Gift Highlights

Professorship Honors Class President '38

When she was an undergraduate, Lucy Spinks Keker '38 was inspired by the lectures of some of the great professors of Woman’s College. She went on to become an advocate for education and has held that passion all her life.

So many years after her graduation, she recalls that it never occurred to her that one day she would create an endowed professorship that would bring outstanding faculty to UNCG who would inspire today’s college students.

Keker’s husband, Sam, did just that -- establishing the Lucy Spinks Keker Distinguished Excellence Professorship with gifts to UNCG’s current Students First Campaign and the earlier Second Century Campaign. The endowment’s total value is $500,000, including a $167,000 match from the N.C. Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust Fund.

"During my years at Woman's College, I got a wonderful education and also learned the value of public service from the faculty who taught me," Mrs. Keker said. "Those lessons have guided me all my life. Harriet Elliott, as dean of women and professor of political science, was my particular mentor. Her mantra for each student was 'Responsible Freedom.'"

"Faculty members, through their teaching and research, have the opportunity to inspire students and to create new knowledge that can change the world for the better. UNCG is a resource to the state and nation and I'm glad that we are able to create this professorship."

Like the university, "Service" has been her motto. After her graduation, Harriet Elliott recommended her for a position with the Democratic National Committee, Women's Division, under May Thompson Evans, the deputy director. The Women's Division was developed by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to encourage political participation by women.

Keker has gone on to serve in Maryland, where she and her husband live, as a member of the State Board for Higher Education and the Professional Standards Board. She was also president of the Montgomery County Board of Education and of the Montgomery College Board of Trustees. She is everlasting class president of her graduating class at UNCG, has served on the Excellence Foundation, and is a recipient of the Alumni Distinguished Service Award. Her husband, Samuel Keker, served in the U.S. Navy in both World War II and the Korean War, and then had a long career with U.S. News & World Report, retiring as chairman of the board of directors.

The current Keker Professor at UNCG is Dr. Michael McIntosh, a faculty member in the Department of Nutrition who does research on obesity. His recent five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health runs through 2011 has a total award of $1,526,068.

Distinguished Professorship Endowment Lives On to Honor Oldest Living Alumna

Lake Simpson Dickson enrolled as a student at the State Normal and Industrial College, as a freshman in 1917 and went on to graduate in 1919. At the time of her death on Jan. 30, 2009, she held the distinction of being UNCG's oldest living alumna.

Her four children -- Stuart, Alan, Barbara and Jane -- along with 11 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren -- decided in 2008 to honor her with a special endowment at her alma mater. The family's Dickson Foundation is pledging $417,000 to create the Lake Simpson Dickson Distinguished Professorship in Nutrition. The total endowment will grow to $1 million, with matching funds of $250,000 from the C.D. Spangler Foundation and another $333,000 from the N.C. Distinguished Professorship Endowment Trust Fund.

"Even though our mother graduated almost 90 years ago from the Normal College that has grown into UNCG, she always said that she enjoyed her years there," said Alan Dickson, president of the Dickson Foundation. "Our family is proud of her and the life she lived, and we’re happy to be creating this professorship in her name. UNCG has long been an asset to the State of North Carolina and we are proud to support it."

Dickson resided in Charlotte nearly all her life. She was born in Burlington, NC in 1897, and grew up in Georgia where her father was in textile manufacturing. The family later moved back to Gastonia, NC. She graduated from the College's commercial program and taught for a year after graduation. After her marriage to Rush Dickson in 1921, they settled in Charlotte and raised their family. Her husband was one of the founders of Myers Park Baptist Church and she was one of the first female deacons. She was known for her gardening skills, and tended a beautiful garden past her 100th birthday.

When asked about her longevity, she recalled sound advice from her mother: "Take care of your health. That's your greatest earthly blessing."

The Dickson Foundation supports education, healthcare, charitable and religious organizations. The foundation is led by Lake Dickson's two sons, R. Stuart Dickson and Alan T. Dickson, former chairmen of Ruddick Corporation, from 1968 to 1994 and from 1994 to 2006, respectively. Ruddick Corporation owns the Harris Teeter grocery chain and American & Efird, a leading manufacturer of sewing thread.

Read a tribute to Mrs. Dickson in the Charlotte Observer

Professorship to Carry Former Chancellor's Name

Although she's been retired for a semester as chancellor, Dr. Patricia A. Sullivan has received another honor. An endowment is being created in her name to establish a professorship that will bring a nationally known scholar to UNCG.

The Patricia A. Sullivan Distinguished Professorship in the Sciences is being created through a $26 million matching fund initiative by the C.D. Spangler Foundation. The program allows UNCG and other UNC campuses to create distinguished professorships.

Sixty-one donors have pledged the necessary match of $417,000 for the Sullivan endowment. Along with $250,000 from the Spangler Foundation, UNCG will apply for $333,000 in matching funds from the N.C. Distinguished Professorship Endowment Trust Fund. The total endowment will be $1 million.

A search is under way to recruit for the Sullivan Professorship, which will be in the departments of Biology, Chemistry & Bio-chemistry or Physics & Astronomy.

"This is wonderful recognition of Pat Sullivan's service and dedication to this university for almost 14 years," said Vice Chancellor for University Advancement Patricia W. Stewart. "It is also a wonderful gift to the university. One of the campaign's priorities is the creation of endowed professorships so that our students can learn from the brightest faculty. I want to recognize the Excellence Foundation Board for its primary leadership and support to raise the needed dollars, and also give special thanks to the Board of Trustees and Board of Visitors for their support."

Sullivan became chancellor of UNCG on January 1, 1995. In her almost 14 years, she led the institution as it grew to become a research university and the largest state institution in the Piedmont Triad. Under her leadership, enrollment at the university reached an all-time high while academic standards for admission have increased. The campus continues to lead the UNC system in minority enrollment.

In 2000, Sullivan campaigned door-to-door in Greensboro for the $3.1 billion N.C. Higher Education Bond referendum. The bonds passed and allowed UNCG to build several new academic buildings, including a $47 million, state-of-the-art facility for science teaching and research that opened in 2003. In April 2008 it was named the Patricia A. Sullivan Science Building.