News Release

Graduate School to honor students for research, service

The UNC Graduate School is set to honor approximately 300 graduate students for outstanding research, community service, academic achievement and leadership.

Impact and Recognition Awards will go to 22 graduate students whose research benefits North Carolina, said Linda Dykstra, school dean. Their topics included policies for responding to economic disasters, the implications of release programs for HIV-infected inmates and distressed urban communities.

Another 240 students will be hailed for receiving 267 fellowships that brought Carolina about $6 million in research funds. Others to be recognized will be students inducted recently into UNC honor societies; winners of awards for distinguished service; and students judged to have presented outstanding research at a recent event sponsored by the Graduate and Professional Student Federation.

“Whether it is through research on cancer and air pollution or volunteering for community groups, these students certainly deserve recognition,” Dykstra said. “And every time a Carolina graduate student is awarded an external fellowship or grant, it brings valuable funding to UNC and adds to Carolina’s reputation as one of the finest public research universities.”

Pharmacy professor Boka Hadzija will receive the Dean’s Award for Significant Contribution to Graduate Education. Hadzija has won 33 awards for outstanding teaching at Carolina and led efforts to recognize and financially support graduate students, Dykstra said.

Graduate students make up about a third of the UNC student body this academic year, numbering approximately 8,250 (full- and part-time) in a total of more than 27,700 students in the count last fall by the Office of Institutional Research.

Names and projects of the award winners will be posted this week on the graduate school’s Web site, http://gradschool.unc.edu/. The awards will be presented at the school’s ninth annual Graduate Student Recognition Ceremony at 4 p.m. April 12 at the George Watts Hill Alumni Center, open to the campus community. A poster display on student work will begin at 3 p.m.; a reception with music by a student jazz quartet will follow the ceremony. Advance reservations are requested. For a reservation or information, contact Kathy Farinola, (919) 962-6311, farinola@email.unc.edu.

Graduate School contact: Kathy Farinola, (919) 962-6311, farinola@email.unc.edu
News Services contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589