The University of North Carolina at Charlotte has announced a $9.3 million gift from the Leon Levine Foundation to establish a scholarship program that will help the university recruit exceptional student-leaders from around the country.

The gift — the largest in the university's history — will be used to establish the Levine Scholars Program, which will provide four-year scholarships to fifteen students a year, with the first cohort to be chosen in the spring of 2010. Valued at approximately $90,000 for residents of North Carolina and $137,000 for out-of-state residents, the scholarships will cover all tuition, fees, housing, meals, and books as well as a laptop computer, summer experiences (including a summer spent abroad), and an $8,000 grant to support students' community service work while undergraduates at UNC.

The program will seek talented high school seniors whose accomplishments epitomize the values of the Levine family: demonstrated commitment to community service, an academic record that reflects a sustained passion for knowledge, and a capacity for ethical leadership that beckons fellow students toward a higher standard. Throughout the school year, Levine Scholars will be expected to actively engage with established community organizations or develop their own resolution to key issues facing the Charlotte community.

"The Levine Scholars Program will prove to be transformational for UNC Charlotte," said UNC Charlotte chancellor Philip L. Dubois. "Looking at it over just the next ten years, the Leon Levine Foundation has committed to providing over $9.3 million in merit-based scholarships. In its fourth year, when we have the full complement of sixty Levine Scholars on campus, these funds will more than triple the amount of four-year, merit-based aid we currently offer incoming freshmen."