UNC NROTC
Alumni Association
News Bulletin
April 2018
In this Edition:
  • 2018 Award Day Highlights
  • UNC NROTC Upcoming Events, May 2018
  • Nominations for 2018 Distinguished Alumnus / Alumna Award and Distinguished Service Award
  • UNC NROTC Alumni Association Annual Meeting & Reunion 2018
  • Website Update
  • Membership Roster Update
  • Annual Giving Update
UNC NROTC Awards Day 2018
by Steven P. Fish '85 Award Committee Chair
The Midshipman Battalion held their annual Awards Day at the Newman Student Center in Chapel Hill on Thursday, April 26, 2018. The UNC NROTC Alumni Association presents the Lieutenant Patrick K. Connor Memorial Award in memory of Pat Connor, ’87 , who was killed in aerial combat during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. The award is presented annually to the top graduating Midshipman pursuing a career in aviation. The 2018 Connor Award was presented to MIDN 1/C Samir Patel who has orders to Naval Aviation Schools Command in in Pensacola, Florida. The award was presented by our President, Captain Eric. S. Schneider, USN (Ret.) '86 and Commander Bogamir Glavan, USN (Ret) '97 , the Connor Award recipient in 1997. Commander Glavan flew P-3’s in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2001 and is now a pilot for American Airlines.

Captain Brian Smith, USN (Ret) '84 has given the gift of membership in the Association to the Class of 2018. At the ceremony he presented a Life Membership to MIDN 1/C Patrick Buhr, II, the top graduate in the class. Furthermore, Captain Smith presented Five-Year Memberships to:
  • MIDN 1/C Sarah E. Eason '18 (USMC)
  • MIDN 1/C Tatihana V. Moreno '18 (SWO)
  • MIDN 1/C Samir D. Patel '18 (NFO)
  • MIDN 1/C Thomas J. Singley '18 (SWO)
  • MIDN 1/C Alexander H. Stephenson '18 (SWO)
  • SSGT Bryan M. Towers '18 (USMC)
  • MIDN 1/C Carlos A. Urquilla '18 (SWO)

The following members of the Association were present for the ceremony:
Eric Schneider '86 , President
Steve Fish '85, Past President and current Awards Committee Chair
Brian Smith '84, current Scholarship Committee Chair
Bogomir Glavan '97 , 1997 Connor Award recipient
Bob Smith, ’75, Past President and Life Member
Steve Gillespie, Life Member, Past Unit CO and Professor of Naval Science
Rob Rivers, ’73

Awards were presented to the midshipmen for excellence in academics, leadership and military bearing. Award presentations were made by the following organizations:
  • The American Legion
  • Veterans of Foreign Wars
  • Sons of the American Revolution
  • Daughters of the American Revolution
  • USAA
  • AT&T
  • Reserve Officers Association

The George Herbert Leadership Award , named for the first head of the Research Triangle Institute, was presented by his son to MIDN 1/C Thomas Singley for outstanding leadership in the Midshipmen Battalion. The award is an engraved naval officers sword.

The Richard S. Johnson, Jr. Award is named in memory of the top UNC NROTC graduate from the Class of 1966, who was killed in combat in Vietnam. This year’s recipient is MIDN 1/C Patrick Buhr, II. The award is an engraved mameluke sword and presented to the top Marine Option Midshipman.

The Chief of Naval Operations Distinguished Graduate Award for the highest level of leadership, scholarship and academic performance was presented to MIDN 1/C Alexander Stephenson.

Of note: Thomas Singley, Patrick Buhr and Alexander Stephenson were the three UNC NROTC Alumni Association Scholarship recipients for 2015 in their sophomore year. Way to finish strong, BZ!

Following the Awards Ceremony, the guests were able to view the Battalion Change of Command ceremony in which Officer Candidate Antonio Howard was relieved by MIDN 2/C Ryan Smith
President Eric Schneider '86 introducing the Connor Award
Connor Award recipients
Bog Glavan '97 & MIDN 1/C Patel displaying their awards
Bog Glavan '97 presents Connor Award to MIDN 1/C Samir Patel
Brian Smith '84 and top grad MIDN 1/C Buhr
Brian Smith '84 presenting memberships to Class of 2018
Battalion Change of Command]
UNC NROTC Upcoming Events, May 2018
by Will Stubbs '85, Secretary
Commissioning 2018
T he UNC NROTC Class of 2018 Commissioning Ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, 12 May 2018 at 1400.
The event will take place at the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Auditorium located in the UNC School of Social Work at 325 Pittsboro St., Chapel Hill, NC 27599.

The guest speaker is Brigadier General Julian D. Alford, USMC, Commanding General, Marine Corps Installations East.

Alumni are welcome to attend. Uniform is:
  • Full Dress White (USN)
  • Blue-White Dress Alpha (USMC)
  • Business Casual (Civ.)


UNC Commencement 2018

The commencement speaker for the UNC Class of 2018 is a UNC NROTC alumnus, past director and life member of our Association: Rye Barcott '01, a noteworthy social entrepreneur .
Commencement will take place in Kenan Stadium on Sunday,13 May 2018 at 0900. No tickets are required.
Additional information available HERE .
Brig Gen Julian D. Alford, USMC
Commanding General
Marine Corps Installations East
Rye Barcott, 01
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, With Honor
Soliciting your Nominations for the 2018 Distinguished Alumnus / Alumna Award and the 2018 Distinguished Service Award
by Steve Fish '85, Awards Committee Chair
The Awards Committee is now soliciting nominations for our two awards – the Distinguished Alumnus / Alumna Award and the Distinguished Service Award for 2018. Nominations remain open until May 31, 2018.

As a member, log into the Alumni Association website and use the Awards Nomination Form (click here) to provide the your nomination to the Board.

The Distinguished Alumnus / Alumna Award is provided to recognize a graduate of the UNC NROTC program who has distinguished himself or herself in contributions to our nation, the armed services, industry or business, the arts, philanthropy, or other social contributions. This is not singularly a "distinguished member of the military" award, and the individuals need not have been career members of the armed forces. The board will consider the achievements of a non-military professional with an NROTC pedigree on equal footing with a career officer.

Please see the website for a list of previous Distinguished Alumni (click here).

The Distinguished Service Award is provided to recognize the graduate (or former staff member), usually a Member of the Association who has distinguished himself or herself in contributions to the UNC NROTC Alumni Association. This criteria is intentionally nonspecific, and can include any manner of contributions to the efforts of the NROTC Alumni Association. Current Directors are ineligible for selection.

Please see the Association website for a list of previous Distinguished Service recipients (click here).
Hon. S. Jay Plager '52
2017 Distinguished Alumnus Award
Leo H. "Rusty" Phelan '59
2017 Distinguished Service Award
UNC NROTC Alumni Annual Meeting & Reunion
2-4 November 2018, UNC Homecoming Weekend

Book hotel rooms early, space is limited
by Pat Connelly' 85, Events Committee Chair
The UNC NROTC Alumni Association, the UNC Department of Naval Science and the UNC NROTC Battalion of Midshipmen are delighted to continue our collaborative effort with the Association's Annual Meeting and Reunion for 2018. Registering for the weekend and staying connected will be easier than ever.
 
Friday, 2 Nov 2018
President’s Reception ,
  • Courtyard by Marriott,
  • Open to alumni and family / guests, Unit Staff and Midshipmen.
  • Refreshments (including alcohol) served, registration required, fee applies
 
Saturday, 3 Nov 2019
Annual Meeting of the UNC NROTC Alumni Association ;
NROTC alumni, family and friends welcome to attend.
  • Update from NROTC Unit and Midshipman Battalion Leadership
  • Presentation of Midshipman Scholarships
  • Presentation of Distinguished Alumnus /Alumna & Distinguished Service Awards
  • Association update by officers and committee chairs.
 
Barbecue Lunch. Join fellow alumni, NROTC Midshipmen and Unit Staff for a pre-game meal.
  • Alumni, family and friends welcome (fee applies)
 
UNC vs. Georgia Tech Football Game
We expect a block of football tickets will be available and will solicit members in a future bulletin. As a charitable, educational non-profit, the Association cannot purchase tickets on risk, but we can probably make tickets available to members who commit in advance to purchase them at registration. More to follow in a subsequent announcement.

Weekend Lodging - Recommend Book Early
We have secured room blocks at two Chapel Hill hotels:
Cut off for rooms at the block rate for each hotel is 2 Oct 2018.

Event Registration for President's Reception, Annual Meeting, Barbeque Lunch and game tickets (if available) is expected to be available in August 2018. The UNC General Alumni Association will be facilitating the registration process in conjunction with Homecoming. More to follow in subsequent announcement.
President's Reception 2017
Annual Meeting 2017: Mike Richardson '88 DSA, Janet Keech 89 and Dave Keech '88 in foreground
Captain Andy Bunch (Past President) and Captain Donald Cuddington '86
Courtyard by Marriott, Chapel Hill
Fairfield Inn, Durham Southpoint
W ebsite Features Update
by Will Stubbs '85, Member Communications Committee Chair
The UNC NROTC Alumni Association website is a vital communications conduit to our alumni and members. We are constantly evaluating ways to improve how we present and maintain content to provide value to our members. Among the new features:
  • Content updates on updated Bylaws, Board meeting Minutes, Treasurer reports and the 2018 Budget and pictures in the photo archives.(available to paid members).
  • "Opt out" of display of your contact information (which is only made available to other paid members through member logon with password protection). In this way your contact info (address, phone number and -mail address is only available to the network administrator and not other members). Logon to your account on the website to activate this feature.
Features coming soon:
  • Ability of graduates who are not paid members to update their contact information on the website, so as not to miss notices of upcoming events. (Currently, this capability is only available to paid members).
  • A suggestion box for members to provide their input to the Association Board of Directors on topics of the member's choice.
2018 Membership Roster
Please join us and become a member:
Annual, Five-year or Life

Your dues contribution pays for our website, database software, financial management software and the Distinguished Alumnus /Alumna and Distinguished Service Awards; these funds enable us communicate with the graduates so we can host and organize alumni events to support our NROTC Unit and Midshipmen. The Scholarships, Dawson Library and Connor Awards are funded through non-dues contributions. Events (Annual Meeting & Reunions) are funded on a pay-as-you go basis by event participants.

Thanks to the following alumni (in addition to our 211 Life Members) who have made the commitment of ongoing support to our Association in 2108.

New Life members for 2018: 7
  • Harcourt Morgan, III '59
  • E. Falcon Knight '61
  • John Fleming '71
  • Peter Bloom '83
  • Alexander Flores '95
  • Rye Barcott '01
  • Patrick J. Buhr '18

Five Year Members for 2018: 25
  • Stephen Matts - Staff Alumnus
  • Donald R. Ledford - Staff Alumnus
  • A. Earle Garrett, III '56
  • Robert C. Crates '63
  • F. Norman Christopher '65
  • Alan V. Monette '65
  • Thomas W. Wright '66
  • William O. Leonard, III '69
  • Robert Young '67
  • Bryant Byrd '68
  • James Zumwalt '70
  • James Day '73
  • Nick Pulignano, Jr. '74
  • Michael Clark '75
  • Charles J. Wolfe '75
  • Michael Wellman '77
  • Steven Briganti '78
  • Michael Carreiro '96
  • Sarah E. Eason '18
  • Tatihana V. Moreno '18
  • Samir D. Patel '18
  • Thomas J. Singley '18
  • Alexander H. Stephenson '18
  • Bryan M. Towers '18
  • Carlos A. Urquilla '18

Annual Members for 2018: 14
  • George E. Mosely '61
  • James A. Thompson '64
  • Joseph Woods '67
  • Charles Gore '69
  • Irvin Hankins '68
  • David Fish '70
  • Charles Sikes '70
  • Robert Swacker '71
  • David Wynne '71
  • Robert Rivers '73
  • Robert E. Smith '82
  • Charles M. Gibson, III '85
  • Douglas Montgomery '86
  • Bogomir Glavan '97

2018 Goal: 120 paid members: (annual, five-year, new life installment or new life members) Progress to date: 46 of 120 or 38% with 33% of the year elapsed.

Classes with the most number of Life members: 1985(13); 1986(11); 1959(8); 1987(8)
Classes with most number of total members:1985 (14); 1986(12); 1959, 1970, 1987 and Staff Alumni (8 each);
Classes with no current members: 1962,1976, 1999, 2000, 2006-2008, 2010, 2013-2016. 
2018 Annual Giving Report
The following members have made generous donations to the UNC NROTC Alumni Association in 2018 above and beyond the payment of dues; please join us in extending thanks to:

Scholarship Fund
  • James A. Thompson '64
  • Joseph Fluet '65
  • Willie E. McGee, Jr. '69
  • Brian T. Smith '84
  • Willard B. Stubbs '85
  • Robert J. Gionfriddo '86
  • Eric S. Schneider '86
  • T. Jeff Kennedy '87
  • James C. Collins '03

Dawson Library Fund
  • Brian T. Smith '84
  • Geoffrey L. Owen '85

General Fund
  • Charles J. Wolfe '65
  • Michael Wellman '77

If you would like to contribute to the Scholarship Trust or Dawson Library Fund or the General Fund, please click here
If you know of a UNC NROTC Alumnus who has passed away, and wish to have this information reported in the News Bulletin, please notify the Secretary at: secretary@uncnrotcaa.org.
UNC NROTC Alumni Association| Email: secretary@uncnrotcaa.org | Website: www.uncnrotcaa.org