The Bowman and Gordon Gray Professorships support excellence in undergraduate teaching at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They were established in 1980—though funding was available to appoint the first Bowman and Gordon Gray Professors in 1979—by Gordon Gray and the estate of his brother, Bowman Gray Jr.
Bernard Gray, UNC Class of 1972 and Gordon’s son, significantly enhanced the professorships with a gift in 1999 that doubled the annual salary supplement, extended the award period from three to five years, provided an annual fund for research support and included a highly valued sabbatical. They remain today among the University’s most esteemed awards for outstanding undergraduate teaching.
These professorships bestow special recognition on College of Arts and Sciences faculty members for their distinguished undergraduate teaching. Any tenured associate or full professor in the College is eligible for the five-year, non-renewable professorship. To date, more than 70 faculty members have been honored as Bowman and Gordon Gray Professors.
Mark Crescenzi, a professor in the department of political science and current Bowman and Gordon Gray Professor (term of July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2018), focuses his teaching on providing a foundation of critical thinking skills for undergraduates as they learn about world politics, conflict and conflict resolution. He also trains graduate students to become cutting-edge scholars and teachers in the study of international peace and conflict processes.
“Simply put, my Bowman and Gordon Gray Professorship has been transformative,” Crescenzi said. “I use the research stipend to pay for travel to present my research, support my graduate students in their research, bring in faculty from around the country to give talks in our international relations workshop, and purchase much-needed software to empirically evaluate my work. Moreover, the professorship has been a huge part of why I feel respected and supported at UNC in a difficult time.”
In 2009, Bernard Gray strengthened the teaching emphasis of the Bowman and Gordon Gray Professorships by creating the Bernard Gray Distinguished Professorship, a permanent chair to be awarded to a faculty member who has served as a Bowman and Gordon Gray Professor. Laurie McNeil, a professor in the department of physics and astronomy, was named the inaugural Bernard Gray Distinguished Professor in 2014. In addition to research support, McNeil uses her professorship funds to purchase materials for teaching and to support travel for her students to attend conferences and present their work.
“I am deeply grateful to have research support from the Bernard Gray Distinguished Professorship, which gives me ‘“breathing room’” to launch new enterprises and conduct ongoing ones,” McNeil said. “It frees me up to worry about the science and the instruction.”
