Give to UNC Math
Giving To Carolina Mathematics
Invest in Carolina Mathematics
State funds and tuition pay only part of the costs to recruit and retain the best faculty and graduate students and support the unique liberal-arts undergraduate programs that are the hallmarks of the Carolina experience. Private funds sustain and enhance these extraordinary opportunities for students and faculty.
Despite budget cuts, the Department of Mathematics continues to provide the best possible education for our undergraduate and graduate students. Each year, private support provides the funding that helps support Carolina’s margin of excellence. Private giving is now more critical than ever.
We continue to welcome your gifts to Mathematics, either to our unrestricted fund that provides the Chair the flexibility to apply funding where it is needed most at any given time, or to support our existing fund-raising priorities.
Dr. John Andrew Pfaltzgraff Fund for Excellence in Mathematics
Dr. John Andrew Pfaltzgraff Fund for Excellence in Mathematics recognizes the life and work of Dr. John Pfaltzgraff (1936-2014), who was a dedicated member of the Department of Mathematics.
Pfaltzgraff arrived at the University of North Carolina in 1967 after receiving his undergraduate degree at Harvard and his PhD in mathematics at the University of Kentucky. He became a full professor of mathematics in 1974 and served as the chairman of the department from 1981 to 1990. Dr. Pfaltzgraff’s mathematical research in computational complex analysis includes geometric function theory of one and several complex variables as well as numerical conformal mapping.
Dr. Pfaltzgraff was an inspiring teacher dedicated to his students and research for 40 years at Carolina. During his tenure, Dr. Pfaltzgraff’s mathematic genealogy included advising 7 doctoral and 10 master students. His commitment stretched far beyond his mathematical research to also focusing on the education and careers of those he advised. Dr. Beth Schaubroeck, one of Dr. Pfaltzgraff’s doctoral students, now a professor at the US Air Force Academy, described Dr. Pfaltzgraff as not only a respected mathematician, but also a caring mentor. “For any class that he taught, he spent time considering how to communicate mathematics, carefully crafting examples that best illustrated the concepts being studied. His students valued his concern for them and enjoyed his playful, dry sense of humor. He is remembered by his former students as both brilliant and kindhearted.”
Contributions to this endowment will provide discretionary funding for strategic investments within the department, including course development awards, graduate student support, faculty support, professional development, staff support and undergraduate research fellowships.
The Alfred T. Brauer Memorial Fund
The Alfred T. Brauer Memorial Fund recognizes Alfred Brauer (1894-1985), who had a profound impact on the Department of Mathematics at Carolina. Born in Germany, he held a position at the University of Berlin. He fled the country in 1939, accepting Herman Weyl’s invitation to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He came to North Carolina in 1942, where he advised 20 doctoral students, teaching here until his retirement in 1966. During this time he founded the Mathematics and Physics Library, using his knowledge and expertise to establish a superb collection (now part of the University’s Science Library Annex). Alfred Brauer was honored by the University with the award of a Kenan professorship in 1959, the Tanner Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching in 1965 and an honorary doctor of legal letters degree in 1972. He also received numerous awards from outside the University, including the Oak Ridge Science Award and the G.W.F. Hegel Medal from the University of Berlin. The Brauer Fund was established in the Department of Mathematics on the occasion of his 90th birthday.
Contributions to this fund support the Brauer Lectures in Mathematics given by distinguished senior research mathematicians annual awards to an undergraduate demonstrating the greatest ability and promise for achievement in the fields of number theory or algebra, and visiting faculty.
The Robert Brown Gardner Memorial Fund
The Robert Brown Gardner Memorial Fund recognizes the many significant contributions of Robert Brown Gardner (1939-1998), who was a member of the Department of Mathematics from 1971 until his death in 1998.
Graduate education was extremely important to Robert Gardner, and he offered many seminars that were in fact extra courses to train graduate students. The students responded with enthusiasm, and during his career he advised 13 Ph.D.and 18 Master’s students. In addition, Gardner served a term as Director of Graduate Studies and was the cofounder, with Udo Simon of the Technische Universität Berlin, of an exchange program between UNC and TU Berlin that brought many graduate students and faculty from Berlin to Chapel Hill. His guidance and support had a deep influence on the German students who visited Chapel Hill, and some of them extended their stays at UNC.
Gardner was proud and supportive of all his students, both during graduate school and after graduation. His students followed many different careers from business to academia, and he made an effort to keep up with all of them. To honor his contributions to graduate education the Department of Mathematics created the Robert Brown Gardner Memorial Fund to support graduate students in Mathematics.
The Lottie C. Wilson Scholarship Fund
The Lottie C. Wilson Scholarship Fund was established though the generous bequest of an alumna, Ms. Lottie C. Wilson.
Contributions to this fund support scholarship awards to graduate and undergraduate students whose major field of study is mathematics. Awards are made based on demonstrated academic merit.
The Idris Assani Prize in Mathematics Fund
The Idris Assani Prize in Mathematics Fund is named for renowned faculty member Dr. Idris Assani and its goal is to recognize talented mathematicians in Africa. Dr. Assani has been a faculty member in the department of mathematics since 1988, and is originally from Benin, a small country in West Africa. Prior to coming to UNC, he earned his Ph.D. from Paris-Sorbonne University in 1986. He is a fellow of the American Mathematical Society and was recognized by the Royal Society as one of the 66 most influential mathematicians since the Society’s creation in 1660. Throughout his career, he has helped implement African Center for Excellence (ACE) centers throughout Africa and organized an annual workshop series at UNC that brings to campus speakers from various countries such as Ghana, Senegal and Benin. These experiences and his time serving on the Ramanujan Prize selection committee (an annual mathematics prize for researchers from developing countries) made him realize that African mathematicians were not adequately represented in the global academic community, thus he saw a need for a way to recognize these talented scholars from Africa.
UNC has the unique opportunity to be on the precipice of recognizing the up-and-coming mathematicians in Africa, who are making notable discoveries, yet are unable to compete with those from developing countries, like China, Brazil and India, due to lack of resources and established research centers. This initiative, under the direction of Dr. Assani, will help improve research efforts in Africa while creating connections between the College of Arts and Sciences and academic communities in Africa. The prize recipient will receive a monetary award and will be invited to visit campus and deliver a lecture on his or her research and meet with faculty and students over the course of a week.
To make a gift via check, please make the check payable to “Arts & Sciences Foundation, Inc.” with “Department of Mathematics” on the memo line and mail to:
Ochuko Jenije
Assistant Director of Development
The Arts & Sciences Foundation
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
523 East Franklin Street
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
For questions about creating funds, stock or estate gifts, specific programs, and/or suggestions on how you can support the Department of Mathematics, please contact:
Ochuko Jenije
Assistant Director of Development
The Arts & Sciences Foundation
ochuko.jenije@unc.edu