Endowed lecture named for philosophy staff member
Decorations & Distinctions

Aubrey Ellis dies at 88

Endowed lecture named for philosophy staff member

Claire Miller retired in 2002 after 39 years as the department manager in philosophy at the University. A day or two later, she came back to the department she loved as a part-time employee. She was hired back to manage one of her prized projects: the department’s annual philosophy colloquium.

But at this year’s colloquium, held last month, Miller got to sit in on a new endowed lectureship — and it was named in her honor.

The donors who established the endowment for the annual Claire Miller Lecture in Philosophy wish to remain anonymous. The purpose of the gift is to recognize and honor the extraordinary contribution that Miller has made to the philosophy department and to the internationally recognized Chapel Hill Colloquium that she organized since its inception 40 years ago.

Interim philosophy department chairman Gerald Postema can think of no more fitting way to honor her. “Claire identified with the colloquium from the very beginning and threw herself into the planning of the event with incredible energy,” Postema said. “Early on, she made a commitment to the department of philosophy, and she has worked pretty much all of her life for the love of the department. Naming a lectureship for a staff member is a wonderful tribute and signals the important role that staff play in the life of the university.”

Philosophy professor and department chair Geoff Sayre-McCord said neither the department nor the colloquium would have thrived in the way they have without her decades of hard work, intelligence, and commitment. “We know how lucky we have been, and it is a delight to be able to put in place this permanent honor to her,” Sayre-McCord said.

For this year’s lecture, renowned American philosopher Daniel Dennett of Tufts University, who has spoken at previous colloquia and has known Miller for decades, became the first Claire Miller Lecturer in Philosophy.

Molly Broad
UNC President Emerita Molly Corbett Broad and her husband, Robert W. “Bob” Broad, are the 2006 recipients of the University Award, the highest honor given by the Board of Governors of the 16-campus UNC system. UNC President Erskine Bowles and awards committee chair Brent Barringer of Cary presented the awards at a banquet on Nov. 9.

The awards recognize illustrious service to higher education in North Carolina and acknowledged the visionary leadership of Molly Broad, who retired in December 2005 after more than eight years as the University’s chief administrator, as well as the valuable but uncompensated service Bob Broad provided to the University throughout her tenure.

Margaret “Peggy” Bentley
School of Public Health associate dean of global affairs and professor of nutrition, Bentley has been chosen to serve as an ambassador in the Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research at Research! America.

The Paul G. Rogers Society, named for the former Florida congressman, was established this year to increase awareness of -— and make the case for greater United States investment in — research to fight diseases that disproportionately affect the world’s poorest nations. The society received a $1.2 million two-year grant in July from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as founding support.

In its inaugural year the society will have 25 ambassadors who will agree to meet with opinion leaders and decision makers at the national and/or local levels, make presentations to non-scientific groups and write letters to the editor and opinion editorials about the need for global health research.

Kathy Hotelling
Director of Counseling and Wellness Services, Hotelling was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD) at its annual conference in Vail, Colo.

The award honors members who have provided outstanding service to AUCCCD and exemplary leadership in the field of college and university counseling centers.

Hotelling is recognized as a national leader for her work with eating disorders and is a founding fellow of the Academy for Eating Disorders.

John Buse
Michelle Duclos
Buse, associate professor of medicine, and Duclos, research associate with the UNC Diabetes Care Center, were members of the UNC Diabetes Care Center team that were the top fund raisers in a recent walk at Research Triangle Park to benefit the American Diabetes Association.

Duclos, as captain, led the team that raised $28,440, and Buse was the top individual fund raiser with a total of $22,310.

Tony Reevy
Associate director for advancement of the Carolina Environmental Program, Reevy is the co-winner of the David P. Morgan Award for the best railroad history article in English during 2005, presented by the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society. The article is a biographical essay on the life and work of author and photographer Lucius Beebe titled “Mixed Legacy.”

The article appeared in the Fall-Winter 2005 issue of Railroad History.

Aubrey Ellis dies at 88

Aubrey Jackson Ellis, circulation clerk at Davis Library, died Nov. 1 at UNC Hospitals following a brief illness. Ellis was 88 years old and had worked continuously for the library at Carolina since 1957.

Ellis

“Mr. Ellis,” as he was known to his colleagues, was known for unfailing grace, courtesy, and good humor, said Mitchel Whichard, head of the Circulation Department in Davis Library. “I thought of him as the quintessential gentleman,” said Whichard. “He was always doing things for people and expecting nothing in return.”

Born in 1918, Ellis graduated from the University of Tennessee, later earning a master’s degree there.  He began, but did not complete, a Ph.D. in American history at Carolina.

Ellis was passionate about jazz and politics, said Whichard, who recalled Ellis as an “unreconstructed New Deal liberal—but he was never overbearing, never bombarded you with his politics.”

Joe Hewitt, University Librarian Emeritus, first encountered Ellis in the late 1950s when Hewitt was an undergraduate and Ellis, a graduate student in history, worked at the Bull’s Head Bookshop. Ellis later became the library’s bag checker. Although the job was “sensitive and potentially confrontational,” Hewitt said that Ellis performed it with such tact that nobody ever took offense. The same good nature marked Ellis’s work in the circulation departments of Wilson and Davis libraries. “He was absolutely engaged with the University and was always thinking about the library,” said Hewitt.