$25 Million Gift to be Transformative for Graduate Students

December 9, 2022

Frances Duffy, Ph.D. ’20, who earned her doctorate in public policy, received graduate support that enabled her to focus on her dissertation research and teaching. Duffy is currently a senior national security analyst at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

“Graduate students are vital contributors to the University. They carry a heavy academic load, along with teaching, research and mentoring duties. A top-tier research university cannot thrive without the support of first-class graduate work,” said Druscilla French ’71 (M.A.’78), former director of the Arts and Sciences Foundation board and longtime supporter of graduate students at Carolina.

One-quarter of the University’s graduate students make their academic home in the College. These students drive excellence in the College, raise the quality of undergraduate instruction, magnify the inventiveness and originality of Carolina’s research, and help departments recruit and retain top-tier faculty. They contribute significantly to the University’s reputation as one of the nation’s premier research and teaching institutions. “We need to do a much better job of taking care of the graduate students who come here,” added French.

Thanks to a $25 million bequest to the College of Arts and Sciences during the campaign, this will become a reality. Once realized, more than 200 graduate students across the College will receive annual support. This generous gift will sustain graduate students in departments such as physics and astronomy, mathematics, anthropology, religious studies, Romance studies, and art and art history. It is no exaggeration to say that such funding changes students’ lives.

One of those students, religious studies student Jacob Barrett, said: “This graduate funding allowed me to succeed throughout my first semester at UNC in ways that I could not have done without it. Having the funds from the award created the time and space for me to publish in international journals and present at national conferences — all while adjusting to life in a new place. I am grateful to benefit from the generosity of donors at UNC!”

In addition, Molly English, an MFA student in studio art, shared: “As a student pursuing an MFA in studio art, I’m grateful for the artistic opportunities opened to me by this award. The funding has given me the invaluable freedom to be curious, allowing me to experiment more and take creative risks that would have been financially impossible otherwise.”

The ripples of this gift will be felt not only by the students and their departments. As our graduate students create knowledge and enrich the academic enterprise at Carolina, this gift will contribute significantly to the welfare of our nation and the world.