Roper was there when the Dean Dome opened in 1986 with an epic battle between the top-ranked Tar Heels and Tobacco Road powerhouse and archrival Duke, ranked third. The top spot in the polls hung in the balance. Carolina came away with a 95-92 victory.

For the next three decades, Roper collected many more moments and memories from those seats. Even after becoming dean at the University of South Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science in 1986, where he served for 17 years before retiring as distinguished dean emeritus, Roper came back often to get his Carolina fix.

His love of his alma mater extends beyond the hardwood, the gridiron or the classroom. He’s been involved in the life of the University and SILS, having served on SILS’s Board of Visitors as well as the UNC Board of Visitors. His achievements, scholarship and contributions to the field of librarianship earned him the SILS Distinguished Alumni Award in 1986. As a dual degree holder, former faculty member and administrator, Roper is a passionate supporter of Carolina’s best and brightest, and of SILS in particular.

Now, he’s giving back in a unique and special way—by giving the rights to his Dean Dome seats to SILS. It’s one of only a few gifts like this ever made to Carolina.

“We are so fortunate to have someone like Fred who is not just committed to making SILS and the University better, but who can also envision the significant impact this unique gift can have,” said Gary Marchionini, SILS dean and Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor. “SILS will be able to engage current and potential scholars and students in the life of the University on a larger scale, and recognize their achievements in ways we haven’t been able to before. It’s a tremendous opportunity.”

Roper’s motivation was simple: “I want to enhance the academic programs at SILS and UNC. These seats present tangible opportunities for the school to bring preeminent scholars and talented students here and give them a peek into life at Carolina as well as acknowledge the tremendous work already under way.”

A native of Hendersonville, North Carolina, Roper has witnessed the University's evolution over the past 60 years or so, having come to Chapel Hill as a freshman in 1956-57, the year of Carolina's first NCAA championship. He entered the master's program in 1960 (there was no Ph.D. program then) and his classes met on the fourth floor of Wilson Library.

“Throughout my 40-plus-year career, I’ve been fortunate to work with incredible people, explore innovative education development and watch SILS become a top school for library science. I am honored to have been a part of that in some way.”

“UNC and SILS gave me a stellar education and opportunities to expand in ways that I hadn’t imagined,” he said. “Throughout my 40-plus-year career, I’ve been fortunate to work with incredible people, explore innovative education development and watch SILS become a top school for library science. I am honored to have been a part of that in some way.”

Roper said he’d had many significant people in his life who have encouraged and supported him, specifically his high school librarian, who introduced him to librarianship, and his mother and stepfather who supported and believed in him unconditionally. In 2012, Roper documented a bequest to UNC as part of his estate plan to honor the memory of his mother and stepfather and to acknowledge the educational experience he received at SILS. His gift will create the Mary Alice and George Jones Fund to support and advance SILS’s nationally recognized medical librarianship and health informatics programs. In U.S. News & World Report’s most recent review of library and information science programs, SILS was ranked No. 2 for health librarianship (and No. 2 for best school overall).

“I’ve had so many wonderful experiences on this campus, at SILS and in the Smith Center,” he said. “It brings me such joy to make these gifts, and to know that they will help create opportunities for future generations.”

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In 2015, they committed $120,000 to the UNC School of Law to create The Frank E. and Lisa L. Emory Family Scholarship. This award supports law students who have demonstrated academic achievement and are residents of eastern North Carolina—Frank is originally from Wilson—or Mecklenburg County, where the Emorys live.

A 1982 graduate of Carolina Law, Frank attended the school on a Morehead Law Fellowship after graduating from Duke University as an Angier B. Duke Scholar—Duke’s most prestigious academic scholarship.

For Frank and Lisa, this gift is a way to share their love of education. “Education was a really big deal in both of our families, something that we also instilled in our children,” Frank said. Their sons, Frank III and Ross Alexander, work as a mechanical engineer and an investment banker, respectively.

“Education is what propelled my parents from their start to a pretty good life,” Frank said.

With the scholarship, the Emorys want to help replicate the opportunities they have had for deserving students.

“Many times [Carolina Law] loses students with great potential—who would put roots down in our great state—because they don’t have the funds to attend,” Frank said. “This scholarship will give talented students the opportunity to go to our great law school.”

“Public service is the tithe you owe when you have been blessed to do well; I owe that to my community and my state to contribute where I can.”

Frank credits Carolina Law for the career opportunities he has enjoyed. “Charles Becton, who served on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, was my trial advocacy professor at UNC. I was lucky enough that he offered me a job as his law clerk coming out of law school.” Frank then went to work alongside Julius Chambers ’62 at the firm of Ferguson, Stein and Chambers before heading to Hunton & Williams LLP, a national law firm with more than 800 lawyers, where he is a partner and co-head of the litigation, intellectual property, competition and labor groups.

Frank knew from a young age that he wanted to be a trial lawyer. “Being a good courtroom advocate is one of the highest callings one can have. A sophisticated society needs a good and reliable way for people to resolve their disputes. When it works well, with good ethical people on both sides, it’s a beautiful thing. You might not always like the results, but the process works.”

Frank and Lisa, who is a real estate broker in Charlotte, give back to the community in a wide range of ways. Frank’s community involvement includes serving eight years on the North Carolina Board of Transportation, chairing the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and presiding over the Mecklenburg County Bar—which honored him as Pro Bono Attorney of the Year in 2008—among many other activities.

In fact, he received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, North Carolina’s highest civilian honor, in recognition of his long career as a public servant. Humble about his contributions, he said, “Public service is the tithe you owe when you have been blessed to do well; I owe that to my community and my state to contribute where I can.”

Lisa’s passion for education is evidenced in the time that she gives to her community. She tutors elementary, middle and high school students. She helped raise money to start a Freedom School Partners program, which provides quality summer programming for students in grades K-8, at the church the family attends.

“Lisa believes that it’s important that someone reaches out to kids, particularly those who come from stressed backgrounds, to say, ‘You’re important to me,’” Frank said.

Lisa was the impetus behind the gift to the law school as well as the Emory Family Scholarship, which Frank and Lisa created for Duke undergraduates.

“Lisa and I decided that what we wanted to do with our lives now is to support financially our undergraduate and professional schools,” Frank said. “And with her time, she helps kids who are coming along in elementary, middle and high school. She feels strongly, and I agree, that providing educational opportunities to all students, and particularly those from at-risk communities, is something where it’s hard to have too many hands helping.”

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Sharon, originally from Dunn, North Carolina, and Doug, originally from Philadelphia, met on the first day of orientation for the UNC Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) program in 1978. In 1980, they left Carolina as newlyweds and M.P.A. graduates, moving first to Delaware and then to Michigan, where they have spent most of their careers.

Sharon and Doug have both served four governors in two different states and held executive positions for Fortune 500 companies. They credit the UNC M.P.A. degree with allowing them to work across sectors navigating policy, politics and business.

Sharon was vice president, corporate affairs, for Masco Corporation until her retirement in 2015. Prior to joining Masco in 2003, she served as Michigan Gov. John Engler’s chief operating officer/chief of staff. She previously served as Michigan’s director of labor relations and Delaware’s state personnel director.

Doug is president and chief executive officer of Business Leaders for Michigan, the state’s business roundtable, and is chair of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, an organization he founded. Formerly, he served as CAO at Bank of America’s credit card subsidiary, Delaware Gov. Michael Castle’s chief of staff and General Motors’ global real estate portfolio manager. Sharon and Doug both led current Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s transition team.

While living in other places, however, they remained connected to UNC through their love of basketball—attending games throughout the country, including in Maui—and their commitment to supporting public higher education and the arts. And in 2014, they moved “home” to Chapel Hill.

In 2005, they created the UNC School of Government M.P.A. program’s premier Rothwell Scholarship that provides funding to high-performing M.P.A. students. More recently, they established the Sharon and Doug Rothwell M.P.A. Endowment to support the program into the future.

“UNC and our M.P.A. degrees have opened doors throughout our careers and helped us succeed in life,” Doug said. “This is our way of thanking the University and helping more public service-minded men and women to have that experience.”

In 2010, they considered what would make the next phase of their lives enjoyable and meaningful in retirement. Sharon proposed moving to Chapel Hill. “That’s about all it took,” Doug said. They eventually bought a place on Franklin Street, where they are living part time now until Doug follows Sharon into retirement.

“We think you need to give now and you need to plan for the future in terms of giving back. With public funding for higher education decreasing across the country, planned giving is essential for the future of our University.”

For a couple who describe themselves as “rabid Tar Heel basketball fans,” athletics was certainly a draw, but so was Carolina Performing Arts.

“We both feel that the arts define the community in which you live,” Doug said, “and we believe that universities play a major role in exposing both communities and students to the arts. It is important to us to be in a community where you can have world-class opportunities in the performing arts. I don’t think Chapel Hill would be anything near what it is today without Carolina Performing Arts.”

The Rothwells are generous supporters of Carolina Performing Arts, contributing annually and to special initiatives such as the 100th anniversary celebration of The Rite of Spring. They are season ticket holders and recently created the Sharon and Doug Rothwell Endowment to support classical and jazz musical performances and the creation of new musical works.

In addition to recognizing their graduate school and performing arts, Sharon and Doug have established a women’s volleyball endowed scholarship and their planned giving will include a campus improvement project.

Both Sharon and Doug continue to serve UNC in various leadership capacities. Sharon is a member of the Carolina Performing Arts International Advisory Board and chairs the board’s marketing committee. Doug is vice chair of the UNC Board of Visitors and a member of the Board of Advisors for the Rams Club.

“We both feel strongly that one of the most significant ways you can help the future is by supporting higher education,” Sharon said. “We’ve endowed scholarships, are annual givers and are contributing as part of our estate planning. We think you need to give now and you need to plan for the future in terms of giving back. With public funding for higher education decreasing across the country, planned giving is essential for the future of our University.”

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Through the years, the Williamses’ love for the University has grown, and so has their support for both academics and athletics. “We’ve given to the Educational Foundation for at least 20 years,” Cheryl said. “And Ken is on the Executive Board of the Rams Club, where he has served as chair and on numerous committees. We’ve always been proud of the endowed scholarships we fund and have enjoyed getting to know the student-athletes who have been supported by them.” The couple has also participated in a number of Rams Club capital projects.

As Ken and Cheryl were introduced to various members of the Carolina community, their connection to UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center evolved. Cheryl played a vital role in Lineberger’s Tickled Pink fundraising event, during which she became good friends with fellow volunteer Jean Durham and her husband, Woody, the legendary “Voice of the Tar Heels.” Soon after, Ken and Cheryl were asked to serve on the Board of Visitors. “I spent my professional career in pharmaceutical research,” said Ken, who retired as a senior vice president from Quintiles, the world’s largest provider of biopharmaceutical development and commercial outsourcing services. “So I’ve always been interested in new, cutting-edge treatments and therapies. That’s one of the things UNC Lineberger is known for—being a world-class leader in cancer research—so Cheryl and I were very interested in finding a way we could support the cancer center’s mission. Also, we both have personally suffered loss due to cancer, so we’re passionate about the quest for cures.”

Cheryl’s mother died from breast cancer at the young age of 52, and Ken’s father died of mesothelioma. Then, in 2014, Ken’s mother was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). “We naturally brought her to Lineberger to be treated,” Ken said. “We were already impressed with UNC Lineberger from a philanthropic perspective, but when Cheryl and I experienced the organization from a caregiver’s viewpoint, we were sold.” His mother has since passed away, but Ken recalled that every person who played a role in her care was “so supportive and knowledgeable.”

“Their expertise, combined with the state-of-the-art facilities and technology, make UNC Lineberger a destination for cancer care,” he said.

Through the Ken and Cheryl Williams Fund for Venture Initiatives at UNC Lineberger, Ken and Cheryl decided to make the extraordinary gift of $10 million to fund cancer research initiatives that hold the greatest promise for cures. The gift is unrestricted, giving leaders of the cancer center the greatest flexibility to earmark the funds for emerging research opportunities that can make the greatest impact against cancer.

“We were already impressed with UNC Lineberger from a philanthropic perspective, but when Cheryl and I experienced the organization from a caregiver’s viewpoint, we were sold.”

When Chancellor Carol Folt announced the gift at the UNC Lineberger Blue Ribbon Gala, she noted that this was the largest gift to date in the history of the cancer center. Ken was quick to remark that he hoped this particular record would not stand for long and challenged others to match and exceed it.

“Truthfully, the gift was a large part of our estate,” Ken said. “But after having made generous provisions for our loved ones, Cheryl and I felt strongly about putting the balance of our resources to work for a purpose that truly matters, and we can’t think of a better place to invest those resources than at UNC Lineberger. We have faith that researchers will eventually unlock the mysteries behind cancer, and there’s no reason those discoveries can’t be made right here in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.”

Dr. Ned Sharpless, UNC Lineberger director, said the impact of the gift will be far-reaching. “This is a transformational gift for the cancer center. We are so proud to have Ken and Cheryl’s tremendous confidence and support in our fight to end cancer as we know it. The Williamses understand the urgency of our mission. This gift will save lives.”

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After serving four years as a field radio operator at Camp Lejeune and a seven-month deployment to Kajaki, Afghanistan, he enrolled at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 2012.

When Kennedy arrived at Carolina in 2014, he didn’t expect what UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School had in store for him.

“At Carolina, they want you to know everything,” Kennedy said. He wasn’t used to the detailed assignments nor the heavy workload and expectations.

During his first five weeks in Chapel Hill he took an economics class in the summer. The routine was rigorous: wake up at 6 a.m., read in the Undergraduate Library before class, attend class, then back to Aycock Residence Hall to do homework until midnight. Even though he put in the time to study, his grades didn’t reflect it.

He hired a tutor who helped him to pass his class, although the C-plus he received set the tone of difficulty for the fall.

That fall, Kennedy took Professor Nicholas Didow’s marketing class in Kenan-Flagler Business School. When Kennedy failed two of the three exams in the course, he began to wonder if Carolina was for him.

“I want to set the example for other vets. We have the capacity, drive and determination to go into a four-year program and be successful. People want to see us succeed.”

Maybe he could transfer, he thought.

Didow pulled him aside after the second exam.

“He said I could take a short-answer final test if that was the best way I could do well in the class,” Kennedy said.

On the day he took the final exam, his proctor handed him a multiple-choice test.

“I thought maybe [Didow] changed his mind,” Kennedy said.

After preparing for three days and staying up all night before, he received a B-minus on the final and passed the course. Interestingly, the proctor had given him the wrong exam. Support from mentors like Didow and Anna Millar, director of the business school’s undergraduate program, helped Kennedy decide to stay, ultimately changing his life forever.

Didow, a former Marine, helped Kennedy transition from military life to student life. He gave him the support and confidence to be successful at Carolina. Millar would bring Kennedy into her office to give him advice and recommendations for the future. She helped set the tone and introduced Kennedy to another veteran in the program at the time.

“The reason I give [back] is because I feel like Carolina took a chance on me. My grades weren’t typical of what they usually bring in. I was on the lower end, but I knew I could do it, and surely didn’t want to let down the people who took a chance on me,” Kennedy said.

He understands this wouldn’t have been possible without federal grants, G.I. benefits and the James McLean Scholarship from Kenan-Flagler, which helped him study abroad in Dubai for two weeks. These sources of financial aid compelled him to give back as a student and now, to Kenan-Flagler and the UNC College of Arts and Sciences.

“When you get out after being enlisted, it’s questionable as far as what to do [after that],” he said. “I want to set the example for other vets. We have the capacity, drive and determination to go into a four-year program and be successful. People want to see us succeed.”

Kennedy is now a consultant at Deloitte in Washington, D.C.

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Now in its second year, the MacDonald Community Service Scholarship provides tuition support to a select group of four students each year who have demonstrated a commitment to community service.

The scholarship, renewable for four years, also enables students to participate in a unique series of programs focused on increasing their knowledge and skills related to community service.

The inaugural scholars entered UNC in August 2015. They are: Anish Bhatia of New Hyde Park, New York; Maximiliano Flores-Palacios of Gastonia, North Carolina; Finn Loendorf of Stanley, North Carolina; and John Roberson of Durham, North Carolina.

“I never saw myself as someone who really went out of their way for community service,”  Leondorf said. “And I certainly never thought it could lead to something as exciting as the MacDonald Community Service Scholarship.”

Leondorf completed an APPLES service-learning internship with the Campus Y during summer 2016. Duties included recruiting efforts for Y programs during orientation sessions, and helping out with the Gap Year Fellows and CUBE Social Innovation programs.

Leondorf plans to lead an APPLES alternative winter break trip to Charlotte, to focus on violence prevention.

In addition to getting tuition support, MacDonald Scholars enroll in the Buckley Public Service Scholars program, which helps them develop their portfolios and skills related to community service. They join the First-Year Service Corps and complete 100 hours of service in their first year at Carolina alone.

All MacDonald Scholars will complete at least 1,000 hours of service during their four years at Carolina. They also will receive training, mentorship and support in pursuing their particular public service interests.

“Engaging in one’s community betters that community.”

Anish Bhatia was recently accepted to the GLOBE (Global Learning Opportunities in Business Education) program through Kenan-Flagler Business School. He joins a cohort of 54 students from UNC, Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Copenhagen Business School to study in an integrated program that focuses on leadership and management.

“While I have always perceived public service as an external means of helping others in need,” Bhatia said, “I, too, have benefited from activity within the community.”

In their third year, Bhatia and the other three inaugural MacDonald Scholars will become MacDonald Community Fellows through the MacDonald Community Fellowship. They will create individual public service projects and receive funding to implement the project. Their unique service projects will be completed by the time they graduate.

Though this seems like a tall order, these students are not intimidated by the scholarship requirements.

“Ultimately, public service is an investment,” Max Flores-Palacios said. “Engaging in one’s community betters that community; not only for ourselves but also for future generations and I think that is what public service is about—building on our communities so that future generations can live in greater harmony.”

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Then, as today, UNC and the surrounding area offered top-notch educational opportunities. A teaching assistantship gave Chen-Yu the chance to work with renowned chemists at Carolina; a research position at N.C. State enabled Ray-Whay to study in the genetics department.

Now, Chen-Yu serves as president and CEO of TerraSure, a company that remediates contaminated properties, and Ray-Whay is a researcher at Johns Hopkins University. They still share dreams to better the world.

Their success and generosity will enable another generation to pursue dreams and affect change, to learn and succeed at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health through the Chen-Yu and Ray-Whay Yen Expendable Graduate Fellowship.

“We envision a world in which talented, educated people can become better stewards for our planet,” Chen-Yu said.

The inaugural recipient, Sarah Long, is following the Yens’ lead. She’s working toward a dual master’s degree in environmental sciences and engineering, and city and regional planning. For six years prior to enrolling at UNC, Long, a civil and environmental engineer, helped to build water treatment systems in Honduras and India.

“I’m really interested in combining my technical and engineering work with more planning and methodology in working with communities and strengthening them,” Long said.

With her research, she aims to improve water sanitation and hygiene policy and governance in low-income areas, thereby helping to create economic power and autonomy in those communities.

For the Yens, creating the fellowship was also about repaying the kindness of the many who made their educations possible. Financial aid is imperative for many graduate students. Without the fellowship, Sarah Long would have only enrolled in a year-long master’s program, but instead she’s pursuing a three-year dual degree. The Yens couldn’t have studied in the U.S. without financial help, and that help at times seemed like the least of their worries.

“I thought I knew English well until I was confronted with the Southern drawl,” said Chen-Yu, reflecting on his first days in North Carolina.

In addition to facing the cultural challenges of a new language, neither of the Yens had driven a car, and at the time, a car was the only way to get from his place in Chapel Hill to hers in Raleigh. But with the support of friends, they learned to drive, got driver’s licenses and bought a car. When their son was born in 1979, their friends helped again, enrolling them in the Women, Infants and Children program.

When Chen-Yu’s research interests changed to environmental sciences and engineering, an area in which he felt he could make a real difference, new challenges arose. A clerical error in the process of changing majors and his assistantship put his student work visa in jeopardy. And Carolina faculty researchers were there to find him a research position to keep him and his talent at UNC.

“We envision a world in which talented, educated people can become better stewards for our planet.”

Long recognized that collaborative culture when she attended the Water Institute at UNC’s annual Water and Health Conference as a practitioner, and she is enjoying it as a student and as a research assistant. She is part of teams that are working to help communities, locally and abroad.

Forty years after the Yens first came to Chapel Hill, the UNC community is still collaborative, committed to nurturing future researchers and resolute in its work to better the world. And thanks to the Yens, that culture endures.

“It was our fortune to be on the receiving end in our early lives,” Chen-Yu said. “I believe we should give back when we have the resources to do so.”

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The FIRST Program enables participants to complete their M.D. in three years and—subject to academic and performance standards—includes the opportunity for placement in the UNC Family Medicine Residency Program, which is ranked second nationally by U.S. News & World Report. After completing residency training, graduates commit to three years of practice in an underserved area of North Carolina.

“This opportunity is truly one-of-a-kind,” said Dr. Cristen Page, FIRST program director. “We know that other states have successfully used accelerated programs to address the critical shortage of primary care physicians, but none include the full pipeline from medical school to residency to primary care service in underserved communities.”

The first class of three students is comprised of Thane Campbell, Thomas D’Angelo and Kyle Melvin. They were chosen on the basis of their demonstrated commitment to family medicine, service to vulnerable populations in North Carolina, outstanding academic accomplishments and leadership skills.

“As someone who grew up in this state, I’m incredibly humbled by the opportunity to serve North Carolina in such a direct and meaningful way,” Melvin said.

Page emphasizes that the program will be tailored to meet the needs of FIRST Program scholars with a focus on primary care and care of the underserved. “I think of this as an enhanced medical school experience, not just accelerated,” said Page, who is also interim chair of the Department of Family Medicine.

As part of that enhanced experience, students will receive hands-on clinical training early in the program while also benefitting from mentorship opportunities and a close integration with the UNC Family Medicine Residency Program.

“As someone who grew up in this state, I’m incredibly humbled by the opportunity to serve North Carolina in such a direct and meaningful way.”

Dr. Catherine Coe, a second-year family medicine resident, will serve as the program’s resident liaison.

“We hope to foster an environment that the students can call home for the duration of this program,” Coe said. “We are all looking forward to serving as mentors for this first class and hope we can inspire them. I’m sure we will also learn a lot from Thane, Thomas and Kyle.”

This program is a partnership between the UNC Department of Family Medicine, the N.C. Office of Rural Health and Community Care, North Carolina Area Health Education Centers, UNC Physicians Network, Piedmont Health Services and the North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians. The program receives funding support from The Duke Endowment. In addition to Page and Coe, Dr. Beat Steiner, assistant dean for clinical education, serves as the FIRST Program’s associate director.

Discussions are already under way to expand the program in the coming years both to add more scholars and to collaborate with other campuses across North Carolina.

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The grant helped fund Maker-In-Residence Jim Pressley, an amateur astronomer with the Chapel Hill Astronomical and Observational Society (CHAOS), who guided the students through the telescope-building project.

Originally, the telescope was going to be painted a solid Carolina blue, but the designers were inspired by Van Gogh’s Starry Night and re-created his night sky. They added the Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower for a Tar Heel twist.

The project culminated in a sky-watching party outside the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center. Makers joined CHAOS astronomers and invited the public to view the moon and stars. The telescope is now housed in the Kenan Science Library and available for other students to check out and use for their own stargazing.

“What’s new is to create a community of makers.”

The Hanes Art Center makerspace is one of three that comprise the campus BeAM network. The others are in Murray Hall and Kenan Science Library.

“We see making as a cross-cutting activity that has always happened across campus,” said Rich Superfine, the Taylor Williams Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences. “What’s new is to create a community of makers.”

At 3,500 square feet, the Murray Hall makerspace is the network’s largest and serves as its central hub. It includes fully equipped rooms for woodworking, metalworking, digital fabrication and more.

In addition to holding workshops for students on topics such as 3-D design, laser cutting and wireless networking, the Murray Hall makerspace is being used by professors to teach specific lessons in classes ranging from biomedical engineering to sociology.

The art of “making” bridges interdisciplinary boundaries and champions the teamwork necessary for ambitious and complex projects.

Biologist Kriti Sharma researches soil microorganisms. The availability of the 3-D printers in the Kenan Science Library allowed the Ph.D. candidate to create a customized device to study bacteria in the soil and under microscopes.

Sharma agrees that making is nothing new—whether it’s to solve a problem or to create something beautiful. “It’s a fairly ordinary human activity. Long before I even entered science, I was already doing it.”

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A 1958 UNC graduate, Fearrington made the largest gift ever—$5 million—to Carolina’s libraries to support the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library. In recognition, Wilson’s grand reading room will be renamed the Fearrington Reading Room.

Fearrington earmarked $1 million of her gift to help update the Fearrington Reading Room and adjacent exhibition areas. The remaining $4 million will create the Fearrington Special Collections Library Fund. The University librarian and the director of the Louis Round Wilson Library will use income from this endowment to meet emerging needs and pursue opportunities that will benefit Carolina students and enhance the work of researchers.

“Florence’s gift goes beyond merely sustaining the collections,” said University Librarian Sarah Michalak. “We use the word transformative quite a lot these days. Having the Fearrington Special Collections Library Fund will lead to transformative new directions in special collections and in the research they inspire. The director of Wilson Library will be able to fund new collections, drive their use, and innovate so that students and scholars well into the future can make new discoveries and build new understanding.”

The Fearrington gift will help lay the groundwork for the first major refurbishment of the grand reading room since a three-year renovation to Wilson Library in 1984-1987.

The Wilson Special Collections Library is home to the University Library’s five special collections: the North Carolina Collection, the Rare Book Collection, the Southern Folklife Collection, the Southern Historical Collection, and the University Archives and Records Management Services.

“Having the Fearrington Special Collections Library Fund will lead to transformative new directions in special collections and in the research they inspire.”

Fearrington grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and graduated from UNC with a degree in mathematics. Unable to attend business school at the University, as the program did not yet admit women, she earned a certificate from the Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business in 1961 and made her name in the male-dominated world of New York finance. In 1979, she established and ran Florence Fearrington Inc., a highly successful money management firm.

In 1997, Fearrington sold the company to U.S. Trust and, inspired by her husband’s passion for collecting rare books, she began collecting them as well. In 2012, she curated an exhibition of her books about “Wunderkammer” (cabinets of curiosity) at The Grolier Club in New York City. She later developed a version of the exhibition for Wilson Library in 2014.

In addition to her $5 million gift supporting the Wilson Special Collections Library, Fearrington has given to the Rare Book Collection and established the Joseph Peyton Fearrington and James Cornelius Pass Fearrington Fund at the Health Sciences Library to honor her grandfather and father. Both received certificate of medicine degrees from Carolina (in 1885 and 1927), and her father also received a bachelor’s degree in 1921.

She was honored in 2016 as a UNC Distinguished Alumna for her pioneering career in finance and her achievements as a collector of rare books.

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Stoudemire leads the garden’s Wonder Connection program, which brings native North Carolina plants to kids at the UNC Children’s Hospital. She can often be found at the UNC Hospital School, which provides year-round PreK-12 educational services to school-age patients. While some young patients visit the school to conduct science experiments with Wonder Connection, others can’t even leave their rooms for fear of compromising their immune systems.

After observing the beds in the neonatal intensive care unit one day, Stoudemire wondered: “What if, instead of putting the kid in the bubble, we could put the plant in a bubble?” From that, she developed the concept for the WonderSphere—a sealed, mobile chamber with built-in gloves that enables hospitalized children to touch nature without danger of infection.

After receiving two $25,000 grants—one from the North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation and another from the Institute of Museum and Library Science—Stoudemire worked with the Bresslergroup to build the WonderSphere. The result was a clear dome that rests on a base surrounded by clasps to keep it sealed. Three portals feature teal, built-in gloves (two for the child and one for a parent or sibling to assist the child).

“It’s great to have professional validation for the [WonderSphere], but really the biggest reward is watching a kid get to use it.”

“We set the dome on their hospital tray, and then they’re able to slip their hands in and interact with a variety of objects,” Stoudemire explained. “We give them a magnifying glass, and there’s also a little tray inside that rotates so they can move things around easily.” Kids have the option to observe Venus fly traps and caterpillars, dissect pitcher plants, and make flower arrangements.

In May 2016, the WonderSphere won Core77 Design’s Social Impact Award, given annually to projects that benefit social, humanitarian, community or environmental causes. “It’s great to have professional validation for the [WonderSphere],” Stoudemire said, “but really the biggest reward is watching a kid get to use it.”

The next iteration of the WonderSphere is Hippoie Creek—a miniature creek exhibit that sits atop a mobile hospital cart. The reproduction is layered with epoxy to prevent bacteria growth and uses recirculated water filtered to the specifications of the hospital’s epidemiology department. Kids can play with individual rocks within the creek to divert the flow of the water, as well as replicas of aquatic insects to learn about waterbody ecosystems.

“Magnets on the bottom of some of the rocks will hold the insects in place,” Stoudemire said. “We can use these tools to conduct a bioindicator stream study with middle- and high-school students. The bugs in a stream can tell scientists a lot about a creek’s ecological health.”

The creek inherited its name from a stuffed animal named “Hippoie,” which belonged to a former patient of Stoudemire’s. “Hippoie got lost in the hospital laundry—which is scary, because when toys get into the laundry here they rarely make it back to their owners,” she explained. “Well, Hippoie came back. I really like the concept of finding something you’ve lost. A lot of the kids here have lost touch with nature, and I want to help them find it again.”

For those interested in learning more about the Wonder Connection program and donations, contact Katie Stoudemire at sciencekatie@unc.edu or 919-914-0015.

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The students were the first to participate in the innovative UNC-Lenovo Tech World Global Intern Program, a brand new initiative inspired by a dinner meeting in Beijing between Chancellor Carol Folt and Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang in January 2016.

The program was quickly brought to life by Susan King, dean of the UNC School of Media and Journalism, and school alumnus Jeff Shafer, the vice president of global corporate communications for Lenovo, and their teams. It builds on the close working relationship between the school and Lenovo that has included student, faculty and staff visits to Beijing over the past several years. Five of the 10 inaugural interns came from the school.

Shafer, who serves on the school’s Board of Advisers, was instrumental in establishing the partnership and securing $50,000 to pay travel, lodging and stipends for the interns in addition to compensation from Lenovo for the paid internships. He called 2016 Tech World the single biggest and most successful event ever from a public relations and social media standpoint for Lenovo.

“[The interns] brought great energy and enthusiasm, but moreover, great work, performance, contributions and results.”

“Our brilliant team of interns from UNC had a huge impact,” he said. “They brought great energy and enthusiasm, but moreover, great work, performance, contributions and results.”

Along with the School of Media and Journalism, students came from units across campus, including business, information and library science, computer science, and English. The students worked primarily on social media, video, logistics, data analytics, event management and press releases for the event. Each intern was assigned at least one dedicated mentor to guide them through the entire internship experience.

For his part, Will Schoeffler—a double major in advertising and media production in the School of Media and Journalism—worked with Lenovo’s global social media content manager on a “global road trip” pre-event campaign to build buzz. He and another intern, English/psychology major Bonnie Meyer, drove a Tech World-branded Jeep mounted with GoPro cameras from Raleigh to San Francisco, creating video content for social media during stops along the way.

“I learned a ton that will help my career, and I had some amazing life experiences,” he said.

The global road trip campaign generated 1.9 million social media engagements and 6.3 million video views via YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat. Interns also supported Lenovo’s first ever Snapchat campaign and generated nearly 40,000 views. The students were part of the effort that drew more than 10,000 pieces of press coverage and saw a Lenovo product, Moto Z, trend worldwide on Twitter. Overall, Tech World 2016 became Lenovo’s No. 1 all-time 30-day social media engagement event—topping last year’s Tech World event by 60 percent.

“The UNC interns had a tangible impact on our ability to deliver on all of this,” Shafer said.

The students also drew the attention of Lenovo CEO Yang, who gave them a shout-out on Twitter and complimented their work. “This was a great program,” he said. “We should do more with UNC. We should engage more. We should try to hire them.”

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