{"id":4089,"date":"2012-09-24T14:31:25","date_gmt":"2012-09-24T19:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=4089"},"modified":"2024-07-02T13:34:22","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T13:34:22","slug":"buchanfund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=4089","title":{"rendered":"Carolina y el Espanol: Small town dream, big global impact"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Duke Buchan’s passion for Spanish will help future generations of faculty and students studying the language.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Carolina students taking Spanish can thank Duke Buchan III \u201985 and his early obsession with the World Book Encyclopedia for innovative learning experiences that make the language more relevant than ever. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Buchan is the highly successful founder and CEO of Hunter Global Investors L.P., a money management firm based in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he lives with his wife Hannah and their three young children. He has served on the Arts and Sciences Foundation Board of Directors since 2008 and was recently named to the University\u2019s Campaign Planning Cabinet.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2011, he established The Buchan Excellence Fund in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures<\/a> \u2014 the largest single endowment at Carolina dedicated to support faculty, graduate students and undergraduates working in Spanish languages, literature and culture.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident that our support will help take UNC students, professors and the institution itself to a higher level,\u201d Buchan said. \u201cAs a family, we are highly focused on education. We are honored to give something back to the university that has given us so much.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As a child in rural Vance County, N.C., Buchan devoured the photos and words in his World Book Encyclopedia, fascinated with places beyond the tobacco fields near his home.\u00a0 That quest for knowledge, coupled with dinner table discussions centered around Carolina basketball greats Charlie Scott or Billy Cunningham, set Buchan\u2019s academic path in motion.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up in a small town less than 60 miles from Chapel Hill, Carolina was all I knew,\u201d Buchan said.\u00a0 \u201cMost importantly, our family knew that UNC offered one of the best college educations in the country at an unbeatable cost \u2014 roughly $650 in tuition for my freshman year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After his high school Spanish teachers, both Cuban natives, encouraged him to spend a summer in Valencia, Spain, Buchan was \u201chooked on seeing the world.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

At Carolina he continued his Spanish studies and added economics as a second major because of his interest in business and entrepreneurship.\u00a0 He enrolled in the university\u2019s year abroad program in Seville, Spain, for what he describes as the most transformative year of his life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe study of the Spanish language, literature and cultures provided me a passport to a world outside the U.S. and instilled in me a global perspective,\u201d Buchan said. \u201cMy first job out of Carolina was in Miami in 1985 where I used Spanish on a daily basis.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Today at their home in South Florida, the Buchans are immersing their children in Spanish where they use it every day in school and with friends. Both Buchan and his wife have lived or vacationed in South Florida most of their lives with the different Hispanic and Latin cultures being a big attraction for them. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe love South Florida and one of the draws for us is the exposure that we get to a number of Latin cultures on a daily basis,\u201d Buchan said. \u201cFor instance, on a recent weekend, our children heard Argentine, Colombian, Cuban, Guatemalan and Mexican Spanish all in one day. What a gift! Even at their young ages, our children can identify accents from different countries.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Buchan, a serial entrepreneur who earned his M.B.A. at Harvard Business School in 1991, saw the need to change and adapt as he watched his home state\u2019s traditional industries \u2014 tobacco, textiles and furniture \u2014 decline over time.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The Buchan Fund\u2019s first-year success<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In its first year, The Buchan Fund is directly addressing the growing influence of Spanish language and culture and the change it is bringing to the world. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“We hope that our gift to the department will inspire more students to study the Spanish language and culture,\u201d Buchan said. \u201cThose students will, in turn, use that knowledge to make an impact in their communities.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The department made awards to a wide range of recipients, including undergraduates, graduate students and faculty. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Helping local Latino micro-entrepreneurs <\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n