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By STEPHANIE GUNTER
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- Dr. Michael Hunt, renowned historian, author and Everett H. Emerson professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will speak at the university’s mid-year commencement ceremony Dec. 21.

The ceremony, to be held at 2 p.m. in the Dean E. Smith Center, will recognize students who completed their degrees in August or December. Parking will be available in the lots adjacent to the Smith Center, and a reception on the concourse will follow the ceremony.

"I am honored and slightly awed at the task before me," Hunt said. "The commencement exercise is one of the defining rituals in academic life. The address gives me an opportunity to step back from my particular academic concerns and think about how they relate in broad terms to the lives of the graduates at this important moment of transition."

Hunt will continue a Carolina tradition of faculty speakers at December commencement. The Commencement Speaker Committee unanimously recommended him to Chancellor James Moeser, who makes the final speaker selection. The committee, composed of student and faculty leaders, is chaired by Dr. Bernadette Gray-Little, executive associate provost.

"I was fortunate enough to have Professor Hunt in the classroom," said George Leamon, senior class president and a selection committee member. "A brilliant historian and educator, he is both a gentleman and friend to all students. I am sure he will be insightful and inspiring."

Hunt came to UNC in 1980. He has special teaching and research interests in U.S. foreign relations, the Cold War in Asia, the Vietnam War and the post-1945 world. His ninth book, "The World Transformed: 1945 to the Present," will be published this fall. Hunt also has written more than 40 articles and essays.

He has received numerous awards and grants from a variety of organizations, including Harvard's Fairbank Center for East Asian Studies, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Hunt also has been a consultant to university and commercial presses, foundations, research centers, film projects, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the U.S. State Department, and the editors of professional journals.

Born into a military family in Pearsall, Texas, Hunt spent much of his youth abroad. He earned his undergraduate degree in international relations from Georgetown University in 1965. He did graduate work in history at Yale University, earning his master’s degree in 1967 and his doctoral degree in 1971. Before coming to UNC, Hunt taught at Yale and Colgate universities.

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(Gunter, of Raleigh, is a senior majoring in journalism and mass communication.)

Photo URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/faculty/hunt_michael.jpg

News Services contact: Mike McFarland