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Storyline · 1990–1992

A new business school building at Kenan Heights, 1990–1992

In June 1990 UNC's trustees approved Chancellor Paul Hardin's choice of Kenan Heights, by the Kenan Center, for a new business school building, after a committee endorsed it with five abstentions. The Rams Club pledged about $2.3 million and the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust $10 million toward it. In September 1992 the trustees approved a $25.8 million design, but construction waited on state money.

1990–1992 Filed under UNC & Campus Life 5 dated events

McColl Building, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, 5 October 2010
McColl Building, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, 5 October 2010Photograph by Brisam at English Wikipedia; via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source

On June 6, 1990 UNC's Buildings and Grounds Committee, with two votes in favor, none against and five abstentions, endorsed building the new School of Business on the hill by the Kenan Center, though members complained that Chancellor Paul Hardin's choice had been settled beforehand. A $5 million gift from the William R. Kenan Charitable Trust depended on approval of the site. On June 22 the Board of Trustees approved the Kenan Heights site, along with plans for the Student Recreation Center, after assurances that the undergraduate business program would not be phased out. On December 5 Hardin announced that the Educational Foundation, the Rams Club, would give $3.5 million to the Bicentennial Campaign, about $2.3 million of it for a new complex for the Graduate School of Business; campaign director Robert Sweeney said it was one of the largest gifts a campus athletic association had made to the University's academic fund raising.

In April 1991 the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust announced a $10 million gift for a new Kenan-Flagler business school building behind the Kenan Center on Bowles Drive, where construction was expected to begin in 1992; the University had waited more than a year for a state appropriation for it. Dean Paul Rizzo, who said in May that he would leave at the end of the next school year, had hoped to see the building under way first. On September 25, 1992, in closed session, the trustees approved the design by Kallmann, McKinnell and Wood for a $25.8 million, four-story, 180,000-square-foot brick building on a site southeast of the Kenan Center near the Smith Center. Only $3 million of the planned $15.8 million state share had been appropriated, so construction waited on a bond the General Assembly might take up in 1993.

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Chapel Hill

The events, date by date

Every statement above comes from these dated entries in the chronology. Each links to its source.

  1. UNC Buildings and Grounds Committee approves the Kenan Heights site for the business school With two votes in favor, none against and five abstentions, the committee endorsed building the new School of Business on the hill by the Kenan Center, though members complained the chancellor's choice had been settled beforehand. A $5 million gift from the William R. Kenan Charitable Trust depended on approval of the site. Place: Kenan Center area, South Campus, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Kenan Center, School of BusinessSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, June 14, 1990, p. 1
  2. UNC trustees approve the Kenan Heights site for a new business school building The Board of Trustees approved Chancellor Paul Hardin's choice of the Kenan Heights site for the School of Business building, along with plans for the Student Recreation Center, after assurances that the undergraduate business program would not be phased out. The buildings and grounds committee had endorsed the site in early June with two votes in favor and five abstentions, and members said they had felt pressed to approve a decision already made. Place: Kenan Heights, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Paul Hardin · Also mentions: School of BusinessSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, June 28, 1990, p. 1
  3. The Educational Foundation pledges $3.5 million to UNC's Bicentennial Campaign, mostly for a business school building Chancellor Paul Hardin announced that the Educational Foundation, the Rams Club, would give $3.5 million to the University's Bicentennial Campaign, about $2.3 million of it for a new complex for the Graduate School of Business and $1.2 million for needs the chancellor would choose. Campaign director Robert Sweeney said it was one of the largest gifts a campus athletic association had made to the University's academic fund raising. Place: UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: Paul Hardin, Robert Sweeney · Also mentions: Graduate SchoolSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, December 7, 1990, p. 1
  4. The William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust gives $10 million toward a new business school building The trust announced a $10 million gift for a new Kenan-Flagler business school building behind the Kenan Center on Bowles Drive, where construction was expected to begin in 1992; the University had waited more than a year for a $15 million state appropriation for it. Dean Paul Rizzo, who said in May that he would leave at the end of the next school year, had hoped to see the building under way first. Place: Bowles Drive, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Paul Rizzo · Also mentions: Kenan CenterSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, May 30, 1991, p. 1
  5. UNC trustees approve the design of a $25.8 million business school building Meeting in closed session on September 25, 1992, the UNC Board of Trustees approved the design by Kallmann, McKinnell and Wood for a four-story, 180,000-square-foot brick building for the Kenan-Flagler Business School on a site southeast of the Kenan Center near the Smith Center. Only $3 million of the planned $15.8 million state share had been appropriated, so construction waited on a bond the General Assembly might take up in 1993. Place: Southeast of the Kenan Center near the Dean E. Smith Center, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Kenan Center, Kenan-Flagler Business SchoolSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, September 29, 1992, p. 1

Further reading

No indexed work is about this storyline itself yet. These are the most widely held histories of the theme it is filed under, so they may not discuss it. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.

Background on UNC & Campus Life · the most widely held histories of the theme this storyline is filed under; they may not discuss it

Carolina Basketball: A Century of Excellence

Lucas, Adam · 2010 · University of North Carolina Press

Adam Lucas marks one hundred years of basketball at the University of North Carolina in this illustrated history, published by UNC Press in 2010 in association with the athletics department. Chapters follow the program from the game's arrival on campus and the 'White Phantoms' of the Southern Conference through the founding of the ACC, the 1957 season, Dean Smith's changes to the game and the title seasons of 1982, 1993, 2005 and 2009, closing with a century of statistics. 289 pages.

The Blue Divide: Duke, North Carolina, and the Battle on Tobacco Road

Moore, Johnny; Chansky, Art · 2014 · Triumph Books

The Duke and North Carolina basketball rivalry written together by Johnny Moore and Art Chansky, the latter a sports reporter who has followed it since his student days at UNC. The book opens with the 2014 season and moves through recruiting battles old and new, 'Black and Blue Sunday', 'Blood and Roses', and chapters on the rivalry's heroes, leaders and teachers, with a foreword by Jay Bilas and a photo gallery. Published by Triumph Books in 2014, 289 pages.

Miss Mary's Money

Jones, H. G. · 2014 · McFarland & Co.

H. G. Jones follows the fortune of Mary Ruffin Smith (1814-1885), the unmarried heiress whose Orange and Chatham County lands passed at her death to the University of North Carolina and the Episcopal Church. Chapters profile her grandfather Francis Jones, then trace the bequest through a quarrel among Episcopalians over Price Creek, the Chapel of the Cross and the university's buildings. A December 1885 New York Times report called the gift money; Jones shows it was land. Published by McFarland in 2014, 231 pages.

The Chronicles of the Bicentennial Observance of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Tepper, Steven J. · 1998

Steven J. Tepper's chronicle of how the University of North Carolina marked its bicentennial in 1993 and 1994. An appendix reprints the University Day speeches of October 12, 1993, given by Paul Hardin, James B. Hunt Jr., C.D. Spangler, William C. Friday, Charles Kuralt and President Bill Clinton, plus bicentennial addresses by Li Lu, Francis S. Collins and Richard J. Richardson. Published by the university in Chapel Hill, 1998; 284 pages.

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William Friday

Link, William A. · 1995

Biography of William C. Friday, president of the University of North Carolina system, by historian William A. Link, published by UNC Press in 1995 with the subtitle power, purpose, and American higher education. It covers Friday's career and the history of the university at Chapel Hill and statewide. Part of the Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection.

Chapel Hill in Plain Sight

Athas, Daphne · 2010 · Eno Publishers

Twelve essays by novelist Daphne Athas (1923-2020) on the Chapel Hill she knew across the twentieth century. Subjects include Carrboro as 'the Paris of the Piedmont', philosopher Horace Williams, Betty Smith writing in Chapel Hill, Junius Scales, Ab Abernethy and the Intimate Bookshop, Richard Wright's visit, and a set of Chapel Hill murders. Published 2010, 243 pages with illustrations.

What it means to be a Tar Heel: Roy Williams and North Carolina's greatest players

Fowler, Scott · 2010 · Triumph Books

Scott Fowler gathers recollections from Carolina basketball players, decade by decade from the 1950s to the 2000s, organized around Roy Williams and the question in the title. Contributors include Lennie Rosenbluth, Larry Brown, Billy Cunningham, Charlie Scott, Phil Ford, James Worthy, Brad Daugherty, Eric Montross, Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Raymond Felton and Sean May, each entry giving position and playing years. Published 2010 by Triumph Books of Chicago, 270 pages, here as an e-book.

The Campus of the First State University

Henderson, Archibald · 1949

Archibald Henderson's history of the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, its buildings and grounds from the founding in the 1790s onward. Henderson, a professor of mathematics and a prolific historian of the university, wrote it in the years around the university's sesquicentennial. Published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1949, 412 pages with illustrations and bibliographical footnotes.

Reviewed in The Journal of Southern History (1949), South Atlantic Quarterly (1950).

The Woman Who Rang the Bell: The Story of Cornelia Spencer Phillips

Russell, Charles Phillips · 1949

Charles Phillips Russell's biography of Cornelia Phillips Spencer (1825-1908), the Chapel Hill writer remembered for ringing the bell of South Building when the university reopened in 1875 after its closure during Reconstruction. It doubles as a history of Chapel Hill and the university. Published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1949, 293 pages with illustrations.

Reviewed in Journal of American History (1949).

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Friends of the Orange County Public Library. “A new business school building at Kenan Heights, 1990–1992.” Orange County Indexed, https://focplnc.org/orange-county-books/storylines/business-school-building-storyline-1990/. Accessed October 22, 2026.

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