from all litigation and any type of client representation, including the practice of going to court against the state and other government entities as part of teaching law students.
■ The future of the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam remained unclear at University Day 2017. A state law, adopted by the General Assembly in 2015, prohibits the removal or relocation of publicly sited monuments without permission of the N.C. Historical Commission.
Recent leadership changes include:
■ Dean of the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, Robert Blouin, has been named UNC’s provost and executive vice chancellor. Dhiren Thakker, pharmacy’s associate dean for entrepreneurial development, was named interim dean.
■ Elaine Westbrooks joined Carolina as University librarian
And among those we lost in the past year:
■ Former Chancellor Hardin.
■ Former UNC System first lady Ida Friday ’47 (MPH).
■ Former business school Dean Paul Rizzo ’50.
As we reflect on the passing of time, we look forward to 2018 and celebrating Carolina’s 225th anniversary, the GAA’s 175th anniversary and the 25th anniversary of the George Watts Hill Alumni Center. Happy holidays to you and yours.
Yours at Carolina,
Douglas S. Dibbert ’70
