Give to the Biology Department
The Department of Biology depends on the generous gifts of our friends, patrons, and alumni to ensure the margin of excellence we enjoy. Private gifts from generous donors help to sustain the Department’s mission of excellence in teaching, research, and service. Such gifts help to provide the best possible education for our undergraduate and graduate students, build a lively intellectual community, and support the cutting edge work of our faculty and researchers.
Online giving to the Department of Biology is easy and secure. Please choose where you would most like your generous gift to be used:
Unrestricted Fund
Gifts to this fund are used at the discretion of the Chair with the help of Associate Chairs and committees, and will be used to support initiatives, programs, events, and other instances that are not covered by state dollars.
Make an Unrestricted GiftJean DeSaix Excellence in Teaching Fund
This fund has been established to recognize one of our esteemed teaching colleagues and the students whose lives she has touched. The fund provides professional development awards for teaching faculty, as well as excellence awards to undergraduate and graduate students who support our teaching mission. Your generous gifts will contribute to these efforts, as well as to undergraduate research and interdisciplinary seed grants.
Give to the DeSaix FundOther Giving Opportunities
The Arts & Sciences Foundation also offers several other targeted giving opportunities within the Department of Biology.
For questions about creating scholarship and professorships, making stock or estate gifts, donating to specific programs, or suggestions on how you can support the Department of Biology, please contact:
Christina Burch
Associate Chair of Development
UNC Department of Biology
cburch@bio.unc.edu
Donate by Mail
You may also make a donation by check. Please make the check payable to Arts and Sciences Foundation, Inc with DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY – 101101 in the memo line and mail to:
Arts & Sciences Foundation
ATTN: Cassie Diltz
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Campus Box 3100
205 South Building
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3100
Why I Donate
“It has been said that life takes you to unexpected places and love brings you home.” This quote epitomizes my journey since I graduated from UNC.
I am a patent litigation attorney in Washington, D.C. with nearly twenty years of experience. Ironically, I had no intentions of ever becoming an attorney—much less knew about patent law. I always thought I would pursue a traditional career in science, like medicine or working in a lab. As I made my way through UNC, however, I began to really enjoy the academic discourse in my social science classes and began to investigate alternative career paths, including patent law. Patent law is a multidisciplinary career bridging science, law, and business. Today, I’m still at the cutting edge of science; just not at the bench.
As I reflect on my journey, the foundational underpinning for me—both professionally and personally— has undoubtedly been my UNC experience. To this day, I draw not only from the many early-morning biology and chemistry lectures in Coker and Venable Halls, but also the social skills, independence, and responsibility I learned as an undergraduate student.
Personally, I was also fortunate to meet the love of my life while I was at UNC. Together, we now have two beautiful kids who have come with us to Chapel Hill on countless trips only to hear us fondly reminisce about our glory days. Indeed, it is this love for UNC that brings us back and keeps us connected.
– Dr. Aziz Burgy, UNC ’96