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Lorna M. Ricotta assumed the duties of director of the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations on November 1.

Since 2002, Ricotta served as director of Office of Alumni Relations, also in the Office for Advancement. She will continue in a dual role until a new alumni director is hired.

In her new position, Ricotta will be responsible for conducting needs assessments with faculty and administration and seeking funding from public and private sources. She reports to Sandra K. Waterkotte, vice chancellor for Advancement.

“Corporate and foundation relations fundraising will give Lorna the opportunity to use her skills to match external funding with campus initiatives,” Waterkotte said. “She will be drawing on the insight she gained as alumni director to help tell our story, and that knowledge will help leverage gifts from the private grant-making community.”

A 2001 graduate, Ricotta said she is looking forward to transitioning from “friend raising” to “fund raising.”

“As alumni director, I worked to keep individuals connected to the University, and in my new role, I will share our story with foundations and corporations to make new connections for the University,” she said.

During Ricotta’s tenure, the Office of Alumni Relations more than doubled pledges and gifts during its annual fund drive. She expanded the alumni travel program and established a program to honor alumni legacies. Ricotta also sustained an alumni credit card program with MBNA Corp. and included parents of students in the program.

“I thoroughly enjoyed forging relationships with alumni and students,” she said.

A music major, Ricotta is currently completing graduate studies on a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree at Fayetteville State University.

She was recently accepted into the Leadership North Carolina program, which seeks to engage informed and committed leaders by advancing their leadership qualities and broadening their understanding of and involvement in issues and opportunities facing the state.

This fall, Ricotta served as campaign chair for the University’s most successful State Employees Combined Campaign this fall. She also served as UNCP spokesperson in two promotional films, one for the University and one for the Lumberton Area Chamber of Commerce.

Concentrating on vocal performance as an undergraduate at the University, Ricotta was the second student to win the title of Miss North Carolina in 2000. Before returning to her alma mater, she performed professionally for the American-Hawaii and Commodore cruise lines.

For more information about alumni or corporate and foundation programs, please contact the Office for Advancement at 910.521.6252 or email lorna.ricotta@uncp.edu.

UNCP artists open Le Petit Gallery in Red Springs

Red Springs, fine dining and great art all have one thing in common – Le Petit Café.

Offering extraordinary dining since it opened in April 2004, Le Petit Café opened Le Petit Gallery on November 23 with a champagne reception. The restaurant and gallery are located at 104 South Main Street, Red Springs.

Featured artists through January 4 are John and Margie Labadie (Art). They live in Red Springs.

The show is entitled “Texas Hot Shots: Desert Beauty” and is comprised of photography from Amistad National Recreation Area in Texas.

The idea - as most great ideas are - was hatched over good food, Margie Labadie said.

“Le Petit has wonderful food and is a great idea, and we want to do what we can to help them succeed,” Labadie said. “So, John and I volunteered to act as art consultants for Le Petit Gallery.”

The Café benefits from the Gallery by improving the view for its diners, and local artists benefit by showing and selling their work without a commission.

“We are very excited about this opportunity, and we will begin the artist selection process immediately,” Labadie said. “We hope people will enjoy the first exhibition. It’s a pretty remarkable photographic essay of the desert.”

The Labadies spent three weeks in Amistad in 2002 as part of the National Park Service’s artist in residency program. The park is part of the Chihuahuan Desert on the Mexican border.

What began as a photographic shoot in the desert turned spectacular when it rained and rained and rained. The result is some spectacular photography.

“It rained the whole time, and things bloomed and just kept blooming,” Margie Labadie said. “It had not rained in the park in five years, and critters that had not been seen in 15 years showed up.”

Le Petit Café presents some challenges for artists.

“It’s a small space, so we will encourage small works,” Labadie said. “We will have ‘petit’ shows with an intimate feel.”

Le Petit Café and Gallery are a unique business arrangement, but the Café is an interesting business story by itself.

Le Petit is a project of Robeson Enterprise Community Development Corp. In addition to the restaurant, two chefs (both trained at the Culinary Institute of America) prepare food for banquet facilities, catering and cooking demonstrations.

A culinary arts and technology training facility will open in January, said Executive Director Cynthia Johnson.

“This is our response to a decline in the county’s economy,” Johnson said. “The growth in the county has been in the food service industry, and the idea is to provide culinary training to encourage better paying jobs and entrepreneurship in the culinary industry.”

Le Petit Café’s cooking that features homemade soups and made-from-scratch desserts including truffles, mousse and crème brulee, has already impressed dining audiences.

Fayetteville Observer reporter Lisa Snedeker, writing in the newspaper’s Weekender section sets the table: “The atmosphere inside is warm, with earth-toned walls, floor and Corian bar and table tops paired with dark wooden church pews. But the main reason to visit the café is the food which is worth the drive.”

Snedeker described the Café’s fare as affordable, creative and delicious. With the Labadies on board the scenery in the restaurant just got better.

Le Petit Café serves lunch and dinner from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and closes at 5 p.m. on Tuesdays.

Works by Tarleton Blackwell in four shows

Artist and art faculty member Tarleton Blackwell participated in four shows in November.

Blackwell’s work was included in the exhibition, “A History of Color” at the Greenville (S.C.) County Museum of Art.

The exhibition, which opened November 16 and runs through October 2, 2005, displays diverse and challenging works on African American themes from the 19th century to the present. Drawn from the museum’s permanent collection, “A History of Color,” the show will give birth to a series of related exhibitions in 2005.

Blackwell, a South Carolina painter, is the Martha Beach Endowed Chair in Painting distinguished professor.

His work is also in the exhibition entitled, “A Century of African American Art: The Paul R. Jones Collection,” at the Mechanical Hall and Old College Galleries on the campus of the University of Delaware. It opened November 12.

He is also participating in the touring exhibition, “South Carolina Birds: A Fine Arts Exhibition,” at the Franklin G. Burroughs – Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The first stop was the Sumter Gallery of Art in Sumter, S.C.

Blackwell’s work was also on display in the Columbia (S.C.) Museum of Art as part of the exhibition, “Celebrating 80 years of Quality Art Education.” The show was sponsored by the South Carolina Arts Education Association, the S.C. Department of Education and the museum.

The show will travel to the Arthur Rose Museum at Claflin University, Orangeburg, S.C., March 3 through April 10, 2005.

The exhibition was developed around eight decades of art education, each represented by two artists. Blackwell’s work represented “Higher Education 2000.”

June Power attends library conference

June L. Power (Library) recently attended the North Carolina Library Association Conference in Charlotte, N.C., Nov. 9-12.

At the conference, Power produced a video, “Our Centennial Moment,” to commemorate the100th NCLA conference.

“I began filming the video on a Wednesday and had it edited for Friday when it was shown in the conference’s last general session,” Power said. “The video was a wondrous success, and will be housed in the North Carolina State Archives and included in a time capsule to be opened at the150th conference.

Robison exhibits at three galleries

Ceramics Professor Stephen Robison (Art) showed his work in three recent exhibits: the Stretch Gallery and Studios in Pineville, N.C., at the Art Space in Raleigh, N.C., on December 3 and at the Intimate Object exhibition in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Gail Morfesis performs at Fayetteville’s Fourth Friday

Gail Morfesis, (Music) performed for the Charles Dicken’s Fourth Friday at the Fayetteville Arts Council Building, Fayetteville, N.C., on Nov. 26. It was a holiday celebration with carriage rides, Dicken's characters, crafts and the lighting of downtown Fayetteville.

Janette Hopper’s work in Durham synagogue

Janette Hopper (Art) will have an exhibit in January of her German Jewish cemetery drawings at the gallery of the Judea Reformed Congregation in Durham, N.C.

The new synagogue and complex was completed in 2003. The facility is near the Lerner Community Day School. The complex includes a gallery and permanent collection, where juried exhibits and special exhibits are shown.

There is also a gathering hall that looks like a theater that seats 800 people.

The opening is January 22, and Hopper will give a talk about her works.

Birthdays, December 1-31

Charles Beem
Kenneth Brandt
Elaine Brewington
Ginger Brooks
Tony Chavis
Diane Collins
Sylvia Edwards
Jeff Frederick
Natalya Freeman
Jeffery Geller
Sue Godwin
George Gressman III
Deborah Hanmer
Robert A. Hunt
Heather Kennedy
Rebecca Kenney
Robert Kreger
Diane Locklear
Elaine Locklear
Gary Locklear
Lanette Locklear
Gordon Lowery
Vance McLaughlin
Martin Montoya
Margaret Opitz
Margie Oxendine
Dennis Sanderson
Lawrence Schultz
Janet Taylor
Shannon Tew
David Thaggard
Jennifer Watson
Susan Whitt
Laszlo Zsilinszky

Dec. 15-31

Freddie Bell
Ricardo Bell
Betty Brown
Takisha Bullard
Lori Bumgarner
Richard Burnette
Tiffany Capps
Teresa Carter
Sylvia Chavis
Alexander Chen
Sallyann Clark
Tracy Dial
Martin Farley
Janet Fortune
Marsha Frink
Christopher Gardner
Sun Gaston
Kevin Goins
Annette Gwalthney-Jones
Douglas Hammonds
Carol D. Hunt
Constance Jacobs
Roger Killian
James Lewis
Jerry Locklear
Betty Lockley
Patrick Marks
Merrill Miller
Mario Paparozzi
Sheila Prevatte
Cynthia Revels
Webster Smith
Travis Stockley
Edward Strickland III
Patricia Valenti
Maureen Windmeyer

New Hires

Delois Williams - Library Assistant, Library
Jenny Hadden - Instructor/Coordinator, TRIO

NEW LONG TERM CARE PROVIDER

Effective January 1, 2005, Prudential Financial will replace MedAmerica as the new carrier of this coverage. If an eligible employee enrolls by December 31, 2004, he/she is guaranteed acceptance into this plan.

Please refer to the Prudential Web site for more information about the plan at www.prudential.com/gltc (group name: stateplan, password: stateplanltc), or send e-mail to LTC4me@prudential.com, or call the Prudential Long Term Care Customer Service Center at 1-800-284-9648 between 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Prudential’s representative will be in the HR training room, Monday, December 6. Presentations are scheduled at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to discuss the new Long Term Care Plan and open enrollment.

Please e-mail donna.strickland@uncp.edu if you are interested in attending one of these meetings.

It is possible to enroll in the plan via the Web site. However, because of the complexity of the plan benefits, employees are advised to call or e-mail Prudential with questions. You can request a packet of information either via the Web site or by calling the toll-free number above.

MedAmerica Long Term Care’s contract expires December 31, 2004. The contract between the State Health Plan and MedAmerica Insurance Company expires December 31, 2004. As a result of this change, coverage for current MedAmerica enrollees under this group long term care insurance certificate will end December 31, 2004. Coverage will be replaced by an individual policy, customized for each enrollee’s current benefit under the MedAmerica group product.

Under the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) guidelines, current MedAmerica program enrollees are entitled to convert their group plan to a new individual policy as a direct payment subscriber. Current MedAmerica certificate holders will be able to take advantage of this individual plan at their initial issue age, that is, the age at which they first purchased their group plan. MedAmerica will provide all current enrollees with information about their individual policy.

If you have questions regarding this conversion from group to individual plans, you can call MedAmerica at 1-800-943-1549.

Deaths

Memorial service remembers late student

Students, faculty and staff remembered Brandon Penney in a November 24 memorial service. A student, Penney was the cousin of Susan West (Office of the Chancellor) and a relative of Beth Carmical (International Programs) and Amanda West Calvin (English).

A native of Lumberton, Penney died early Sunday morning, November 14. He would have graduated from the University on December 11, 2004. Family members said he was considering continuing his education in business after graduation.

Penney was remembered by friends, faculty and family as an avid outdoorsman with an infectious smile.

West recalled a dedicated, committed and responsible young man.

“We grew up together, and I got to spend a lot of time with Brandon,” West said. “Brandon knew as a small child that he could accomplish a lot with a smile.”

Penney had overcome considerable adversity as a college student.

“He lost his father and sister in one semester,” West said. “I could not understand how someone so young could be so strong.”

Cammie Hunt (Business), who had Penney in a class this semester, also spoke at the service, which was in the Thomas Assembly Room in Old Main. She remembered him as a reliable and upbeat student.

“Brandon was very dependable. If he had to miss a class he always called,” Hunt said. “If he was working with other students in a group, and he said he was going to do something, you could depend on Brandon.”

“Brandon was best known for his smile,” she said. “He made a difference in a lot of people’s lives.”

Several close friends and hunting buddies remembered Penney at the service, including Alex Prevatte. Prevatte said he learned a lot from a friend who made him laugh.

“When I think about Brandon, I will always remember the things he did to make me laugh,” Prevatte said. “If I learned anything from Brandon, it was to never let the sun go down on your anger.”

“He had a lot of things happen in his life, but he would want us to be happy,” he said.

Jonathan Lovette, another friend, said Penney had a great family.

“He always had a smile on his face, and he had a loving family and a lot of friends who looked after him,” Lovette said. “But if you ever needed him, he was there for you.”