CONNECT. CELEBRATE. Dear Friends,
I am happy to share with you the many accomplishments and events sponsored by the University Library since our spring issue of The Commons. We were able to award eight student employee scholarships in the spring due to the generosity of our many donors. The scholarship winners are so grateful for the support that it is really heartwarming. It is a source of pride to recognize our dedicated student employees, and we are grateful to their supervisors who nominate them and write letters of support. Despite the major budget reductions, the library acquired many new and important research materials through donations such as the significant Elaine J. O’Quinn Girls’ Studies Collection and the T. Taylor Warren Collection of stock car racing photographs. Surprisingly, we were also able to purchase most requests from faculty for research materials needed by them or their students. Four of our donors who are highlighted in this issue are H.G. Jones, Patsy and Ronny Turner, and Craig Popelars. I know you will enjoy reading their articles. Dr. Jones brings his sense of history to his letter in which he mentions the “H.G. Jones Reading Lounge” which I walk through every day. I love thinking about him and his remarkable range of interests as I come to work. All of us are enormously grateful for the major gift from Patsy and Ronny Turner. To be able to help them accomplish their goals of helping and inspiring students is a joy. Craig Popelars, Marketing Director “Extraordinaire” for Algonquin Publishers, always takes the Library Advisory Board to new heights with his great ideas. This year he literally reached a new height for an Appalachian State University banner on the top of Mount Rainier. On Sept. 28, the evening of our Novel Experience, I experienced one of the most rewarding Dr. Mary Reichel moments of my career when the Honorable Cullie Tarleton presented me with a Certificate of Appreciation and a personal note from Governor Beverly Perdue. It is an overwhelming honor to receive this kind of recognition. That same evening two of our former provosts and one vice provost were kind enough to join the library in this annual celebration. Thanks to Provost Harvey Durham, Provost Stanley Aeschleman, and Vice Provost Bill Ward and their wives for being a part of my last Novel Experience as dean. When I first came to North Carolina twenty years ago, I began to appreciate the notable accomplishments of UNC System President Emeritus William C. Friday. I got to know H.G. Jones and others who knew President Friday personally and shared inspiring stories. So it was with great excitement that I learned that President Friday had accepted Chancellor Francis T. Borkowski’s invitation to be the honorary chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant for Appalachian Studies Committee. What a pleasure it was to work with him and to observe firsthand his love for North Carolina and higher education. One of my most prized possessions is a handwritten note from Bill Friday sending his congratulations on the successful completion of the Challenge Grant project. We will never forget his legacy in the UNC system. Thank you for reading this issue and for all of your support. Mary Reichel, Ph.D. Dean of Libraries Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor for Library and Information Studies
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