Annual Report 2010-11

Dear Friends,

On behalf of the UNC Asheville community, I want to share my deep gratitude for your support. Through the generosity of our alumni, parents and friends—our university continues to succeed in our goal  of setting the standard for excellence among  liberal arts institutions.

Your selfless contributions have provided more than $2.7 million in gifts this past year, and our endowment now stands at more than $27 million. These gifts are critical to UNC Asheville’s continued success, now and in the future. And thanks to you, we are succeeding in so many ways.

This year, the university proudly celebrated the opening of the Wilma M. Sherrill Center, home to the N.C. Center for Health & Wellness, the 3,800-seat Kimmel Arena and offices and classrooms for the faculty and students of the Health and Wellness Department—UNC Asheville’s fastest-growing major. The Sherrill Center, and all that it makes possible, places UNC Asheville as a leader of statewide health and wellness initiatives while complementing the work of our faculty, staff, undergraduate researchers and community partners. Many of you were with us when the UNC Asheville Bulldogs hosted UNC Chapel Hill Tar Heels for the season opener in the Kimmel Arena in November; it was a proud moment for all of us.

The strength of the university’s liberal arts curriculum—and the value of its affordability—continues to be widely recognized in the college rankings from nationally respected organizations such as Princeton Review, Fiske Guide to Colleges, U.S. News and World Report, and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine.

According to the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) study, which measures the value added of hundreds of universities from the freshman to senior year, our university’s seniors outperformed 95 percent of seniors from 1,500 other universities. This data verifies what we have known all along: That UNC Asheville students are well-prepared to become the innovators and leaders of our businesses, institutions and communities.

With your help, we can continue to prepare UNC Asheville students to create the future of our nation, by challenging them with an interdisciplinary education—one that develops their abilities to understand multiple perspectives, think critically, and lead the way. Through your support, the university will have a strong financial foundation to provide exceptional learning opportunities to the state’s most promising students.

Sincerely,

Anne Ponder, Chancellor