UNC NROTC Alumni Association News Bulletin March 2020

In this edition: Message from the President Nominations now open for the 2020 Distinguished Alumnus / Alumna Award and the Distinguished Service Award Robert S. Johnson Award 2020 Fall Reunion Date Set Dawson Library Update Call for Membership: Join, Renew, Upgrade; Membership Roster Update Now Hear This: Scuttlebutt Taps

Spring 2020 Midshipmen Events ALL Events are considered Cancelled Until further notice Pat Connelly '85, Events Chair

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Message from the President,   I hope this finds my fellow UNC Navy and Marine Alums safe and in good spirits during these trying times! Although we are going through uncharted territory, I know that our Association members are doing what they can to contribute (as people of service do) to improve conditions or to keep the calm wherever you find yourselves. I encourage those that can, to contribute to your communities with time, talent, and treasure wherever it is needed. As evidenced by our backgrounds and accomplishments from our experiences at UNC, the world needs our optimism, can do spirit, and resilience right now! If you are like me, we are finding our days challenging, unsure of our personal schedules and our day to day plans. Likewise, the University is having the same struggle. As the UNC academic calendar becomes clearer through this “fog of war”, we will try our hardest to disseminate info about the end of semester events for the midshipmen. I am happy to report that we had a very productive Board of Directors meeting at the Armory on 7 March 2020 and some additional meetings with the Professor of Naval Science, Captain Andy Hertel, and members of the Arts and Sciences Foundation development staff. We are excited about some of the possibilities we are exploring on those fronts! More to come as ideas and plans continue to develop. Finally, we are very happy to welcome Robert “Rob” A. Rivers, Class of 73, to the Board of Directors to serve out the remaining 2-year term of Terry Cline, who resigned in January 2020 due to unexpected life events and commitments. Best to each of you during these trying times, Marianne Waldrop ‘87

Nominations now open for the 2020 Distinguished Alumnus / Alumna and Distinguished Service Award Steve Fish '85, Awards Chair

The Awards Committee is now soliciting nominations for our two awards – the Distinguished Alumnus Award and the Distinguished Service Award . We invite all members to provide nominations to the Awards Committee not later than August 30, 2020. Please consider your alumni friends and colleagues’ service and careers and nominate them for recognition. As a member, log into the Alumni Association website and use the Awards Nomination Form (click here) to provide your nomination. The Distinguished Alumnus 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 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).

Robert S. Johnson Award                                                                Steve Fish '85, Awards Chair

The Board of Directors along with the Unit Staff are looking for history on the Robert S. Johnson Award , which has historically been given to a graduating Marine Corps option midshipman at the annual Midshipman Awards Day in the Spring. If you are a past recipient of this award or you know who the recipient was for your graduating class, please contact the Alumni Awards Committee and Captain Shannon Stanich (Unit Marine Officer Instructor). There is a plaque on the drill deck at the Unit with the names of many past winners, but we do not have a good history for this award. If you can contribute any information regarding the history of this award, it would be greatly appreciated.

Save the Date: 2020 Annual Meeting, Reunion and 30th Anniversary Celebration Set for 14 November 2020 UNC v. Pittsburg, UNC Military Appreciation Day Pat Connelly '85, Events Chair

The UNC NROTC Alumni Association has scheduled the Annual Meeting of the Membership, presentation of scholarship and awards and alumni reunion BBQ for Saturday, 14 November 2020 which coincides with the UNC v. Pittsburg football game and UNC Military Appreciation Day. Festivity planning is underway. Stay tuned for details! If you have ideas or suggestions regarding the choice of a host hotel for a room block or any particular suggestions for event planning, please submit your thoughts to the event committee via e-mail by clicking here

Dawson Library Update Rob Gionfriddo '86, Dawson Library Chair

From the Dawson Memorial Library Committee:   We continue our efforts to improve the Dawson Library. Thanks to your generous contributions we’ve been able to refurbish the conference table and purchase 10 new chairs for the space.   Our next phase will be to acquire and install a flat screen monitor. This equipment will help enable the Midshipman and Staff to conduct more effective meetings and further enhance the usefulness of the space. Installation will require further coordination with the UNC Facilities team. We also need to address the ever growing collection of books in the Library. We are very much in need of purchasing additional barrister bookcases to hold the overflow books. We anticipate organizing a fundraising campaign in 2020. Meanwhile, your support of this effort would be greatly appreciated.  DONATE    The Dawson Memorial Library Committee continues to look for additional ways to serve the UNC Midshipman and honor Dave’s memory. We continue to discuss the sponsorship of a recurring Leadership Lecture Series and look forward to sharing our progress with you in the next update. Finally, we’d like to thank Brian T. Smith ’84 for his generous donation of a beautiful Eagle, Globe and Anchor sculpture. This sculpture is an artist’s maquette of the sculpture at the Carolina Museum of the Marine.    Rob Gionfriddo '86 Dawson Library Chair

2020 Membership If you haven't already done so, it is time to join or renew your membership for 2020.

Please become a paid member. We need you! Most Popular option: Life Membership GREAT VALUE: 5 YEAR MEMBERSHIP 5 years of membership for the price of four! Click the green bar below to join, renew or upgrade.

Click Here to Join, Renew or Upgrade your Membership

What do my dues pay for? 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 to 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 separately through charitable 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 202 living (Life Members)) who have made the commitment of ongoing support to our Association. Life members are listed in order of life membership here ; Current paid members listed by both class year and alphabetically by last name here . Life installment members: 3 Lane S. Anderson, III '67 Mikal J. Phillips '97 David Pardue '09 Five Year Members for 2020: 56 Donald R. Ledford - Staff Alumnus Kevin L. Martin - Staff Alumnus Stephen Matts - Staff Alumnus A. Earle Garrett, III '56 George Moseley '61 H. Robert Jones '53 Christopher Crowson '56 F. Norman Christopher '65 Alan V. Monette '65 Charles J. Wolfe '65 Chester Wilkinson '61 Harbaugh Moore III '66 Robert Young '67 Ronald B. Bobo '68 Bryant Byrd '68 Irvin W Hankins, III '68 Ronald N. McManus '68 Robert Shade '68 Andrew J. Arnold '69 William O. Leonard, III '69 Charles Gore '69 David A. Fish '70 James Hardee '70 James Zumwalt '70 Robert N. Swacker '71 James Day '73 William Gerichten '74 Nick Pulignano, Jr. '74 Michael Clark '75 Clifton W. Moore, Jr. '76 Michael Wellman '77 Steven Briganti '78 Anthony P. Donaldson '83 Thomas Brantley Burgiss '84 Michael J. Dodick '90 Kent Oglesby '90 Robert G. "Butch" Bracknell '93 James W. Hendley '94 Michael Carreiro '96 Bogomir Glavan '97 Kerry Hicks '02 Esther Kangas '14 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 Mick Carreiro '19 Charles Neely '65 Clarence Smith, Jr. '57 Doug Montgomery '86 Tim Hastings '88 Silas Coley, Jr. '56 Margie Jackey '75 2020 Annual Members: 11 . Capt. Andy Hertel (PNS) Alec Decker '61 Richard Greenamyer '66 Wesley Morgan, Jr. '70 Joseph Woods '67 James Sturgis '67 Ralph Wiggins, Jr. '55 Robert Rivers '73 Philip Tate '72 Mark Smith '86 James Gray '68 Classes with the most number of Life members: 1985(13); 1986(11); 1959(8); 1987(8) Classes with most number of total members:1985 (15); 1986(12); 1959 (10), 1970, 1987 and Staff Alumni (8 each); Classes with no current members: 1962,1976, 1999, 2006-2008, 2010, 2013, 2015-2016. 

Now Hear This: Scuttlebutt!

Board of Director member Janet Eberhardt Keech '89 was elected Treasurer of the UNC NROTC Alumni Association on 8 FEB 2020 for the remainder of this term: 31 December 2021. Janet replaces Terry Cline who resigned from the Board on 23 JAN 2020. Terry has the thanks and gratitude of the Board for his service as Director and Treasurer. Robert "Moon" Rivers '73 was elected to the Board of Directors on 7 March 2020 to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Terry Cline. Congratulations and Thank You Rob! Board of Directors Meeting Minutes for 8 February 2020, 7 March 2020, the 2019 Financials and the 2020 Budget are expected to be posted to the website in April 2019. The next News Bulletin expected to publish on Sunday, 03 May 2020. Deadline for input is Friday, 01 May 2020.

Taps:

It is with deep sadness that the Association reports the passing of our member: CDR Thomas Williams Wright USN (Retired) '66 View Obituary

In a recent major database refresh from the University, the Association has updated its master database of NROTC alumni. In doing so we learned that 233 alumni have passed over the past ten years. 568 NROTC alumni are recorded as deceased out of over 2060 total recorded graduates. As a service to our members, we have created a new feature on the website available for paid members entitled Deceased Alumni . The feature may be found on the Alumni Service and Information Resource tabs of the website. Please notify the Secretary if you know of errors or additional alumni who should be listed here.

If you know of a UNC NROTC Alumnus who has passed away, let us know so that this information may be reported in the News Bulletin under "Taps". Please send your announcements to secretary@uncnrotcaa.org . 

Visit our Website: www.uncnrotcaa.org

UNC NROTC Alumni Association| Email: secretary@uncnrotcaa.org | Website: www.uncnrotcaa.org

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