R. Sterling Hennis Jr., North Carolina ’52, earned his undergraduate, master’s and doctorate degrees at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He served briefly in the Army’s military police corps and guarded the atomic bomb at the Sandia Base in New Mexico. His teaching career began in Winston-Salem, but he quickly returned to his alma mater. He taught English education at the university and served as chair of the Division of Curriculum and Instruction from 1975 to 1981.

For 42 years, he served as his chapter’s faculty advisor. Sterling and his wife, Anita, generously shared their hospitality and affection with brothers throughout those four decades. He also served as president of the group’s Alumni and Volunteer Corporation and assisted neighboring chapters as a district governor. In 1987, he earned SigEp’s Distinguished Alumnus Award, and his chapter renamed its home, Sterling Hennis House, in his honor after completing a successful capital campaign — also in his honor — in 2010.