"This University is on an incredible roll. It is a great tribute to our Carolina family, including alumni, parents and friends, as well as the leaders of the UNC system and North Carolina. There is a lot to celebrate in Chapel Hill because we are making great progress on virtually every priority that we have set for ourselves. Every part of the University is positioned for the kind of distinction that should be expected at Carolina." — James Moeser, Chancellor

Facts about Carolina

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.

History

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.

Building Program

Today, the campus is undergoing an unprecedented physical transformation made possible in part by North Carolinians’ overwhelming approval of the $3.1 billion bond referendum for higher education. The referendum, approved in November 2000, was the nation’s largest higher education bond package.

The bonds have meant more than $515 million for renovations and new buildings so 21st century students at Carolina can learn in a 21st century environment. Also guided by a visionary campus master plan for growth now rapidly coming to life, the University is investing funds from non-state sources, including private gifts and overhead receipts from faculty research grants, for other buildings essential to excellence. The resulting capital campaign exceeding $2.1 billion is among the largest at any major American university.

As of September 2007, the University had completed 72 projects, or 37 percent of the total capital program since 2000. Another 38 projects were under construction and 55 other projects were in design.

The Higher Education Bond Referendum portion of the building program includes 49 projects. Thirty-six have been completed, 12 are under construction and one is in design. This program is scheduled to be completed in January 2009 – within two months of the original schedule.

Recently completed projects include:

W. Lowry and Susan S. Caudill Laboratories and Max C. Chapman Jr. Hall — the first phase of the Carolina Physical Science Complex. The $205 million complex is the largest construction project in the University’s history. It is replacing outdated, deteriorating buildings with state-of-the-art facilities. The goal is to provide an innovative learning atmosphere for students and open the door for integrated collaboration among Carolina’s world-renowned scientists.

FedEx Global Education Building, which brings several key international activities under one roof and advances a major academic priority. The building is creating a vibrant hub of international studies, academic services, research, public service and cultural exchange. It was completed in spring 2007 and will be dedicated Oct. 12, 2007, University Day.

Projects under construction include:

North Carolina Cancer Hospital, which will become a world-class hospital for cancer patients and their families from North Carolina and beyond. The new hospital, part of the UNC Health Care System, will bring complete cancer care for patients and research facilities into one building and serve as the new clinical home for the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of only 38 such National Cancer Institute-designated centers in the United States. The North Carolina General Assembly approved $180 million in funding for the new hospital to replace a facility originally built in the 1950s as a tuberculosis sanatorium. Tentatively scheduled to open in late 2009, the hospital will provide North Carolinians with complete clinical cancer care and research facilities in one building.

Genetic Medicine Building, which will become one of the largest facilities on campus. The building represents a cooperative effort between the schools of pharmacy and medicine to offer unique opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. Among these are projects to develop novel approaches to deliver gene therapy. The seven-story structure will contain five laboratory floors and will house researchers from pharmacy and three medical school departments: pharmacology, genetics, and biochemistry and biophysics.

Using sustainable practices is a key component of the capital program. For example, the School of Nursing achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in 2007. The school’s Carrington Hall addition was the first project in the UNC system to register for LEED certification. Features include a "green" roof surrounding a small patio while plantings there capture 70 percent of the stormwater.

Carolina was recognized in 2005 with an award for excellence in the planning and architecture of the campus master plan. The Society for College and University Planning and the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on Architecture for Education awarded UNC the 2005 Excellence in Planning and Architecture Merit Award in Planning for an Established Campus. The competition recognizes collaborative state-of-the-art planning and emphasizes excellence in higher education environments and settings.

Recent Rankings and Ratings

Several 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 offer the best combination of top-flight academics and affordable costs as ranked by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. 1st for six consecutive times since Kiplinger’s began these periodic surveys in 1998. Kiplinger’s analysis stressed academic quality, as well as cost and financial aid offerings, and cited the success of the Carolina Covenant program, which provides a debt-free education to qualified low-income students. Only school in Kiplinger’s survey that meets 100 percent of each student’s financial need.

5th best public university in U.S. News & World Report’s 2008 "Best Colleges" guidebook for the seventh consecutive year. 1st among public campuses for the third consecutive year. 9th 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.

One of 6 public universities ranking in the top 25 for all nine measures used in "The Top American Research Universities," produced in 2007 by The Center for Measuring University Performance at Arizona State University. Evaluates top research universities with at least $20 million in annual federal research funding using quantitative measures such as endowment assets, private giving, faculty awards, doctorates granted and SAT/ACT range. In the seven years of these studies, UNC is one of four universities (with Berkeley, UCLA and Michigan) in the top 25 on all nine measures.

Among 25 "New Ivy" campuses in the 2007 Kaplan/Newsweek "How to Get into College Guide." Includes schools with first-rate academic programs fueling their rise in national stature. Based on admissions statistics and interviews with administrators, students, faculty and alumni. Reports Newsweek: "If a moviemaker needs an idyllic setting for a film about college life, Chapel Hill might just take the prize."

A "best value" among 81 schools chosen for "America’s Best Value Colleges, 2006 Edition" by The Princeton Review/Random House for outstanding academics, relatively low costs and generous financial aid packages. 2nd appearance in a row for UNC.

1st among major U.S. universities – for the 6th time in 8 years – in the percentage of African-American students in the first-year class, according to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. The 470 black first-year students enrolled at UNC in fall 2006 marked a 13 percent increase from 2005. At 12.3 percent of the total class, this was the second-highest percentage reported by the Journal since its annual survey began in 1993.

2nd among top public research universities recording the highest rate of undergraduates studying abroad in 2004-2005, according to a report published by the Institute of International Education.

8th among U.S. universities for the number of alumni volunteering for the Peace Corps in 2006 – up from 11th the previous year. Seventy-seven UNC graduates are representing the United States abroad. Since the inception of the Peace Corps, 966 alumni have joined its ranks, making UNC the 25th largest producer of volunteers all time.

Degree programs or specialty areas from several schools and the College of Arts and Sciences appeared prominently in the 2008 U.S. News and World Report's "America's Best Graduate Schools" issue. Highlights included: School of Public Health, tied for 2nd, master’s and doctoral programs; School of Medicine, 2nd overall for primary care, 20th for research; nursing master’s programs in the School of Nursing and School of Public Health, 5th and tied for 12th, respectively; and Kenan-Flagler Business School's master of business administration degree program, tied for 18th.

Kenan-Flagler Business School ranked 15th in BusinessWeek magazine’s list of the best undergraduate business programs. That was 5th best among programs at public universities and included ratings of 7th for academic quality, 10th for student satisfaction and straight "A+" grades in teaching quality, facilities and services, and job placement.

Kenan-Flagler appeared in several other best MBA program lists: The Wall Street Journal, 8th based on a survey of corporate recruiters; BusinessWeek (17th); Forbes magazine (14th); The Princeton Review and Forbes.com, 1st for fostering entrepreneurship campuswide; BusinessWeek, executive MBA program 5th; Financial Times, executive education programs 12th in the United States and 21st in the world.

Key Statistics

Carolina offers bachelor's, master's, doctoral and professional degrees in academic areas critical to North Carolina's future: business, dentistry, education, law, medicine, nursing, public health and social work, among others. Offerings include 71 bachelor’s, 107 master’s, 74 doctorate and four professional degree programs. The health sciences are well integrated with the liberal arts, basic sciences and high-tech programs. Patient outreach programs affiliated with Carolina and the UNC Health Care System serve citizens in all 100 North Carolina counties.

Carolina belongs to the select group of 62 leading American and Canadian campuses forming the Association of American Universities.

In fall 2006, Carolina enrolled more than 27,700 students from all 100 North Carolina counties, the other 49 states and more than 100 other countries. Eighty-two percent of Carolina's undergraduates come from North Carolina.

These students learn from a 3,200-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 more than 5.8 million volumes and more than 54,000 serial subscriptions that perennially ranks among the best research libraries in North America as judged by the Association of Research Libraries. The most recent association listings place Carolina 17th among 114 research libraries in North America. UNC's Southern Historical Collection, with more than 22 million unique items, is the largest collection anywhere of materials that document the region.

Carolina's more than 253,000 alumni live in all 50 states and 142 countries. Nearly 131,000 of those alumni live in all 100 North Carolina counties. Notable alumni include writers Thomas Wolfe, Shelby Foote, Kaye Gibbons, Russell Banks and Jill McCorkle; athletes Michael Jordan, Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Dre Bly, Mia Hamm and Davis Love III; Tar Heel Head Basketball Coach Roy Williams; journalists Charles Kuralt, Alan Murray, Roger Mudd, Stuart Scott and Tom Wicker and numerous North Carolina governors and elected officials.

Others include UNC President Erskine Bowles, former White House Chief of Staff; former Sen. John Edwards (former director of UNC’s Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity); Sen. Paul Wellstone; Bill Harrison, former chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Sallie L. Krawcheck, chairman and chief executive officer of the global wealth management division, Citigroup Inc.; Ann Martinelli Livermore, executive vice president, technology solutions group, Hewlett Packard Co.; Ken Thompson, chairman and chief executive officer of Wachovia 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, now president of Washington State University; U.S. President James Polk; geneticist Francis Collins; 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

Carolina offers talented students the opportunity to learn in a high-quality academic environment. Through the Carolina Covenant and an excellent overall financial aid program, the University is making college possible for qualified students regardless of their financial means. The University’s policies and practices protect affordability a core value at Carolina that has long benefited North Carolina and its citizens.

In fall 2007, the University enrolled its fourth class of Carolina Covenant Scholars. Through spring 2006, UNC had awarded more than 900 scholarships for a debt-free education through the Carolina Covenant. In addition, the University has launched a mentoring component of the program. This effort matches students with volunteer faculty to support them in their daily lives and help them further engage with the Carolina community. Goals include supporting student success and successful graduation. Last year, the mentoring expanded to include peers offering support to the incoming Covenant Scholars.

Eligible Covenant students agree to work on campus 10 to 12 hours weekly in a federal work-study job, and UNC meets their remaining needs through federal, state, university and other privately funded grants and scholarships. Beginning in fall 2005, students and their families had to be at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level to be eligible for the program. That currently covers a family of four with an annual income of about $40,000.

Carolina was the first major public U.S. university to announce plans for such a program in 2003. Since then, about 40 financial aid initiatives for low- to moderate-income students have been launched and were modeled after the Carolina Covenant. They include Brown, Harvard, MIT and Stanford, as well as Michigan and Virginia. Many of these programs, like Carolina’s, respond to rapidly changing demographics and social needs, such as rising high school dropout and poverty rates.

The Carolina First Campaign

The Carolina First Campaign is a comprehensive, multi-year private fund-raising campaign – the largest in the University’s history – to support the vision of Carolina becoming the nation’s leading public university. Each year, private funding and investment income provide some 20 percent of the University's budget – creating Carolina's margin of excellence.

The drive, which ends Dec. 31, 2007, broke its $2 billion goal on Feb. 21, 2007, but aims to capitalize on the campaign's momentum by raising another $100 million to support faculty and reaching unmet goals in schools, units and special campaigns, as well as building projects.

The Carolina First Campaign is having a major impact across disciplines at Carolina with new funding for priorities including students, faculty, research, campus facilities, strategic initiatives and the endowment. Through campaign gifts, alumni and friends have exceeded the goal of creating 200 new distinguished professorships, as well as 544 new undergraduate scholarships and 188 new graduate student fellowships (toward a goal of 1,000).

The campaign has consistently exceeded projections, raising a record $241.2 million in private gifts during fiscal 2006, which ended June 30. That was the first time that UNC had raised more than $200 million in a single year. The University has had three consecutive years of record-setting support, topping $192.5 million in 2005 and $192 million in 2004.

Students

The Class of 2011 – 3,895 students – represents 99 N.C. counties, 49 states, the District of Columbia and 49 countries. Seventy-seven percent were in the top 10 percent of their high school class. The average SAT score was 1302.

In 2006-07, Carolina set, for the second consecutive year, a new record for first-year applications. More than 20,000 students applied from every state and more than 80 countries. The University enrolled 3,895 new first-year students.

The newest Tar Heels include 70 leaders from high schools in the United States, Canada and Great Britain who are enrolling as Morehead-Cain Scholars. Among the largest and most competitive scholarship programs in the United States, the Morehead-Cain – formerly the Morehead Scholarship – pays all expenses for four years of undergraduate study, including four summer enrichment experiences. The Morehead Scholarship and Morehead Foundation were renamed in 2007 after the foundation received a $100 million gift from the Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation.

Also entering Carolina was the seventh class of Robertson Scholars. This innovative merit scholarship program brings together two of the nation's finest universities, fostering enhanced collaboration between both campuses. All students take courses at both schools and spend a semester in residence at the other campus. Robertson Scholars attending Duke receive full tuition, while UNC scholars receive full tuition, living expenses and a stipend. The program was created by a $24 million gift from Julian and Josie Robertson.

In May 2007, Carolina graduated its third class of Public Service Scholars. This program, run by the Carolina Center for Public Service, is for students who log at least 300 hours of public service and complete training and courses with a public service component. More than 1,000 students have logged more than 198,000 hours of service in communities across North Carolina, the nation and the world working in nursing homes, hospitals, public schools and a wide range of non-profits.

Carolina students made another noteworthy run during 2006-07 in the competition to earn distinguished scholarships in the United States and abroad. A senior and a recent graduate won the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, while four undergraduates were selected for Goldwater and Udall scholarships and a fifth was named to a USA Today academic team.

Adrian Johnston of Toronto, a May 2006 graduate, and senior Ben Lundin of Nashville, Tenn., were selected as Rhodes Scholars to study at Oxford University in England. The Rhodes is the oldest and best known scholarship for international study. This marked the third time UNC has had two Rhodes winners in the same year. Carolina ranks second among top public research universities for the number of Rhodes recipients (41).

Juniors Lena Hyatt of Asheville, Stephanie Jones of Cary and sophomore Jonathan Toledo of Sylva received Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships. These awards go to students who show a strong commitment to careers in mathematics, the natural sciences or engineering. UNC has had 31 Goldwater Scholars since the first awards in 1989.

For the second year in a row, senior Nitin Sekar of Cincinnati won the Morris K. Udall Scholarship for academic excellence and commitment to preserving the environment. Carolina has produced 11 Udall Scholars since the program began in 1996.

Zachary Clayton of Raleigh was among 20 students selected for USA Today’s All-USA College Academic Third Team. The senior computer science major was cited for work to develop Web-based software streamlining inefficient expenditures, allowing candidates without much funding to mount political campaigns.

Faculty

Carolina has six new members of national academies. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences selected Chancellor James Moeser, James Jorgenson, W. R. Kenan Jr. professor of chemistry, Michael Taylor, W. R. Kenan professor of mathematics, Carlton Hunt, professor emeritus of physiology, and Terry Magnuson, Sarah Graham Kenan professor and chair of genetics, as new fellows. Jeff Dangl, John N. Couch professor of biology, microbiology and immunology, was elected into the National Academy of Sciences. Now the University has 35 faculty members in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies, and 12 in the National Academy of Sciences, a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to advancing science and its use for the general welfare. Another six faculty are in the National Academy of Engineering and 20 are in the Institute of Medicine.

Oliver Smithies, Excellence Professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, received the 2007 Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal from the Genetics Society of America. The medal recognizes lifetime contributions to genetics. Smithies helped develop a technique that gives scientists around the world the ability to alter particular genes in cultured cells and transfer those targeted genes to laboratory mice. Gene targeting allows scientists to design and produce "knockout" mice to study how the disabled gene works and to create animal models of human diseases. Smithies also won the 2001 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, the nation's most distinguished honor for outstanding contributions to basic medical research. The Lasker Awards have often been called "America's Nobels," and more than 60 researchers who won a Lasker went on to receive the Nobel Prize.

Gary Pielak, professor of chemistry, became the University’s first scientist to receive the prestigious Director's Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health. The five-year, $2.5 million grant funds his research on the role of proteins in disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. The Pioneer awards support "exceptionally creative scientists who take highly innovative approaches to major challenges in biomedical research."

Three faculty earned fellowships in 2007 from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in recognition of distinguished individual achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment. Jeff Whetstone, assistant professor of art; William Ferris, Joel R. Williamson Eminent professor of history and senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South; and Bob Goldstein, associate professor of biology, all in the College of Arts and Sciences, were among 189 fellows selected by expert advisors. Whetstone will use his fellowship to travel North America, in between the towns and on the outer rims of cities, to photograph "the nascent wilderness all around us." Ferris will work on a book and multimedia project, "Mississippi Blues: Voices and Roots," which will feature musicians and their worlds that he photographed, recorded and filmed in the 1960s. Goldstein will go to Cambridge, England, where he will conduct experiments with stem cells at The Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute.

Research

Carolina ranks among the top U.S. public universities in research support and creating jobs through new products and spin-off companies. The faculty attracted $610 million in total contract and grant funding in fiscal 2007 – up nearly 3 percent from the previous year. That is more than twice the amount the University attracted decade ago.

Ongoing research initiatives include efforts to tackle challenges such as genome sciences, which is unraveling the mysteries of DNA and the human genome. Carolina has committed at least $245 million over a decade to be at the forefront of the genomics revolution. Led by renowned genetics scientist Terry Magnuson, the initiative represents a public-private investment that includes a $25 million anonymous gift creating the Michael Hooker Center for Proteomics to study a specialized area of genetics. Studies using mouse models and advanced computational and analytical techniques are revealing basic knowledge that will have direct relevance to how scientists understand human biology and disease.

Launched in 2007, the Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy, based in the School of Pharmacy, brings together researchers and clinicians across campus to create therapies and treatments for patients suffering from a wide variety of conditions. The institute aims to make drugs safer and more effective and speed laboratory discoveries by translating genetic discoveries into new ways of diagnosing and treating diseases. Howard McCleod, center director, helped identify genetic variants that predispose patients to risk of severe side effects or inadequate benefit from drugs for diseases including colorectal cancer and childhood leukemia. His research also has helped shape Food and Drug Administration guidelines for warfarin, a blood thinner prescribed to more than 2 million people in the United States.

Since 2000, the University has maintained a strategy of targeted investment in "big idea" research themes, knitting together existing strengths in various areas to create broad, interdisciplinary new thrusts.

Recent examples of key new interdisciplinary initiatives include:

  • The "Roadmap for Medical Research" initiative, intended to focus future NIH funding in 21 broad areas of concentration. The University established a Roadmap Office to position the campus for the highest level of success with this NIH initiative, which encourages researchers to attack difficult problems using interdisciplinary collaboration and sophisticated computational techniques to create quick translations to patient care.

    As a result of the work of the Roadmap Office and the strength of Carolina’s faculty and their interdisciplinary work, Chapel Hill received 11 grants in the 2006 competition, the highest number to date. Carolina’s efforts with this program are among the most successful in the country. Previous projects funded include the Carolina Center of Nanotechnology Excellence, which marries expertise in nanotechnology with patient research at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

    The Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) addresses problems spanning the sciences and engineering, the arts, the humanities and commerce. RENCI rings together technologies and communities to respond to disasters – from storm surges, hurricanes and floods in eastern North Carolina to landslides in the mountains – that require responses no one organization can address alone. RENCI was established in partnership with Duke and N.C. State universities. Its work fosters collaborations across the state, including with other UNC system campuses and state government.

  • The Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative, funded with a five-year, $3.5 million grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is being matched two-to-one by the university. Carolina is one of seven Kauffman Foundation-designated "Entrepreneurial Universities," chosen through a national competition. UNC is deploying new programs to create a surge of entrepreneurship among students, faculty and staff, including a new minor in entrepreneurship in the College of Arts and Sciences. The program is led by a team managed by the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.

Data that reflect the current economic impact of technological developments resulting from faculty research include the number of patents, spin-off companies, jobs and licensed technology. In 2006, UNC was awarded 21 patents; started five new companies, bringing the total to 36; licensed 43 inventions; and received about $2.2 million in revenue generated by licensed technology.

Spin-off companies resulting from UNC discoveries include Liquidia Technologies, a 2004 start-up to commercialize inventions from the laboratories of Joe DeSimone, William R. Kenan Jr. distinguished professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at Carolina and N.C. State. Liquidia has used a silicon wafer to create molds for making nanoparticles for drug delivery. Possibilities include developing custom nanoparticles for targeted delivery of anticancer drugs. Liquidia’s technology also helped the University land one of eight NIH "nanocancer" grants.

Since the 1940s, scientists at UNC'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. Its work includes the Neuse River Monitoring and Modeling Project on the Neuse River, which has been designated as one of the nation's 20 most pollution-endangered rivers.

Since the 1960s, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute research and outreach has shaped how the nation cares for and educates young children. Researchers focus on parent and family support; early care and education; child health and development; early identification and intervention; equity, access and inclusion; and early childhood policy. FPG is one of the oldest multidisciplinary centers devoted to the study of children and families. Most of the institute’s work addresses young children from newborns through age 8. Examples of projects directly affecting the children of North Carolina include the Nuestros Niños Early Language and Literacy Project, which develops and tests an intervention designed to improve the quality of teaching practices related to literacy and language learning among Latino children enrolled in North Carolina’s More at Four Pre-Kindergarten program for at-risk children.

Public Service

Serving the people of North Carolina is among the core qualities that define the University. Every day, faculty, staff and students shape their teaching, research and public service priorities to meet the state’s most pressing needs in every region and all 100 counties.

The School of Government helps improve the lives of North Carolinians through engaged scholarship – the application of university expertise to address community needs – that helps public officials understand and improve state and local government.

The Area Health Education Centers Program (AHEC), based at the School of Medicine, works with nine regional centers to bring health sciences faculty and students to North Carolina communities to provide care, share knowledge, reduce disparities among the underserved and help produce the next generation of North Carolina’s doctors, nurses and health professionals.

The Carolina Center for Public Service engages and supports faculty, students and staff in meeting the needs of North Carolina by promoting scholarship and service that addresses concerns of the state and contributes to the common good.

Carolina has identified three pivotal areas — education, health and economic development — as the focus of the University’s current efforts to enhance the quality and depth of engagement with North Carolina. These are the issues that North Carolinians have told the University matter the most.

Following are brief examples representing dozens of programs and initiatives that show the breadth and depth of the commitment that UNC students, faculty and staff have to advance the state’s interests.

Education

DESTINY (Delivering Edge-Cutting Science Technology and Internet Across North Carolina for Years to Come), Carolina's traveling science laboratory, takes the latest technology and teaching tools to North Carolina schools. This Morehead Planetarium and Science Center program develops and delivers a standards-based, hands-on curriculum and teacher professional development with a team of educators and a fleet of vehicles that travel throughout the state. The two custom-built, 40-foot buses bring the latest science and technology equipment to students who otherwise would not see a high-tech laboratory or what a career in science can offer. Since the program’s inception, 250,000 students have been served.

North Carolina's teachers benefit from the Learners' and Educators' Assistance and Resource Network of North Carolina (LEARN NC), a collaborative statewide network of teachers and partners devoted to improving student performance and enhancing teacher proficiencies via the Internet. LEARN NC, offered free through the School of Education, provides curriculum and instructional tools aligned with the state's Standard Course of Study and a virtual classroom of online courses for K-12 students and teachers. About 20,000 students and teachers visit the LEARN NC website each day.

Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Children with Handicaps (TEACCH), headquartered in the School of Medicine’s department of psychiatry, serves 6,000 individuals with autism and their families through nine regional outpatient clinics across the state. Goals include helping individuals function independently and finding jobs for about 1,000 adults.

In 2006, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation selected Carolina to partner in a $27 million program to help more deserving community college students from families with low to moderate income levels earn bachelor’s degrees. Carolina is receiving nearly $900,000, and participation benefits students from Alamance Community College, Durham Technical Community College and Wake Technical Community College. The program includes the Carolina Student Transfer Excellence Program, which aims to encourage community college students of great talent and potential.

In 2007, the Cooke Foundation selected Carolina as the national headquarters for a new effort to increase college enrollment and graduation among low-income high school and community college students. In partnership with the National College Access Network, Carolina will become the home of the National College Advising Corps Coordinating Office, which will help other universities involved in the initiative.

Through a related $1 million grant from the Cooke Foundation, the University has placed college advisers in 18 low-income high schools across North Carolina. Carolina is recruiting and training graduating seniors to work full time as corps advisers for one to two years with 11th- and 12th-graders, as well as younger students. These efforts draw from a successful Virginia model funded by the Cooke Foundation. In all, the foundation awarded $10 million in grants to Carolina and nine other campuses, including Brown, Tufts, UC-Berkeley and Penn State.

Health

Carolina partners with Elizabeth City State University to respond to the critical shortage of pharmacists in North Carolina. Students in northeastern North Carolina can earn a bachelor of science in pharmaceutical sciences from Elizabeth City State and a doctor of pharmacy from the UNC School of Pharmacy while remaining in Elizabeth City. Students are co-enrolled in an undergraduate pharmaceutical sciences program at Elizabeth City and the doctor of pharmacy program at UNC. They remain on the Elizabeth City campus for the first three years of instruction through video-teleconferencing, Web-based teaching and classes taught by Elizabeth City faculty. Goals of the partnership include increasing the numbers of pharmacists working in underserved populations, especially in northeastern North Carolina.

The North Carolina Breast Screening Program, based at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, is dedicated to reducing late-stage diagnosis of breast and cervical cancer in older black women living in eastern North Carolina. The program’s efforts to increase mammography and Pap testing rates aim to improve quality and length of life for rural African-American women and, ultimately, contribute to greater equality in health between black and white women.

The BEAUTY (Bringing Education and Understanding to You) Program is a four-year study to assess the effectiveness of using beauty salons in central North Carolina to share information about preventing cancer. The project stresses the importance of physical activity, increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables, reducing calories from fat, maintaining or achieving a healthy weight and obtaining recommended cancer screenings. The BEAUTY team has enrolled 62 salons within 75 miles of Chapel Hill in the program. Salon owners are recruiting at least 55 customers to participate in the program, so that nearly 3,000 black women are enrolled in the study. Studies have shown that African-American women are at a higher risk for cancer mortality than other groups. The program relies on cosmetologists to promote a variety of health issues after receiving training and the facts about cancer prevention.

Through the Ethnicity, Culture and Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, researchers are building on the knowledge that ethnicity, socioeconomic, gender, environmental and educational factors all play a part in health disparities. ECHO aims to eliminate health status and health outcomes disparities through research, multidisciplinary training and education, and culturally sensitive service to North Carolina communities. One of the few programs of its kind in the nation, ECHO works to connect the various institutes and research agendas across the state concerned about health disparities, especially through partnerships with the state’s historically black colleges and universities.

Economic Development

Through the Kenan-Flagler Business School’s master of business administration degree program, Student Teams Achieving Results (STAR) teams consult with and assist North Carolina businesses free of charge in return for the opportunity to learn from experienced business leaders about real-world business challenges. Companies served cannot afford the services of professional strategists and the experience reinforces students’ commitment to public service. The goal is to help struggling North Carolina companies identify the path to sustainability and growth, keeping and growing jobs for North Carolinians. In its 2005 pilot phase, the STAR Program assisted one company, E.N. Beard Hardwood Lumber Inc. of Greensboro. The student team worked successfully with company president John Beard to identify export opportunities in Mexico. The results were impressive – an increase from $0 to $250,000 in export sales in the first year and an estimated $500,000 increase in the second year. Since 2004-2005, MBA student teams have served more than 20 North Carolina companies and non-profits (a hardwoods producer, textile manufacturer, flower distributor, housing authority and a mattress manufacturer).

The Community and Economic Development Program in the School of Government provides public officials with training, research and assistance that support local efforts to create jobs and wealth, expand the tax base and maintain vibrant communities. It currently has a partnership with the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center to help small rural communities create and execute strategies for community and economic development. Faculty and staff are training civic leaders and conducting applied research using case studies that show how small communities have been successful in development activities.

Kenan Institute Charlotte is a joint venture of the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and the Belk School of Business at UNC-Charlotte. Established in 1997, the institute develops models for creating jobs and alleviating poverty in the inner city, using Charlotte as its laboratory. The institute provides training and technical assistance to minority small business owners and entrepreneurs preparing to launch ventures to help them grow, create jobs and pump more money into the inner city economy. Promising businesses can receive technical assistance and capital from the Urban Venture Fund, which targets businesses that are between three and five years old with at least $1 million in assets. The institute trains non-profit leaders to help them build successful organizations that can sustain themselves financially.