Gov. Pat McCrory will deliver the keynote speech at the annual University Day celebration on Oct. 12 in Memorial Hall. The ceremony begins at 2 p.m.
University Day celebrates Carolina’s 221st birthday and marks the laying of the cornerstone of Old East, the nation’s first state university building, in 1793. The campus first celebrated University Day in 1877; it is an opportunity for the Carolina community to honor the University’s history as the nation’s first public university and celebrate its future.
Many North Carolina governors have been a part of University Day tradition.
McCrory, the 74th governor of North Carolina, took office in January 2013 after serving a record 14 years as the 53rd mayor of Charlotte. He was the first mayor of Charlotte to win the governorship. While McCrory was mayor, President George W. Bush appointed him to the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council, where he served from 2002 to 2006.
McCrory received degrees in political science and education, as well as an honorary doctorate of legal letters, from Catawba College in Salisbury, and he worked for Duke Energy before entering public office in Charlotte.
Since he took the state’s helm, McCrory has set as his priorities improving North Carolina’s economy, education and efficiency.
He signed into law tax reform as well as bipartisan transportation reform that funds projects based on need, safety and economic development. He reconvened the Education Cabinet and established the Center for Safer Schools, and he signed vocational training legislation designed to increase students’ educational pathways. In addition, McCrory created a teacher advisory committee for input on issues including compensation and over-testing.
This year, he signed into law a major revamping of the salary scale for North Carolina teachers, which legislators said was intended to entice more of the best and brightest into the classroom – and to remain there. Before the legislative increase, teacher pay in North Carolina had fallen to 46th in the nation.
In addition, McCrory has promoted in-state tuition for veterans throughout the universities and community colleges, and he has encouraged leaders in Washington, D.C. to protect the nation’s military resources.
Distinguished honorees
The University will grant the Edward Kidder Graham Faculty Service Award, established by the Faculty Council to recognize outstanding service by a faculty member, to Krista Perreira, professor of public policy and associate dean for undergraduate research in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Perreira is a health economist who studies disparities in health, education and economic well-being, and interrelationships among family, health and social policy, especially as they affect Hispanic/Latino families and their children. Her current research projects include the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos and Implementing Health Care Reform in North Carolina.
Other University Day convocation highlights will include the presentation of Distinguished Alumna and Alumnus Awards, a practice begun by the faculty in 1971 to recognize Tar Heels who have made outstanding contributions to humanity.
This year’s recipients are Army Surgeon General Patricia Dallas Horoho, former N.C. Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., national geographer Andrew “Sandy” McNally IV, noted public policy lawyer James R. Patton Jr. and legendary trial lawyer Wade M. Smith.
Horoho
Horoho, the 43rd Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, is the first nurse and first woman to hold the position since it was established in 1775. Her responsibilities cover all facets of Army medicine, including the U.S. Army Medical Command, the third largest health-care system in the country. She also directs the Army’s medical and health-care professional education, scientific research, medical material logistics and training of all combat medics.
A 1982 Carolina nursing graduate, Horoho was commended by Time Life Publications for her actions at the Pentagon on 9/11. In 2002, the American Red Cross and Nursing Spectrum recognized her as a “nurse hero,” and she was chosen as the USO’s 2009 Woman of the Year. Horoho said that at Carolina she learned that nurses could influence health-care delivery and the lives of patients in all environments.
Hunt
Hunt was the first North Carolina governor to be elected to consecutive four-year terms, the state’s longest-serving chief executive, with
16 years in office. Throughout his career, Hunt has been an advocate for public education. As governor, he created the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and chaired the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future.
He called for larger stipends and health insurance coverage for graduate students and supported creating a distinguished professors’ endowment fund. He established a reading program in primary schools, championed creation of the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, was instrumental in creating Smart Start and helped bring about N.C. State’s Centennial Campus.
Hunt also established the Microelectronics Center of N.C. and the N.C. Biotechnology Center. Today he continues his advocacy of education through the James B. Hunt Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy.
McNally
McNally is a geographer dedicated to furthering the field of cartography. Since 1899, the McNally family has been in the mapping business through the world-renowned Rand McNally Company.
McNally received his undergraduate education at Carolina, as did both of his sons. As chair and chief executive officer of Rand McNally from 1974 to 1997, he dedicated the firm to providing accurate maps in popular and accessible formats. He is now active in a number of highly successful business ventures.
McNally has actively supported Carolina’s Department of Geography for many years. He endowed the J. Douglas Eyre Distinguished Lecture Series, which brings distinguished speakers to Carolina for keynote campus-wide lectures and opportunities to engage with students and faculty. He also endowed the McNally Fund for Excellence in Geography, and has served on Carolina’s Board of Visitors.
Patton
Patton, who founded the influential law firm Patton Boggs, is recognized nationally and internationally for his accomplishments in the practice of international and public policy law.
During his senior year at Carolina in 1948, Patton bought his first rare book, a fine copy of the first edition of Robinson Jeffers’ “The Californians” (1916). In the decades that followed, he amassed a comprehensive collection of Jeffers and a series of other important, distinguished 20th-century literary collections.
In 1995, Patton donated to Carolina’s Rare Book Collection his holdings of James Dickey, Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. He since has given his comprehensive collection of Jeffers material and a collection of the works of James Joyce that includes virtually all of Joyce’s publications, many of them signed and all in excellent condition.
Smith
Smith has been one of North Carolina’s most acclaimed trial lawyers for nearly 50 years. An All-American high school football player with many college scholarship offers, he chose to accept a Morehead Scholarship to Carolina where he excelled in both academics and athletics. He was co-captain of the football team and was inducted into the Order of the Golden Fleece.
After attending law school at UNC, Smith and classmate J. Harold Tharrington in 1964 founded the law firm Tharrington Smith. In 2008 the N.C. Bar Association established the annual Wade M. Smith Award “for a criminal defense attorney who exemplifies the highest ideals of the profession.”
Smith served two terms in the N.C. General Assembly and has chaired the General Alumni Association’s Board of Directors; he is a recipient of the GAA’s Distinguished Service Medal.
For additional information about University Day and details about the processional, see unc.edu/universityday.
Original article from University Gazette.
