With over 300,000 living former students,[236] North Carolina has one of the largest and most active alumni groups in America. Many Tar Heels have attained local, national, and international prominence. James K. Polk served as President of the United States for a single term,[237] William R. King was the thirteenth Vice President of the United States.[238] North Carolina has produced many United States Senators including Paul Wellstone[239] and Thomas Lanier Clingman,[240] along with multiple House Representatives such as Virginia Foxx[241] and Ike Franklin Andrews.[242] Algenon L. Marbley[243] and Thomas Settle[244] have received positions of federal judgeship. Former Secretary of War and Secretary of the Army Kenneth Claiborne Royall[245] and the fifth White House Press Secretary Jonathan W. Daniels were graduates of North Carolina.[246] North Carolina has also produced 38 state governors, including Terry Sanford, Jim Hunt, and Roy Cooper, the current Governor of North Carolina. Peaches Golding was appointed by HM Queen Elizabeth II as High Sheriff of the City and County of Bristol 2010–2011, the first Black female High Sheriff and second only black High Sheriff in over 1,000 years. Stormie Forte was appointed as the first Black woman and openly LGBTQ female member of the Raleigh City Council. Carolyn Hunt served as the Second Lady of North Carolina and twice served as the First Lady of North Carolina. Margaret Rose Sanford served as First Lady of North Carolina. James E. Webb, the 2nd Administrator of NASA and an architect of the Apollo program during the Kennedy administration, was a Tar Heel. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the next generation successor of Hubble scheduled to launch in 2019, was named in honor of Webb.[247]
With over 300,000 living former students,[236] North Carolina has one of the largest and most active alumni groups in America. Many Tar Heels have attained local, national, and international prominence. James K. Polk served as President of the United States for a single term,[237] William R. King was the thirteenth Vice President of the United States.[238] North Carolina has produced many United States Senators including Paul Wellstone[239] and Thomas Lanier Clingman,[240] along with multiple House Representatives such as Virginia Foxx[241] and Ike Franklin Andrews.[242] Algenon L. Marbley[243] and Thomas Settle[244] have received positions of federal judgeship. Former Secretary of War and Secretary of the Army Kenneth Claiborne Royall[245] and the fifth White House Press Secretary Jonathan W. Daniels were graduates of North Carolina.[246] North Carolina has also produced 38 state governors, including Terry Sanford, Jim Hunt, and Roy Cooper, the current Governor of North Carolina. Peaches Golding was appointed by HM Queen Elizabeth II as High Sheriff of the City and County of Bristol 2010–2011, the first Black female High Sheriff and second only black High Sheriff in over 1,000 years. Stormie Forte was appointed as the first Black woman and openly LGBTQ female member of the Raleigh City Council. Carolyn Hunt served as the Second Lady of North Carolina and twice served as the First Lady of North Carolina. Margaret Rose Sanford served as First Lady of North Carolina. James E. Webb, the 2nd Administrator of NASA and an architect of the Apollo program during the Kennedy administration, was a Tar Heel. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the next generation successor of Hubble scheduled to launch in 2019, was named in honor of Webb.[247]
There was a mass exodus out of Jeff Capel’s program, starting with standout forward Justin Champagnie, who turned pro, and continuing with four transfers, headlined by guards Xavier Johnson and Au’Diese Toney. Texas Tech transfer Jamarius Burton and Femi Odukale will be expected to handle the ball this season, while a trio of post transfers, including top JuCo forward Chris Payton, will be counted on to provide the Panthers with options in the paint.
Basketball coach Dean Smith was widely known for his idea of "The Carolina Way", in which he challenged his players to, "Play hard, play smart, play together."[172] "The Carolina Way" was an idea of excellence in the classroom, as well as on the court. In Coach Smith's book, The Carolina Way, former player Scott Williams said, regarding Dean Smith, "Winning was very important at Carolina, and there was much pressure to win, but Coach cared more about our getting a sound education and turning into good citizens than he did about winning."[173]
The university offers degrees in over 70 courses of study and is administratively divided into 13 separate professional schools and a primary unit, the College of Arts & Sciences.[16] Five of the schools have been named: the UNC Kenan–Flagler Business School, the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, and the UNC Adams School of Dentistry. All undergraduates receive a liberal arts education and have the option to pursue a major within the professional schools of the university or within the College of Arts and Sciences from the time they obtain junior status. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity", and is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU).[17][18] According to the National Science Foundation, UNC spent $1.14 billion on research and development in 2018, ranking it 12th in the nation.[19]
North Carolina's athletic teams are known as the Tar Heels. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) sub-level for football), primarily competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for all sports since the 1953–54 season.[162] Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, fencing, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track & field and volleyball.
While Boshamer Stadium was being renovated and rebuilt during the 2008 season, the Tar Heels played their home games at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in nearby Cary. The Tar Heels returned to Chapel Hill in February 2009, following the completion of the extensive renovations to Boshamer Stadium.[3] The Tar Heels reached the 2009 College World Series, the program's fourth consecutive College World Series appearance, following their first season playing in newly renovated Boshamer Stadium.
The batting average with him is rather insignificant. If you want to know if Aaron Sabato of the Cedar Rapids Kernels is doing the things the parent Minnesota Twins drafted him for in the first round last year, you need to focus on his slugging percentage and his OPS. "If I put the bat on the ball, I can hit it just as hard as anybody in professional baseball." (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
North Carolina left the Southern Conference in 1953, opting to become a founding member of the newly formed Atlantic Coast Conference. The Tar Heels won their first ACC baseball title in 1960. The program's first College World Series appearance also came in 1960. In 1964, the Tar Heels won their second ACC baseball title, posting an undefeated record in conference play. No other team in ACC baseball history has ever been undefeated in conference play.[2]
The Hokies received some good news in June when second-team All-ACC forward Keva Aluma announced his decision to pull out of the NBA Draft and return to Blacksburg. That gives Tech head coach Mike Young his top four scorers from last season’s squad in Tyrece Radford, Nahiem Alleyne and Justyn Mutts. Wofford’s Storm Murphy, who earned All-SoCon first-team honors at point guard, transferred in after averaging 17.8 points and 4.3 assists for the Terriers. Clemson transfer Lynn Kidd will provide some size in the post for a Hokies’ squad talented enough to make a run in March.
Tar Heels have made their mark on the basketball court with Southern Methodist University head coach Larry Brown,[260] title winning coach Roy Williams,[261] Charlotte Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak,[262] college player of the year award winners George Glamack,[263] Lennie Rosenbluth,[264] Antawn Jamison,[265] and Tyler Hansbrough,[266] Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Michael Jordan,[267] Billy Cunningham,[268] and Robert McAdoo,[269] great defender Bobby Jones,[270] and NBA All-Star Vince Carter.[271] Other notable Tar Heels include football players Lawrence Taylor,[272] Julius Peppers, Harris Barton, Hakeem Nicks and Dré Bly,[273] soccer stars Mia Hamm,[274] Ashlyn Harris, Heather O'Reilly, Meghan Klingenberg, Whitney Engen, Allie Long, Lori Chalupny, Crystal Dunn and Tobin Heath,[275] baseball standouts Dustin Ackley[276] and B.J. Surhoff,[277] and Olympians April Heinrichs[278] and Vikas Gowda.[278] Vic Seixas is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and won 15 Majors.[279]
In August 2018, the university came to national attention after the toppling of Silent Sam, a Confederate monument which had been erected on campus in 1913 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.[60] The statue had been dogged by controversy at various points since the 1960s, with critics claiming that the monument invokes memories of racism and slavery. Many critics cited the explicitly racist views espoused in the dedication speech that local industrialist and UNC Trustee Julian Carr gave at the statue's unveiling on June 2, 1913, and the approval with which they had been met by the crowd at the dedication.[61] Shortly before the beginning of the 2018–2019 school year, the Silent Sam was toppled by protestors and damaged, and has been absent from campus ever since.[62] In July 2020, the University's Carr Hall, which was named after Julian Carr, was renamed the "Student Affairs Building."[63] Carr had supported white supremacy and also the Ku Klux Klan.[63]
The Hurricanes return a solid frontcourt combo in All-ACC guard Isaiah Wong and the oft-injured Kameron McGusty. While Chris Lykes and Earl Timberlake are no longer in Coral Gables, Jim Larranaga does have some talented options in Harland Beverly, Anthony Walker and Sam Waardenburg, who missed all of the last season due to injury. DePaul transfer Charlie Moore will help at point guard, while George Mason transfer Jordan Miller will provide an undersized body at in the post, but the Hurricanes will be thin once again in the frontcourt.
During the 1960s, the campus was the location of significant political protest. Prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, protests about local racial segregation which began quietly in Franklin Street restaurants led to mass demonstrations and disturbance.[40] The climate of civil unrest prompted the 1963 Speaker Ban Law prohibiting speeches by communists on state campuses in North Carolina.[41] The law was immediately criticized by university Chancellor William Brantley Aycock and university President William Friday, but was not reviewed by the North Carolina General Assembly until 1965.[42] Small amendments to allow "infrequent" visits failed to placate the student body, especially when the university's board of trustees overruled new Chancellor Paul Frederick Sharp's decision to allow speaking invitations to Marxist speaker Herbert Aptheker and civil liberties activist Frank Wilkinson; however, the two speakers came to Chapel Hill anyway. Wilkinson spoke off campus, while more than 1,500 students viewed Aptheker's speech across a low campus wall at the edge of campus, christened "Dan Moore's Wall" by The Daily Tar Heel for Governor Dan K. Moore.[43] A group of UNC-Chapel Hill students, led by Student Body President Paul Dickson, filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court, and on February 20, 1968, the Speaker Ban Law was struck down.[44] In 1969, campus food workers of Lenoir Hall went on strike protesting perceived racial injustices that impacted their employment, garnering the support of student groups and members of the University and Chapel Hill community.
The principles of sustainability have been integrated throughout much of UNC-Chapel Hill. In the area of green building, the university requires that all new projects meet the requirements for LEED Silver certification and is in the process of building the first building in North Carolina to receive LEED Platinum status.[76] UNC-Chapel Hill's award-winning co-generation facility produces one-fourth of the electricity and all of the steam used on campus.[77] In 2006, the university and the Town of Chapel Hill jointly agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 60% by 2050, becoming the first town-gown partnership in the country to do so.[78] Through these efforts, the university achieved a "A−" grade on the Sustainable Endowment Institute's College Sustainability Report Card 2010.[79] Only 14 out of 300 universities received a higher score than this.
The first public institution of higher education in North Carolina, the school opened its doors to students on February 12, 1795. North Carolina became coeducational under the leadership of President Kemp Plummer Battle in 1877 and began the process of desegregation under Chancellor Robert Burton House when African-American graduate students were admitted in 1951.[13][14] In 1952, North Carolina opened its own hospital, UNC Health Care, for research and treatment, and has since specialized in cancer care through UNC's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center which is one of only 51 national NCI designated comprehensive centers.[15]
On June 28, Colin Moran was hit by a pitch resulting in a left wrist fracture that would sideline him for an extended period of time. Moran missed all of July, but was able to rehab the injury in order to return to the Pittsburgh Pirates lineup in early August. Since he returned to action August 5, the 28-year-old former UNC standout has been on a tear. (Keeping It Heel)
Justin McKoy grew up like a lot of kids in the state of North Carolina. He wanted to be a Tar Heel. "I'd always mimic playing basketball in the house with my brother," McKoy said. "It would be like Justin from Carolina playing against his brother from Duke." Entering his junior season, McKoy is finally getting the chance to live out his childhood fantasy. (WRAL Sports Fan)