Gardner-Webb University student Jeffrey S. Giersbrook of Chapel Hill, a business administration major, was named to the Honor Roll List during the fall semester. The Honor Roll recognizes outstanding college sutdents who achieve a GPA between 3.2 and 3.7 through outstanding academic contribution during a semester.

DePaul University student Caitlin Moran of Chapel Hill was named to the Dean's List for the fall quarter. Full-time students must earn a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 or above on a 4.0 scale.

Samuel Bryant, an Earlham College junior and son of Shanna and Jeff Bryant of Chapel Hill, is studying in London this semester as part of Earlham's off-campus study programs.

Bryant will have the opportunity to study British politics, science, literature and theater; to participate in a volunteer capacity in an agency in London; to learn about and experience daily life through living in private homes; and to visit other areas of England such as Bath, Canterbury, and Stratford-upon-Avon.

Benjamin Russel Fixsen, a junior international business & management major at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., was named to the Dean's List for the fall 2008 semester. A graduate of the Carolina Friends School, he is the son of Chris and Debbie Fixsen of Chapel Hill.

Collin Brian Watson, son of Kerry and Joanne Watson of Chapel Hill, has been named to the President's List for the 2008 fall semester at Elon University.

Robert Crumpler, a graduate of Chapel Hill High School, was named to the Dean's List for the fall semester at The College of Wooster. Crumpler, a senior psychology major, achieved a grade point average of 3.65 or above.

Diana Petty, the daughter of Jack Petty and Sally Goerner of Chapel Hill, was named to the Dean's List of Macalester College for academic achievement during the fall semester of the 2008-2009 school year.

A graduate of Chapel Hill High School, Petty was a senior at Macalester last fall.

Winners of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce's 2008 Business of the Year Awards were announced at the Chamber's 2009 Annual Meeting Jan. 27.

The Chamber presents Business of the Year Awards to outstanding members in the small, mid-size, large, and newcomer business categories.

Market Street Books at Arts & Letters Community Center is the 2008 Business of the Year in the small business category, which recognizes organizations with ten or fewer employees.

The Daily Tar Heel is the Business of the Year in the mid-size business category, which recognizes organizations with 11-25 employees.

Harrington Bank is the Business of the Year in the large business category, which recognizes organizations with more than 25 employees.

Mickey Ewell of the Chapel Hill Restaurant Management Group, was named the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association's Restaurateur of the Year at the association's annual dinner at the Raleigh Marriott City Center on Feb. 2. The awards recognize outstanding accomplishments and service to the state's hospitality industry.

Ewell has been in the restaurant business for more than three decades, beginning in the early 1970s with Harrison's in Chapel Hill, a popular sorority and fraternity hangout. In 1977, he opened Spanky's, an upscale college joint that was a new concept back then. Today, Spanky's is a Chapel Hill institution. Squids opened in 1986, followed by 411 West in 1990 and Raleigh's 518 West in 1996. The group's latest enterprise, Mez, opened in fall 2008.

Suzanne T. Gould of Hillsborough Elementary School recently attended a seminar held at the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching.

NCCAT provides residential seminars in the arts, sciences, humanities and technology for pre-kindergarten through twelfth-grade public school teachers. The seminars are offered on a year-round basis at no cost to participating teachers. They are designed to renew teachers' vitality for teaching and to equip them with new knowledge for the classroom.