UNC Research Stories is a storytelling engine for curious people who want to learn why researchers entered their fields and how their projects benefit North Carolina and beyond.  

Our long-form articles, photo stories, and short documentary-style videos engage current and new readers to grow support for the university and its research. We publish new content each month online, share it through an e-newsletter, and produce an annual print edition featuring a collection of stories from each academic year. 

UNC Research Stories is produced by the Office of Research Communications.

Awards

UNC Research Stories boasts award-winning writers and publications. 

History

In the early 1980s, UNC-Chapel Hill graduate school Dean G. Phillip Manire created the university’s first research magazine — called Endeavors — because of the “rapidly growing need to inform ourselves and the public as to the extent and significance of the research effort of our faculty and students.”  

The first issue was released in late 1984, and an office was built around print publication production. By the mid-1990s, a small staff that included an editor, assistant editor, writers, and designers were producing three issues a year and managing a new website to further disseminate their articles. 

When print production halted in 2012, the office was reorganized and renamed under a new director, becoming the UNC Office of Research Communications. A web producer, videographer, and graphic designer were brought on-board to improve the magazine’s online presence and distribute stories in an e-newsletter. The publication lived in a digital-only format until 2019, when two staff members justified the creation of an annual print edition. Since then, we’ve grown our distribution from just 2,000 copies to nearly 40,000. 

Thanks to a partnership with the Carolina Alumni Review, the print magazine now goes to lifetime members of the General Alumni Association, members of our university’s governing boards, representatives of our state legislature and congressional delegation, and program managers with our largest federal sponsors like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. 

In 2024, upon celebrating the magazine’s 40^th anniversary, we updated the magazine’s branding and retired the Endeavors name to become UNC Research Stories.  

UNC Research is a growing community of investigators who are continuously innovating, discovering, and uncovering. We tell their stories. To keep up with the progress and change they have made across four decades and dozens of disciplines, we updated our name to reflect the thriving research enterprise of today. 

While the variety and quality of content remained the same, the name more accurately reflects where our content comes from, tying it directly to the brand that has always been responsible for Endeavors. When you see UNC Research Stories, there is no doubt that it is a product of Carolina — and that it is so much more than a print magazine.