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news from UNC by the sea
Vol. VIII, No. 4
FEBRUARY, 1984
Friends of UNCW Help the Campus Grow
Debby Casey (left), Miss Wheelchair North Carolina
1983-84, visited the UNCW campus November 15. She
met with the “Introduction to Special Education” class
and with the Student North Carolina Association of
Educators. As Miss Wheelchair, Casey is the spokes
person for the handicapped In North Carolina. She says
she wants “to contribute to better rapport between the
able-bodied and the disabled, to clear up misconcep
tions about handicapped people, and to foster good
will among all North Carolinians.” Casey, whose
disability is Friedreich's Ataxia, hopes that attitudinal
barriers will be broken through an exchange of ideas
at sessions such as the ones at UNCW. “No longer will
I be confined to a wheelchair; I can be a person who
uses a wheelchair,” says Casey. With her in the photo
is Dr. Carol Chase Thomas, assistant professor of cur
ricular studies at UNCW, who invited Casey to speak
on campus.
Schweitzer International Prizes
Recognize Excellence Worldwide
The 1985 Albert Schweitzer International Prize
in Medicine was funded recently by a $5,000 dona
tion from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, a private,
non-profit foundation supported by Burroughs
Wellcome Company. Headquartered in Raleigh’s
Research Triangle Park, Burroughs Wellcome
discovers, researches and manufactures phar
maceuticals for humans and animals. Burroughs
Wellcome presented the check to the North
Carolina Educational, Historical and Scientific
Foundation, sponsor of the Schweitzer Prizes.
The Schweitzer Prizes are awarded every four
years to recognize excellence in medicine, music
and the humanities, the three areas in which
Schweitzer excelled. UNCW hosts the prize
ceremonies.
The Albert Schweitzer International Prizes prob
ably would not exist today without the efforts of
Dr. Gerald H. Shinn, professor of philosophy and
religion at UNCW and director emeritus of the
prizes. Over the years, Shinn has worked tireless
ly to bring attention to the prizes—as well as
money into the coffers of the foundation to support
the prizes.
A nomination council is currently being named.
Shinn hopes that eventually the council will have
members from every county in North Carolina,
every state in the United States, and every coun
try in the world.
Nominations for prize recipients are made to the
Rev. Professor Hugh Anderson, professor of New
Testament at Edinburgh University Divinity
School, Edinburgh, Scotland, chairman of the coun
cil. Once nominations are received, Anderson con
venes a secret selection committee. This commit
tee will name the recipients, who will come to
Wilmington to receive their prizes.
The next ceremonies are scheduled for March
18-22, 1985.
They help you in the bad times. They sheire the
good times. They make you feel special on occa
sions like Christmas or birthdays.
Everyone likes friends.
But friends need not be limited to individuals.
People can be friends of something bigger than
themselves. And that is what the Friends of
UNCW are: some of the best friends the Universi
ty of North Carolina at Wilmington ever had.
The Friends of UNCW began as the Friends of
Wilmington College in 1963. The college’s most
desperate need at that time was expanding its
library. With the help of its Friends, Wilmington
College increased its library holdings from 11,000
to 50,000 in a short period of time. Through the
Friends’ efforts, the library also received its ac
creditation. As the college expanded its educational
programs to become a university, the Friends
broadened their support to other educational areas
besides the library.
For Christmas last year, the Friends gave
UNCW—gave the students—a wdde-screen televi
sion for the University Union. When the union,
which opened last March, was planned, space was
allotted for a TV lounge. The second-floor lounge
is used constantly by students taking breaks from
classes. It gets especially crowded during some of
the more popular daytime soap operas.
Another gift to UNCW that the Friends helped
with was the Wells Fargo Fitness Trail, for which
the group donated $1,500. The fitness trail, which
begins near the campus tennis courts and winds
Eiround the athletic fields to Brooks Field and back,
is already widely used by students and faculty.
"I’ve had more comments about the TV and the
fitness trail than any other thing we’ve done,” says
Connie Yow, current president of the Friends.
"Everyone is so enthusiastic about them. We’re so
pleased to be able to help the university where they
really want it.”
Yow has been a member of the Friends since
1968, and is a former UNCW and Wilmington Col
lege student. "I remember, when I was taking
courses, that the library was so limited,” Yow says
today. "It was a pleasure to be able to help the
school get better library facilities and more books.
"It’s been so great to see UNCW grow and come
into its own, the way it has since I’ve been involv
ed,” Yow continues.
Sometimes people mistakenly think the Friends
of UNCW are a group whose only mission is to give
to the school’s library. Not so, according to Yow.
When the Friends organized, the library was the
part of the college that needed the most help. But
since then, most other areas of the campus have
been touched by the good will of the Friends. Since
a group of local citizens organized the Friends in
See FRIENDS, page 2
Exercise for the Health of It
The new $8,000 jogging course/fitness trail at
UNCW, partially paid for by the Friends, is a boon
to anyone on campus who wants to get healthy or
stay that way. The 154-mile course has 20 exercise
stations, the first four of which are next to the ten
nis courts near Trask Coliseum. The path runs
behind the softball field, loops by the outfield of
Brooks Field, and ends behind the soccer field.
Designed to promote lifelong fitness, the course
includes a variety of warm-up, conditioning and
cool-down exercises to be done together with
jogging. The course is good for the university,
says Dr. Lucinda Hollifield, assistant professor of
health, physical education and recreation. "It fits
in with the objectives of the physical education 101
class,” she explains. "Through P.E. 101, students
will design an individualized exercise program that
leads to lifelong fitness.
"The course also provides good recreation for
those who like to exercise in their free time.”
UNCW students, faculty and staff may use it.
The 20 exercise stations include stops for sit-ups,
push-ups, chin-ups, leg presses, body lifts, and
other exercises to increase a person’s muscular
strength and endurance. According to Hollifield,
cardiovascular endurance is enhanced by running
between stations.
Hollifield and other HPER faculty saw the Wells
Fargo jogging course at a health conference in
1981. But it wasn’t until this year that UNCW was
able to put together the money to buy it. Wells Far
go gave the school a $2,500 grant, but the major
contributor was the athletic department. Athletic
Director Bill Brooks was able to use some of the
money from a physical activity support fund to help
pay for the course.
"People are using the course,” says Brooks. "I
see them out there every day. The students and
faculty really seem to be enjoying it.”
Students stretch their muscles on a part of the jogging course.