News Release

Local angles: Charlotte, Hickory, Rocky Mount,
Scotland Neck, Shelby, Taylorsville; Jackson, Wyo.

Photo: To download photos, see end of story.

GAA honors Chapman, Dickson, Matheson,
Spangler for distinguished service to UNC

CHAPEL HILL - Four alumni were recognized Saturday (May 13) for their commitment to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the UNC General Alumni Association.

Jean Almand Kitchin of Scotland Neck, vice chair of the UNC Board of Trustees and chair of the GAA Board of Directors, presented the association's 2006 Distinguished Service Medals at the annual alumni luncheon.

The recipients were Max Chapman of Jackson, Wyo., chair of the UNC Endowment Fund; Mary Anne Dickson of Charlotte, co-chair of the Carolina Women's Leadership Council; Carl Matheson of Hickory, former chair of the GAA Board of Directors; and C.D. Spangler of Charlotte, former UNC system president.

"In ways large and small, this year's recipients have given themselves time and again to Carolina, enriching the educational experiences of our students and ensuring that UNC continues to achieve its full potential," said Douglas Dibbert, GAA president. "The success of their efforts should encourage others who look for ways to give back to our university and its alumni association."

Chapman, who graduated in 1966, is a former president and chief executive officer of the Wall Street firm Kidder, Peabody & Co. He was vice chairman of the American Stock Exchange and held several executive positions at the Japanese financial firm Nomura Securities.

Chapman chairs the UNC Endowment Fund and is a member of the Carolina First steering committee. He made possible the golf team's Chapman Center facility at Finley Golf Course and established a teaching fellowship at UNC.

He has served on the board of the Arts and Sciences Foundation and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Foundation. In 1996, he received the William R. Davie Award, the highest honor given by the UNC Board of Trustees.

Dickson, a Rocky Mount native, earned her political science degree from UNC in 1963. After graduating, she attended the Katharine Gibbs School for private post-secondary education and served as the assistant to the chairman and CEO of Hardee's Food Systems. In 1984, she earned a business administration degree from North Carolina Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount.

Dickson is on the steering committee of Carolina First, a comprehensive, multi-year, private fund-raising campaign to support Carolina's vision of becoming the nation's leading public university. She co-chairs the Carolina Women's Leadership Council, a volunteer committee that is part of Carolina First. She served on the UNC Board of Visitors, which she chaired from 1998 to 1999. She has given generously to the women's studies department, the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

She and her sister honored their late father with the Charles Garland Johnson Sr. Scholars Fund in International Studies, a scholarship for students who would not otherwise be able to afford to study abroad. In 2003, Dickson received the Davie award.

Matheson, a 1957 UNC graduate and Taylorsville native, is the retired chairman and chief executive officer of Southwood Furniture Corp. in Hickory. He is a past chair of the GAA's Board of Directors, on which he served for more than a decade. He has served on the UNC Board of Visitors and the executive committee of the Educational Foundation Inc., also known as the Rams Club.

Matheson has chaired selection committees involved in the awarding of Morehead Scholarships to UNC. A member of the board of directors of The Carolina Club, a private on-campus dining facility on campus, Matheson also is president of the Hambrick Memorial Foundation, a philanthropic organization based in Hickory.

Spangler, a Shelby native and the first in his family to attend college, followed his 1954 Carolina degree with a master's in business administration from Harvard University. After two years in the military, he joined the family business, C.D. Spangler Construction Co. in Charlotte, and expanded its holdings to include Golden Eagle Industries Inc., National Gypsum Co. and The Wakefield Group. He is credited with turning around the fortunes of the Bank of North Carolina, founded by his father, which merged with North Carolina National Bank, and which today is Bank of America. As vice-chair of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board in the early 1970s, Spangler helped lead the integration of public schools. He stepped down as state Board of Education chair to become UNC system president in 1986, a position he held for 11 years.

The Spangler Foundation has created 38 distinguished professorships in the UNC System. Spangler's honors include the UNC system's University Award, the Davie award and Harvard's Alumni Achievement Award.

The GAA has awarded the medals since 1978 to UNC alumni and others who have provided outstanding service to the GAA or the university. The GAA is a self-governed, nonprofit organization serving alumni and friends of UNC. A list of past award recipients is available at alumni.unc.edu/awards.

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Photos: For photos of the winners, go to
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/alum/DSM/CMathesonDSM.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/alum/DSM/CSSpanglerDSM.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/alum/DSM/MADicksonDSM.jpg
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/alum/DSM/MChapmanDSM.jpg

GAA contact: Doug Dibbert, (919) 962-7050 or doug_dibbert@unc.edu
News Services contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589