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(08/23/06 4:00am)
Striving to be named the nation's leading public university comes with an expensive price tag - about $241.2 million during the course of a year to be exact.
That was the amount of money UNC brought in during fiscal year 2006 as part of the Carolina First campaign, the University's private fundraising effort.
"These private dollars do provide a margin of excellence," said Matt Kupec, vice chancellor for University advancement and the campaign's public advocate.
"I think we've been resilient in continuing to make that case."
The total was the largest amount the campaign has reeled in since it began in July 1999 - it also marked the first time the $200 million mark was broken.
Carolina First fundraisers said they hope to raise $2 billion by December 2007. So far about $1.826 billion has been raised.
Kupec said the University is on its way to raising $2.1 to $2.2 billion.
This summer a number of hefty donations were made to the campaign.
On a May 23 ceremony in Washington, D.C., Chancellor James Moeser received a $5 million gift from FedEx Corp. to support the construction of the Global Education Center. The complex will house all international studies programs for the College of Arts and Sciences, including study abroad.
The University also received a $22.6 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in May to support the clinical trial of an oral drug that treats African sleeping sickness. An international research consortium will be led by UNC faculty to carry out the trial.
The Dooley family of Charlotte established the Parker-Dooley Fund for Southern History with a $250,000 gift to the Southern Historical Collection. A 350-piece collection of papers and letters of Robert W. Parker, who served as a soldier in the Second Virginia Cavalry in 1861 and is an ancestor of the Dooleys, will be donated to Wilson Library.
Money generated through the campaign will fund merit scholarships, provide faculty support and reduce capital project expenses.
According to the campaign's Web site, the drive is ahead of pace as it races toward its conclusion.
If the campaign can take in $12.1 million each month until its end, it will reach its goal. Since the campaign began, Carolina First has averaged $22.4 million a month.
In October, University officials announced that they were upping the ante by increasing the original goal of $1.8 billion to $2 billion. The deadline to raise the funds also was extended by six months.
And University officials don't expect to stop seeing an influx of green after the campaign closes.
"The fundraisers will remain in place and continue their same activities with individual donors, corporate donors and foundations," said Elizabeth Dunn, senior associate vice chancellor for development. "It just won't be under the Carolina First name."
Dunn said any unmet needs at the end of the campaign will be addressed during a three- to five-year interim.
When the campaign closes, merit scholarships will be re-evaluated. The $60 million goal for this project was not met, Dunn said.
Plans for the Arts Common and expansion plans for the Ackland Art Museum also will be kept in sight.
"There are some projects that emerged as important priorities long after the campaign's initiatives were established," Dunn said.
Only seven schools across the country are chasing down a goal of collecting at least $2 billion through private fundraising campaigns. The University of Virginia is the most ambitious of those seven, pushing for $3 billion by 2011.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(08/22/06 4:00am)
The Ackland Art Museum is on the verge of big changes.
With an upcoming season of exhibits and events, a plan for the expansion of the museum to more than twice its size and, soon, a new director, the Ackland will be transformed into a very different place.
But how far off that transformation is, no one can say.
"There's not a timetable on that," said Amanda Hughes, Ackland's director of special projects, referring to the expansion, which will create additional galleries, new studio space, a sculpture courtyard and a museum store.
"We don't know who the new director will be or when he or she will begin," said Carolyn Wood, interim director of the Ackland.
One of the new director's first obligations will be to oversee fundraising efforts for the expansion, a $25 million project to be funded entirely through private donations.
But the director search might be coming to an end. A list of three candidates was submitted to the Office of the Provost, and one offer has been extended.
"We are awaiting acceptance of that offer," said Carol Tresolini, associate provost for academic initiatives.
Tresolini could not say who the candidate is, but it is one of three who came to campus to interview: David Brenneman, chief curator of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta; Emily Kass, a consultant at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Fla.; and Eric Lee, director of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma.
"We're just waiting until they work it out," Hughes said.
But what is worked out is the Ackland's new season.
In the fall, three exhibitions will be presented: "Persuasion, Passion and Participation: The Psychology of Politics;" "Witnesses to an Age in Transformation: Three 18th Century Paintings;" and "Depth of Field: Expanding Perspectives in 20th Century and Contemporary Photography."
January 2007 will see the opening of "Fashioning the Divine," a gallery of South Asian sculpture.
In the spring, a show of works by graduate students receiving masters in fine arts will open.
The museum also has introduced some new events. Lunch with One - a monthly, free lecture by an expert discussing one work of art - began in June.
Lunch with One, which Hughes said has been successful, was created so University staff, faculty and students could eat lunch while still attending a lecture at the Ackland.
"Art After Dark" will continue this year, with the museum remaining open until 9 p.m. as part of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Art Walk on the second Friday of each month.
The expansion - whenever it happens - is bound to offer something new to all.
The space, Hughes said, will allow the Ackland to better "entertain diverse audiences, from public school kids, to University students, all the way to people who live here in Chapel Hill."
Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
(07/20/06 4:00am)
What does it take to make an old building feel young again?
That's just one of the questions being asked this summer as progress continues on UNC's Arts Common, a makeover plan for the northwestern area of campus.
The Playmakers Theatre could get rebuilt stonework, windows and doors as early as next month, according to historic preservation manager Paul Kapp.
That work, along with a change in color to match Old East, would bring the now-salmon colored building back to the way it looked in the 1920s - its last period of historical significance.
Nearby, Gerrard Hall will see a comprehensive restoration that will take away its distinction of being the only building on campus with no bathroom - but will restore its true honor with a reconstruction of its original portico, which was based on a temple in ancient Athens.
The building's original architect also designed the administrative building at the University of Mississippi and much of the campus of the University of Alabama.
"You can see its pedigree as part of a large context of antebellum college architecture in the South," Kapp said.
Not all the proposed changes included in the Arts Common plan will bring campus buildings back to the past - a $25 million addition to the Ackland Art Museum has been described by UNC officials as "modernist."
The cost of the addition is a reminder that progress rarely comes without a price.
In addition to that, $180 million will be sought on a project-by-project basis over the next 10 to 15 years to complete the Arts Common plan, said Bruce Runberg, assistant vice chancellor for planning and construction.
The $29 million for the first phase of construction has already been obtained, and some aspects of the plan - such as a renovation of Memorial Hall - are already being hailed as a success.
But the price of progress cannot just be measured in dollars and cents.
Local activists have lobbied to save West House, a 1935 structure located near Hanes Art Center and the future home of a planned quadrangle modeled on Polk and McCorkle places. They lost their final battle last week, when the Council of State, a group of top N.C. government officials, voted to axe the house.
While they are generally highly optimistic about the Arts Common, West House proponents recently expressed additional concerns about the aesthetics of the Arts Common.
"I am a little disappointed about the size of the buildings and how close they are to the street," said Jeffrey Beam, a UNC employee who spearheaded the West House movement. "It makes for an urban campus, which is totally unlike what Carolina once was."
Runberg countered those statements.
"What is unique about our campus is the canopy of trees," he said. "If you go around and you look as the buildings around North Campus, you'll see some red brick, a little lighter brick and more traditional style, but it's all blended by the trees. That's what we would hope to accomplish with the Arts Common as well. ... I think really it's going to maintain the character of North Campus."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(02/21/06 5:00am)
After working at N.C. State University, Christopher Brown is hoping to leave the Wolfpack and return to his alma mater as the director of the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.
Brown, a Chapel Hill native who received his bachelor's degree from UNC in 1981, said his experience in several different areas of science will help him connect the center to the work of other science departments at the University.
"What I bring is an understanding of how science is done at a major research university," Brown said, referring to his experience at N.C. State as a botany professor.
Speaking Monday in an candidates' forum, Brown unveiled his vision for the center's future.
Brown is one of five finalists vying for the position. Three of the other finalists had applied in the original search last year.
The search process had to begin again after administrators decided none of the four original finalists was the right choice for the job.
Jeff Hill, interim director of the center, has an interview Wednesday, and White said the search committee will submit its evaluation to Provost Robert Shelton within two weeks.
Linda Deck, director of the Idaho Museum of Natural History; Terri Gipson, associate director of Space Sciences and Project Director for the McDonnell Planetarium Redevelopment at the St. Louis Science Center; and Todd Boyette, president and chief executive officer of The Health Adventure, a museum in Asheville, also are up for the position and interviewed during the last few weeks.
Brown said he wants to use the center as "the gateway to science at UNC" and build the University's public image.
His plan involves cooperative efforts between the center and other public attractions at UNC, such as the Ackland Art Museum and the N.C. Botanical Garden.
Brown also said outreach programs are important to the center's mission. "I think we can become the 'go-to' place for science answers for the public."
The center can have a positive relationship with Chapel Hill because of its prominent location on Franklin Street, Brown added.
"This place can be a strong example for town-gown relations."
Because the planetarium is undergoing renovation in the coming months, Brown emphasized more programs outside of the building to keep patronage up.
"We need to develop an on-the-road outreach program," he said.
Brown's background is in botany; he holds a bachelor's of science degree in the subject from UNC and a doctoral degree from N.C. State.
But his career focus has been on space science, spending years serving as director of NASA's Specialized Center of Research and Training.
Brown is director of the N.C. Space Initiative, an organization he helped found at N.C. State. It deals with research, education, outreach and space commerce.
He also directs the N.C. Space Grant, which provides more than $800,000 to 11 state universities.
Brown said his experience raising funds would aid the center's efforts to gain financial support.
Peter White, chairman of the search committee and director of the N.C. Botanical Garden, said he was impressed with Brown's application and presentation.
"We have a candidate who really relates to the breadth of science on this campus."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(01/24/06 5:00am)
The Ackland Art Museum offered a free public lecture Monday night from one very artistic family.
Though not quite the Jacksons, Betye Saar and two of her three daughters, Lezley Saar and Alison Saar, have been recognized for their artistic achievement. The trio spoke at the Hanes Art Center as part of their ongoing exhibit, "Family Legacies."
Patrons packed the center for a chance to hear the women, whose first exhibit together has been on display at the Ackland since December.
(01/17/06 5:00am)
Giggles, Play-Doh, scraped knees, finger paints and sticky Popsicle remains soon will find a home in a rather unusual place.
As of March 7, the bustling shopping and dining center that is Franklin Street will be home to a new resident: the Kidzu Children's Museum - formerly the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Children's Museum.
The museum's first exhibit will feature Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are," which will allow children to dress up like "wild things," sail a pretend ocean and slide into a bowl of chicken soup with rice.
The nonprofit museum will move into 105 E. Franklin St., the former home of Laughing Turtle Home gift and apparel store, until a larger, more permanent home for the museum is found.
"I think we're going to be great for downtown," said Jonathan Mills, museum co-founder and president of its board of directors.
The museum's executive director, Cathy Maris, said bringing children to Franklin Street will "affect the spirit of the community."
Maris said Franklin Street is a great place for a children's museum because other family attractions are located on or near the street, such as the Ackland Art Museum, Morehead Planetarium and Science Center and the Chapel Hill Museum.
There are also shops, restaurants and other businesses close by, as well as bus routes that make it easy to visit downtown Chapel Hill, Maris said.
And unlike some museums with roped showcases and hands-off policies, the children's museum is an interactive place where families learn by playing, which Maris said is becoming a popular attraction.
"This is a time when a lot of children's museums are emerging," she said.
"We're a part of a larger phenomenon."
Mills and Maris both said they hope University students will be interested in volunteering at the museum.
For more information on how to get involved, e-mail info@kidzuchildrensmuseum.org or contact Tina Clossick at 360-1059.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(01/13/06 5:00am)
The Ackland Art Museum continues its legacy at UNC this semester with exhibits highlighting family ties and individual achievement.
The museum's "Family Legacies" exhibition, which features the work of one mother and her daughters, will run until March 26 and is a continuation of a series from last December. Another exhibit, "Window to the Collection: Dean Walker, A Curator's Legacy," is a memorial exhibition for the late curator of the museum who died in October.
Barbara Matilsky, curator of exhibitions at the Ackland, said she feels that the contrast between the two exhibitions showcases the diversity of art available at the museum.
"It offers people a contrast because one is really contemporary and dealing with mixed media, issues of identity," Matilsky said.
Maria Bleier, director of communications, said displaying a wide array of art is an important aspect of the museum.
"The key for the Ackland overall is we're a teaching museum and we try to display the broadest range possible of art for use by the students here at the University," she said.
Artists featured in the "Family Legacies" exhibition are scheduled to visit the Ackland on Jan. 22 and Jan. 23.
"We're really excited; it's a mother and her two daughters," Bleier said. "They're all internationally known artists and all happen to be related. They all work with found objects but in very different ways."
The exhibition also gives museum visitors the opportunity to create their own art through found objects.
"In the exhibition itself we have a display case of objects so people can create their own mixed media assemblage," Bleier said. "It's kind of just a fun way to experience the exhibition and try your hand at it."
Bleier said the hope of the display is that audiences will find the works thought-provoking and be inspired to go out and create their own work.
The other featured exhibition commemorates the life of the late Dean Walker, curator of the Ackland from 1983 to 1990.
Timothy Riggs, curator of collections at the Ackland said the exhibition helps to highlight Walker's artistic tastes.
"I hope viewers will come away with some sense of the eye and the mind that brought these objects into the collection," Riggs said.
"These objects bring to mind his personality. If you didn't know him you might be able to draw some conclusions about who he was."
The museum is labeling pieces acquired by Walker in memoriam.
"What we're trying to do is commemorate one part of his activity, while he was here, the things that came to the Ackland because he was here," he said. "And I think that they do reflect his distinctive eye for excellence."
Contact the A&E Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
(09/16/05 4:00am)
A new challenge grant for $5 million will help provide a stable source of funding for the Carolina Performing Arts Series.
(09/12/05 4:00am)
Local galleries, eclectic art museums and funky-creative centers flung opened their doors and dished out wine, cheese, jazz and their most appealing visuals Friday night.
(08/29/05 4:00am)
Following a six-week makeover, the Ackland Art Museum reopened its doors last week, complete with a new exhibit and a host of plans for the future.
(07/21/05 4:00am)
Ackland in midst of summer vaction, will return in August
(04/11/05 4:00am)
Strolling through the Pit in a Carolina blue sweater and loafers, Milton Cooke looks the part of any average UNC student — only his gray hair sets him apart.
(01/11/05 5:00am)
Nov. 15 — University officials named an executive director for the arts Friday, ending a months-long search for an individual to oversee fund-raising efforts and facilities operations in the campus arts community.
(11/18/04 5:00am)
When a new president takes office, he inherits the shortcomings of the previous administration.
(11/15/04 5:00am)
University officials named an executive director for the arts Friday, ending a months-long search for an individual to oversee fund-raising efforts and facilities operations in the campus arts community.
(10/19/04 4:00am)
Employee Forum to host fall community meeting
(09/23/04 4:00am)
University officials took another step toward the destruction of West House on Wednesday despite strong opposition from the building's supporters.
(01/16/03 5:00am)
A group of first-year master's of fine arts students has taken over the foyer of the Hanes Art Center. But the result is more awe-inspiring than scary.
(01/16/03 5:00am)
Through the Arts Carolina link on UNC's home page, you can instantaneously check the dates of that Lab! Theatre show that intrigued you or the time for Tift Merritt's performance at the Student Union.
(10/21/02 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Beauty is in the subtleties.
