When alumna Cathy Rollins brought her children to Chapel Hill in the fall of 2001 for a football game, the Atlanta mother of three noticed campus buildings that needed some tender loving care. "It was great to be back on campus," Rollins said. "But I was concerned about the deterioration I saw in many of the older buildings. They really needed attending to."

She has since learned that the Carolina First Campaign is addressing that need,
preserving historic campus buildings and creating vital new learning spaces. The
campaign is leveraging private gifts with $500 million of N.C. voter-approved Higher Education Bond funding.

Rollins and her husband, Art, pledged $50,000 to support the Carolina Physical
Science Complex-a three-phase project that will provide modern teaching and research space for physics and astronomy, chemistry, mathematics and marine sciences. The complex is part of Carolina's campus master plan that promises a connected and harmonious campus design.

"The campus is so beautiful," she said. "I wanted to support a project that respects
that beauty and works to complement it with a much-needed, and impressive, new
science facility. I am giving to help ensure that Carolina's buildings are the best."

Rollins graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Carolina in 1984 and practiced physical
therapy in her native Atlanta until the birth of her third child. The Rollinses have two
sons: 15-year-old Win and 8-year-old Craig, and one daughter, 13-year-old Caroline.
While balancing the demands of career and motherhood, Rollins gave consistently to
the Carolina Annual Fund. Then, years after the visit that raised her concern about
the buildings, Rollins was invited to a gathering of Carolina alumnae living in Atlanta.

Julia Sprunt Grumbles, a 1975 alumna and retired vice president of Turner
Broadcasting, co-chairs the Carolina Women's Leadership Council that organized the
gathering. The council, also co-chaired by Charlotte's Mary Anne Dickson and
Memphis' Barbara Hyde, holds events across the country to reconnect women to the
University through service and giving.

"Chancellor Moeser was there talking about the campaign," Rollins said. "It was a
wonderful event that made me aware of the undertaking at hand in Chapel Hill. I
learned more and decided this was a great opportunity to become more active to
support and lift the cause of education."

"Cathy Rollins is a great example of how so many women are discovering important
and interesting ways to reconnect and give back to UNC," Grumbles said. "We hope
that Cathy's gift to Carolina will inspire other women to express their appreciation to
UNC by getting involved in the Carolina Women's Leadership Council."

Rollins, who took many science classes at Carolina, said, "The sciences are dear to
my heart. I hope this gift will help attract the best and the brightest students to
Carolina, knowing that they will have the best faculty and the best facilities to
prepare them and send them off with confidence into their chosen course.

"Education is so important," Rollins said. "Chapel Hill prepared me beautifully for my
career in physical therapy, and so much of that was due to the professors and strong
science program I encountered at Carolina. Now with children of my own, I realize
how important it is that the elements are in place so that young people can prepare
for what they want to do in life."

Kyle York