Carolina's faculty, staff and students are working and learning in some exciting times. You, too, can share in resources for research, teaching and public service that include:
Master Plan: A visionary master plan for growth through investing another $600-plus million from non-state sources, including private gifts, for other buildings essential to excellence. The resulting capital construction program is believed to be the largest underway at any major American university. The construction includes eighteen new academic buildings, four new cultural centers, and four new research facilities completed by 2007. Also, many existing buildings are being refurbished and outfitted with technology to enhance teaching and learning.
Facilities Expansion and Renovation: An unprecedented campus transformation made possible in part by North Carolinians' overwhelming approval of the $3.1 billion bond referendum for higher education. That commitment to education is bringing Carolina $510 million for renovations, repairs and new buildings so 21st century students can learn in a 21st century environment.
Carolina Physical Science Complex: When completed in 2009, the Carolina Physical Science Complex will begin an era of research and discovery benefiting North Carolina, the nation and the world. The $205 million complex is the largest construction project in Carolina's history. It will enhance longtime interdisciplinary strengths by bringing together faculty and students in high-technology laboratories, classrooms, lecture halls and libraries. The complex will house the departments of chemistry, computer science, marine sciences, mathematics and physics and astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as a new Institute for Advanced Materials, Nanoscience and Technology.
Genome Sciences: $245 million committed over the next decade to the emerging field of genome sciences. The campuswide initiative, which represents public and private investments, will allow Carolina to be a driving force in determining how the genomics revolution will change the way we treat human diseases, design drugs and grow crops.
The Carolina Center for Public Service supports faculty, staff and students who perform public service by creating links and building partnerships; honoring and recognizing exemplary public service; serving as a gateway for inquiries; promoting effective practices; telling the stories of public service at Carolina; and providing meaningful opportunities for service.
Association of American Universities: Membership in the select group of 61 American and two Canadian campuses forming the Association of American Universities. UNC's academic offerings span a broad range of fields and include 69 bachelor's, 111 master's and 75 doctoral degrees as well as professional degrees in dentistry, medicine, pharmacy and law. Five health schools -- which, with UNC Hospitals, comprise one of the nation's most complete academic medical centers -- are integrated with liberal arts, basic sciences and high-tech academic programs.
Science Funding: Total science funding awarded by the National Institutes of Health that ranked 13th nationally in fiscal 2002 -- a 12 percent increase. Carolina is the top public university in the South cited in the NIH's top 20. NIH research institutes are fighting diseases including AIDS, alcoholism, arthritis, cancer, diabetes and stroke, as well as tackling health topics related to aging, women and children, drug abuse, the environment and multidisciplinary fields such as genomics and proteomics.
Science and Engineering Support: Carolina ranked 17th in the National Science Foundation's most recent report on federal academic science and engineering obligations for fiscal 2001, advancing three spots from fiscal 2000 funding totals. The university ranks as the top public university in the South and one of only two N.C. campuses featured in the top 20 for fiscal 2001, the latest year of funding in the NSF's report on total federal academic science and engineering obligations.
Social Sciences Research at Carolina funded by the NSF during fiscal 2001 was ranked third, the highest achieved by UNC in NSF research and development expenditure tables. About half of UNC's total fiscal 2001 federal social science funding was in sociology, including research projects addressing aging, adolescent achievement and problem behaviors, and rural health, among others. The department of sociology is the nation's leading department for such NSF funding.
From Research to Market: Application of faculty, staff, and student inventions and know-how for economic growth. Current and former UNC faculty, staff and students have helped create several new companies based in the Triangle. Such start-up companies include Hemocellular Therapeutics, which is expected to produce the first platelet-based therapeutic available to doctors for the immediate treatment of active bleeding. Hemocellular is one of 22 new spin-off companies spawned by faculty research from 1997 to 2002. Examples of commercialization include therapeutic agents for Parkinson's disease, technologies for drug delivery to treat cancer, contrast media for medical imaging, industrial applications for carbon nanotubes, and gene therapy treatment for diseases like muscular dystrophy.
Achievements in Diversity: A pan-University effort -- from admissions offices to academic departments to student organizations -- promotes diversity. In fact, The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education in 2002 ranked Carolina first among public campuses and sixth overall for success in integrating African Americans. The evaluation rates the nation's 26 highest academically ranked universities in 13 categories or factors of racial diversity. The ranking highlighted Carolina's nine African American faculty members who hold endowed chairs -- the highest number in the United States.
