To view the faculty and platform party processional and the Chancellor's greetings, please click here.
To view the presentation of the Distinguished Alumna and Alumnus Awards, please click here.
To view the choral performance, please click here.
To view the introduction of the speaker, the University Day address, a performance of "Hark the Sound," and the faculty and platform party recessional, please click here.
Each University Day serves as a celebratory reminder of the University's
beginnings, and some ceremonies have been particularly memorable. 
The University first celebrated University Day on October 12, 1877,
after Governor Zebulon B. Vance, as chair of the Board of Trustees,
ordered that "the anniversary of the day on which the cornerstone of
the University was laid be made a college holiday to be observed with
appropriate ceremonies under the direction of the faculty." Gerrard
Hall, decorated in ropes of evergreens, was the site of the first
ceremony. The Glee Club performed and President Kemp Plummer Battle
spoke for an hour on the University's origins.
University Days have served as convocations for new chancellors; William
B. Aycock in 1957, Paul F. Sharp in 1964, J. Carlyle Sitterson
in 1965, N. Ferebee Taylor in 1972, Christopher C. Fordham III
in 1980, Paul Hardin in 1988, Michael Hooker in 1995, and James
Moeser in 2000.
In 1906 Dr. Edwin A. Alderman, a former University president,
received the first honorary doctor of laws degree given on University
Day. The Distinguished Alumna and Alumnus Awards presented at
each University Day observance were established by faculty legislation
in 1971 as a means of recognizing alumni who have distinguished
themselves by making outstanding contributions to humanity in
their careers.
One of several sesquicentennial events, the 1943 ceremony featured
addresses by Dr. Harold W. Dodds, president of Princeton University,
and President Frank Porter Graham. With America in the midst of World
War II, Graham called on Carolina's sons and daughters to "repledge
ourselves to (the University's) great hopes as boundless as the humane
hopes of mankind." Afterward the Carolina Playmakers, replete in
period costume, reenacted the laying of the Old East cornerstone.
The 1961 celebration was a shining day as President John F. Kennedy
spoke to a crowd of 32,000 people in Kenan Stadium. Kennedy and Governor
Terry Sanford received honorary degrees that day.
The Bicentennial University Day in 1993 was particularly memorable.
President Bill Clinton addressed a capacity crowd at Kenan Stadium.
On that chilly evening filled with pageantry, the University celebrated
its 200th birthday.
Memorial
Hall will be the venue for this year’s University Day celebration.
Closed for renovation in 2002, the Hall reopened with a Gala Grand
Opening in September 2005 as an anchor for the new Arts Common, which
will encompass an area extending southward from Franklin Street to
Playmakers Theatre.
Memorial Hall is an inviting and
inspiring gathering place for the University community to celebrate
Carolina’s origins and the achievements of its distinguished alumni.
Built as a memorial to David Lowry Swain (former North Carolina
governor and past president of the University of North Carolina), to
other notable North Carolinians, and to the students, faculty and staff
who lost their lives in the line of duty, the Hall has hosted
world-renowned performers and elegant ceremonies since 1885. Funded
through a partnership between the State of North Carolina and hundreds
of generous donors, its nearly three-year, $18 million transformation
includes additions on the east and west ends that have made possible a
larger lobby, new staircases and more restrooms. The stage house on the
back of the building was replaced with a state-of-the-art facility. A
central heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system also was
added, as well as new lighting and sound systems. Refurbished
chandeliers, ornate fixtures and a Carolina blue ceiling have
transformed the auditorium, as has a new stage with wings.
Classes
will be cancelled from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. to allow faculty,
staff and students to participate in University Day.
Faculty who are participating are encouraged to wear
their academic regalia and line up at the Old Well at 10:30 a.m. for
the processional.
Each campus department will be invited to nominate
two staff members to participate in University Day. The staff
processional, coordinated by the Employee Forum, will also form at the
Old Well at 10:30 a.m.
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Dr.
Michael Hunt, the Everett H. Emerson professor of history at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will be the keynote
speaker at the annual University Day celebration Oct. 12 in
Memorial Hall.
Hunt writes and
teaches international history in the College of Arts and Sciences, with
special interests in U.S. foreign relations and the post-1945 world. He
helped create the college’s Department of Asian Studies and his own
department’s program in global history.
To read a transcript ot Dr. Hunt's speech, please click here. |
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FedEx Global Education Center
Carolina's future in a global context was the theme of University Day this year. In keeping with this theme, the University formally dedicated the new FedEx Global Education Center. To read more about the FedEx Global Education Center and the dedication event, please click here.
Regalia
You may rent or purchase your University Day academic regalia from UNC Student Stores.
Rental:
| Bachelor regalia rental with tax: |
$37.40 |
| Master regalia rental with tax: |
$38.46 |
| Doctoral regalia rental with tax: |
$42.75 |
For more information, please contact Eve Bradshaw at 962-2427 or email ebradsha@email.unc.edu
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Information about public parking will be available at a later date.
Distinguished Alumna/Alumnus Award Citations
Clyde Ritchie Bell; Chapel Hill, NC
Bell is professor emeritus of botany at UNC-Chapel Hill. Born in Cincinnati,
He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in botany from Carolina in
1943 and 1949, respectively, and returned to teach botany in 1951. Bell
helped found the North Carolina Botanical Garden and was the garden’s
director from 1966 to 1986. Bell continues to write and make
documentaries. |
 |
Donald Benjamin Cameron; New York, NY
Cameron
is program director of the arts at the Doris Duke Foundation. He
won a Morehead Scholarship as an undergraduate at UNC-Chapel Hill and
received a master’s of fine arts degree from the Yale University School
of Drama. Cameron has worked for PlayMakers Repertory Company and the
National Endowment for the Arts and has taught drama at UNC-Chapel
Hill, Virginia Tech and Yale. |
 |
Alan Stewart Murray; Greenwich, CT
Murray,
a Morehead Scholar and member of Phi Beta Kappa, earned a bachelor’s
degree in English literature from Carolina in 1977. He was born in
Akron, Ohio. After receiving a master’s degree from the London School
of Economics, Murray joined the staff of the Wall Street Journal in
1983, reporting on economics in Washington, D.C. Currently, Murray is
executive editor of the Wall Street Journal Online. He has won numerous
journalism awards for his reporting. |
 |
Anne Ponder; Asheville, NC
Ponder
is chancellor of UNC-Asheville. A native of Asheville, she earned three
degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill, finishing her doctoral work in 1979.
Ponder is an expert on institutional effectiveness, resource
development and strategic planning and is a frequent faculty member of
the Harvard Institutes for Higher Education. |
 |
Charles Thomas Scott; Norcross, GA
Scott
was the first black scholarship athlete in the Atlantic Coast
Conference. He was recruited in 1966 by Coach Dean Smith to play
basketball. Scott won the Patterson Award in 1969-70 as an outstanding
student athlete and was a First Team All-American in 1970. Scott and
Smith shared the 1998 American Civil Liberties Union’s Florina Lasker
Civil Liberties Award for their efforts on behalf of civil rights in
the 1960s.
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For more media information, please click here. |
