CHAPEL HILL -- The first major private gift made during Holden Thorp's tenure as UNC chancellor will enable creative writing students to study with some of the nation's most notable writers.

Made July 1, the first day of Thorp's administration, the gift from Sallie Shuping-Russell of Chapel Hill will fund an innovative new course featuring the work of active writers who will hold a distinguished visiting professorship within the Creative Writing Program.

The program is part of the Department of English and Comparative Literature in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences.

The $666,000 gift qualifies for a $334,000 grant from the North Carolina Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust, bringing its total value to $1 million. The state fund, established in 1985 by the N.C. General Assembly, provides matching grants to recruit and retain outstanding faculty.

The gift will create the Sallie Shuping-Russell Distinguished Visiting Professorship.

Starting in the fall of 2009, five to six outstanding writers will come to campus to participate in the regularly scheduled course, "Living Writers," which will honor her mother, Margaret R. Shuping, who graduated from UNC in 1944 with a degree in journalism.

The visiting professors also will give public readings for the university community.