C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Awards - C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Awards

The C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Awards recognize University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill employees each year for unusual, meritorious or superior contributions.

In 2025, Chancellor Lee H. Roberts honored the following six University employees with C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Awards. The winners each received a $10,000 stipend and a citation, presented by Chancellor Roberts at the annual luncheon.

To learn more about the recipients, read the announcement story.

NOTE: More information coming soon.

C. Knox Massey

The late C. Knox Massey of Durham attended the University in the early 1920s and then founded an advertising agency in Durham now considered one of the South’s advertising pioneers.

After retiring from the ad firm in 1967, Massey became a special assistant to then UNC Chancellor Carlyle Sitterson—working another 25 years essentially as a volunteer—at a salary of “$1 a year.”

Massey established scholarship programs and faculty teaching awards in addition to the C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Award.

He earned:

The School of Medicine’s Distinguished Service Award in 1957

The Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Medal in 1979

The University’s William Richardson Davie Award in 1988

Massey died in 1993 at the age of 90.