We will name our Tar Heel of the Year on the front page of Sunday's paper. The profile was written by education reporter Jane Stancill,  who has worked at The News & Observer since 1988. She has reported and written almost every kind of story that appears in a newspaper, from police news to developments from the UNC Board of Governors. But this is her first Tar Heel of the Year profile.

It’s a good assignment, Stancill said. “Anyone chosen (as Tar Heel of the Year) is an overachiever, someone doing something remarkable,” she said. “You have to figure out what drives that individual, what makes that person want to have a strong impact.”
The N&O has selected a Tar Heel of the Week since 1950 and a Tar Heel of the Year since 1997. One year we named two people (Ann and Jim Goodnight), so we've named 15, including banker Hugh McColl (our first Tar Heel of the Year); historian John Hope Franklin; and scientist Joe DeSimone.

I hope you will look for Stancill's fine profile about one of our state's most accomplished leaders.

--John Drescher

UNC chemist Joe ... more

Fresh off receiving his doctorate, chemist Joe DeSimone had plenty of offers to ply his trade in private industry. But he wanted to get into academia. But there was little interest, particularly since DeSimone hadn't done any postdoctoral research, a customary piece of the resume for young professors in the sciences.

At UNC Chapel Hill, chemist Ed Samulski saw something in DeSimone. But it took some doing. Samulski had to convince others on the chemistry faculty that DeSimone was worth the risk.

Phew.

That was back in 1990. DeSimone was hired in Chapel Hill and hasn't looked back. Now a lauded researcher and entrepreneur, DeSimone, now just 44, has established himself as a leader in his field and raised the profile of UNC-CH's already well-respected chemistry department.

And this past weekend, DeSimone became the News & Observer's Tar Heel of the Year.

Have a read.