CED News
- US News ranks CED fourth!!
- Counseling Faculty Members Publish Three Books
- Dr. Kelly Wester Creates DVD, Handbook on Research Ethics for Counselors
- Building the Nicholas A. Vacc Bell Tower
- Birds, Bees, and Beyond A public awareness campaign created by students in Sexuality Counseling course
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Project Safe Love A new training manual developed by UNCG counseling researchers
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Doin' It Well: A Sexual Awareness Workbook A guide to wellness as it relates to sexuality
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Counseling and Educational Development
The Nicholas A. Vacc Belltower
Construction of the Nicholas A. Vacc Bell Tower
by Kerrie Kardatzke
Every campus needs a landmark that serves as a symbol or emblem of the institution... an icon that wordlessly inspires a sense of pride in the excellence and history that it represents. Here at UNCG, that icon will soon take the form of a bell tower on the corner of College Avenue and Spring Garden Avenue, a highly visible site just across the street from Curry Building and Department of Counseling and Educational Development offices. The bell tower will be especially meaningful to members of the Department, as the funds are being donated by Dr. Nancy Vacc in honor of her late husband, Dr. Nicholas Vacc, an esteemed faculty member here from 1979-2002.
Dr. Nicholas Vacc was chair of the counseling program from 1986- 1996 and led the program to a new caliber of excellence that drew national attention. Dr. Vacc, a revered scholar and leader in the counseling field, received many professional honors including the Hitchcock Award for Distinguished Professional Service and the Brooks Distinguished Mentor Award from the American Counseling Association, as well as the Meritorious Service Award and Distinguished Mentor Award from ACES. He held the Joe Rosenthal Excellence Professorship at UNCG from 1997-2002.
His contributions to the profession and to the UNCG counseling program inspired the renaming of the departmental clinic in Ferguson Building to the "Nicholas A. Vacc Counseling and Consulting Clinic." Dr. Nancy Vacc, his wife, will be donating an estimated $479,000 for the completion of the project, in tribute to her husband. Dr. Nancy Vacc is a former faculty member and Professor Emeritus of Curriculum & Instruction in the School of Education. Following one of his daily campus strolls, Vacc recalls her husband commenting that UNCG was missing the traditional bell/clock tower.
After his death in June 2002, Vacc decided to "make the tower a reality" in her husband's memory. The Board of Trustees was enthusiastic about the idea and soon approved the plan. Construction of the 47-foot tower began in early October and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The bell tower design includes a clock and four bells, with the option to add more at a later date. The chimes will be programmed electronically to ring on a set schedule, and music (such as the alma mater) can be played when desired. The raised-seam zinc roof will match those of other new buildings nearby, helping to create an architectural consistency with the new additions to campus.
The tower will be located on a site donated by the student body to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the University. The project is being managed and designed by the Verdin Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. Other locations proudly displaying Verdin bell towers include the University of Rochester, New York; Miami University of Ohio; Orlando, Florida; Rock Hill, South Carolina; and Bradford, Ontario. Verdin has been a national and international supplier of bells, carillons and clocks since 1842.