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The General Alumni Association of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill honored a key administrator and three alumni Saturday (May 8) for outstanding service to the University and to the association.

The General Alumni Association of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill honored a key administrator and three alumni Saturday (May 8) for outstanding service to the University and to the association.

Recipients of the 2010 Distinguished Service Medals are Brenda W. Kirby, secretary of the University; Barbara Rosser Hyde, vice chair of the Board of Trustees; Karol V. Mason, former vice chair of the trustees; and Roy A. Williams, men’s head basketball coach.

The medals were awarded at the association’s annual alumni luncheon during its spring reunion weekend. The association has awarded the medals since 1978 to Carolina alumni and others.

Kirby, of Chapel Hill, has worked in the chancellor’s office for three decades, arriving in 1980 with Christopher Fordham when he was chosen chancellor while he was medical school dean. She had worked for Fordham and a previous medical school dean and was an aide to campus Air Force ROTC commanders. She also is assistant secretary to the UNC Board of Trustees. In 1996, Kirby received the C. Knox Massey Award, given to University employees to recognize exceptional service.

Hyde, of Memphis, Tenn., is a 1983 graduate and began her career in the University’s development office, serving as executive director of the Arts and Sciences Foundation from 1987 to 1992. She co-chaired the Women’s Leadership Council on campus and was on the Carolina First Campaign Steering Committee. She has been a major supporter of UNC’s Institute for the Arts and Humanities and is on its external advisory board. She is the president of J.R. Hyde III Family Foundation and director of the J.R. Hyde Sr. Foundation.

Mason, of Washington, D.C., is a 1979 graduate and served on the Board of Trustees from 2001 to 2009. Previously she was on the University’s Board of Visitors and the Arts and Sciences Foundation Board of Directors, as well as search committees for chancellor and medical school dean. In 1991, she received the alumni association’s Distinguished Young Alumna Award. Mason has been active with the Black Alumni Reunion, the association’s largest affinity group ( a group identified by subject rather than graduating class). The Amityville, N.Y., native was a partner with the Alston & Bird law firm in Atlanta before being appointed deputy associate U.S. attorney general in the Obama administration in 2009.

Williams, of Chapel Hill, earned two UNC degrees, a bachelor’s in education in 1972 and a master’s in teaching in 1973. He was an assistant coach for Dean Smith and returned to UNC in 2003 after 15 years as head coach at the University of Kansas. He coached UNC teams to national championships in 2005 and 2009 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007. The Asheville native has been a major supporter of programs including the Carolina Covenant, which enables students from low-income families to graduate from Carolina debt-free through aid packages of grants and work study, but not loans. Williams also has supported the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and UNC Children’s Hospital. He received an Alumni Achievement Award from the School of Education in 2007.

Web site: www.alumni.unc.edu

Photo URLs:
Hyde: http://uncnews.unc.edu/images/stories/news/campus/2010/gaa_2010dsm_hyde.jpg
Kirby: http://uncnews.unc.edu/images/stories/news/campus/2010/gaa_2010dsm_kirby.jpg
Mason: http://uncnews.unc.edu/images/stories/news/campus/2010/gaa_2010dsm_mason.jpg
Williams: http://uncnews.unc.edu/images/stories/news/campus/2010/gaa_2010dsm_williams.jpg

General Alumni Association contact: Doug Dibbert, (919) 962-7050
News Services contact: LJ Toler, (919) 962-8589

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