Farmer to deliver keynote address at University Day celebration, Oct. 11
The first in his family to attend college, Stephen Farmer founded two nationally recognized programs that foster opportunity and success for traditionally underserved students.
Stephen Farmer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill vice provost for enrollment and undergraduate admissions, will deliver the keynote address at this year’s University Day on Oct. 11. The celebration marks Carolina’s 223rd birthday and will be held at 11 a.m. in Memorial Hall.
University Day, which the campus first celebrated in 1877, marks the 1793 laying of the cornerstone of Old East, the nation’s first state university building, and the beginning of public higher education in the United States. Classes will be cancelled from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and all members of the Carolina community are invited to attend the festivities, which will include a traditional processional starting at the Old Well and moving into Memorial Hall for Farmer’s address “The Miles We Travel.”
“Steve Farmer is a shining example of Carolina’s commitment to making a quality college education accessible to all,” said Chancellor Carol L. Folt. “We are fortunate to have a leader like Steve championing this mission. There is no better way to commemorate our 223rd birthday as the nation’s first public university than by celebrating the many ways Carolina continues to support the college journey for all students in North Carolina and beyond.”
Folt selected Farmer, who has directed the selection and recruitment of Carolina’s undergraduate student body since September 2004, for his expertise and influence as a national authority on admissions and enrollment and his sharp focus on access and affordability.
Under Farmer’s leadership, the University has experienced 11 consecutive increases in applications and established new records for diversity and academic excellence with its first-year classes, including significant increases in the number of Pell-eligible students, first-generation-college students, global students and students of color. During his tenure, the four-year graduation rate has also risen from 76 percent to 84 percent.
The first generation in his family to attend college, Farmer founded two nationally recognized programs that foster opportunity and success for traditionally underserved students. The Carolina Student Transfer Excellence Program has helped more than 625 community college students transfer to Carolina and graduate at an overall 85 percent rate. The Carolina College Advising Corps, which helps students find their way to college by placing recent Carolina graduates as admissions and financial-aid advisers in underserved N.C. high schools, will help 62,000 students statewide this year. He also helped launch Thrive@Carolina, a University-wide initiative to strengthen success for all students.
Other University Day convocation highlights will include the presentation of Distinguished Alumna and Alumnus Awards, a practice begun by the faculty in 1971 to recognize Tar Heels who have made outstanding contributions to humanity.
This year’s recipients are Karen Bruton, founder of Just Hope International in Brentwood, Tennessee; Florence Fearrington, one of Wall Street’s most successful female money managers and founder of Florence Fearrington Inc. in New York City; Rosalind Fuse-Hall, former president of Bennett College in Greensboro; Sanford “Sandy” Shugart, president of Valencia College in Orlando, Florida; and Paula Brown Stafford, former president of clinical development at Quintiles in Durham.
Additionally, the Edward Kidder Graham Faculty Service Award, established by the Faculty Council in 2011 to recognize outstanding service by faculty members, will be presented to Mimi V. Chapman, professor of social work in the School of Social Work, and Eugenia Eng, professor of health behavior in the Gillings School of Global Public Health.
Chapman builds bridges between the community’s needs and the University’s resources by giving voice to marginalized populations. Her work on Latino immigration and well-being has been funded by national agencies including the National Institutes of Health. Eng is a trailblazer in community-engaged scholarship. She refined the innovative lay health advisor (LHA) intervention model, an approach that builds on the social support function of networks within communities, and also pioneered action-oriented community diagnosis, a tool for community assessment, planning and mobilization.
While the University’s official birthday falls on Oct. 12, this year’s celebration was moved to Oct. 11 in observance of Yom Kippur and also to host the inauguration ceremony of UNC System President Margaret Spellings on Oct. 13.
For more information about University Day and or more on the honorees, refer to http://www.unc.edu/universityday/.
