Facts About Carolina
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Through its teaching, research and engagement, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill serves as an educational and economic beacon for the people of North Carolina and beyond.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was the nation’s first state university to open its doors and the only public university to award degrees in the 18th century. Authorized by the N.C. Constitution in 1776, the University was chartered by the N.C. General Assembly Dec. 11, 1789, the same year George Washington first was inaugurated as president. The cornerstone was laid for Old East, the nation’s first state university building, Oct. 12, 1793. Hinton James, the first student, arrived from Wilmington, N.C., Feb. 12, 1795. Recent Rankings and RatingsSeveral national publications regularly publish rankings that listed Carolina prominently in categories ranging from academic quality to affordability to diversity to engagement to international presence. Recent highlights include:
1st among the 100 best U.S. public colleges and universities that offers students high-quality academics at an affordable price, according to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine in its February 2013 issue. For the 12th time in a row, UNC-Chapel Hill ranked first on Kiplinger’s list of campuses that provide the best value to in-state students. The magazine also listed Carolina second for the best value offered to out-of-state students. Kiplinger’s changed its methodology in 2012 to more strongly emphasize value because of the economic challenges facing higher education. For academics, the formula considered the percentage of students returning as sophomores and the four-year graduation rate. The magazine also favored campuses with low sticker prices and abundant financial aid, with bonus points for schools that keep student borrowing low. Carolina stands out in all of these categories. Kiplinger’s story, “Best Values in Public Colleges,” reported that from the 1990s through the post-2008 recession, “UNC-Chapel Hill has been a leader for academic excellence, low cost and generous financial aid – exactly the criteria by which we define value.” #1 on the “2012 Best Value Colleges” list published by The Princeton Review and reported jointly with USA Today. This list annually names the top public and private colleges recommended as the nation's "best values" for undergraduate education based on more than 30 factors analyzed in three areas: academics, cost of attendance and financial aid. (See http://www.unc.edu/campus-updates/2012_Princeton_Review for details.) 4th among national universities in The Washington Monthly's 2012 College Rankings, "What Colleges Can Do For You." Based on the magazine's calculation of how well individual colleges and universities meet their public obligations in social mobility, research and public service. 5th best public university in U.S. News & World Report’s 2013 “Best Colleges” guidebook for the 12th consecutive year. 1st among public campuses for the 8th consecutive year and 17th overall in “Great Schools, Great Prices,” based on academic quality and the net cost of attendance for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid. Listed among outstanding undergraduate programs with “A Focus on Student Success,” for an exemplary first-year experience (seminars and other programs bringing small groups of students together with faculty and staff), undergraduate research/creative projects and service learning. Kenan-Flagler Business School’s undergraduate business degree program tied for 7th.
8th among public universities ranked in the top 25 public and private universities listed in the 2010 edition of“The Top American Research Universities,” produced by The Center for Measuring University Performance at Arizona State University. Evaluates top research universities with at least $40 million in annual federal research funding using quantitative measures such as endowment assets, private giving, faculty awards, doctorates granted, postdoctoral appointees and SAT/ACT range. 9th for undergraduate and 12th for graduates among the “Best Schools for Entrepreneurs,” according to a 2012 survey conducted by Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review. Top schools were recognized for teaching business fundamentals, staffing with successful entrepreneurs, and providing experiential or entrepreneurial opportunities outside the classroom. Tied for 10th among research institutions producing Fulbright Students in 2011-2012, with 18 students receiving grants in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. That ranks 3rd among all public universities and 1st in the Southeast. Almost 1,700 U.S. students, artists and young professionals in more than 100 different fields of study have been awarded grants to study, teach English and conduct research in more than 140 countries. Chapel Hill ranks 10th among Money magazine’s top 100 “Best Places to Live in America,” based on a survey of cities with populations between 50,000 and 300,000. Money editors and writers rank communities based on housing affordability, education, arts and culture, safety, health care, diversity and the economy, including the fiscal strength of the government. "Locals aren't exaggerating when they refer to Chapel Hill as a "town within a park," says the magazine. The roads wind through tunnels of arching trees, and the area has a rain forest-like charm. "But Chapel Hill isn't just a pretty face. It's part of the state's Research Triangle, which boasts one of the highest numbers of Ph.D.s per capita in the U.S. The town also houses the nation's oldest public university, and interesting educational opportunities abound." 12th among “America’s Best College Buys,” according to a 2011 ranking published by Forbes magazine. The ranking – assessing “where you can get the most quality for each tuition dollar spent” – was based on a formula dividing each school’s overall quality score in a separate “America’s Top Colleges” ranking by its average sticker price tuition (in-state for publics) and fees. Measures for the quality score included post-graduate success, which evaluates alumni pay and prominence; student satisfaction, which includes professor evaluations and freshman to sophomore year retention rates; debt, which penalizes schools for high student debt loads and default rates; four-year graduation rate; and competitive awards, which rewards schools whose students win prestigious scholarships and scholarships like the Rhodes, the Marshall and the Fulbright. Forbes collaborated with the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. Among the “Best in the Southeast” featured in “2011 Best Colleges: Region by Region,” published by The Princeton Review. The Southeast list includes 133 institutions based on criteria including excellent academic programs and input from campus visits, college counselors and advisors. Also considered were student responses to a survey about their campus experiences on issues ranging from the accessibility of faculty to their fellow students. North Carolina was one of 12 states featured in the Southeast. Overall, 623 campuses were named to regional best lists – about a quarter of the nation’s four-year colleges and universities.
Among 41 campuses featured as “Best Buy Schools” in the 2013 edition of the “Fiske Guide to Colleges.” Based on quality of academic offerings in relation to the cost of attendance. Fiske researchers combined cost data with academic and other lifestyle information about each campus to determine which schools offer remarkable educational opportunities at a modest cost. Among 43 public universities featured by PARADE magazine in its August 2010 “College A-List” rankings report for “Large Schools” based on recommendations from top high school guidance counselors across the country. Reported PARADE, “UNC-Chapel Hill has strong academics across the curriculum. … “The nation's first public university is full of tradition, spirit, and smart, engaged, happy students who work hard and are very proud of their school." 9th among the nation’s top 100 institutions in federally financed research and development expenditures in fiscal 2010, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Spending topped $545.99 million; up from 16th in fiscal 2009. UNC-Chapel Hill rose 10 spots in the top 25 list since 2008. Currently, UNC ranks 4th among major public universities. 28th in the total number of doctoral degrees awarded (440 total degrees in 2009), as reported by the National Science Foundation. Additional rankings include: 9th in doctorates awarded to black students, 2005-2009 (120 degrees); 18th in doctorates awarded to American Indian/Alaska Native students, 2005-2009 (seven degrees); 10th in doctorates awarded in the life sciences, 2009 (175 degrees); and 17th in doctorates awarded in the humanities, 2009 (66 degrees). 26th in the 2010 worldwide university rankings, as measured by High Impact Universities in affiliation with the University of Western Australia. Part of a pilot project to benchmark the research performance of top universities. Carolina placed 13th for faculty in the arts, humanities, business and social sciences; 25th for faculty in medicine, dentistry, pharmacology and health sciences; 34th for faculty in life, biological and agricultural sciences; and 49th for faculty in pure, natural and mathematical sciences. 41st in the 2012 Academic Ranking of World Universities published by the Center for World-Class Universities and the Institute of Higher Education of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. Universities are ranked by several indicators of academic or research performance, including alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, highly cited researchers, papers published in nature and science, papers indexed in major citation indices and the per capita academic performance of an institution. Since 2003, ARWU has been ranking more than 1,200 universities, and publishing the world’s top 500 universities on the web. 42nd among the world’s top 400 universities in 2012-2013, according to the London-based Times Higher Education magazine. This ranking is based on 13 separate performance indicators designed to capture the full range of university activities, from teaching to research to knowledge transfer. Those indicators cover teaching, research, citations, industry income and international outlook.
UNC is widely recognized as one of the leading “green” schools universities. Carolina ranked 10th in the first UI GreenMetric World University Ranking, launched in 2010 by Universitas Indonesia. Those results reflect an online survey about the current conditions and policies related to green campuses and sustainability worldwide. Morrison Residence Hall was the winner of the first-ever National Building Competition sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program. The National Wildlife Federation’s 2008 National Report Card on Sustainability in Higher Educationawarded UNC its most exemplary marks for sustainability activities in the state and among the country’s top eight. UNC’s many “green” courses, research programs, student organizations, and campus operations have been highlighted in “The Princeton Review’s Guide to 311 Green Colleges: 2011 Edition,” published in collaboration with the U.S. Green Building Council, as well as Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine’s “2010 Honor Roll of the Region’s Greenest Colleges and Universities” and the “2008 Green College Report” by kiwi. 39th among the top 100 “Coolest Schools” survey in 2011 conducted by Sierra Magazine, published by the Sierra Club, to highlight America’s greenest campuses. Categories tracking the commitment to sustainability included energy supply, efficiency, food, academics, purchasing, transportation, waste management, administration, financial investments and other initiatives." More than 25 degree programs or specialty areas from several schools appeared prominently in the 2014 U.S. News & World Report's “ America's Best Graduate Schools” report. Highlights included: School of Medicine, 1st overall for primary care, tied for 22nd for research; School of Information and Library Science, 2nd overall for master’s degree program; Kenan-Flagler Business School, 20th overall for master of business administration degree programs, 9th for Executive MBA; in the College of Arts and Sciences, 3rd in Sociology of population; tied for 5th in developmental psychology; Sociology tied for 6th. 5th in the research category among the top U.S. universities for work in nano-and microtechnology. Small Times magazine ranked Carolina in its 2009 University Report and Rankings. The annual survey identifies which campuses are the best of the best in the field, based on a survey gauging capabilities and strengths in research and commercialization, as well as standing in a peer review measure. 3rd among large colleges and universities contributing the greatest number of graduating seniors to Teach For America. Carolina made its debut at eighth on the top contributors list in 2008 and has risen steadily since then, climbing to fourth in 2011. This year, UNC contributed 75 graduates to the incoming teaching corps, tied with UCLA. Eight percent of UNC’s senior class applied to Teach For America. Throughout Teach For America’s 22-year history, 542 UNC alumni have taught as teaching corps members. 14th among large U.S. colleges and universities for the number of alumni volunteering for the Peace Corps in 2013 . Sixty-two undergraduate UNC alumni are representing the United States abroad. Since the Peace Corps’ inception, 1,203 Carolina alumni have served as volunteers making UNC the 25th highest volunteer producing university of all time. Among the top 15 doctoral-level U.S. colleges and universities most friendly to junior faculty, according to a November 2010 report from the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education, a 160-member consortium based at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. Based a survey of 15,000 junior faculty at 127 of the collaborative's member colleges nationwide, on work-life criteria like tenure practices, clarity of expectations for tenure, and work and home balance. In all, 32 institutions made the list of outstanding campuses. Kenan-Flagler Business School ranked 10th in Bloomberg Businessweek magazine’s 2012 list of the best undergraduate business programs. It also was ranked 3rd for public undergraduate programs, 7th for both academic quality and student satisfaction, and 9th for internships. It received grades of A+ for teaching, job placement, and facilities and services based on student responses. Kenan-Flagler Business School has appeared in several recent best M.B.A. program lists: Forbes, 15th, based on return on investment, and U.S. News & World Report, 19th. Bloomberg BusinessWeek ranked the executive MBA program (global) 11th. The Financial Times ranked Carolina 8th overall in the world and 4th in the United States for its customized leadership development and business education programs that help organizations address business challenges. Ranked among the “Most Affordable Large Public Colleges” in 2013 on the Affordable Colleges Online list which is comprised of 100 top quality large public colleges that have an affordable price tag.
In fall 2012, Carolina enrolled 3,914 first-year students from a record 29,497 applications, which generated 71,640 individual reads by admissions staff. Nearly 79 percent graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class, and they posted an average 1304 on the SAT. More than 17 percent were first-generation college students; another 12 percent were eligible for the Carolina Covenant, which promises qualified low-income students the chance to graduate debt-free. In all, Carolina enrolled 18,503 undergraduates in fall 2012. The entire student body totals 29,278. Students learn from a full-time 3,221-member faculty. Many of those faculty members hold or have held major posts in virtually every national scholarly or professional organization and have earned election to the most prestigious academic academies and organizations. Carolina's academic community benefits from a library with 7.2 million volumes and 92,483 serial titles that perennially ranks among the best research libraries in North America as judged by the Association of Research Libraries. The most recent association listings (2010-2011) place Carolina 19th among 115 member research libraries in the United States and 1st in the South. UNC's Southern Historical Collection, with more than 24 million unique items, is the largest collection anywhere of materials that document the region. Carolina's 282,886 alumni live in all 50 states and more than 146 countries. More than 154,000 of those alumni live in all 100 North Carolina counties. Notable alumni include writers Thomas Wolfe, Shelby Foote, Russell Banks and Jill McCorkle; athletes Michael Jordan, Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Mia Hamm and Davis Love III; Tar Heel Head Basketball Coach Roy Williams; journalists Charles Kuralt, Alan Murray, Stuart Scott and Tom Wicker and numerous North Carolina governors and elected officials. Others include former UNC President Erskine Bowles, former White House Chief of Staff; Sen. Paul Wellstone; Bill Harrison, former chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Ann Martinelli Livermore, former executive vice president, technology solutions group, Hewlett Packard Co.; and UNC President Emeritus C.D. Spangler. More include Peter Grauer, current trustee and chief executive officer and chairman of Bloomberg, L.P.; Amy Woods Brinkley, former global risk executive for Bank of America Corp.; Mary Sue Coleman, a biochemist and former Carolina vice chancellor and now the University of Michigan president; Elson Floyd, former UNC executive vice chancellor, and now president of Washington State University; U.S. President James Polk; geneticist Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health; Jonathan Reckford, chief executive officer, Habitat for Humanity International; actors Billy Crudup, Jack Palance, George Grizzard and Andy Griffith, as well as actresses Louise Fletcher and Sharon Lawrence; editorial cartoonist Jeff MacNelly; Hugh McColl, retired chairman and chief executive officer of Bank of America Corp.; and fashion designer Alexander Julian.
The Carolina Covenant is part of Carolina’s commitment to making college possible for qualified students regardless of their financial means. Eligible low-income students who are admitted to Carolina can enroll without worrying about how they will pay for it. And, if they work 10 hours to 12 hours per week in a federal work-study job, they can graduate debt-free. The Carolina Covenant also includes academic and personal support services to help Covenant Scholars make the most of their college experience and succeed in completing their undergraduate degree program. Private Support The Carolina First Campaign finished in 2007 as the fifth biggest fund-raising drive among completed campaigns at that time in the history of U.S. higher education and as the largest in the South. Carolina First raised $2.38 billion, and those funds have helped Carolina compete nationally for top faculty and students, invest in departments and programs and build and renovate facilities. Examples of gifts and commitments from fiscal year 2012:
Commitments in 2012 also helped the University create nine endowed professorships, as well as a total of 95 undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships. Carolina had more than 78,000 donors for the year.
In fall 2012, Carolina enrolled 3,914 first-year students from a record 29,497 applications, which generated 71,640 individual reads by admissions staff. Nearly 79 percent graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class, and they posted an average 1304 on the SAT. More than 17 percent were first-generation college students; another 12 percent were eligible for the Carolina Covenant, which promises qualified low-income students the chance to graduate debt-free. In all, Carolina enrolled 18,503 undergraduates in fall 2012. The entire student body totals 29,278. Fifty high school seniors from across the United States and around the world were selected as Morehead-Cain Scholars for fall 2012. The oldest and arguably most prestigious merit scholarship program in the United States, the Morehead-Cain – formerly the Morehead Scholarship – fully funds four years of undergraduate study and four summer enrichment experiences. Since the U.S. Rhodes Scholar program began in 1904, 48 Carolina students have been selected, including those who won in Canada. Carolina ranks first among all major U.S. public research universities for producing the most Rhodes Scholars for the past 25 years.
Senior Rachel M. Myrick of Charlotte was selected in November 2012 for a Rhodes Scholarship, the world’s oldest and best known award for graduate study at the University of Oxford in England. Myrick came to Carolina on a Morehead-Cain Scholarship, a full, four-year scholarship to UNC that also funds four summer enrichment experiences and additional educational opportunities. Myrick studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, with majors in political science and global studies and a minor in creative writing. An honors student, Myrick has been on the dean’s list every semester. As a junior, she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was one of seven students selected to teach in Carolina Students Taking Academic Responsibility through Teaching, in which she designed and taught a seminar working with a seasoned faculty mentor. Myick is also the student body vice president and chair of the student advisory committee to the chancellor. Myrick spent the last three summers working for a domestic violence shelter in Belize, an international development firm in Cambodia and a strategic consulting firm in Washington, D.C. Junior Patrick Joseph Short won a 2013 Goldwater Scholarship which provides partial educational expenses to sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue careers in mathematics, the natural sciences or engineering. Carolina has produced 40 winners since the first awards were given in 1989. The National College Advising Corps received the National Service Impact Award from the Corporation for National and Community Service. The advising corps, based at UNC-Chapel Hill, provides high school students with advice and encouragement about applying for college. Many well-qualified students are currently discouraged from pursuing higher education by avoidable barriers such as a lack of information about college admissions and financial aid.
Oliver Smithies, Excellence Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, received the 2007 Nobel Prize for work that has fundamentally changed the science of genetic medicine and potentially will help millions of people live healthier lives. He was one of three recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Smithies was chosen for his role in introducing gene modifications in mice using embryonic stem cells. More than two decades ago, Smithies co-discovered a technique to introduce DNA material in cells, mirroring a natural process. This gene targeting led to Smithies’ lab producing the first animal model of cystic fibrosis. Today, scientists around the world use these techniques to produce mice that model heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and cancer. Chancellor Holden Thorp and Nobel Laureate Oliver Smithies were named charter fellow s of the National Academy of Inventors, a nonprofit organization that recognizes investigators who translate their research findings into inventions that benefit society. Inductees of this prestigious group demonstrate a spirit of innovation and help bring to market inventions that make a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. The 98 innovators represent 54 universities and nonprofit research institutes. Together, the inaugural class of fellows holds more than 3,200 U.S. patents.
President Obama selected Barbara Rimer, dean of the UNC Gillings School of Public Health, to chair the President's Cancer Panel. The panel was established as part of the National Cancer Act, signed by President Nixon in 1971. The three-member panel monitors the development and execution of the activities of the National Cancer Program, and reports directly to the President on barriers to program implementation. Members serve three-year terms, and at least two of the three panel members must be distinguished scientists or physicians. The panel meets at least four times each year, and these meetings are open to the public. Rimer, a behavioral scientist, is the Alumni Distinguished Professor in the department of health behavior and health education. Two Carolina scientists, Myron S. Cohen and Terry Magnuson, have been elected to the Institute of Medicine, the health and medicine branch of the National Academy of Sciences. Announced at the institute’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., Cohen and Magnuson are among the 70 new members and 10 foreign associates elected tin 2012. Cohen and Magnuson push UNC-Chapel Hill’s total number of institute members elected from a variety of health-related disciplines since 1979 to 22. Cohen, J. Herbert Bate Distinguished Professor of medicine, microbiology, immunology and epidemiology, focuses on understanding the transmission and prevention of transmission of HIV, with emphasis on the role played by STD co-infections. He conducted landmark studies related to the biology of HIV transmission and use of antiretroviral agents for prevention. Magnuson, Sarah Graham Kenan Professor, focuses on the role of mammalian genes in unique epigenetic phenomena such as genomic imprinting and X-chromosome inactivation. The lab also studies the tumor suppressor role of the BAF/PBAF chromatin remodeling complexes and has developed a novel genome-wide mutagenesis strategy. David Nicewicz received a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering worth $875,000 over five years. He is UNC’s third winner of the award, which supports highly innovative professors early in their careers. Nine scientists from UNC-Chapel Hill have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society. That’s the largest number of AAAS fellows UNC has ever had in one year; the University now has 67 association fellows.
Joseph DeSimone, Chancellor's Eminent Professor of Chemistry, was recently was elected into the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors that a U.S. scientist or engineer can receive. He is the 12th UNC-Chapel Hill faculty member to be elected to the academy, a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to advancing science and technology and their use for the public good. DeSimone also founded discoveries resulting in a successful spin-off company, Liquidia Technologies. Now the company is at the forefront of efforts to use nanotechnology to tackle diseases and has received a $10 million investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Liquidia Technologies will use the foundation’s equity investment to support the development and commercialization of safer and more effective vaccines and therapeutics. Liquidia uses PRINT (Particle Replication in Non-wetting Templates) technology — a technique invented in DeSimone’s UNC lab — to manufacture precisely engineered nano- and microparticles with control over size, shape and chemistry. It could advance the development of vaccines to prevent diseases, such as malaria, that mainly affect people in the developing world.
David W. Pfennig, a faculty member in the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of Biology since 1996, has been appointed the Caroline H. and Thomas S. Royster Distinguished Professor for Graduate Education. The appointment is for a three-year term. In his new role, Pfennig directs the Royster Society of Fellows, the UNC-Chapel Hill Graduate School's most selective fellowship program. Pfennig has given more than 100 scientific presentations at local, state, national and international conferences and also at area public school events. He has served as a principal investigator on numerous National Science Foundation-funded research grants.
Carolina ranks among the top U.S. public universities in research support. Faculty attracted more than $767 million in total research grants and contracts in fiscal 2012 for research that is helping to cure diseases and produce new knowledge to help people. Excluding federal stimulus support, research funding totaled $759 million in that category, compared with $732 million last year. On a year-to-year average, UNC-Chapel Hill’s research awards comprise a little over half of the total research awards for all UNC system campuses. UNC-Chapel Hill rose to 9th from 16th among leading private and public research universities for the level of federal funding devoted to research and development in all fields during fiscal 2010. Faculty also secured about $767 million in contracts and grants from all sources in fiscal 2012. The new ranking, based on data compiled by the National Science Foundation, was published by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Carolina has gained 10 spots in the national top 25 list since 2008. Overall, UNC-Chapel Hill ranked 15th for research and development expenditures ($755.28 million) from all sources in fiscal 2010. In fiscal 2012, UNC-Chapel Hill received 871 awards from the National Institutes of Health totaling $368 million. In NIH funding, UNC ranks twelfth among public and private universities and seventh among public universities.
A team of scientists with The Cancer Genome Atlas program have genetically mapped 800 breast tumors, and have categorized them into four subtypes. The work, which was published September 23, 2012, in the journal Nature, fundamentally reshapes the way scientists understand breast cancer and paves the way for personalized treatment of the disease. Charles Perou, a professor of molecular oncology and a member of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center who led the study, says the research was a near complete framework for the genetic causes of breast cancer, which will significantly affect clinical medicine in the coming years.
Myron S. Cohen, director of the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, led an internationally heralded research study that made a major discovery in the efforts to halt the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The large international clinical trial found that treating HIV-infected individuals with antiretroviral therapy while their immune systems are still strong significantly reduces the risk of their sexual partners contracting the virus. The findings were the first from a major randomized clinical trial to indicate that treating an HIV-infected person can make them less contagious, not just keep them healthy. The study was due to run until 2015. However, data gathered so far clearly revealed the benefits of early treatment, prompting health officials to release the results in May 2011. The journal Science named the UNC-led study the 2011 "Breakthrough of the Year". Editors said the study’s results “have galvanized efforts to end the world’s AIDS epidemic in a way that would have been inconceivable even a year ago.” The UNC institute builds on Carolina’s global health presence in about 50 countries. Full-time UNC researchers and local employees are fighting malaria and HIV/AIDS transmission in Malawi. Carolina faculty are targeting the resurgence of syphilis in China and Madagascar and leading an international consortium developing a new oral drug to treat African sleeping sickness, which threatens the lives of millions. Other UNC investigators are active in India, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Russia, Thailand, Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, South America and the Caribbean. Chemistry Professor Tom Meyer led a coalition of scientists joined by the promise of solar fuels to secure a grant worth $17.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy and President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Nationwide, 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers aim to accelerate breakthroughs in energy technology development. The University’s proposal was the only one funded in North Carolina and among 16 designed to create jobs. Carolina’s center will study low-cost and efficient solar fuels production by artificial photosynthesis. Solar fuels could use the sun’s energy to make fuels from water and carbon dioxide for heating, transportation and energy storage. The technology being studies at Carolina could also make electricity using inexpensive “solar shingles” on the roofs of buildings. Since the 1940s, scientists at the University’s Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City have served North Carolina by addressing important questions related to the nature, use, development, protection and enhancement of coastal marine resources. Current work includes FerryMon, the first ferry-borne water quality monitoring system in the United States.
More than 50 spin-off companies resulting from UNC discoveries include Synerca Pharmaceuticals, the first spinoff to use the Carolina Express License launched in April 2010. Synerca is based on work by Scott Singleton in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, to develop anenzyme inhibitor that make antibiotics more effective. Synerca is developing a therapy to address the growing problem of bacterial resistance to current antibiotics—about 2 million people contract bacterial infections in U.S. hospitals each year, and 90,000 die as a result. Since 1966, the Carolina Population Center has helped drive related social science and health research projects across the UNC research community. The center focuses on creating new knowledge about population size, structure, and processes of change and shares its data and findings with professionals, policy-makers and the public. In summer 2009, the center was engaged in more than 43 active research projects, and in fiscal year 2009-2010 brought in more than $47 million in external support. Faculty and students affiliated with the center are working in 85 countries around the world, as well as in the United States and central North Carolina. Education and Cultural Resources From the Ackland Art Museum and the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center to the North Carolina Botanical Garden and Carolina Performing Arts, Carolina offers a vast array of educational and cultural opportunities. Carolina's graduating Class of 2012 included 290 Buckley Public Services Scholars. The program provides a way for students to learn new skills, strengthen their commitment to service and link their academics to making a difference. This program, run by the Carolina Center for Public Service, is for students who have a minimum grade-point average, complete at least 300 hours of public service, take one service-learning course and attend four skills-training workshops. The students are serving communities across North Carolina, the nation and the world working in nursing homes, hospitals, public schools and a wide range of non-profits. More than 1,700 students participated in the program during the 2011-2012 academic year. UNC was recognized in 2013 for the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Carolina Center for Public Service estimated that over the past year 20,672 Carolina students gave a total of 952,170 hours in service to the community. UNC has 15 formally classified public service centers and institutes and almost 70 more classified as research or instructional units. Virtually all of these centers and institutes include substantive efforts to address community needs. UNC presented three programs as exemplary cases in the application for recognition:
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and the School of Medicine are collaborating to create a physician assistant master’s degree program for returning military veterans . The program aims to enroll its first class in 2015. Almost 1 million North Carolinians live in areas with a shortage of health care professionals. The two-year program will provide opportunities for military veterans to practice medicine in North Carolina, helping communities facing these shortages. The Power of 1 Reaches Thousands of North Carolinians
Professor Howard McLeod of the Eshelman School of Pharmacy is director of the UNC Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy – which makes him not just an expert in prescription drugs, but an expert in people. Pharmacogenomics is the study of how people’s genes affect their responses to drugs. Not everyone processes a drug the same way, and this research helps doctors give patients the right drug and dose that works for them. One of McLeod’s most successful projects involves breast cancer patients and the life-saving drug tamoxifen, which kills cancer cells. Oncologists were calling McLeod and asking him why the regular dose of tamoxifen wasn’t helping their patients. McLeod and his team discovered that about half of breast cancer patients do not respond to the typical drug dose. McLeod worked with patients in clinical trials around North Carolina to develop a new way of prescribing tamoxifen, and the trials paid off. The FDA changed the dosing recommendations. In North Carolina alone, the new tamoxifen recommendations can help more than 3,000 women each year. 1 Combative Chemist; 2 Million Patients with Drug-Resistant Bugs Associate professor Scott Singleton knows how to fix the unfair fight that bacterial infections are waging against 2 million patients annually in U.S. hospitals. To combat these bugs that have developed a resistance to the antibiotics created to kill them, Singleton has come up with a one-two punch: antibiotics plus something called a RecA inhibitor. “The inhibitor holds the bacterium down while the antibiotic beats it up,” he said. To partner with companies to develop new, more effective antibiotic compounds and bring them to market, Singleton started Synereca Pharmaceuticals (note that RecA is part of the name) in July 2009. He is the company’s president and chief scientific officer. In March 2010, Synereca became the first UNC research spinoff company to use the Carolina Express License. “We look forward to re-arming antibiotics to help save lives,” Singleton said. 1 Curious Engineer; 44,500 Brain Tumors to Zap
Professor Otto Zhou is applying carbon nanotube X-ray technology invented at UNC to a promising experimental microbeam radiation therapy now housed in massive synchrotrons – facilities larger than Kenan Stadium. Using carbon nanotechnology, Zhou and Sha Chang, associate professor of radiation oncology, hope to be the first to deliver the same radiation dose with a desktop-size device. About 44,500 Americans are annually diagnosed with brain tumors; only 30 percent survive. “We’ve made little progress in 30 years in the survival rate,” Zhou says. “We want to build a system to cure brain tumors.” Zhou, an engineer who holds about 50 issued or pending U.S. patents, collaborated with Siemens Medical Solutions of Germany to form XinRay Systems, a small start-up company in Research Triangle Park, to develop the smaller, more accurate X-ray machine. 1 Determined Scientist; 2,200 Square Miles of Healthier Water
Professor Hans Paerl of the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences knew that collecting water quality data from Pamlico Sound would prove invaluable. As the second-largest estuary on the East Coast, the most important fishery and a very popular recreational destination, Pamlico Sound is critical to the state. To collect that invaluable data, Paerl and research partner Joe Ramus developed FerryMon, the nation’s first ferry-based water quality-monitoring system. It uses sensors attached to ferries already patrolling the 2,200-square mile Pamlico Sound and its tributary rivers daily. The sensors measure salinity, temperature, chlorophyll and other water-quality data and send it back to Paerl’s lab in real time. Changes in the water’s composition, which can happen after a storm or other natural event, can be harmful to wildlife and upset the balance of the ecosystem. That’s why it’s crucial to monitor changes in the water closely. Before FerryMon, post-hurricane water quality was commonly diminished—a fact unknown until thousands of fish turned up dead. Now, coastal managers know of changes right away and can react accordingly.
A few years ago, the small mountain town of Spruce Pine was facing a major loss of jobs in its once-thriving textile and furniture industries. The town contacted the Kenan-Flagler Business School for guidance. The leaders in Spruce Pine had heard of the school’s STAR (Student Teams Achieving Results) program, which matches students with businesses in need. Thanks in part to a Golden LEAF grant, STAR sends teams of top MBA and undergraduate students to build strategies for corporations and non-profits looking to strengthen their global competitiveness. The students get real-world experience, and the businesses benefit from advice that would otherwise cost a fortune. A year of collaboration with the STAR team, led by MBA students Jon Parise and Tina Prevatte, brought big changes for Spruce Pine. They successfully marketed their crafts to national retailer A Southern Season, made plans to sell their products online and developed marketing and branding strategies. Since STAR students collaborated with Spruce Pine, the project has grown to help more than 100 artisans—such as woodworker Frank Baskin—sell their crafts. 1 Generous Dentist; 380,000 New, Improved Chompers
Before graduating with her UNC dentistry degree, Dr. Sharon Nicholson Harrell she wanted to help underserved North Carolinians. Harrell began working in community clinics and serving as dental director for the Cumberland County Health Department. In 1997, she jumped at the chance to work for FirstHealth of the Carolinas, a fledgling non-profit hospital network. It was her dream to direct a program from scratch. Leaders at FirstHealth identified dental care as the No. 1 unmet need for low-income children in Hoke, Moore and Montgomery counties. Nearly half of the children in those counties were getting little to no dental care. And of the 35 dentists in the region, only three participated in publicly assisted programs. Harrell opened the first pediatric FirstHealth dental clinic in 1998 in Southern Pines. Most of her first patients hadn’t seen a dentist in years—if ever—and many were emergency cases. More than a decade later, the picture is much different at Harrell’s Southern Pines clinic, where she has helped take care of 380,000 chompers over the years. Building Program
A decade ago, Carolina launched a sweeping initiative to position the campus as a leader in the genomics revolution. On University Day 2012, the campus dedicated the Genome Sciences Building, which advances interdisciplinary scholarship and the faculty’s research funding prowess. Located at the geographical center of campus, the Genome Sciences Building has an overarching goal: to foster collaborations at the intersection of different disciplines – and in every way, it is designed to do just that.
The UNC-Chapel Hill School of Dentistry opened the doors to a new education and research facility and honored a generous alumnus and friend, Burlington businessman Maurice J. Koury, in April 2012. The Koury Building, which adds 216,500 square feet of space, adjoins the school’s existing structures – Tarrson Hall, Brauer Hall and Old Dental Building – at the corner of Manning Drive and South Columbia Street. The Koury Oral Health Sciences Building will provide improved technology for teaching and collaborative research across UNC-Chapel Hill and other campuses, larger lecture rooms and meeting spaces for inter-class collaboration, and an expanded 105-seat patient simulation laboratory.
The October 2010 dedication of Venable Hall and Murray Hall, the latest buildings to open as part of the Carolina Physical Science Complex. The namings honor the Venable family and longtime Professor Royce Murray. The original Venable Hall, home to the chemistry department since 1925, was demolished in 2007. The new Venable and Murray halls house the William R. Kenan Jr. Chemistry Library along with department of chemistry classrooms, lecture halls, conference rooms and the department of marine sciences.
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