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NEWS SERVICES |
NEWS
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April 29, 2003 -- No. 251 |
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Local angles: Macon, Charlotte; New Haven, Conn.; Philadelphia
Four to receive honorary degrees at UNC commencement May 18
CHAPEL HILL -- A comedian and advocate for education, a law professor and former U.S. Solicitor General, an award-winning writer and teacher, and a business leader and former university system president will receive honorary degrees on May 18 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The recipients are:
The recipients will be honored during the university’s spring commencement ceremony, beginning at 9:30 a.m. in Kenan Memorial Stadium. Cosby will be the featured speaker; Chancellor James Moeser will preside. Cosby, Days and Spangler will receive honorary doctor of laws degrees; Price, an honorary doctor of letters.
Cosby, a Philadelphia native, has said he did not realize the value of a formal education until after the first four days of boot camp in the U.S. Navy. "Four years later in May, when I got out of the Navy, I hit the ground running from Norfolk, Va., and immediately enrolled in Temple University in Philadelphia," he said.
Today he is known in part for the character of Dr. Cliff Huxtable, which he created on NBC’s long-running, top-rated "The Cosby Show." Along with the laughs, Huxtable delivered messages and an example of cleverness, creativity, positive values and discipline to his children.
Years after his success in show business, Cosby returned to higher education to earn a master’s degree and a doctorate in education. He emphasizes that the best assurance for a satisfying and rewarding life begins with knowledge.
Cosby’s wife, Camille, also earned a doctorate in education. The two have promoted the importance of education, donated funds to a wide range of universities and delivered commencement addresses to further emphasize the importance of learning.
Days, an Atlanta native and 1966 graduate of Yale Law School, has been on the school’s faculty since 1981, receiving an endowed chair in 1991. From 1993 to 1996, he took a leave of absence to work as Solicitor General in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he oversaw all federal litigation in the Supreme Court and federal appellate courts.
Days also worked in justice from 1977-1980 as assistant attorney general for civil rights. He managed the civil rights division, which challenges discrimination in employment, education, housing and other areas. Days has personally argued 23 cases before the Supreme Court.
School desegregation, police misconduct, employment discrimination and prisoners’ rights were Days’ concerns as first assistant counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund from 1969-1977. Previously, he taught law at Temple University and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras and a consultant for the Agency for International Development.
Days participated in human rights fact-finding missions for Amnesty International and other organizations in Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador and Kenya. He serves on the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Board of Directors and is a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Price has written well over 30 books in 41 years, starting with his first novel, "A Long and Happy Life." That 1962 title won the Faulker Foundation Award for best first novel of the year and a Sir Walter Raleigh Award from the state of North Carolina. "Kate Vaiden," his 1986 novel, won the National Book Critics Circle Award; "The Collected Stories" was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1994. His works have been translated into 27 languages.
During this prolific output of plays, poetry, memoirs, prose and even lyrics to some of James Taylor’s songs, Price also taught English literature and writing at Duke, where he holds an endowed professorship. Born in Macon, N.C., he graduated from Duke in 1955 and won a Rhodes Scholarship to England’s Oxford University. In 1958 he then returned to Duke as an instructor.
Price has given many readings and speeches at Carolina and across the state, sharing his tales and voices of rural and small-town North Carolina. He was a writer in residence in the UNC English department in 1965-66 and has met with UNC senior honors classes. His busy travel itinerary was curtailed in the mid-1980s during a bout with spinal cancer that he was not expected to survive. The experience was the topic of one of two Price memoirs, "A Whole New Life," in 1994.
Price also published his versions of the Gospels of Mark and John and a third hypothetical gospel of his own. Later, when Time magazine did a cover story on Christianity, it solicited an essay from Price that further expanded his reputation.
Spangler received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Carolina and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School. He served two years in the U.S. Army, then returned to the family business, C.D. Spangler Construction Co. in Charlotte.
His work in public education began in 1972. As vice-chairman of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board, he helped lead the successful integration of area schools. From 1982 to 1986, he chaired the state Board of Education.
As president of the UNC system, from 1986 to 1997, Spangler was known for his dedication to students, with whom he often lunched in Carolina’s Lenoir Hall. He championed low tuition and opened doors to minorities, hiring Julius Chambers away from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to become chancellor at N.C. Central University. Spangler also hired the system’s first female vice president and two female chancellors. He led a successful campaign for a $310 million bond referendum in 1993 for UNC facilities – at the time, the largest in system history.
Under his leadership, the Spangler Foundation has supported institutions of culture, public service and higher education, contributing more than $10 million toward creation of 38 distinguished professorships within the UNC system.
Among Spangler’s honors are the UNC Board of Governors’ highest honor, the University Award; the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees’ highest honor, the William Richardson Davie Award; and the N.C. Citizens for Business and Industry Citizen for Distinguished Public Service Award.
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Contact: L.J. Toler, UNC News Services, (919) 962-8589, laura_toler@unc.edu
