CAROLINA WOMEN IN THE NEWS
Jean Almand Kitchin honored for service to UNCHolly Bowles Blanton receives School of Social Work’s Distinguished Alumni Award
Evelyn Dove-Coleman nominated for achievement award
Margaret Sartor’s memoir published in June 2007
Jane Burns named Druscilla French Distinguished Professor of Women’s Studies
Six UNC students tapped for Fulbright Scholarship
UNC professor earns honorary British title for national health reform work
Jean Almand Kitchin honored for service to UNC
Jean Almand Kitchin
Jean Almand Kitchin of Scotland Neck
was one of four individuals honored in May by the UNC
General Alumni Association for their commitment to
Carolina.
Other recipients of the association’s 2007
Distinguished Service Medals were William Guthridge of
Chapel Hill, retired UNC men’s basketball coach;
Anthony Harrington of Easton, Md., former chair of the
association’s board of directors; and Nelson Schwab
of Charlotte, chair of the UNC Board of Trustees.
Kitchin, vice chair of the UNC Board of Trustees and former
chair of the association’s board of directors, is
president and chief executive officer of Almand’s
Drug Stores in Rocky Mount.
She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UNC in 1970 with a
bachelor’s degree in education. Kitchin has been a
member of the UNC Board of Visitors and secretary of the
UNC Board of Trustees, of which she is vice chair. Kitchin
joined the board in 1999; her term ends this year.
She produces and hosts “Tar Heel People,” an
hour-long weekly show airing statewide on Saturdays on
WRPX-TV in Raleigh and its sister stations. She is the
former chair of the Nash-Rocky Mount Board of Education and
the Rocky Mount Chamber of Commerce.
The GAA has awarded the medals since 1978 to UNC alumni and
others who have provided outstanding service to the
association or the university. The association is a
self-governed, nonprofit organization serving alumni and
friends of UNC.
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Holly Bowles Blanton receives School of Social Work’s Distinguished Alumni Award
Holly Bowles Blanton, who received an undergraduate degree in English at Carolina in 1969 and her master’s in social work here in 1977, received the School of Social Work’s most recent Distinguished Alumna Award.Highlights of her 30-year career include co-founding several Wake County agencies, including the Family Violence Prevention Center in 1982 (now Interact) and the Parents Anonymous Chapter to support families at risk for child abuse.
Her deep commitment to high ethical social work standards is shown by her service on the Human Rights Committee for Dorothea Dix Hospital and the Governor’s Council on Volunteerism in the workplace. Among her innovations that have improved the quality of life for members of her community are new programs to help children and families through Safe Child, Oak Ranch (a group therapeutic home for emotionally troubled, neglected or abused youth) and Urban Ministries (volunteering as a counselor for the first mental health clinic to serve low-income people with no health insurance in Wake County).
Holly’s many honors include being chosen as the YWCA’s Human Services Woman of the Year in 2002.
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Evelyn Dove-Coleman, Class of 1975
Evelyn Dove-Coleman nominated for achievement award
Evelyn Dove-Coleman was among seven Kinston-area women nominated for the 2007 Pinnacle of Achievement Award, presented by the Kinston-Lenoir County Chamber of Commerce. The award recognizes professional excellence and valuable service to the community.Dove-Coleman is a columnist for the Free Press of ENC Communications. Her column also appears in the Eagle News of Washington, D.C. Evelyn is the author of Prayers to Survive, Have Hope! and Harvey Beech Speaks: 1st Black UNC Graduate Reminisces & Expands. She co-authored Children Matter with her twin sons, Jay and Lee. Her books are part of the North Carolina Collection in UNC’s Wilson Library.
Evelyn graduated from UNC in three years, earning her English degree in 1975. She was a North Carolina Fellow, a member of the Order of the Valkyries, an Institute of Government intern and the first black student body secretary. She was a charter member of AKA Sorority’s Theta Pi chapter, where her godmother Roberta Jackson was the advisor. Today Evelyn provides counseling and inspirational speeches through Pathchoice Ministry, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation in Kinston. She received the 2007 Martin Luther King, Jr. Keeper of the Dream Award in Kinston/Lenoir County and was named to the N.Y.-based Metropolitan Who’s Who for counselors. She is a life member of the UNC General Alumni Association.
Here’s what Evelyn says about what Carolina did for her and why she gives back:
“When I was recruited to UNC from Governor’s School, a door of unlimited opportunities was opened for me. I give to Carolina because it was both my launching pad and my rocket ship. The education I received as an English major is unmatchable. When I drafted a speech for a North Carolina Supreme Court justice, she told me that the value of my UNC education was apparent. I have been blessed, and I feel compelled to help create opportunities for young students to attend UNC in the future.”
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Margaret Sartor’s memoir published in June 2007
Margaret Sartor
Margaret Sartor, a 1981 Carolina
graduate with a bachelor’s degree in English, saw her
memoir, Miss American Pie: A Diary of Love, Secrets,
and Growing Up in the 1970s (Bloomsbury USA),
published in paperback in June 2007. It was published in
hardback last year and was a New York Times
bestseller, a Washington Post Best Memoirs of
2006, and a Chicago Tribune Best Books of the
Year.
The memoir of adolescence is based on the diaries and
notebooks Sartor kept as a girl. It tells a compelling,
frank, often poignant and frequently humorous story,
delving into the same emotional and geographic territory
that she has been depicting in photographs for almost two
decades.
For the last 15 years, Sartor has been teaching part-time
at Duke University. Visit her website at http://margaretsartor.com/ to learn
more.
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Jane Burns named Druscilla French Distinguished Professor of Women’s Studies
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Drucie French
Effective July 1, 2007, Jane Burns
became the Druscilla French Distinguished Professor of
Women’s Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Burns' work centers on issues of gender, sexuality and
material culture in medieval texts. Most recently, she has
completed a feminist study of courtly love and clothing in
13th century French culture and has edited a volume of
essays devoted to dress, textiles, clothwork and other
cultural imaginings. She teaches courses on feminist and
gender theory, women's spirituality across cultures, and
courtship and courtliness.
Her many honors include the Outstanding Faculty Woman
Award, presented by the Women's Issues Network and the
Carolina Women's Center.
Burns, who earned her doctorate in French literature and
medieval studies at the University of California at
Berkeley, has taught at Carolina since 1977.
The professorship was funded by a gift from Stephen Cumbie
and Drucie French. Drucie, a member of the
Carolina Women Leadership Council’s executive
committee, is a Carolina graduate who went on to earn a
doctorate in depth psychology and mythological studies. She
is a strong advocate of women’s rights and is
passionate about supporting women’s
studies.
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Six UNC students tapped for Fulbright Scholarship
Five women were among the six Carolina students to receive 2007-2008 awards from the Fulbright Program for U.S. Students, enabling them to participate in the country’s largest international exchange program.Each student will use the award for research, study or teaching in another country about a personally chosen topic.
The Fulbright scholars and their projects are:
- Christine Boyle of Seattle, a doctoral candidate in city and regional planning, who will research northern China’s irrigation systems. She hopes to use her findings to increase farmers’ influence on irrigation policy planning.
- Faith Cable of Minneapolis, who earned a master’s degree in city and regional planning in May, will research sustainable development projects in Germany and the U.S. Her research will focus on environmental standards for sustainable urbanism. The standards are established by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development.
- Ashley Carse of Bozeman, Mont., a doctoral candidate in anthropology, will research human-environmental problems in the Panama Canal Watershed from an ethnographic and historical perspective.
- Vernon Cathcart of Charlotte, a May 2007 graduate and sociology major from Charlotte, who will teach English as a second language in South Korea and research the social experiences of lesbians and gays in Korea. His research will focus on the intersection of ethnicity and sexuality and the challenges these identities present to traditional Korean culture.
- Jennifer Cimaglia of Suwanee, Ga., a May 2007 graduate and classical archeology and anthropology major from Suwanee, Ga., who will explore Roman archeology in Bulgaria. Her research will focus on cultural exchanges in the eastern Roman Empire. Cimaglia was a National Merit Scholarship recipient and a Morehead-Cain Scholar at UNC. The Morehead-Cain is a full merit scholarship for four years of undergraduate study at UNC-Chapel Hill plus four summer enrichment experiences.
- Jessica Long of Raleigh, a December 2006 graduate and environmental science major, will do environmental conservation work in Amazon region of Peru. Long now works in Olympic National Park in Washington. She was a Le Clair Award recipient at the May 2007 graduation ceremony and a Morehead Scholar at Carolina. The Morehead-Cain is a full merit scholarship for four years of undergraduate study at UNC-Chapel Hill plus four summer enrichment experiences.
The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the Department of State, operates in more than 155 countries. Fulbright recipients are graduating seniors and master’s and doctoral degree candidates, chosen for academic or professional achievement and demonstrated leadership potential.
Established in 1946 with legislation introduced by the late Sen. J William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program’s purpose is to build understanding between the people of the United States and those in the rest of the world.
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UNC professor earns honorary British title for national health reform work
Sheila Leatherman
Sheila Leatherman, a health policy research professor at
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s
School of Public Health, has been awarded the title of
Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the
British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Sir David Manning, British ambassador to the United States,
will present the insignia of the order to Leatherman on
behalf of Her Majesty The Queen at an investiture ceremony
at his residence in Washington, D.C., this summer.
Officials with the British Consulate-General’s office
announced that Leatherman has received this honor in
recognition of her valuable contribution to reform of the
British National Health Service.
“In particular, she has carried out valuable research
in the field of health care quality, where her publications
have become the principal source for policy makers, medical
professionals and health service managers looking at health
quality issues,” according to the announcement from
the Consulate-General’s office. “Her work has
been invaluable in the areas of measuring clinical
effectiveness and comparing the UK’s performance with
the best achieved in other countries. Through this work,
professor Leatherman has made a major contribution to how
the National Health Service (NHS) can be improved to the
real benefit of patients and the wider public.”
“It is clear that Leatherman has had substantive,
positive, impact on the British NHS, and that patients have
benefited from her efforts,” said UNC School of
Public Health Dean Barbara K. Rimer. “At the end of
the day, improving health systems is a major contribution,
and we are proud that Leatherman is one of our faculty
members. This is an immense honor for her and for
us.”
“Sheila has made major contributions to our
understanding of health care quality in both developing and
developed countries,” said Peggy Leatt, chair of the
school’s department of health policy and
administration.
For the past 10 years, Leatherman has evaluated the impact
of the health reforms on the National Health Service
supported by two UK Foundations, the Nuffield Trust and the
Health Foundation. Her research has been published in
numerous forms, including two books of the same title the
Quest for Quality in the NHS (2003 and 2005).
British honors are awarded on merit for exceptional
achievement or service. The Most Excellent Order of the
British Empire was founded in 1917, initially to recognize
civilians in World War I. This award now honors civilians
and service personnel for public service or an outstanding
contribution to society. Honorary awards are made to
non-British citizens.
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