For this special segment of Catalyze, Emile Charles ’24 shares the most impactful aspects of his international gap year, pandemic disruptions included. The scholar interned at a children’s hospital in Cape Town, South Africa; visited his father’s Caribbean home in St. George’s, Grenada; worked on a global public health collaboration between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Malawi Ministry of Health; and organized Black Lives Matter protests in Chapel Hill. 

Gap year scholars Taylor Shinal ’25, Mark Finamore ’25, Asher Wexler ’25, and Noah Gottlieb ’25 also sent in audio diaries from their current corners of the world. You’ll be taken to a Tanzanian safari, a Slovenian market, an ancient Egyptian tomb, a Scottish seacoast, and a ski slope in Utah.

Music credits

The music for this episode was produced and contributed by Nicholas Byrne ’19 of Arts + Crafts and singer-songwriter and guitarist Audrey Walsh, a sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill and a DJ at student-run WXYC 89.3 FM. 

Based in Athens, Georgia, Nicholas is a producer, guitarist, and singer. The alumnus earned his bachelor’s degree from the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media with a minor in music. In addition to his music, Nicholas works on freelance video assignments and digital advertising and social media campaigns. 

Follow Nicholas @art.sandcrafts on Instagram or on Spotify.

This episode also featured intro music by Scott Hallyburton '22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul.

How to listen

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.

Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

The road that brought Chris Bradford to Chapel Hill began in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and included stops in New Haven, Connecticut; Palo Alto, California; Oundle, England; and Johannesburg, South Africa. 

Chris spoke with Morehead-Cain from his home in Johannesburg to share his story of founding African Leadership Academy (ALA), his personal mission (which he says is to “build platforms that enable individuals to reimagine what’s possible for themselves and their societies”), and his vision for Morehead-Cain as the incoming president.

Chris, CEO and co-founder of ALA, will succeed Executive Director Chuck Lovelace ’77, who leaves this summer after 37 years with the Foundation. 

Learn more about Chris.

How to listen

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed. 

Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Music credits 

The intro music is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul.

The music for the ending is by Nicholas Byrne ’19. Follow Nicholas @art.sandcrafts on Instagram. 

Amber Koonce ’12 is a civil rights attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. 

Amber shares how her Morehead-Cain summers working at a women’s correctional center in Ghana and at a young boys’ correctional center in Scotland helped inform her vocation to defend human rights and civil rights in representing incarcerated people, particularly people who’ve been incarcerated as children. 

Following the alumna’s graduation from Carolina and before entering Yale Law School, Amber worked as a juvenile justice policy analyst at the Humanitarian Legal Assistance Foundation in the Philippines on a Luce scholarship. After earning a JD, she clerked on the U.S. federal judiciary for the Honorable William Fletcher on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Amber is also a social entrepreneur and the founder of BeautyGap, a nonprofit that supports the development of girls worldwide by distributing dolls of color. Since 2009, BeautyGap has distributed Black and brown dolls to girls in orphanages throughout Ghana, Kenya, Haiti, and the Philippines. 

How to listen

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed. 

Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Music credits 

The intro music is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul.

The music for the mid-episode break and ending is by Nicholas Byrne ’19. Follow Nicholas @art.sandcrafts on Instagram. 

When reporters and public relations professionals come calling, Karen Stevenson ’79 knows what to expect: They are going to ask her about being “the first.”

As a high school senior, Karen became the first African American woman to receive the Morehead-Cain Scholarship as part of the inaugural group of female Morehead-Cain Scholars. In 1979, the alumna made national headlines as the first woman from the University and the first African American woman from the United States to receive the Rhodes Scholarship.

On this episode, Karen shares her thoughts about the renown she's received for being "the first" of so many accomplishments; how she approaches her work as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Central District of California; and how she's maintaining a sense of equilibrium during the pandemic. 

The Los Angeles-based alumna will deliver the keynote address during Morehead-Cain’s Virtual Final Selection Weekend on February 26.

How to listen

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed. 

Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Music credits 

The intro music is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. 

The music for the mid-episode break and ending is by Nicholas Byrne ’19. Follow Nicholas @art.sandcrafts on Instagram. 

Andrew Patterson ’06 is the vice president of partnerships and strategy at Greenfly, Inc., a software platform that helps organizations build their communities through brand advocacy. 

Andrew shares about Greenfly’s role in connecting major sports leagues to fans through more authentic and personalized game coverage; successful strategies that the Biden campaign and 2020 Democratic National Convention Committee implemented through the technology; and what any organization can do to empower their communities to be co-creators and ambassadors. 

Before joining Greenfly, Andrew was the senior director of new media at MLB. If you’re interested in learning more about Andrew, you can view his SEVEN Talk from the 2018 Alumni Forum.

Connect with a mentor 

Andrew is also currently a Morehead-Cain Mentor. The Morehead-Cain Mentoring Program is designed to leverage the power of the Morehead-Cain network by cultivating connections between scholars and alumni, and providing structure and support to these relationships so they can develop based on shared values and interests. All rising juniors and seniors are eligible to participate.

How to listen

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed. 

Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Music credits 

The intro music is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. 

The music for the mid-episode break and ending is by Nicholas Byrne ’19. Listen to the full song, “Loosen Up” on Spotify or follow Nicholas @art.sandcrafts on Instagram. 

Alan Murray ’77 is CEO of Fortune Media. 

Prior to joining the media organization in 2015, Alan served as president of the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. For nearly two decades, he held a number of roles at The Wall Street Journal, including deputy managing editor, executive editor online, and the Washington bureau chief. Alan also served as the Washington bureau chief at CNBC and as a cohost of the nightly show Capital Report.

Alan will headline Morehead-Cain’s spring Virtual Alumni Speaker Series on Wednesday, January 27, at 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time). The alumnus will talk about restoring trust in America. 

View the full slate of virtual events this spring on the Morehead-Cain Network.

More about Alan

Following his graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Alan moved to Tennessee to edit the business and economics sections for the Chattanooga Times Free Press. (The alumnus was nominated for the Morehead-Cain Scholarship by the Chattanooga-based Baylor School.) 

In 1980, he began reporting for the Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C., and the Japan Economic Journal in Tokyo a year later, after earning a Luce Scholarship. 

Alan earned his undergraduate degree in English literature from Carolina and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics. In 2005, he completed the Stanford Executive Program (SEP) through the Stanford Graduate School of Business. 

Alan resides in Greenwich, Connecticut, with his wife, Lori. 

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed. 

Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

The music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. 

Sarah Mackenzie ’20 of Calgary, Alberta, has received the Rhodes Scholarship to pursue a fully funded postgraduate degree at the University of Oxford beginning this fall. The recent graduate is one of 11 Canadians selected to join the 2021 cohort, and she is the 51st Rhodes Scholar from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, according to the University’s announcement of the award on November 23.

Sarah is the 32nd Morehead-Cain to receive the scholarship and one of just two Carolina students to receive it this year. The second awardee, Peter Andringa, graduated in 2020 with degrees in journalism and computer science.

Established in 1902, the Rhodes is one of the oldest and most prestigious international scholarship programs. Scholars are selected based on academic excellence, character, leadership, and commitment to service.

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.

Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

The music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. 

Our first guest for this episode is Tom Thriveni ’10, a comedy writer on The Late Late Show with James Corden on CBS. As a Morehead-Cain Scholar, he interned with Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, an opportunity offered by Jon Benson ’06 (Jon produced field segments on the show at the time). 

Following his graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tom began pursuing a career in investment banking. As he shared in a Virtual SEVEN Speaker Series event this past spring, it took a traumatic brain surgery to help him realize that he wasn’t following his passion.

With support from Dave Bernath ’89, then the executive vice president of programming and multi-platform strategy for Comedy Central, Tom returned to late-night television in 2014. After two years as a researcher on CC’s The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, Tom moved to Los Angeles to be a writer’s assistant for James Corden. He rose to his current position in the fall of 2018.

Our second guest is Lauren Gornto ’21, a business administration and management major at Carolina with minors in philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE) and music. The scholar is the music director of Tar Heel Voices, the University’s oldest co-ed a cappella group, and the co-founder of “ACTing Up,” a summer theater camp for children. In summer 2021, Lauren plans to join Insight Sourcing Group in Atlanta as a summer analyst in the consulting practice. 

Lauren is Tom’s mentee through the Morehead-Cain Mentoring Program; this is the scholar’s and alumnus’s second year participating together. The program strives to leverage the power of the Morehead-Cain network by cultivating connections between scholars and alumni, providing structure and support to these relationships so that they can develop based on shared values and interests. Scholars enroll annually beginning in April and all rising juniors and seniors may participate. You can learn more about the Morehead-Cain Mentoring Program by contacting Emily Olson, our alumni engagement manager, at [email protected]. 

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.

Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

This episode closes out our fall season of the podcast. We’ve covered everything from politics and activism to tech startups, music, and meditation. Thank you for listening. You can let us know what you thought of the season or who you want to hear from in 2021 by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected]. Until next time, stay safe.

The music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. 

We’re sharing a brief roundup from the 2020 General Election on November 3. We had a number of Morehead-Cain Alumni running for office; here’s how their races turned out. 

• Ricky Hurtado ’11 was elected to North Carolina’s House of Representatives. The alumnus will represent District 63 in Raleigh. The Representative-elect will be the only Latino to serve in the current state legislature, according to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. Ricky is the co-executive director and co-founder of LatinxEd, an educational initiative that provides multi-year support to Latinx students and immigrant families seeking access to higher education in North Carolina. The alumnus is also an adjunct instructor in UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Education.
• Roy Cooper ’79 was reelected against his Republican challenger, Dan Forest, the state’s lieutenant governor.
• David Price ’61 was reelected to the U.S. House to represent North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District.
• Kristin Dutrow Baker ’85 of Concord secured her seat as a representative in North Carolina’s House of Representatives for District 82. This November’s election was the alumna’s first race for office.
• In other states, Jim Cooper ’75 was reelected to the U.S. House to represent Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District. The alumnus has served Davidson County since January 2003.
• In Kentucky, Doug Farnsley '73 was elected to the city council in Prospect.
• Tom Ciszek ’03 was one of 21 candidates for the Santa Monica City Council in California.
• Wayne Goodwin ’89 of Raleigh sought a third term for North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance (Wayne was defeated by incumbent Mike Causey).

That’s it for our Morehead-Cain election roundup. We’ll be back on Tuesday, November 10, for our last episode of the season featuring Tom Thriveni ’10, a staff writer for The Late Late Show on CBS, and Lauren Gornto ’21. 

Special thanks to Nicholas Byrne ’19 for contributing music for this episode. Listen to the full song, “Loosen Up” on Spotify. 

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.

Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Image: Representative-elect Ricky Hurtado ’11. Photo created and copyright owned by Andie Rea (permission to publish granted by photographer). 

For the second episode in our miniseries on mindfulness, wellness professional Jenny Cimaglia ’07 guides a five-minute breathing exercise. All you need is a quiet space. 

The previous episode is a 10-minute walking meditation guided by Jenny.

About Jenny 

Jenny Cimaglia ’07 is a yoga teacher and Reiki practitioner based in Westport, Connecticut. Following her graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the alumna worked in cultural heritage preservation at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, as a Fulbright Scholar and later in culture-tourism strategy in Hanoi, Vietnam, as a Luce Scholar. 

Her experiences in Vietnam introduced Jenny to Confucianism and Buddhism and informed her interest in exploring religious studies. She received a Master’s of Buddhist Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong in 2011 as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. 

Jenny returned to the United States in 2012 to work as a special events and development coordinator for the David Lynch Foundation in New York City. Through the foundation, she provided meditation classes to underserved populations, including veterans, victims of domestic violence, and elementary school students. 

Jenny began her training to become a yoga teacher in 2015 and studied massage therapy, health, and wellness through the Swedish Institute: A College of Health Sciences. The alumna’s dynamic teaching style brings together her academic expertise on Buddhism and her training in a collaborative theatre style called devised theatre, incorporating elements of nature into her classes. 

Jenny earned a degree in Classics and a minor in anthropology from UNC-Chapel Hill. 

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.

Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].