Honors
Light on the Hill Banquet Encourages Students, Honors Alumni
Chuck Watts ’ 77, one of this year’s recipients of the Harvey E. Beech
Outstanding Alumni Award, recalled
the UNC basketball game against
Visiting Artist Fellowship in memory of
his sister.
; Harry Louis Jones Sr. ’ 72, Mecklenburg
Davidson in 1969, each team vying for
a spot in the NCAA Final Four. He
and his dad watched the game on TV.
PHOTOS BY LAURA SHEPPARD ’08
They saw Charlie Scott ’ 70, the first
black athlete to come to UNC on a
sports scholarship, sink the shot that
sent UNC to the Final Four. The virtually all-white crowd in the packed
arena began chanting, “Great Scott!
Great Scott!”
Watts’ father turned to his son and
said, “Now, that’s black power.”
County manager, who is noted for
handling sensitive and controversial
issues with integrity. Jones, who also
earned a master’s of public administra-
tion from UNC in 1974, met Hurri-
cane Katrina survivors as they arrived at
Charlotte’s Tyvola Coliseum to help
connect them to the services they
needed. A two-term president of the
National Forum for Black Public
Administrators, he also serves as a leader
in a number of local civic organizations.
; Michael Denard Kennedy ’ 79, senior
Forty years later, at the Black
Alumni Reunion’s Light on the Hill
Scholarship dinner on Nov. 7, the ball-
room at the Sheraton Imperial in
Durham was filled with another kind of
Recipients of the Light on the
“black power,” African-American alumni
who have reached prominent positions
in government, business and community
leadership and who use those positions
to make things better for the next generation.
Hill Scholarships are, clockwise
from top left, Brian J. Harris
(Julius Peppers Scholar),
Matthew D. Biggers, Kaneesha
S. Henderson, Chelsea M. Jones
and Chanel D. Porter.
client partner for Korn/Ferry International, one of the largest executive search
firms in the world. He and his brothers
established the Willie Hall Kennedy
Scholarship that honors their grandmother in the School of Education. He
created a strategic plan for the Carolina
First Campaign’s national steering committee and has led the way in raising
funds for the Sonja Haynes Stone Center
for Black Culture and History.
For example, this year’s scholarships
reflected the $100,000 gift from pro
football player Julius Peppers ’02 that
boosted the fund enough to bestow five
; Charles Dewitt Watts ’ 77, owner of
$1,000 awards to black freshmen.
Brian James Harris, a business major
from Fayetteville, was named the inaugural
C&W Insurance Consulting, who has
helped guide many civic organizations
and nonprofits in the Triangle to success,
including the N.C. Museum of Life and
Science, the Greater Durham YMCA
and the Parrish Street Advocacy Group.
LOTH Peppers Scholar. He joined four
other LOTH Scholars: Matthew Drexel
Most recently, he was appointed by the
governor to the board of the N.C.
Biggers, a biomedical engineering student
from Greensboro; Kaneesha Shanique
Henderson, a business major from Kinston;
Department of Transportation. As a stu-
dent, he helped found and lead Kappa
Alpha Psi on campus.
Chelsea Maria Jones, a psychology student
from Charlotte; and Chanel Danae Porter, a
business major from Maumee, Ohio. Each
of the students overcame a significant
obstacle in their lives and achieved outstanding success in high school, making
them “Lights on the Hill” to inspire their
peers.
To ensure the continued success of
underrepresented students, Kamala Uzzell
’ 96, chair-elect of the 2010 Black Alumni
Reunion, announced a drive to create a
$250,000 fund to support a minority advisory program and scholarships.
This year’s Golden Rams — alumni cel-
ebrating their 50th class reunion — were
recognized: Ella Bernardine Booker ’ 59
(MEd), Junius Butler Francis ’ 59 (MEd),
Henry Ell Frye ’ 59 (JD), Harriett Nunn
Black pioneers in the 1950s desegregat-
ed the University, Watts said, and students
in the 1960s integrated it. Today’s genera-
tion still has roads to pave. When his friends
on campus told him, “We have to engage
in the struggle,” Watts said he asked himself,
“Why?” Over time, the answer has come to
him: “That’s just what we do.” ;
Krista D. Stepney was honored as the
Harvey E. Beech Outstanding Senior. A
biology major, Stepney also is an advocate
for social justice and on-campus coordinator for the Minority Student Recruitment
Committee, among other leadership positions.
The Outstanding Faculty/Staff Award
went to Melissa E. Exum, associate vice
chancellor for student affairs and dean of
students. In that capacity, Exum helps integrate all students into full membership in
the UNC community.
This year’s Harvey E. Beech Outstanding
Alumni Awards went to:
; Anthony Wayne Cummings ’ 84, an
administrative judge with the Atlanta
regional office of the U.S. Merit Systems
Protection Board. Cummings, who also
earned a law degree from UNC in 1987,
served for several years as a judge advocate in the Navy. He supports scholarship opportunities for UNC students,
including the Pamela Nicole Cummings
