Carolina parents banking on faculty

Carolina parents Scott and Betsy Custer, Steven and Karen Goldstein, and Michael and Mary Patterson are doing more than paying tuition-they're investing in Carolina's faculty through the College of Arts and Sciences' Faculty Partners Fund.

Scott Custer and Steven Goldstein are both executives with the bank formed by the merger of the Royal Bank of Canada and Centura Bank. Mike Patterson is a former executive with the bank. None of them, nor their wives, attended Carolina, but they
join the thousands of Carolina parents who contribute millions to the school each year.

 

Donors to the Faculty Partners Fund commit $25,000 over five years and are
matched with faculty members who have submitted proposals for funding. Chemistry
professor John Papanikolas, for example, thought his research project was dead in
the water when the high-tech laser he needed to complete his research into
alternative energy sources was damaged in an experiment. There was no money in
his budget to buy a new one. But donors to the Faculty Partners Fund stepped in to
provide Papanikolas with the funds he needed to purchase new equipment and get
his research back on track.

In addition to providing for research and lab equipment, the fund can help develop a
new course or pay for travel to an important conference. It is also an important tool
for the recruitment and retention of faculty. Since the fund was first announced in
1996, more than 90 faculty members have been supported with more than $600,000
in funding.

Custer, the president of RBC Centura based in Raleigh, has one daughter, Meredith,
who is a sophomore economics major and another daughter in high school who is
interested in Carolina.

"As parents, Betsy and I want our daughters to have the best education possible, to
learn from the best of the best," Custer said. "The biggest thing we hope to
accomplish with this gift is to attract talented people to join or remain part of
Carolina's faculty."

And as the president of a bank with offices in North Carolina, Custer sees
compounded returns for investments in Carolina. RBC Centura has supported
numerous areas of the University including the establishment of a $1 million distinguished professorship in the Kenan-Flagler Business School.

"Carolina is great for business," he said. "It's a feather in our cap that helps us recruit top people to the area, gives us a talented employee base and is an important contributor to the economic vitality of the state."

Goldstein, a senior vice president at the Royal Bank of Canada in Toronto, agrees.

"UNC generates new ideas that create new businesses, educates people to work in those businesses and builds a thriving community which leads to successful financial institutions," he said. "There is a nexus of activity that becomes an economic engine for the entire region."

Goldstein has sent two daughters to Carolina. His eldest, Mindy, is a Carolina
graduate now in law school, and his younger daughter, Blair, is a junior Robertson scholar and journalism major.

"My daughters have had terrific experiences with Carolina faculty who are incredibly engaged and involved," he said.

   

"And it isn't just one professor here and another there. It is many, and I've had the pleasure of meeting several of them.

"Great faculty draw great students, and a greater and greater university follows,"
Goldstein said. "I've seen Carolina from different perspectives, and I'm convinced it
is already one of the finest universities, public or private, in the country. We hope
our gifts help build on that tradition."

Kyle York

Alex Gorman contributed to this story. Gorman graduated from Carolina in 2001 with
a master's degree in journalism and mass communication.

For more information on the Faculty Partners Fund and other ways to support faculty
in the College of Arts and Sciences, contact James May, Arts and Sciences
Foundation, 919-962-6183, or james.may@unc.edu.