"The McGees’ gift comes at a crucial time for the new Office of Undergraduate Research as we make research an integral part of Carolina’s undergraduate experience," said Pat Pukkila, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and associate professor of biology. "We will use the fund’s income to defray undergraduate research expenses and to encourage publication and presentation of the results. Students who join research teams in the sciences and social sciences or work with original sources and archival materials in the humanities learn to trust their disciplines."

The Office of Undergraduate Research opened last fall in the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence. The office coordinates and promotes student research. Students in all majors can benefit from Carolina’s vast research enterprise and apply it to areas of individual interest whether it’s physics or philosophy.

Ryan Dickson, a December 1999 biology honors graduate, attempted to isolate a mutation in a cell protein through a research project. An understanding of such proteins could lead to advances in cancer research.

"The undergraduate research program has been one of the best experiences I have had in college," said Dickson. "I have learned valuable lessons about the hard work, patience and tenacity scientific research demands."

The McGee fund’s beginnings can be traced to a Hatteras Island property James McGee’s father, a textile engineer and N.C. State University graduate, purchased in the early 1930s with a colleague.

Then a teenager, McGee recalled the long drive from their home in Roanoke Rapids to the seaside property at Hatteras. Road conditions stretched the trip to two days in what today would take four hours.

"Then, it took nearly all day just to reach Manteo from Roanoke Rapids," McGee said. "We’d have to spend the night there, then drive down to Hatteras the next day."

McGee inherited the property and donated it to Carolina. Proceeds of the sale helped establish the fund for undergraduate research.

"Since I did my undergraduate work at Carolina, we wanted to do something to benefit undergraduates, especially for exceptional students who were interested in research," said McGee.

McGee retired in 1989 after 45 years as a general surgeon in Bluefield, W.V. After he completed his chemistry degree at Carolina, he enrolled at the Medical College of Virginia, graduating in 1944. The Carolina tradition in the McGee family began when his uncle, Julian McGee ’23 (MED) came to Chapel Hill. Since then, James McGee’s son, James E. McGee III ’69, and grandson Charles Eugene McGee ’99 have continued the family’s Tar Heel legacy.

— Del Johnson

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