Logan Scott Mitchell

How did you hear about and get involved in the EVA project?

“I heard some rumblings about the EVA project when it was first announced. I first saw the program’s details fleshed out when I looked at the Parr Center for Ethics Graduate Fellowship positions. Most of these positions were mentoring undergraduates, but then I saw that one option was a semester-long service fellowship to work on the EVA project. I was immediately so excited because I just knew–this is what I’m supposed to be doing in the spring. I was writing a dissertation about mindfulness. I’ve been a mindfulness practitioner and teacher. I thought, I am the only person at UNC in our philosophy department working on attention from any perspective. And I was specifically working on the ethics of attention.

I am super invested in how we can reclaim our attention. I’ve been interested in it from a Buddhist perspective, but also from a secular mindfulness perspective. I’ve taught mindfulness in schools. I’ve taught mindfulness to teachers I’ve taught mindfulness to corporations over the past years. And people emotionally are not doing well. Students aren’t doing well emotionally. I think part of that has to do with how our attention has been co-opted to engage with things that aren’t necessarily in alignment with our own values.”

How has your experience working with EVA informed the way you think about attention and or the ways you spend your time?

“My dissertation is about the relationship between mindfulness, ethics, and the attention economy, as well as how mindfulness is really needed to help reclaim our attention from being co-opted by the attention economy. It argues that certain regulatory strategies are needed. In addition, I was already a meditation teacher and had spent several months on silent retreats. So I’ve really have been thinking about attention deeply since before I began working with EVA.”

How do you see the relationship between attention activism and mindfulness practice?

“I see mindfulness as necessary but not sufficient to addressing the problems of the crisis of attention. I do think it’s necessary. Some people say we really just need to focus on structural regulatory solutions that are all about reining in big tech. I think that those solutions are necessary but not sufficient. However, if we have one without the other there ends up being an important gap that’s left unfilled.

I think mindfulness practice is a way for us to literally reclaim our attention and to train our minds to dwell in the present moment to be aware of what’s happening, to meet our experience with kindness and compassion in a way that can help us transform suffering that goes beyond just you know paying attention. Then that goes beyond just being distracted. So it’s part of the picture but it’s not the whole picture.

I really see the relationship between these two strategies as being really important. It’s important that people who are engaged in attention activism recognize the importance of individual cultivation, but also the necessity of structural regulatory solutions. I don’t think we’ll have any meaningful progress without really prioritizing both of those things.”

What’s next for you?

“I am graduating and I’ll be an Assistant Professor at Northern Illinois University in the fall. I’ve been hired to be the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Assistant Professor of Buddhist Studies. This position is a joint appointment between their Department of Philosophy and Center for Southeast Asian studies.”

How do I see my time with EVA informing your next steps?

“I’ll be teaching Buddhist philosophy in the fall and I’m very much looking forward to integrating mindfulness into all of my classes.

One thing about working with EVA that’s been really great is the undergraduate programming I’ve done. As the graduate fellow, I’ve helped coordinate undergraduate programming, organizing and attending the events.

For example, I went to see PlayMakers’ Macbeth with students. As a group, we talked about attention beforehand. I also led a team meditation event and curated another meditation event with a Buddhist group.

I have really enjoyed gaining new skills, learning how to share these practices and ideas with undergraduates in a way that’s accessible and that makes an impact. It can be so hard to do that, but it is so important and worthwhile to do it because undergraduates are faced with really unprecedented challenges in terms of mental health, the job market, and navigating AI.”

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your time at UNC?

“One thing I love about the Parr Center for Ethics and UNC’s Philosophy Department more broadly is that we really take seriously the fact that UNC is the nation’s oldest public university. We take our mission as a public university very seriously. I also was a Maynard Adams Fellow for the Public Humanities which is very similar work to the work the EVA project does of making the humanities accessible. That’s a commitment I’ll carry with me into NIU. I’m very convinced that the university needs to be engaging with the public and all its students in a way that goes beyond just academic instruction. It should help students become whole human beings and learn how to handle the challenges that life is going to be throwing at them. That will help us create a better world.”

What do you like to do in your free time?

“Well I do spend a lot of time meditating. I love doing tea meditation almost every day. I love exercising. I go to the gym. I love hanging out with my friends. I’ve recently been playing Nancy Drew computer games that I played a lot as a child. I find that it’s a great way to develop sustained attention because these games have difficult puzzles. They require noticing clues and noticing tiny little pieces of paper in the corner of the screen. It can be very slow, and it can take so much time. My friends came over the other day and we played a game in one sitting. It took us like 5 1/2 hours. We would take breaks for tea and it was so fun to be so present with each other and to be present with this game. You’re solving a mystery. I will say that buying this computer game and equipment to play it has actually brought me closer to my friends. We’ve had these wonderful experiences where we’re not just watching TV or we’re not just hanging around—which can be super fun—but it gives us a task to do. It really does require really close attention in a way that is maybe more connected to the EVA project than I had realized. I haven’t really been thinking about it in those terms until just now.

But, I also want to say, it doesn’t only have to be through meditation that we reclaim our attention. I think that meditation really helps. And I would recommend it as #1 on my list for sure. But, I can’t convince everyone to meditate but maybe I could convince someone to get a group together and try to do something new and challenging. Something that’s going to require your full presence and your full attention—like the Nancy Drew computer game. I feel like that can actually be a really powerful thing to do.”

Q&A courtesy of the Educating for the Virtues of Attention project. Visit the EVA website to learn more.

Read more stories about EVA.

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Professor Brent Wissick, cellist, first joined the UNC-Chapel Hill music faculty in the fall of 1982. Since then, his enthusiasm and talent have influenced every part of the department, from his teaching and mentorship to his ensemble direction and personal performances. On June 30, Wissick retired from the music department.

Over the past 44 years, Wissick taught students in private cello and viola da gamba instruction, directed the UNC Baroque Ensemble and Consort of Viols, coached chamber music ensembles, collaborated with UNC Opera on baroque productions, team-taught a first-year seminar in physics and music with professor emerita Laurie McNeil from the physics department, led orchestra sectionals for the cellists and attended and performed in countless department concerts. Wissick was associate chair for performance, composition and music education from 2017-20, served as Kenan Music Scholars mentor at the start of the program and was string area head for many years.

In addition to his work at UNC-Chapel Hill, he played concerts throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia with groups including American Bach Soloists, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Chanterelle, Atlanta Symphony, Boston Early Music Festival, Folger Consort, Smithsonian Chamber Players, Concert Royal, Dallas Bach Society, Parthenia and Wroclaw Baroque in Poland. Recordings can be heard on the Albany, Centaur, Erato, Koch and Acis labels, among others; three of them are Grammy-nominated.

Wissick has written numerous scholarly articles, including “The Cello Music of Bononcini” in the peer-reviewed Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music and “‘It Is Time to Die:’ Coprario Six-Part Pieces” published in the Viola da Gamba Society of America Journal, 2019/2020. Several of his teaching videos are posted on the website of the Viola da Gamba Society of America. He served as president of that group from 2000-2004, chaired the Pan-Pacific Gathering in Hawaii in 2007, and was awarded lifetime membership in 2020.

Alongside all of these accolades, perhaps the most often touted by those who know him is his humanity. At the March 28th Brent Wissick Celebration Concert, commemorating his retirement from Carolina, speakers repeatedly remarked on his kindness, his empathy, and his generosity. Former students, colleagues, collaborators and friends recounted fond memories of meeting and working with Professor Wissick, and how his mentorship and friendship shaped their own musicianship and humanity.

We reached out to Professor Wissick to learn about his perspective on his career at UNC and what comes next for him in retirement.

How has your role in the department changed over the years, and how has it stayed the same?
I was certainly hired to be the faculty cellist with the idea that I would perform on modern cello and period instruments: baroque cello, classical cello and viola da gamba; and teach those in lessons and ensemble settings. I also started some classroom teaching in those early years, mostly music theory for non-majors, and string methods for music education students. In those ways, it stayed the same for all 44 years, except that I expanded the kinds of things that I taught in the classroom and started having more contact with voice students.

What are some of your favorite memories of your time at UNC?
I have had so many wonderful experiences with students, colleagues and department guests over the years, but my first experience of an all-department project in the Fall of 1982 set the tone for many after that, and showed me the kinds of things we could all learn and present together. We celebrated the music of Darius Milhaud: orchestrally, in chamber music, choral music, an opera and in lectures. His widow, Madeleine Milhaud, came to campus and performed with some of us as a speaking actor, in pieces he had written for her. So many aspects of the department were involved that we felt the power of a real learning community. It was the first of many projects that showed what we could accomplish and learn when we came together. I look forward to attending more Festivals on the Hill in the future, which are the successors to that one I experienced in 1982.

What do you hope your students take with them after they leave?
I hope that students I have taught will continue to find joy and fulfillment in lifelong learning and curiosity.

What are your plans for retirement?
Ruth and I will remain in the area, and I will continue to play some music because it is such an important part of what I am. I’ll continue to attend performances of all sorts, read, study, attend lectures and participate in discussions. I also want to walk, travel, spend time with friends and family, volunteer and have fun. Chapel Hill/Carrboro is a great place for all of this.

Read what former students, colleagues, collaborators and friends said about Wissick during his celebration concert.

By Cat Zachary, Department of Music

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Q: Can you give us a brief synopsis of your book?

A: My book tells the history of North Carolina’s eugenics programs in the early 20th century. Advocates believed that eugenics could improve the human race through selective breeding, and most states in the U.S. had eugenics programs. North Carolina’s programs were among the most aggressive: officials surgically sterilized at least 5,700 people between 1929 and 1977 and committed thousands of others to institutions. Through these programs, the state promoted the reproduction of “fit” people and tried to prohibit the “unfit” from having children. My book explains the decades-long persistence of eugenics ideology by diving deep into the early years of the state’s eugenics programs, when influential white North Carolinians promoted principles of eugenics and relied on these ideas as they built the welfare state before and during the New Deal.

Q: How does this fit in with your research interests and passions?

A: In my very first college class at the University of Virginia, I learned about phrenology (the now-discredited study of the shape and size of human skulls) and other attempts to figure out what makes people innately “smart” or “criminal” or “benevolent,” for example. As misguided as many of those attempts were, people have long been drawn to simple explanations for complicated phenomena. I am fascinated by why and how people try to come up with these overly simple explanations.  I started to explore these ideas in a college term paper examining support for the eugenics movement in Virginia, and I’ve remained interested in the intersection of eugenics and social policy ever since.

Q: What was the original idea that made you think: “There’s a book here?”

A: This book started as my dissertation for a Ph.D. in history. When I came to UNC-Chapel Hill for graduate school in 2007, I learned that North Carolina had an unusually active and long-lasting sterilization program. I wondered, how did eugenics programs start, and why did people think eugenics programs were a good idea? When I shared my research over the years, people often responded, “why don’t I know about this?” By the time I had finished my dissertation, I had learned many things about the early years of the state’s engagement with eugenics that only I (or other historians I could count on one hand) knew, and I felt a strong calling to share what I knew with other people who wanted to learn more.

Q: What surprised you when researching/writing this book?

A: When many people hear the word eugenics, they think of genocidal programs in Nazi Germany or campaigns to create a “master race.”  I knew before I began my research that American programs were also obsessed with race and class difference, and that was certainly true for many of the people I wrote about. They held insidious ideas about white racial superiority and the need to maintain the political and economic system of Jim Crow. As I researched and wrote this book, though, I was repeatedly surprised by how many people thought the eugenics programs they created were benevolent, especially for parents and children dealing with poverty or disability. Others had sincere religious convictions that by promoting eugenics programs they were carrying out God’s work. To me, the history of eugenics is such an interesting study of people’s tendency not to question their own beliefs.

Q: Where’s your go-to writing spot, and how do you deal with writer’s block?

A: I’ve had many go-to writing spots over the years, including a carrel in Davis Library that overlooked the picturesque roof of the Student Union, Grey Squirrel Coffee in Carrboro, and (during the COVID pandemic) a desk in a tiny office I shared with my husband. I prefer either complete silence or the calm buzz of caffeinated crowds. When I’m stuck and can’t figure out how to piece together an argument or how I want to shape a big glob of evidence into a seamless narrative, I usually turn to free-writing. The whole time I worked on this book, I kept a writing journal, where I logged in with the date and maybe my goals for that day, which quickly devolved into me thinking on paper. Sometimes that messy, zero-draft writing was good and wound up in the manuscript; other times, it helped me sort out my thoughts. Another critical strategy for me was having a writing group with two other historians. We regularly share our writing, and if I’m not sure whether an argument holds up or a section flows well, I trust them to tell me the truth. I also like to work out my ideas by talking to people about them. If you’re one of those people who listened to me and I haven’t already thanked you, I’ll say it now — thank you!

Krome-Lukens earned her Ph.D. in history at UNC-Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on the history of social policy. She teaches courses in higher education policy; the intersection of history and policy; and the Future of Food (an interdisciplinary course). She was recognized with the Office of the Provost Engaged Scholarship Award for Engaged Teaching in 2021 and with the Chapman Family Teaching Award in 2024.

Read more books by College authors, and nominate a book we should feature by emailing college-news@unc.edu.

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Elizabeth Adkins spoke her future into existence at Carolina’s new student orientation in 2014, after hearing the student body president talk.

“That’s going to be me one day,” Adkins told her mother. Three years later, she won the SBP election.

Now chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee of North Carolina’s 4th District, Adkins ’18 is convinced she wouldn’t be working on Capitol Hill if she hadn’t represented Carolina’s student body, served as a UNC-Chapel Hill trustee and worked alongside other University and Student Government leaders.

“I learned how to have difficult conversations, how important it is to build a strong team of people around you and rely on them, how important it is to make your voice heard in a room where no one else looks like you and how to stick up for what you believe in even when it isn’t easy,” said Adkins.

These lessons shape her work with Foushee’s 20-person staff in Washington and North Carolina. She oversees political strategy and executive management while also managing different departments within the office, including the legislative, communications and outreach teams.

Adkins travels with Foushee, some days preparing remarks and statements, others working with the congresswoman on upcoming votes, legislative ideas and communications strategies.

“The most rewarding part is definitely the people, both the public servants I work with and the constituents we serve,” said Adkins, also board president of the North Carolina Society, the oldest state society in Washington.

“I’m constantly inspired by the people who care enough about their communities and their country to engage with their federal representative — and the people I work with who have dedicated their lives and careers to help those people.”

Finding her path

A first-generation college student from Fayetteville, North Carolina, Adkins fell in love with Carolina as a rising high school senior attending Project Uplift. The on-campus summer enrichment program promotes and increases access to higher education.

“It was an amazing opportunity to learn from current Carolina students about the academic experience but also the extracurriculars and the student organizations, which really complete the Carolina experience,” she said.

Like many college students, she wavered on her initial career plans. Adkins realized her first choice, journalism, wasn’t for her. But her studies at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media remained useful, and she paired them with a political science degree from the UNC College of Arts and Sciences.

Adkins called teaching professor Valerie Fields’ crisis communications course “the hardest and probably the most stressful class that I ever took” and one whose lessons she uses “nearly every day on Capitol Hill.”

MEJO 153: “Writing and Reporting” also made Adkins vigilant about avoiding factual and grammatical errors, “which is incredibly important when you’re responsible for every piece of material that comes out of a congressional office.”

Approaching graduation, Adkins wasn’t sure what was next. But a fellow Tar Heel introduced her to former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s legislative director, leading to an internship. Adkins then worked with former U.S. Rep. David Price for over four years before joining Foushee’s staff in 2023.

“I really owe everything I have to Tar Heels who came before me,” Adkins said.

Working in government remains as meaningful to Adkins now as it was when she arrived at the nation’s capital in 2018.

“Early on in my career I was told that the minute you don’t feel a sense of awe looking at the Capitol, then it’s time to go,” she said.

For Adkins, that day is still far away. This Tar Heel is right where she wants to be.

Story by Brennan Doherty and video by John Roberts, University Communications and Marketing

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“Helping others is what gives me the greatest satisfaction of all. To be able to do it with my degrees in history, and the journey that all started at Carolina, is as fantastic as it can get,” Frank Blazich said.

Inside the “Price of Freedom” exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, hundreds of artifacts help millions of yearly visitors grapple with the impact of war on the American people.

Helping craft this weighty but educational experience is personal for Frank Blazich ’04, the modern military history curator here who’s also an U.S. Air Force veteran and active Army Reserve member.

On a recent before-hours tour, Blazich stood by a green Army helicopter to share the story of a special Purple Heart recipient.

“My late father was a disabled Vietnam combat veteran,” he said. “Dad did air assaults in Hueys like this. After the war, history became his big passion. He was a scientist because it paid the bills.”

The revelation makes it clear why Blazich:

• Majored in history and minored in chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill
• Joined the UNC Air Force ROTC and enlisted after graduation with plans to fly
• Studied history in graduate school after health issues grounded his pilot aspirations three years into his Air Force career
• Works as a military history curator at a premier American institution

“Be it service in uniform, be it service here as a civil servant in the Smithsonian, helping others is what gives me the greatest satisfaction of all,” Blazich said. “To be able to do it with my degrees in history, and the journey that all started at Carolina, is as fantastic as it can get.”

Coming to Carolina

Blazich grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, where his father was a horticultural science professor at NC State University. The professor told his son, “Go to Carolina. They’re a fantastic school.”

At Carolina, Blazich met teaching associate professor Joe Caddell, still a friend, and recommends his course on air power and modern warfare (HIST 212). He worked on his senior thesis with now-retired history professor Melissa Bullard, and studied chemistry with professor Todd Austell, who previously taught at the Air Force Academy and “really understood the undergrad mentality.”

After the Air Force, Blazich earned a master’s degree at NC State. His doctoral studies at Ohio State University took him back to Chapel Hill to conduct research at Wilson Library’s Southern Historical Collection for his dissertation on the history of the North Carolina Civil Defense Program.

“It was great to come home,” he said.

Blazich’s studies at Carolina laid the groundwork for his career as a curator and historian, including jobs at the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum in Port Hueneme, California, and in the Naval History and Heritage Command in D.C.

Life at the museum

No two days as Smithsonian curator are alike.

Blazich conducts research, fields inquiries on potential artifacts, catalogs materials, improves exhibits and gives tours to important people. He even made sure the long-lost bracelet of a late World War II veteran reached his daughter.

All of his tasks are part of a larger mission. “We take an academic topic and make it accessible to the public,” Blazich said.

Blazich can talk extensively but conversationally about George Washington’s sword and the horse famed Union Gen. Philip Sheridan rode in the Civil War.

Then there’s the obscure artifact that earned Blazich the nickname “Frank the Pigeon Guy.”

Cher Ami, “arguably the most famous pigeon in the world,” was donated by the British to the Army in 1918. During World War I, the bird carried a message from a group of besieged U.S. soldiers, which led to their rescue from German forces. For these heroics, a preserved Cher Ami calls the Smithsonian home.

“I’ve taken this pigeon to Carnegie Hall,” Blazich said. “We’ve had him 3D scanned. I’ve written papers on him.”

Still serving

A source of endless military stories, Blazich is still writing his own.

Earlier this year, Blazich was commissioned as a major in the Army Reserve. He’ll head to Fort Benning in Georgia in August for six weeks of training to become fully qualified as a civil affairs officer, protecting national museums or cultural sites in places of war.

“It’s one thing to collect it here for the Smithsonian and save it for the American public,” Blazich said, “but it’s another to put on the uniform of the nation and do this for the betterment of the world. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”

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Carolina’s philosophy department’s many influential faculty members include (l-r) E. Maynard Adams, Susan Wolf and Geoffrey Sayre-McCord. (Submitted photo)

From the lectures of Horace Williams in the late 1800s to the public-facing mission of Maynard Adams and the modern ethics of Susan Wolf, UNC-Chapel Hill has consistently produced thinkers who believe that the life of the mind is the highest form of service.

Carolina’s earliest students learned about many philosophical ideas that fueled the intellectual engine of American independence. Concepts like consent of the governed, the right of revolution and natural law were justification for breaking from Great Britain and the blueprint for building a new nation.

Almost 200 years later, E. Maynard Adams, a Kenan Professor, launched the Program in the Humanities and Human Values in 1979. The program, now known as Carolina Public Humanities, based in the College of Arts and Sciences, was the practical manifestation of Adams’ belief that philosophy should extend beyond ivory towers to serve a democratic society. The moment solidified Carolina’s place among highly influential centers of philosophy.

Today’s philosophy department dates to 1875’s College of Philosophy, which included the School of Metaphysics and Logic and the School of Moral Science. The school became the philosophy department around 1895. Horace Williams, the department’s first chair, joined the faculty in 1891. He strengthened the University’s focus on critical inquiry.

After Williams, Adams spent over 50 years at Carolina and served as department chair. Adams published 11 books, including his last, “A Society Fit for Human Beings” (1997), in which he diagnosed a profound incoherence in modern Western civilization. He argued that a fixation on economic wealth and military dominance driven by a strictly scientific worldview was effectively “polluting the wells of meaning” that sustain the human spirit. Adams called for a cultural revolution rooted in the humanities, advocating for a shift from a materialistic culture to one that prioritizes human growth, inner well-being and flourishing over efficiency. That thinking underpinned the creation of Carolina Public Humanities.

Some Carolina philosophy faculty and their influence

Professors

Thomas E. Hill Jr., Kenan Professor, transformed contemporary moral theory by bridging the gap between historical Kantian scholarship and modern political problems in his book “Dignity and Practical Reason.”

Thomas Hofweber, William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor, published groundbreaking research on how mathematical and linguistic structures define our reality.

Mariska Leunissen gained acclaim for her work on Aristotelian biology.

Geoffrey Sayre-McCord, Morehead-Cain Alumni Distinguished Professor, shaped the field of metaethics. He founded Carolina’s Philosophy, Politics and Economics program, influencing how a new generation of thinkers understands the relationship between moral values and social structures.

Sarah Stroud furthered the field of action theory by exploring the complex moral demands of friendship and partiality.

Rebecca Walker made meaningful contributions to philosophy and bioethics.

Emeritus faculty

James Lesher, an expert in ancient Greek philosophy, maintained the department’s historical strength through his definitive studies on pre-Socratic thinkers.

William Lycan became a world leader on the philosophy of mind. His work on consciousness and the “language of thought” provided the analytical tools necessary for modern cognitive science.

Susan Wolf, an international sensation with her critique of “moral saints,” developed the influential theory that meaning is found where subjective passion meets objective value.

Alumni

Matthew Chrisman ’06 (PhD) at the University of Edinburgh focuses on ethics, epistemology, philosophy of language and political philosophy.

Felipe De Brigard ’07 (MA) ’11 (PhD) at Duke University is an expert in the philosophy of cognitive science and the mechanics of memory.

Carolina’s former chancellor, the late Michael Hooker ’69, was a scholar of 17th-century thought who championed the idea that a philosophical education is the ultimate preparation for leadership.

Kai Nielsen ’49 was a prominent voice in 20th-century political philosophy.

Susanne Sreedhar ’05 (PhD) at Boston University has influenced the history of political thought through her feminist re-reading of Hobbes.

Valerie Tiberius ’92 (MA) ’97 (PhD), a professor at the University of Minnesota, has shaped modern moral psychology with her work on well-being.

By Scott Jared, University Communications and Marketing

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This artist’s concept depicts a tidal disruption event, which occurs when a star passes fatally close to a supermassive black hole. Crumbs of the splintering star heat up as they swirl around the black hole, creating a glow astronomers can see from far across the cosmos, and the black hole launches a relativistic jet into space.
(courtesy of NRAO/AUI/NSF/NASA)

A team of astronomers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has observed an extremely rare “wandering” black hole located tens of thousands of light-years from the center of its galaxy. This finding could reshape scientists’ understanding of how massive black holes move through the universe after galaxies collide.

The discovery centers on a powerful cosmic flare known as a tidal disruption event, or TDE, which occurs when a star wanders too close to a massive black hole and is violently torn apart by gravity. Tidal disruption events anywhere in a galaxy are rare, occurring on average once every 100,000 years. While astronomers have identified more than a hundred of these events over the past decade, nearly all have been found at the centers of galaxies, where scientists expect the largest black holes to reside. But this newly discovered event, dubbed TDE 2025abcr, was different.

Researchers found the flare approximately 30,000 light-years from the center of a massive nearby galaxy, the farthest offset ever observed for an optically discovered tidal disruption event.

“Almost every tidal disruption event we’ve ever observed has occurred at the center of a galaxy, right where we expect the biggest black holes to be,” said Jonathan Carney, co-author of the paper and Ph.D. student in the physics and astronomy department in UNC-Chapel Hill’s College of Arts and Sciences. “The tidal disruption event we discovered happened tens of thousands of light-years away from the center, revealing a massive black hole in a place we would not normally expect to find one. We know that wandering black holes exist in massive galaxies, but they are difficult to study because, with the exception of when they briefly disrupt a star, they produce no light.”

The black hole responsible for the flare is estimated to be roughly one million times the mass of the Sun. Researchers believe it may have been left behind after two galaxies merged in the distant past, or possibly thrown outward through gravitational interactions with other black holes near the galaxy’s center.

Because black holes themselves emit no light, astronomers rely on rare events like TDEs to reveal their existence.

“These events are essentially cosmic billboards,” said Igor Andreoni, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at UNC-Chapel Hill. “They allow us to find black holes that would otherwise remain completely invisible. Catching these events in the act allows us to study how massive black holes eat material from a disrupted star.”

The discovery was made possible in part by artificial intelligence. Researchers used an AI classification tool called tdescore, developed by Robert Stein at the University of Maryland and NASA Goddard, to scan enormous amounts of telescope data and identify promising TDE candidates.

“This event was identified as a strong candidate tidal disruption event by an AI classifier that we specifically adapted to search for tidal disruption events away from galaxy centers,” said Akash Anumarlapudi, a postdoctoral researcher in physics and astronomy at UNC-Chapel Hill. “By removing the assumption that these events only happen in the galactic center, we were able to find a black hole that might have otherwise been missed. As astronomy enters its ‘big data’ era, AI tools like this one will become increasingly important in our research chasing rare astronomical events at Carolina.”

Once the event was flagged, the Carolina team confirmed its nature using the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope in Chile, a 4.1-meter telescope that UNC helped build and continues to operate as part of an international consortium.

“We confirmed the nature of this event using the SOAR telescope in Chile, which UNC is a founding partner of,” said Benjamin C. Kaiser, postdoctoral researcher in physics and astronomy at UNC-Chapel Hill. “SOAR allows us to rapidly follow up these short-lived astronomical phenomena and positions UNC to study large numbers of them as next-generation survey telescopes like Rubin, Roman and UNC’s own Argus Array come online.”

Researchers say TDE 2025abcr provides the first strong evidence that astronomers can reliably discover wandering black holes using visible-light telescopes from the ground, opening the door to entirely new studies of how black holes form, grow and move throughout galaxies. Astronomers are expected to go from discovering tens of tidal disruption events per year in the relatively nearby universe to discovering many hundreds, if not thousands, per year at much greater distances due to the next generation of telescopes such as the NSF-DOE’s Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the UNC-Chapel Hill designed and built Argus Array.

Beyond helping scientists understand black holes, the research also sheds light on the life cycles of stars and galaxies and the extreme physics of the universe. Tidal disruption events release enormous amounts of energy and help astronomers study gravitational forces and matter under conditions impossible to recreate on Earth.

 The study is available online in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Read more in this NASA article.

By University Communications and Marketing

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We are writing today in celebration of the faculty and staff in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Two years ago, we began a concerted campaign to catalog the significant awards, honors and recognitions for College of Arts and Sciences employees. We are thrilled to announce that since July 1, 2025, we have been able to document more than 200 awards that have been granted to College faculty and staff members. That’s more than double the number of awards we documented last academic year!

Please take a look at the full list that recognizes your colleagues. We want to extend our congratulations to all of them. We know that each day across the College, faculty and staff work to educate and support students, pursue research for the public good and serve our state. We are grateful for the work that all of you do.

While we have listed the names below, we also know that we may have missed some. If we have, please share the information with Karla Slocum, senior associate dean for faculty and staff development, by Aug. 10. We will then publish a story with a full list on the College website.

In addition, we are ready to start compiling our list of honors and recognitions for the year-long period that began July 1, 2026. We have set up a new College faculty and staff awards portal where you can submit information about awards you receive or awards your colleagues received.

Thank you for taking time away from your summer to read this message. We look forward to seeing you at the start of the fall semester.

Sincerely,

Jim and Karla

James W.C. White
Craver Family Dean
College of Arts and Sciences

Karla Slocum
Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Staff Development
Professor, Department of Anthropology
College of Arts and Sciences

Awards for Career Excellence and Achievements, Fellowships, and Membership into Honorific Societies
Advising

• Cristóbal Clemente, received the Mickel-Shaw Excellence Award
• Victor Dease, received the Mickel-Shaw Excellence in Advising Award
• Toni Formato, received the Mickel-Shaw Excellence in Advising Award
• Alyssa Westberry, received the Mickel-Shaw Excellence in Advising Award

African, African American and Diaspora Studies

• David Pier, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award

American Studies

• Kelly Alexander, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Gabrielle Berlinger, received the CAS Seed Funding Program Award
• Gabrielle Berlinger, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow
• Seth Kotch, received the Chapman Family Teaching Award
• Michelle Robinson, received the Distinguished Teaching Award for Post-Baccalaureate Instruction
• Michelle Robinson, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award

Anthropology

• Benjamin Arbuckle, received the CAS Seed Funding Program Award
• Brian Billman, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Rachel Briggs, received the Fixed-Term Faculty Development Award
• Rachel Briggs, received the Southeastern Archaeological Conference Rising Scholar Award
• Rachel Briggs, received the Student Undergraduate Teaching and Staff Award
• Mary Elizabeth Fitts, elected Treasurer of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference
• Heather Lapham, elected Executive Officer of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference
• Jon Marcoux, received the Thorp Faculty Engaged Scholars Award
• Michele Rivkin-Fish, received the Davis Center Book Prize in Political and Social Studies
• Douglas Smit, received the CAS Seed Funding Program Award
• Angela Stuesse, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow
• Colin Thor West, received the CAS Seed Funding Program Award

Applied Physical Sciences

• Ronit Freeman, selected as an American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellow
• Ronit Freeman, received the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council Faculty Mentoring Award – Faculty to Graduate Student Mentoring
• Otto Zhou, selected as a National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow

Art and Art History

• Avery Newton, received the SHRA Employee Recognition Award
• Hồng-Ân Trương, received the Anonymous Was A Woman Award
• Hồng-Ân Trương, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow
• Martín Wannam, received the Junior Faculty Development Award

Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

• Kyoungjin Bae, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Pamela Lothspeich, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Claudia Yaghoobi, elected President of the Association for Iranian Studies

Biology

• Derek Cain, received the Mover of Mountains Award
• Mara Evans, received the Tyson Academic Leadership Fellowship
• Bob Goldstein, received the Edward Kidder Graham Faculty Service Award
• Eric Hastie, received the Fixed-Term Faculty Development Award
• Eric Hastie, received the Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
• Amy Maddox, selected as an American Society for Cell Biology Fellow
• Laura Ott, received the Chapman Family Teaching Award
• Benjamin Parker, received the CAS Seed Funding Program Award
• David Pfennig, selected for the Bland Simpson Distinguished Professorship
• En Yang, selected as a PEW Scholar in Biomedical Sciences
• Lillian Zwemer, received the Student Undergraduate Teaching and Staff Award

Biomedical Engineering

• Soumya Benhabbour, received the Yang Family Biomedical Scholars Award
• Ashley Brown, elected as a BMES Board Member
• Yevgeny Brudno, elected as an American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Fellow
• Michael Daniele, elected as an American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Fellow
• Matthew Fisher, elected as an American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Fellow
• Amol Yadav, received the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award

Chemistry

• Erin Baker, received the CAS Seed Funding Program Award
• Anna Curtis, received the J. Caryle Sitterson Award for Teaching First-Year Students
• Jillian Dempsey, received the National Brown Investigator Award
• Megan Jackson, received the Cottrell Scholar Award
• Frank Leibfarth, received the Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists Laureate in Chemical Sciences
• Elisa Pieri, received the Department of Energy Office of Science Early Career Research Award
• Mark Schoenfisch, selected as a National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow
• Sergei Sheiko, received the Third Edition of the UNESCO-Russia Mendeleev International Prize in the Basic Sciences Award
• Kevin Weeks, selected as a National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Senior Member

City and Regional Planning

• Matthew Bhagat-Conway, received the CAS Seed Funding Program Award
• Alanna Coombes, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Yan Song, selected for the Laurie E. McNeil Distinguished Professorship
• Meenu Tewari, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Meenu Tewari, selected as a Tyson Academic Leadership Fellow

Classics

• Janet Downie, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Al Duncan, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow
• Jennifer Gates-Foster, received the Zachary Smith Distinguished Term Associate Professor
• Hérica Valladares, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award

Communication

• Kelsey Brod, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• E. Chebrolu, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellowship Award
• Megan Fitzmaurice, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Jesica Speed Wiley, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award

Computer Science

• Mohit Bansal, selected as a Fellow of the Association for Computational Linguistics
• Benjamin Berg, received the Google ML and Systems Junior Faculty Award
• Gedas Bertasius, received the Sony Focused Research Award
• Tianlong Chen, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Kris Jordan, received the Undergraduate Student Mentoring Award
• Montek Singh, received the Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
• Shashank Srivastava, received the CAS Seed Funding Program Award
• Danielle Szafir, received the Association for Computing Machinery Best Paper Honorable Mention Award

Dramatic Art 

• Letitia James, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Triffin Morris, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Aubrey Snowden, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Tao Wang, received the CAS Seed Funding Program Award

Economics

• Peter Hansen, selected as an International Association for Applied Econometrics Fellow
• William Jungerman, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Jonathan Williams, elected Chief Economist for Federal Communications Commission

English & Comparative Literature

• Inger Brodey, selected for the Peter Thacher Grauer Distinguished Professorship
• Gabrielle Calvocoressi, finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry
• Gabrielle Calvocoressi, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow
• Gaby Calvocoressi, elected to the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets
• Gabrielle Calvocoressi, elected as the Chancellor for the Academy of American Poets
• Shinjini Chattopadhyay, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Taylor Cowdery, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow
• Cynthia Current, received the J. Caryle Sitterson Award for Teaching First-Year Students
• Melissa Faliveno, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Joe Fletcher, received the Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize
• Michael Gutierrez, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow
• Hilary Lithgow, received the Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement
• Søren Palmer, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow
• Courtney Rivard, received the Thorp Faculty Engaged Scholars Award
• Karen Tucker, received the Fixed-Term Faculty Development Award
• Daniel Wallace, inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame
• Kym Weed, received the Student Undergraduate Teaching and Staff Award

Exercise and Sport Science

• J.D. DeFreese, received the Fixed-Term Faculty Development Award
• Zachary Kerr, received the Clark & Kessler Award for Excellence in Mentoring
• Zachary Kerr, received the Robert A. Huggins KSI Lifesaving Research Award
• Jason Mihalik, selected as a National Academy of Kinesiology Fellow
• Aliza Nedimyer, received the Student Undergraduate Teaching and Staff Award
• Anthony F. Patterson, received the Student Undergraduate Teaching and Staff Award
• Abbie Smith-Ryan, received the Women in Nutraceuticals Research Pioneer Award
• Erianne Weight, selected into the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Leaders Network

Geography and Environment

• Shorna Allred, selected as a Tyson Academic Leadership Fellow
• Pervin Banu Gokariksel, received the CAS Seed Funding Program Award
• Scott Kirsch, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Christian Lentz, received the Chapman Family Teaching Award
• Ruch Matamoros Mercado, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow
• Sara Smith, elected President of the American Association of Geographers
• Conghe Song, received the Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Term Professorship

Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures

• Priscilla Layne, received the Summer International Collaborative Research Grant Award
• Sophia Strietholt, received the CAS Seed Funding Program Award
• Sophia Strietholt, received the Innovation in Language Program Direction Award
• Stanislav Shvabrin, received the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages Best Slavic and East European Journal Article Award
• Tobias Wilke, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award

Global Studies

• Michael Osterwiel, received the Fixed-Term Faculty Development Award

History

• Cemil Aydin, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow
• Peter Coclanis, received the Faculty Award for Global Excellence
• Camille Goldmon, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Henry Gruber, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Antwain Hunter, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow
• Lauren Jarvis, selected as a National Humanities Center Summer Residency Scholar
• Michelle King, received the CAS Seed Funding Program Award
• Michelle King, received the Summer International Collaborative Research Grant
• James Leloudis, received the Thomas Jefferson Award
• Lisa Lindsay, elected member for the Committee on Appointments, Promotions, and Tenure Membership
• Lisa Lindsay, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow
• Michael Morgan, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• John Wood Sweet, selected as a Guggenheim Fellow
• Andrew Walker, received the American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship Program Award
• Andrew Walker, received the Book Manuscript Workshop Award

Institute for the Study of the Americas

• Hannah Gill, received the ISA Mellon Faculty Conference Travel Award
• Joanna Shuett received the University Managers Association Manager of the Year Award

Linguistics

• Misha Becker, elected Editor-in-Chief of the Language Acquisition Journal
• Misha Becker, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow
• David Mora-Marín, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award

Mathematics

• Boyce Griffith, received the Langtangen Prize Award
• Caroline Moosmüller, received the Austrian Scientists and Scholars in North America Award for Junior Principal Investigator
• Richard Rimányi, received Editor’s Choice Recognition by the London Mathematical Society
• Casey Rodriguez, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Casey Rodriguez, received the William C. Friday Award for Excellence in Teaching
• Pedro Sáenz, received the American Physical Society Gallery of Fluid Motion Award
• Philip Tosteson, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Philip Tosteson, received the Junior Faculty Development Award

Music

• Naomi André, selected as a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar
• Andrea Bohlman, received the Summer Institute for the Study of East Central and Southeastern Europe (SISECSE) Fellowship
• Deonte Harris, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Kelariz Keshavarz, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Kelariz Keshavarz, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Mark Katz, received the C. Felix Harvey Award
• Mark Katz, received the Frances Densmore Prize Award
• Mark Katz, received the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award
• Jocelyn Neal, selected for the Bernard Gray Distinguished Professorship
• Clara Yang, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow

Philosophy

• Jim Pryor, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Margaret Shea, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Michael Vazquez, received the Chapman Family Teaching Awards
• Rebecca Walker, selected as a Tyson Academic Leadership Fellowship

Physics and Astronomy

• Brad Barlow, received the CAS Seed Funding Program Award
• Brad Barlow, selected as an American Astronomical Society – Shapely Visiting Lecturer
• Duane Deardorff, received the Fulbright Specialist Program Award
• Joaquin Drut, selected as a Tyson Academic Leadership Fellow
• Alia Hamdan, elected member of the American Physical Society Forum on Diversity and Inclusion Committee

Political Science

• Frank Baumgarnter, received the Faculty Award for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring
• Christopher Clark, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Mary Kroeger, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Mary Kroeger, received the Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
• Junghyun Lim, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Tyler Pratt, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Ye Wang, received the Junior Faculty Development Award

Psychology & Neuroscience

• Anna Bardone-Cone, received the Ann Rankin Cowan Excellence Award for High Impact Research
• Jessica Cohen, received the CAS Seed Funding Program Award
• Karen Gil, received the William C. Friday Award for Excellence in Teaching
• Deborah Jones, selected for the Kenan Eminent Distinguished Professorship
• Anne Maheux, received the Junior Faculty Development Award
• Erin Pelletier, received the College of Arts and Sciences Award in Management
• Jamilah Silver, received the Victoria S. Levin Award for Early Career Success in Young Children’s Mental Health Research

Public Policy

• Cassandra Davis, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Cassandra Davis, received the Thorp Faculty Engaged Scholars Award
• Angel Hsu, elected member of the North Carolina Governor’s AI Council
• Sarah Fuller, received the American Educational Research Association Outstanding Reviewer Award
• William Goldsmith, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow

Religious Studies

• Eden Consenstein, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow
• Eden Consenstein, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Joseph Lam, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow
• Brendan Thornton, received the Book Manuscript Workshop Award

Romance Studies

• Danila Cannamela, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Adam Cohn, selected as an IAH Faculty Fellow
• Dulcinea Muñoz Gómez, received the ISA Mellon Faculty Conference Travel Award
• Dulcinea Muñoz Gomez, received the Student Undergraduate Teaching and Staff Award
• Juan Carlos González Espitia, received the ISA Mellon Faculty Conference Travel Award
• Valérie Pruvost, received the Board of Governor’s Excellence in Teaching Award
• Valerie Pruvost, received the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council Faculty Mentoring Award – Faculty to Junior Faculty Mentoring
• Dan Warfield, received the Brilliant Beginner Award

Sociology

• Neal Caren, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award
• Barbara Entwisle, elected as an American Academy of Arts and Sciences Member
• Robert Hummer, selected as a National Institutes of Health Matilda White Rile Distinguished Lecturer
• Arne Kalleberg, received the American Sociological Association W.E.B. DuBois Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award
• Lisa Pearce, selected as a Tyson Academic Leadership Fellow
• Rui Jie Peng, received the Book Manuscript Workshop Award

Women’s and Gender Studies

• Amalia Ashley, received the Schwab Academic Excellence Award

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U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee addresses the launch of the Judeo-Christian Heritage in the Galilee Project at Huqoq. (Photo by David Azagury/U.S. Embassy Jerusalem)

When a team led by Carolina archeologist Jodi Magness first unearthed mosaics from an ancient synagogue more than a decade ago in Huqoq, Israel, the discovery sent ripples across the archeological world.

The findings enriched understanding of Judaism in the late fourth-to-early fifth centuries, and National Geographic named the Huqoq mosaics to its list of “100 Archaeological Treasures of the Past.”

Prof. Jodi Magness speaks at the launch of the Judeo-Christian Heritage in the Galilee Project at Huqoq. (Photo byDavid Azagury/U.S. Embassy Jerusalem)

Now, thanks to a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of State to the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, the Huqoq excavation site is entering a thrilling new phase.

On July 9, Mike Huckabee, U.S. Ambassador to Israel, and other American officials visited Huqoq to announce the launch of the Judeo-Christian Heritage in the Galilee Project after receiving a tour of the site from Magness.

The U.S.-Israel initiative will combine archaeological excavation and conservation to develop the Huqoq site and lay the foundation for the synagogue’s eventual opening to the public.

While site development takes place over the next several years, the project will provide a dedicated website, a 3D reconstruction of the synagogue and other digital resources to the public.

Magness will serve as the archaeological consultant for the multiyear project.

U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee speaks with Carolina professor Jodi Magness. (Photo by David Azagury/U.S. Embassy Jerusalem)

From 2011 to 2023, a series of Magness-led excavations in the ancient Jewish village uncovered a diverse set of mosaics — including the first nonbiblical story discovered in an ancient synagogue.

“It’s really hard to overstate the importance of the discovery — and I say that not because it’s my site,” said Magness, professor of religious studies in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences. “The reason is that this is by far the richest and most diverse set of mosaics that we have decorating any ancient synagogue anywhere.”

Implemented by the Albright Institute in partnership with the Israel Antiquities Authority and additional Israeli partners, the project will also expand to other Jewish and Christian heritage sites across the Galilee region of Israel, including a Christian church at Bethsaida.

“As Huqoq enters this important new phase, the United States is proud to partner with Israeli institutions to preserve one of the region’s most significant archaeological treasures while making its remarkable story accessible to people around the world,” Huckabee said in a news release. “This initiative reflects our commitment to preserving shared cultural heritage through international cooperation and education.”

Aerial view of Huqoq Synagogue and the surrounding Galilee landscape. (Waseem Hamdan/Israel Antiquities Authority)

What’s next for Huqoq

Though Magness and her team uncovered myriad treasures at Huqoq, their work continues. They’re creating publications to put their findings in historical context and analyzing the mosaics, which portray a wide range of biblical scenes and figures.

“There are a lot of unanswered questions,” Magness said. “Why were certain stories chosen to be depicted? Why are they put into certain locations? Do they relate to each other? Is there an overarching theme?”

Carolina has taken a prominent role in this work, with Magness leading the excavation project at Huqoq and dozens of students contributing throughout the 12-year dig.

“One of the best parts of the whole project was the opportunity to bring students — a lot of undergraduate and some graduate students from UNC but also from other universities around North America and a couple of European students,” said Magness, the Kenan Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence in Early Judaism.

“At the end of every summer, I would say, ‘Wow, that is the best group of students we ever had,’ and every summer I meant it.”

The Huqoq mosaics depict many different biblical stories, including:

• The Samson cycle: Samson and the foxes, a slain Philistine soldier, Samson carrying the gate of Gaza (Judges 15-16)
• The earliest known depictions of female biblical heroines Deborah and Jael (Judges 4)
• A Hebrew inscription surrounded by human figures, animals and mythological creatures including putti, or cupids
• The first nonbiblical story ever found decorating an ancient synagogue (also featuring battle elephants) — perhaps the legendary meeting between Alexander the Great and the Jewish high priest
• Two of the spies sent by Moses to explore Canaan carrying a pole with a cluster of grapes (Numbers 13:23)
• A man leading an animal on a rope accompanied by the inscription “a small child shall lead them” (Isaiah 11:6)
• Figures of animals identified by an Aramaic inscription as the four beasts representing four kingdoms (Daniel 7)
• Elim, the spot where the Israelites camped by 12 springs and 70 date palms after departing Egypt and wandering in the wilderness without water (Exodus 15:27)
• A portrayal of Noah’s Ark (Genesis 6-8)
• The parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14-15)
• A Helios-zodiac cycle
• Jonah being swallowed by three successive fish (Jonah 1)
• The building of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11: 1-9)
• A decorated border showing animals of prey pursuing other animals, including a tiger chasing an ibex (wild goat)

By Michael Lananna, University Communications and Marketing 

Read more about the Huqoq Project in this fall 2023 Carolina Arts & Sciences magazine story.

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High school students are filling on-stage and behind-the-scenes roles in “Hello, Dolly!” at PlayMakers Repertory Company’s Summer Youth Conservatory. (HuthPhoto)

Chelsea James ’12 visited PlayMakers Repertory Company for the first time in 2007 as a junior at Chapel Hill High School, the start of her full-circle journey with PlayMakers and its Summer Youth Conservatory.

Chelsea James

Entranced by the matinee performance of “The Illusion” she watched alongside her English class, James jumped at the chance to participate in the inaugural SYC: a six-week summer program for high school students, both on stage and behind the scenes, which culminates in a professional-quality production.

A summer spent acting at a professional theater was the perfect opportunity for James, and she acted in SYC’s debut production, “Oliver!”

Nineteen years later and now an associate producer at PlayMakers, James is directing SYC’s 20th show, “Hello, Dolly!” which premiered July 16 and runs through July 26.

The journey back to PlayMakers

Participating in SYC confirmed James’ plans to pursue theater professionally and inspired her to choose Carolina for college, planting the seed for an enduring connection to PlayMakers.

“So much of the PlayMakers staff and faculty that teach in the department of dramatic art were working with us over the summer, so I really got to know the professors,” James said. “They’re just incredible artists.”

James learned from these professionals throughout her time at Carolina and was on the wardrobe crew for PlayMakers’ “Henry IV, Part 1 and 2” in fulfillment of her undergraduate practicum.

Her career started on stage but over time gave way to behind-the-scenes work. After graduating from Carolina and working as PlayMakers’ audience service associate, she earned a graduate degree in theater education from the University of Northern Colorado. This graduate work helped her understand all sides of a production, from choreography and directing to script analysis.

James completed a producing fellowship at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C., before she returned to PlayMakers and worked her way up to her current associate producer position.

“Hello, Dolly!”

As an SYC participant, James spent mornings learning vocal techniques and how to embody a character and afternoons rehearsing in preparation for the production.

Now she’s helping guide high schoolers as they do the same, this year in preparation for “Hello, Dolly!” Based on the play “The Matchmaker” by Thornton Wilder, “Hello, Dolly!” centers on Dolly Levi, a busy woman who has many side hustles — most notably as a matchmaker — to support herself following her husband’s death. The musical was famously made into a 1969 film by the same name starring Barbra Streisand.

In picking “Hello, Dolly!” as SYC’s 20th production, James started by considering which musicals the program hadn’t produced, as they’ve never repeated a show. The theater also rotates between musical sub-genres to ensure students step into varied roles. Last year, SYC performed “Pippin,” and “Hello, Dolly!” was a fitting next step in the classical direction.

“This show stood out to me because it’s a big comedy,” said James. “The costumes, sets, lights, choreography… the Paul Green is such a grand space that I wanted something we could really fill out the entire theater with.”

James and a robust team of creative professionals have worked to reimagine the show while keeping it true to form. James has dialed in on the historical significance of the late 19th century setting amid the women’s suffrage movement, using “Votes for Women” sashes on costumes and protest signs as props.

The production comes alongside two other milestones for the performing arts at Carolina. This year marks the 50th anniversary of PlayMakers and the 90th anniversary of the dramatic art department, the second-oldest program in the country.

“It’s a big year for all of us,” said James.

By Kate Slate, University Communications and Marketing

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