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A swanky ice sculpture welcomed visitors to UNC’s School of Social Work on Monday morning. Printed on that ice sculpture was the likeness of basketball star Michael Jordan’s mother, Deloris Jordan.
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Above her image was a simple phrase, etched in cursive: “She gets it done.”
And get it done she did. Thirty years after Michael Jordan’s 1996 donation that created the Jordan Institute for Families — and Deloris Jordan’s decades-long involvement with the school — the school is celebrating another major gift from her son.
Michael Jordan, class of 1986, is making a $10 million donation to UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Social Work, the largest gift in the school’s history, in honor of his mother.
Speaking at the announcement Monday, Deloris Jordan said she felt genuine surprise, which was really something — because “coming from UNC, nothing surprises me anymore,” she joked.
The school’s Global Social Development Innovation Center — which was founded in 2017 and is dedicated to solving the social challenges that harm marginalized youth all over the world — is now renamed for her. The money, according to School of Social Work dean Ramona Denby-Brinson, is an “extraordinary gift” from “one of our most beloved Tar Heels.”
“Mom, I love you,” Michael Jordan said on a recorded video he made for the announcement of the donation. “I’m incredibly proud to honor you in this way.”
The gift will also fund the Jordan Family Scholars Program, which provides financial support for Master of Social Work students at UNC. Ten of those scholars got up on stage Monday, each giving a single red rose to Deloris Jordan.
Those students face “increased financial barriers to graduate education,” according to UNC. Each will receive a $12,500 scholarship.
“This gift,” Michael Jordan said in his video, “is really an investment in you: the next generation of social workers. The work you’ve chosen to do matters. It changes families, communities, and lives, and we need you here in North Carolina and around the world.”
The School of Social Work’s curriculum prepares graduates to provide services directly to individuals and families, according to Denby-Brinson, but also to run organizations and nonprofits that support communities. In North Carolina, she said, there’s a shortage of social workers who are dedicated to children, substance abuse, senior citizens, and people with intellectual or developmental delays. This gift, she said, will help address that shortage.
The Monday announcement also turned out to be a birthday celebration for Deloris Jordan, and the audience sang lovingly for the matriarch. Denby-Brinson shared some “truisms” about her:
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“She is an unrelenting force for good. She gets things done. She does not take no for an answer. I don’t even think she takes maybe for an answer. She expects a great deal of herself and those around her.”
And: “She will outwork you.”
Because of all that, Denby-Brinson told the audience, “I think we know where her son Michael inherited some of the qualities that have made him so successful, both on and off the basketball court.”
Deloris Jordan founded the Kenya Women’s and Children’s Wellness Center in Nairobi in 2010 to support survivors of gender-based violence and child abuse. The 10-acre campus has a “state-of-the-art” medical center and housing for families and medical staff.
As part of the gift, students in the School of Social Work will get to travel to Kenya and work and learn at the center. There are 25 countries across the world where the School of Social Work sends students.
Deloris Jordan described for the audience her longstanding involvement with UNC, saying that she feels indebted to the institution that “adopted my family.” She’s been on the Board of Advisors at the School of Social Work for nearly 40 years, dedicating her time to the school, its students, and the problems facing families and individuals across the state and the world.
In his remarks, Chancellor Lee Roberts emphasized the tangible impact of the work of the School of Social Work.
“There are a few voices,” Roberts said, “every now and then, who say, ‘Look, there are a lot of brilliant people over there at Carolina, but all that work they’re doing, all that research, what kind of difference does it actually make to the lives of regular folks across our state?’”
“Nobody has ever said that about the School of Social Work.”
At the reception, attendees listened to tunes from a hip hop violinist as they mingled, ate sushi and celebrated. Many members of the Jordan family were in attendance Monday, including Deloris Jordan’s children and even a great-great-granddaughter. Deloris Jordan said that today, she is “standing on” her family’s “shoulders of love.”
The Monday celebration kicks off the Deloris P. Jordan Global Social Development Innovations Center’s Global Research Symposium, where leaders in the field will discuss global youth development over a two-day symposium.
“We never get to party like this in the School of Social Work,” joked Denby-Brinson.
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This story was originally published October 5, 2026 at 1:33 PM.