State funds and tuition pay only part of the costs to recruit and retain the best faculty and support the unique liberal-arts programs that are the hallmarks of the Carolina experience. Private funds sustain and enhance these extraordinary opportunities for students and faculty.

Every gift to the College of Arts and Sciences makes a difference. There are a number of giving opportunities and priorities that allow you to tailor your gift to the areas you wish to support:


The Annual Fund

Gifts to the Arts and Sciences Annual Fund play a crucial role in funding our highest priorities—recruiting and retaining faculty, enhancing student engagement, deepening academic excellence and achieving global impact. This support helps shape the experience of nearly every student in the College.

Unlike endowments, which are invested for the long term and intended to provide a permanent source of support for the university, the Arts and Sciences Annual Fund is both expendable, which means it can be spent to meet immediate needs, and discretionary, which means the dean can direct it toward the programs that need it most. The fund’s flexibility enables the dean to tailor support as circumstances change.

The Arts and Sciences Annual Fund especially empowers us in challenging times. In fiscal year 2010, unrestricted gifts to the Fund were equal to the dollars we would have derived from a $22 million endowment. That’s the kind of leverage we need, especially now.

Moreover, gifts to the Arts and Sciences Annual Fund have a ripple effect. Foundations, corporations, and other major donors all consider annual gifts to be votes of confidence in the College and proof of Carolina’s greatness. In addition to contributing to the powerful cumulative effect of gifts, your gift to the Arts and Sciences Annual Fund will motivate others to become donors.

Endowment Giving Opportunities

For details about specific programs, contact:

Shannon Kennedy
Director of Capital Gifts
Arts and Sciences Foundation
CB# 6115
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-6115
919/962-6182
shannon.kennedy@unc.edu

 

Faculty Support

Minimum Endowment
Professorships. Professorships enable Carolina to recruit, retain and support outstanding faculty. These funds supplement salaries and provide support for course development, research, equipment and more.

Eminent Professorships create and support new faculty positions, attract internationally prominent teacher-scholars and support their teaching and research.		 $3 million

Professorships recruit rising stars or retain faculty members whose prominence is attracting the notice of other institutions. There are four funding levels of professorships.

(State matching funds from the North Carolina Distinguished Professors Endowment Fund may be available to match gifts to establish a distinguished professorship on a 1 to 2 basis.)

 $2 million
$1.5 million
$1 million

Visiting Professorships. Distinguished visiting scholars, writers and artists contribute to the Carolina intellectual environment by bringing new perspectives and experiences to complement the expertise of the College’s permanent faculty. (May be eligible for state matching funds; see above.)		 $1 million

Faculty Excellence Fellowships. These funds recognize excellence in teaching and scholarship by providing summer salary stipends to support research that contributes to high-quality teaching in undergraduate courses.		 $500,000

Institute for the Arts and Humanities Fellowships. Fellowships allow faculty from various disciplines to devote a semester away from the classroom to learn from each other in special seminars and to return to teaching with new perspectives and a renewed commitment.		 $400,000

Dean’s Faculty Funds. Faculty Funds enable the Dean of the College to respond quickly to opportunities to recruit and retain outstanding faculty.		 $250,000
Junior Faculty Development Funds. These highly sought gifts demonstrate Carolina’s commitment to maintaining a world-class faculty by providing crucial non-salary support to junior faculty for a variety of teaching and scholarly needs, including research assistants, travel and acquisition of materials. $150,000

Departmental Excellence Funds. Departmental funds provide needed resources to chairs, enabling them to recognize and support the work of outstanding teacher-scholars.		 $50,000

Faculty Excellence Funds. These funds help recruit and retain outstanding professors by providing resources such as research leaves, facilities, equipment, summer salaries and participation in professional conferences. Click here for more information.		 $50,000

Faculty Partners Program. Faculty Partners Funds support academic projects and programs identified by faculty as crucial to their teaching and scholarship. Click here for more information.		 $25,000
($5,000 annually in expendable support over five years)

Undergraduate Student Support

Minimum Endowment
Merit-based scholarships. These scholarships are a high priority for the University and the College. They allow Carolina to recruit and support the top students from the state and nation.
The Carolina Scholars Program is a comprehensive academic scholarship program designed to attract the most qualified students from the state and nation. Students receive substantial scholarship support, faculty mentoring and special programming opportunities, including participation in the Honors Program. $400,000
The Old Well Scholars Program offers tuition grants to North Carolina students who are recruited by out-of-state institutions. Donors can request that awards go to qualified recipients in a particular county or region of the state. $150,000

Founders Scholars scholarships honor those individuals, both notable and unsung, who established the University in 1793. These scholarships are awarded to N. C. high school seniors with outstanding academic and leadership qualities.		 $75,000
Need-based scholarships. These ensure that no academically qualified student is denied the opportunity to study at Carolina because of inadequate financial resources. These scholarships also provide the campus with a more diverse student body. $75,000

Study Abroad scholarships. One of the College’s highest priorities is to encourage more students to spend a semester or year studying abroad. Higher expenses related to transportation, food and tuition often exclude students who depend on financial aid, which is limited for study abroad.		 $50,000

Graduate Student Support


 Minimum Endowment

Graduate Fellowships. Carolina needs new graduate fellowships to compete with its national peers for the most promising graduate students. Most comparable institutions routinely offer superior fellowships. Attracting top graduate students is important to the university’s reputation as one of the nation’s premier research and teaching institutions and to the recruitment and retention of top faculty.		 $500,000
Dissertation Fellowships. Dissertation fellowships provide valuable support to graduate students as they research and write their dissertations. $100,000

Graduate Enhancement Awards. These supplement departmental funds used to support graduate students.		 $50,000

Enhancing the Undergraduate Experience


 Minimum Endowment
First Year Seminars. First-year students join distinguished faculty members who are both active scholars and accomplished teachers in small classes that emphasize critical thinking and writing skills. First Year seminars offer an introduction to the intellectual life of the university and focus on how scholars pose problems, discover truths, resolve controversies and evaluate knowledge.

First Year Seminar Course Development Funds enable faculty to design innovative new seminars that engage students. A $100,000 endowment enables the College to offer one course development grant to a faculty member designing a new seminar.		 $100,000

First Year Seminar Course Enhancement Funds allow faculty to plan related out-of-class experiences such as an artistic exhibition, film, concert, play, public forum, presentation by an invited scholar or artist or field research experience. These activities foster connections with the local community and build friendships among students.		 $20,000

Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowships. These fellowships enhance students’ classroom experiences by enabling them to work closely with faculty in a focused area. In-depth research also provides important preparation for many careers, as well as for graduate school.		 $60,000

Honors Program. Carolina’s honors programs are considered among the most outstanding in the nation. Among its funding needs:

Honors Professorships. These rotate among departments every three years. They strengthen the program by encouraging development of new courses and faculty-student interaction outside the classroom.		 $500,000

Honors Course Development Funds. Awards from funds such as these play a key role in sustaining the intellectual vitality of the Honors curriculum and maintaining its role as an incubator for new approaches to undergraduate teaching.		 $200,000

Interdisciplinary Symposia. These programs assist students and faculty in making connections across the curriculum, a key objective of Carolina’s academic plan.		 $150,000

Honors Study Abroad Scholarships. These ensure that Honors Study Abroad is available to all students, regardless of financial need. Past programs have been offered in London, Rome, Cape Town, Chile, Ghana and Thailand.		 $100,000

Learning Outside the Classroom Funds. These funds support activities that are interdisciplinary and connect the University to diverse communities. Programs such as Food for Thought and Thursdays on the Terrace engage students and faculty in ongoing conversation outside the classroom.		 $100,000

Current Technologies Funds. These funds support the Beasley Multimedia Resource Center, the annual undergraduate multimedia festival and the life-cycling of classroom technology.		 $75,000

Honors Senior Thesis Funds. These support research grants for students undertaking an honors senior thesis project, electronic publication of selected theses, and prizes for the best thesis in each of the College’s academic divisions (humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and fine arts).		 $50,000

Academic Program Support


 Minimum Endowment
Departmental Lectureships. Lectureships enable academic department and curricula to bring nationally and internationally acclaimed scholars to campus to address issues at the forefront of intellectual discussion and debate. $200,000