News Release

By CATHERINE HOUSE
Office of University Development

CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill received $190 million in gifts and private grants during fiscal year 2004—the largest amount received in a single year in the university’s history. Trustee Paul Fulton of Winston-Salem announced the accomplishment today (July 22) at a meeting of the university’s Board of Trustees.

"This has been a stellar year for Carolina," Chancellor James Moeser said. "Our success is a testament to the immense loyalty and dedication of our alumni and friends who are responding with unprecedented levels of support during this important campaign. From record-breaking numbers to groundbreaking initiatives such as the Carolina Covenant, Carolina is setting the standard in public higher education."

The university is ahead of schedule in its $1.8 billion campaign to help make Carolina the nation’s leading public university. Known as Carolina First, the campaign began on July 1, 1999, and ends on June 30, 2007. To date, $1.27 billion has been raised. Gifts to the campaign have created 126 professorships and 430 scholarships and fellowships, funded new research, spawned new programs and initiatives, and helped pay for the renovation and construction of campus facilities.

The campaign counts gifts, pledges and deferred gifts, bringing the campaign total to $237 million for fiscal year 2004. The $190 million annual fund-raising figure counts only gifts received outright.

"Our donors are taking seriously the challenge to make Carolina the nation’s best public university," said Matt Kupec, vice chancellor for university advancement, who directs the campaign. "They are passionate about this great university and are doing their share to preserve the Carolina experience and improve upon it for the next generation."

Gifts in support of faculty received this fiscal year include $3 million from an anonymous donor to create the Richard Cole Eminent Professorship in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication; $1.2 million from Miriam McFadden of Nashville, Tenn., to the School of Social Work to recruit and retain faculty; and $3 million from the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust and Julian and Josie Robertson of New York to create the Nannerl O. Keohane Professorship in honor of Duke’s retiring president.

Other major gifts this year include $3 million from Carolina First steering committee member Lowry Caudill and his wife Suzi to name the largest of the planned green spaces for the Carolina Physical Science Complex after UNC chemistry professor Royce Murray; $1 million from the estate of Gladys Hall Coates to establish the Albert and Gladys Coates Endowment Fund benefiting the North Carolina Collection; and $5 million from steering committee members Vaughn and Nancy Bryson of Vero Beach, Fla., to establish a clinical genetics research center at UNC, as well as another $2 million from the couple in support of Carolina’s baseball stadium renovation project.

Corporate and foundation gifts include $2 million from the Wachovia Foundation supporting the Kenan-Flagler Business School, the School of Law and the School of Medicine; $3.5 million from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, Mo., to create the Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative; and $1 million from Harris Teeter and the Dickson Foundation to create a scholarship fund for study abroad by in-state students.

Fulton, former dean of the Kenan-Flagler Business School, chairs the Carolina First Campaign with Mike Overlock of Greenwich, Conn., and Charles M. Shaffer Jr. of Atlanta. Fulton said, "I am enthusiastic about the upward trend in giving this year. It is a sign that our alumni and friends want to help Carolina reach its goal and are willing to step up and stretch their giving to make that happen."

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Web link: http://carolinafirst.unc.edu/

News Services contact: Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093, lisa_katz@unc.edu