Monday, August 18, 2003

WILMINGTON, NC – UNC Wilmington Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo launched her first academic year in office with a news conference that showcased what’s new at UNCW for fall 2003, unveiled plans for a museum to honor teachers’ timeless impact, and recognized three significant gifts.

She described the class of 2007 as a “well-rounded freshman class” of 1,771 students with high SATs, average GPA of 3.7, as well as leadership and personal skills. As of 3 p.m., Tuesday, Aug 19, there were 200 new freshman minorities registered, including 86 African-Americans, 39 Asian, 29 Hispanic, 27 American Indian, and 19 other. Among the 49 new tenure-track faculty hires, 12 are African-American.

She also expressed enthusiasm for the new Learning Communities Program housed in the just-opened Cornerstone Hall residence facility. Students will live and learn in small groups focused on nine subject areas with three faculty team teaching each interdisciplinary subject area.

Legacy Hall Donors Recognized

The news conference also honored contributors to the North Carolina Teacher Legacy Hall, a museum to be housed in a three-story atrium, the centerpiece of the 80,500-square-foot Regional Educational Resource Center currently under construction on the east side of campus that will be home to the UNCW Watson School of Education.

UNCW professor of education, Dr. Grace Burton, Cooperative Bank, and Progress Energy were recognized for contributions totaling $175,000 to the Legacy Hall and programs in the Watson School.

Dr. Burton, who taught math education at UNCW from 1977 - 2003, was recognized for her $50,000 gift to the Watson School of Education to support the Legacy Hall. Author of national mathematics texts and an authority in math anxiety, she received the UNCW Board of Trustees Teaching Excellence Award in 1991.

Cooperative Bank has pledged $50,000, also for the Legacy Hall, and on hand for the ceremony was President Frederick Willetts III. Progress Energy was recognized for its contribution of $75,000, of which $50,000 will support the Teacher Legacy Hall and $25,000 will establish the Watson School’s first corporate-sponsored scholarship in teacher education. Representing Progress Energy was Jeff Corbett, vice president, Eastern Region.

“Being a hometown bank, we view education as the cornerstone of our communities’ future, and we are pleased to support the North Carolina Teachers Legacy Hall,” commented Willetts. Founded in 1898, Cooperative Bank is the oldest and largest bank headquartered in Wilmington.

"Professionals in the education community continually emphasize the critical need for high-quality teachers," said Progress Energy Eastern Region Vice President Jeff Corbett. "So the Progress Energy Foundation has made that a special focus area and is proud to partner with UNC Wilmington to establish its first corporate-sponsored scholarship for teacher education and support the NC Teachers Legacy Hall.”

Progress Energy, headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., is a Fortune 250 diversified energy company with more than 23,000 megawatts of generation capacity and $8 billion in annual revenues. The company's holdings include two electric utilities serving more than 2.8 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. Progress Energy also includes non-regulated operations covering merchant generation, energy marketing, natural gas exploration, fuel extraction, rail services and broadband capacity.

To date, UNCW has raised $400,000 towards the $600,000 goal for NC Teachers Legacy Hall and hopes to complete the fundraising this year.

North Carolina Teachers Legacy Hall

Particularly noteworthy was the announcement of plans for the North Carolina Teachers Legacy Hall, a three-story atrium that will house a timeless memorial honoring education in our society and landmarks of teaching excellence across North Carolina.

“We are excited to be working with our designers, Chermayeff and Geismar, Inc., of New York,” commented Watson School of Education Dean Cathy Barlow. “The inspiration for the design of the North Carolina Teachers Legacy Hall will be drawn from the power and dignity embedded in the design concepts of two recent Chermayeff and Geismar works: the National D-Day Museum, and the Immigration Museum at Ellis Island.”

UNCW is collaborating with Jenkins Peer Architects and Chermayeff & Geismar to create 10 museum-quality displays in the atrium of the Regional Education Resource Center. Ideas for the displays currently include a reproduction of a one room schoolhouse, collection of contemporary and antique school desks, and a school bus. Displays will incorporate video, interactive media and traditional artifacts creating an experience that will appeal to teachers, university and school students. Other displays will annually honor district teachers and principals of the year as well as the donors to the new building.

Two displays were presented in renderings. "Tools" presents a wide variety of devices used by teachers including globes, slide rules, primers, slate boards and musical instruments. "Timeline," embedded into the architecture, courtyard, paving and arcade, celebrates important benchmarks in North Carolina's history of education beginning in the 1700s. An early 1900s entry acknowledges Charlotte Hawkins Browne's contribution to African-American education with a life-sized bronze sculpture. The "Timeline" is capped with a 2004 cornerstone celebrating the opening of the Regional Educational Resource Center and a digital bulletin board which lists public school current events.

Chancellor DePaolo can be reached at 910/962-3030; Dean Barlow can be reached at 910/962-3354.