Videos

History

Memorial Hall

Processional Information

Guest Speaker

FedEx Global Education Center

Regalia

Parking

Distinguished Alumna/Alumnus Award Citations

General Alumni Association

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Click here to read about the
history of the Old East
cornerstone and this
commemorative plaque

 

 

Friday, October 12, 2007
11:00 a.m.
Memorial Hall

 

Videos from the 2007 University Day ceremony

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.


History

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

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.

 

Processional Information

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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Guest Speaker

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.

Michael Hunt

 

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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Parking

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.

Clyde Ritchie Bell

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.

Donald Benjamin Cameron

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.

Alan Stewart Murray

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.

Anne Ponder

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.

Charles Thomas Scott


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For more media information, please click here.