UNC Asheville Welcomes New Foundation Board Members With The Start Of The 2023 Fall Semester

July 26, 2022

The UNC Asheville Foundation Board welcomes six new members with the beginning of its new fiscal year, including TD Bank VP of Commercial Banking Patrick Blalock; Past Chair of the Bulldogs Athletic Association Darlene Davis; Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina Asheville Dr. Patrick Foo; Financial Consultant with Thrivent Michael Raymond ’14; Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina Asheville and Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics Dr. Becky Sanft; and Senior Attorney with The Van Winkle Law Firm Carter Webb.

Board members Maryann Jones, retired dean and president of Western State University College of Law and educational consultant for Charleston School of Law, and Holly Spencer Bunting ‘00, Mayer Brown LLP partner in Washington, DC and a member of Consumer Financial Services, will serve as the chair and vice-chair of the Foundation Board of Directors, respectively.

Since the foundation’s founding in 1965, the mission of the UNC Asheville Foundation has been to advocate for and oversee gifts to the University of North Carolina Asheville. To achieve this mission, the UNC Asheville Foundation Board comprises dedicated volunteers who provide advice and oversight to help set the strategic direction for the foundation.

 

UNC Asheville’s New Foundation Board Members for 2023-24 Academic Year:

Patrick Blalock 

Patrick Blalock is a VP of Commercial Banking at TD Bank. Patrick earned a Bachelors in Finance from the University of Georgia and is a graduate of the North Carolina School of Banking at UNC Chapel Hill. He is a member of the Board of Advisors for the NC Young Bankers.

 

Darlene Davis

Darlene Davis is the Immediate Past Chair of the Bulldogs Athletic Association (BAA) and a 225 donor to UNCA Athletics. She has served on the Mission Hospital Foundation Board and the board of Epilepsy Alliance North Carolina. She has also served as chair of the Woman of Achievement Award and a member of the Miss Hendersonville committee. She and her late husband created the JW & Darlene Davis Endowed Athletics Scholarship.

 

Patrick Foo, Ph.D. 

Dr. Patrick Foo is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina Asheville, and the Coordinator of the Neuroscience Minor. Dr. Foo received his Ph.D. in Complex Systems and Brain Sciences from Florida Atlantic University, holds a M.S. in Kinesiology from the University of Colorado, and a B.A. in Physical Education from UC Berkeley. Dr. Foo’s primary research interests include investigating the links between perception and action in humans, how people control and plan their movements, and the role that nonlinear dynamics plays in Neuroscience. Though best known for a 2005 Journal of Experimental Psychology article on Cognitive Maps in Virtual Reality, he is also actively involved in the applied research of preventing falls in seniors, investigating the merits of cognitive brain training programs like Lumosity, contemplative neuroscience, and neuroscience pedagogy. He has won the UNCA Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award (2017), Award for Teaching Excellence in the Social Sciences (2014), and the Distinguished Teaching Award for Untenured Faculty (2006).

 

Michael Raymond ’14

Michael is a Financial Consultant with Thrivent and is active with the NC Army National Guard. He was a non-traditional student at UNC Asheville and graduated in 2014 with a BA in Spanish and Philosophy. As a student, he was a Student Ambassador and a member of the Philosophy Society (Phi Sigma Tau). In October 2019, he was a speaker for the UNC Asheville Student Alumni Association’s series “Bonding with a Bulldog.” He has served on the board for Girls on the Run of WNC.

 

Becky Sanft, Ph.D.

Becky Sanft received her Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Arizona where she worked with Dr. Alain Goriely. During her appointment as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at Bryn Mawr College, she developed courses in mathematical modeling in the Department of Mathematics and worked with biology faculty to incorporate more quantitative training throughout the biology curriculum. Following this position, she was an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at St. Olaf College where she led a team of faculty to develop a concentration in Mathematical Biology. Currently she is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina Asheville and Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Her research interests fuse mathematics, biology, statistics, and computational science. She is passionate in guiding students both in the classroom and through research experiences to unify concepts that bridge various fields and to see interdisciplinarity as an important lens for understanding and addressing questions in our world.

 

Carter Webb, J.D.

Carter B. Webb is a Senior Attorney with The Van Winkle Law Firm. His practice includes helping individuals with their estate planning and estate administration needs. He is a North Carolina Bar Certified Mediator in Superior Court and with the Clerk of Court. He is a member of the North Carolina Bar and the South Carolina Bar. Carter is a 1993 graduate of Presbyterian College. He graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2009 and then accepted a job with the University of South Carolina School of Medicine as the Assistant Director of Legal Affairs and the Privacy Officer. He worked there until he joined Strauss Attorneys, PLLC in 2011. Carter joined The Van Winkle Law Firm in September of 2022. He currently serves on the board of the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, on various committees and councils with the North Carolina Bar Association, and has served on the City of Asheville Civil Service Board since 2018. He is the Immediate Past President of the Buncombe County Bar, has volunteered with Pisgah Legal, the South Buncombe Youth Basketball Association, and is a member of the Rotary Club of Asheville.

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