News Release

Three garner university’s first 
awards for advancing women

CHAPEL HILL – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill today (March 28) honored three individuals with the first University Awards for the Advancement of Women.

A reception for the recently created award was held this afternoon at the George Watts Hill Alumni Center, in conjunction with the campus’ ninth annual Women’s Week.

"The University Awards for the Advancement of Women are a new step in our honoring the achievements of and for women at Carolina," Chancellor James Moeser said of these new awards. "We should each recognize what has been accomplished in our efforts to make Carolina a place where women want to come to study, teach and serve."

Moeser presented recipients with a framed certificate and a check. The three winners – one faculty, one staff and one student, graduate student or postdoctoral scholar – each receive a monetary award. The faculty and staff winners receive a check for $5,000; the student scholar, a check for $2,500.

The inaugural award winners are: Jan M. Boxill, senior lecturer and associate chair in the philosophy department and director of the Parr Center for Ethics; Matthew B. Ezzell, graduate student and assistant to the director of undergraduate students in the department of sociology; and Terri C. Houston, director of recruitment and multicultural programs in the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

Ezzell and Houston participated in today’s reception. Boxill, the "voice" of the Carolina women’s basketball team, is in Cleveland with the Tar Heels, who play in the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight tonight. Her husband, Bernard Boxill, and her daughter, Lisa Boxill, accepted the award on her behalf.

The University Awards for the Advancement of Women were created following the retirement of the Cornelia Phillips Spencer Bell Award in 2004.

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Boxill URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/award/womensaward/boxill_jan_3_06.JPG 

Ezzell URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/award/womensaward/ezzell_matthew_3_06.JPG 

Houston URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/award/womensaward/houston_terri_3_06.JPG 

Award winners with Chancellor Moeser URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/award/womensaward/women's_winners.jpg

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