Commencement 2002 NewsRelease

GREENSBORO—Two businessmen who have been long-time civic leaders will receive honorary degrees from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro on Sunday, May 19, during commencement exercises.

Stanley Frank

Mike Fleming

The recipients are Michael B. Fleming and Stanley Frank, who will receive Doctor of Humane Letters degrees. Both men are successful businessmen with extensive civic involvement, and have been long-standing supporters of UNCG, and especially of UNCG athletics. Their civic leadership has been substantial and both have received the Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Frank and Fleming were charter members of the UNCG Spartan Club in 1992 and have served on its board.  In 2000, they were among the charter inductees of the UNCG Athletics Hall of Fame. Each has served for several years on the UNCG Excellence Foundation board of directors.

UNCG's commencement begins at 10 a.m. in the Greensboro Coliseum and degrees will be presented to an estimated 1,800 students who are candidates to complete degrees during spring semester. Benjamin S. Ruffin, who is chair of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, will give the commencement address.

Fleming, who was secretary-treasurer and later president of Fleming-Shaw Transfer and Storage, is a Greensboro native who was a UNCG Board of Trustees member from 1981-87. He chaired the special gifts division of the Prospectus III Campaign, UNCG's first-ever fundraising drive. Fleming also was instrumental in helping secure state funding for construction and renovation of the School of Health and Human Performance Building. That building is home to the campus gymnasium, which was named for Fleming. From 1977-1981, Fleming served the state as a member of the N.C. Board of Transportation.

In Greensboro, he has been either president or chairman of a variety of organizations and programs, including the Shepherd Center, United Way, United Negro College Fund, Greensboro Cancer Crusade, Greensboro Community Baseball Club, Better Business Bureau of Guilford County and the United Arts Fund Campaign. He also was Guilford County chairman for former Gov. Jim Hunt's first two gubernatorial campaigns in 1976 and 1980. Fleming's other service has included serving on a variety of boards, including those of the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, the Greensboro Human Relations Commission, the Old Greensborough Preservation Society, Hospice of Greensboro and the Greensboro Merchants Association.

Frank, a native of Staten Island, N.Y., moved to North Carolina in 1936. He was owner of Carolina By-Products from 1953-69 and served as its chairman until 1988. He is a former member and chairman of the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority, first joining the authority in 1962 and serving as chairman from 1972-1991. In that post, he was instrumental in the development and expansion of Piedmont Triad International Airport. Among his business and civic activities, he has worked with the Piedmont Triad Development Corp., Greensboro Development Corp. and the N.C. Department of Transportation Aeronautics Council. He has been a member of the Greensboro Sports Council, and was one of the owners of the professional ice hockey team, the Greensboro Generals.

Among his public service commitments, he has been chair of the United Way and the Humana Hospital board of trustees, and also president of the Governor's Committee for the Employment of the Handicapped. In higher education, he and his wife, Dorothy, have been supporters of UNCG, Guilford College and Wake Forest University, and Frank is a board of visitors member of each institution. In addition to his other UNCG commitments, he is chairman of the School of Nursing advisory board. The Stanley and Dorothy Frank Athletic Scholarship Endowment was established at UNCG in their honor by friends and family. A sculpture, "Play at the Plate," in the UNCG Baseball Stadium was dedicated in their honor. The couple also created the endowments at UNCG in business and nursing.

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