Fall 2007

Honors Program gets $5 million boost

Bill Harrison (above) and Peter Grauer

An anonymous $5 million gift to expand Carolina’s nationally recognized Honors Program will increase its number of first-year students by 30 percent and acknowledge the contributions of two alumni by creating five new professorships in their names.

These professorships, which will allow the Honors Program in the College of Arts and Sciences to offer more courses, will honor Peter T. Grauer, who earned a bachelor’s degree in English in 1968, and William B. Harrison Jr., a 1966 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Grauer is chairman and president of Bloomberg LP in New York and has chaired the Honors Advisory Board in the college since July 1997. Harrison, retired chairman of JPMorganChase and Co., received in 2004 the William R. Davie Award, the highest honor bestowed by the UNC Board of Trustees. Both men live in Greenwich, Conn., with their families.

The gift qualifies for a $2.5 million grant from the North Carolina Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust, bringing its total value to $7.5 million when matching state funds become available. The five professorships put the Carolina First Campaign over its goal of 200 endowed chairs.
Carolina’s Honors Program is touted nationally by the Fiske Guide to Colleges as “one of the best and most accessible in the country.” Established in 1954, the program boasts quality and accessibility and continues to serve as a national model for universities.

“This generous gift provides the means for more great faculty to offer students an especially rich academic experience through special seminars and undergraduate courses,” said Chancellor James Moeser. “That combination will be invaluable in bringing more highly motivated students to Chapel Hill. At the same time, these new faculty chairs honor two of our most distinguished alumni—friends who have served the University with great distinction.”

Of the 3,800 students in the Class of 2011, 200 first-year students were invited to join Carolina’s Honors Program. With the five new professorships—and more available honors courses—260 students in future classes will receive invitations.

Increasingly, the deciding factor for students who choose Carolina over distinguished peer universities has been a nationally acclaimed honors program. In recent surveys, 58 percent of program participants reported that the honors invitation played a “very important” role in their decision to attend Carolina. A limited ability to serve all qualified students has caused the program to turn away—and often lose to other campuses—scores of talented applicants.

“Thanks to this gift, we will be able to greatly enhance Carolina’s ability to recruit top undergraduate students. We’re particularly excited by the fact that it will help us keep more of North Carolina’s best and brightest here at home,” said James “Jim” Leloudis, associate dean for honors.

“Increasing the number and range of honors course offerings will also enable the program to serve a wider cross-section of the general undergraduate population. Faculty routinely identify honors teaching as one of the most rewarding experiences of their careers, and they often turn to the program as a place to develop new undergraduate courses. The new professorships will seed the campus even more broadly with creative approaches to teaching and learning, and it will enhance an already important tool for faculty recruitment and retention.”

Any of the 120 honors courses are open on a space-available basis to all students with a “B” average. Students who are not invited to join the program may apply during their first three semesters. Each year, more than 300 students in 51 departments and curricula complete senior honors theses under the supervision of college faculty.