For immediate useNov. 14, 1997 -- No. 857

Educational Foundation Inc. pledges $350,000 to undergraduate center

CHAPEL HILL -- The Educational Foundation Inc. today (Nov. 14) announced a $350,000 commitment to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's College of Arts and Sciences campaign to create a new James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence.

William M. Moore Jr., chairman of the Educational Foundation, presented the gift to Dr. Risa Palm, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, at today's meeting of the UNC-CH Faculty Council.

The foundation raises funds for scholarships for Carolina's student-athletes and provides funding to construct and improve athletic facilities.

“The Educational Foundation recognizes that this center will be an important component of the overall emphasis on campus intellectual climate embraced by this faculty,” Moore said. “We are pleased to support the many deserving students and faculty who will benefit from the undergraduate center.”

One of the largest commitments to the center, the gift was made in response to the 1996 Kresge Foundation challenge to raise $1.9 million needed to complete the campaign. The $5.7 million center will be housed in a renovated and expanded Graham Memorial building, the university's first student union.

“This gift underscores the Educational Foundation's deep commitment to academics at Carolina,” Palm said. “We are fortunate to have so many devoted alumni and friends who are motivated to support Carolina's academic and athletic programs.”

During and since the Bicentennial Campaign for Carolina, which concluded in 1995, a total of $6.8 million in gifts and pledges to the university has been made by the foundation, including this latest commitment to the undergraduate center. Among the recipients of gifts from the foundation are the Kenan-Flagler Business School, the library, the music department and other funds for academic enhancement.

A recent survey of the top 100 donors to the Educational Foundation found that they donated $30 million to Carolina athletics. These same 100 donors gave $70 million to university academics -- more than double their gifts to athletics.

The foundation looks for opportunities to support the university's academic mission whenever it can, said Moyer Smith, foundation president. “The undergraduate center will serve all of us by enhancing the intellectual climate for students and faculty alike,” Smith said.

Currently, Graham Memorial houses the dramatic art department, which is scheduled to move next summer to a new Center for Dramatic Art now under construction. Work on Graham Memorial will begin next summer and will be finished by fall 1999.

The new undergraduate center will offer much-needed teaching space including seminar rooms, high-tech classrooms, a resource center with computer connections to campus and external databases, a flexible commons room for lectures, receptions, meals, performances and exhibits, and a kitchen. A terrace will be built on the east side overlooking the Morehead Planetarium rose garden, and a living room will encourage informal faculty-student interaction. The building will also house the Honors Program and Carolina Leadership Development, programs serving more than 2,500 students annually.

Moore is founder and chairman of Trident Financial Corp. in Raleigh and a 1967 graduate of Carolina's master's in business administration program. Besides chairing the Educational Foundation, he serves as director of the Kenan-Flagler Business School Foundation, chair of the Executive Seminars in the Humanities, director of the Friends of the Library and chair of the Raleigh Area National Development Council, a volunteer organization that leads academic fund raising for the university.

“We are blessed at Carolina to have -- much to your credit -- one of the finest academic programs in the nation,” Moore told the faculty. “We also have a very fine athletic program and, I believe, it is all the finer because of the commitment to academics we share with you.”

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UNC-CH Development Office contact: Ellen Smith, 919-962-0027

News Services print contact: Laura J. Toler, 919-962-8589

News Services broadcast contact: Karen Moon, 919-962-8595