By Steve Gilliam , University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted 4-24-07
GREENSBORO, NC – The University of North Carolina at Greensboro will present honorary degrees to a trio of North Carolinians during its 115th commencement on Friday, May 11.
Graduation exercises will begin at 10 a.m. in the Greensboro Coliseum. UNCG will recognize students who have completed degrees at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels. More details are available at the Commencement Central website, http://www.uncg.edu/reg/CommencementCentral.html.
The recipients, who will each receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree, are:
• E.S. (Jim) Melvin of Greensboro, president of the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation, former UNCG Trustee and former mayor of Greensboro.
• Betty Ray McCain of Wilson, former North Carolina Secretary of Cultural Resources.
• Irwin “Ike” Belk of Charlotte, a philanthropist who is the retired president of the Belk Group Inc. retail chain.
Melvin began a successful career in the banking industry in Greensboro in 1959 that spanned nearly four decades. He also served as Mayor of Greensboro from 1971-81. In 1997 Melvin took early retirement from Central Carolina Bank to become president of the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation. Melvin has been a staunch supporter of economic development in the Triad. Under his management, the Bryan Foundation works with other foundations to facilitate downtown revitalization efforts. A main component of the revitalization was the new baseball stadium for the Greensboro Grasshoppers. Melvin was a member of the UNCG Board of Trustees from 1975-83 (chair from 1981-83) and from 1993-99. He was a charter member of the UNCG Spartan Club and served on the board of the UNCG Excellence Foundation and the Advisory Board for the Bryan School of Business and Economics.
McCain, who is also UNCG's commencement speaker this May, was a member of the UNC Board of Governors and the UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees, chairman of the N.C. Democratic Party, co-chair of Jim Hunt’s campaigns for governor in 1976 and in 1980, and a volunteer in Hunt’s 1992 campaign for governor. In 1993, Hunt appointed McCain as secretary of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. She has been a trustee of the North Carolina Symphony and the Opera Company of North Carolina, director of the N.C. Institute of Medicine, co-chair of the campaign for the UNC-CH School of Education, and president of the N.C. Museum of History Associates. She holds honorary degrees from UNC Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University, UNC Wilmington and Barton College. She also received the N. C. Writers’ Network “Sam Ragan Angel of the Literary Arts Award.”
Belk is known for his philanthropy to non-profit organizations, and he is especially well-known in the Carolinas where he funded or helped to fund several buildings and sports venues that have been named for him. A generous contributor to higher education in the state, Belk served on the UNC Board of Governors and on the boards of trustees of UNC Chapel Hill and UNC Charlotte. He served in the North Carolina State Senate and the House of Representatives. He was also named to the U.S. Public Delegation to the 54th United Nations General Assembly by President Bill Clinton in 1999. He also served as president of the American Cancer Society Foundation for 40 years, and received its highest honor, the Merit Award, in 2002. At UNCG, he created an athletic scholarship endowment with a $250,000 gift to the Students First Campaign. Belk Athletic Scholarships are made with preference given to students on the track or cross country team.
