Edward Kidder Graham, UNC President, 1914-1918
Born
on October 11, 1876, into a family steeped in the mission of
teaching, Edward Kidder Graham received his early education in
the public schools of Charlotte. He graduated from Carolina in
1898 with a bachelor's degree in philosophy and was ranked second
in his class. After earning his master's degree in English at
Columbia University in 1903, he returned to Carolina, first as
a professor of English, then as dean of the College of Liberal
Arts. He became the University's eighth president in 1914, succeeding
Francis P. Venable.
Graham is best remembered for his efforts to link learning
in the classroom to service beyond the walls of the University,
and for his encouragement to students that they develop an "intellectual
way of life" open to inquiry, self-reflection, and discovery.
Graham died on October 26, 1918, a victim of the Spanish Influenza
epidemic that circled the globe at the end of World War I. Over
the next decade, friends and alumni of the University raised
private funds to erect a tribute to Graham's memory and to fulfill
his desire for a place where students might gather, in the words
of Walt Whitman, to "loaf and invite the soul." The
Graham Memorial building opened as Carolina's first student union
in 1931.
The James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence
Graham Memorial was renovated in 1998-2000 to house the James
M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence. Described by
its planning committee as a "democracy of learning,"
the Center's mission is to lead a renaissance in undergraduate
education at Carolina.
Students come to the Johnston Center to learn about undergraduate
research and Honors study-abroad opportunities, to meet distinguished
Carolina alumni and campus visitors, to participate in arts and
cultural events, and to get to know their professors as scholars
and people. With its state-of-the-art technology, the Johnston
Center also serves as a laboratory for innovation in teaching
and learning. Faculty and students use these facilities to engage
in collaborative inquiry with peers both close to home and around
the globe. The Center's teleconferencing facilities connect UNC
programs abroad back to campus and give students in Chapel Hill
access to academic experts from all parts of the world.
The opening of the Johnston Center is part of a north campus
revival begun with private fund-raising efforts by the College
of Arts and Sciences. More than 700 donors contributed $7.4 million
to finance the renovation of Graham Memorial. Key gifts included
$1.25 million from the James M. Johnston Trust; a $600,000 challenge
grant from the Kresge Foundation of Troy, Michigan; $500,000
from the John Motley Morehead Foundation; $350,000 from The Educational
Foundation, Inc.; and $250,000 from the William R. Kenan, Jr.
Charitable Trust.
James Martin Johnston and The James M. Johnston Trust
The Center's name honors the late James Martin Johnston, a
Chapel Hill native, born on December 8, 1895. Johnston attended
Carolina from 1913 to 1915, and earned his bachelor's degree
from the University of Illinois in 1917. He was a pursuit pilot
in World War I, serving in France and Germany.
Johnston was the principal founder of Johnston, Lemon &
Company, a nationally recognized investment banking firm headquartered
in Washington, D.C. He was also an ardent sports fan, who together
with a group of business partners purchased the Washington Senators
baseball franchise. Johnston's associates in banking and baseball
found him warmhearted and generous, though he shunned the limelight.
Proceeds from those endeavors funded the James M. Johnston
Trust for Charitable and Educational Purposes, which has given
more than $25 million to Carolina through the Johnston Scholars
program, one of the largest need-based academic scholarship programs
in the South. The trust's gift to the new undergraduate center
was part of its Bicentennial Campaign pledge.
