Monday, August 14, 2006

Members of the media are invited to cover the UNCW new faculty orientation "Roads Scholars" tour of Southeastern North Carolina Aug. 14-15 with stops at Camp Lejeune, Wallace, Lake Waccamaw, and Brunswick Community College. During academic year 2006-07, UNCW will welcome 71 new faculty members.

UNCW Provost Paul Hosier and a contingent of UNC Wilmington faculty and administrators are taking approximately 60 new faculty members and senior officers on a day-and-a-half regional orientation tour designed to let new faculty experience Southeastern North Carolina beyond urban New Hanover County.

The "Roads Scholars" tour will also highlight existing UNCW/community partnerships and showcase research and civic engagement opportunities for faculty to use their academic disciplines to impact the people in the region as part of their teaching and research. Many current UNCW faculty will give presentations along with specially invited community representatives.

New faculty orientation begins at 8:30 a.m., Monday, Aug. 14, in Dobo Hall, Room103. Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo will address the group as will N.C. Sen. Julia Boseman and N.C. Rep. Danny McComas. Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo will speak to the group about noon before lunch.

The "Roads Scholars" tour departs at 1:30 p.m. from Dobo Hall with Rep. Carolyn Justice on board to discuss Pender County.

The group arrives at the John A. Lejeune Education Center, 825 Stone Street, at about 3 p.m. The program will include a welcome by Col. Adele Hodges, commanding officer, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, an overview of the UNCW extension program in Onslow County, and remarks by Dr. Ron Lingle, president of Coastal Carolina Community College.

That evening, the group will meet at the Mad Boar in Wallace, with presentations from UNCW Trustee Terry Coffey; Don Butler, director of government relations and public affairs for Murphy-Brown LLC; Dr. Lawrence L. Rouse, president of James Sprunt Community College; and Dr. DePaolo.

On Tuesday, Aug. 15, the "Roads Scholars Tour" continues to Lake Waccamaw arriving at about 10:15 a.m. at the Boys and Girls Home of North Carolina. The program will be held in the Bill Horney Fellowship Hall of the Leamon Rogers Memorial Chapel.The host will be Bill Thompson, president and CEO of the Boys and Girls Home. Guests and presenters are expected to include N.C. Rep. Dewey Hill and possibly N.C. Sen. R.C. Soles, Lake Waccamaw Mayor Ivan Wilson, Bolton Mayor Frank Wilson, president of the North Carolina South Eastern Association of Black Mayors, along with Mayor James Knox of Northwest and possibly Mayor Perry Dixon of Sandyfield. Dr. Kathy Matlock, president of Southeastern Community College will speak briefly. UNCW trustees Sandy McNeill and Dennis Worley are also expected.

A special luncheon speaker is on tap at about noon: Boys and Girls Home graduate Lawrence Smith of Whiteville who is now attending UNCW. Smith is the recipient of UNCW's Jack Pollock Scholarship which is restricted to graduates of the Boys and Girls Home. It was created as a memorial by the adoptive parents of one of the home's graduates.

That afternoon, the tour heads for Brunswick Community College, meeting in Building B, room 258.Hosts will be Dr. Stephen Greiner, president of BCC, and Johnnie Simpson, BCC vice president for instruction. Special guests will include David Sandifer chair of Brunswick County commissioners; N.C. Rep. Bonner Stiller; Dr. Katie McGee, superintendent of Brunswick County Schools; and Chris May, executive director of the Cape Fear Council of Governments.

Please contact Mimi Cunningham, executive director of community relations, 910/962-3171, if you have any questions.