Capturing Carolina Photos showing how Tar Heels work, learn and play

Each day on the beautiful UNC-Chapel Hill campus, there are countless examples of Tar Heels learning, playing, researching, teaching and engaging with one another. Our University photographers are there to document it all.

See photographs that capture what makes Carolina special.

Scoring a rivalry win

📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
📍Carmichael Arena
📆 Jan. 9, 2025
📝In a matchup of ranked teams, the Carolina women’s basketball team beat Duke 53-46 in overtime at Carmichael Arena on Jan. 9. The Tar Heels are 27-7 and will begin NCAA Tournament play this week.

FDOC treats

📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
📍The Old Well
📆 Jan. 8, 2025
📝Wednesday’s weather made for a bitterly cold first day of classes, but Tar Heels had a chance to warm up and grab a bite to eat at the Old Well. Chancellor Lee H. Roberts, his wife Liza and Alex Brandwein ’20 (MBA) of Brandwein’s Bagels met with and handed out hot chocolate and bagels to students.

Pet away the stress

📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
📍Edible Campus garden, near Davis Library
📆 Dec. 6, 2024
📝With the end of the semester approaching and final exams on the horizon, this can be a stressful time of year. But therapy miniature horses like Peaches make all that worry fade away for a few moments. Peaches, along with fellow horse Kiwi, was brought to campus by Stampede of Love, a nonprofit dedicated to sharing the unconditional and therapeutic benefits that an animal can bring to children and adults of all abilities.

Putting research on display

📸 Megan Mendenhall/UNC Research
📍Frank Porter Graham Student Union
📆 Oct. 23, 2024
📝As part of University Research Week, UNC Research hosted the inaugural UNC Reserch and Discovery Fair. Students visited and heard from 25-plus exhibitors, including mathematicians Rich McLaughlin (center) and Roberto Camassa (far right), who presented on their fluids research.

Old Well gets new plants

📸 Jon Gardiner /UNC-Chapel Hill
📍Memorial Hall
📆 Oct. 1, 2024
📝If you’ve been by the Old Well recently, you’ve likely noticed some landscaping changes. University grounds staff is in the process of replacing overgrown and declining plant material with a new palette of plants native to North Carolina, aiming to visually reconnect the Old Well with McCorkle Place.

Two decades of CPA

📸 Jon Gardiner /UNC-Chapel Hill
📍Memorial Hall
📆 Sept. 24, 2024
📝Carolina Performing Arts kicked off its 20th season with a performance by jazz legend Herbie Hancock at Memorial Hall. The 14-time Grammy Award winner was the “perfect ambassador to launch our 20th season,” said Alison Friedman, the James and Susan Moeser executive and artistic director for CPA, because “he’s used his platform to promote peace dialogue and cultural exchange through music, and this is something that’s vital to the core of what Carolina Performing Arts does.”

Beginning abroad

📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
📍San José, Costa Rica
📆 Sept. 22, 2024
📝No, that’s not the Old Well. But not all Carolina experiences launch in Chapel Hill. For some Tar Heels, their start to college comes with a semester abroad through the Carolina Global Launch program, which enables first-year students to study abroad at a partner university during their fall semester and then enroll at Carolina in the spring. This group of students is studying at Universidad Veritas in Costa Rica’s capital, enjoying San Jose’s modern architecture, historic landmarks and vibrant cultural attractions while living with host families.

“Arrrrr ye ready?”

📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
📍The Pit
📆 Sept. 19, 2024
📝Pirates dropped anchor campus Thursday — but for good reason. These University employees-turned-Privateers — including RJ Brown of Finance and Operations (left) and Elizabeth DuBose of the UNC School of Medicine — volunteered at the Campus Safety’s TARRR Heel Preparedness Festival, held on International Talk Like a Pirate Day during National Preparedness Month. The festival featured a flaming dorm room, hands-on safety demonstrations and tips for planning short-term survival.

Dunk-a-Professor

📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
📍The Pit
📆 April 25, 2024
📝Lillian Zwemer was willing to be dunked into water — for a good cause. The Teaching Assistant Professor in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences’ biology department bravely participated in the Carolina Cancer Association’s “Dunk-A-Professor” fundraiser in support of the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation, which benefits adolescent and young adult cancer patients at UNC Hospitals.

Practice makes perfect

📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
📍Outside Hill Hall
📆 Aug. 18, 2023
📝Game days are right around the corner, and the Marching Tar Heels are making sure they’re ready. With football season two weeks away, drumline members (clockwise from left) Jorin Harrison, Torin Simpson, Nikolai Sbityakov and junior Conner White held a practice session.

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