Photo and Video Recap: Spring Reunions Weekend ’22
Take a Look Back on Spring Reunions Weekend
We had a Heel of a good time, May 5-8, 2022, in Chapel Hill. We dove into six fascinating topics during our enrichment sessions and gathered together for the Old Students Club Luncheon. We reunited, we celebrated and those in the 50th classes enjoyed a Commencement processional before Frank Bruni ’86, acclaimed journalist and bestselling author, took the stage as the Commencement speaker. See for yourself through our photo and video recap of the weekend.
Old Students Club Luncheon, Thursday Seating Thursday, May 5, 11:30 a.m.
James Lee Love (class of 1884) donated an endowment to the UNC General Alumni Association to fund an annual gathering of the “Old Students Club” for all who have reached or passed the 50th anniversary of their graduation year. Thursday luncheon attendees enjoyed watching a comedy set by Andy Griffith ’49, “What Is Was, Was Football?” (included below) and after lunch watched the “Hark the Sound” slideshow, also narrated by Griffith.
Inclusion and Diversity at UNC Friday, May 6, 10 a.m. | Blue Zone, Kenan Stadium While UNC strives to emphasize and celebrate diversity and has made many strides in this area, those efforts are not always viewed as successful by some within the community. This panel looked at diversity from the lens of attracting and retaining diverse students, staff and faculty, as well as whether the UNC environment encourages people to express their opinions without fear of censure or ridicule. The panel also discussed how UNC can move forward to create a more diverse and inclusive environment for all faculty, staff and students. Panelists include:
Ben Boykin, ’72, GAA board member, Westchester (NY) County legislator
Jean Kitchin ’70, host and producer of television shows, former UNC trustee, former chair of the GAA
Dr. Pat Reighard ’70, professor emeritus of communication at Appalachian State University
Dr. Leah Cox, vice provost for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer, UNC
Dr. Viji Sathy ’96 (’03 PhD), professor of the practice in the department of psychology and neuroscience, director of the Townsend Program for Education Research, UNC
Moderator: Deborah Potter ’72, former correspondent for CBS News, CNN and PBS. Founder of NewsLab, journalism site now affiliated with the University of Mississippi. Co-author of Advancing the Story: Quality Journalism in a Digital World, now in its 4th edition.
Old Students Club Luncheon, Friday Seating Friday, May 6, 11:30 a.m.
James Lee Love (class of 1884) donated an endowment to the UNC General Alumni Association to fund an annual gathering of the “Old Students Club” for all who have reached or passed the 50th anniversary of their graduation year. Tom Lambeth ’57 was the featured speaker at Friday’s luncheon.
Carolina Men’s Basketball, As Experienced by the Classes of ’70 and ’72 Friday, May 6, 1:30 p.m. | Blue Zone, Kenan Stadium
Jim Delany ’70 (’73 JD), Eddie Fogler ’70 (’73 MAT), Charles Scott ’70, Bill Chamberlain ’72, Billy Chambers ’72 and Roy Williams ’72 share their walk down memory lane (with no turnovers) – including three Final Fours and the ’71 team NIT Championship. Led by future Naismith Hall of Fame Coach Dean Smith, this dynamic group of players and their teammates included many future professional players, including Naismith Hall of Fame inductee Scott, as well as many who went on to coach or serve as administrators at college and professional levels. Similar to all undergraduates during the 1966-72 period, these players were keenly aware of and buffeted by the times and the associated social experiences. Many of these teammates had children who went on to play college sports and graduate from Vanderbilt, Ohio State and UNC. Hear their perceptions of how their children’s experiences were similar to and different from their own experiences 50 years ago.
UNC Medical Research Overview Friday, May 6, 3 p.m. | Blue Zone, Kenan Stadium
Dr. Myron S. Cohen, Yeargan-Bate Eminent Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology and Epidemiology; Director of UNC Division of Infectious Disease and the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Disease; Associate Vice Chancellor for Global Health will discuss, “Living Through Pandemics: HIV, SARs, COVID-19 … What’s Next?”
Dr. H. Shelley Earp ’70 (MD, ’72 MS), Distinguished Lineberger Professor of Cancer Research, Director of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and Director of UNC Cancer Care will discuss, “How UNC Lineberger Turns Top-Notch Science Into Cancer Therapy Advances.”
Moderator: Dr. P. Kay Wagoner ’70 (’78 MSN, ’86 PhD), UNC Distinguished Alumna for Science and Business, President of Discovery and Development, LLC; Adjunct Associate Professor, UNC Cell Biology and Physiology, former founder and CEO of Icagen, Inc., a public biopharmaceutical company.
Saturday Morning in Chapel Hill: Carolina Across the Generations Saturday, May 7, 9 a.m. | Blue Zone, Kenan Stadium This session was a discussion of Carolina experiences by current students and members of the classes of ’70, ’72 and ’22. Panelists described what it was like to be on campus in the late 60s and early 70s and how that compares to campus life today. The session was moderated by Richard Stevens ’70, who worked in student affairs after graduation and is currently an attorney in Raleigh. He served five terms in the N.C. State Senate and 12 years on the UNC Board of Trustees, including four terms as chair.
Psychology and Neuroscience: Ground-Breaking Work Improving People’s Lives Saturday, May 7, 10 a.m. | Blue Zone, Kenan Stadium
Carolina continues to be at the forefront of psychology and neuroscience. This panel will consider two of today’s groundbreaking areas of research: the power of positive emotions and improvements in the treatment of addictions with:
Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Director of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Laboratory, has demonstrated that positive emotions can have lasting positive effects on social bonds and abilities. She was recently a principal investigator for a randomized controlled trial that showed positive meditation reduces aging at the cellular level. Attendees will learn practical applications that they can use immediately to achieve a fuller and more meaningful life.
Moderator: Dr. Stephen LaTour ’72 (’74 MA, ’76 PhD), retired CEO of Calder LaTour Inc., an international healthcare consultancy; former Professor, Northwestern University.
Artificial Intelligence, Social Media: Promise or Peril? Saturday, May 7, 11 a.m. | Blue Zone, Kenan Stadium
Join our panel of researchers from UNC’s Center for Information, Technology and Public Life for a discussion of two critical issues for modern technology: how artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms can go wrong and how we can reduce manipulation of reality by social media.
AI algorithms affect much of our daily lives. For example, they determine which news and ads appear in your social media stream, your movie and video recommendations, whether you are offered credit, employer scoring of your resume and facial recognition. This panel explains how algorithms can fail in ways we don’t expect and what can be done about it.
Francesca Tripodi will examine why people spread fake news and why fact-checking and increased media literacy will not solve the problem. Her upcoming book from Yale University press addresses how internet searches are manipulated.
Bridget Barrett ’20 (MA) will speak to the opportunities and challenges that AI creates when used to target political ads online and how some of the most thorny problems can be solved. Bridget Barrett is a Doctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Information, Technology and Public Life. Her writing on digital political advertising has appeared in Slate, Lawfare and Tech Policy Press.
Moderator: Buck Goldstein ’70 (’76 JD), University Entrepreneur in Residence and Professor of the Practice, UNC Graduate School.
Acclaimed journalist and bestselling author Frank Bruni ’86 launched his journalism career as a student reporter at Carolina. Bruni returned to his alma mater to be the keynote speaker for the Class of 2022 Spring Commencement.
Bruni was a reporter for the New York Post and then the Detroit Free Press, where he covered the first Persian Gulf War and was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature writing. From 1995 to 2021, Bruni wrote for The New York Times as a columnist, White House correspondent and chief restaurant critic. He now contributes opinion pieces and a weekly newsletter. He is now the Eugene C. Patterson Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy.