Milestones

2007

The Institute establishes the Johnson Prize to honor the generosity and leadership of George H. Johnson '58. The prize will be awarded biannually to a senior IAH Fellow.

Megan Granda is named executive director of the Institute. Kim Strom-Gottfried, distinguished professor in the School of Social Work, succeeds Jane Brown as director of the Academic Leadership Program.

The Academic Leadership Program adds a new component, the Chairs Leadership Program, directed by Bill Balthrop, professor of Communication Studies.

John O’Hara, Chapel Hill, succeeds Barbara Hyde as chair of the IAH Advisory Board.

IAH Salons launch, bringing together Fellows and community members for intellectual exchange over dinner on topics of interest.

2006

Ruel Tyson, founding director of IAH, steps down after nearly 20 years at the helm. The Ruel Tyson Legacy Fund surpasses the $3.5 million mark.

Barbara and Pitt Hyde pledge $5 million to endow the Academic Leadership Program and name it for Tyson. It is the largest gift ever to IAH and one of the largest to the College of Arts and Sciences.

John McGowan, professor of English, is named director of the Institute.

More than 350 faculty members have been awarded fellowships at the Institute since its beginning in 1987.

2005

Aspen Retreat II is held to continue strategic and succession planning. The Ethics Fellows Program moves to the Philosophy Department, where it becomes the Parr Center for Ethics.

2004

Barbara Hyde hosts the first IAH Aspen Retreat in July to initiate strategic planning for the future of the Institute. Bernadette Gray-Little, then dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, attends along with eight IAH board members and IAH staff.

The IAH successfully completes the Kenan Challenge, a $1 million endowment focusing on faculty retention in the College of Arts and Sciences. Barbara Hyde is elected chair of the IAH Advisory Board.

2002

The construction of Hyde Hall is completed, financed solely with private donations. The dedication is held on University Day, Oct. 12. A black tie gala accompanies the celebration.

The Institute establishes its Ethics Fellows Program.

2001

The Institute inaugurates its Academic Leadership Program for UNC faculty, directed by Jane Brown, former Chair of the Faculty and James L. Knight Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication.

2000

Groundbreaking ceremony is held for new building on March 31.  Sherwood H. Smith is elected IAH Advisory Board Chair. 

1999 

The Institute assumes responsibility for presenting the annual Weil Lecture on American Citizenship, established by the Weil family of Goldsboro in 1915.

1996

The Institute appoints its first full-time director of development, Mary Flanagan. Faculty/donors annual receptions begin. The university Board of Trustees approves a front campus site (McCorkle Place near Battle/Vance/Pettigrew) for our new building.

The Institute initiates a Traveling Fellows program as an outreach initiative. Fellows participate in evenings of conversation in homes of Friends of IAH throughout North Carolina and the United States.

The Institute names Cooper, Robertson & Partners of New York City as architects for new building.

1995

The Institute sponsors its first biennial Chapman Fellows Conferences on Teaching. The IAH surpasses its $4 million fundraising goal for the University Bicentennial by $500,000 ($4.5 million total).  Annual Fellows Reunion begins.

1994

Lloyd Kramer, associate professor of history, accepts appointment as the first associate director of the Institute and serves as acting director while Ruel Tyson is on leave.

1992

Institute establishes a core group of IAH annual supporters, Friends of the Institute. 

1991

Professor Kenneth Reckford endows the Institute's first annual lectureship, the Mary Stevens Reckford Memorial Lecture in European Studies. Max C. Chapman establishes the Chapman Family Fellowships in the IAH.

1990

The first IAH endowed fellowship is funded by David E. Pardue Jr. to honor his father.

1989

Under the leadership of Chancellor Christopher C. Fordham III, The Program for the Arts and Humanities becomes the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, approved by the Board of Governors in July. Ruel W. Tyson Jr. is appointed director. He is re-appointed in 1991, 1994, 1997 and 2002.

1988

The Institute conducts the first Fellows Seminar in the summer. By 2003, faculty have received more than 302 fellowships, enabling them to conduct research and focus on their scholarly and artistic work.

1987

Ruel W. Tyson Jr., professor of Religious Studies, and Gillian T. Cell, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, establish the Program for the Arts and Humanities. Its early mission: to nurture liberal arts learning and to support faculty excellence. Provost Samuel Williamson designates West House (778 square feet), built by the Tanner Family in 1935, as the Program's first home.

The Program for the Arts and Humanities sponsors the first Autumn Saturday, a colloquium open to the University and the public (1987-1999).