For immediate useNov. 21, 1997--No. 878

UNC-CH trustees announce 4 William R. Davie award winners

By KARYN MITCHELL
UNC-CH News Services

CHAPEL HILL-- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees presented the prestigious William R. Davie Award to four longtime friends of the university Thursday (Nov. 20).

Honored recipients are John William Harris of Charlotte, president of the Harris Group; the late Charles Kuralt, UNC-CH alumnus and longtime CBS News correspondent; John Lassiter Sanders of Chapel Hill, retired director of the Institute of Government; and David Livingston Ward Jr. on New Bern, president and senior attorney of Ward and Smith PA.

Chancellor Michael Hooker and the Board of Trustees honored the award recipients at a banquet Thursday night.

The Davie award, which is the highest award given by UNC-CH trustees, is named for the Revolutionary War hero considered to be the father of the university. Created in 1984, the annual award recognizes “extraordinary service to the university or to society.”

Harris, who served on the university's Board of Trustees for eight years and was two-time chairman, earned his bachelor's degree from UNC-CH in 1969. A developer in Charlotte, Harris was appointed in 1983 as chairman of the committee to research a new coliseum in Charlotte. He was also chairman of Charlotte's 1994 NCAA Final Four Organizing Committee. In 1984, the Charlotte News named Harris “Man of the Year.”

As a member of the Arts and Sciences Foundation board of directors, Harris helped raise $50 million dollars. He also headed UNC-CH's 1994 search committee for a new chancellor.

Sanders, who served as the UNC system vice president for five years, earned from UNC-CH a degree in history in 1950 and a degree in law in 1954. He clerked for a federal judge, worked in a Raleigh law firm and served as director of the Institute of Government for 25 years. He helped reorganize state government and remains a recognized authority on the history of the state capital building in Raleigh. As a UNC vice president, Sanders wrote the UNC system's first long-range and affirmative action plans, and helped create the community college system and draft the legislation that created the 16-campus University system.

At Carolina, the John Lassiter Sanders Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching and Service was established in his name in 1995 to reward professors' efforts to develop student leaders.

Kuralt, the late CBS broadcaster, was a benefactor, friend and alumnus of the university. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in history in 1955, he became the youngest correspondent at CBS and in 1967, hosted his first “On the Road” segment.

Kuralt helped raise $5 million in private money for the UNC-CH School of Social Work. Charles and his brother, Wallace Kuralt, created the school's first endowed professorship in honor of their late father, Wallace Kuralt Sr. The school is now housed in a building bearing his name. Wallace Kuralt accepted the Davie award on his brother's behalf.

UNC-CH honored Kuralt with a Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1972, and an honorary degree in 1991. In 1981, he was inducted into the N.C. Journalism Hall of Fame.

Ward, who earned a degree in business administration from UNC-CH in 1957, is a former trustee. After graduating from law school at Duke, he became an American Bar Foundation Fellow, a fellow for the Defense Research Institute and was listed in the Best Lawyers of America.

In service to his alma mater, Ward has served as chairman of the Board of the Arts and Sciences Foundation, national chair of the National Development Council, chair of the Board of Visitors and chair of the Morehead Scholarship Selection Committee.

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(Mitchell is a senior journalism and mass communication major from Cincinnati, Ohio)

News Services contacts: Mike McFarland, Karen Stinneford