Aycock Family Medicine

Building Notes

1985-1990 (Source: UNC Building Notes 1988)

In the late 1970's planning funds were made available to begin design of a facility to house the Department of Family Medicine in the School of Medicine. The 1985 session of the general assembly made an additional $100,000 available for planning work in the project. Construction began in 1988 and the building was completed in 1990. On September 13, 1990, the building was formally dedicated The William B. Aycock Family Medicine Building (later changed to Center) honoring the former Chancellor, Law School Dean, Professor and student. (FPO) The speaker for the occasion was UNC President Emeritus William C. Friday, and his remarks are as follows: "The University in Chapel Hill has a deep and rich tradition of serving the people in all ways appropriate to a great public university. There is no finer expression of that relationship than the involvement of the School of Medicine and the other schools in Health Sciences, the hospital and the important and directly related technologies and special competency programs of the University. This morning this great facility and the critically important program housed within it are dedicated to this historic purpose and take their rightful place in that noble tradition. "Universities become great because of an assemblage of distinguished colleagues at work with its several constituencies to achieve a common and purposeful mission. There is no finer example than this department of Family Medicine and the academy we here celebrate. Universities also rise in distinction because of real leaders who, in critical times, manifest honor, integrity, tenacity and the quality of humility that radiates the quiet self-confidence and intellectual courage essential to effective leadership. "The teaching of medicine and the conducting of critically important medical research depend uniquely upon an essential atmosphere: freedom--academic freedom to pursue science, uninhibited and unshackled by mandate of any kind. Who was the eloquent spokesman when that freedom in this University was legislatively challenged--William Aycock. "The quality of teaching--first-rate teaching--is absolutely essential to the successful study of medicine. Who so believed in the essentialness of good teaching throughout the University that five times the law students chose him as their finest--William Aycock. And this judgement was confirmed by similar student recognition at the University of Texas and the University of Virginia and by his colleagues in the faculty upon his election as Kenan Professor in 1966. "The practice of family medicine brings about the closest doctor/patient relationship. No other professional group enjoys greater public faith and confidence; no other profession carries a deeper sense of public service and personal availability whatever the circumstance--whoever the patient. "Here again, the man and this facility and its programs are well met because William Aycock, whether serving disadvantaged youth or standing resolutely for the rights and status of women, or journeying halfway around the world to help mediate between warring nations in Asia, or trudging through five miles of foot-deep snow to meet his law class on time--William Aycock always was and remains the servant of the people: reliable, respected, consistent, trustworthy. "I must add this personal comment which I trust you will grant me because I speak of a friendship made deep and rich over 50 years of association. The Aycocks and the Fridays came to Chapel Hill in the mid forties at the close of World War II, and neither expected to spend a lifetime having the professional and personal privilege we have enjoyed of living and working in Chapel Hill . We came to study law. Bill was the leader of our study group. When he stated the law--that's the way it was--for he got up earlier, studied longer and worked harder than the rest of us. He loved the law and he loved the University. No one enjoys being a professor of law more than he. "His contagious devotion and his uncompromising standard of excellence have made his career such a splendid one. And herein lies the remarkable value of his life. He inspires you to do your best. He asks no more of you than he would do himself. He is at all times a gentleman and to this hour I have yet to hear him utter one unkind word of another or take advantage of another. No shred of arrogance, ego or vainness marks him because he deeply believes that to do justly and to be merciful require a humble spirit and a sense of the worth of each individual. "Like each of you, we watched our children grow and the years move by. Our common joy was the achieved excellence of this faculty, the reaffirmed responsible freedom of this place and the enormous and truly significant public service so much the province of Chapel Hill . This great new building itself, such a tribute to Family Medicine and to each member of the academy, renews that sense of joy and personal delight. And year by year came a new class, a new generation and a new hope, the reassurance for the future of our state and nation--all the renewing inspiration to this noble son of Chapel Hill . "Bill, for all here and for the people of North Carolina , it is with grateful hearts and a profound sense of gratitude this morning that we say 'thank you.'" (CAR) The building contains offices for Family Medicine chairman and other faculty and staff; audiovisual, radio, TV rooms; examination and treatment rooms, and other ancillary clinic facilities; service laboratory; conference rooms; and mailroom. Source of Funds and Cost: Original Budget $7,578,270; State Appropriation; Final Cost: Not yet known (12/93) Gross Area: 58,222 square feet Architect: Peterson Associates Engineers: Mechanical: Mechanical Engineers, Inc.; Electrical: K.M. Armstrong Associates; Structural: Hudson Associates, P.A. Contractors: General: L.P. Cox Company; Mechanical: Colonial Mechanical Corporation; Plumbing: Colonial Mechanical Corporation; Electrical: Dorey Electrical Company