Faculty couple Bill Ferris and Marcie Cohen Ferris are retiring, but their collective contributions to Southern studies and support for the university they love is far from over.

A four-year, $1.5 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will significantly advance Carolina’s efforts in humanities education, research and teaching at UNC-Chapel Hill.

“The South in Color” completes an informal trilogy that Bill Ferris began with “Give My Poor Heart Ease” and “The Storied South.” The earlier works featured his black-and-white photographs of Southern musicians and writers; this is his first book of color photographs.

Our region produces and consumes the most pimento cheese in the world. But the spread isn’t Southern by birth — it is likely a product of Spain, where the red pimiento pepper has its roots.

Visitors to the new Earl Scruggs Center, nestled in the renovated 1907 courthouse in uptown Shelby, N.C., can immerse themselves in the life of the late banjo player and bluegrass pioneer who grew up in the nearby Flint Hill community.

The tree-shaded, white-frame house at 410 E. Franklin Street has an ample front porch, rocking chairs and a storied history. It’s a perfect setting for UNC’s Center for the Study of the American South, which this year celebrates 20 years of exploring the region’s complex history and culture.

Historian Malinda Maynor Lowery was named the new director of the Southern Oral History Program in July 2013.

Southern Cultures journal covers it all, from tobacco queens to blues music.

Graduate student Elijah Gaddis explored the history of Caledonia Prison Farm in Halifax County, N.C.