A $2 million capstone gift from the Hyde Family Foundations of Memphis,
Tenn., completes the goal of doubling the number of students invited to
the nationally ranked Honors Program in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences.
The gift adds faculty to teach Honors courses and qualifies for a
$1 million grant from the state Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust
Fund, bringing the gift’s total value to $3 million. The state fund,
established in 1985 by the N.C. General Assembly, provides matching
grants to recruit and retain outstanding faculty.
The Hyde
Family Foundations’ gift is the fourth major gift to Honors in the past
year. Combined, private gifts and state matching grants from the four
donors total $21.5 million in endowed support for the program.
Of the
3,800 undergraduates in Carolina's Class of 2011, 200 first-year students were
invited to join the Honors Program. With the past year’s gifts,
and more available Honors courses, 10 percent of entering students in
future classes will receive invitations.
Two months ago, the
William R. Kenan Charitable Trust established six faculty endowments
with a $6 million gift, in addition to $3 million in state matching
grants.
Last December, the Morehead-Cain Foundation created the Mary H. Cain Distinguished Professorship in Art History, resulting in a $2 million endowment, including state match, that will add four Honors courses in art history.
In September 2007, an anonymous donor gave $5
million to fund five new professorships named for alumni Peter Thacher
Grauer and William Burwell Harrison. State matching funds will add $2.5
million, making this a $7.5 million endowment.
The Hyde
Family Foundations gift creates two $1.5 million endowments, each
augmented by the state match of $500,000, and will support a minimum of
two assistant or associate professors in the College of Arts and
Sciences.
“In response to Chancellor Moeser’s challenge to
trustees to help him complete the goal of honoring the Honors Program,
and in honor of Chancellor [Holden] Thorp, we are thrilled to support
the expansion of the Honors Program and follow the leadership of the
Kenan Trust,” said Barbara Hyde, a 1983 UNC alumna and president of the
J.R. Hyde Family Foundation of Memphis, Tenn. Hyde serves on the
University’s Board of Trustees.
“We believe the gift to honors
is a great complement to our support of faculty through the Institute
for the Arts and Humanities. As Chancellor Thorp recently said,
Carolina is the best place to teach, discover and learn. We hope this
gift helps faculty and students do all three.”
Barbara Hyde and
her husband Pitt, a member of the UNC class of 1965, made the lead gift
to build the institute a new home in 2002 — in Hyde Hall on McCorkle
Place. In 2006, the Hydes gave a $5 million gift for expansion of the
institute’s Academic Leadership Program that prepares faculty for
academic, intellectual and institutional leadership roles at the
University and provides ongoing support for faculty who have assumed
such positions.
“It’s fitting that the Hydes stepped forward to
close out the campaign to expand the Honors Program and pay tribute to
Chancellor Moeser,” said Chancellor Holden Thorp. “Barbara and Pitt
have been such steadfast supporters of our faculty retention and
recruitment efforts. And, as a former honors student, Barbara has a
special appreciation for the rigors and rewards of the program. I am
grateful to the Hydes and to share the news of this milestone gift.”
The
Carolina Honors Program has long been recognized by The Fiske Guide to
Colleges as “one of the best and most accessible in the country.”
Established in 1954, the program’s quality and accessibility continues
to serve as a national model for universities.
In recent
years, the deciding factor for students who choose Carolina over
distinguished peer universities has been a nationally acclaimed honors
program, said James Leloudis, associate dean for honors.
A
limited ability to serve all qualified students has caused the program
to turn away —and often lose to other schools — hundreds of talented
applicants, he said.
Any of the current 120 Honors courses
are open on a space-available basis to all students with a “B” average.
Students who are not invited to join the program may apply during their
first three semesters. Each year, more than 300 students in 51
departments and curricula complete senior Honors theses under the
supervision of College faculty.
