The Carolina community will celebrate its 217th birthday and history as the nation’s first public university during University Day on Oct. 12.

Innovation and entrepreneurship, the theme of this year’s University Day convocation, will be discussed by featured speaker Heather Munroe-Blum, a highly regarded innovator in higher education, Carolina alumna and the principal (a post equal to president) and vice-chancellor of McGill University in Montreal.

The free, public convocation will begin at 11 a.m. in Memorial Hall. Classes will be canceled from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Chancellor Holden Thorp will preside.

The day’s events include the official release of “Innovate@Carolina: Important Ideas for a Better World,” an ambitious plan to bring the power of innovation and entrepreneurship to bear on the world’s biggest problems. The University has raised more than $11 million for a new $125 million fundraising campaign supporting the plan.

The plan is a roadmap developed through nearly a year of deliberations by alumni and friends with extensive experience leading innovation in science, business, medicine, nonprofits and academia. Alumnus Lowry Caudill, co-founder of Magellan Laboratories Inc. and an adjunct faculty member, chaired the Innovation Circle, which also worked with a Faculty Innovation Working Group and Student Innovation Team. The roadmap was recently previewed for the University’s Board of Trustees.

A convocation highlight will be the presentation of Distinguished Alumna and Alumnus Awards, which recognize Tar Heels who have made outstanding contributions to humanity. This year’s recipients are James Larry Jameson III, M.D., Ph.D. of Chicago; Harry Louis Jones Sr. of Charlotte; Harry Corpening Martin of Asheville; Alane Salierno Mason of New York; and Charles Milton Shaffer Jr. of Atlanta.

In keeping with a tradition of celebrating campus milestones on University Day, Carolina also will dedicate Venable Hall and Murray Hall, which opened this fall in the second phase of the Carolina Physical Science Complex. That ceremony will be at 3:30 p.m. at the building, off South Columbia Street near South Road.

What do you get if you add 10 new houses for 10 deserving families?

The answer – the way 2010 alumnus Megan Jones figured it when she came up with the idea for UNC Build a Block during her final semester – is one Carolina.

On Sept. 18, Jones will return to Chapel Hill to join in the UNC Build a Block dedication at the Phoenix Place subdivision.

She will be joined by Chancellor Holden Thorp and his wife Patti, who helped Jones enlist broad-based support throughout the campus community to realize her vision. Also on hand will be Jonathan Reckford, the CEO of Habitat for Humanity International who visited Phoenix Place last fall to help kick off the project.

Since the project began last September, more than 1,400 Carolina students, faculty and staff have spent more than 7,052 hours constructing the homes.

Build a Block Champion groups, individuals, and the UNC Habitat Club contributed $350,000 to help finance the project.

The ambitious project led to Carolina’s selection this summer as Habitat’s Campus Chapter of the Year.
Susan Levy, executive director of the Orange County Habitat for Humanity, said the event is open to the entire University community.

“Megan called upon the entire campus community to make this project happen,” Levy said. “We especially want all the many people who responded to her call to join us so that we can thank them – and so they can see all that they helped to make possible.”

Lunch will be served at 1 p.m. followed by remarks from Reckford and Thorp. Following the program, Build a Block families will open their homes for tours.

Get directions from Orange Habitat or Google.

A new 50-foot mural celebrating the lives of African Americans and their contributions to North Carolina’s history is on display at the School of Government. The campus community is invited to see the mural, called “SERVICE.”

“SERVICE” is a creative interpretation of the 1960 lunch counter sit-in at F.W. Woolworth in Greensboro, N.C. The mural is on the first floor of the Knapp-Sanders Building opposite the dining hall. It may be viewed any time the building is open.

“SERVICE” was commissioned in 2009. It is the first in a series of murals that will commemorate the contributions of African Americans and Native Americans to the state.

The mural depicts a gathering of African American leaders at a lunch counter, and the artist, Colin Quashie, has featured the Greensboro Four—Joseph McNeil, David Richmond, Jibreel Khazan (formerly known as Ezell Blair Jr.) and Franklin McCain—as chefs. Quashie says that is “because they literally took possession of the lunch counter with their refusal to leave until served. By seeking service they were, by extension, serving a cause greater than themselves.”

The mural showcases 40 individuals and more than eight events symbolizing North Carolina’s African American history associated with civil rights, government, business, journalism and education.

The mural’s exhibition opened on July 26, 2010. Call (919) 966-5381 or visit the mural site for more information.

Summer heat usually dictates a slower pace. Not at Carolina, where campus is hopping. Why? Carolina’s New Student Orientation program has new students and parents on the fast-track to learning about the opportunities here, making friends, and getting ready for fall semester.

All first-year students are required to attend a two-day orientation program and transfer students are encouraged to attend a one-day orientation program. Sessions began in June. July sessions are filling up. August sessions are for transfer students, international students and students with extenuating circumstances.

If you have not reserved a spot in one of the upcoming sessions, check in with the Office of New Student and Parent Programs to see what’s available from the following dates:

Session 11: July 19-20
Session 12: July 22-23
Session 13 July 26-27
Session 14: July 29-30
Session 15: August 18 (transfer students)
Session 16: August 19-20 (international students and students with extenuating circumstances)

The orientation programs give students the opportunity to:
• Learn about the Carolina curriculum
• Connect with faculty and current students
• Learn about undergraduate research, student organizations, leadership development, service, study abroad, the arts and more
• Interact with fellow Tar Heels in the Class of 2014
• Live on campus
• Eat at an on-campus dining hall
• Register for classes

All parents and family members are invited to attend Orientation. For more information and the full schedule, check with the Office of New Student and Parent Programs.

The Department of Public Safety is hosting an open forum Feb. 22 to present the recommended 5-Year Plan to support UNC’s Transportation and Parking system.

Public Safety developed the recommended Transportation and Parking 5-Year Plan in conjunction with the Advisory Committee on Transportation, which has a membership comprised of student, faculty, staff, health care, athletics, and administration representatives.

Please plan to attend for a chance to learn about the transportation and parking recommendations to support the system over the next five years. The open Forum provides an opportunity for community members to learn about the plan and provide feedback on the recommendations.

WHERE: Upendo Lounge, Student Academic Services Building (SASB)

WHEN: 10 a.m., Tuesday, February 22

FEATURING:
— Chief Jeff McCracken, Director of Public Safety
— Cheryl Stout, Assistant Director for Parking Services, UNC Public Safety
— Fred Burchett, a consultant from Kimley-Horne and Associates, Inc.