The UNC College of Arts & Sciences received a $25 million gift from an anonymous donor meant to benefit graduate students across the school's many departments in upcoming years, the school announced Wednesday.
The large donation will be split into fellowships to directly fund graduate student research, projects, study abroad programs and other academic opportunities, Terry Rhodes, interim dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, said.
Funding graduate work is important, Rhodes said, because it can have an expansive impact across the school, state and nation.
“We have outstanding graduate students,” Rhodes said. “We think this gift is going to help us in terms of competing to maintain that excellence in the graduate students we bring in.”
According to U.S. News & World Report, nine graduate programs in the College of Arts & Sciences rank in the top 30 programs in the nation. The endowment can help maintain those programs' success, Rhodes said, by allowing students to reach their full potential.
The gift could support up to 200 UNC graduate students each year within the College of Arts & Sciences, she said.
“Our graduate students are at the heart of Carolina’s culture of collaboration,” interim Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said in a statement on the College of Arts & Sciences website. “From our research labs and classrooms to our art studios and athletic fields, graduate students push boundaries and explore new ideas in their research and teaching. We are grateful for this donor’s overwhelming generosity and commitment to supporting our graduate students and enabling them to pursue academic excellence.”
Prior to his appointment as interim chancellor, Guskiewicz served as the dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.
Geneva Collins, the director of communications for the College of Arts & Sciences, said the fellowships funded by the donation will be application-based. As the donation is a bequest, the college cannot definitively say when the funding will become available.
