Wednesday, February 23, 2000

WILMINGTON, NC -- Betty Ann Horstman Sanders, a resident of Wilmington, North Carolina since 1983, will receive the CASE District III Bill Franklin Volunteer of the Year Award in Atlanta this morning, Wednesday, Feb. 23. The national award recognizes Mrs. Sanders for her varied and outstanding volunteer contributions to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.



Her most remarkable contribution has been through the hour-long television show, Letís Talk! UNCW & You, conceived by her and launched by UNC Wilmington's Division for Public Service and Extended Education in May 1999. The variety and human interest show now airs three times a week in New Hanover and Pender counties on Time Warner and Falcon Cable.

UNC Wilmington Chancellor James R. Leutze called Mrs. Sanders, "the kind of volunteer university chancellors and presidents usually only dream about. She is making a valuable contribution to Southeastern North Carolina by bringing the community and the university together in a positive way through television."

The volunteer of the year award is sponsored by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, an international association of educational institutions representing advancement professionals in the fields of alumni relations, communications, and fund raising. District III is comprised of 548 member institutions in nine Southern states.

The Bill Franklin Volunteer of the Year Award recognizes the vital role of volunteers in institutional advancement.



NOTES TO MEDIA: Mrs. Sanders can be reached at 910/256-9620 if you want to interview her. Below is information from UNCW's nomination narrative that will provide background for media coverage. Mimi Cunningham, assistant vice chancellor for university relations at UNC Wilmington, nominated her for the award.

Following the sale of her two health care businesses in 1998, Betty Ann Sanders now devotes most of her waking hours to advancing the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Her commitment to this institution, which she has adopted as if it were her own alma mater, covers the gamut of activities including donor cultivation, fund raising, public relations, and community outreach.

Betty Ann, 71, and her husband Jack moved to Wilmington, N.C., in 1983 from Roanoke, Va., intending to phase out their careers and retire. It didn't quite happen that way. She continued working and quickly became involved in the life of the community, serving on the boards of the Lower Cape Fear Hospice and historic St. Thomas Preservation Hall, a former Roman Catholic church. As a result of a donation to the university, UNCW learned about her and, in 1993, invited her to join the UNCW Foundation Board of Directors. She served two three-year terms, rotating off in July 1999. She chaired the Advancement Committee, serving as board vice chair for two years and chair from 1997-99.

During her active and energetic leadership of the foundation, she instilled a sense of stewardship among members of the foundation and marshaled the case for unrestricted giving. She shook things up and gave a sense of urgency to annual giving. She was a spark plug who energized the board, and she also brought a private business perspective to the role of the board. Giving among Foundation Board members themselves increased by about 50 percent as a result of her leadership, and there is a greater acceptance of the expectation that members should contribute their good will as well as their resources.

Her UNCW Foundation Board achievements focus on inclusiveness -- she fostered a closer working relationship between the foundation, the UNCW Board of Trustees, and the UNCW Board of Visitors, established in October 1998. An objective throughout has been to nurture and keep in touch with former volunteer leaders to utilize talent and resources. She instigated joint meetings between the Foundation Board and Board of Trustees. Also, a holiday dinner was held at the new provost's home for all current and former foundation board members -- 65 attended.

After the sale of her businesses, she became even more involved with UNCW. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Visitors, a member of the Nursing Advisory Board, and the Advisory Board for the Visual and Performing Arts Center. In support of the UNCW School of Nursing, she established a perpetual $1,000 annual nursing scholarship honoring her sister-in-law Marie Sanders Davies, R.N., for her outstanding nursing career in Baltimore, Md.

But what really singles her out from many other dedicated volunteers in CASE District III is the uniqueness of her volunteer contribution: Let's Talk! UNCW and You, the hour-long weekly television program she conceived and implemented. It came about after the initial meeting of the Board of Visitors when Chancellor James R. Leutze challenged them to become advocates for UNC Wilmington and to tell the UNCW story to their friends, family, and people of influence. His charge was to help UNCW to "broaden our outreach and influence, and let people know what kind of university we are."

Betty Ann took that challenge literally and quickly presented an idea to the chancellor for a weekly television show that would let the public know what goes on at the university and how the university "holds hands" with the community. A professional radio and television broadcast personality herself in the late 1940s and 50s in Dayton, Ohio, she said she would host the show and line up all the guests. UNCW-TV would produce the show for broadcast three times a week on New Hanover County cable channel 5, a public access channel.

Multiple challenges confronted the emerging UNCW-TV operation, including having no studio to serve as a set (perseverance led to weekly use of the Living Room in the heart of the busy University Union, although cooking segments on set were banned after a flaming entree set off fire alarms), the need for a new camera so that there could be several angles of view, and the need for new crew to operate the camera and edit the segments. Betty Ann's continued push to take the show on the road into other communities led to the purchase of a new van for UNCW-TV, replacing an unreliable and worn out hand-me-down vehicle. The first show taped on the road went to Fayetteville, N.C., on Nov. 19.

An initial advertising awareness campaign and media luncheon informed the public about the show, although additional marketing resources are continuously being sought to raise viewer awareness in the competitive television market. A web site, http://www.uncwil.edu/dpsee/letstalk/, was developed to showcase guests, highlight information presented on the show, and share recipes and tips. In all cases, the administration came through with the backing needed to get and keep the show on the air.

How would we measure the show's success? More than 620 guests have appeared since the show premiered in May 1999, and Betty Ann's phone constantly rings with people wanting to appear. Faculty and staff request slots when they have new books coming out or public lectures to promote. No official vehicle exists to measure viewers because the program appears on an educational access channel, but she is stopped in the grocery store and on the street and treated as a celebrity as are other regulars on the program. There's a healthy buzz about the show.

Has she accomplished the chancellor's directives as a volunteer ambassador for this university? Absolutely, and with resounding success. And, as in any successful communication strategy, her success with the program has been a two-way street. Viewers learn about the exciting activities and stimulating faculty at the university, and community and celebrity guests who appear on the show in turn learn about the university. Some are invited to lunch with the chancellor and faculty members involved in related activities, such as Dr. Kenneth Olden, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program who came here for an interview. During the visit, he learned about the campus, the school of nursing, and the new UNCW marine science master's degree concentration in the ocean and human health, directly related to his interests in toxicology.

Betty Ann is a living example that age is nothing to fear and a reminder that just because people are older doesn't meant they no longer have potential to make great contributions. Her selfless approach to reviving her extensive talents as a broadcaster at an age when most people are content to spend time on the golf course or in an armchair deserves the CASE III Bill Franklin Volunteer of the Year Award for 1999.