Our faculty set another research-funding record in fiscal year 2009, bringing in $716 million.

That total was up 5.6 percent from 2008’s $678 million and more than double the amount from a decade ago. This is a remarkable testament to the quality of our faculty. Very few universities can show these kinds of results for important research that will help improve people’s lives and advance knowledge. And in the current economic downturn, it’s great for North Carolina that our research enterprise is bringing hundreds of millions of dollars into the state.

Read more »

When Devin Cooney ’13 first set his sights on attending Carolina, it was all about a guy named Jordan (Michael, that is). The fact that His Airness attended (and graduated from) Carolina was certainly a draw for Devin, but since Jordan was long gone even before Devin was born, much less when he started the college application process, he thought it best to choose a school that would help him get his own career off the ground. Carolina fit the bill.

Read more »

The late Reese Felts has bequeathed $3.5 million to UNC’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication to fund a major experimental student news project and audience research initiative as well as a distinguished professorship. Announced earlier this month, it is the largest single gift ever from an individual to Carolina’s journalism school.

Felts, a 1952 UNC graduate who worked for nearly 30 years as a radio and television broadcaster in Winston-Salem before retiring in 1980, died earlier this year. He spent most of his career with WSJS, which is now WXII.

Read more »

For Stuart West, hard work and his participation in Carolina Student Transfer Excellence Program (C-STEP) made it possible for him to attend UNC School of Law this fall.

C-STEP, a program that encourages students from local community colleges to transfer and graduate from Carolina, makes the adjustment from small college to large university more manageable for students.

Read more »

The Institute for the Environment at UNC is using a three-year grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund to excite area high school students about math and science in the context of climate change. This past summer, the Climate Leadership and Energy Awareness Program – known as Climate LEAP – brought 48 teenagers from Chapel Hill and Carrboro to campus for a week of programming meant to inspire as well as educate.

Read more »

Helene Willingham Thompson (Class of 1934) always thought it was a good idea to stop and smell the roses. Her treks through historic Battle Park in the heart of the Carolina campus helped ensure that she did.

She passed that tradition down to her son, Alexander (Sandy) F. Thompson III ( Class of 1981) and her granddaughter, Elizabeth (Beth) McNair Thompson (Class of 2012), who today with their family celebrate Helene’s life and honor her memory.

Read more »

New students at Carolina are faced with a lot of choices. From a head-spinning variety of courses to the best places to study, and from the best burger on Franklin Street to what to do on a Wednesday night, students have no reason to stay in their rooms. Over the last four years, thousands of students in growing numbers have found the performing arts at Memorial Hall.

Read more »