Letter to Alumni and Friends

Dear Colleagues, Fellow Alumni, and Friends,

We are delighted to invite you to join us in celebration of the Chemistry Department’s, our Alma Mater’s, 200th anniversary. We hope that you will join your fellow graduates and proud alumni in the celebration of this very special moment, which is scheduled for a beautiful spring weekend on Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21 2018, in Chapel Hill.

The founding year of 1818 marked the formal beginning of chemistry education and research at UNC. Two centuries later, we are delighted to report that there has never been a more exciting time to be a part of the UNC Chemistry Family. Through the collective efforts of faculty, staff, students and alumni, our department ranks 15th in the nation with worldclass accomplishments in research and education, positiveley, and materially, affecting the world we live in. We trust your time at UNC has shaped your professional and personal lives in significant ways, as it did ours.

An ever-evolving vision, built on a steadfast foundation of research and education, has been a key component to the department’s success. Under the leadership of Dean Kevin Guskiewicz and Chair Jeffrey Johnson, UNC Chemistry has identified three strategic priorities to enable our vision to “create new knowledge in chemistry for the benefit of the world and its people.” Those priorities are to:

1. Implement a sustainable growth financial model that enables high-impact education and research in chemistry

2. Expand educational opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students

3. Diversify our faculty and student body

Approaching our department’s 200th birthday, we are encouraging and welcoming you to become a part of this new chapter in Carolina Chemistry history. Please visit Chemistry’s giving page, where you will find a list of departmental priorities, and recommended levels for giving. We hope you will join us in philanthropic support of the department. Through our giving we enable research and education, which ensures the continuation of excellence we enjoyed at UNC Chemistry, and that it continues for future generations to come. We are delighted that you are a part of the UNC Chemistry family, and with utmost gratitude, we thank you for all you have done, and all you will do for our beloved department and University.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions. We look forward to seeing you in April, as we gather to reconnect with each other as fellow graduates and proud alumni and to celebrate the bicentennial “birthday” of our beloved department of Chemistry.

Yours Sincerely,

Tomas Navratil ’98, Ph.D. ’03 Chemistry Advisory Board Member Chris Killian, Ph.D. ’96 Chemistry Advisory Board Member