The Carolina Fund

Provides flexible funding to meet critical needs and seize emerging opportunities that will enrich the student experience and advance faculty research and scholarship.

Programs & Initiatives Faculty Excellence & Support Student Support Student Life & Well-Being

Meeting the need

The Carolina Fund puts your gift to work right away where it can make the greatest impact. Unrestricted support gives Carolina flexibility to make strategic decisions in response to changes in state funding, tuition revenue and federal grants.

Distinguished professorships

supplement the salaries of professors whose outstanding teaching and research boost the stature of UNC-Chapel Hill.

Carolina Fund Scholarships

help ensure that qualified students have the opportunity to study at Carolina regardless of their ability to pay.

$1.05 million

raised for The Carolina Fund in fiscal year 2025-26.

2,900+

donors contributed to support The Carolina Fund in fiscal year 2025-26.

Alumni distinguished professorships

In 2025-26, gifts to the Carolina Fund supported the current cohort of four Alumni Distinguished Professors. Established in 1961, these are the oldest professorships at Carolina, funded entirely by private donations from alumni.

The professorships supplement the salaries of professors whose outstanding teaching and research activities boost the stature of UNC-Chapel Hill.

Mary Margaret Frank

Mary Margaret Frank

Business

Frank received her PhD, Master of Accounting and BSBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. Dean of UNC Kenan-Flagler since 2023, she is an award-winning teacher and researcher and an accomplished academic leader. Her academic interests include the integration of business principles and public policy objectives, cross-sector collaboration and leadership, and sustainable investing. These interests developed from her research on the effects of regulation on reporting and investment decisions.

Joseph G Ibrahim

Joseph G. Ibrahim

Biostatistics

Appointed professor in the Department of Biostatistics in 2002, Ibrahim’s areas of research include Bayesian inference, missing data problems, medical imaging analysis and genomics. He is principal investigator of two National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants for developing statistical methodology related to cancer and genomics research. Ibrahim is also the director of the Biostatistics Core at UNC’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Richard A. Luettich

Richard A. Luettich

Coastal Resilience

Joining marine sciences at Carolina in 1987, Luettich is a coastal physical oceanographer whose research deals with modeling and measurement of circulation and transport in coastal waters. He is a co-developer of the ADCIRC coastal circulation and storm surge model — widely used for coastal flooding studies by academia, the private sector and multiple federal agencies. Luettich is the principal investigator of the Department of Homeland Security’s Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence.

Richard Jude Samulski

Richard Jude Samulski

Medicine

Samulski is the Alumni Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology at the UNC School of Medicine, former director of the UNC Gene Therapy Center and a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. He has co-founded multiple biotechnology companies, including AskBio, to translate discoveries into treatments for diseases such as muscular dystrophy, hemophilia and Parkinson’s. With nearly 100 patents and more than 200 publications, Samulski’s pioneering work laid the foundation for today’s FDA-approved AAV-based therapies.

Scholarships

Since the 1980s, the Carolina Fund has provided support to the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid through the Carolina Fund Scholarships, ensuring that qualified students have the opportunity to study at Carolina regardless of their ability to pay. This year the Carolina Fund supported 37 scholarship students and in the last seven years more than 160 scholars have received the Carolina Fund scholarships.

“Thanks to this scholarship, I’m able to remain a full-time student without the financial stress that might otherwise hold me back. This scholarship gives me the freedom to explore opportunities that align with my passion for social work, whether that’s enrolling in a specialized course or participating in a study abroad program. This support has opened the door to incredible opportunities: connecting with inspiring people, gaining valuable work and internship experience, and growing through diverse leadership roles. It’s not just financial assistance—it’s the foundation that’s allowing me to pursue my goals and fully engage in all that Carolina has to offer.” 
Tevana Holmes

Tevana Holmes '28

Wake Forest, NC
"I am blessed to have received this scholarship to fund my time here at Carolina. As a student supporting myself through college, scholarship funding makes my life possible. This scholarship means I can focus on community service and my academics. At Carolina, I am untethered to a single path. I've explored so many academic, personal and artistic interests here which include my MacDonald Fellowship project.  I would be unable to do this without this gift of education."
Juliana Robertson

Juliana Robertson '27

Raleigh, NC

Thank you for your generosity and support

Your gift to The Carolina Fund makes an impact on every aspect of Carolina, from the student experience to teaching excellence. Please know how grateful we are for your commitment to our university.  All gifts make a difference.

Your support in action

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