Spotlight

American Indian Center’s “beautiful mission”

It’s in Amy Locklear Hertel’s blood to give back. “Giving back – reciprocity – is a very important value in tribal communities,” she said. Hertel, of the Lumbee and Coharie tribes, became director of Carolina’s American Indian Center in May 2012. As a high school student in Fayetteville, she could look ahead and see herself…

Bruce Cairns, center, examines burn patient Christopher Sherrin, right, as his mother, Crissie, offers support at the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center at UNC Hospitals.

Life-changing work

Bruce Cairns arrives at the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center each day with one primary concern: He wants to shut it down. “My mission here is to put us out of business,” he said. Cairns, medical director of the 21-bed center at UNC Hospitals and John Stackhouse Distinguished Professor of Surgery, would love to see…

Shealy is the first UNC student-athlete to be named a Robertson Scholar. Shealy says doing well in school makes her feel as proud as the fact that her field hockey team is the top ranked team.

A new title: Robertson Scholar

Sophomore Loren Shealy is a talented player on Carolina’s top-ranked field hockey team. She’s also an academic star with a 4.0 G.P.A. This year Shealy garnered a new title – Robertson Scholar. It’s a title that no other Carolina or Duke athlete has ever had. The Robertson Scholars Program is a joint undergraduate scholarship program…

UNC Student Body President Will Leimenstoll sits in front of a colorful fence decorated by his mother, Jo Ramsay, behind their home in Greensboro, N.C.

“You can’t control every factor”

Will Leimenstoll earns a small stipend for all his work as UNC student body president. He doesn’t get paid for his volunteer work, like raising money for scholarships in South Africa. But Leimenstoll gives back to Carolina in many ways other than just paying tuition. “I’m not ashamed to receive financial aid,” said Leimenstoll,…

A student interacts with a child in the family hosting her during a week in the village of Xocen. Few people have cameras or photos so students take photos, then give them to the families. She also gave a frame to the child, and he is putting his face in it for fun.

20 years of Yucatec Maya

Apocalyptic rumors about Mayan culture are in high gear, fueled by the final tic on the Maya Long Count calendar, but 2012 also marks a significant milestone of a different nature: the Yucatec Maya Summer Institute celebrates its twentieth anniversary. Created in 1992 by UNC’s Sharon Sullivan Mújica, the institute was developed by the Consortium…