Celebrating 75 years!
May 5, 2014
This year, I’ve traveled with our Advancement staff (formerly External Affairs), faculty members, chairs and others to a number of 75th-anniversary events. We’ve been honored to meet and reconnect with so many alumni. Several became emotional when they recounted how a faculty member found support for them when they otherwise might not have been able to attend our School. I was particularly moved to talk with Dr. Ira Laster at our Washington, D.C., event. He had been at the School when African-Americans could not take our health education classes on campus but took classes instead with our faculty members at what is now N.C. Central University. Phyllis Verhalen, wife of alumnus Dr. Robert Verhalen, recalled that the School once was small enough for all our students, staff and faculty members to enjoy a picnic on the front steps of Rosenau Hall. Now, we often gather to celebrate in our wonderful Armfield Atrium, a place of calm and peace (that can be transformed into a bustling social scene) that unites the mature Rosenau, the middle-aged McGavran-Greenberg and the youthful Michael Hooker buildings. They come from different eras, but each building is united, as are the people who inhabit them, in common purpose.
—Barbara K. Rimer, DrPH
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Deborah Lin, George Karageorgiou, Greg Mascavage, Lee Katharine Ayer and Chris Del Grosso enjoyed getting together in Chicago. (Photo by Tom Wong)
Retired biostatistics professor Dr. Larry Kupper, Joan Gillings, Dean Barbara K. Rimer, and Joy and Chett Douglass (l-r) celebrated at the Boston alumni event.
Interim health policy and management chair Dr. Sandra Greene (l) chatted with Michael Tarwater, chief executive officer of Carolinas HealthCare, in Charlotte, N.C.
Alumna Briana Webstar (l) and friend Talisha Lee loved coming to the Washington event at the National Geographic Museum.
Roslyn Jonson (second from left), president of the D.C.-area chapter of the School’s Alumni Association, gathered with friends at the D.C. event.
Bryan Bullard, Mary Webster, and Laura and Fred Brown (l-r) greeted guests at the Levine Museum of the New South, in Charlotte.
Dr. Joan Huntley applauded a presentation at the Charlotte event.
Dr. Kathleen Kaney, 2013 Public Health Executive Leadership alumna, spoke in Charlotte about her education.
Health Behavior chair Dr. Leslie Lytle (l) and Nancy Legrand listened attentively to a speaker at the Charlotte event.
Bob Vollinger, Kevin Harlen, Brenda Edwards and Kelly Keisling enjoyed each other’s company at the D.C. event.
Trey Crabbe gave a talk to guests at the Hard Rock Cafe event in Chicago. (photo by Tim Wong)
Richard and Judy Vinroot caught up with Dean Barbara K. Rimer at in Charlotte.
The Gillings School’s 75th anniversary presents a unique opportunity to celebrate achievements, reconnect with faculty, students and alumni, and give thanks for the opportunity to shape the history of public health. We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity. Renew your Carolina spirit by sharing your time and resources. Let’s continue the School’s tradition of excellence for the next 75 years!
—Roy J. Ramthun (MSPH, HPM, ’87) Chair, 75th Anniversary Campaign Cabinet
Carolina Public Health is a publication of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. To view previous issues, please visit sph.unc.edu/cph.
