As Jewish studies celebrates 10 years, it can celebrate its accomplishments: A new major, more faculty and private support.

Seniors Will Leimenstoll and Henry Laurence Ross have won Luce Scholarships for study in Asia. The program funds a year of living and learning in Asia for recent college graduates.

Daniel Gitterman, associate professor of public policy, was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, one of the state’s highest honors.

Many kinds of staph infections are now resistant to all but one antibiotic. Chemist Matt Redinbo’s team has identified a mechanism by which such killer infections spread, and they have suggested ways to stop them before it’s too late.

After spending much of their adult lives in Chapel Hill, Holden and Patti Thorp are heading to St. Louis this summer. Effective July 1, Chancellor Thorp will be provost of Washington University there, where he also will hold an endowed professorship with appointments in chemistry and medicine.

Public Policy Professor Maryann Feldman has been honored with a global entrepreneurship research award for her work on “the geography of innovation” — where industries cluster and why.

About 1,400 middle school students will be able to explore the universe with high-tech robotic telescopes in Chile and Chapel Hill through UNC’s global Skynet system.

A new wave generator in the Chapman Hall wave tank will allow a multidisciplinary team of researchers to conduct experiments that test theories on such phenomena as rogue waves, tsunamis and internal waves that affect the ecological health of estuaries.

Rachel Burton didn’t just land a great job, she invented one. After earning her women’s studies degree at Carolina, she blazed a circuitous career path to become a nationally recognized, pioneering leader in the alternative fuel industry.

It’s almost graduation time again, and we are excited for all of our seniors. I’d like to tell you the story of two Rachels, who are shining examples of the value of a Carolina liberal arts education.