Catalyze – Details, episodes & analysis

Dr. John Rose joined the Morehead-Cain community this fall as faculty director for Dialogue and Discourse. The initiative is designed to enhance scholars’ ability to listen, discuss, and engage in contemporary issues.

Rose speaks with Catalyze co-host Stella Smolowitz ’26 about his approach to facilitating “charity-centric” dialogue with college students, the connection for him between theology and civic leadership, and advice for navigating political conversations ahead of the November election. 

Rose came to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from Duke University, where he was the associate director of the Civil Discourse Project and an instructor in the Kenan Institute for Ethics. At Duke, he also taught courses in happiness and human flourishing, Christian ethics, conservatism, and political polarization. His research focuses on virtue ethics and Christian theology. 

In addition to his work with Morehead-Cain, Rose will serve as professor of the practice at the School of Civic Life and Leadership at Carolina.

Music credits

The episode’s intro song is by scholar 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. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on social media @moreheadcain or you can email us at communications@moreheadcain.org. 
 

Sachi Akmal ’28 visited campus during a break in her International Gap Year to speak with Catalyze host Allyson Horst ’27. 

So far, Sachi has traveled to ten countries over the span of nine months. From climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with fellow incoming scholars to exploring Italian monasteries, Sachi shares some of the highlights from her time abroad. She also touches on some of the more challenging aspects of a gap year, such as coping with loneliness and navigating unfamiliar environments. 

Sachi will join the scholar community at UNC–Chapel Hill this fall as a public policy major.

If you enjoyed this conversation, you can check out our previous gap year episodes, which include studying climate change in the Himalayas and interning at a children’s hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.

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.

Music credits

The episode’s intro song is by scholar 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 social media @moreheadcain or you can email us at communications@moreheadcain.org.

Navigating leadership transitions. Tackling education inequities. Finding inspiration within cancel culture.

Five Morehead-Cain alumnae share with Benny Klein ’24 about their entrepreneurship journeys from the worlds of consulting, tech, nonprofits, and government. 

The group shares their role models, most impactful Morehead-Cain summers from college, and what’s keeping them motivated at the moment. 

Today’s guests: 

• Jane Sommers-Kelly ’85, founder of JSK Leadership (Chapel Hill, North Carolina)
• Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld ’87, co-founder and strategic advisor for MiracleFeet (Chapel Hill)
• Caroline Lowery ’16, product and customer insights manager at Amazon (Seattle, Washington)
• Cecilia Polanco ’16, director of community growth and outreach for Pupusas for Education and CEO of So Good Pupusas (Durham, North Carolina)
• Pavani Peri ’20, co-founder and COO of Acta Solutions (Chapel Hill)

The group spoke with scholars at the Morehead-Cain Foundation on September 30, 2023. 

The episode’s intro song is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. 

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.

You're about to hear from author and playwright Jim Reston, who graduated in the Morehead-Cain Class of 1963. Jim is from Washington, D.C. and has been not only an eyewitness to major historical events of the last few decades, but actually participated in them: from the Civil Rights movement, to the Vietnam War, to the Watergate scandal, and more.

Jim's father was James Reston Sr, a prominent New York Times journalist and editor—but Jim managed to blaze his own trail in the writing world. Jim has published eighteen books, three plays, and numerous articles in national magazines. His various works have been translated into many different languages, optioned by Hollywood, and included on international best-seller lists.

From 1976 to 1977, Jim advised David Frost for the famous Frost/Nixon Interviews, which 57 million people watched from around the world. His narrative of that experience, published in 2007, was the main inspiration for the hit London play, "Frost/Nixon." In the Hollywood adaptation of the play, which was nominated for five Academy Awards, Jim's character is played by the actor Sam Rockwell.

Jim has been a fellow at the American Academy in Rome, a fellow at the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, and a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.

Our final episode of our second season features someone who knows a great deal about living a life of service. We talk with the CEO of Habitat for Humanity International: Jonathan Reckford, Morehead-Cain Class of 1984.

Listen to Jonathan talk about his varied career path, which includes a stint in strategic planning for Disney and an SVP role at the company that founded CarMax. The conversation ranges from the elements of leadership, to the importance of data in nonprofit work, to the real meaning of the word “vocation.”

This week we talk with Cathy Alston-Kearney, an alumna from the Morehead-Cain Class of 1981. Cathy grew up in Nashville, North Carolina and now lives in Warrenton, North Carolina—population 862.

For twenty-one years, Cathy was the executive director of the Warren Family Institute, helping underprivileged families find affordable housing. She now works as the student success director for Warren County Schools and as a pastor for Oak Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church—a denomination known as AME for short.

Cathy was a SEVEN Speaker at the 2018 Alumni Forum, just a few weeks ago. Her talk, which she titled “The Men in My Life,” received a standing ovation. Soon you'll find out why.

This episode of Catalyze features Major Jason Kemp, former commander of India Company, Third Battalion, Second Marines—and now an officer in the U.S. Marine Reserves. Jason currently lives in Raleigh, and he works for a utilities company called Pike Electric. On top of that, he spends a few hours a week helping veterans get connected to the Triangle community through a network called Marine for Life.

During his ten years of active duty, Jason completed two deployments to Iraq and another on a U.S. Navy ship that visited Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. He says his geography degree was extremely useful on deployment.

Our conversation dips into the fascinating parallels between service in the Marines and working for a utility company, Jason's unfulfilled dream of being a farmer, and a very helpful life-planning exercise for any age.

The son of a Vietnam War veteran, Major Jason Kemp grew up in Mount Airy, N.C.

Gender roles often prescribe that a husband should be the breadwinner while a wife should stay at home. But the modern feminist movement can also make women feel guilty if they do choose to stay at home with their kids. How does a high-achieving, values-driven college graduate like a Morehead-Cain navigate these challenges?

In this episode of Catalyze, Jed Lau, Morehead-Cain Class of 1998, and Kerry Anne Harris, Morehead-Cain Class of 2011, share their unique stories of intentional living through full-time parenthood.

During our talk, Jed mentions a spreadsheet with his family’s five-year plan. You can see a copy of it here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X2-9NYuBp8Pt0lkT-EN4exu_MaTqvv4KBzgDNdbf5pM/edit#gid=0

This week we’re continuing a season that highlights lives of service.

You'll hear from Meg VanDeusen, Morehead-Cain class of 2014. Meg is a former Fulbright English Teaching Assistant, former Girl Scout Troop leader, and current senior manager of operations and finance at a small nonprofit called Feedback Labs.

Our conversation starts with her foundation in service: through the Girl Scouts and the Carolina Center for Public Service. We also discuss her experiences teaching abroad and her current work and what she sees is a key component of providing service to others.

Welcome to Season 2 of Catalyze, a podcast from the Morehead-Cain Foundation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

As we shared during our first season, Catalyze features stories of values-driven leadership. This season we’ve chosen to highlight lives of service.

Our first episode this season is a conversation with Dr. Amir Barzin ’06, a Persian-Texan who works in family medicine at UNC. After attending Carolina as a Morehead-Cain, Dr. Barzin worked as a law-clerk and an EMT before earning a master's in medical science and then a DO: which stands for doctor in osteopathic medicine. We dive into what that means, during our conversation.

Today, Dr. Barzin is the director of UNC's Family Medicine Center, director of UNC Urgent Care, and director of Family Medicine In-Patient Service.