The Campaign for Carolina Closing Phase Co-Chairs
Composed of 10 rotating co-chairs, the Campaign Steering Committee is central to all elements of campaign planning, strategy and implementation. We are grateful to these visionaries who agreed to lead and guide this campaign, ensuring a balance of perspectives and experiences. Over the course of the campaign, each member serves on a leadership team during one of three key phases: leadership, public launch or closing. Now in the closing phase of the campaign, these
co-chairs provide the University’s fundraising team with vital counsel and expertise to keep the Campaign for Carolina on track despite the uncertainties caused by the pandemic. They also provide valuable input on strategy for the campaign’s closing phase.
- Vicki U. Craver ’92
- Jennifer Halsey Evans ’94
- Michael D. Kennedy ’79
- C. Austin Stephens ’97
Campaign Impact
This year has proven — yet again — that our generous donors make a difference in both the best and toughest of times. We are celebrating gifts of all sizes, from the collective impact of one day of giving to the individual gifts that support our students, our infrastructure, our health, and our ideals around democracy, equity and the arts. Learn more about how your gifts are making a difference at Carolina and beyond.
ANOTHER RECORD-BREAKING YEAR — $12 MILLION!
GiveUNC is a day when thousands of alumni, students, parents, friends, faculty and staff come together over the span of 24 hours to share their love for Carolina. It’s a day when the University’s biggest fans collectively contribute millions of dollars in support of the people, experiences and groundbreaking work being done by Tar Heels in Chapel Hill and across the world.
On March 30, 2021, Carolina supporters once again outdid themselves, collectively contributing more than $12 million from almost 11,000 gifts. And those gifts are already making a difference here at UNC.
Thanks to the generosity of donors like you, the UNC School of Social Work raised a historic $92,407 in support of the Maeda and David Galinsky Scholarship Fund. The fund honors the late Maeda Galinsky, a distinguished and passionate scholar, researcher, teacher and mentor who served for more than 50 years on the school’s faculty, and her husband David, a beloved and long-serving professor in UNC’s psychology department.
The scholarship supports Ph.D. students in their studies and research and covers tuition, health insurance and a stipend for a full year. It has already been awarded to Ehren Dohler, a second-year Ph.D. student. Dohler has worked in the field of affordable housing and homelessness since 2012 and is on the design team for the school’s Tiny Homes Village project.
PLAYING IT FORWARD
A few weeks before Coach Roy Williams announced his retirement, he and his wife, Wanda, made their largest gift to Carolina: $3 million to support scholarships for athletes, Carolina Covenant Scholars and Chancellor’s Science Scholars. Their investment stemmed from their desire to ensure a high-quality education at Carolina remains in students’ reach, especially in such challenging times.
Coach Williams urged others to join his team and follow suit: “If you have the means, this is a great time to not only be involved but to have the kinds of feelings that we do and get emotionally involved in the University.”
Carolina legend Danny Green ’09 was the first to answer the call. Moved by the Williamses’ generosity, Green committed $1 million to endow a basketball scholarship for Tar Heels.
Then, between May 1 and June 30, 2021, Tar Heels everywhere celebrated and amplified the Williamses’ gift through the Playing It Forward initiative, collectively contributing a total of $3.65 million in scholarship funding for the three programs that benefited from the couple’s latest gift.
All in all, that’s more than $7.5 million toward Carolina’s bold goal to raise $1 billion for scholarships at Carolina by December 31, 2022. Thank you to everyone who honored the Williamses’ service and dedication by investing in what they care most about — creating opportunities for students.
FIGHTING FUTURE PANDEMICS
A new partnership between SAS, a leader in analytics and software services, and Carolina will transform the drug development process to prevent infectious disease threats from turning into a pandemic like COVID-19.
The partnership is focused on the work of the University’s Rapidly Emerging Antiviral Drug Development Initiative (READDI), which is developing broad spectrum antiviral drugs to have on the shelf to prevent future pandemics. READDI was founded by the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, UNC School of Medicine and UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.
“What COVID-19 taught us is the importance of being ready not reactive,” said John Bamforth, director of the Eshelman Institute for Innovation at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. “We want to make sure that during the next pandemic we are prepared with approved drugs and therapeutics to allow the public health system to respond effectively.”
While the initial focus of the joint team is on addressing new treatments for COVID-19, READDI and SAS will continue to work together to meaningfully accelerate drug discovery for other antiviral drugs.
HONORING A PIONEER IN LAW
When M. Scott Peeler ’93, ’97 (J.D.) first heard the story of Sylvia X. Allen ’62 (J.D.) from members of the UNC School of Law’s Black Law Student Association, he was struck by two feelings.
“Frankly, I was embarrassed I hadn’t heard the story before,” Peeler said. “Second, I was inspired. To learn about what she endured to earn her degree and what she accomplished in her career was just astounding.”
Allen was the first Black woman to graduate from Carolina Law, attending law school while raising six children in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She continued her pioneering path throughout her professional career. She was the first Black woman to practice law in Cumberland County, North Carolina, and the first Black woman in the state to be assistant district attorney, a position she held from 1977 through the early 1980s.
Peeler and his wife, Diana Florence ’92, ’95 (J.D.), decided to make two gifts to Carolina Law honoring Allen: one to commission a portrait of Allen, who passed away in 2012, to be installed in a prominent location in Van Hecke-Wettach Hall; the other to establish an endowed scholarship in Allen’s name.
The portrait is expected to be completed this fall, and when fully endowed, the Sylvia X. Allen Scholarship will be awarded annually to a law student who will enhance the social, economic and cultural diversity of the school’s student body. Together, the gifts ensure that future generations of law students will learn about Allen’s story of perseverance and public service.
SUPPORTING TOP-QUALITY EDUCATION
In these unprecedented times, our communities need nurses more than ever. Helene Fuld Health Trust recognized this need by awarding $6.8 million to the UNC School of Nursing. The gift is the largest private donation in the history of the school and will fund a world-class nursing simulation center and scholarships for second-career nursing students.
As the number one ranked public school of nursing in the nation, the UNC School of Nursing is already providing top-quality education to its students. The majority of the Trust’s gift will help establish the Helene Fuld Health Trust Quality and Safety Education Center, a state-of-the-art simulated clinical environment that will further enhance the education of nursing students at Carolina. The center is part of a larger project to renew Carrington Hall — home of the School of Nursing.
The remaining $500,000 from the Helene Fuld Health Trust will provide scholarships for students enrolled in the school’s accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (A.B.S.N.) program. This rigorous, fast-paced program allows students to obtain their nursing degrees in just four semesters. Through these scholarships, the school will be able to bring more nurses to the field when we need them most.
Thanks to this gift, the UNC School of Nursing will have the resources to even better educate and prepare the next generation of nurses — who will go on to address the needs of North Carolina and beyond.
UNC PROGRAM FOR PUBLIC DISCOURSE
A major gift from Nancy ’74 and Doug Abbey is fostering meaningful public discourse about the most pressing issues of the day. Their $8 million investment established the Abbey Speaker Series in the Program for Public Discourse in the UNC College of Arts & Sciences.
The gift created another opportunity for the University to fortify its commitment to promoting democracy, one of eight strategic initiatives in the University’s strategic plan, Carolina Next: Innovations for Public Good. The Program for Public Discourse is one of the University’s means for accomplishing the worthwhile objective of working constructively across differences in society, starting with promoting respect and listening.
Four times each year, the Abbey Speaker Series will bring noteworthy scholars to campus to share their perspectives about timely issues while fostering dialogue with others who think differently about the scholars’ topics.
“The Program for Public Discourse is informed by the belief that robust deliberation is a precondition to democratic culture,” said program director Sarah Treul, Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Term Professor of Political Science. “Thus, only by working with students on how to engage in robust deliberative practices do we prepare students to act as civic agents and ensure the continuation of American democracy.”
The Abbeys’ investment brings the College of Arts & Sciences closer to reaching its campaign goal of $750 million by December 31, 2021.
A MILESTONE INVESTMENT
A $3 million anonymous gift to Carolina Performing Arts honors CPA founder and UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Emeritus James Moeser by ensuring continued access to innovative, creative arts programming.
The James and Susan Moeser Endowed Fund for the Executive and Artistic Director at Carolina Performing Arts will ensure future opportunities for the Carolina community and beyond to discover the world through the arts. The gift is a milestone investment in CPA, particularly at a time when arts organizations are facing challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Funds will support the executive and artistic director in fostering relationships on a global scale and advancing artistic excellence — critical work that fuels CPA’s legacy of making innovative arts programming accessible to the Carolina community.
“Susan and I are humbled that this gift has been made in our names, but more than that, we are elated at this demonstration of support for the invaluable work that Carolina Performing Arts does on a campus, regional, national and international scale,” said Moeser.
The foundation laid by Moeser as founder of CPA will advance when internationally recognized performing arts executive and producer Alison Friedman takes on the executive and artistic director role in October. Friedman will lead CPA through its 17th season.
CLOSING THE GAPS
Not too long ago, Heather Jones ’17 was approaching her final months as a college adviser in the Carolina College Advising Corps (CCAC), helping students at Fike High School in Wilson, North Carolina, apply to and enroll in college. Now, Jones is supporting 59 advisers serving at 76 high schools across the state as the financial aid and scholarships coordinator, a new position in the CCAC made possible by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
The Foundation invested in this position as part of a broader effort to reduce household debt — including student loan debt — and help families, especially those of color, build wealth. Student debt disproportionately affects women and people of color, resulting in an increase in the gender and racial wealth gaps.
CCAC advisers help level the field by providing students with access to financial aid and scholarship information easily and willingly. Of the 14,000 high school seniors served by CCAC in 2019-20, approximately 61% were students of color.
With Jones in this new, centralized position, CCAC advisers now have someone who can answer their questions in real time, keep them up to date on the ever-changing FAFSA policies, share best practices and offer additional support with challenging situations. Jones was drawn to the position, in part, because of her own experience as a college student.
“I had some challenges that I dealt with as I transitioned from high school to college,” she shared. “Through CCAC, I discovered my passion for advocacy and how I could help other students with that transition.”
"As we enter the campaign’s final stretch, we aim to redouble our efforts around fundraising for scholarships and fellowships to ensure we can continue to compete for the best students by providing opportunities at every level."
— David S. Routh ’82, Vice Chancellor for Development
Questions? Please contact us at donorrelations@unc.edu or visit campaign.unc.edu/unit/donor-relations