Edward G. McGavran

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 10 dated events in the chronology →

During their lifetime

1. late 1940s (by summer 1949) The Public Health Service moves its Syphilis Experimental Laboratory to the School of Public Health After the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation dropped its venereal disease research money and Johns Hopkins closed its Laboratory of Experimental Therapeutics, the Public Health Service made Chapel Hill the main research laboratory of its Venereal Disease Division. The university agreed to put up a building for it, a second closed federal laboratory sent more staff and equipment in 1949, and Dr. Harold Magnuson's Department of Experimental Medicine grew out of the work. People: Edward G. McGavran Place: School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Also named: Harold J. MagnusonSearch the index · Robert Rodgers Korstad, Dreaming of a Time: The School of Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1939-1989 (1990), scan p. 69
2. April 1947 to July 1963 Edward G. McGavran becomes dean of the School of Public Health McGavran was appointed dean of the UNC School of Public Health in April 1947 and led it until July 1, 1963, when he returned to full-time teaching. Full-time faculty grew from fourteen in 1948 to sixty-four by 1964. Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: UNC School of Public HealthSearch the index · UNC Libraries, University Archives: Records of the School of Public Health, 1930-2007 (#40120)
3. Spring 1948 The School of Public Health establishes a Department of Field Training In the spring of 1948, early in Dean Edward G. McGavran's tenure, the School of Public Health set up a Department of Field Training, bringing it to eight departments. Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: School of Public HealthSearch the index · UNC Libraries, University Archives: Records of the School of Public Health, 1930-2007 (#40120)
4. July 30, 1948 Dean McGavran reports the school spread across the old Water Works building and four temporary buildings Asking Chancellor Robert B. House to put a new public health building first among the university's needs, McGavran wrote that one department sat in the old Water Works building halfway across campus and that four temporary buildings beside MacNider Hall were overfull. The Department of Health Education still kept its office in the Water Works building in the 1950s, and the school waited until 1961 to break ground for its own building. People: R. B. House Place: Old Water Works building and temporary buildings north of MacNider Hall, University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · Robert Rodgers Korstad, Dreaming of a Time: The School of Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1939-1989 (1990), scan p. 70
5. early 1961 (before February 19) Ground is broken for the School of Public Health's own building State voters approved a bond issue on October 27, 1959 that included $1 million for the building, after the North Carolina Public Health Association urged its 1,200 members to back it, and the Public Health Service added $700,000 in matching funds. Ground was broken early in 1961: Korstad gives January 16 in his text and February 6 in a photo caption, and a Daily Tar Heel photo of February 19 shows Chancellor William B. Aycock turning the first shovel with Dean McGavran beside him. People: Edward G. McGavran, William B. Aycock Place: School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · Robert Rodgers Korstad, Dreaming of a Time: The School of Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1939-1989 (1990), scan p. 111 · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, February 19, 1961, p. 3
6. November 1962 The School of Public Health moves into its new building The School of Public Health's programs and staff came together in one building when its new building opened in November 1962; it was dedicated in April 1963 and named Rosenau Hall in 1965. The school had used the first floor of MacNider Hall since 1939, and Dean McGavran had made more space a priority. Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Rosenau HallSearch the index · UNC Libraries, University Archives: Records of the School of Public Health, 1930-2007 (#40120) · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 14, 1963, p. 18; The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 13, 1962, p. 23
7. 1963 W. Fred Mayes becomes dean of the School of Public Health Chosen by a search committee chaired by John Wright with McGavran's backing, Mayes came from the Public Health Service's Division of Research Grants. Under him federal grants drove fast growth and the school's focus moved from community service toward research; he stepped down at the end of the 1971-72 year. People: Edward G. McGavran Place: School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Also named: William Fred Mayes, John J. WrightSearch the index · Robert Rodgers Korstad, Dreaming of a Time: The School of Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1939-1989 (1990), scan p. 120
8. April 6-7, 1963 Governor Terry Sanford dedicates the new School of Public Health building A two-day program opened on Saturday with an address by Abel Wolman of Johns Hopkins, group sessions on public health past and future, and an evening speech by Frank Porter Graham. On Sunday morning John Wright planted a southern magnolia in memory of Milton J. Rosenau, and Sanford dedicated the building that afternoon as the retiring McGavran prepared to leave for India. People: Terry Sanford, Frank Porter Graham, Edward G. McGavran Place: School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Also named: Abel Wolman, John J. WrightSearch the index · Robert Rodgers Korstad, Dreaming of a Time: The School of Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1939-1989 (1990), scan p. 116 · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, February 24, 1963, p. 1
9. August 29, 1972 Former public health dean Edward G. McGavran dies Dr. Edward G. McGavran, dean of the UNC School of Public Health from 1947 to 1963, died of a heart attack in Ontario, Canada, on August 29. Under him the school's faculty grew from 14 to 70, and the N.C. Public Health Association gave him its Carl V. Reynolds Award in 1963. People: Edward G. McGavran Place: Ontario, Canada (School of Public Health, UNC, Chapel Hill) · Also mentions: UNC School of Public HealthSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, September 2, 1972, p. 2

After their death in 1972

Later events: estates and burials, and the buildings, honors and histories that remember them.

1. 1990 UNC dedicates the Herman G. Baity Environmental Laboratory The School of Public Health dedicated McGavran-Greenberg Hall and the Herman G. Baity Environmental Laboratory, with Chancellor Paul Hardin giving the dedication. People: Herman G. Baity, Michel A. Ibrahim, Edward G. McGavran, Paul Hardin III Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Paul Hardin · Also mentions: School of Public HealthSearch the index · epidemiolog.net: History of the Gillings School of Global Public Health