Largest annual gift total sets records in development office
E. VINCENT TILSON
Vice President
for Development
Highlighting the 1996-97 academic year
was Chowan’s receiving the largest gift in
college history. The gift totaled more than
$ 1 million and was provided through a bequest of
the late Ruth M. Thomas and a trust distribution
originally funded by her brother, the late William
“Will” A. Thomas, both of Cofield, N.C. Ruth
Thomas, Class of 1917, was a strong supporter of
the college and made significant contributions
throughout her life to Chowan as well as to com
munity and church projects. Her mother, Mary
Green Mitchell Thomas, was an 1876 graduate of
then Chowan Baptist Female Institute. Ruth’s
sister, Mary, was a 1902 graduate. Throughout his
life. Will Thomas was a major advocate of Christian
higher education. He contributed toward various
campaign drives for library expansion and cafeteria
construction and helped to establish
scholarship fimds for students at
Chowan. R. R Thomas, father to Ruth,
William and Mary, served on the board
of trustees from 1883 to 1916. During
17 of these years, he served as chair
man of the board. The Thomas gift has
been designated to scholarship and tech
nology endowment as well as capital
improvements.
Gifts to the college during the
1996-97 year totaled $2,247,901.67, the
largest annual gift total in Chowan’s
history. For the second consecutive
year, donors numbered more than
2,000. These 2,003 donors made 2,810
gifts to the various giving programs on
campus with many donors making more
than a single gift during the academic
year. The estate of Mary Wiggins
Turner, of Gatesville, N.C., provided
Chowan a significant bequest to initiate
a landscaping endowment in support of
campus beautification. The Murfrees
boro Rotary Club funded a generous endowed
scholarship. Members of the Ahoskie Woman’s
Club, of Ahoskie, N.C., presented the college with
two strong scholarship endowments A gift of
$40,000 initiated an endowment for Chowan’s new
overseas study program which will involve 15
students studying in London during the spring 1998
semester. Alum Linwood Parker, of Beaufort,
N.C., and president of Parker Marine, made an
extremely helpful gift to the department of science
by donating the time and labor for the production
of a custom-crafted commercial power boat for use
in the department’s environmental biology program.
The campaign for library computerization was
given a boost by a $50,000 challenge extended to
the college by the trustees of the Alden Trust, of
Worcester, Ma. Chowan’s having raised $150,000
in project ftmds by June 30, 1998 will result in the
Alden Trust, on a three-to-one basis, awarding a
grant of $50,000 toward library computerization
expenses. Computerization of the library is
needed to provide users technological access to
information as efficiently and accurately as
possible. Book and article searches, for example,
will be made by using a keyboard and monitor
rather than by flipping manually through card
catalogs and indexes. It is important that Chowan
provide students digital library services not only
because of instantaneous connectivity to other
libraries and information sources across the state,
nation and world but also to familiarize students
with computer research skills so often required in
today’s job market. To date, the campaign totals
$73,444 toward a $250,000 basic goal. Dr.
Catherine (Betty) Moore, of Pendleton, N.C .,
serves as campaign chair. Dr. and Mrs. Bruce E.
Whitaker, of Murfreesboro, serve as honorary
chairs. The campaign ends June 30, 1998. Until
then, all gifts to library computerization will be
matched, on a 3:1 basis, by the Alden Trust.
More than 1,000 guests and volunteers
attended 20 scheduled events planned in recogni
tion of Dr. Stanley G. Lott’s inauguration as
twenty-first president and in celebration of
Chowan’s heritage and mission. Jill McCorkle
received the 1997 Mary Frances Hobson prize
conceptualized by Charles M. Hobson HI, of San
Francisco, and ftmded by the Hobson Family
Foundation. Ella Ann Holding, of Smithfield,
Good Dads and Bad Dads
N.C., made a special guest appearance presenting a
piano concert.
Other noteworthy recognitions and occasions
during the 1996-97 year included Thomas M.
McCrary, of Raleigh, N.C., receiving the inaugural
Trustee Service Award during the annual Awards
and Appreciation Dinner, Mrs. Htmter (Jean)
Sharp, Jr., of Ahoskie, N.C., was the recipient of
the Community Service Award presented by the
Chowan College Alumni Association. The 1997
Day for Chowan ftmdraiser, co-chaired by Larry
Joyner, of Ahoskie, and Tommie Hill, of Murfrees
boro, totaled $176,093.
The Chowan College Technology Advisory
Council was established and held its fust board
meeting. The purpose of the council is to
support, enhance and inform the college’s recent
technology initiatives. Eighty alumni and friends
participated in the sixth annual Chowan Classic
superball golf tournament; the proceeds of wWch
are directed to a Chowan Classic endowed
scholarship.
Chowan is blessed by her many alumni and
friends who have always been for the institution a
source of strength and pride As an institution of
Christian higher education affiliated with the
Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, the
college family remains grateful for the support of
North Carolina Baptists.
Justice team pursues clues
Next to a dogwood tree in Squirrel Park, a tiny
wooden platform on a slender iron stake appeared
mysteriously along Jones Drive. It stood non-
descriptly about 30 inches or so off the ground.
Then, during the next several weeks, additional plat
forms seemed to emerge like mushrooms around
campus. They surfaced near bushes and woodlands
and in open fields.
Dr. Teresa Justice, assistant professor of psy
chology, and her husband. Dr Michael Justice, assis
tant professor of biology and mathematics, had
begim to set up shop for extensive bird trapping,
banding and observation research on Chowan’s cam
pus. The curious little platforms quickly turned into
bird feeding stations used in the capture process.
Operated under the auspices of the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service and the North Carolina Wildlife
Resources Commission, the banding program con
centrates on two major goals.
The first purpose of the program is the
investigation into birds’ use of color patterns when
defending their territories, attracting mates, raising
their young and protecting themselves from preda
tors. Trapping the birds allows the Justices to
measure the brightness and extent of each individual
bird’s colors and banding allows them to keep track
of individual birds during the breeding season as
they try to incubate, brood, feed and protect their
yotmg.
Michael, an animal behaviorist, focuses on how
a bird’s color pattern can make the bird more or
less conspicuous, depending on how the bird
orients itself with respect to the location of the sun
in the sky. The main concern of Teresa, a develop
mental psychobiologist, is the relationship between
color pattern and provisioning of parental care.
Through the use of visual signals, birds may be able
to gauge the parental ability of potential mates
allowing them to carefully select only a good
parent, with which to reproduce. Thus, the “good
dad, bad dad” label affixed in jest by Michael.
The second goal of the program is to provide
psychology and biology majors at Chowan with the
opportimity to observe and participate in all
aspects of the research, such as formulating research
questions, trapping, banding, observing behavior and
analyzing data. Student investigators will be
encouraged to share the results with the broader
scientific community by publishing their observa
tions in an academic journal or presenting them at
professional conferences. Such research experience
makes student applicants more attractive candidates
for jobs or positions in graduate programs.
Chowan
College
Academic
Calendar
25 November, Tuesday—Thanksgiving holidays begin at conclusion of classes
I December, Monday—Classes resume at 8:00 am.
15-19 December, Monday-Friday—Final exams
19 December, Friday—Christmas holidays begin at end of exam schedule
9 January, Friday—Faculty/Staff Workshop
II January, Stmday—Students arrive and check in. Residence halls
open at 2:00 pm.
12 January, Monday—Sophomores, jimiors, and seniors meet with advisors at
8:30 am. Freshmen and new students meet with advisors at 1:30 pm.
13 January, Tuesday—Class registration in Marks Hall. Class changes only-
9:00-10:00 am. Registration for those who did not preregister-10:30-
11:30 am.
14 January, Wednesday—Classes begin
19 January, Monday—Martin Luther King Day (no classes)
21 January, Wednesday—Spring Convocation at 11:00 am.
4 February, Wednesday—Last day to drop classes without record
6 March, Friday—Mid-term grading period
6 March, Friday—Mid-term break begins at conclusion of classes
16 March, Monday-C lasses resume at 8:00 am.
20 March, Friday—Last day to drop classes with grade of WP or WF
10 April, Friday—Good Friday (no classes)
13-17 April, Monday-Friday—Preregistration for fall semester
4 May, Monday—Awards Day Convocation, 11:00 am.
7 May, Thursday—Reading Day (no classes)
8-14 May, Friday-Thursday—Final exams
16 May, Satiu'day—Graduation exercises at 10:30 am. Residence
halls close at 3:00 pm.
1
robin for
Drs. Michael and Teresa Justice carefully band a ;
parenting research on Chowan's campus.
CHOWAN TODAY, Fo//, 1997 —Page 7