Catalyze

Latest Episodes:

David Price ’61 retires from Congress after more than three decades of service to North Carolina’s fourth district Jan 24, 2023

Show notes

Former congressman David Price ’61 joined Catalyze with scholar co-hosts Benny Klein ’24 and Elias Guedira ’26 in December 2022 during the politician’s final month in office. Price, who retired this January, represented North Carolina’s fourth district, including Orange County, Chapel Hill.
The alumnus visited the Foundation to share about his lifetime career of public service and his over three decades serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. Price also spoke about his involvement as a scholar in the civil rights movement at UNC–Chapel Hill, some of his proudest political accomplishments, and his post-retirement plans.
Price released the fourth edition of his book, The Congressional Experience, in 2020. He revised the book to cover the Obama and Trump administrations.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree at Carolina, he pursued graduate studies at Yale University to earn a theology degree (1964) and a PhD in political science (1969). Price is a professor of political science at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy.

Music credits

The intro music is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul.

How to listen

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.

Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at communications@moreheadcain.org.

SEVEN Talk, by Debbie Weston Harden ’79: “Can I Do It All?” Jan 07, 2023

Show notes

Today’s episode is a recording of a SEVEN Talk from the 2022 Alumni Forum. This talk, given by Debbie Weston Harden ’79, is entitled, “Can I Do It All?”
You can watch all of the SEVEN Talks on our YouTube channel.
Debbie is a partner at Womble Bond Dickinson. The alumna was a member of the first class of women scholars.
More about Debbie
Debbie Weston Harden ’79 is a member of the first class of female scholars, who were dubbed the “Dirty Dozen.” As a scholar, she was one of the first to participate in five summer programs, which led her to a career in law.
As a partner based in the Charlotte office of Womble Bond Dickinson, Debbie has practiced law for more than three decades, focusing on complex commercial litigation and counseling of boards of directors and other fiduciaries. She is a Chambers USA–ranked commercial litigator who has also been selected for inclusion by Woodward-White Inc. in five industry/practice areas in The Best Lawyers in America recognitions.
Debbie and her husband, Mark (UNC Class of ’77; MBA ’81), have three children, all of whom have completed their graduate education and begun their “adult” lives. While their children were younger, both Mark and Debbie’s community service focused on the family’s interests and activities. Debbie served on the Uptown YMCA’s Board of Directors, as a former chair, and later served on the Board of the Children’s Theater of Charlotte/ImaginOn and the Greater Charlotte Cultural Trust.
Most recently, as an empty nester, Debbie has pursued her passion for quality and affordable family housing, serving six years on the Board of Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte Region. During her spare time, Debbie enjoys reading, travelling with her family, spending time in the North Carolina mountains, and playing golf with Mark.

How to listen

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.

The Catalyze podcast: State of Morehead-Cain, with Foundation President Chris Bradford and scholar host Elias Guedira ’26 Jan 03, 2023

Show notes

Morehead-Cain president, Chris Bradford, joined Catalyze with scholar host, Elias Guedira ’26, to share about the state of the Program after his first year and a half in the role. The president talks about the progress the Morehead-Cain community made in 2022 and what opportunities he sees for the Program in 2023 and beyond.
You can learn more about the Program by viewing the online 2021–2022 Year in Review.
Chris joined the Morehead-Cain Foundation in the summer of 2021 after 17 years with African Leadership Academy (ALA), an educational institution based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Music credits

The intro music is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul.

How to listen

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.

The Travel Episode: Stories from the Morehead-Cain International Gap Year, with Aayas Joshi ’26, Olu Kopano ’26, and scholar host Elias Guedira ’26 Dec 13, 2022

Show notes

A night under the stars in the Himalayas. A lion hunt from a safari van in Africa. A dune climb in Morocco. Aayas Joshi ’26 (the first Morehead-Cain Scholar from Nepal), Olu Kopano ’26, and scholar host Elias Guedira ’26 share about their global experiences on the Morehead-Cain International Gap Year.
At the end of the episode, we also hear from current gap year scholars Abbey Beebe ’27 about swimming in bioluminescent waters in the Caribbean Sea and Chandler Beals ’27 from an airport in Las Vegas between trips.
Morehead-Cain recipients are invited to consider taking a funded gap year between graduating high school and coming to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Listen to the first gap year episode from last year: Gap year dispatch with Emile Charles ’24 (and ft. Taylor Shinal ’25, Mark Finamore ’25, Asher Wexler ’25, and Noah Gottlieb ’25). Emile interned at a children’s hospital in Cape Town, South Africa; visited his father’s Caribbean home in St. George’s, Grenada; worked on a global public health collaboration between the Carolina and the Malawi Ministry of Health; and organized Black Lives Matter protests in Chapel Hill.

The Travel Episode TRAILER: Elias Guedira ’26 describes climbing Erg Chebbi in Morocco Dec 12, 2022

Show notes

To hear more from Elias about the Morehead-Cain International Gap Year, catch his Catalyze podcast to be released on Tuesday, November 13, 2022, on all podcast apps.

A night under the stars in the Himalayas. A lion hunt from a safari van in Africa. A sand dune climb in Morocco. Aayas Joshi ’26, Olu Kopano ’26, and scholar host Elias Guedira ’26 will share about their global experiences on the Morehead-Cain International Gap Year. At the end of the episode, we’ll also hear from current gap year scholars Abbey Beebe ’27 about swimming in bioluminescent waters in the Caribbean Sea and Chandler Beals ’27 from an airport in Las Vegas between trips. Morehead-Cain recipients are invited to consider taking a funding gap year between graduating high school and coming to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

How to listen

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.

The Travel Episode TRAILER: Aayas Joshi ’26 describes a night under the stars from the base of Mount Everest Dec 12, 2022

Show notes

To hear more from Aayas about the Morehead-Cain International Gap Year, catch his Catalyze podcast to be released on Tuesday, November 13, 2022, on all podcast apps.

Morehead-Cain recipients are invited to consider taking a funding gap year between graduating high school and coming to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

How to listen

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.

The Travel Episode TRAILER: Olu Kopano ’26 describes a lion hunt during an African safari Dec 12, 2022

Show notes

To hear more from Olu about the Morehead-Cain International Gap Year, catch his Catalyze podcast to be released on Tuesday, November 13, 2022, on all podcast apps.

Morehead-Cain recipients are invited to consider taking a funding gap year between graduating high school and coming to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

(Episode art contributed by Taylor Shinal ’25)

How to listen

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.

SEVEN Talk, by Harvey Kennedy ’74: “Carolina Memories and Inspiration” Dec 07, 2022

Show notes

Today’s episode is a recording of a SEVEN Talk from the 2022 Alumni Forum. This talk, given by Harvey Kennedy ’74, is entitled, “Carolina Memories and Inspiration.”
Harvey is a partner at Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy & Kennedy LLP. The alumnus was the second Black Morehead-Cain Scholar.
You can watch all of the SEVEN Talks on our YouTube channel.
More about Harvey
Harvey Kennedy ’74 has spent the last 45 years practicing law in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in the law firm of Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy & Kennedy, LLP. He represents individuals against major corporations and the government in employment, medical malpractice, and wrongful death cases. Harvey is listed in Best Lawyers in America, and was selected as one of the top twenty employment lawyers in North Carolina by North Carolina Lawyers Weekly in 2021.
Harvey has served on the board of directors of the National Urban League, the Winston-Salem Symphony, the Children’s Center of Winston-Salem, and the National Black Theatre Festival. He received his JD from Harvard Law School in 1977 and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with highest honors in history in 1974.

While at Carolina, Harvey was a member of the UNC Varsity Debate Team, served in the student legislature, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Harvey is married to Pat Kennedy.

How to listen

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.

How a ‘national genome’ can reinforce social inequality, with Emily Vasquez ’06, ethnographer of science, medicine, and public health Nov 15, 2022

Show notes

Emily Vasquez ’06 joined Catalyze on the Saturday afternoon of the 2022 Morehead-Cain Alumni Forum in Chapel Hill this past October. Earlier that morning, she delivered a SEVEN Talk entitled, “The Social Life,” to over 500 Forum attendees.
During this episode, recorded on campus in the Pit, Emily shares with scholar host Elias Guedira ’25 about her ethnography research in Mexico and its parallels to the U.S. healthcare system. Her work investigates how the development of a national human genome has exacerbated social inequalities.
Emily is a Bridge to the Faculty Postdoctoral Fellow in the department of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she teaches courses on the sociology of health and medicine and on race and ethnicity in scientific and medical practice. Her research examines how social inequalities are entangled with and reinforced through the production of medical knowledge and technologies. Emily’s work has been published in the journals Engaging Science, Technology, and Society; American Anthropologist; Perspectives on Science; and Medicine, Anthropology, Theory, among others.
Watch Emily’s SEVEN Talk from the 2022 Alumni Forum.

Music credits

The intro music is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. The ending song is “We Bubbles,” by Freedom Trail Studio (YouTube Audio Library).

How to listen

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.

What public universities can do to improve accessibility on their campuses, with UNC Campus Y co-president Laura Saavedra Forero ’25 and activist Eleanor Bolton ’25 Oct 18, 2022

Show notes

Laura Saavedra Forero ’25 and Eleanor Bolton ’25 joined Catalyze with scholar co-host Elias Guedira ’26 from the Scholar Media Team to talk about their call to activism for disability rights on the campus of UNC–Chapel Hill. The two also share about how Morehead-Cain Alumni can support disabled college students at Carolina through their advocacy, expertise, and other resources.
Laura and Megan Murphy (UNC–Chapel Hill ’23) were elected co-presidents of the UNC Campus Y for the 2022–2023 academic year this past spring. Eleanor serves as the co-chair of the Disabilities Advocacy Committee for the social justice hub.

Music credits

The intro music is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. The ending song is by Nicholas Byrne ’19. Follow Nicholas @art.sandcrafts on Instagram.

How to listen

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.