Carolina Women's Leadership Council
Profiles in Leadership
Mary Anne Dickson
Mary Anne Dickson ‘63 chairs the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council. She was a member of the Carolina First steering committee and has chaired the Board of Visitors. She is also a member of the Lux Libertas Society for lifetime donors of$1 million or more to UNC.
Dickson and her husband,Alan, support the Morehead Scholarship program. She and her sister, Neal Johnson‘76, endowed the Charles Garland Johnson Sr. Scholars Fund in International Studies. The fund, named for their father, will enable more Carolina students to study abroad. “It is our dream that all students who want to study abroad have the opportunity to do so,” she said. “It is a life enriching experience that no student, regardless of financial ability, should be denied.”
Mary Anne and her husband Alan live in Charlotte.
Barbara O'Herron
Barbara O’Herron ’72 serves the University in many ways. She belongs to the executive committee of the Women’s Leadership Council. The mother of two daughters at UNC, she’s part of the Carolina Parents Council, which links Carolina parents to the student affairs office. But Barbara’s campus involvement doesn’t stop there.
She and her husband, Ken ’72, ’80 (MBA), have supported the University through numerous gifts. Most recently, they contributed to the Kenan-Flagler Business School Dean’s Faculty Fund. The gift builds on one given to the school in 1995 by Ken’s father, Edward M.O’Herron Jr. ’38. He established the O’Herron Fund for Distinguished Faculty, which grants annual awards to outstanding teachers at Kenan-Flagler.
“We wanted our gift to encourage and show appreciation for deserving faculty members — to provide incentive for them to stay at Carolina,” Barbara said. “It is a privilege and a responsi-bility to be able to give. We see ourselves as stewards of the University, and we must take care of it for future generations.”
Barbara and her husband Ken live in Raleigh.
Julia Sprint Grumbles
Julia Sprunt Grumbles ’75 helped manage the public persona of her boss, Ted Turner, while rising through the ranks of Turner Broadcasting to become its top female executive. She was a founding member of the Atlanta Girls’ School, and gives her time to the International Women’s Forum of Georgia, Atlanta Landmarks, Inc. (The Fox Theater), the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention and the Trust for Public Land.
At Carolina, she gives to the College of Arts and Sciences, the Memorial Hall renovation and the Institute for the Arts and Humanities. She gave her leadership skills to the Carolina First Steering Committee, the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council (which she co-chairs) and the Atlanta regional campaign committee.
“I give to Carolina because I believe in its vision, its mission and its proven track record in higher education. The University is providing its students with important and invaluable tools that will empower them to develop and realize their potential.”
Julia and her husband Bill live in Chapel Hill.
Marjorie Buckley
Marjorie Buckley helped start the North Carolina Outward Bound School. She named the Home Depot chain. And she was instrumental in starting the Carolina Center for Public Service. Buckley gives to the Carolina Center for Public Service, the Academic Affairs Library, Carolina Leadership Development and the School of Education.
She gave her leadership skills to the Carolina First steering committee and the campaign women’s committee.
“I am involved with Carolina because this university gives young people the tools they need to succeed and contributes to the quality of life for all of us. I give to areas where I can see a nimpact and which advance UNC’s mission of teaching, research and service.”
Marjorie and her husband Walter live in Bethlehem, PA.
Barbara Hyde
Barbara Hyde, a 1983 liberal arts graduate and Morehead Scholar, served on the Carolina First Steering Committee and co-chairs the Women’s Leadership Council. She is a member of the Lux Libertas Society for lifetime donors of $1 million or more to Carolina.
“Carolina’s been a part of my life since I was 18,” Hyde said. “As an undergraduate, I was inspired by great teachers such as Ruel Tyson and Weldon Thornton. I began my professional life at UNC. And now I relish the chance to be involved as a donor in helping Carolina be the best public University in the nation.”
With her husband, Pitt, Barbara supported the building of Hyde Hall, which opened in 2002 and houses the College of Arts and Sciences’ Institute for the Arts and Humanities. Most recently, Hyde became chair of the Institute’s advisory board. “I believe the Institute models the best practices for retaining the University’s great faculty,” Hyde said. In her hometown of Memphis, Tenn., Hyde is rearing three children and works as president of her family foundation.
Drucie French
Drucie French ‘71, ‘78 serves on UNC’s Board of Visitors, and served on the Carolina First National Campaign Committee in the Washington, D.C., area and the executive committee of the Women’s Leadership Council.
After graduating from Carolina, French earned a doctorate in depth psychology and mythological studies. She is a strong advocate of women’s rights and is passionate about supporting women’s studies. She is spearheading efforts to endow the first women’s studies professorship at Carolina — the Marcee Craighill Distinguished Professorship in Women’s Studies.
“This professorship is a commitment to expand our awareness of the role of the feminine in the history of mankind, the evolution of culture and our aspirations for the future. Women’s Studies provides opportunities for research that complements existing disciplines by exploring the contributions of women.”
Drucie and her husband Steve live in McLean, VA.
Margaret Ullrich
When Margaret Ullrich graduated from Carolina in 1986, she may have headed to the bright lights of New York City for a job with Citicorp Securities, but she never left Carolina far behind. She joined both the New York City and the National Young Alumni Councils when they were just getting started and eventually chaired both. Under her leadership, the number of young alumni Chancellors’ Club members dramatically increased, as did the dollars raised.
Now back in Charlotte and married with three girls, Ullrich still puts Carolina first, serving on the executive committee of the Women’s Leadership Council and the Charlotte regional campaign committee. She also gives generously to the College of Arts and Sciences and the Kenan-Flagler Business School, from which she earned her bachelor’s degree.
“I appreciate how well prepared I was for my job in New York,” Ullrich said. “Carolina was an amazing experience for me and I want to help maintain the quality of the institution for future students. As alumni, we should continuously be striving to improve the University in anyway we can.”
Molly Dewar Froelich
Dynamic, spirited Molly Dewar Froelich ’83 is an enthusiastic advocate for Carolina. She shares her passion for the University through membership on the Executive Committee of the Women’s Leadership Council.
She shares her commitment to Carolina with her husband, Henry ’81.
“Henry and I are grateful for what the University gave us and for what it continues to give: educational excellence, public service, research — and cultural experiences that will be remembered for a lifetime,” she said.
Their leadership gift to Creative Writing memorializes a woman whose own appreciation of the arts led to a lifetime of supporting them — Henry’s mother, Mazie.
“Mazie read to her children every night and taught them the joy of reading,” Molly said. “It is one of her many legacies. She was also a devoted community activist who liked to make things happen. This gift to Creative Writing will make a direct and immediate impact on faculty recruitment. It is the perfect way to honor her — and support the arts she loved.”
Molly and her husband Henry live in Charlotte.
Ann Lewallen Spencer
Ann Lewallen Spencer`50 can’t put into words why she loves Carolina. So she uses a word to say that. “It is ineffable.” “Ineffable” means “incapable of being expressed.” Pushed a bit, she'll try, but the best she can do is say Carolina brings her “indescribable joy.”
That joy took root in the late 1940s, when Spencer earned her European history degree in Chapel Hill. She also took business classes, which served her well as she went on to take over the family business after rearing a family of her own. She led Winston-Salem’s Goody’s Pharmaceutical Inc., the headache powder maker, until the business was sold in 1994.
A diehard Carolina fan whose home answering machine message ends with “Go Heels,” Spencer has supported a range of campus causes, from athletics to diabetes and alcoholism research. Why does she give? To help further the mission of “one of the greatest assets our state has.” “I’ve never been anywhere in the world where I haven’t run into someone who knows Carolina and its reputation,” she says. “It is absolutely amazing.”
Spencer has lent her expertise to, among others, the University’s Board of Visitors and the boards of directors of the UNC Foundation and Friends of the Library, as well as the General Alumni Association. In 1998, she received one of Carolina’s highest honors, the William R. Davie Award.
Ann lives in Winston-Salem.
Barb Lee
Barb Lee`88 is a familiar face at Carolina. She chairs the UNC Board of Visitors and works closely with the Alumni Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity, serving on the leadership council of the Asian subcommittee.
Lee’s Atlanta-based event and video production company, Point Made Inc. has produced numerous events and videos for the University. A video she produced highlighting students’ study abroad experiences has helped promote study abroad and the need for scholarships.
“I believe a global education is the single most important element of our society right now,” Lee said. “We have got to reach out to the world with curiosity and humility and open ourselves up to how our fellow humans think, live, worship and communicate. We can’t afford to squander the chance to prepare the next generation, so I’ll help Carolina any way I can.”
A graduate of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Lee serves on the school’s scholarship selection committee. She is married to Alston Gardner ’77 and has one daughter, Amy Ward, and two stepdaughters, Anna and Emma Gardner.
Barb and her husband Alston live in New York City.
Kimberly Kyser
For Kimberly Kyser `68, “UNC is home and heart.” “I grew up on Franklin Street in a house that has been in our family for more than 100 years,” Kyser said. “My parents, two sisters and I, plus many cousins, aunts and uncles, graduated from UNC.”
Kyser earned her bachelor’s degree in art history from Carolina and a B.F.A. in painting from the Atlanta College of Art.
The mother of two, Kyser spent 10 years as a painter represented by an Atlanta gallery. She has also designed apparel, taught design and costume history, been a wardrobe consultant and was the style editor for a city magazine. Today she is an interior designer, president of Mortarboard Productions Inc., and executive producer of a documentary film about the life of her father, big band leader Kay Kyser ’28.
At Carolina, she has supported the arts with gifts to the Kay Kyser Jazz Scholarship in the Department of Music, PlayMakers Repertory Co., the Carolina Performing Arts Society Endowment Fund and the Memorial Hall Renovation Fund. “Art embraces the essence of humanity,” Kyser said. “It is civilizing and inclusive. I would like to see the visual and performing arts flourish on this campus and enrich the lives of all students.”
Kimberly lives in Chapel Hill.
Marree Townsend
To Marree Townsend ’77, leadership means setting an example for her two daughters. “I hope that my involvement with Carolina will be an inspiration for our daughters to continue,” Townsend said. “I think it’s so important for women to support their causes, whatever they may be. Role modeling is an important aspect for any alumna, from graduation forward.”
Townsend graduated from UNC with a degree in political science in 1977. The Winston-Salem native now lives in Greenwich, Conn., with husband John Townsend III ’77 ’82 (MBA). Their daughters, Merritt ’06 and Louise — a member of the class of 2009, are third-generation Tar Heels on both sides of the family.
The Townsends have supported Kenan-Flagler Business School through the establishment of the Archie K. Davis Endowed Lecture Series and the Townsend Family Endowed Professorship, the Arts & Sciences Foundation, First Year Seminars and the renovation of Memorial Hall. They created the Robert A. Shore Cystic Fibrosis Research Fund in the medical school in honor of Marree’s nephew, who has cystic fibrosis. “It was definitely a shared enthusiasm between the two of us,” Marree said. “We both got fabulous educations, we’re grateful for that, and we’re so thrilled that we’re in a position to give back. It’s fun to be able to give when you can watch wonderful things that go on and watch your contributions making a difference.
Mary Faison Blair
Serving on the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council is just one way
that Mary Faison Blair ’82 stays connected to Carolina. “I like the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council,” she said. “This is our own thing, and I think it’s important. We’re able to tackle things of importance to us.”
A Charlotte native, Blair married husband Bill ’81 after earning her degree in elementary education. The Blair’s live in Wilmington with their four children. Well, only one is still at home. The oldest graduated from the University of Virginia and is working in New York City, and two are enrolled at Carolina.
Even before their children arrived in Chapel Hill, the Blair’s were getting “letters home,” of sorts, from recipients of the William J. and Mary F. Blair Scholarship Fund. It provides need-based scholarships to students in the College of Arts and Sciences, with preference to students from New Hanover County. “We get letters every year, and it’s so exciting to hear what they want to do, and what they want to pursue,” she said. “In some cases, we’ve known some of them and watched them grow up here, and now we hear what their goals are and how they’re reaching them. The scholarships are our way of giving back to Carolina and supporting our home county.”
Neal Johnson
Since she was a little girl, Neal Johnson `76 has been curious about cultures other than her own. Growing up in a family that loved to travel overseas helped spark that passion, she said. Her love for exotic places led her to study art history at Carolina. But, unfortunately, she said, she never studied abroad as an undergraduate.
Johnson is making sure that today’s and tomorrow’s Carolina students don’t miss out on study abroad opportunities. She and her sister, Mary Anne Dickson '63, have honored their father by establishing the Charles Garland Johnson Sr. Scholars Fund, which enables seven students each year to travel abroad. In addition, Johnson has established the Neal Johnson International Study Fund in Art History in the College of Arts and Sciences. “Studying abroad provides a chance to be exposed to art face to face and to see sculptures, paintings and architecture in their cultural context,” she said. “In traveling overseas, students also gain a broader view of the world and have a better understanding of what is going on while following the news.”
Neal lives in Charlotte.
Pam Heavner
Pam Heavner `79 studied fine arts at UNC, and has remained involved ever since.
She and her husband Jim led the campaign that raised more than $5 million
toward the renovation of Memorial Hall, and have also supported the Ackland Art Museum and PlayMakers Repertory Co.
“The arts have always been high on our list,” Pam says. “But my longtime connection with the University is women’s health.” She has served on the board of visitors for the N.C. Children’s Hospital, and was among those who provided input during the design of the N.C. Women’s Hospital. Two years ago, she joined the board of the Center for Women’s Health Research. “It’s a wonderful resource,” Pam said. “They are a small office, but they do a lot of work..”
Reasons to support women’s health research are all around her, Pam said: her mother, her sister, her three stepdaughters, five granddaughters. “The center’s work may not touch me directly today,” Pam said. “But it touches someone I know, or someone I’m related to. During my life, it will touch me many times, I’m sure.”
Pam and her husband Jim live in Chapel Hill.
Paula Newsome
Paula Newsome`77 is a woman of action. The first African-American woman optometrist to open a practice in North Carolina, she now owns Advantage Vision Care, which serves nearly 20,000 patients from its downtown Charlotte location.
Each year, she travels to Jamaica or South America to provide free eye exams, taking almost 1,000 pairs of glasses to give away. She also tutors at her daughter’s elementary
school and provides free eye screenings for Charlotte area schools.
At Carolina, she serves on the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council and the Arts and Sciences Foundation Board. She contributed to the Stone Center building and made a bequest to the College of Arts and Sciences to establish a scholarship fund geared toward outstanding African-American students with financial need.
“The education I received while attending Carolina gave me my foundation and has truly been the wind beneath my wings,” Newsome said. “Supporting African-American students who aspire to attend UNC but who may have some financial hurdles to cross is the least that I can do. ‘To whom much is given, much is required.’”
Becky Cobey
Sometimes it seems like Carolina is the center of the universe,” said Becky Cobey. “No matter where you go, you always run into someone connected to Carolina.”
Case in point. Back in 1989, Cobey and her husband, Munroe ’74, read a story in their newspaper about Donald White, a New York City high school student. He had gone out to do the family laundry and was killed by a drug dealer for pocket change. That same day, White was supposed to take the SAT in preparation for applying to Carolina. The story really spoke to the Cobey’s, so the couple helped create a scholarship at Carolina in White’s name to support economically disadvantaged students from New York City.
Cobey, who serves on the executive committee of the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council and UNC’s Board of Visitors, said that scholarship led her to get more involved with Carolina. It also helps a little that both of her daughters, Mary ’05 and Elizabeth ’07, bleed Carolina blue.
Becky and her husband Munroe live in Chapel Hill.
Paula Davis Noell
Of course Paula Davis Noell ’77 is a proud Carolina alumna, but these days
she’s enjoying being a proud Carolina mom. Her three children all came
to Carolina: son Davis graduated in 2001, daughter Nell graduated in
2004, and daughter Eleanor graduated in 2008.
These multiple connections shape Noell’s support of and involvement with Carolina. “I make contributions to entities that are relevant to either me or my children,” she said. For example, Nell majored in paleobiology; Paula contributed to the Fund for Paleobiology. Davis and Eleanor both participated in the Honors Program, Paula serves on the Honors Advisory Board.
Noell is also proud of the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council and its accomplishments, including the establishment of the Faculty Mentoring Awards, which Council members endowed by raising more than $200,000. “I’ve gotten to know some really spectacular women,” Noell said.
The Wilmington native, who has lived in several cities across the U.S. has moved back to Chapel Hill. “North Carolina is home, and Chapel Hill has a special place in my heart because of my wonderful experience there,” she said. “Of all of the various endeavors of my life—next to raising my children—the most rewarding has been re-connecting to the University.”
