Make a Gift to Sociology

Help continue the tradition of distinguished teaching, learning, and service in the Department of Sociology by making a gift to support faculty and students.  We are deeply grateful to all our friends and donors for their generosity. Private gifts provide a critical margin of excellence for our students and faculty.

Online Giving

Online giving to the UNC Department of Sociology is easy and secure. Simply follow the link below to make your gift, and in the "Gift Designation" section, select "Other" in the pull-down box, and type "Department of Sociology” to donate to the general gift fund or type the name of the specific fund to which you would like to donate.

https://college.unc.edu/foundation/makeagift

Below is a description of the Department of Sociology funds.  Thank you for your gift to the Department of Sociology at Carolina!

General Gift Fund

Gifts to this fund are used at the discretion of the Chair and are directed to where the need is greatest. Such discretionary funds are used to support ongoing programs, activities, initiatives, and special events that aren’t funded by state dollars or that require the use of non-University funds. For example, these funds are used for maintaining and improving our technological infrastructure, including our computer lab and audiovisual equipment. Discretionary funds can also be used for activities that help establish and reaffirm a sense of community among the faculty, staff and students within the department, creating venues for intellectual engagement and opportunities that strengthen and encourage collegiality. At the undergraduate level, such funds help bolster student-group activities, and enhance the teaching experience more generally.

Rachel Rosenfeld Fund for Teaching in the Department of Sociology

This fund honors the memory of Rachel A. Rosenfeld, former chair and longtime member of the department of sociology, who was ardently committed to improving teaching. The fund is used to support the improvement of teaching in the department. Support is provided for teaching awards, curriculum enhancements, teaching books, journals, newsletters, travel to teaching conferences, and other activities that help faculty and graduate students improve their teaching.

Management and Society Gift Fund

This fund is used to provide for the educational and research objectives of the Management and Society Curriculum of the Department of Sociology.

Carolina Sociology Fund for Faculty Excellence

This fund is used to provide sociology faculty with critically needed funds for travel, research materials, technology and other resources necessary to their pursuits as world-class scholars and educators.

Doris Selo Memorial Fund

This fund was established in honor of Doris Selo, who was a graduate student in Sociology at Carolina in the early 1970s. Elaine Selo and her brother, Richard, established the fund to bring nationally known sociologists to Carolina each year to address faculty & graduate students on important issues & trends in sociology.

Doris Selo Speaker's Series Fund

Howard W. Odum Memorial Fund

This fund was established in the name of Howard W. Odum, founder and head of the Department of Sociology from 1920-1954.  The fund is used to provide awards annually to the most outstanding graduate student and most outstanding undergraduate student in the Department of Sociology and to support departmental scholarly and instructional activities that enhance Dr. Odum’s mission of building and maintaining the most distinguished Department of Sociology in the South.

Jack W Daum Fund

The Jack W Daum fund for sociology was established by Penny Daum Aldrich in 2005 in honor of her late father, Jack Daum. As a lifelong learner, Jack was proud that two of his grandsons graduated from UNC Chapel Hill. The fund was established to support various discretionary activities, including support for teaching, faculty research or professional travel, and other activities which would benefit Department operations.

The Richard L Simpson Faculty Support Fund

The Richard L Simpson faculty support fund was established by his wife, Dr. Ida Harper Simpson, Emeritus Professor at Duke University and also an adjunct professor at UNC Chapel Hill. Prof. Richard Simpson taught in the Sociology Department for many years and was editor of Social Forces from 1969 to 1972 and from 1983 until 2004. The fund was established to support faculty research and teaching.

Gary D. Grosboll Management and Society Fund

The late Mr. Grosboll graduated from the University North Carolina Chapel Hill with a degree from a program that at the time was called "Industrial Relations." (The department's name was changed to "Management and Society” in 2004.) He greatly valued his time at Carolina and the sociology departments program and so he established a bequest which the department received upon his passing in 2010. The fund is used to support students and faculty activities in the Management and Society program and the Sociology Department more generally.

We greatly appreciate all support towards these funds, and we also want to work with our alumni and friends. If you are interested in creating a fund of your own, possibly in honor or memory of someone, or even in establishing a fund for the department in your estate plans, we would love to be of assistance. For all thoughts and questions concerning supporting the department, please contact Ketura Parker, Assistant Director of Capital Gifts, Arts and Sciences Foundation, ketura.parker@unc.edu, or 919/843-3919.