Oliver Max Gardner Award
About the award
When presented: Spring meeting of the Board of Governors each year.
How many: One award, selected from the entire UNC System.
Process: The Committee on Honorary Degrees and Special Awards selects one nominee from UNC-Chapel Hill; the chancellor then submits the committee’s recommendation to the Office of the President and the Board of Governors awards committee.
Criteria: Award goes to “that member of the faculty of the Consolidated University of North Carolina, who, during the current scholastic year, has made the greatest contribution to the welfare of the human race.” A more detailed explanation of the award, provided by UNC general administration, may be found here.
Eligibility: Any faculty, including instructors, engaged in teaching in any unit, institution or branch of service of the Consolidated University of North Carolina.
Submit a nomination
Please note that nominations remain active for three years. If you have nominated anyone within the previous two years, renomination is not required; however, additional or updated materials may be submitted.
Visit the “Submit Nominations” page at the left for instructions on how to submit your nomination. Nominations for this this campus’s nominee for the 2024 System-wide award will be accepted October 3 though November 7, 2023. Submitting a nomination by this deadline is the first step in the nomination process for this award.
Past recipients, 1949 – present
| Year | Name | Institution | Major/Field |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | H. Shelton Earp | UNC-Chapel Hill | Cancer Research and Medicine |
| 2022 | Yeoheung Yun | NC A&T State | Bioengineering |
| 2021 | Ralph Baric | UNC-Chapel Hill | Epidemiology; Microbiology and Immunology |
| 2020 | Samantha Meltzer-Brody | UNC-Chapel Hill | Psychiatry |
| 2019 | Sy Atezaz Saeed | East Carolina | Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine |
| 2018 | Ruben G. Carbonell | NC State | Chemical Engineering |
| 2017 | Ben Bahr | UNC-Pembroke | Microbiology and Biochemistry |
| 2016 | Aziz Sancar | UNC-Chapel Hill | Science |
| 2016 | David Shapiro | Western Carolina | Communication |
| 2015 | Behnam Pourdeyhimi | NC State | Textile Engineering |
| 2015 | Pinku Mukherjee | UNC-Charlotte | Biological Sciences |
| 2014 | Jagdish Narayan | NC State | Materials Science and Engineering |
| 2013 | Samuel F. Sears, Jr. | East Carolina | Psychology |
| 2012 | Fred Gould | NC State | Entomology |
| 2011 | Diane M. Browder | UNC-Charlotte | Education |
| 2010 | Jagannathan Sankar | NC A&T State | Mechanical and Chemical Engineering |
| 2009 | Todd R. Klaenhammer | NC State | Bioprocessing & Nutrition Sciences |
| 2008 | Myron S. Cohen | UNC-Chapel Hill | Medicine, Microbiology, & Public Health |
| 2007 | Trudy F. C. Mackay | NC State | Genetics |
| 2006 | Ken R. Harewood | NC Central | Biochemistry |
| 2005 | Kenneth B. Alder | NC State | Pulmonary Biology |
| 2004 | W. Randolph Chitwood, Jr. | East Carolina | Cardiothoracic Surgery |
| 2004 | Branislav Vlahovic | NC Central | Physics |
| 2003 | Bruce Spencer Weir | NC State | Statistics and Genetics |
| 2002 | Melissa Hayden | NC School of the Arts | Dance |
| 2002 | Oliver Smithies | UNC-Chapel Hill | Pathology |
| 2001 | Walter J. Pories | East Carolina | Biochemistry |
| 2000 | Joseph M. DeSimone | NC State UNC-Chapel Hill | Chemistry |
| 1999 | Jim E. Riviere | NC State | Pharmacology |
| 1998 | B. Jayant Baliga | NC State | Electrical Engineering |
| 1997 | R. Wayne Skaggs | NC State | Agricultural Engineering |
| 1996 | Ernest Hodgson | NC State | Toxicology |
| 1996 | Vira Rodgers Kivett | UNC-Greensboro | Gerontology |
| 1995 | James Houlik | NC School of the Arts | Music |
| 1994 | Gerald Shinn | UNC-Wilmington | Philosophy and Religion |
| 1993 | Donald W. Warren | UNC-Chapel Hill | Dentistry |
| 1992 | Sherwood Shaffer | NC School of the Arts | Music |
| 1991 | Frederick W. Harrison | Western Carolina | Biology |
| 1990 | Fred R. DeJarnette | NC State | Engineering |
| 1989 | William E. Laupus | East Carolina | Medicine |
| 1989 | Louis D. Rubin, Jr. | UNC-Chapel Hill | Literature |
| 1988 | Floyd W. Denny, Jr. | UNC-Chapel Hill | Medicine |
| 1988 | Elizabeth C. Theil | NC State | Biochemistry |
| 1987 | Major M. Goodman | NC State | Agriculture |
| 1987 | C. Arden Miller | UNC-Chapel Hill | Maternal & Child Health |
| 1986 | Fred Chappell | UNC-Greensboro | Literature |
| 1986 | Edgar Loessin | East Carolina | Theatre |
| 1985 | M. Nectai Ozisk | NC State | Engineering |
| 1985 | Eric Shopler | UNC-Chapel Hill | Psychology |
| 1984 | James A. Bryan II | UNC-Chapel Hill | Medicine |
| 1984 | Vivian T. Stannett | NC State | Chemistry |
| 1983 | Frank E. Gunthrie | NC State | Toxicology |
| 1983 | Stanley R. Riggs | East Carolina | Geology |
| 1982 | Octavia B. Knight | NC Central | Special Education |
| 1982 | Joseph N. Sasser | NC State | Plant Pathology |
| 1981 | Ellis B. Cowling | NC State | Plant Pathology & Forestry |
| 1981 | Bernard G. Greenberg | UNC-Chapel Hill | Public Health |
| 1980 | C. Clark Cockerham | NC State | Genetics |
| 1980 | Judson J. Van Wyk | UNC-Chapel Hill | Medicine |
| 1979 | Richard Bardolph | UNC-Greensboro | History |
| 1979 | Solomon P. Hersh | NC State | Textile Engineering |
| 1978 | Carl William Gottschalk | UNC-Chapel Hill | Medicine |
| 1977 | C. Hugh Holman | UNC-Chapel Hill | Literature |
| 1976 | Eloise Rallings Lewis | UNC-Greensboro | History |
| 1976 | LeRoy T. Walker | NC Central | Art |
| 1975 | Helen Grey Edmonds | NC Central | History |
| 1975 | Francis Speight | East Carolina | Early Childhood Education |
| 1974 | Mary Elizabeth Keister | UNC-Greensboro | Early Childhood Education |
| 1973 | Ovid Williams Pierce | East Carolina | Literature |
| 1973 | Cratis Dearl Williams | Appalachian State | Literature |
| 1972 | Bruce John Zobel | NC State | Forest Genetics |
| 1971 | Naomi G. Albanese | UNC-Greensboro | Home Economics |
| 1970 | Stanley George Stephens | NC State | Agriculture |
| 1969 | Henry Brandis, Jr. | UNC-Chapel Hill | Law |
| 1968 | John B. Graham | UNC-Chapel Hill | Medicine |
| 1967 | Walton Carlyle Gregory | NC State | Agriculture |
| 1966 | Lois Edinger | UNC-Greensboro | Education |
| 1965 | Raymond L. Murray | NC State | Science |
| 1964 | W. Reece Berryhill | UNC Chapel Hill | Medicine |
| 1963 | John C. Brauer | UNC-Chapel Hill | Dentistry |
| 1962 | Randall Jarrell | UNC-Greensboro | Literature |
| 1961 | Kenneth N. Brinkhous | UNC-Chapel Hill | Medicine |
| 1960 | Richard N. Current | UNC-Greensboro | History |
| 1959 | Gertrude M. Cox | NC State | Statistics |
| 1958 | C. Horace Hamiltom | NC State | Sociology |
| 1957 | Warner L. Wells | UNC-Chapel Hill | Medicine |
| 1956 | Mereb E. Mossman | UNC-Greensboro | Social Service |
| 1955 | Zeno Payne Metcalf | NC State | Geology & Entomology |
| 1954 | Franklin H. McNutt | UNC-Greensboro | Education |
| 1953 | Howard W. Odum | UNC-Chapel Hill | Sociology |
| 1952 | Albert Coates | UNC Chapel Hill | Government |
| 1951 | Donald B. Anderson | NC State | Science |
| 1950 | Robert E. Coker | UNC-Chapel Hill | Science |
| 1949 | Louise B. Alexander | UNC-Greensboro | Education |
