Arts and Sciences Foundation Board of Directors Meeting Schedule and Agenda
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Arts and Sciences Foundation, Inc.
Friday, October 3, 2025
10:00 a.m. New Director Orientation (New Directors and Executive Committee) Buchan House Board Room
12:00 p.m. Faculty Lunch Graham Memorial Hall John Lindsay Morehead III Lounge
1:30 p.m. Standing Committee Meetings
• Development and Communications
• Finance and Audit
• Nominating Hyde Hall Incubator Room
South Building 105 Chancellor’s Conference Room
South Building 205 Dean’s Conference Room
3:00 p.m. Seed Funding Program and Panel Kelly Giovanello Hyde Hall University Room
4:30 p.m. Break
6:30 p.m. Cocktails and Dinner Tandem Restaurant
201 S. Greensboro Street, #1A Carrboro, NC
Saturday, October 4, 2025 Carolina Inn, Hill Ballroom
8:00 a.m. Breakfast
8:30 a.m. Welcome Ashley Reid
8:35 a.m. Foundation Update Anne Collins
9:05 a.m. Chancellor’s Remarks Lee Roberts
9:30 a.m. Dean’s Update Jim White
10:00 a.m. Reports of Committee Work
• Development and Communications
• Finance and Audit
• Nominating Jennifer Rich Ken Smith Bimal Shah
10:30 a.m. Adjourn Meeting Ashley Reid
ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION, INC.
Susan Alesina Consultant and Advisor, SEA Advisory, LLC
Home
19 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, MA 02116 (617) 306-2492 susan.alesina@gmail.com
Susan Alesina is an executive with over 25 years of board and management experience leading healthcare organizations. Her deep expertise is centered on guiding transformational initiatives that intersect strategy, product commercialization, business development and M&A integration. Currently, as an independent consultant and advisor, Susan works with healthcare-focused clients including hospitals, start-ups and PE firms. In her prior role, Susan served as Vice President, National Strategy and Business Development at Boston Children’s Hospital, a $3 billion academic medical center and the primary pediatric teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School. Over the course of 10 years, Susan led efforts to identify and implement strategic partnerships with other health systems designed to enhance care for pediatric patients. Earlier in her career, Susan held leadership positions in pharmaceutical, biotech and life science companies. Susan currently serves on the U.S. Board of Bocconi University (Milan, Italy) and on the Board of the HBS Healthcare Alumni Association. Susan holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (B.A. ’86) and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Caroline "Carrie” Banwell (Ian Branwell)
Home 1128 Queens Rd Charlotte, NC 28207-1850 (704) 338-9854
cbanwell@me.com
Carrie is a founder and co-director of Music Together of Charlotte. She has also served on the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council and as a Will Froelich Honors Fellowship Program Advisory Council Member. Carrie graduated from UNC with a Bachelor of Arts in 1985. She and her husband Ian have three children.
Douglas B. Biggs
(Melissa Rivenbark Biggs)
Senior Vice President and Principal, Colliers International
Home
458 Argonne Drive NW Atlanta, GA 30305-2851
H: (404) 869-7464
M: (404) 273-3947
Business
1230 Peachtree St NE Ste 800 Atlanta, GA 30309-7536 (404) 877-9253
Douglas.Biggs@colliers.com
Douglas B. Biggs is a Senior Vice President and Partner with Colliers International in Atlanta and additionally sits on the company’s Board of Directors. He grew up in Elizabeth City, NC and graduated from the UNC Chapel Hill with a BA in Economics in 2000.
Douglas currently sits on the Chancellors Philanthropic Council as part of the Campaign for Carolina. Douglas and his wife Melissa have two children, Louise and Bruce.
Virginia Cárdenas (Austin D Garlock) Program Director-School Transformation Coach, NC Dept. of Public Instruction
Virginia Cárdenas is a former teacher, school principal and program director who worked with K-12 schools throughout North Carolina for more than 30 years. She has dedicated herself personally and professionally to the work of school transformation, language acquisition and support of diverse student cultures. She received her master’s degree in school administration in 1998 and doctorate degree in school leadership in 2006 from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Eva Chess
Home
50 E Bellevue Pl Apt 303 Chicago, IL 60611-1166
Mobile: (312) 951-1914 echess0206@gmail.com
Eva Chess is a corporate affairs veteran with experience in diverse governance and functional leadership roles. She has created and led innovative growth strategies, rehabilitated corporate reputations, and navigated tense stakeholder initiatives in various industries. Eva’s “special power” is her insider’s perspective on the inner workings of corporate boards, and counseling for financial decisions that are ethical and foster goodwill. Eva earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and political science from Carolina and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law. She also completed the JPMorgan Finance Program where she developed investing, fiduciary risk management, and trading skills
Thomas Caldecot Chubb III
(Aimee Belue Chubb)
Chairman, CEO and President, Oxford Industries, Inc.
Home
3411 Old Plantation Road NW
Atlanta, GA 30327
Mobile: (404) 386-3417
tchubb@oxfordinc.com
Business
999 Peachtree St NE Suite 688
Atlanta, GA 30309-4414
Phone: (404) 653-1415
Thomas (Tom) Caldecot Chubb III (AB ’86, Econ) is the Chairman, CEO and President of Oxford Industries Inc., a NYSE-listed company, which owns the Tommy Bahama, Lilly Pulitzer, Southern Tide, Duck Head and Oxford clothing brands. He also holds a JD degree from the University of Georgia. Tom serves on the boards of the American Apparel and Footwear Association, the Atlanta Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Metropolitan Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the Woodruff Arts Center. He and his wife, Aimee, have two children, Lillian (’22) and Catie (’24)
303 E. Wacker Ave Suite 2200 Chicago, IL 60601 (312) 661.0616
tclaiborne@ intersportnet.com
Touré is a seasoned executive with 25+ years of leadership in sports marketing & management, media, entertainment, insurance & financial services, retail and healthcare. He gained unique operating experience as part of the transition team at Sears Holdings responsible for integration as part of a $13BN merger and went on to lead manage the P&L for $600M business unit within the organization. His sports and media experience ranges from the management of professional golf and tennis events to representation & advisory matters for sports agencies, leagues, NBA players, professional golfers, as well as college head & assistant coaches. Mr. Claiborne has led naming rights, title sponsorships and nine-figure sanctioning body rights negotiations with media properties and partners such as NASCAR, ESPN, ABC, select Major League Baseball (“MLB”) teams and Disney. He is as an active advisor to Overtime Media/Overtime Elite and the Premiere Lacrosse League (“PLL”). Mr. Claiborne is currently the Senior Vice President & Head of Consulting for Intersport, an independent media and marketing firm specializing in property creation, content production with an array of digital, sponsorship, experiential and culinary expertise. He is also an Operating Partner at Velocity Capital Management, a $500M growth equity fund focused on Media, Entertainment, Tech and Sports (non-team assets) anchored by family office & institutional investors.
Dorothea (Dory) Jenkins Clark (Charles T. Clark)
Home
5020 Lowell St NW
Washington, DC 20016-2606
H: (202) 362-7050
M: (202) 487-8473
doryclark@comcast.net
Dory grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and graduated from St. Catherine’s School. She received a B.A. in English from UNC in 1997, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Richmond in 2002. A former attorney, Dory is currently an active volunteer both in her children’s schools and in support of underprivileged children in the Washington, D.C. community. Dory serves on the Governing Board of the Bishop John T. Walker School for Boys, a tuition-free Episcopal school for children from traditionally underserved communities. Dory currently chairs the Nominating Committee for BWS and is a member of the Executive Committee. She previously served as the Development Chair on the Board of the Washington Winter Show, the second oldest charitable antique show in the country. She has also served on the boards of Beauvoir, the National Cathedral Elementary School and the Hearing and Speech Center Board of Children’s National Health System. Dory and her husband Chad, also a graduate of UNC, live in Washington, D.C. with their two children, Claiborne and Charles.
Anne H. C. Collins (Bayard Collins)
Assistant Vice Chancellor
Executive Director, Arts & Sciences Foundation
Business 523 East Franklin Street
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-6115
O: (919) 843.3920
M: (434) 238-8801 anne.collins@unc.edu
Anne Collins is the Assistant Vice Chancellor and Executive Director of the Arts & Sciences Foundation. Collins joined the Arts and Sciences Foundation in 2011 as the major gift officer for Honors Carolina, she has subsequently served as both director and senior director of development for the Foundation.as well as associate dean for development, overseeing the entire major gift operation, including a team of 13 and raising gifts totaling $19.8 million in fiscal year 2020. Her work has been instrumental in the Foundation’s fundraising success in the Campaign for Carolina.
Rose Crawford (Stephen Crawford)
Home PO Box 1100 Moultonborough, NH 03254-1100 914.262.3203 (Mobile) rose64@mac.com
Rose Crawford graduated Carolina with a BA in Business Administration in 1986. She is currently raising three children in Moultonborough, NH, and serving in her community. Rose previously worked at Morgan Stanley and the National Center for Learning Disabilities, a nonprofit organization.
Louise “Weezie” Townsend Duckett (Will Duckett)
Home
2320 Gaddy Drive Raleigh, NC 27609-7606
M: (203) 832-3630 weezieduckett@gmail.com
Weezie, originally from Greenwich, CT, graduated from UNC-CH in 2009 with a Bachelors in English. She went on to earn her Masters in Early Childhood Education from Bank Street College, and taught for 10 years before moving to Raleigh to raise a family with her husband, Will. She is an active member of her church and various local non-profits, and has loved becoming more involved with the University through the Chancellor’s Philanthropic Council and Next Generation Strategy Committee for the recent Campaign for Carolina.
Robert L. Edwards, Jr. (Leigh Edwards)
Managing Partner, Ridgemont Equity Partners
Home 401 Colville Road Charlotte, NC 28207 (704) 517-7106
Business
101 S. Tryon; Suite 3400 Charlott, NC 28280 (704) 944-0967 redwards@ridgemontep.com
Rob Edwards co-founded Ridgemont Equity Partners (“Ridgemont”), a middle market private equity firm based in Charlotte, NC. Prior to Ridgemont, Rob was a Managing Director at Banc of America Capital Investors (predecessor to Ridgemont) from 1997-2010, a management consultant at McKinsey & Co., Inc., a Vice President at Allied Capital, and an investment banker at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co, Inc. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics with highest distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989 and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School in 1995. Rob has served on UNC’s Board of Visitors (2014-2018) where he was chair of the Student Recruitment Committee, the Chancellor’s Global Leadership Council (2018-2020), and the Chancellor’s Private Asset Gift Strategy Committee. He currently serves on UNC’s Art and Sciences Foundation Board of Directors (2021-present), Kenan-Flagler Board of Advisors (2019-present), the Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship Advisory Board (2019-present). Rob is married to Leigh Barnhill Edwards (B.A. in Psychology in 1990) and together they have four children, Robert (UNC – 2020), Jake (UNC – 2022), Elizabeth (Washington & Lee-2023) and Austin.
Elizabeth Engelhardt
Sr. Assoc. Dean, Fine Arts and Humanities, UNC College of Arts & Sciences
Vice Provost for Arts and Culture
Business
Dean’s Office; College of Arts & Sciences 205 South Building; Campus Box 3100 Chapel Hill, NC 27599
Phone: (919) 962-1165
e.engelhardt@unc.edu
As senior associate dean, Dr. Elizabeth Engelhardt oversees the departments of American Studies, Art and Art History, Classics, Communication, Dramatic Art and PlayMakers Repertory Company, English and Comparative Literature, Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, Linguistics, Music, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Romance Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies. Her responsibilities also include oversight of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Carolina Public Humanities, Sexuality Studies, the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies, and the Center for the Study of the American South. She also works closely with the College’s Director of Faculty Diversity Initiatives on issues of recruitment, development and retention of faculty. Engelhardt, the John Shelton Reed Distinguished Professor of Southern Studies, joined the UNC American Studies faculty in 2015, returning to her home state after more than a decade at the University of Texas at Austin. She served as chair of American Studies from 2017 to March 2019 Also, as the inaugural Vice Provost for Arts and Culture, Dr. Engelhardt oversees a unified structure for arts initiatives across Carolina, streamlining arts infrastructure that enables more students, faculty, and the public to engage with the arts. The Ackland Art Museum and Carolina Performing Arts report to this position.
Matthew M. Guest (Paige McArthur Guest) Partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Home
21 Taft Drive
Short Hills, NJ 07078
M: (917) 287-2010
Business
51 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019
Email: mguest@wlrk.com
O: (212) 403-1341
Matt Guest is a Partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where he has spent his entire career, focused on advising public companies on mergers and acquisitions, dispute resolutions and corporate governance and securities matters. He graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1997 with a B.A. in Economics and International Studies with highest distinction and honors, and from Yale Law School in 2000, where he was Notes Editor of Volume 109 of the Yale Law Journal. Matt serves on the alumni Board of the UNC Economics Department, formerly as Co-Chair. Matt and his wife Paige (also a 1997 UNC graduate) reside in Short Hills, NJ and have four children, two of whom are current UNC students.
Rita R. Hanes
Senior Director-Brand Strategy & Marketing, Charter Communications
Home
210 Clinton Ave Apt 2C Brooklyn, NY 11205-3422
M: (917) 331-0568
rrhanes@gmail.com
Business
Charter Communications 1633 Broadway 40th Floor New York, NY 10019
Rita.Hanes@charter.com
Rita Hanes, a native of Winston- Salem, NC, received a BA in Industrial Relations from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1989 and an MBA in Marketing from Georgetown University in 1998. She held various roles in marketing and sales at American Express over 15 years, served as a chief of staff at the Educational Testing service for 4 years and currently serves as Senior Director of Brand Marketing & Strategy at Charter Communications (Spectrum Reach.) In addition to serving on the Board of Trustees for Sisulu-Walker School in Harlem, NY, she is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta (Public Service Sorority) and the Links, Incorporated. Rita is also a member of the Abyssinian Baptist Church located in Harlem, NY and lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. She enjoys endurance sports and has completed numerous triathlons and a marathon.
Lisa Goddard Huffines (Robert Luther Huffines)
Home
944 Park Ave # 16
New York, NY 10028-0319 (917) 957-5467
lghuffines@mac.com
Lisa Huffines (BA ’89, English) came to Carolina from Oklahoma. She is an attorney who resides in New York, NY with her husband, Robbie, a 1987 Carolina graduate. They have four children. Their daughter, Bea, is a 2020 UNC graduate and their son, Doug, is a 2017 UNC graduate.
Lorrie Davis Huschle (Ian Huschle)
Home
30 Underhill Road
Locust Valley, NY 11560
Mobile: (516) 836-6582
Home: (516) 836-6582
lorriehuschle@yahoo.com
Lorrie Huschle is a native of Atlanta, GA where she attended The Westminster Schools ‘86. She graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 1990 with a BFA. She has previously worked as a graphic designer and holistic health coach. Currently, she is a goldsmith specializing in classical GrecoRoman high karat gold techniques. Lorrie is also an active member of the North Country Garden Club where she served as the Conservation Committee chair and is a volunteer at the MLK Community Center in Newport, RI. She currently resides in Locust Valley, NY with her husband Ian and children Charles and Natalie, who are UNC classes of 2021 and 2023 respectively.
Daniel J. Kelly
(Patricia Schultz Kelly)
Managing Director, BofA Securities
Home
17 Wooddale Road
Greenwich, CT 06830-3824
M: (203) 273.7151
djkunc@gmail.com
Business
1 Bryant Park New York, NY 10036
B: (646) 855.2478
daniel.kelly@bofa.com
Dan Kelly is a Managing Director and Head of Media Investment Banking at BofA Securities, where he has been his entire career. A native of Long Island NY, Dan graduated from Carolina with a BA Economics in 1987 and also studied Computer Science. He resides in Greenwich CT with his wife Patty (’89). They have four children, the youngest of which Leigh is a member of the class of 2024 at UNC.
David M. Knott Managing Partner, Knott Partners
Home
485 Underhill Blvd Ste 205
Syosset, NY 11791-3434
H: (516) 972-5968
M: (516) 972-5968 dmknott@gmail.com
Business
485 Underhill Blvd Suite 205
B: (516) 364-033 dave@knottpartners.com
Dave is the CEO and Managing Member of Knott Partners. He joined Knott Partners as an analyst in 2009 and has served as the firm’s Managing Member since converting to a family office in 2016. Dave is also Chairman of Arborgen Holdings, a publicly traded company headquartered in New Zealand, an advisory board member of The HiGro Group, and a board member of DRS Group. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Lee Latimore Loughran
(Joseph M. “Trey” Loughran III)
Executive Coach and Leadership Advisor
Home
3635 Rembrandt Road, NW Atlanta, GA 30327 M: (404) 630-8384
llloughran@gmail.com
Lee is a proud Tarheel, class of 1990. She and her husband Trey, also class of 1990, were thrilled to have an excuse to spend more time back at Chapel Hill when their son Joe, class of 2020, and daughter Khaki, class of 2022, choose the Tarheel path. She spent the bulk of her career at McKinsey & Company, starting off as a consultant in the early 90s, returning as a consultant after getting her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and then moving into the professional development and talent space. She was a Leader in the Global Partner Office before departing the Firm in early 2024. Lee is now an executive coach, coaching senior executives on launching into new roles, building top teams, and maximizing their effectiveness. She also serves on the board of Camp Twin Lakes and the Atlanta Speech School. A strong believer in the benefits of a liberal arts education, Lee is thrilled to join the Arts and Sciences Foundation Board.
Alexander Duncan McLean
(Margaret Craddock McLean)
Principal, Analyst, Portfolio Manager NewSouth Capital Management
Home 94 Morningside Place Memphis, TN 38104 (901) 276-8982
Business 999 S. Shady Grove Road Suite 501 S Memphis, TN 38120-4129 (901) 761-5561 amclean@newsouthcapital.com
Alec is a principal on the investment team at NewSouth Capital Management, Inc. He received a BA in Latin American Studies and Economics from UNC in 1992 and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1997. He is the current Chair of the MIFA Endowment and serves on the Board of Directors of the Shelby Farms Park Conservancy and the Levitt Shell. He and his wife Margaret reside with their four children in Memphis, TN.
Christie McNeill
(Jonathon NcNeill)
Deputy Chief of Staff and Operating Officer Office of the North Carolina Governor Josh Stein
Home
Business
2223 Wheeler Road 1 E. Edenton Street Raleigh, NC 27607 Raleigh, NC 27601 (336) 456-8752 christie.mcneill@nc.gov
christie.c.mcneill@gmail.com
Christie McNeill serves as Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief Operating Officer for North Carolina Governor Josh Stein. In her role, she is charged with advancing Governor Stein's top strategic priorities and improving the overall performance of state government. She previously served as a partner in McKinsey's Financial Services practice, serving clients across the Insurance and Banking sectors with a focus on the integration of physical climate risk and energy transition into underwriting portfolios. A native of Greensboro, Christie graduated from UNC in 2008 with a BA in Political Science and History and earned her MBA at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She and her husband Jonathan (UNC class of 2007) have two daughters and live in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Charles H. “Charlie” Mercer, Jr. (Alene Mercer)
Partner, Young, Moore, and Henderson, PA
Home
3050 Granville Drive
Raleigh, NC 27609-6918
M: (919) 614-4810
Business
B: (919) 861-5511
charles.mercer@youngmoorelaw.com
Charles H. Mercer, Jr. lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he practices law with Young Moore and Henderson, P.A. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (AB 1969), Charlie has served on the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Visitors (2013-2017). He was a member of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors for 12 years (2001-2013). He is a former member of the Duke University Divinity School Board of Visitors. Charlie has been involved in other public service, which includes being a former member of the North Carolina Banking Commission and former chairman of the North Carolina Property Tax Commission. In addition to receiving his undergraduate degree from the UNCChapel Hill, Charlie received his Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, his law degree from the University of Miami School of Law, and his Master of Laws degree from New York University Law School, where he taught for two years. He has taught as an adjunct faculty member at Duke, Campbell, and University of Miami law schools. Charlie’s wife, Alene, is a graduate of UNC (BSN 1970), as are their children, Dan (AB 2010) and Charles III (MBA 2009).
Business 5000 Valleystone Drive, Suite 100 Cary, NC 27519
B: (919) 428-2161 pam.parker@ml.com
Pamela (Pam) Parker grew up in Durham, NC and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1990 with a BA in Business Administration. She previously served on the University’s Board of Visitors and the Rams Club Foundation Board. Pam started working at NCNB (now Bank of America) after graduation and has remained at the firm through its many mergers and acquisitions for 31 years. She is a Wealth Management Banking Specialist working with the Merrill Lynch advisors in the Cary and Chapel Hill offices. On the personal front, Pam has a 14 year old black cat named Pepper and 3 adult nieces who are like her own! Her sister, brother-in-law, and twin nieces (along with several cousins) attended UNCChapel Hill, so the light blue blood runs deep in her family!
Blake L. Pike (Chad R. Pike) Founder and Owner, No. 12 Interiors,
Home
943 Brookwood Rd Jacksonville, FL 32207-4211
United States M: (904) 303-4646 blakepike@mac.com
Business
221 North Hogan Street Suite 403 Jacksonville, FL 32202
Blake Pike is a 1993 graduate with a B.A. in English and French who resides in Jacksonville, FL. She is the founder and owner of No 12 Interiors, an interior design firm that specializes in premier travel and adventure properties around the globe.
Ashley Edens Reid (Robert Dennis Reid IV)
Home 17 Woodside Road Greenwich, CT 06830 (917) 747-9060 ashleyereid@me.com
Ashley grew up in Paradise Valley, AZ. She graduated from The University of North Carolina in 1993 with a BA from The School of Media and Journalism. The majority of her career was spent at iHeartRadio with their national sales division in Atlanta and New York. She serves on the board of Family Centers in Greenwich, CT. She and her husband, Robert, have three children and live in Greenwich.
Jennifer Saul Rich (Stephen J. Rich)
Home
1120 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10128 (212) 426-6844 jsrich92@me.com M: (646) 943-2005
Jennifer Rich is a teacher, nonprofit volunteer and elected political leader with over 20 years of experience encompassing private school education, fundraising, and strategic planning for institutions and political candidates. She holds graduate degrees in Early Childhood Special Education and Reading from Bank Street College, as well as a BA in Elementary Education from The University of Pennsylvania. Jennifer is the National Committeewoman representing New York State to the Republican National Committee as one of two elected officials; an Auxiliary Board Member at Mount Sinai Hospital; a Member of the Visiting Committee of the Department of Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she has also held numerous leadership positions with respect to fundraising; and an Executive Committee Member and Development Chair at The Dwight Englewood School. Jennifer has additionally served as an Overseer of the Graduate School of Education at The University of Pennsylvania; a Member of the Trustees Council of Penn Women at The University of Pennsylvania; an Executive Committee Member, Trustee, Treasurer and Development Chair at The Town School; a Trustee at the Stephen Gaynor School; a former Vice-Chair and Member of the Women’s Board of Central Park Conservancy; and served on and founded the Young Collectors Council at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. She lives in New York City with her husband and four children. Her daughter Caroline is a 2024 UNC graduate
Maribeth Robinson (Bill Robinson)
Home
32 Drinking Brook Road
Work
277 Park Avenue, 9th floor Monmouth Junction NJ 08852 New York, NY 10079 (732) 995-7611 mobile (212) 270-7362 maribeth.robinson@chase.com
Maribeth Robinson is the Head of Human Resources for Chase Consumer Banking in New York City. She leads a team of Human Resources Business Advisors supporting 50,000 colleagues nationwide through 5,000 bank branches. Maribeth is the founder of JPMorgan Chase’s Autism at Work Program that has welcomed more than 200 neurodivergent colleagues in 10 countries to the firm. A graduate of the University of North Carolina (BS IR ’86) she has been married 32 years to Bill, also a Tar Heel, and is the mother of three sons, Ty, Will and Bret (UNC BSPH ‘15 & UNC SOM ’19). Maribeth grew up in Pender County, NC and, though she now lives in the Northeast, has remained active at UNC. She is a member and mentor of 100 Women –
Kenan Flagler Business School; previously served on the Writing and Learning Center Advisory Board and mentored student-athletes in the ForevHer Tar Heels Program.
Bimal R. Shah
(Rina Khemlani Shah)
Venture Partner, RA Capital Home 1 Castlewood Drive Durham, NC 27713 (919) 627-5805 bimalshah@gmail.com
Bimal is currently a Venture Partner at RA Capital, a life sciences and health care investment firm based in Boston, MA. He was previously the Chief Medical Officer at Teladoc (NYSE: TDOC) after its merger with Livongo Health (NASDAQ: LVGO) where he held the same title. Prior those roles, he served as a Senior Executive VP with P&L responsibilities and as Chief Medical Officer of Specialty Pharmacy at Premier (NASDAQ: PINC). He graduated from UNC – Chapel Hill in 1997 with highest honors in Chemistry and Economics. As a student, Bimal was a member of Chi Psi and active in Student Government. He earned both a MD and MBA from Duke University as a recipient of the NC Board of Governor’s Scholarship and returned to Duke for cardiology fellowship after attending Stanford University for residency in Internal Medicine. Bimal currently is a member of the Board of Directors for FloreoVR and Vykter Health Services and serves as a formal advisor to numerous health care firms. He is chair emeritus of the Board of Visitors at the Duke University School of Nursing and is a previous member of the Board of Visitors at the UNC– Chapel Hill (2017-2022). He is married to Rina Khemlani Shah (Public Health, Class 1999) and together they live with their two children (Aarna and Aarav) in Durham, NC.
Jason K. Shroff (Amy Whittier Shroff)
Capital Vacations, President
Home
120 Redwolf Trail
Myrtle Beach, SC 29579-5206
M: (843) 450.0009
jkshroff@capitalvacations.com
Mr. Shroff is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Capital Vacations, LLC, a vacation ownership company that manages over 70 resorts across the US and Caribbean. Mr. Shroff
holds a Juris Doctor and a B.S. in Business Administration from UNC-Chapel Hill. He resides in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with his wife, Amy, and their four children.
Kenneth G. Smith
Managing Director,
Park
Street Capital
Home
417 Deming Street Chapel Hill, NC 27514
H: (415) 939-1725
M: (415) 355-1725
kensmith662@comcast.net
Business
500 Washington Street, Suite 325 San Francisco, CA 94111-2947
Phone: (415) 273-4208
Ken Smith is a Managing Director with Park Street Capital LLC, an independent firm focused on managing portfolios of private market investments. Previously, he served as a Managing Director with Cambridge Associates, providing advice and investment research to endowment and foundation clients. Earlier in his career, he worked as Director of MBA Program Marketing and as Associate Director of Admissions at Harvard Business School. He is the past chair of the UNC Graduate Education Advancement Board and served on the Board of Visitors. He also serves as a member of the Chancellor’s Philanthropic Council as part of the Campaign for Carolina and was charged with founding the Carolina Pride Alumni Network. Mr. Smith received a B.A. with highest honors from the University, where he was a Morehead-Cain Scholar and North Carolina Fellow and earned an M.B.A from Harvard Business School. He was a Fulbright Scholar to Malaysia. He currently divides time between San Francisco and Chapel Hill.
Sterling A. Spainhour Jr.
(Farah Spainhour)
Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Georgia Power Company
Home
2400 W. Wesley Rd NW Atlanta, GA 30327
Business 241 Ralph McGill Blvd NE Atlanta, GA 30308
sspainho@southernco.com
Sterling Spainhour serves as senior vice president and general counsel for Georgia Power Company. He also serves as the company’s chief compliance officer. In this role, he oversees the company’s corporate services, compliance and legal functions and is a member of the company’s management council. Prior to Georgia Power, Sterling was a mergers and acquisitions partner at Jones Day for over ten years. A native of Winston-Salem NC, Sterling graduated from Carolina with a BA in Political Science in 1990 and from the Duke University School of Law/Fuqua School of Business with a JD/MBA in 1994. Sterling serves on the board of directors for Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE) and the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation. In addition, he serves on the Law and Judiciary Committee of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the Executive Committee of the Corporate Counsel section of the State Bar of Georgia.
Ashley Watson (Karen Twait)
General Counsel, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co. and Enterprise Privacy
Home
6 Wingate Ct. Flourtown, PA 19031
Phone: (404) 216-5359
ashleybwatson@me.com
Ashley, a native of Atlanta, is the Worldwide General Counsel for Johnson & Johnson, MedTech and Enterprise Privacy. Prior to this role, Ashley was the Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer at Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co. and the Hewlett-Packard Company.
Ashley graduated from UNC in 1990 and the University of Georgia School of Law in 1993. Currently living in Philadelphia, she enjoys golf, wine, travel, cheering for the Eagles and, of course, supporting the Tar Heels.
Jim White, President (Kristin White)
Dean, UNC College of Arts and Sciences
Business
Dean’s Office
College of Arts & Sciences
205 South Building Campus Box 3100
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
Phone: (919) 962-1165
jwcwhite@email.unc.edu
James W.C. White is the inaugural Craver Family Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a faculty member in the department of earth, marine and environmental sciences. He came to UNC-Chapel Hill in July 2022 from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he had served as acting dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for five years and had been a faculty member in the department of geological sciences since 1988. An internationally recognized expert in climate science, White has published some 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, is a highly cited researcher in the field and regularly gives public talks on climate change and sustainability. He was elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2014. White earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Florida State University and master’s and doctoral degrees in geological sciences from Columbia University.
EMERITUS MEMBERS
Stephen S. Birdsall
Professor, Department of Geographical Sciences
206 Saunders Hall
CB# 3220
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
Hm: (919) 643-0527
Fax: (919) 962-1537
Elizabeth S. Dowd
1242 Queens Road West Charlotte, NC 28207-2140
Hm: (704) 334-4456
Fax: (704) 372-8369
Lyle V. Jones
Distinguished Professor Emeritus Department of Psychology
CB# 3270, 353A Davie Hall
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
Wk: (919) 962-2325
Fax: (919) 962-2537
David L. Ward, Jr.
3601 Country Club Road
New Bern, NC 28562-7711
Hm: (252) 635-5543
Fax: (252) 636-2121
Samuel R. Williamson, Jr.
Emeritus Class of 2026
Former Director’s Engagement Committee
Eileen Brumback (Chapel Hill, NC)
Ann Cowan (Atlanta, GA)
Cosby George (Greenwich, CT)
William Ragland (Atlanta, GA)
Tready Smith (Tampa, FL)
Elijah White, Jr. ( Cypress, TX)
President and Vice Chancellor Emeritus Professor of History 47 Speyside Circle Pittsboro, NC 27312-8638
Hm: 919-542-2812 swilliam@sewanee.edu
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
FISCAL YEAR 2025-26
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Staff: Genell Lyons
Erin Schwie Langston
Tom Chubb (Past Chair)
Anne Collins (Executive Director)
Alec McLean (Vice Chair)
Ashley Reid (Chair)
Jennifer Rich (Dev. and Comm Chair)
Bimal Shah (Nominating Chair)
Ken Smith (Finance & Audit Chair)
Jim White (Dean and President)
FINANCE AND AUDIT COMMITTEES (11)
Staff: Jacob Bacharach
Erin Schwie Langston
Susan Alesina
Douglas Biggs
Tom Chubb
Touré Claiborne
Rob Edwards
Matt Guest
Dan Kelly
Alec McLean
Jason Shroff
Ken Smith (Chair)
Sterling Spainhour
Jim White
Please note that Finance and Audit are two separate committees comprising the same membership, excepting the Treasurer who does not serve on the Audit Committee.
DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE (11)
Staff: Ronda Manuel
Meredith Tunney
Carrie Banwell
Virginia Cárdenas
Eva Chess
Dory Clark
Elizabeth Engelhardt
Rita Hanes
Lisa Huffines
Charlie Mercer
Christie McNeil
Jennifer Rich (Chair)
Ashley Watson
NOMINATING COMMITTEE (9)
Staff: Anne Collins
Rose Crawford
Weezie Duckett
Lorrie Huschle
David Knott
Lee Loughran
Pam Parker
Blake Pike
Maribeth Robinson
Bimal Shah (Chair)
Class of 2026 (10)
ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION, INC.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS BY CLASS FISCAL YEAR 2025-26
Douglas B. Biggs* ’00 Atlanta, GA
Thomas C. Chubb III ’86 Atlanta, GA
Rose C. Crawford* ’86 Bronxville, NY
Louise T. Duckett ’09 Raleigh, NC
Lisa G. Huffines* ’89 New York, NY
Lorraine D. Huschle* ’90 Locust Valley, NY
Ashley E. Reid* ’93 Greenwich, CT
Jennifer S. Rich* New York, NY
Jason K. Schroff* ’02, JD ’06 Myrtle Beach, SC
Bimal R. Shah ’97 Durham, NC
Class of 2027 (11)
Virginia Cárdenas ’98, ’06 Raleigh, NC
Dory Clark* ’97 Washington, DC
Robert L. Edwards Jr* ’89 Charlotte, NC
Matthew M. Guest ’97 Short Hills, NJ
Rita Hanes* ’89 Brooklyn. NY
Daniel J. Kelly* ’87 Old Brooklyn, CT
Lee Latimer Loughran ’90 Atlanta, GA
Alexander D. McLean* ’92 Memphis, TN
Charles H. Mercer Jr. ’69 Raleigh, NC
Pamela D. Parker* ’90 Durham, NC
Kenneth G. Smith* ’84 Chapel Hill, NC
Class of 2028 (10)
Susan Alesina ’86 Boston, MA
Carrie Banwell ’85 Charlotte, NC
Eva Chess ’82 Chicago, IL
Touré S. Claiborne* ’94 Rolling Meadows, IL
David M. Knott* ’08 Syosset, NY
Christie McNeill ’08 Raleigh, NC
Blake L. Pike* ’93 Jacksonville, FL
Maribeth Robinson ’86 Monmouth Junction, NJ
Sterling A. Spainhour* ’90 Atlanta, GA
Ashley Watson ’90 Flourtown, PA
EX OFFICIO POSITIONS
Lifetime Emeritus
Stephen S. Birdsall Chapel Hill, NC
Elizabeth S. Dowd Charlotte, NC
Lyle V. Jones Chapel Hill, NC
David L. Ward, Jr. New Bern, NC
Samuel R. Williamson, Jr. Pittsboro, NC
Emeritus Class of 2026
Former Director’s Engagement Committee
Eileen Brumback Chapel Hill, NC
Ann Cowan Atlanta, GA
Cosby George Greenwich, CT
William Ragland Atlanta, GA
Tready Smith Tampa, FL
Elijah White, Jr. Cypress, TX
Anne H. C. Collins, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Executive Director, Arts and Sciences Foundation, Inc.
James W. C. White, Dean and President, Arts and Sciences Foundation, Inc.
Elizabeth Engelhardt, Vice Provost for Culture and the Arts and Senior Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Jacon Bacharach, Treasurer and Senior Associate Dean, Arts and Sciences Foundation
*Will rotate off Board at completion of term.
The Arts and Sciences Foundation
Organization Chart
9/24/2025
UNC System President
Peter Hans
Chancellor
Lee H. Roberts
Note: Dean White has additional reports. These are Foundationrelated staff.
Interim Provost
Jim Dean
Craver Family Dean and Foundation President
Jim White
The Arts and Sciences Foundation Board
Sr. AVC for Dev. and Chief Strategist for Schools and Units
Shontel Grumhaus
Assistant Vice Chancellor and Executive Director
Anne Collins
The Arts and Sciences Foundation
Organization Chart
9/24/2025
Assistant to Executive Director and Administrative Supervisor
Genell Lyons
Sr. Director/VP of Operations and Strategy
Erin Schwie Langston
Administrative Support Specialist
Alan-Michael Chunn
Accountant
David Driscoll
Administrative Support Specialist
Sophia Gillette
Administrative Support Specialist
Nela Parsons
Events and Alumni
Engagement Associate
Andrew Jackson
Administrative Support Specialist
Active HR Recruitment
Assistant Vice Chancellor and Executive Director
Anne Collins
Director of Donor Relations and Compliance
Joanna Cardwell
Sr. Director/VP of Donor Relations and Communications
Meredith Tunney
Sr. Associate Director of Donor Relations and Communications
Erin Bland
Associate Dean/VP of Development
Ronda Manuel
Director of Annual Giving
Anna Peterson
Digital Design Specialist
Andy Berner
Business Services Coordinator
Katy Galbraith
Public Communications Specialist – Temp.
Sarah Hester
Public Communications Specialist
Ashlyn Coelho-Allen
Assistant Director of Annual Giving
Molly House
Director of Donor
Engagement and Events
Abby Coleman
Assistant Director of Volunteer Management and Data
Vacant
Development Data Analyst
Ali Blue
Donor Relations and Annual Giving Coordinator
Riley Wojcik
Annual Giving Intern
Lizzy Andrews
Administrative Coordinator
Kate Harrington
The Arts and Sciences Foundation
Organization Chart
8/26/2025
Sr. Director of Development and Assistant VP — Campaign Strategy
Colleen Sisneros
Sr. Director of Development and Assistant VP—Principal Gifts
André Williams
Associate Dean/VP of Development
Ronda Manuel
Sr. Director of Development and Assistant VP—Units and Programs
Angela O’Neill
Sr. Director of Development and Assistant VP—College Initiatives
Layla Tremalio
Sr. Director of Development and Assistant VP
Mike Walsh
The Arts and Sciences Foundation
Organization Chart
8/26/2025
Sr. Director of Development and Assistant VP
Campaign Strategy
Colleen Sisneros
Associate Dean/VP of Development
Ronda Manuel
Director of Development
Kathryn Banas
Sr. Director of Development and Assistant VP Principal Gifts
André Williams
Director of Development
Mike Klaus
Assistant Director of Development
Ochuko Jenije
Associate Director of Development
Kelley Traynham
Associate Director of Development
Meghan Hunt
The Arts and Sciences Foundation
Organization Chart
8/26/2025
Honors Carolina
Director of Development
Sara Wajda
Sr. Director of Development and Assistant VP Units and Programs
Angela O’Neill
Carolina Center for Jewish Studies and Departs.
Associate Director of Development
Amelia Rubino
Honors Carolina Assistant
Director of Communications and Development
Jake West
Associate Dean/VP of Development
Ronda Manuel
Sr. Director of Development and Assistant VP College Initiatives
Layla Tremalio
Sr. Director of Development and Assistant VP
Mike Walsh
The Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship and Computer Science
Director of Development
Casey Saussy
Institute for the Arts and Humanities
Director of Development
Active HR Recruitment
Institute for the Arts and Humanities Development
Coordinator
Gina Moser
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES LEADERSHIP TEAM, 2025
- 2026
James W.C. White
Craver Family Dean College of Arts and Sciences
Dr. James W.C. White is the Craver Family Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the largest school at the nation’s oldest public university, with more than 19,000 undergraduate students and nearly 2,400 graduate students. It is also the university’s thirdlargest research enterprise, bringing in more than $140 million in research funding annually.
White came to UNC-Chapel Hill in 2022 from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he had served as acting dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for five years and had been a faculty member in the department of geological sciences since 1989. In White’s first year at Carolina, the College introduced a reimagined general education curriculum, IDEAs in Action. The new curriculum emphasizes experiential learning and teaches skills for students to become lifelong learners, such as thinking critically, working collaboratively and communicating persuasively. He also led the College during its final months of fundraising for the Campaign for Carolina. The school raised more than $764 million, far exceeding its $750 million campaign goal in the $5.1 billion university-wide campaign, with funds supporting students, faculty and strategic programs.
In 2023, White oversaw the successful launch of the new School of Civic Life and Leadership, which is part of the College. The school welcomed its first students in fall 2024 with the offering of a minor in civic life and leadership.
White is a passionate and tireless supporter of the enduring value of a broad-based liberal arts education one that provides students with the skills they need in any career path they choose. He believes that part of the responsibility of ensuring a “public ivy” education is to create a welcoming and supportive environment for students, faculty and staff so that they can thrive and do their best work.
An internationally recognized expert in climate science, White has published some 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, is a highly cited researcher in the field and regularly gives public talks on climate change and sustainability. He was elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2014.
At Carolina, he is faculty member in the department of earth, marine and environmental sciences and continues to pursue his research, which focuses on past behaviors of the Earth’s climate system, the evidence for rapid climate change in the past, and the dynamics of the modern carbon cycle.
White earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Florida State University and master’s and doctoral degrees in geological sciences from Columbia University.
Anne Collins
Assistant Vice Chancellor, Development Executive Director, Arts & Sciences Foundation
Anne H. C. Collins is Assistant Vice Chancellor and Executive Director of the Arts and Sciences Foundation. She has been serving in this position since September 2020.
Previously, Collins served as the associate dean for development, the Foundation’s No. 2 position, overseeing the entire major gift operation, including a team of 13 fundraisers. Her work was instrumental in the Foundation’s fundraising success in the Campaign for Carolina. The College raised more than $764.2 million in the campaign, exceeding its goal of $750 million. In her time at the Foundation, the average amount raised each year for the College has increased from $50 million to $100 million.
Her work with the Arts and Sciences Foundation Board of Directors has led to deeper engagement and support from the College’s lead donors, and she has worked closely with a number of the College’s departmental and program advisory boards.
Collins joined the Arts and Sciences Foundation in 2011 as the major gift officer for Honors Carolina. She has worked closely with the Honors Carolina board to develop and implement innovative programs and initiatives. Collins subsequently served as both director and senior director of development for the College of Arts and Sciences Foundation.
Collins began her career in development at Positive Coaching Alliance, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California. She holds a B.A. in religious studies and a minor in bioethics from the University of Virginia.
Jacob Bacharach
Senior Associate Dean, Operations and Strategy
Jacob Bacharach is the Senior Associate Dean for Operations and Strategy.
As the College’s Chief Operating Officer, Bacharach is responsible for the management of financial, physical, human, and informational resources. He acts as the lead strategic advisor to the Craver Family Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and works in close partnership with the Senior Associate Dean for Research and Innovation and the Assistant Vice Chancellor and Executive Director of the Arts and Sciences Foundation to maximize research and philanthropic support for the faculty and students of the College.
At Carolina, Bacharach has focused on expanding intelligent and responsive shared administrative services, increasing operational efficiency, and building a comprehensive all-funds, enterprise-level budgeting and forecasting model for the College’s more than $450 million in annual operating spend and $1.2 billion in endowed assets. In cooperation with the university’s office of the Vice-Chancellor for Finance and Operations, he is engaged in expanding and formalizing the College’s long-term capital master plan and creatively addressing the College and university’s significant deferred maintenance obligations.
Bacharach serves on the UNC-Chapel Hill ServiceFirst core working group and Deans Committee, the BeAM (Be A Maker) advisory committee, and the Graduate Student Experience Initiative steering committee. He serves as an advisor to the Arts and Sciences Foundation executive and finance committees.
Prior to his time at Carolina, Bacharach held leadership roles at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, the University of Pittsburgh’s Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, a nonprofit responsible for the cultural and economic development of Pittsburgh’s downtown Cultural District. A published novelist, nonfiction writer, and patron and lover of the arts, Bacharach is a strong advocate for the lifelong value and values of a well-rounded liberal arts education. He earned a B.A. in English and creative writing at Oberlin College and an MBA at the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business.
Jaye Cable
Senior Associate Dean, Natural Sciences
Dr. Jaye Cable oversees the following departments and programs in the natural sciences: applied physical sciences; biology, biomedical engineering; chemistry; computer science; earth, marine and environmental sciences (EMES); environment, ecology and energy (E3P); exercise and sport science; mathematics; physics and astronomy; psychology and neuroscience; statistics and operations research; and supports the Chancellor’s Science Scholars Program (part of Honors Carolina).
Cable joined the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty in 2011 and the following year became chair of what was then called the Curriculum in Environment and Ecology. In her seven-plus years as chair, she implemented three dual bachelor’s-master’s degree programs, in partnership with UNC’s professional schools in media and journalism, government and information and library science. She also put in place a multi-unit environmental internship program in collaboration with the Institute for Environment and the Three Zeroes Initiative.
She spearheaded a major strategic planning effort to enhance and expand the University’s environment, ecology and energy research and teaching efforts. This became E3P, an interdisciplinary program launched in 2018. In collaboration with departments in the College and in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, she successfully hired six new faculty working at the intersections of water, energy, climate, planning, culture, economics and data science.
Cable’s primary research focus is low-temperature marine geochemistry, especially in coastal aquifer systems. She has also studied sea level rise impacts to aquifers, salt marsh hydrology and accretion, and submarine ground water discharge. She has active research grants from the National Science Foundation’s Chemical Oceanography and ADVANCE programs.
Cable has a B.S. in marine science from the University of South Carolina and a Ph.D. in chemical oceanography from Florida State University.
Ashante Diallo Associate Dean, Human Resources
Ashante Diallo has served as Associate Dean for Human Resources in the College of Arts and Sciences since 2019. She oversees College human resource operations that include oversight of a dynamic HR shared services team; management of faculty appointment, promotion and tenure activities; and classification and compensation and employee and management relations. She participates in the management and policymaking for the College on EHRA and SHRA matters and advises senior administrators on HR policy analysis, review, development and implementation. Her focus is on leadership, strategic planning, change management, organizational development and customer relationship management.
Diallo joined UNC-Chapel Hill in 2009 as the Business Officer for the Department of City and Regional Planning. During this time, she completed the University Leadership Education and Development Program and served on the College’s PeopleSoft Transition Advisory Committee, assisting with policy and processes development for HR shared services implementation. She later served as a Human Resources Consultant in the College and then Senior Director of HR Shared Services in 2014. She led the team through the implementation of ConnectCarolina, reshaped the delivery of HR support and set a high standard for delivery of customer service to the College’s partners.
Prior to joining UNC, Diallo worked for the City of Detroit’s Planning and Development Department for almost 10 years. Her roles there included serving as Senior Development Specialist assisting with human resources and budgeting activities; Legislative Liaison to the City Council; and Homeless Coordination Manager responsible for enforcing city-wide contracts and evaluating programs.
Currently, Diallo serves as a hearings panelist for the UNC’s Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office, a member of the University Policy Review Committee and a member of the Office of Human Resources Council Business Process Subcommittee. She holds a B.S. in public administration from Western Michigan University.
Elizabeth Engelhardt
Vice Provost for Arts and Culture and Senior Associate Dean, Fine Arts & Humanities
Dr. Elizabeth Engelhardt is Vice Provost for Arts and Culture and the Senior Associate Dean for Fine Arts and Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences.
As Senior Associate Dean, Engelhardt serves the departments of American Studies, Classics, Communication, English and Comparative Literature, Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, Linguistics, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Romance Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies. Her responsibilities also include oversight of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Carolina Public Humanities, the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies, and the Center for the Study of the American South.
Also, as the inaugural Vice Provost for Arts and Culture, Dr. Engelhardt oversees a unified structure for arts initiatives across Carolina, streamlining arts infrastructure that enables more students, faculty, and the public to engage with the arts. The Ackland Art Museum and Carolina Performing Arts report to this position. As part of her role as Senior Associate Dean, PlayMakers Repertory Company and the academic arts departments of Art and Art History, Dramatic Art, and Music also report to her.
Engelhardt, Kenan Eminent Professor of Southern Studies, joined the UNC American Studies faculty in 2015, returning to her home state after more than a decade at the University of Texas at Austin. She served as chair of American Studies from 2017 to 2019 before becoming senior associate dean for fine arts and humanities in 2019.
In fall 2023, Engelhardt published Boardinghouse Women: How Southern Keepers, Cooks, Nurses, Widows and Runaways Shaped Modern America (UNC Press), which received the Ragan Old North State Award for Nonfiction in 2024 from the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association.
Engelhardt is a proud graduate of the Hendersonville, North Carolina, public school system. She received master’s and doctoral degrees from Emory University and a bachelor’s degree from Duke University.
Kelly Giovanello
Senior Associate Dean, Research & Innovations
Dr. Kelly Giovanello works closely with the senior associate deans in the College and with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovate Carolina, the UNC Institute for Convergent Science and other units throughout the University to support College faculty and Carolina’s research mission as an R1 university. This position serves all parts of the College, including the natural sciences, social sciences and arts and humanities.
Giovanello is the Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Term Professor in the department of psychology and neuroscience and has been a member of the Carolina faculty since 2006. She brings a wealth of multidisciplinary collaborative research experience to this position.
A neuroscientist whose research uses behavioral, patient-based and functional neuroimaging approaches to investigate the neural basis of human memory, Giovanello has used several research cores at the UNC Biomedical Research Imaging Center (BRIC), including human MRI, radiochemistry and radiopharmacy, and has collaborated with faculty from the schools of medicine, pharmacy and public health as well as across the College. She previously served as co-associate director of BRIC, where she gained valuable experience as to how research cores operate, the challenges research cores face, and creative solutions and opportunities for resolving those challenges.
In her home department, Giovanello was instrumental in developing and launching both a neuroscience minor (2015) and interdisciplinary neuroscience major (2018); these innovative programs now serve as a model for peer institutions. She was also involved in the 2016 Howell Hall renovation that added a state-of-the-art laboratory space for pre-clinical studies, a brain stimulation suite and other shared facilities.
Her neuroscience research has been supported by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Science Foundation and Siemens USA.
Giovanello previously served as a member of the Arts and Sciences Advisory Committee and is a graduate of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities’ Academic Leadership Program.
She received a B.S. in biology from Stonehill College, an M.S. in neuroscience from Brandeis University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Boston University.
Matthew Kotzen
Associate Dean for Fine Arts and Humanities
Matthew Kotzen is the inaugural associate dean for fine arts and humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences. In this role, Kotzen works closely with Elizabeth Engelhardt, vice provost for arts and culture and senior associate dean for fine arts and humanities.
Departments in fine arts and humanities include American studies, art and art history, classics, communications, dramatic art, English and comparative literature, Germanic and Slavic languages and literatures, linguistics, music, philosophy, religious studies, romance studies, and women and gender studies.
Kotzen is also the chair of the UNC Department of Philosophy. His research primarily focuses on issues in epistemology, the philosophy of science, and the law of evidence. He also has research interests in related areas of decision theory, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language. Kotzen has been a faculty member at Carolina since 2008. He received an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Harvard, a Ph.D. in philosophy from New York University, and a J.D. from the UNC School of Law.
Andy Lang
Associate Dean, Information Technology and Data Analytics
Dr. Andy Lang oversees the personnel and operations of OASIS and has been OASIS’ director since February 2008. His academic background spans several disciplines and includes degrees in Physics, Music, Education, Educational Research and Psychology. The bulk of his career experience is in higher education computing and administration, having held a variety of positions at different universities before becoming OASIS’ director.
Noreen McDonald
Senior Associate Dean, Social Sciences and Global Programs
Dr. Noreen McDonald oversees the departments/curricula and other units in the social sciences: aerospace studies; African, African American and diaspora studies; anthropology; archaeology; Asian and Middle Eastern studies; city and regional planning; economics; geography; history; military science; naval science; peace, war and defense; political science; public policy; sociology; and the Center for Urban and Regional Studies.
She also oversees the global programs of the College that are housed in the FedEx Global Education Center: the curriculum in global studies, the Office of Study Abroad, African Studies Center, Carolina Asia Center, Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies, Center for European Studies, Institute for the Study of the Americas, and the Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies.
McDonald has been a member of the UNC faculty since 2007. Since 2016, she has served as chair of the department of city and regional planning. She is also the associate director of both the Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety and the Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Education and Development Center.
McDonald’s scholarship is at the intersection of city planning and public health. Her current projects focus on how transport technology, policy and COVID-19 impact road safety, goods movement and access to healthcare. She is an internationally recognized expert on the travel behavior of youth and young adults. Her work has demonstrated the road safety and physical activity impacts of transport and school infrastructure. Her most recent work explores disruptions associated with shared mobility, e.g., Uber/Lyft and autonomous vehicles.
She received her undergraduate degree in engineering and chemistry from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in city planning from UC Berkeley. Prior to her work in academia, she was a consultant for Cambridge Systematics and Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman).
Ian McNeely
Senior Associate Dean, Undergraduate
Education
Dr. Ian McNeely comes to Carolina from the University of Oregon, where he served as the inaugural associate dean for undergraduate education. In this role, he coordinated 45 degree programs that served 11,000 majors and launched a “General Education Renaissance” initiative to reinvigorate the general education curriculum. As part of that initiative, he funded active learning enhancements, new course designs and interdisciplinary thematic course clusters. He also led academic program planning for the Tykeson College to Careers and Student Success Building that opened in the center of the UO campus in 2019.
McNeely was part of Oregon’s faculty for over 20 years and, while there, fostered numerous curricular and pedagogical innovations in the arts and sciences. He most recently served as faculty-in-residence at Oregon’s Clark Honors College and has held several administrative roles, including serving as founding executive director of the School of Global Studies and Languages, head of the department of German and Scandinavian and the inaugural associate dean for undergraduate education at Oregon. At Carolina, he will join the history faculty.
His research areas include European history, world history and the history of knowledge. His first two books focused on liberalism and civic culture in nineteenth-century Germany. His third book, Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet, coauthored with his wife and UNC historian Lisa Wolverton, is a comparative, long-term study of intellectuals and knowledge systems. His fourth and most recent work, The University Unfettered: Public Higher Education in an Age of Disruption, is forthcoming from Columbia University Press in 2025. McNeely received an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from the University of Michigan and an A.B. in history from Harvard University.
At Carolina, McNeely oversees the College’s programs in undergraduate education: Thrive Advising Hubs, Undergraduate Research, the Center for Student Success (including the Learning Center, the Writing Center, Peer Mentoring and Summer Bridge), Undergraduate Curricula (including First Year Seminars), the Office of Instructional Innovation, Robertson Scholars Leadership Program and Honors Carolina.
Karla Slocum
Senior Associate Dean, Faculty and Staff Development
Dr. Karla Slocum creates and supports professional and leadership development as well as mentoring opportunities for faculty and staff in the College. Her work entails strengthening the capacity for professional and scholarly communities among College faculty and staff to thrive.
Slocum has been on faculty at Carolina for more than 25 years. She is currently a professor in the department of anthropology and adjunct faculty in the Department of African, African American and Diaspora Studies. From 2013 to 2021, she served as director of the Institute of African American Research (IAAR) and, from 2002-2006, she was co-director of the Moore Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (MURAP). Slocum spearheaded and previously cochaired the anthropology department’s concentration on Race, Difference and Power. She also served as a board member for the American Anthropological Association, the UNC Latina/o studies minor, the Duke-UNC Consortium for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the Center for the Study of the American South and the Stone Center for Black Culture and History. Her research interests concern the intersection of race, place and history especially focusing on the significance of place among historic and rural Black communities. Most recently, she is the author of Black Towns, Black Futures: The Enduring Allure of a Black Place in the American West.
Natalie Vizuete
Associate Dean for Communications
Natalie Vizuete directs the communications team and oversees strategic communications that support the mission of the College of Arts and Sciences and the vision of the Dean, including internal and external communications across print, digital and social media platforms. She has a key role in shaping the College’s case for private fundraising support.
Vizuete also handles executive communications and works closely with other senior communications directors across UNC-Chapel Hill.
Vizuete came to the College from the Duke Clinical Research Institute where she served as a research communications and engagement project manager. There, she co-led strategic communications for HEAL Connections, an NIH-funded initiative to make research related to opioid use disorder and pain more accessible to the people who benefit from it the most. She also provided strategic communications support to the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative.
Before her work at Duke, Vizuete led communications and content strategy at UNC’s University Communications where she oversaw storytelling efforts and Carolina’s social media channels to showcase the breadth of UNC’s academic programs, research and public service initiatives.
From 2012 to 2023, she held various roles at UNC, including writer and editor for unc.edu, social media director and content development director. She launched Carolina’s social media office and grew Carolina’s social media presence to more than 948,000 followers.
Before joining Carolina, Vizuete held positions as an account executive at Bates & Mills Consulting and as a reporter with The Associated Press.
She received a bachelor’s degree in journalism and Spanish from Eastern Illinois University and a graduate certificate in technology and communication from UNC’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media.
Arts and Sciences Foundation Staff Fall 2025
ANNUAL GIVING
Anne Collins
Assistant Vice Chancellor and Executive Director
Anne is a graduate of the University of Virginia with a B.A. in religious studies and a minor in bioethics. Prior to joining the Foundation in October 2011, she worked in development for Positive Coaching Alliance, a nonprofit organization that began at Stanford University. Since September 2020, Anne has led strategy and planning as the lead development officer of the College and as executive director of the Arts and Sciences Foundation. Her close working relationship with the Foundation Board of Directors has led to deeper engagement and support from the College’s lead donors.
Anna Peterson Director of Annual Giving
Anna is a 2012 UNC graduate with a B.A. in journalism and mass communication. Prior to joining the Foundation in March 2022, Anna worked for the Carolina Annual Giving office in University Development (UDO) as the associate director of annual giving. In her role at the Foundation, Anna leads the strategy and development of the College’s annual giving program, with a specific focus on the Arts and Sciences Fund.
Molly House Assistant Director of Annual Giving
Molly is a 2007 UNC graduate with a B.A. in English. Prior to joining the Foundation in July 2025, she led development and outreach at The Sun, a reader-supported literary magazine. In her current role, Molly supports the leadership annual giving efforts for the College with an emphasis on the Arts and Sciences Fund and the College’s Dean’s Circle recognition society.
Elizabeth Andrews Annual Giving Intern
Lizzy graduated from Meredith College in 2023 with a B.A. in English and is currently pursuing an M.S. in library science at UNC. Before joining the Foundation, she worked at a charter school as a reading intervention specialist. Lizzy assists with writing and editing donor communications materials and collaborating on fundraising efforts with other departments in the College.
Arts and Sciences Foundation Staff
Fall 2025
DONOR RELATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS
Meredith Tunney Senior Director and Vice President for Donor Relations and Communications
Meredith joined the Arts and Sciences Foundation in November 2017 where she oversees donor relations and communications. With more than 20 years of development experience, she leads the team focused on donor relations, communications and the Arts and Sciences Fund. In her role, she helps shape messaging around the College’s fundraising priorities and manages proposal development. Prior to joining the Foundation, she worked in communications, marketing and donor relations positions at Harvard University, New York University and Columbia University. Meredith is a graduate of the University of Delaware with a B.A. in communications and earned her M.A. in higher education from Boston College.
Joanna Cardwell Director of Donor Relations and Compliance
Joanna is a 2001 graduate of Campbell University with a B.A. in English. A Park Fellow, she earned her M.A. in 2006 from what is now the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. Before joining the Foundation in November 2008, she worked as a journalist and managed alumni publications for Campbell University and the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. She helps manage stewardship, donor communications and fund compliance.
Erin Bland
Senior Associate Director of Donor Relations and Communications
Erin is a 2013 UNC graduate with a B.A. in journalism and mass communication. Prior to joining the Foundation in July 2016, Erin worked at University Development as the annual giving coordinator. Previous internships include marketing and communications work at Active Living by Design and UNC Health Care. Erin writes acknowledgment letters, stewardship reports and proposals as well as assists with a variety of special communication projects.
Andy Berner
Digital Design Specialist
Andy is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a B.A. in communications and art. He received his MFA in photography from Bard College. Before joining the Foundation in 2021, he managed communications for the UNC Center for Urban and Regional Studies, the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers Program and the Ackland Art Museum. Andy manages the Foundation webpages, designs communications materials, and writes stewardship reports, donor profiles and gift announcements.
Arts and Sciences Foundation Staff Fall 2025
Ashlyn Coelho-Allen
Donor Relations and Communications Specialist
Ashlyn is a 2016 UNC graduate with a B.A. in history and archaeology. Prior to joining the Foundation in July 2023, Ashlyn worked as an English teacher abroad for five years. Previously, she was the donor relations intern at Morehead Planetarium and Science Center. Ashlyn helps to create stewardship reports and other donor communication materials.
Riley Wojcik
Donor Relations and Communications Specialist
Riley is a 2024 UNC graduate with a B.A. in English and a concentration in writing, editing and digital publishing. Before joining the Foundation, she served as a circulation desk assistant at UNC’s Undergraduate Library and received the 2024 University Libraries’ Student Employee Appreciation Award for excellence in her role. Riley assists the donor relations team by writing and editing stewardship reports and proofreading a range of donor communications efforts.
Sarah Hester
Donor Relations and Communications Specialist
Sarah is a two-time alumna of Anderson University (Indiana) where she graduated in 2019 with a B.A. in Spanish and Christian ministries and minors in marketing and nonprofit leadership. In 2023, she completed her MBA with a concentration in marketing. Prior to joining the Foundation in June 2025, Sarah worked as a program coordinator at a global refugee resettlement agency in Durham, N.C. Before moving to North Carolina, she spent two years as a graduate assistant in the Office of Alumni Relations at Anderson University, where she focused on social media marketing, communications and event planning while completing her MBA.
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Ronda Jae Manuel
Associate Dean and Vice President for Development
Ronda graduated from UNC with a degree in journalism and mass communication and has worked at the Arts and Sciences Foundation since September 2014. With more than 15 years of fundraising experience at UNC in annual giving, health care and now major gifts, Ronda works with alumni and donors in New York and the D.C. metro area. In addition, Ronda leads the development team for the Arts and Sciences Foundation.
Arts and Sciences Foundation Staff Fall 2025
Colleen Sisneros
Senior Director and Assistant Vice President for Development
Colleen is a graduate of Texas Tech University with a B.A. in art history and an M.A. in history. Prior to joining the Foundation in August 2019, she worked for her alma mater as director of development for their College of Arts and Sciences. She manages a team of major gift development officers and is the liaison for the College’s global centers, institutes and curricula.
André Williams
Senior Director and Assistant Vice President for Development
André is a 2004 Carolina graduate with a B.A. in management and society. He returned to UNC to earn an M.A. in sport administration in 2007. André worked at the Arts and Sciences Foundation as a major gift officer from 2014 to 2018, before transitioning to University Development to raise support for the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid. He returned to the Foundation in 2021. He serves as the Foundation’s liaison to the department of exercise and sport science and the Chancellor’s Science Scholars program. André works with donors and alumni in Missouri, the D.C. metro area and North Carolina (Charlotte, High Point and Winston-Salem areas).
Angela O’Neill
Senior Director and Assistant Vice President for Development
Angela is a graduate of UNC Wilmington with a B.A in criminal justice. Before joining the Foundation in September 2013, she was an investigative analyst with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section in Washington, D.C. She manages a team of major gift development officers and serves as the liaison to the Institute for the Arts and Humanities (IAH). Angela works closely with donors and alumni in Winston-Salem, N.C. and Michigan.
Mike Walsh
Senior Director and Assistant Vice President for Development
Mike holds a B.S. in geography from Radford University and an M.A. in organizational leadership from Mansfield University. He has over 16 years of higher education fundraising and management experience, primarily in the areas of science, engineering, and medicine. Prior to coming to the Foundation, Mike was the assistant dean of advancement for the College of Science at Virginia Tech.
Arts and Sciences Foundation Staff Fall 2025
Layla Tremalio
Senior Director
of Development and Assistant Vice President for College Initiatives
Layla holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the George Washington University, a certificate in public relations from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a master’s in nonprofit leadership from Fordham University. Layla is a military veteran, former public relations professional and has been in higher education fundraising for over 11 years. Prior to coming to the Foundation, Layla was the senior director of development at the California Institute of Technology. Before joining Caltech in 2023, Layla served as senior director of development for the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. Layla was an associate director of the President’s Club at Fordham University, where she oversaw leadership annual giving and secured major gifts for its four undergraduate and six graduate schools.
Michael Klaus Director of Development
Michael graduated from the University at Buffalo with a B.A. in psychology and has an M.S. in sport psychology and motor behavior from the University of Tennessee. Prior to joining the Foundation in June 2022, Michael oversaw a sales and marketing department for a senior housing property and worked as a senior academic counselor in athletics at the University of Mississippi. He currently serves as the liaison to political science, American studies, public policy, city and regional planning, and peace, war and defense. He works with donors in the D.C. metro area, upstate New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana and Wake County.
Kathryn Banas Director of Development
Kathryn is a 2007 graduate of Northwestern University with a B.A. in communication. Prior to joining the Foundation in February 2019, Kathryn worked for four years at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. Before moving to North Carolina, she worked in development in Chicago and New York City for seven years. Kathryn works with donors and alumni in Colorado, Connecticut, Long Island, Maine, Massachusetts, the New York Metro area (I-Z), New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and Greensboro, N.C. She is the liaison to the departments of art and art history, music, religious studies and Romance studies, and the program in medieval and early modern studies. She also works with the Carolina Public Humanities board.
Casey Saussy Director of Development
Casey is a Chapel Hill native and Carolina graduate with a B.A. in international studies. She brings more than 20 years of experience in fundraising, strategic partnerships and relationship management across the nonprofit and private sectors. Before joining the Foundation, she served on the leadership team at Women in Sports Tech (WiST), advancing innovative programs and building a global community at the intersection of sports and technology. Casey serves as the development liaison to the Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship and the department of computer science. She works with alumni and donors in the Bay Area, Seattle, Connecticut, and Orange County, North Carolina.
Arts and Sciences Foundation Staff
Fall
2025
Sara Wajda Director of Development for Honors Carolina
Originally from the Washington, D.C., area, Sara earned her bachelor’s degree from Elon University and a master’s degree in public administration from NC State University. Sara began her career in advancement in Washington, D.C., working with the Studio Theatre and the National Endowment for the Arts. She later joined Duke Health as assistant director of grateful patient engagement annual giving and donor relations programs where she established their first grateful patient engagement program. She went on to serve as director of annual giving for the Duke Cancer Institute (DCI), overseeing the institute’s leadership and annual giving programs. In 2019, Sara received a 40 Under 40 Award from the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP). Before coming to the Foundation, she worked at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health for five years, beginning as assistant director of development (in 2019) before being promoted to director of development.
Ochuko Jenije
Assistant Director of Development
Ochuko Jenije (oh-CHOO-coe JEN-uh-jay) returns to UNC and joins the Arts and Sciences Foundation as an assistant director of development. He graduated from Florida State University in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in sport management and earned his master’s degree in higher education with an emphasis in general administration in 2011. He previously served the Carolina football program as the team’s director of studentathlete development from 2015 to 2022. He also worked as the assistant director of UNC’s student-athlete development office at the Loudermilk Center in 2014. Prior to returning to UNC, he served as the chief of staff for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte football team during the 2022 season.
Amelia Rubino
Associate Director of Development
Amelia graduated from the University of North Florida with a bachelor’s degree, where she began her career in development. She serves as the liaison to the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies, working closely with alumni and donors on their advisory board, and also supports several departments within the Division of Fine Arts and Humanities. Before joining the Foundation, Amelia was a development manager for principal gifts in the University Development Office and a business services coordinator at the UNC School of Law, where she managed various volunteer boards.
Meghan Hunt
Associate Director of Development
Meghan is a 2011 UNC graduate with a B.A. in history. Prior to joining the Foundation in July 2023, she worked throughout UNC in various philanthropy positions at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, the Ackland Art Museum and the UNC Health Foundation. Most recently she worked at NC State University in the Park Scholarships program as the assistant director of development. Meghan currently serves as the liaison to the Research Laboratories of Archaeology and the departments of anthropology, economics, geography, history, and statistics and operations research. Additionally, she works with donors and alumni in Illinois, Florida, Georgia and northeastern North Carolina.
Arts and Sciences Foundation Staff Fall 2025
Kelley Traynham Associate Director of Development
Kelley graduated from UNC in 2020 with a degree in communication studies and is currently pursuing her MBA in the Jenkins program at North Carolina State University. Before joining the Foundation, she served as associate director of volunteer engagement in the University Development Office, where she advanced University priorities by fostering meaningful connections with alumni and friends through her management of boards and committees that created high-level engagement opportunities. She began her career as a communications specialist with the North Carolina Community Action Association in Raleigh, N.C.
Tina CoyneSmith
Director of External Relations for PlayMakers Repertory Company
Tina moved to a new role, director of external relations, at PlayMakers Repertory Company in April 2025. She oversees marketing, communications, and the annual fund as well as coordinates with a development liaison at the Foundation. Prior to that, she served as the director of development and prospect management and director of the annual fund from December 2005 to April 2025 at the Arts and Sciences Foundation. Tina has worked in development at Carolina since 1996 and has served in various fundraising capacities, including frontline fundraiser, grant writer, director of external relations, membership and program director, and board management. She also served in development positions at the Nasher Museum of Art, Ackland Art Museum, Kenan-Flagler Business School and the Dental Foundation of North Carolina. Tina earned an M.A. in English from the College of William and Mary and a B.A. in English from Loyola University Maryland.
Anna Fletcher
PlayMakers Assistant Director of Annual Giving
Anna is a 2019 Appalachian State University graduate with a B.S. in public relations. She began her current annual giving role with PlayMakers Repertory Company in August 2025 but was also part of the Foundation’s annual giving team from 2019 to 2020, starting as an annual giving intern and moving up to assistant director of annual giving shortly after. From 2021 to 2024, she held roles in corporate brand marketing with Spoonflower and social media management with the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Anna leads the comprehensive strategy and execution of the annual giving program at PlayMakers.
Gina Moser Development Coordinator
for the Institute for the Arts and Humanities
As a key liaison with the Arts and Sciences Foundation, Gina is responsible for fundraising administrative support, weekly stewardship, donor communications and advisory board relations for the Institute for the Arts and Humanities. Prior to arriving at the IAH, Gina worked in corporate settings. With a B.A. in art history, she desperately missed the world of the arts. She loves that she can now utilize her skills and experience to support an organization whose mission matches her own ideology of using the arts and humanities to help move society forward. In conjunction with her work at the IAH, Gina is pursuing her Master of Business Administration.
Arts and Sciences Foundation Staff
Fall
2025
Jake West Assistant Director of Communications and Development of Honors Carolina
Jake spearheads initiatives to enhance Honors Carolina’s visibility, strengthen donor relationships and drive innovative engagement strategies that resonate with a diverse community of supporters. With extensive experience in strategic communication, nonprofit leadership and operational excellence, he excels in crafting dynamic digital platforms, designing impactful giving strategies and executing comprehensive marketing campaigns that fuel growth. A graduate of Binghamton University with dual B.A.s in sociology and statistics, Jake is currently furthering his expertise as a student of UNC’s MPA program.
OPERATIONS AND STRATEGY TEAM
Erin Schwie Langston Senior Director and Vice President
for Foundation Operations and Strategy
Erin earned a Bachelor of Arts in the College Scholars Program, with an emphasis on international studies, from the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tennessee and a Master of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While serving as an assistant vice president at the UNC System Office, she managed the enrollment growth funding model with the Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) and implemented the University Advancement Shared Services plan with the 17 constituent institutions across the state. She has over two decades of experience in higher education, government and consulting, supporting the Foundation’s work since January 2023.
Ali
Blue
Development Data Analyst
A native of Hemet, California, Ali received a B.A. in anthropology from California State University, Fullerton. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2017, she worked in the nonprofit patient advocacy and financial education sectors. In her current role at the Foundation, Ali collaborates closely with the development team to conduct prospect research and data analysis, providing strategic insights and actionable recommendations to inform business decisions.
Katy Galbraith Business Services Coordinator
Katy graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a B.A. in English and from Madison Area Technical College with an associate’s degree in accounting. Prior to joining the Foundation in January 2015, she worked as the fulfillment team lead for a small nonprofit company that designs and implements energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. Katy has been in her current role since spring 2024.
Arts and Sciences Foundation Staff
Fall 2025
Abby Coleman Director of Donor Engagement and Events
Abby is a graduate of Wingate University with a B.S. in communications (public relations). She joined the Foundation as the director of donor engagement and events in March 2024. Prior to that, she served as the events manager at The Hunt Institute, where she managed over 20 regional and national events. Abby brings a breadth of knowledge and experience in planning special events, event management and execution through her time at various universities and nonprofits in North Carolina. She is excited to be back at the Foundation and will lead the development and execution of an annual events strategy that aligns with the Foundation’s development objectives, grow alumni engagement and increase fundraising for the College.
David Driscoll Foundation Accountant
David is a graduate of Kenyon College (Ohio) with a B.A. in history. Before joining the Arts and Sciences Foundation, he was an accountant in sponsored research at the UNC School of Medicine. Prior to coming to North Carolina, David worked in a variety of positions at universities in Washington, D.C. (Georgetown, George Washington and American). With professional experience in rights management for the Motion Picture Association, David has also held a variety of roles in film criticism and sports broadcasting, officiating, and operations, including locally with UNC Athletics and Athletic Communications.
ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM
Genell Lyons Assistant to Assistant Vice Chancellor and Administrative Supervisor
Genell joined the Foundation in November 2015. She is a 2002 graduate of Elizabeth City State University with a B.S. in business administration and a minor in administrative services. Prior to joining the Foundation, she worked as an administrative assistant for more than 25 years at Elizabeth City State University, TCOM (an airship manufacturing company) and as a civilian employee with the U.S. Coast Guard in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. At TCOM, she also worked as a quality assurance inspector and a manufacturing technician. Genell is responsible for leading the administrative team and supporting the chief development officer of the College.
Andrew Jackson Events and Alumni Engagement Associate
Born and raised in Sarasota, Florida, Andrew moved to North Carolina to pursue his education, earning a Bachelor of Arts in political science and a Master of Public Administration from North Carolina Central University. Following graduation, he discovered a passion for connecting with people and creating impact in the public sector. His career path has since spanned across health care and higher education, where he has developed a strong foundation in relationship-building, program development and strategic engagement. With this multifaceted background, Andrew brings creativity, strategic thinking and interpersonal expertise to the Foundation team. Prior to joining the Foundation in July 2024, he held positions with UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and UNC School of Medicine.
Arts and Sciences Foundation Staff
Fall 2025
Sophia Gillette
Administrative Support Associate
Sophia is a 2022 graduate of North Carolina State University with a B.A. in political science. Prior to joining the Arts and Sciences Foundation, Sophia worked in fundraising and communications for several political campaigns, as well as a nonprofit based out of Wyoming.
Nela Parsons
Administrative Support Specialist
Nela received her B.S. in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in August 2025. Nela holds three associate’s degrees from Alamance Community College in business administration, accounting and marketing. Nela has worked in different accounting departments and administration positions over several industries, including at Alamance Community College, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Alan-Michael Chunn
Administrative Support Associate
Alan-Michael is a 2023 graduate of North Carolina State University with a B.A. in political science. Prior to joining the Foundation in September 2023, Alan-Michael interned on an N.C. Supreme Court Justice campaign, assisting with donor outreach and event planning while finishing his bachelor’s degree. In his role at the Foundation, he assists directors of development in preparation for their fundraising trips and donor briefings. Alan-Michael is currently pursuing a master’s in public administration at UNCChapel Hill.
Kate Harrington
Administrative Coordinator, UDO Schools and Units
Kate graduated from UNC Charlotte in 2020 with a B.S.B.A. in international business and a minor in Japanese. Prior to joining the Foundation, she worked as an administrative coordinator at the UNC Charlotte Office of Education Abroad. During her time there, she assisted with various administrative tasks to support study abroad at Charlotte. This role sparked a love of working in higher education and a deep appreciation for international education. Kate is excited to parlay her experience from her previous role and continue her professional journey in higher education at Chapel Hill.
2025 SEED PROGRA
CATALYZING BREAKTHROUG DISCIPLINES
Office of Research and Innovation
Introduction
The CAS Seed Funding Program is a strategic initiative aimed at catalyzing new ideas and advancing visibility of scholarly and creative work within the College of Arts and Sciences.
What is it?
The college’s first internal program aimed at supporting faculty in ALL departments focused on:
• Humanistic and Scientific Research
• Creative Work (Art, Music, Theater)
• Community Engagement & Impact
• Social Change & Footprint
Why was it established? Award Basics
• To Enhance Collaboration, Research, and Scholarship in the Arts, Humanities, Natural and Social Sciences
• Offer development and advancement capabilities for new and existing ideas, projects, and scholarly activities
• To drive the successful execution of proposals and awards beyond UNC
Award Amount: up to $25,000
Eligibility: Open to all CAS faculty with a primary appointment in the college
UNC Food Waste Working Group: A Collaborative Initiative Bridging Campus and Community Research & Efforts to Reduce Food Waste and Enhance Food Redistribution
Creating a national model with scalable solutions that reduce surplus food and redirect it to those in need. An effort aimed to inspire similar initiatives at other universities and in communities across North Carolina and beyond.
Tracy Bersley , Dramatic Art
Dramatic Healing: Using Actor Training to Develop Mental Health Strategies for Underserved North Carolina Residents
A new interdisciplinary study bridging the worlds of theater and mental health by investigating the impacts of acting on the nervous system, uncovering how performers regulate stress after emotionally intense performances. Research aimed to develop sustainable, non-clinical emotional regulation and recovery techniques that can be integrated into North Carolina schools, community theater, and wellness programs.
Katya Pertsova, Linguistics
Deconstructing Deception: a linguistically informed approach to enhancing LLMs’ understanding of logical fallacies
Harnessing the power of advanced AI language models to decode hidden tactics behind propaganda and deceptive speech. Research will pave the way for AI-generated explanations and fact-checking tools that enhance public media literacy and understanding of persuasive misinformation.
ON THE RADAR: NON - SELECTED PROJECTS
Equity and Community Well -being
• Latinx Maternal Health: Building research networks and advocating to improve maternal health outcomes in North Carolina Latinx communities
• Jewish Scholars in the Jim Crow South: Revealing powerful stories of solidarity and resistance among Jews and Blacks in the 1930s and 40s
Mental Health and Emotional
Resilience
• Green Canopies: A documentary film that explores nature-based healing “ecotherapy” to combat trauma and mental illness
• Voice & SEL: Examining the connection between the speaking voice “vocal expression” and social/emotional learning
Humanities Reimagined
and
• International Xenophon Conference: Convening of experts to examine the connection between ancient Economic Thought and Modern Economic Challenges
• CHORUS Project: Gaining cognitive insights into ancient Greek and Roman theatre audiences
• Juvenilia Anthology: Elevating a digital collection of unpublished and unknown youth-created literary texts (1400 - 1930s)
• Festival on the Hill: Celebrating North Carolinian visionary voices through music and dialogue
• AI & Student Success: Interdisciplinary research on AI’s role in enabling or hindering learning
• Language Learning Motivation: Using a new “Vignette-based” approach to assess and reignite interest in global languages
• Demographic Change & Narrative: Merging data and storytelling to study population trends that shape public policy and societal outcomes.
NATURAL SCIEN MATHEMATICS
AWARDEE SPOTLIGHT
Jason Franz, BME
Protecting Knee Cartilage: A Biomechanical Strategy to Reduce Osteoarthritis Progression
Investigating how everyday walking patterns may accelerate joint damage in people with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). A study using advanced imaging and motion analysis to uncover a non-invasive, biomechanical solution that could significantly reduce knee stress and delay or even prevent the need for joint replacement surgery.
Scott Gifford, EMES
Detecting Microbes from Space: Integrating Genomics and Satellite Observations to Understand Microbial Impacts on North Carolina’s Freshwater Ecosystems.
Pioneering a new approach to water quality management by integrating remote satellite sensing with advanced microbial and genomic analysis. A project generating scalable, predictive tools to help scientists and water managers detect harmful algal blooms and assess ecosystem health across North Carolina’s freshwater reservoirs with greater accuracy.
Parul Johri, Biology
Developing
An Evolutionary
Baseline Model of Genetic Variation in Malaria Parasites
An evolutionary baseline model tailored to Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for millions of malaria deaths each year. By analyzing pre-populated genome data and investigating host populations, Johri’s lab seeks to identify parasitic drug-resistant gene patterns to improve global efforts to track, treat, and control the spread of malaria.
AWARDEE SPOTLIGHT
Amy Maddox, Biology
Defining the Structural Underpinnings of a Paradigm Shift in Cytoskeleton -Membrane Coupling
Redefining scientific understanding of cell processes by uncovering the roles of septin proteins and their highresolution structures. A project using novel technology (nanodiscs), advanced imaging, and molecular tools to answer long-standing questions in cell biology and open new avenues for diagnosing and treating diseases such as cancer and infertility.
Karin Pfennig, Biology
Bringing Behavior Back From The Dead: Using ‘Ancient DNA’ To Infer Behavior of the Past
Pioneering a groundbreaking method to derive animal behavior that influenced adaptation, survival, and extinction from the past, using genetic markers linked in living animals. A bold approach designed to unlock behavioral secrets of extinct species and revolutionize the study and understanding of evolution, ecology, and biodiversity across time.
ON THE RADAR: NON - SELECTED PROJECTS
Health, Behavior, and Biomedical Sciences
• Heart Disease in Females: Using single-nucleus RNA sequencing to investigate the role of X-linked genes and women’s cardiovascular disease disparities
• ADHD & Dopamine Function: Noninvasive imaging of striatal iron to assess adolescent brain development and ADHD-related behaviors and outcomes
• Brain Aneurysm Risk: Real-time EEG monitoring via smartphones for early detection
• Aneurysm Prediction: Integrative biomechanical modeling to assess arterial rupture risk in patients with vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (vEDS)
• Pulse Oximeter Bias: Developing next-gen devices to mitigate skin pigmentation bias in blood oxygen saturation (SpO₂) readings
• Intraoperative Hemorrhage Imaging: Optimizing multisource cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) for surgical guidance and hemorrhage detection
• Bed Bug Microbiomes: Characterizing pathogens in hospital-collected bed bugs for public health insights
Chemistry and Molecular Systems
• Battery Electrochemistry for Organic Synthesis: Improving the sustainability and controllability of switchable enzyme-like systems
Environment and Ecology
• Oyster Mortality Detection : Using Vibrio mediterranei (microscopy technique) as a bioindicator to support shellfish industry resilience
• Subsurface Flow Detection: Enhancing sensitivity of electric double layer sensors to investigate geological reservoir flows critical for CO₂ sequestration monitoring. oil and gas production, and geothermal applications
• Antidepressants in Waterways: Evaluating the exposure and metabolic effects of antidepressants found in North Carolina lakes and rivers on Zebrafish, as they pose a risk to humans
ON THE RADAR: NON - SELECTED PROJECTS
Artificial Intelligence and Data Science
• Personalization Bias in LLMs: Mitigating unsafe, stereotypical response mechanisms and outputs based on different demographic groups using AI virtual assistants, conversational AI, and recommendation systems
• Secure AI via Interpretability: Developing defense strategies to enhance AI security by detecting and resisting backdoor attacks in Machine Learning (ML) models
• LLM Search Behavior: Studying user cognition in exploratory information search and document-based information retrieval using Large Language Model (LLM) chatbots
• Athlete Wearable Data: Developing transparent, widely adopted AI-driven models to correlate movement patterns and performance outcomes.
• Polynomial Optimization: Establishing smarter, faster algorithms to solve complex mathematical problems that improve convergence rates and computational performance
Physical Sciences, Space, and
Quantum Technologies
• Quantum State Transfer: Creating a device to control magnetic waves that unlocks new quantum state variables, potentially revolutionizing data encoding and advancing materials research
• Next Generation Brain Imaging: Optimizing a multisource CT or CBCT scanner to deliver clearer, faster, and accessible imaging for early or intraoperative brain hemorrhage detection
• Phantom Dark Energy: Investigating the nature of phantom dark energy and its theoretical link to time crystals to advance understanding of cosmic expansion and fundamental physics
• Skynet Radio Astronomy Tools: Enhancing one of the world’s largest robotic telescope networks by developing data pipelines and web tools to process and share new radio astronomy datasets globally
Community Health
Social Impact
• Youth Reintegration Program: Designing and implementing an evidence-based, family support program for justice-involved youth experiencing substance abuse and mental health challenges
• Existential Reflection in Digital Spaces: Investigating how structured digital experiences that foster existential reflection and social connection can promote meaningful engagement and prosocial behavior online
SOCIALSCIENCES & GLOBALPROGRAMS
AWARDEE SPOTLIGHT
Samba Camara, AAAD
Preserving and Sharing African Hip -Hop Media History in Carolina: A Pilot Project in Senegal
Creating a digitized archive that preserves the rich history of Senegalese hip-hop and the cultural legacy of marginalized African artists, featuring rare song manuscripts, concert footage, interviews, and geographical maps. The development of an open-access multimedia website will engage global audiences and spotlight African digital humanities and enrich Carolina’s curriculum internationalization.
Jocelyn Chua, Anthropology
Fishy Remedies: A Mixed -Methods Study of Self -Medication with Fish Antibiotics, Socioeconomic Inequality, and Medical Mistrust in Rural North Carolina
Investigating the underrecognized practice of self-medication with over-the-counter fish antibiotics in southern North Carolina, raising urgent concerns about unregulated drug use and high rates of antimicrobial resistance. Ethnographic research and chemical analysis will help guide effective, community-based approaches to antimicrobial stewardship and address gaps in current public health strategies.
Morgan Hoke, Anthropology
Refining Methods for Examining the Role of Social Media in Complementary Feeding Decision -Making & Parental Stress Among North Carolina Parents: A Pilot Study
Examining the influence of social media on shaping parental decision-making, feeding practices, and stress levels during the complementary feeding period. Research aimed to influence evidence-based public health interventions that reduce parental anxiety and improve infant nutrition outcomes.
ON THE RADAR: NON - SELECTED PROJECTS
Cultural Heritage and Human Experience
• GIRLS FLY Drone Project: Training women in drone certification and visual storytelling that reflects their ideas, values, and experiences
• Mapping Southeast Asian/American Experience in NC: Creating a publicly accessible digital map of cultural and historical sites
• Re-Mapping the histories of humans and animals : Investigating 10,000 years of humananimal relationships in Türkiye to create a comprehensive record of hunting, animal management, and multispecies co-residence.
• Wood Matters: A cross-cultural study of wood management and recycling in China and the U.S.
Digital and Public Works Climate, Environment, and Resiliency
• Joachim of Fiore’s Book of Figures: A globally accessible digital edition and translation of a medieval apocalyptic manuscript
• Folkstreams Migration Project: Modernizing a digital archive of American folklore documentaries and offering digital stewardship training for grad students
• LIMN Publishing Initiative: Advancing open-access, scholar-led publishing at UNC at the interface of tech, politics, and contemporary life
• Cryptic Carbon in Stream Ecosystems: Evaluating non-photosynthetic carbon’s role in aquatic food webs.
• Saltwater Intrusion in Coastal NC Agriculture: Mapping climate-driven impacts on farming and adaptation strategies.
• Urban Heat Stress Modeling with Deep Learning: Enhancing microclimate models for pedestrian thermal exposure.
• Citizen Science Mapping of Heat Exposure: Developing high-resolution Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) maps for urban North Carolina.
• CHWs and Climate Emergency Response: Strengthening disaster preparedness strategies for Latino community health workers (CHWs) in North Carolina.
ON THE RADAR: NON - SELECTED PROJECTS
Health and Racial Identity Governance, Labor, and Social Policy Network Analysis
• Correcting Misinformation on Racial Wealth
Inequality: Testing historical-context interventions to shift public opinion
• Identification Timing for Students with Disabilities: A mixed-method study examining how timing affects outcomes and equity in special education
• Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Racial Hierarchy: Developing a grid-based survey tool to investigate neighborhood preferences around race and firearms
• Government Debt and Taxation in Ghana: Investigating citizen perceptions and evidence of fiscal policy and debt.
• Urban Development and Governance Dataset: Building a historical database of municipal officials in U.S. cities.
• Noncompete Agreements in Healthcare: Studying physician labor mobility and healthcare competition
• Race and Politics Dialogue Among NC Students: Exploring student perspectives and experiences through interviews and experimental training
• Causal Micro Macro Network Analysis: Developing statistical methods to analyze how individual social interactions shape broader network structures
• Relational Databases and AI tools: Building a scalable relational database management system and interactive dashboard platform to assess North Carolina’s innovation ecosystems
Research Seed Funding Program Biographies
Dr. Kelly Giovanello, Senior Associate Dean, Research & Innovations
Dr. Kelly Giovanello works closely with the senior associate deans in the College and with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovate Carolina, the UNC Institute for Convergent Science and other units throughout the University to support College faculty and Carolina’s research mission as an R1 university. This position serves all parts of the College, including the natural sciences, social sciences and arts and humanities.
Giovanello is the Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Term Professor in the department of psychology and neuroscience and has been a member of the Carolina faculty since 2006. She brings a wealth of multidisciplinary collaborative research experience to this position.
A neuroscientist whose research uses behavioral, patient-based and functional neuroimaging approaches to investigate the neural basis of human memory, Giovanello has used several research cores at the UNC Biomedical Research Imaging Center (BRIC), including human MRI, radiochemistry and radiopharmacy, and has collaborated with faculty from the schools of medicine, pharmacy and public health as well as across the College. She previously served as co -associate director of BRIC, where she gained valuable experience as to how research cores operate, the challenges research cores face, and creative solutions and opportunities for resolving those challenges.
Dr. Jason Franz, Professor and Director of the UNC Applied Biomechanics Laboratory
Dr. Franz joined UNC in 2015 after completing his NIH (National Institutes of Health)
Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on mobility among aging populations as well as disease -related mobility impairments. More recently, Dr. Franz is co-leading a collaborative effort between the Lampe Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering (Lampe BME) at UNC- Chapel Hill and NC State University, the Department of Orthopedics at the UNC School of Medicine, and the University of Delaware. Thanks to a 3-million- dollar R01 grant from the NIH, this cohort of faculty will be conducting research to study personalized treatments for patients with Achilles tendinopathy. Aside from his research, Dr. Franz also teaches Mechanics and Biomechanics of Movement courses for the Lampe BME.
Dr. Kelly Alexander, Assistant Professor at the UNC Department of American Studies and George B. Tindall Fellow
Prior to joining academia, Dr. Alexander began her career in journalism. She worked at both Food and Wine and Saveur Magazines, during which she was awarded the James Beard Award in journalism. Dr. Alexander returned to the classroom at Duke University, where she received both an M.A. and PhD in cultural anthropology. While she was at Duke, she began teaching courses which eventually led to her joining UNC- Chapel Hill’s Department of American Studies. Her research focuses on the cultural value of food, studying how it informs various cultural touchstones and history, as well as everyday life. Dr. Alexander has continued her journalistic pursuits alongside her academic career, writing for publications such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Vogue. She currently teaches a variety of different courses related to Food Studies.
Tracy Bersley, Resident Movement Coach, Choreographer, and Intimacy Coach for PlayMakers Repertory Company and Head of Movement and Associate Professor at the UNC Department of Dramatic Art
Tracy joined UNC in 2016, specializing in movement-based theater, and has been a member of PlayMakers for nine seasons. She received her M.F.A. in Directing from Syracuse University and has held faculty positions at various institutions such as New York University, Yale University, and Princeton University. Outside of the classroom, she has a breadth of experience directing and choreographing various off-Broadway and regional stage productions Some credits include directing/ choreographing PlayMakers’ 2018 production of Cabaret, directing PlayMakers’ 2024 production of Murder on the Orient Express, and choreographing The Julliard School’s 2018 production of Romeo and Juliet. Tracy is also a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.
Arts and Sciences Foundation
Board of Directors Meeting UNC Arts and Sciences Foundation Development and Campaign Planning Report
Saturday, October 4, 2025
FY25 Q4 Foundation Focus Areas Updates
• Rebuild and Expand Team—Launch Searches and Fill Positions
• Close Gifts by June 30, 2025
• Expand Pipeline for FY26 and Beyond
• Advance “Big Win” Gift Conversations
• Hone Campaign Messaging and Priorities
Arts and Sciences Foundation Team
Updates
New Hires and Promotions
• Lizzy Andrews, Annual Giving Intern
• Kate Harrington, Administrative Coordinator
• Sarah Hester, Donor Relations and Communications Specialist
• Molly House, Assistant Director of Annual Giving
* April 2025-October 2025
Arts and Sciences Foundation Team Updates
New Hires and Promotions (Cont’d)
• Casey Saussy, Director of Development
• Kelley Traynham, Associate Director of Development
• Layla Tremalio, Senior Director of Development and Assistant Vice President
• Mike Walsh, Senior Director of Development and Assistant Vice President
* April 2025-October 2025
FY25 Arts and Sciences Foundation Goals Report
New Commitments
Goal: $70M Total: $55.1M*
Arts and Sciences Fund
Goal: $2M Total: $2.37M (new record)
Stewardship Reports
Goal: 1,000+ Total: 1,100+
*Several large gifts were pushed to FY26.
Arts and Sciences Foundation Commitments by Quarter
Arts and Sciences Foundation Commitments
Quarter FY15 To FY26 22 September 2025
Arts and Sciences Foundation (Non-)Conforming Commitments
$3,000,000
$2,750,000
$2,500,000
$2,250,000
$2,000,000
$1,750,000
$1,500,000
Arts and Sciences Fund Revenue
The Arts and Sciences Fund FY15-FY26 Revenue (As of 17 September 2025)
FY26 Arts and Sciences Foundation Goals (pending vote)
New Commitments: $60M
Arts and Sciences Fund: $2.4M
Stewardship Reports: 1,100+
FY26 Fundraising Goal Tracking
NEW COMMITMENTS
FY26 GOAL: $60,000,000
$14,085,862
TO RAISE: $45,914,138
ARTS AND SCIENCES FUND
FY26 GOAL: $2,400,000
TOTAL RAISED: $268,358
NEED TO RAISE: $2,131,642
* As of Sept. 22, 2025 (Fiscal Year July 1 – June 30, 2025)
FY26 Fundraising Pipeline
PROGRESS TO DATE
FY26 GOAL: $60,000,000
TOTAL RAISED: $14,085,862 NEED TO RAISE: $45,914,138
PIPELINE QUALIFIED: $79,916,759 BIG WINS: $82,700,000
* As of Sept. 22, 2025 (Fiscal Year July 1 – June 30, 2025)
College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Boards
1. Carolina Public Humanities (CPH)
2. Carolina Center for Jewish Studies
3. Deans’ Arts and Sciences Leadership Council
4. Honors Carolina
5. Institute for the Arts and Humanities (IAH)
6. PlayMakers Repertory Company
7. Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship
8. Writing and Learning Center
FY26 Q2-Q4 Foundation Focus Areas
• Expand Team—Launch Searches and Fill Positions
• Close Gifts by June 30, 2026
• Expand Pipeline for FY26 and Beyond
• Advance “Big Win” Gift Conversations
• Hone Campaign Messaging and Priorities
Campaign
for Carolina: Philanthropic Impact
College of Arts and Sciences Highlights
• $764.2M Raised, Exceeding $750M Goal
• 37,000 Alumni and Friends Donated o Including 10,631 First-Time Donors and 3,716 Faculty and Staff
• 19.4% of total was given by Current and Former Directors of the Arts and Sciences Foundation Board
Campaign for Carolina: Philanthropic Impact (cont'd) College of Arts and Sciences Highlights
• $314M Programs, $258M Faculty, $136M Undergraduate Students, and $55M Graduate Students
• $693M Restricted and $71M Unrestricted
• $497M Cash and Pledges and $267M Planned Gifts
• Median Gift: $200
Campaign Planning: Initial College Framework Framework
1. Igniting a Liberal Arts Renaissance
• Superlative Educational Foundation
2. Preparing Graduates for Work and World
• Unparalleled Student Support
3. Fueling a Better Future
• World-Renowned Faculty, Research, and Facilities
Priceless Gems Building on Existing Gems and Creating New Gems
Campaign Planning: Timeline
Campaign Planning: Phases
Campaign Planning: Chancellor’s Initial Focus Areas
Campaign Planning: Next Steps
University-Wide
• Continue Refining Chancellor’s Priorities
• Weave Together University and School and Unit Priorities
• Develop Outward Facing Collateral
• Create Agile Case Statements
• Establish Campaign Leadership
Campaign Planning: Next Steps
College of Arts and Sciences
• Continue Honing College Priorities
• Create Compelling One Pagers
• Develop Elevator Pitch
• Establish Campaign Goal
Ways You Can Help the College of Arts and Sciences
1. Make annual gifts, multi-year pledges, and planned gifts
2. Review lists of alumni and make introductions
3. Recommend people to serve on the Foundation Board or one of the College’s advisory boards
4. Join development officers for meetings
5. Host an event for Dean White or College leaders
6. Recommend candidates to join the Foundation team
THANK YOU!
ADVISORY BOARD ROSTERS
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
FALL 2025
ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Susan A. Alesina
Jacob Bacharach (Treasurer ex officio)
Douglas B. Biggs
Caroline “Carrie” C. Branwell
Virginia L. Cardenas
Eva Chess
Thomas C. Chubb III (Past Chair)
Touré S. Claiborne
Dorothea “Dory” J. Clark
Anne H.C. Collins (President ex officio)
Rose C. Crawford
Louise “Weezie” Townsend Duckett
Robert L. Edwards, Jr.
Elizabeth Engelhardt (Sr. Assoc. Dean ex officio)
Matthew M. Guest
Rita R. Hanes
Lisa G. Huffines
Lorraine D. Huschle
Daniel J. Kelly
David M. Knott, Jr.
Lee L. Loughran
Alexander D. McLean (Vice Chair)
Christie C. McNeill
Charles H. Mercer Jr.
Pamela D. Parker
Blake L. Pike
Ashley E. Reid (Chair)
Jennifer S. Rich
Maribeth Robinson
Bimal R. Shah
Jason K. Shroff
Kenneth G. Smith
Sterling A. Spainhour, Jr.
Ashley B. Watson
James W.C. White (Dean ex officio)
CAROLINA PUBLIC HUMANITIES ADVISORY BOARD
Margaret D. Avery
Kathryn M. Banas (ex officio)
Sandra C. Clark
Howard L. Davis Jr.
Russell S. Edmister
Elizabeth S. Engelhardt (ex officio)
Sarah S. Geer (Chair)
Samuel S. Jackson
Dianne J. Jackson
Eric L. Johnson (ex officio)
Ann W. Lemmon (Vice Chair)
John F. McQuade
Natasha Miller
William M. Moore, Jr. (ex officio)
Catherine H. Nichols (ex officio)
Regina Oliver
Chrystal D. Regan
Joseph A. Ritok (ex officio)
James M. Schnell
Linda J. Staunch
Malchus Watlington
James W.C. White (ex officio)
James E. Williams Jr.
Alexander B. Wright
Thomas C. Zietlow
CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES ADVISORY BOARD
Gerald D. Cohen
Joshua L. Evans
Jonathan A. Friedman
Marc S. Hennes
Michael I. Jacobson
Samuel D. Jacobson
David S. Kaplan
Robert A. Manekin
Jeffrey G. Richek
Patricia Rosenmeyer (ex officio)
Laura A. Schaffer
David A. Shapiro
Daniel W. Singer (Chair)
Eric R. Sklut
Hannah Spinrad (ex officio)
Caitlin F. Steiger (Co-Chair)
Rachel M. Uhlman
James W.C White (ex officio)
Kristin A.K. White
DEAN’S ARTS AND SCIENCES LEADERSHIP COUNCIL
William P. Aiken, Jr.
Rashmi Airan
Scott F. Bass
Matthew T. Beam
Lana M. Bridges Phillips
Scott M. Brisson
Jay H. Bryson
Helen N. Byrd
Maribel Carrion
Janet L. Chess (Chair)
Joseph W. Dorn
Samuel C. Duckett
Shana L. Fulton
Emi S. Gragnani
Susan G. Gross
Gaffney W. Gunter II
Sarat C. Koneru
Leon O. Livingston
William P. Logan
Carol S. Lutz
Grace Mercer Schott
Kerbie M. Neal
Willard J. Overlock III
Andrew C. Pike
Mebane H. Pulliam
Jason T. Rein
Rashmi K. Shah
Leigh H. Shultz
Ferebee B. Taube
Robert W. Teele
Caroline S. Vroon
Malchus Watlington
Elijah White Jr.
Harold A. Winters II
Harold Woodard
Matthew A. Young
PLAYMAKERS ADVISORY COUNCIL
Betsy Blackwell (Vice Chair)
Patrick C. Brennan
Jennifer Cannizzaro
Deborah Gerhardt
Susan Gross
Amy Guskiewicz
C. Hawkins
Zach Howell
Lillian Jenks
Duncan Lascelles
Stuart Lascelles
HONORS CAROLINA ADVISORY BOARD
Subha L. Airan-Javia
Min Lee Alexander
Greg A. Baer
Ibrez R. Bandukwala
Richard D. Batchelder
Kevin J. Clark
Michael F. Coyne
Rose C. Crawford (Co-Chair)
Sara V. Devereux
Crystal Y. Downs
Steven S. Dunlevie Jr.
Michael J. Egan III
Luke E. Fichthorn IV
Benjamin D. Fooshee
Jacob Henry Froelich III
Seve M. Gaskin
Kristin S. Gilbert
James S. Gold
Brian P. Golson (Co-Chair)
Peter T. Grauer (Chair Emeritus)
Rashard L. Green
James T. Hedrick, Jr.
Dominque L. Hill Sr.
Christopher H. Hunter
Graig R. Meyer
Julie Morris
Paula Noell Jodi
Patalano
Diane Robertson
Haley Swindal
Jackie Tanner (Chair)
Michael L. Wiley
Ford S. Worthy
Kristin L. Irish
Nirav D. Kachalia
Kelly J. Landreth
Miriam S. McLemore
James E. Miles III
Jane S. Molster
Kimberly G. Morgan
Chad R. Pike
William H. Riddle Jr.
Miiko Rowley
Jean M. Salisbury
Jay W. Sammons
Rina K. Shah
Jared D. Sokolsky
Nan J. Teele
J. Stanley Tucker
Robert M. Turner
George A. Webster Jr.
Roger D. Werner
INSTITUTE FOR THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES ADVISORY BOARD
Lee Burrows
John B. Buxton
Philip Robin Charles-Pierre
Phillip L. Clay
Brent Michael Comstock
Peter E. Diaz
Catherine T. Edwards
Mary Fieger Flanagan
Buck Goldstein (Lifetime Member)
Julia S. Grumbles
Harold P. Hope III
Barbara Hyde (Lifetime Member)
Sarah E. Kahn
Michael D. Kennedy
William A. Keyes IV
Neil V. King III
John Miles Lamont
Karol V. Mason
Lane Morris McDonald
Deborah Penley Miller
James C. Moeser
Walker Morris
Allen S. Moseley (Chair)
John O’Hara Jr. (Lifetime Member)
Alfred C. Perry
Roger Perry (Lifetime Member)
Nelson Schwab III (Lifetime Member)
Susan T. Scott
Sherwood Smith (Lifetime Member)
Brian Grover Strong
Reyna S. Walters-Morgan
Amanda Giannini Watlington
John R. Wickham (Lifetime Member)
Margaret Williams
Caroline C. Williamson (Lifetime Member)
Sandra Fay Wilson
Walker Armfield Wilson
Michael F. Yelverton
THE WRITING AND LEARNING CENTER ADVISORY BOARD
Kimberly R. Bolton
Beverly F. Briggs
Diane Allison G. Chapman
Mary Latta Chapman
Elizabeth M. England
Marilyn M. Friddle
Laura B. Grace
Margaret H. Griffin
Alexander J. Hambacher
Jennie J. Hayman (Chair)
Donovan A. Livingston
Theresa L. Maitland
Brittan G. Malek
Frances C. Mangan
Timothy C. McCoy Jr.
Catherine C. Morris
Erwin W. Morrison
Steven L. Purdy
Carol F. Robinson
Mary Beth Robinson
Michael L. Stutts
Elizabeth J. Teal
Debra W. Thornton
Eva D. Whitaker
SHUFORD PROGRAM IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP ADVISORY BOARD
Andrea D. Abraham
James G. Babb III
Gina W. Bartasi
Pooja K. Bavishi
Mary Winifred W. Bourne
Louise F. Brady
Eric D. Campbell Jr.
Daryl M. Davis
William H. DuBose Jr.
David G. Frey Jr.
Gardiner W. Garrard III
Leigh J. Goodwyn
Alexander Holderness
W. Michael Hyatt
Emily C. Kupec
Megan B. Kvamme
Dorothy S. Lanier
Kathleen K. Malik
Amanda T. Marshall
William C. Monk Jr.
Geoffrey “Kirk” V. Parker Jr.
Anup P. Patel
Dana U. Perriello (Chair)
Nikin T. Shah
James B. Shuford
Stephenson P. Shuford
Mackenzie R. Thomas
Charles “Sandy” A. Williamson
Denise G. Woodard
Michael A. Young
College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest academic unit on campus and the heart of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The College is where all first-year students begin their academic journey.
18,000+ 2,400 1,000+
Undergraduate students Graduate students Faculty members
While some students will go on to one of UNC-Chapel Hill’s outstanding professional schools with undergraduate programs, more than 80% of Carolina students will graduate with at least one major in the College. The College is also home to nearly 2,400 graduate students, who deepen their education, advance research and scholarship, and share their knowledge with the campus community and beyond.
More than 80% of Carolina students will graduate with at least one major in the College.
TEACHING AT CAROLINA
College of Arts and Sciences faculty teach the overwhelming majority of undergraduate credit hours at Carolina.
RESEARCH
Carolina is the 9th largest research university in the United States.
$1.55 BILLION
Carolina conducts $1.55B in research activity each year.
$1 BILLION +
JAMES W.C. WHITE
Craver Family Dean
@jim-wc-white
@JamesWCWhite
Students who pursue an arts and sciences degree from the College set themselves up for a lifetime of success and a passion for learning. They develop collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problem-solving skills in preparation for wherever their lives lead them.
Our faculty are world-renowned experts in their fields and have been recognized for outstanding research, teaching and engagement in the fine arts and humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and mathematics. The College’s strength is our interdisciplinary approach to teaching, research and public service spanning both the arts and sciences.
I am proud to be part of this community of outstanding scholars in the College and across Carolina.
SUPPORT FOR THE COLLEGE
The Arts and Sciences Foundation raises philanthropic support for the highest development priorities of the College of Arts and Sciences. The Foundation has grown to manage nearly $500 million in endowed funds and College students, faculty and programs benefit from an additional $844 million in endowed funds from the UNC-Chapel Hill Endowment and the UNC-Chapel Hill Foundation. On average, over the past three years, more than 12,000 donors give to the College annually.
Carolina attracts more than $1B to North Carolina’s economy to fund research that creates a better quality of life for North Carolinians.
$125 MILLION
Faculty in the College received $125M in research funding in FY25, making the College the 3rd largest research enterprise at Carolina.
U
ARTICLE I OFFICES
BYLAWS OF THE
NIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL
ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION, INCORPORATED REVISED EFFECTIVE FEBRUARY 20, 2025
Section 1. Registered Office
Section 2. Other Offices
ARTICLE II MEMBERSHIP
ARTICLE III BOARDOFDIRECTORS
Section 1. General Powers
Section 2. Number, Tenure, and Qualification
Section 3. Chair and Vice Chair of the Board
Section 4. Duties
Section 5. Regular Meetings
Section 6. Substitute Annual Meetings
Section 7. Special Meeting
Section 8. Notice of Meetings
Section 9. Quorum
Section 10. Voting
Section 11. Informal Action by Directors
Section 12. Resignation of Directors
Section 13. Vacancies
Section 14. Compensation of Directors
Section 15. Director’s Adverse Interest
Section 16. Certain Director Liability
ARTICLE IV OFFICERS
Section 1. Number of Officers
Section 2. Election, Term of Office and Qualifications
Section 3. Subordinate Officers and Agents
Section 4. Duties
Section 5. Removal
Section 6. Resignations
Section 7. Vacancies
Section 8. President
Section 9. Vice President
Section 10. Secretary
Section 11. Treasurer
Section 12. Executive Director
Section 13. Duties of Officers May Be Delegated
Section 14. Salaries of Officers
ARTICLE V
EXECUTIVECOMMITTEE;OTHERCOMMITTEES
Section 1. Membership
Section 2. General Powers
Section 3. Quorum
Section 4. Meetings
Section 5. Vacancies
Section 6. Nominating Committee
Section 7. Finance Committee
Section 8. Audit Committee
Section 9. Development and Communications Committee
Section 10. Other Committees
Section 11. Committee Action as Board Action
Section 12. Limitation of Powers
Section 13. Removal
ARTICLE VI
CONTRACTS, LOANS, DEPOSITS, CHECKS, DRAFTS, ETC.
Section 1. Contracts
Section 2. Loans
Section 3. Deposits
Section 4. Checks, Drafts, Etc.
Section 5. Gifts
Section 6. Audits
ARTICLE VII
PURPOSESANDPOWERS
ARTICLE VIII
GENERALPROVISIONS
Section 1. Corporate Seal
Section 2. Fiscal Year
Section 3. Waiver of Notice
Section 4. Amendment to Bylaws
Section 5. Books and Records
Section 6. Meeting Regulation
Section 7. Gender
ARTICLE IX
OFFICERANDDIRECTORINDEMNIFICATION
ARTICLE X
INSURANCE
ARTICLE XI
CONFLICTOFINTERESTTRANSACTIONS
Section 1. Definition
Section 2. Special Requirements
Section 3. Disclosure
Section 4. Approval
BYLAWS OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL
ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION, INCORPORATED
ARTICLE I
OFFICES
Section 1. Registered Office. The corporation shall have and continuously maintain in this State a registered office and a registered agent whose office is identical with such registered office. Such registered office shall be located at 134 E. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, Orange County, North Carolina, or at such other place within the State of North Carolina as may from time to time be fixed and determined by the Board of Directors.
Section 2. Other Offices. The corporation may have offices at such places, either within or outside the State of North Carolina, as the Board of Directors may from time to time determine.
ARTICLE II
MEMBERSHIP
The corporation shall have no members.
ARTICLE III
BOARDOFDIRECTORS
Section 1. General Powers. The property, affairs and business of the corporation shall be managed by the Board of Directors.
Section 2. Number, Tenure, and Qualification. The corporation shall be governed by a Board of Directors. Each Director shall be a natural person. There shall be three (3) classes of Directors, consisting of a total of thirty-three (33) elected Directors, four (4) ex-officio Directors, and such number of Emeritus Directors as shall be determined from time to time by the Board of Directors. The thirty-three (33) elected Directors shall be elected for staggered terms, as provided below, by the Board of Directors in office at the time of election. Each Director elected after April 25, 2002, shall serve a term of three (3) years. Directors elected prior to April 25, 2002, shall serve terms of one, two, or three years so that in succeeding years the terms of one-third of the elected members of the Board of Directors shall expire each year. Each elected Director shall continue in office until expiration of such Director’s three-year term and until a successor shall have been duly elected and qualified or until such Director’s death, resignation, disqualification or removal. No Director shall serve more than two (2) successive elected terms, but can be re-elected after being off the Board for at least one (1) year; provided, however, that if a Director is serving as Chair or Vice Chair of the corporation during the last year of such Director’s second successive elected term as a Director or is nominated to such position in the following year and is so elected, the Board of Directors, in its sole discretion, may elect such Director to serve for an additional one (1) or two (2) years without such extension constituting another term. Said extension, if authorized, to constitute the first year, and if applicable, the second year of a normal three-year term. Following the expiration of said one or two year term as Chair or Vice Chair, as the case may be, a new Director shall be elected by the Board of Directors to serve the remainder of said normal three-year term. The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a
Senior Associate Dean of The College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Associate Dean for Finance and Budget Management, and the Executive Director of the corporation shall serve as ex-officio members of the Board of Directors, with full voting rights. The refusal of any ex-officio member of the Board of Directors to serve shall not in any manner impede the operation of the corporation by the Board of Directors and shall not require any action by the Board of Directors with respect to the filling of such vacancy or otherwise. The Board of Directors may, in its sole discretion, select Emeritus Members of the Board of Directors. Emeritus Members of the Board of Directors shall have the right to attend all meetings of the Board of Directors but shall not have the right to vote on any matter before the Board of Directors and shall not be counted in determining the existence of a quorum at any regular or special meeting of the Board of Directors.
Section 3. Chair and Vice Chair of the Board. The Board of Directors shall have a Chair who shall be elected annually by a majority of the Directors present at the annual meeting. The Chair of the Board shall preside at all meetings of the Board of Directors, shall serve as Chair of the Executive Committee, shall appoint the chair and membership of any ad hoc committee, and shall perform such other duties as shall be assigned by the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors shall also elect a Vice Chair of the Board in the manner described above for election of the Chair The Vice Chair of the Board shall assist the Chair in the performance of the Chair’s duties and shall preside at all meetings in the Chair's absence. Neither the Chair of the Board nor any other elected member of the Board of Directors shall, by virtue of such position, participate in or supervise the day-to-day operations of the corporation, except upon the request of the President of the corporation with the concurrence of the Chair of the Board, or, if the Chair of the Board is requested to participate in or supervise such activities, the concurrence of the Board of Directors.
Section 4. Duties. Directors shall stand in a fiduciary relation to the corporation and shall discharge the duties of their respective positions in good faith, and with that diligence and care which ordinarily prudent men would exercise in similar circumstances and like positions.
Section 5. Regular Meetings. There shall be no fewer than two (2) meetings, one in the fall and one in the spring of the Board of Directors each year in Chapel Hill, North Carolina at dates and places to be set annually by the Chair. The Board of Directors may provide by resolution for the holding of such meetings at any place other than Chapel Hill, North Carolina, within or without the State of North Carolina, without other notice than such resolution. The fall meeting shall be held between September 1 and December 1 and the spring meeting between March 1 and June 1. The spring meeting shall be the regular annual meeting.
Section 6. Substitute Annual Meeting. If any regular meeting provided for by Section 5 above shall not be held during the period designated in such section, a substitute meeting may be called in the manner provided for the call of a special meeting in accordance with the provision of Section 7 of this Article III; and a substitute meeting so called shall be designated as, and shall be treated for all purposes as, a regular meeting.
Section 7. Special Meeting. Special meetings of the Board of Directors may be called by or at the request of the President or Chair of the Board or by three (3) or more of the Directors. The person or persons authorized to call special meetings of the Board may fix any reasonable place within the State of North Carolina as the place for holding such special meeting. Such persons may fix any reasonable place outside the State of North Carolina as the place for holding such special meeting if a majority of the Directors in office concurs.
Section 8. Notice of Meetings. Notice of each regular meeting of the Board of Directors shall be given at least ten (10) days prior thereto. Notice of any special meeting of the Board of Directors shall be given at least five (5) days prior thereto. Except as specifically provided below, all notices shall be in writing delivered personally or sent by mail, telecopy or telegram to each Director at such Director’s address as shown on the records of the corporation. If mailed, such notice shall be deemed to be delivered when deposited in the United States mail in a sealed envelope so addressed, with postage thereon prepaid. If notice be given by telecopy, such notice shall be deemed to be delivered when transmitted to the Director at such Director’s telecopy number as shown on the records of the corporation. If notice be given by telegram, such notice shall be deemed to be delivered when the telegram is delivered to the telegraph company. Any Director may waive notice of any meeting. The attendance of a Director at any meeting shall constitute a waiver of notice of such meeting, except where a Director attends a meeting for the express purpose of objecting to the transaction of any business because the meeting is not lawfully called or convened. Neither the business to be transacted at, nor the purpose of, any regular or special meeting of the Board need be specified in the notice or waiver of notice of such meeting, unless specifically required by law or by these bylaws. In the event action by the Board of Directors cannot reasonably be postponed to allow for the giving of five (5) days’ written notice of a special meeting, notice may be given by telephone or telecopy at least twenty-four (24) hours prior thereto, and such notice shall be deemed adequate notice of such meeting for the purpose of taking such action.
Section 9. Quorum. The presence of a majority of the voting members of the Board of Directors at a meeting duly assembled shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; provided, if less than a quorum of the Directors shall be present at the time and place of any meeting, the Directors present may adjourn the meeting from time to time until a quorum shall be present, and notice of any adjourned meeting need not be given.
Section 10. Voting. Except as otherwise expressly provided by statute, or by Charter of the corporation, or by these bylaws, the action of a majority of the Directors present at a meeting at which a quorum is present shall be the action of the Board of Directors. Any Director who is present at a meeting of the Board of Directors at which action on any corporate matter is taken shall be presumed to have assented to the action taken unless such Director’s contrary vote is recorded or such Director’s dissent is otherwise entered in the minutes of the meeting or unless such Director shall file a written dissent to such action with the person acting as the Secretary of the meeting before the adjournment thereof or shall forward such dissent by registered mail to the Secretary of the corporation immediately after the adjournment of the meeting. Such right to dissent shall not apply to a Director who voted in favor of such action.
Section 11. Informal Action by Directors. Action taken by a majority of the Directors without a meeting is nevertheless Board action if written consent to the action in question is signed by all the Directors and filed with the Minutes of the proceedings of the Board, whether done before or after the action so taken. If a meeting of Directors otherwise valid is held without proper call or notice, action taken at such meeting otherwise valid is deemed ratified by a Director who did not attend unless promptly after having knowledge of the action taken and of the impropriety in question such Director files with the Secretary of the corporation a written objection to the holding of the meeting or to any specific action so taken. Any one (1) or more Directors may participate in a meeting of the Board by means of a conference telephone, video or similar communications device which allows all persons participating in the meeting to hear each other and such participation in a meeting shall be deemed presence in person at such meeting.
Section 12. Resignation of Directors. Any Director may resign at any time by giving notice thereof in writing to the President or Secretary of the corporation. Such resignation shall take
effect at the time specified therein, or if no time is specified, at the time such resignation is received by the President or Secretary, unless it shall be necessary to accept such resignation by its terms before it becomes effective, in which event the resignation shall take effect upon its acceptance by the Board of Directors.
Section 13. Vacancies. In the event of any vacancy occurring among the elected membership of the Board of Directors by death, resignation, disqualification, or otherwise, the remaining Directors shall continue to act. The Nominating Committee shall nominate a candidate for such vacancy, the candidate to be approved by the vote of the majority of the Directors at a duly constituted meeting of the Board, even though such majority is less than a quorum, by unanimous consent of the Board or by the sole remaining Director if there be only one (1) Director remaining. Any Director so chosen shall hold office for the unexpired portion of the term of the person whom the newly elected Director succeeds and until a successor shall have been duly elected and qualified, or until such Director’s death, resignation, disqualification or removal.
Section 14. Compensation of Directors. Directors shall not receive any compensation for their services as such; provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to preclude any person who is a Director from also serving the corporation in another capacity and receiving compensation therefor
Section 15. Director’s Adverse Interest. Any corporate transaction in which a Director has an adverse interest must be approved in good faith by a majority, not less than two (2), of the disinterested Directors present even though less than a quorum, irrespective of the participation of the adversely interested Director in the approval.
Section 16. Certain Director Liability. In addition to other liabilities imposed by law upon Directors, a Director shall be subject to the following liabilities:
(a) All Directors who vote for or assent to any distribution of assets of the corporation contrary to any lawful restrictions in the Non-Profit Corporation Act of the State of North Carolina, the corporate Charter, or the bylaws, shall be jointly and severally liable to the corporation for the amount of such distribution; provided, such liability shall not exceed the debts, obligations and liabilities existing at the time of such a vote or assent which are not thereafter paid and discharged; and provided further a Director shall not be liable for such a vote or assent if such Director relied and acted in good faith and reasonably upon financial statements of the corporation represented to such Director to be correct and to be based upon generally accepted principles of sound accounting practice by the President or the Treasurer, or certified by an independent public accountant or by a certified public accountant or firm of such accountants to fairly reflect the financial condition of the corporation.
(b) All Directors who vote for or assent to any distribution of assets of the corporation during the liquidation of the corporation without the payment and discharge of, or making adequate provision for, all known or reasonably ascertainable debts, obligations, and liabilities of the corporation shall be jointly and severally liable to the corporation for the value of such assets which are distributed, to the extent that such debts, obligations and liabilities of the corporation are not thereafter paid or discharged; provided, a Director shall not be liable for such a vote or assent if such Director relied and acted in good faith and reasonably upon financial statements of the corporation represented to such Director to be correct and to be based upon generally accepted principles of sound accounting practice by the
President or the Treasurer, or certified by an independent public accountant or by a certified public accountant or firm of such accountants to fairly reflect the financial condition of the corporation.
(c) All Directors who vote for or assent to the making of any loan or guaranty or other form of security by the corporation to or for the benefit of the Directors or officers of the corporation, or any of them, except loans, guaranties or other forms of security made to full time employees of the corporation who are also Directors or officers of the corporation, shall be jointly and severally liable to the corporation for any liability of the corporation upon such a guaranty, or for the repayment or return of the money or value loaned, with interest thereon at the statutory rate.
ARTICLE IV
OFFICERS
Section 1. Number of Officers. The officers of the corporation shall be a President, an Executive Director, a Secretary, and a Treasurer, and may include one or more Vice Presidents or Deputy Executive Directors as determined by the Board of Directors and such other officers as may be appointed in accordance with the provision of Section 3 of this Article IV. Any two (2) offices or more may be held by one (1) person, except the offices of President and Secretary; but no officer shall sign or execute any document in more than one (1) capacity.
Section 2. Election, Term of Office and Qualifications. Each officer, except ex-officio officers and except such officers as may be appointed in accordance with the provisions of Section 3 of this Article IV, shall be elected by the Board of Directors at its annual meeting and shall hold office until the annual meeting of the Board of Directors held at the end of such officer’s elected term or if not so held, next after such officer’s election or until such officer’s death, resignation, disqualification or removal from office.
Section 3. Subordinate Officers and Agents. The Board of Directors from time to time may appoint other officers or agents, each of whom shall hold office for such period, have such authority, and perform such duties as the Board of Directors from time to time may determine. The Board of Directors may delegate to any officer or agent the power to appoint any subordinate officer or agent and to prescribe such person’s respective authority and duties.
Section 4. Duties. Officers shall stand in a fiduciary relation to the corporation and shall discharge the duties of their respective positions in good faith, and with that diligence and care which ordinarily prudent men would exercise in similar circumstances and like positions.
Section 5. Removal. The officers specifically designated in Section 1 of this Article IV may be removed either with or without cause, by vote of a majority of the whole Board of Directors at any regular meeting (provided ten (10) days’ written notice of the intent to remove a specific officer at such regular meeting shall be given to each Director) or at a special meeting of the Board called for that purpose. The officers appointed in accordance with the provisions of Section 3 of this Article IV may be removed, either with or without cause, by the Board of Directors, by a majority vote of the Directors present at any meeting, or by any officer or agent upon whom such power of removal may be conferred by the Board of Directors. The removal of any person from office shall be without prejudice to the contract rights, if any, of the person so removed.
Section 6. Resignations. Any officer may resign at any time by giving written notice to the Board of Directors or to the President or the Secretary of the corporation, or, if such person was appointed by an officer or agent in accordance with Section 3 of this Article IV, by giving written notice to the officer or agent who appointed such person. Any such resignation shall take effect upon its being accepted by the Board of Directors or by the officer or agent appointing the person so resigning.
Section 7. Vacancies. A vacancy in any office because of death, resignation, removal, or disqualification, or any other cause, shall be filled for the unexpired portion of the term in the manner prescribed by these bylaws for regular appointments or elections to such offices.
Section 8. President. The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shall serve as the President of the corporation, ex officio The President shall be the principal executive officer of the corporation and, subject to the control of the Board of Directors, shall in general supervise and control all of the business and affairs of the corporation including its other officers, agents and employees Such officer shall sign any deeds, mortgages, bonds, contracts or other instruments that the Board of Directors has authorized to be executed, except in cases where the signing and execution thereof shall be delegated by the Board of Directors or by these By-Laws to some other officer or agent of the corporation, or shall be required by law to be otherwise signed or executed. The President shall perform all duties incident to the office of President and such other duties as may be prescribed by the Board of Directors. Such officer shall appoint and prescribe the duties of such other employees, independent contractors, and such other agents as shall be necessary to discharge the business and affairs of the corporation. The President shall have the power to delegate any of the President’s authority relating to the corporation to the Executive Director or any other officer of the corporation to facilitate the day to day management and operation of the corporation.
Section 9. Vice President. The Board of Directors may but shall not be required to appoint a Vice President of the corporation. If a Vice President is appointed by the Board of Directors, then, at the request of the President, or in such officer’s absence or disability, the Vice President shall perform all the duties of the President and, when so acting, shall have all the powers of and be subject to all the restrictions upon the President. The Vice President shall perform such other duties and have such authority as from time to time may be assigned to such officer by the Board of Directors or the Executive Committee. If the Board of Directors appoints more than one person to serve as a Vice President, the Board shall designate the order in which such Vice Presidents would be empowered to perform the duties of the President and Executive Director in the President’s absence.
Section 10. Secretary. The President, with the approval of the Board of Directors, shall appoint the Secretary of the corporation. The Secretary shall keep the minutes of the meetings of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee and shall see that all notices are duly given in accordance with the provisions of these bylaws or as required by law. The Secretary shall be custodian of the records, books, reports, statements, certificates and other documents of the corporation and the seal of the corporation, and see that the seal is affixed to all documents requiring such seal. In general, the Secretary shall perform all duties and possess all authority incident to the office of Secretary and he shall perform such other duties and have such other authority as from time to time may be assigned to such officer by the President, the Board of Directors or the Executive Committee.
Section 11. Treasurer. The President, with the approval of the Board of Directors, shall appoint the Treasurer of the corporation. Neither the President nor the Executive Director shall
serve as the Treasurer. The Treasurer shall have supervision over the funds, securities, receipts, and disbursements of the corporation. Such officer shall in general perform all duties and have all authority incident to the office of the Treasurer and shall perform such other duties and have such other authority as from time to time may be assigned or granted to such officer by the President, the Board of Directors or the Executive Committee. The Treasurer may be required to give a bond for the faithful performance of such officer’s duties in such form and amount as the Board of Directors may determine.
Section 12. Executive Director. The Board of Directors, with the approval of the President, shall appoint the Executive Director of the corporation. The Executive Director is required to devote substantially all of such person’s time to the affairs and business of the corporation.
Section 13. Duties of Officers May Be Delegated. Without limiting any other provision of these bylaws, in case of the absence of any officer of the corporation or for any other reason that the Board may deem sufficient, the Board may delegate the powers or duties of such officers to any other officer or to any Director provided a majority of the entire Board of Directors concurs therein.
Section 14 Salaries of Officers. The salaries of the officers of the corporation shall be fixed from time to time by the Board of Directors, except that the Board of Directors may delegate to any officer who has been given power to appoint subordinate officers or agents, as provided in Section 3 of this Article IV, the authority to fix the salaries or other compensation of any such officers or agents appointed by him.
ARTICLE V
EXECUTIVECOMMITTEE;OTHERCOMMITTEES
Section 1. Membership. The corporation shall have an Executive Committee, consisting of the Chair of the Board, the Vice Chair of the Board, the President, the Executive Director, the immediate past Chair of the Board, and the chair of each standing committee designated in this Article V.
Section 2. General Powers. The Executive Committee shall have and may exercise, in the interim between meetings of the Board of Directors, and except as otherwise provided in Section 12 of this Article, all the powers of the Board of Directors.
Section 3. Quorum. The presence of a majority of the members of the Executive Committee at a meeting duly assembled shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.
Section 4. Meetings. Meetings of the Executive Committee may be called by or at the request of the Chair of the Board, the President, or by two (2) or more of the Executive Committee members.
Section 5. Vacancies. In the event of any vacancy occurring in the Executive Committee by death, resignation, disqualification, or otherwise, the vacancy shall be filled by the Board of Directors. Positions filled for an interim period shall be for the balance of the remaining term.
Section 6. Nominating Committee. The Chair of the Board shall make annual appointments to a Nominating Committee and shall recommend its chair. The Nominating
Committee shall nominate candidates for the Board of Directors each year. The Nominating Committee shall consist of not fewer than five (5) members of the Board of Directors, and it shall report its nominations and the Chair of the Board’s recommendations of committee chairs to the Board of Directors at the spring meeting each year.
Section 7. Finance Committee. The Chair of the Board shall make annual appointments to a Finance Committee consisting of not fewer than five (5) members, including the Treasurer of the Foundation, and shall recommend its chair, who shall not be an employee of the corporation or of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Finance Committee shall have authority to invest and reinvest the assets of the corporation, except to the extent such authority may be limited from time to time by the Board of Directors.
Section 8. Audit Committee The Chair of the Board shall make annual appointments to an Audit Committee composed of the same Directors who serve on the Finance Committee, with the exception of any employees of the corporation or of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The chair of the Finance Committee shall also serve as the chair of the Audit Committee. The Audit Committee shall receive the report of the independent CPA firm that conducts the corporation’s annual audit and relevant tax forms.
Section 9. Development and Communications Committee. The Chair of the Board shall make annual appointments to a Development and Communications Committee consisting of not fewer than five (5) members and shall recommend its chair. The Development and Communications Committee shall have the responsibility for stimulating private financial support for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and working to inform internal and external audiences of the mission, programs, and needs of the College.
Section 10. Other Committees. By resolution adopted by a majority of the Directors present at a meeting at which a quorum is present, the Chair of the Board of Directors may designate one (1) or more additional committees, each of which shall consist of two (2) or more Directors, not having and exercising the authority of the Board of Directors.
Section 11. Committee Action as Board Action. The designation of any committee and the delegation thereto of authority shall not operate to relieve the Board of Directors or any member thereof of any responsibility or liability imposed by law; and any resolutions adopted or other action taken by any such committee within the scope of authority delegated to it by the Board of Directors shall be deemed for all purposes to be adopted or taken by the Board of Directors.
Section 12 Limitation of Powers. No Committee vested with the authority to act on behalf of the Board of Directors in the management of the corporation shall have authority as to the following matters:
(a) The dissolution, merger or consolidation of the corporation; the amendment of the Charter of the corporation; or the sale, lease or exchange of all or substantially all of the property of the corporation.
(b) The designation of any such committee vested with such authority or the filling of vacancies in the Board of Directors or in any such committee.
(c) The amendment or repeal of the bylaws, or the adoption of new bylaws.
(d) The amendment or repeal of any resolution of the Board of Directors which by its terms shall not be so amendable or repealable.
(e) The fixing of compensation of the Directors for serving on the Board of Directors or on any committee.
Section 13. Removal. Any committee or any member thereof may be discharged or removed by action of a majority of the Board of Directors present at a meeting at which a quorum is present.
ARTICLE VI
CONTRACTS, LOANS, DEPOSITS, CHECKS, DRAFTSETC.
Section 1. Contracts. Except as otherwise provided in these bylaws, the Board of Directors may authorize any officer or officers, agent or agents to enter into any contract or to execute or deliver any instruments on behalf of the corporation, and such authority may be general or confined to specific instances. In the absence of any action of the Board of Directors to the contrary, the President shall be authorized to execute such instruments on behalf of the corporation.
Section 2. Loans. No loans shall be contracted on behalf of the corporation and no evidences of indebtedness shall be issued in its name, unless and except as authorized by the Board of Directors. Any officer or agent of the corporation thereunto so authorized may effect loans or advances for the corporation and for such loans and advances may make, execute, and deliver promissory notes, bonds, or other evidences of indebtedness of the corporation. Any such officer or agent, when thereunto so authorized, may mortgage, pledge, hypothecate, or transfer as security for the payment of any and all loans, advances, indebtedness, and liabilities of the corporation any real property and all stocks, bonds, other securities, and other personal property at any time held by the corporation, and to that end, may endorse, assign, and deliver the same, and do every act and thing necessary or proper in connection therewith. Such authority may be general or confined to specific instances.
Section 3. Deposits. All funds of the corporation shall be deposited from time to time to the credit of the corporation in such banks or trust companies or with such bankers or other depositories as the Board of Directors may select, or as may be selected by any officer or officers, agent or agents of the corporation to whom such power may from time to time be given by the Board of Directors.
Section 4. Checks, Drafts, Etc. All notes, drafts, acceptances, checks and endorsements or other evidences of indebtedness shall be signed by the President or the Vice President and by the Secretary or the Treasurer, or in such other manner as the Board of Directors from time to time may determine. Endorsements for deposit to the credit of the corporation in any of its duly authorized depositories will be made by the President or Treasurer or by any officer or agent who may be designated by resolution of the Board of Directors in such manner as such resolution may provide.
Section 5. Gifts. The Board of Directors may accept on behalf of the corporation any contribution, gift, bequest, or devise for the general purposes or for any special purposes of the corporation.
Section 6. Audits. The accounts of the corporation shall be audited by a certified public accountant annually, as soon as practical after the close of the fiscal year.
ARTICLE VII
PURPOSESANDPOWERS
The purpose of the corporation shall be to promote and support the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as stated in the corporation’ s Charter.
ARTICLE VIII
GENERALPROVISIONS
Section 1. Corporate Seal. The corporate seal shall be in such form as shall be approved from time to time by the Board of Directors.
Section 2. Fiscal Year. The fiscal year of the corporation shall be established from time to time by resolution of the Board of Directors.
Section 3. Waiver of Notice. Whenever any notice is required to be given under the provisions of the Non-Profit Corporation Act of the State of North Carolina or under the provisions of the Articles of Incorporation or the bylaws of the corporation, a waiver thereof in writing signed by the person or persons entitled to such notice, whether before or after the time stated therein, shall be deemed equivalent to the giving of such notice.
Section 4. Amendment to Bylaws. These bylaws may be altered, amended, or repealed, and new bylaws may be adopted by a majority of the Directors present at any regular or special meeting at which a quorum is present; provided, however, that at least ten (10) days’ written notice shall be given of the intention to alter, amend, or repeal or to adopt new bylaws at such meeting.
Section 5. Books and Records. The corporation shall keep correct and complete books and records of accounts and shall keep minutes of the proceedings of its Board of Directors.
Section 6. Meeting Regulation. All meetings of the corporation including annual, special and other shall be governed by Robert’s Rules of Order
Section 7. Gender. As used in these bylaws, the masculine gender shall be deemed to include the feminine and the masculine.
ARTICLE IX
OFFICERANDDIRECTORINDEMNIFICATION
The corporation shall indemnify any person who is or was a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending, or completed action, suit, or proceeding (and any appeal therein), whether civil, criminal, administrative, arbitrative, or investigative and whether or not brought by or on behalf of the corporation, by reason of the fact that such person is or was a Director or officer of the corporation, or is or was serving at the request of the corporation as a director, officer, partner, trustee, employee, or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust, or other enterprise or as a trustee or administrator under an employee benefit plan, or arising out of such party’s activities in any of the foregoing capacities, against all liability and litigation expense, including reasonable attorneys’ fees; PROVIDED, however, that the corporation
shall not indemnify any such person against liability or expense incurred on account of such person’ s activities which were at the time taken known or believed by such person to be clearly in conflict with the best interests of the corporation or outside the scope of such person’s authority, if such person received an improper personal benefit from such activities or, in the case of an officer who is an employee of the Corporation, such activity constitutes negligence, recklessness, bad faith or unlawful activity. The corporation likewise shall indemnify any such person for all reasonable costs and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) incurred by such person in connection with the enforcement of such person’s right to indemnification granted herein, if it is determined in accordance with this Article that such person is entitled to indemnification hereunder.
The corporation shall pay all expenses incurred by any claimant hereunder in defending a civil or criminal action, suit, or proceeding as set forth above in advance of the final disposition of such action, suit, or proceeding upon receipt of and undertaking by or on behalf of such claimant to repay such amount unless it ultimately shall be determined that such claimant is entitled to be indemnified by the corporation against such expenses.
The Board of Directors of the corporation shall take all such action as may be necessary and appropriate to authorize the corporation to pay the indemnification required by this Bylaw, including without limitation, a determination by a majority vote of disinterested Directors (a) that the activities giving rise to the liability or expense for which indemnification is requested were not, at the time taken, known or believed by the person requesting indemnification to be clearly in conflict with the best interests of the corporation and (b) that the person requesting indemnification did not receive an improper personal benefit from the activities giving rise to the liability or expense for which indemnification is requested.
Any person who at any time after the adoption of this Bylaw serves or has served in any of the aforesaid capacities for or on behalf of the corporation shall be deemed to be doing or to have done so in reliance upon, and as consideration for, the right of indemnification provided herein. Such right shall inure to the benefit of the legal representatives of any such person and shall not be exclusive of any other rights to which such person may be entitled apart from the provision of this Bylaw. No amendment, modification, or repeal of this Article shall adversely affect the right of any Director or officer to indemnification hereunder with respect to any activities occurring prior to the time of such amendment, modification, or repeal.
ARTICLE X
INSURANCE
The corporation may purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of an individual who is or was a Director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation, or who, while a Director, officer, employee, or agent of the corporation, is or was serving at the request of the corporation as a director, officer, partner, trustee, employee, or agent of another foreign or domestic corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan, or other enterprise, against liability asserted against or incurred by such individual in that capacity or arising from such individual’s status as a Director, officer, employee, or agent, whether or not the corporation would have the power to indemnify such individual against the same liability under Article IX above or otherwise. Any full or partial payment made by an insurance company under any insurance policy covering any director, officer, employee, or agent to or on behalf of a person entitled to indemnification under Article IX shall relieve the corporation of its liability for indemnification provided for in Article IX or otherwise to the extent of such payment, and no insurer shall have a right of subrogation against the corporation with respect to such payment.
ARTICLE XI
CONFLICTOFINTERESTTRANSACTIONS
Section 1. Definition. “Conflict of interest transaction” means any transaction in which a Director has a direct interest or an indirect interest. A Director has a direct interest in a transaction if the Director or a member of the Director’s immediate family has either a material financial interest in the transaction or a relationship with the other parties to the transaction that might reasonably be expected to affect such person’s judgment. A Director has an indirect interest in a transaction if (a) another entity in which the Director has a material financial interest or in which the Director is a general partner is a party to the transaction; or (b) another entity of which the Director is a director, officer, or trustee is a party to the transaction, and the transaction is or should be considered by the Board of Directors of the corporation.
Section 2. Special Requirements. A conflict of interest transaction is not voidable by the corporation solely because of a Director’s interest in the transaction (a) if the material facts of the transaction and the Director’s interest were disclosed or known to the Board of Directors (or a committee of the Board) and the Board (or Committee) authorized, approved or ratified the transaction, or (b) if the transaction was fair to the corporation.
Section 3. Disclosure. A Director who has direct or indirect interest in any transaction presented to the Board of Directors or any committee of the Board shall disclose such Director’s interest.
Section 4. Approval. A conflict of interest transaction must be authorized, approved, or ratified by the affirmative vote of a majority of the Directors (not less than two) on the Board of Directors (or the appropriate committee) who have no direct or indirect interest in the transaction and to whom the material facts of the transaction and of any Director’s interest in the transaction were disclosed or known. If a majority of the Directors who have no direct or indirect interest in the transaction vote to authorize, approve, or ratify the transaction, a quorum is present for the purpose of taking such action. The presence of, or a vote cast by, a Director with a direct or indirect interest in the transaction does not affect the validity of any action taken in accordance with this Section 4.
ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION, INC.
RESOLUTION TO GUIDE FUND TRANSFERS
ORIGINAL PASSED MAY 5, 2006
REVISION PASSED MARCH 23, 2007
Whereas, The property, affairs, and business of the corporation shall be managed by the Board of Directors; and
Whereas, The Directors shall stand in a fiduciary relation to the corporation; and
Whereas, The Board of Directors of the corporation holds fiduciary responsibility with respect to its endowment investments; therefore be it,
Resolved, That three new approval mechanisms be adopted by its Board of Directors to guide all fund transfers from the Arts & Sciences Foundation:
1. transfers of endowment principal up to $25,000 must receive prior approval by the Treasurer of the Foundation; non-corrective transfers greater than $25,000 will require approval by the Board of Directors. Non-corrective transfers are special requests, not due to clerical or data entry errors;
2. corrective action transfers (due to clerical, data entry errors) of endowment principal over $25,000 require the approval of the Treasurer of the Foundation, in consultation with and with written approval by the Chair of the Finance Committee;
3. the Treasurer of the Foundation must approve expenditure of previously reinvested endowment income.
ARTS & SCIENCES FOUNDATION, INC.
RESOLUTION TO TRANSFER FUNDS
PASSED MARCH 23, 2007
Whereas, The donor of the Paul Wright Faculty Fellowship in the Institute for the Arts & Humanities, an endowment fund held in the Arts & Sciences Foundation, has requested that the endowment be transferred to the Carolina Performing Arts Series Endowment Fund, held in the University Endowment; and
Whereas, The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and President of the Arts & Sciences Foundation Board of Directors has spoken to the donor at length and believes the transfer to be in the best interest of the College of Arts & Sciences; and
Whereas, transfers of endowment principal of amounts greater than $25,000 require approval from the Arts & Sciences Foundation Board of Directors; therefore be it,
Resolved, That the full market value (which as of January 31, 2007, was equal to $323,790) of the Paul Wright Faculty Fellowship in the Institute for the Arts & Humanities be transferred from the Arts & Sciences Foundation to the Carolina Performing Arts Series Endowment Fund in the University Endowment; and
Resolved, That the Foundation staff will review its policies and procedures for stewardship of pledges and gifts to ensure that clear and timely communication with donors occurs in the future.
ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION, INC.
RESOLUTION TO TRANSFER FUNDS
MAY 2, 2008
Whereas , The Stuart E. Eizenstat Scholar in Jewish History and Culture Fund was established as an endowment in the Arts and Sciences Foundation in February 2007 with gifts totaling $50,000; and
Whereas , The Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat Distinguished Professorship in Jewish History and Culture in the College of Arts and Sciences Fund was created in December 2007, with gifts and pledges committed to the Fund totaling $1,099,500, with an additional $500,000 in state matching funds to be requested; and
Whereas , Distinguished Professorships that benefit from state matching funds must be held in the UNC Endowment; and
Resolved, The Arts and Sciences Foundation will transfer $50,000, including gifts and any endowment income, held in the Stuart E. Eizenstat Scholar in Jewish History and Culture Fund to the UNC Endowment Fund and designated for the Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat Distinguished Professorship in Jewish History and Culture in the College of Arts and Sciences.
ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION, INC.
RESOLUTION TO TRANSFER FUNDS
MAY 2, 2008
Whereas , The Ancient World Mapping Center Fund was established as an endowment in the Arts and Sciences Foundation in December 2001 with a challenge grant of $500,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH);
Whereas , The Arts and Sciences Foundation was to raise at least $2,000,000 in new gifts in order to obtain the NEH challenge grant over a five-year period;
Whereas , The Arts and Sciences Foundation raised $417,957.22 for the Ancient World Mapping Center, and the NEH provided challenge grant funds of $139,858.96, exceeding the allowable NEH funding of $104,489.30;
Resolved, The Arts and Sciences Foundation will return $35, 369.66 held in the UNC Endowment Fund and designated for the Ancient World Mapping Center Fund in the College of Arts and Sciences to the NEH.
ARTS AND S CIENCES FOUNDATION, INC. RESOLUTION
TO TRANSFER FUNDS
PASSED NOVEMBER 13, 2010
Whereas , The donor of the Seymour and Carol Levin Fund for Jewish Studies, an endowment fund held in the Arts and Sciences Foundation and created in 2005, has requested that the endowment be transferred to the newly established Seymour and Carol Levin Distinguished Professorship in Jewish Studies, held in the University Endowment; and
Whereas , the 2005 gift agreement for the Seymour and Carol Levin Fund for Jewish Studies specifies the donor’s desire to create a professorship in Jewish Studies from the bequest of Carol Levin and to transfer funds from the existing Levin Fund to the new Levin Professorship; and
Whereas , the donor wishes to create the professorship with outright gifts and has pledged $666,000, which includes the original gift of $140,000 that created the Seymour and Carol Levin Fund for Jewish Studies; and
Whereas, transfers of endowment principal of amounts greater than $25,000 require approval from the Arts and Sciences Foundation Board of Directors; therefore be it,
Resolved , that the original gift of $140,000 establishing the Seymour and Carol Levin Fund for Jewish Studies be transferred from the Arts and Sciences Foundation to the University Endowment where it will benefit the College as a new distinguished professorship.
ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION, INC.
RESOLUTION TO TRANSFER FUNDS
HANES PROFESSORSHIPS
NOVEMBER 3, 2008
Whereas , The estate of Frank Borden Hanes Sr., who died in July 2013, included two distinguished professorships in the College of Arts & Sciences named for his daughters; and
Whereas , $837,927.44 has been received to date to establish the Nancy Hanes White Professorship, and another $837,927.44 has been received to establish the Robin M. Hanes Distinguished Professorship; and
Whereas , Both professorships were established in the Arts and Sciences Foundation because Mr. Hanes’ bequest language (duplicated below) directed the gifts to the Foundation; and
Whereas , Later readings of the bequest language interpreted the mention of a “contractual addition from the State of North Carolina” to reference the state match provided by the Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust Fund; and
Whereas , In order to qualify for the state match, the funds must be held in the University endowment, which functions as a depository for private contributions and state matching funds;
Resolved, To honor the wishes of Mr. Hanes to be eligible for the state match, both the Nancy Hanes White Professorship, and the Robin M. Hanes Distinguished Professorship be transferred from the Arts and Sciences Foundation Endowment to the University Endowment.
Bequest Language:
Nancy Hanes White Distinguished Professorship: “An amount equal to FIVE PERCENT (.05) of my adjusted gross estate shall be distributed to the ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION of the UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL, as endowment, the income from which shall be used by such Foundation, in coordination with the contractual addition from the State of North Carolina, to provide one or more distinguished professorships within the College of Arts and Sciences. This endowment fund shall be named THE NANCY HANES WHITE DISTINGUISHED PROFESSORSHIP. (Special note to Nancy: May these engender a glow to the chosen someones, as Nancy gave to my life.”
Robin M. Hanes Distinguished Professorship: “An amount equal to FIVE PERCENT (.05) of my adjusted gross estate shall be distributed to the ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION of the UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL, as endowment, the income from which shall be used by such Foundation, in coordination with the contractual addition from the State of North Carolina, to provide one or more distinguished professorships within the College of Arts and Sciences in the area of the Arts. This endowment fund shall be named THE ROBIN M. HANES DISTINGUISHED PROFESSORSHIP. (Special note to Robin: “To help the search of those who seek some of the depths of understanding that my dear Robin explored and found.”)
ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION, INC.
RESOLUTION TO RE-ALLOCATE ENDOWMENT DISTRIBUTION
FRANK PORTER GRAHAM LECTURE SERIES
NOVEMBER 3, 2008
Whereas , The Frank Porter Graham Lecture was established by alumnus Taylor McMillan to honor the memory of Frank Porter Graham, President of the University of North Carolina from 1930 to 1949 and United States Senator from 1949 to 1950; and
Whereas , McMillan documented a bequest to the lecture series to continue honoring Graham through his estate; and
Whereas , Recognizing that the estimated payout from such a bequest would total $89,349.18, far exceeding the amount required to fund the annual lecture, which costs an average of $24,000 annually, Honors Carolina Director Jim Leloudis was in conversation with McMillan to direct his bequest to the university beyond the lecture in a way that would continue to honor Graham’s legacy; and
Whereas , McMillan passed away without updating bequest language beyond the lecture; and
Whereas , Leloudis had a clear sense of McMillan’s enthusiasm for investing directly in students who would champion Graham’s ideals in their lives and careers; and
Whereas , The absence of action by the Arts and Sciences Foundation board will result in a significant amount of unspent endowment payout; and
Whereas , Re-directing a portion of the endowment payout from the lecture to establish the Frank Porter Graham Nonprofit, Law, Public Policy & Government Career Specialist would be a way to continue Graham’s legacy and honor McMillan’s wishes in-line with the mission of the lecture; and
Whereas , the Career Specialist will help to raise awareness of the lecture; and
Whereas , Re-directing a portion of the endowment would enable the Frank Porter Graham lecture to continue with the appropriate level of funding;
Resolved, That a portion of the Frank Porter Graham Lecture Series endowment payout be re-allocated to fund a Frank Porter Graham Nonprofit, Law, Public Policy & Government Career Specialist position to maximize the impact of McMillan’s gift in accordance with his desire to honor the memory of Frank Porter Graham.
ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION INC.
RESOLUTIONS FOR UNC CHAPEL HILL
ARTS & SCIENCES FOUNDATION BOARD MEETING
RE: REVISED BYLAWS AND AMENDMENT TO ARTICLES
PASSED: APRIL 21, 2023
RESOLVED, that the revised Bylaws of the corporation as presented to the Board of Directors in advance of the meeting of the Board of Directors held this 21st day of April, 2023, shall be and hereby are approved and adopted, shall take effect July 1, 2023 (the “effective date”), and as of the effective date shall replace in their entirety the Bylaws of the corporation currently in effect.
RESOLVED, that Article 10 of the Articles of Incorporation of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Arts and Sciences Foundation, Incorporated, filed in the office of the Secretary of State of the State of North Carolina on the 3rd day of December 1975, shall be and hereby is deleted in its entirety and replaced by the following:
10. In the event of dissolution or other termination of the Corporation in any manner or for any reason whatsoever, the directors shall, after paying or making provision for payment of all liabilities of the Corporation, distribute all of the remaining assets and property of the Corporation to one or more organizations exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or any corresponding United States Internal Revenue Law, as directed by the board of trustees of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
RESOLVED, FURTHER, that the officers of the corporation shall be and hereby are authorized to file and record such amendment, in such form appropriate to comply with North Carolina law, with the Secretary of State of North Carolina, with such amendment to be effective upon filing, and to take any other actions or execute any other documents necessary or advisable to effect the foregoing.
THE ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION
A BRIEF HISTORY
The idea for a foundation for arts and sciences had its genesis in 1956, when Robert B. House was chancellor and J. Carlyle Sitterson was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Chancellor House appointed a committee to discuss the University’s need for private funding for the liberal arts, but the committee disbanded before reaching a consensus on what form the fundraising should take.
By 1975, the need for a foundation was even more apparent. The schools of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, business administration, law and journalism had established programs to raise private dollars, but the College of Arts and Sciences the University’s oldest and largest academic unit had yet to take that step. On Oct. 16, 1975, Frank Borden Hanes Sr. oversaw a resolution recommending the creation of the Arts and Sciences Foundation. At the time, Hanes was chairman of the committee on the arts and sciences in the Order of the Tar Heel 100, a service organization formed in 1974 that was the predecessor of today’s Board of Visitors.
The foundation’s articles of incorporation, signed on Dec. 3, 1975, affirmed that the foundation is “organized exclusively for charitable, educational and scientific purposes.” Its mission is to enhance the College by meeting the needs of the various academic departments, promoting teaching, research and service, and supporting the continuing development of knowledge and learning, both financially and otherwise. Margaret T. Harper became the first person to bestow her generosity on the Foundation, donating a gift of $1,000.
On March 19, 1976, William F. Little chaired an organizational meeting for the Foundation, and the first officers of the Arts and Sciences Foundation were elected:
• Chairman: Frank Borden Hanes, Sr.
• Vice Chairman: Elizabeth Dowd
• President: James R. Gaskin
• Vice President: William F. Little
• Secretary/Treasurer: Charles M. Shaffer
The Foundation postponed fund-raising efforts until the University concluded its first capital campaign, the Carolina Challenge, in 1980. On Feb. 28, 1983, an arts and sciences development committee recommended the appointment of an executive director and two staff members in preparation for a five-year fund-raising program, Foundations for Excellence. Under the guidance of J. Scott Cramer, the general chairman of the College’s first fund-raising campaign, and John G. Webb, the foundation’s first executive director, the campaign was officially launched in 1984 with a goal of $5 million. The first major gift was from the National Endowment for the Humanities a $750,000 challenge grant awarded on the condition that the Foundation match it three-to-one. With gifts and pledges eventually including an especially generous one from Paul Johnston, Dean Gill Cell was able to proudly announce that the campaign exceeded $22.2 million. These new funds allowed the College to establish endowed professorships, to increase understanding and use of computer technology and to create new curricula and programs.
The Bicentennial Campaign kicked off in 1989 with a campaign goal of $50 million. Again, the Foundation exceeded its target, raising $53 million at the campaign’s conclusion in 1995. The campaign unveiled the Carolina Scholars program, a merit-based scholarship program to encourage undergraduate excellence and attract exceptionally talented students to campus. Donors learned for the first time about the growing need for endowed professorships, and about the importance of graduate fellowships in maintaining the University’s national reputation.
Building on the enormous success of the $446 million Bicentennial Campaign, the University launched Carolina First in 1999 with the unprecedented goal of $1.8 billion for the University, and $350 million for the College of Arts and Sciences. The campaign, which ended on December 31,
2007, raised $2.38 billion. The College finished with $387 million, well exceeding its $350 million goal.
The Campaign for Carolina occurred between 2017-2022, ultimately raising over $5 billion across the university. With the support of 37,300 alumni and generous friends, the College raised a total of $764 million, exceeding its goal of $750 million.
The Arts and Sciences Foundation continues to raise funds for distinguished professorships, students, facilities and programs, ensuring that the nation’s first public university maintains and enhances its competitive advantage well into the 21st century.
One measure of the Foundation’s remarkable success over the past three-and-a-half decades has been the growth of its endowment. From modest beginnings in 1979, the corpus has grown steadily over the years and now sits at $530,253,398.75 as of 8/31/25.
Since its inception, the Foundation has been headed by the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. James Ruben Gaskin, dean at the time of the Foundation’s inception, was succeeded by:
• Samuel Ruthven Williamson, Jr., 1978-1985
• Gillian Cell, 1985-1992
• Stephen S. Birdsall, 1992-1997
• Risa Palm, 1997-2003
• Richard Soloway, interim, 2003-2004
• Bernadette Gray-Little, 2004-2006
• Madeline Levine, interim, 2006-2007
• H. Holden Thorp, 2007-2008
• Bruce Carney, interim, 2008-2009
• Karen Gil, 2009-2015
• Kevin Guskiewicz, 2015-2019
• Terry Rhodes, 2019-2022
• James H.C. White, 2022-
State of .Nortl1.
Carolina
Department ofthe
Secretaryof State
Toalltowhomthesepresentsshallcome,Greeting:
I, Thad Eure, Secretary of State of the State of North Carolina, do hereby certify thefollowing and hereto attached ( 4 sheets) to be a true copy of ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION, INCORPOPATEB •• and the probates thereon, the original oftvhich ,was filedin this officeon the 3rd day of December after having beenfound to conform to law. 19 75'
InWitnes?Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my o_,fficial seal. Done in Office, at Raleigh, this 3rd day o_f December in the year ofour Lo1:r1Jg 7s.
Arts and Sciences Foundation Board of Directors
Minutes of the Plenary Session
April 24 – 25, 2025
The Arts and Sciences Foundation Board of Directors met in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on Thursday and Friday, April 24 – 25, 2025 At 12:00 p.m., a joint lunch highlighting graduate students was held with the Arts and Sciences Foundation Board of Directors and the Dean’s Arts and Sciences Leadership Council pilot group. At 1:30 p.m., both groups attended “deep dive” sessions at various campus departments. At 3:30 p.m., the Nominating Committee met in the Dean’s Conference Room (South 205), the Finance and Audit Committees met in the Chancellor’s Conference Room (South 105), and the Development and Communications Committee met in the Hyde Hall Incubator Room (HH2023). At 6:30 p.m., a 50th anniversary celebration dinner for the Arts and Sciences Foundation was held in the Hill Ballroom of the Carolina Inn. On Friday, April 25, 2025, directors met in plenary session in the Chancellors Ballroom of the Carolina Inn. The following directors, staff, faculty and guests were present:
Board of Directors
Viginia Cardenas
Tom Chubb
Touré Claiborne
Dory Clark
Anne Collins
Evie Davis
Elizabeth Engelhardt
Rob Edwards
Matt Guest
Staff Members/Faculty
Jacob Bacharach
Kathryn Banas
Andy Berner
Erin Bland
Ali Blue
Jaye Cable
Joanna Cardwell
Ashlyn Coelho-Allen
Alan-Michael Chunn
Tina CoyneSmith
David Driscoll
Katy Galbraith
Call to Order
Rita Hanes
Lisa Huffines
Lorrie Huschle
Dan Kelly
Dave Knott
Lee Loughran
Alec McLean
Charlie Mercer Jr.
Molly Monk
Sophia Gillette
Kelly Giovanello
Meghan Hunt
Andrew Jackson
Chuko Jenije
Mike Klaus
Erin Schwie Langston
Genell Lyons
Ronda Manuel
Noreen McDonald
Ian McNeely
Angela O’Neill
Chair Ashley Reid called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m.
Approval of the Minutes
Pam Parker Bill Ragland
Ashley Reid
Jennifer Rich
Grace Mercer Schott
Bimal Shah
Ken Smith
Jim White
Nela Parsons
Anna Peterson
Amelia Rubino
Colleen Sisneros
Kim Spurr
Meredith Tunney
Natalie Vizuete
Sara Wajda
André Williams
Riley Wojcik
Alison Yerger
Ashley Reid called for a motion to approve the minutes of the fall 2024 plenary session. Bill Ragland made the motion, Bimal Shah seconded it, and the motion was approved unanimously.
Dean’s Update
Jim White provided updates from the College of Arts and Sciences:
Rankings and Recognition
• Forbes named Carolina among its “New Ivies” for the second time, the only institution in North Carolina to receive the distinction.
• U.S. News & World Report graduate rankings included:
- Sociology (Master’s): #4 among publics, #9 overall
- History (Ph.D.): #4 among publics, tied for #13 overall
- Political Science (Ph.D.): #5 among publics, tied for #15 overall
• Carolina was also ranked #9 nationally for study abroad participation, its highest placement in 20 years. Approximately 43% of undergraduates now participate in a study abroad experience.
Admissions and Growth
• Demand for a Carolina education remains strong, with 78,000 undergraduate applications received this year an increase of 10,000 over last year and a 30% increase over the past two years. Chancellor Roberts has prioritized growth, with plans to add 500 students this summer and a total of 5,000 students over the next 10 years. The College is preparing to expand faculty hiring and student support services accordingly.
• Carolina also led the nation in Fulbright U.S. Student Awards, with 20 undergraduates and 7 graduate students selected for the 2024–25 cycle. Alumni are currently serving in 19 countries across five continents.
Value of the Liberal Arts
• Dean White referenced the College’s partnership with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to revisit the value of liberal arts education. The study benchmarked UNC against peer institutions and surveyed alumni. The findings will inform future campaign priorities.
Federal Challenges
• Six international students at UNC had their visas revoked unexpectedly. The University was not notified directly, and UNC Global Affairs continues to support those affected.
• Seventy-three federally funded research projects at Carolina have been terminated, including nine in the College, with 21 others under stop-work orders. The University is working with advocacy organizations, peer institutions and the North Carolina congressional delegation to address the impact.
• There was a brief discussion on protection of students’ freedom of speech rights Students are allowed to protest as long as they are following the policies outlined by the university.
Other Updates
• In February 2025, Chancellor Roberts and Provost Chris Clemens announced that U.S. Diversity courses will no longer be required in the general education curriculum, though such courses will continue to be offered.
• Provost Clemens announced plans to step down and return to the faculty in the department of physics and astronomy. His tenure included leadership in establishing the School of Data Science and Society and the School of Civic Life and Leadership, as well as forming the Provost’s AI Committee.
• Jim Dean will serve as interim provost He most recently served as president of the University of New Hampshire. Prior to that role, he served as provost at Carolina and served as dean for Kenan-Flagler Business School
• Dean White announced Commencement will be held on May 10, with Carolina soccer legend Mia Hamm as the keynote speaker. She earned a degree in political science in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Arts and Sciences Foundation Update
Anne Collins provided updates on the Arts and Sciences Foundation. She shared updates on recent Arts and Sciences Foundation team hires and promotions Her reporting line was transferred to University Development in February 2025.
As of April 2025, College alumni and friends have donated $36.7 million toward the $70 million goal for fiscal year 2025. They have also contributed $1.8 million toward the $2 million Arts and Sciences Fund goal The Foundation has a qualified pipeline of $61.2 million, of which $25 million is expected to close by FY25. There is an additional $25 million in potential “big wins” significant gifts that have a timeline outside of the development team’s control
Dean White and Ms. Collins presented a draft campaign “pressure test” and asked for feedback from Directors Dean White and Ms. Collins will give an updated version of the presentation to a campaign planning group on May 2, 2025. Directors provided constructive feedback and suggestions.
Development and Communications Committee Report
Jennifer Rich reported on the Development and Communications Committee meeting held on April 24, 2025 The minutes from the fall 2024 meeting were approved as written.
FY25 Fundraising Update and FY26 Fundraising Goal
Ms. Rich reiterated the fundraising progress to date and pipeline for the balance of fiscal year 2025 She shared the committee recommends the board vote to approve the fiscal year 2026 goal at a later date given the market uncertainty.
Arts and Sciences Fund Update
The Arts and Sciences Fund is currently performing ahead of target, exceeding the year-overyear goal by 17% with $1.85 million raised as of April 22. All associated giving societies, including the Dean’s Circle, the Margaret Harper Society, and the newly launched 1975 Society (which already has 15 members), have experienced growth.
Ms. Rich announced that Dory Clark will serve as the new director of the Former Directors Engagement Committee, effective July 1, 2025.
Finance and Audit Committees Report
Ken Smith reported on the Finance and Communications Committee held on April 24, 2025. The minutes from the fall 2024 meeting were approved as written.
Operating Budget, FY25
Overall, the Foundation is expected to be under budget for fiscal year 2025.
Personnel remains under budget as of the third quarter; however, there have been recent hires and promotions. The Foundation anticipates the recruitment of additional team members before the end of the fiscal year.
Building maintenance is expected to be above budget due to HVAC repairs in July 2024 and recent landscaping and exterior improvements at Buchan House along with significant upcoming projects to remove several trees and plans to replace the existing exterior doors with new doors, hardware and security enhancements. Office supplies/equipment are above expected levels due to an upgraded AV system installed in the Buchan House boardroom. Other services increased significantly due to the 3% credit card transaction fee that is no longer paid by University Development.
Proposed Operating Budget, FY26
The Foundation’s $8.25 million budget request for fiscal year 2026 reflects an overall increase from the approved budget for fiscal year 2025. This is attributable to significant hiring and Foundation restructuring plans that will position the Foundation to raise more money for the College of Arts and Sciences.
The FY26 revenue goal for the Arts and Sciences Fund will increase to $2.15 million due to the following:
• Personnel costs show an anticipated increase based on FY25 projections but an overall decrease from the FY25 proposed budget due to planned organizational growth alongside current restrictions on personnel activity. These restrictions may impact the budget.
• Building maintenance expenses may increase. As the Foundation team continues to scale, there are plans to construct additional offices and conference rooms. The exterior door replacements and tree removal expenses contracted in FY25 may flow into FY26 expenses.
• For FY26, there is an increase for additional legal counsel.
• The FY26 budget line for Other Services/Miscellaneous has been increased to account for projected credit card processing fees.
Mr. Smith called for a motion to approve the proposed $8.25 million Foundation operating budget for FY26. The motion was made by Touré Claiborne and seconded by Dave Knott. It passed unanimously.
UNC Management Company
• UNC Investment Fund (“UNCIF” or “Fund”) returned +11.0% for CY 2024.
The Arts and Sciences Foundation will act as the project manager for the Coates Hall (owned by UNC -Chapel Hill) renovation which will be funded by philanthropy. The current plan is to move the existing building forward and add an addition to the back.
Proposed Resolutions were presented to update Fund Purposes for the following:
• Hammond Medal in Dramatic Art
• Jonh J. Fisher and Nancy Sue Himelick Fisher Endowment Fund
Mr. Smith called for a motion to approve the resolutions. The motion was made by Lisa Huffines and seconded by Dan Kelly It passed unanimously.
Nominating Committee Report
Ashley Reid announced that Jim Tanner stepped down as committee chair and Bimal Shah has agreed to serve as the new chair Mr. Shah gave the report of the Nominating Committee meeting held on April 24, 2025. The fall 2024 minutes were approved as written.
The Nominating Committee recommended the following actions:
Re-election of the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2028
Touré S. Claiborne ’94
Rolling Meadows, IL
David M. Knott ’08 Syosset, NY
Blake L. Pike ’93 Jacksonville, FL
Sterling A. Spainhour ’90 Atlanta, GA
The motion was made by Ken Smith and seconded by Bill Ragland. It passed unanimously.
Election of Officers
Ashley Reid, Chair
Alec McLean, Vice Chair
Tom Chubb, Past Chair
Jennifer Rich, Development and Communications Committee
Ken Smith, Finance and Audit Committees
Bimal Shah, Nominating Committee
Jim White, President
Anne Collins, Secretary
The motion was made by Matt Guest and seconded by Lisa Huffines. It passed unanimously.
Election of New Directors
The following directors are completing their second term, which ends June 30, 2025:
Eva Smith Davis* ’85
San Francisco, CA
Molly G. Monk* ’84 Atlanta, GA
John A. Powell* ’77
New Orleans, LA
William M. Ragland* ’82 Atlanta, GA
Grace Mercer Schott* ’86 Portola Valley, CA
James L. Sigman* ’85 Charlotte, NC
Thomas E. Story* III ’76
Park City, UT
James L. Tanner* ’90 Springfield, VA
After reviewing the board pipeline, the committee recommended a slate of 13 potential members to fill the eight slots of those rotating off the board on June 30, 2025
A motion to approve the recommended slate was made by Grace Mercer Schott and seconded by Touré Claiborne It passed unanimously.
Recommendation for Dean’s Award for Distinguished Service
The Dean’s Award for Distinguished Service recognizes volunteers who have served the College with exceptional vision and leadership The Nominating Committee recommended Eric Sklut as the 2025-26 award recipient to be presented during the fall 2025 or spring 2026 meeting. The motion to approve was made by Ashley Reid and seconded by Touré Claiborne. It passed unanimously.
Faculty Advancement Committee Report
Grace Mercer Schott reported on the Faculty Advancement Committee meeting that was held on April 17, 2025 The committee worked with current and former directors to send 25 welcome letters to new faculty members and 95 letters to existing faculty for achieving key milestones and receiving honors during the fall 2024 semester. The committee is expected to write letters to 54 faculty members by the end of the spring 2025 semester Since 2020, the committee has written 658 personalized letters to 468 individual faculty members.
Colleen Sisneros announced the efforts of the Faculty Advancement Committee will move under the Dean’s Arts and Sciences Leadership Council without a formal committee, effective fall 2025. Current and Former Directors will still be invited and encouraged to participate in writing letters to faculty members.
