Class of 1971 Reunion Schedule of Events

5-7 p.m. | 50th Opening Reception and Reunion Check-In

George Watts Hill Alumni Center and Royall Room at The Carolina Club

Stop by the Alumni Center to pick up your weekend registration packet. Meet classmates in the Royall Room at the Carolina Club for light hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar as we kick off our long awaited twice delayed 50th Reunion celebration. This event is sponsored by the UNC General Alumni Association and Galloway Ridge. Don’t miss the very Carolina tote bags provided by Galloway Ridge (while supplies last).

9 – 10 a.m. Reunion Check-In available at Wilson Library

10 – 11:30 a.m. | Featured Enrichment Session

Athletics at UNC

Pleasants Room, Wilson Library

We’ll open our athletics session with remarks from Mack Brown. Yes, Mack Brown, our strategic, dynamic football coach who is in his fourth season after returning to Chapel Hill. Many believe that Mack is building the foundation for Carolina to become a national football power. Mack is determined to make “Carolina” synonymous with two major sports, not just one.

Following Mack’s remarks, join us for an athletics panel discussion moderated by Art Chansky ’70, author and sportswriter. Participating will be an exciting array of coaches and former players, including:

• Lee Dedmon ’71, Starting Center & Top Rebounder on UNC Basketball Team, both as a Junior & Senior.  In 1971, Lee was a Co-MVP of the ACC Tournament and elected to ACC All-Tournament Team.  In the post season, Lee was instrumental in leading our Tar Heels to win the NIT in Madison Square Garden, March, 1971. Lee has had an outstanding 38 year career as a Professional Educator.   Initially a special education teacher, Lee has served the Gaston County School System in a variety capacities, most notably as Principal of the Highland School of Technology.  Since retiring 7 years ago, he has twice been elected to the Gaston Board of Education where he continues to serve.
• John Swofford ’71, our illustrious quarterback, former athletic director at Carolina and commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). It was John who oversaw the implementation of Title IX, which gave rise to the creation and expansion of Women Collegiate Athletics, as well as the strategic expansion of the ACC from nine to fifteen schools.
• Jim Lampley ’71 – After winning a nationwide ABC Sports talent hunt, Jim became the first broadcaster to appear on the sidelines of college football games in 1974. Jim enjoyed a 46-year network television career that saw him appear on six different networks, at fourteen different Olympic Games, and as a bust at the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Jim now resides on Franklin Street and teaches in the Communication Department.

• We hope to recognize and acknowledge some of our outstanding ’71 athletes from other sports including, but not limited to soccer, lacrosse and golf.
• Stay tuned for additional coaches and players to added in the next few weeks.

12 – 1 p.m. | Bus Tour of Campus

Departs from the George Watts Hill Alumni Center

The bus tour is the best way to see the new and familiar of main campus while also learning about the ever-expanding southern edges of UNC. All tours are complimentary. 

2 – 3 p.m. | Bus Tour of Campus

See 12 p.m. tour description.

3 – 6 p.m. | Afternoon Party

Hickory Tavern, 370-110 E. Main St., Carrboro, NC 27510 (located below the Hampton Inn & Suites Chapel Hill-Carrboro/Downtown)

Our party will be very casual with beverages and snacks available for purchase on site. Friday dinner is purposely left open.  Beverages and food may be purchased upon arrival. Each class member is responsible to pay individually for what they order, plus gratuity.

9 – 10 a.m. Reunion Check-In Reopens – Wilson Library

10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. | Featured Enrichment Session

Cultural and Social Change

Pleasants Room, Wilson Library

“What’s Going On,“ a famed song and album by Marvin Gaye released in 1971, poignantly addressed many of the troubling issues of our college years, many of which persist today. “What’s Going On” is an appropriate theme now, as it was then. An interdisciplinary panel discussion among several esteemed faculty members (from fields such as history, journalism, religion, etc.) will explore this timeless topic from their various perspectives. Our panel will be moderated by our classmate, Alan Hirsch ’71.

• Alan Hirsch is a proud member of the UNC class of 1971 and graduated from Columbia University School of Law in 1974.
• Dr. Molly Worthen, associate professor, history
• Dr. James H. Johnson Jr., William R. Kenan Jr., distinguished professor of strategy and entrepreneurship and director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center at the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise
• Ken Weiss, entrepreneur-in-residence, Department of Music
• Dr. Katherine Turk, associate professor, director of undergraduate studies and director of honors in the Department of History

“UNC, A-Z”: A presentation by Cecilia Moore PHD ’13, retired UNC historian, with collaborator, Nicholas Graham MSLS ’98, university archivist. Cecilia and Nicholas will provide insight on “what’s been going on” these last 50 years at Carolina. They also will offer tips on how you might conduct and enjoy your own self-guided tour of our ever-expanding campus at Carolina either following their presentation or later during this visit to Chapel Hill.

6 – 10 p.m. | The Main Event

The Blue Zone (Concourse Level), Kenan Stadium
Price $90 | Carolina Alumni members pay $65
Unlimited beer/wine service $18

Departing from the traditional semiformal white-tablecloth banquet/dinner-dance format, we are planning an evening which we think will be more memorable, more fun!!! Our Reunion Steering Committee voted in May to develop a more casual, entertaining dinner event in a venue unlike any other, the Blue Zone at Kenan Stadium. Imagine dinner and dancing overlooking the football field at Kenan Stadium, how unique. Saturday night, “The Main Event” promises to be a night to remember.

Menu includes: Passed hors d’oeuvres, Sister Schubert Style Rolls, Chop House Salad, Southern Collard Greens, Crispy Smashed Potatoes, Flat Iron Steak with Gravy (Rocky Top’s version of Rathskeller’s “The Gambler”) and BBQ Grilled Chicken. Dessert display includes assorted Cheesecake Squares and Brownies. Beverages include Southern Sweet Tea and water. Admission to this event also includes 1 drink ticket for beer/wine. A wristband for unlimited beer/wine may be purchased for an additional $18 per person. Please note that wristbands must be purchased by the registration deadline of Oct. 13. Wristbands will not be available for purchase on-site.

We will also be taking our Class of 1971 50^th Reunion photo at this event, so come prepared to smile for the camera alongside old and new friends.

Friday Enrichment Session:

Art Chansky ’70 is an author and sportswriter who has covered basketball in the Tar Heel state for more than thirty years.

Coach Mack Brown whose charismatic style and disciplined approach propelled the University of North Carolina to the Top Five and the University of Texas to the 2005 BCS National Championship, began his second stint as head coach in Chapel Hill on Nov. 27, 2018.

A 44-year veteran of collegiate coaching, Brown has served as a head coach for 33 seasons with stops at Texas (1998-2013), North Carolina (1988-97, 2019-21), Tulane (1985-87), and Appalachian State (1983). Over his 33 seasons, Brown has posted a record of 265-139-1 (.656). Those 265 career victories rank eighth on the FBS all-time list and are the second most among active coaches. The 2005 Paul W. “Bear” Bryant National Coach of the Year and the 2008 Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year, Brown is one of a handful of coaches in college football history to lead two separate programs to Top-Five national finishes.

In year three of his return, Brown led the Tar Heels to their third consecutive bowl game, which hadn’t happened since 2016 and occurred only one other time since his departure in 1997. Carolina snapped a four-game losing streak to Virginia, defeated Miami for the third consecutive season, and defeated a Top-10 opponent at home for the first time since 2004. UNC saw five of its Tar Heels selected in the 2021 NFL Draft with three of players going in the first three rounds. Carolina signed the No. 8 recruiting class in the country, the school’s highest-ranked recruiting class in the internet era. Academically, Carolina produced the program’s highest single-year APR score, a 997, which was 23 points higher than the previous best. The team also earned the program’s two highest GPAs over the last three semesters.

Brown completed a remarkable turnaround in year two of his return to Carolina, leading the Tar Heels from two wins in 2018 to the Orange Bowl in 2020. Carolina, which went 8-4, spent much of the season ranked in the Top 25, finishing the regular season at No. 13 in the College Football Playoff rankings and ending the year ranked 18th in the AP Poll and 17th in the Coaches Poll. This marked just the second time since Brown’s departure in 1997 that Carolina finished a season in the Top 25. Under his guidance, Carolina produced four All-Americans, 13 All-ACC selections, a Top-15 recruiting class and averaged a 3.0 GPA over the spring and fall semesters.

In his first season back at the helm at North Carolina in 2019, Brown led the Tar Heels to a winning season and a resounding victory in the Military Bowl. The seven wins were two more than UNC had won in its previous two seasons combined (5) and the Heels won a bowl game for the first time since 2013. Carolina played close games seemingly all season. Its nine games decided by seven points or less were the most since 1936 and the Tar Heels’ six losses came by a total of just 26 points. Brown’s ‘19 UNC squad produced two NFL Draft picks, five NFL free-agent signees, 11 All-ACC honors and freshman QB Sam Howell was named ACC Offensive Rookie and Rookie of the Year before earning Freshman All-America honors.

Prior to returning to Carolina, Brown served as both a college football studio analyst and color analyst for ESPN. (GoHeels.com)

Lee Dedmon ’71, Starting Center & Top Rebounder on UNC Basketball Team, both as a Junior & Senior.  In 1971, Lee was a Co-MVP of the ACC Tournament and elected to ACC All-Tournament Team.  In the post season, Lee was instrumental in leading our Tar Heels to win the NIT in Madison Square Garden, March, 1971. Lee has had an outstanding 38 year career as a Professional Educator.   Initially a special education teacher, Lee has served the Gaston County School System in a variety capacities, most notably as Principal of the Highland School of Technology.  Since retiring 7 years ago, he has twice been elected to the Gaston Board of Education where he continues to serve.

John Swofford ’71, our illustrious quarterback, former athletic director at Carolina and commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). It was John who oversaw the implementation of Title IX, which gave rise to the creation and expansion of Women Collegiate Athletics, as well as the strategic expansion of the ACC from nine to fifteen schools.

Jim Lampley ’71, after a comically uneven and bifurcated undergraduate passage during which he escaped the class of 1970 in favor of this one, aspiring sports reporter Jim Lampley won a nationwide ABC Sports talent hunt to become the first broadcaster ever to appear on the sidelines of college football games in 1974.  That experience triggered a 46-year network television career that saw him appear on six different networks, at fourteen different Olympic Games, and as a bust in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.  He is not by any means the most famous of all Tar Heels, but he may very well be the most well-traveled, and now he has returned to Chapel Hill, to teach in the Communication Department and to live on Franklin Street.

Saturday Enrichment Session:

Alan Hirsch ’71 is CEO of Biorg, a regenerative medicine company and CEO of the NC Healthcare Quality Alliance, a non-profit consisting of leaders from across North Carolina’s healthcare system working together to improve the quality of healthcare and the health of all North Carolinians. Alan was formerly Deputy Attorney General of North Carolina, Policy Director of North Carolina and Chief Policy Advisor to the Governor of North Carolina, and later CEO of the NC Health Information Exchange. He was an Adjunct Professor of Political Science and Leadership at UNC Chapel Hill for more than two decades.

Dr. Jim Johnson,  William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of strategy and entrepreneurship and director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center at the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.

His research interests include community and economic development, the effects of demographic changes on the U.S. workplace, interethnic minority conflict in advanced industrial societies, urban poverty and public policy in urban America, and workforce diversity issues.

Dr. Johnson coauthored with Dr. John D. Kasarda “The Economic Impact of the African American Population on the State of North Carolina” and a study on the economic impact of North Carolina’s Hispanic population.  With support from the Russell Sage Foundation, Dr. Johnson published research on the economic impact of Sept. 11 on U.S. metropolitan communities. Currently he is researching the economic and employment impact of white collar job shifts offshore on U.S. competitiveness.

Dr. Katherine Turk,  Associate Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies and Director of Honors in the Department of History

Dr. Turk is also Adjunct Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies. Turk specializes in the histories of women, gender and sexuality; law, labor and social movements; and the modern United States. Her first book, Equality on Trial: Gender and Rights in the Modern American Workplace (Politics and Culture in Modern America Series, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016), examines how sex equality law has remade the world of work, eroding some inequalities and affirming others. Equality on Trial won the 2017 Mary Jurich Nickliss Prize in US Women’s and/or Gender History from the Organization of American Historians, and the dissertation from which it is drawn received the OAH’s Lerner-Scott Prize. Professor Turk was a Jerome Hall Postdoctoral Fellow at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law in 2011-12 and the 2018-9 Mary I. Bunting Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Her research has been supported by the American Society for Legal History, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, among others. Her next book, NOW: The Visionary and Volatile Feminist Organization that Transformed America, will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in August 2023.

Ken Weiss, Entrepreneur in Residence, Music

Ken Weiss has taught the course in Arts Entrepreneurship since 2010 (Econ 327/MUSC 286). For this course in the Entrepreneurship minor, students create their own arts related ventures, pursue related innovative concepts, and develop business plans for the implementation of their operations. Many students of this class have gone on to successfully develop such ventures, even some while still undergraduates. He is a founder of the Society for Arts Entrepreneurship Education (SAEE), a now established and recognized organization that has grown nationally with broadly attended annual conferences at North Carolina State University, Southern Methodist University (SMU) and Ohio State University (OSU).

During the management and development of his first music publishing company, he expanded Gold Hill Music into one of the industry’s most successful independent companies with sales of tens of millions of recordings with Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young), Fleetwood Mac, Aretha Franklin, Bob Seger, Joe Cocker, and many others. As personal manager to prominent recording and performing artists, he negotiated and conducted the business of recording agreements, related recording activities, promotions, worldwide concert tours, film and television agreements.

Dr. Molly Worthen, Associate Professor, History

Molly Worthen’s research focuses on North American religious and intellectual history. Her most recent book examines American evangelical intellectual life since 1945. Worthen teaches courses in global Christianity, North American religious and intellectual culture, and the history of politics and ideology. In 2017 she received the Manekin Family Award for Teaching Excellence in Honors Carolina. She writes regularly about religion, politics and higher education for the New York Times and has also contributed to Politico, the New Yorker, Slate, the American Prospect, Foreign Policy, and other publications. She has also created courses for Audible and the Teaching Company on the history of charismatic leadership as well as the history of global Christianity since the Reformation. Worthen is currently working on a book about the history of charisma in America since 1600.

Cecelia D. Moore PHD ’13 is the former university historian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was also the Project Manager for the Chancellor’s Task Force on University History. She received her Ph.D. in history from UNC-Chapel Hill, and is the author of The Federal Theatre Project in the American South: The Carolina Playmakers and the Quest for American Drama (Lexington Books, 2017) (Bio from UNC A to Z book jacket)

Nicholas Graham MSLS ’98 is the UNC-Chapel Hill University Archivist. He is an alumnus of the School of Information and Library Science at UNC-Chapel Hill and has worked in Wilson Special Collections Library since 2003. Prior to coming to UNC, Graham worked in libraries at the University of Georgia, MIT, and the Massachusetts Historical Society. (Bio from UNC A to Z book jacket)

THURSDAY

• 5 – 7 p.m. George Watts Hill Alumni Center

FRIDAY

• 9 – 10 a.m. Lobby, Wilson Library, Pleasants Room
• 10:30 a.m.–2 p.m. Lobby, George Watts Hill Alumni Center

SATURDAY

• 9 – 10 a.m. Lobby, Wilson Library, Pleasants Room
• 6 p.m. Blue Zone (Concourse Level, Kenan Stadium)

Save the date: Return to campus on May, 14, 2023, and process into Kenan with your ’71 classmates as new UNC grad’s cheer you on at Commencement. Be a part of the time-honored tradition like no other. Updates will be sent in early 2023.