UNC Asheville Recognizes Three with Honorary Degrees

The University of North Carolina Asheville is pleased to announce that Steve and Frosene Zeis and John F.A.V. Cecil will be recognized with honorary degrees. The Zeises will receive their degrees during the Spring 2026 Commencement ceremony, and Cecil will receive his during the Winter 2026 Commencement ceremony.

Each recipient has demonstrated transformative leadership, notable accomplishments, and distinguished service to the University, the broader region and state, and globally.

Steve and Frosene Zeis

Frosene Zeis and Steve Zeis
Credit: North Carolina Textile Foundation / Wilson College of Textiles at NC State University

Steve and Frosene Zeis founded ZTM Sales and Services in 1983 in Asheville, with Steve representing some of Europe’s most prominent textile machinery manufacturers in the United States and Canada and Frosene overseeing the business side.

The Zeises are both long-time supporters of higher education through their funding of programs and initiatives that have benefited thousands of students. At UNC Asheville, they have funded the Steve and Frosene Zeis Professorship, which provides resources to a faculty member to support a biomedical or biochemical project over the course of two years. They have also contributed to an upfit of the Zeis Chemistry lab, and each of them has endowed scholarships. For their contributions to UNC Asheville, Zeis Hall was named in their honor in 2010.

They are also dedicated benefactors of N.C. State University, having endowed the Steve and Frosene Zeis Distinguished Professorship in Technical Textiles in 2021 and funded the Textile Pioneer Scholarship program, which provides scholarships for first-generation students and those from non-metropolitan areas in North Carolina. For their philanthropic contributions, N.C. State honored them with the naming of the Zeis Textiles Extension (ZTE) for Economic Development, which spearheads the research and development activity in the Wilson College of Textiles. They also were the recipients of the Darrell and Carolyn Menscer Cup Award, the highest accolade given by the N.C. State University Foundation.

Their support of the community can be seen in their contributions to the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Asheville, where Mr. Zeis served on the Board and Ms. Zeis was a Sunday School teacher, the Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts, and the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine in New York City.

Frosene Zeis was born in Asheville, NC, and attended St. Genevieve-of-the-Pines before moving to Miami, FL, and graduating from Miami High School. She returned to Asheville and St. Genevieve-of-the-Pines, where she studied secretarial and business administration. She graduated in two years and then worked at St. Joseph’s Hospital and the Asheville Chamber of Commerce. She has also been a supporter of the North Carolina Museum of Art and the Asheville Art Museum, and she was selected by the Governor to serve on the Board of the North Carolina Museum of Art for eight years. She also served on the UNC Asheville Foundation Board for eight years and received the University’s Thomas D. Reynolds Alumni Award in 2010.

Steve Zeis was born on the island of Halki in Constantinople, Istanbul, Turkey, and graduated from the Austrian High School in Istanbul. He came to the United States to continue his education in textiles. After one year at Asheville Biltmore College, the predecessor of the University of North Carolina Asheville, he transferred to North Carolina State University School of Textiles, where he graduated in 1961. He became an American citizen in 1965 while working in Delaware. He served for eight years on the Board of the North Carolina Textile Foundation. He received the NC State Wilson College of Textiles’ Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2006 and was recognized as Textile Leader of the Year in 2010.

The Zeises were married in 1961 and, since then, have worked hand-in-hand in the textile industry and as philanthropists dedicated to creating a legacy of love, generosity, and significance while also providing pathways for students to prepare for successful careers.

John F.A.V. Cecil

John F.A.V. Cecil

John F.A.V. Cecil (Jack) has served as a business and civic leader and a steward of rural place-based community development across Western North Carolina for decades. He joined Biltmore Farms in 1984, serving in various capacities until being named President and CEO in 1992. Along with his late father, George H.V. Cecil, Biltmore Farms has focused its efforts on community building through developing an extensive portfolio of real estate projects. Prior to his tenure with Biltmore Farms, Jack was Assistant to the President at Foremost McKesson International in San Francisco.

He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dogwood Health Trust; Trustee of The Duke Endowment; Director of NC GlaxoSmithKline Foundation; Director of The Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina; Director of Barron Collier Management, LLC; Governor of Urban Land Institute Foundation, and as Member of the Governor’s Advisory Committee for Western North Carolina Recovery. He is also past Chair of the National Advisory Board of the Institute for Emerging Issues, Mission Health, Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, and Handmade in America and previously a director of MyFutureNC.

He is a former member of the UNC System Board of Governors, the UNC Asheville Board of Trustees, for which he served as Chair, and the UNC Asheville Foundation Board. For his contributions to the state of North Carolina, he received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in 2024.

Cecil received his Bachelor of Arts degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Master’s in International Management from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird). Jack and his wife, Sarah, have been happily married since 1993, and they have four wonderful sons, Thomas, Hugh, John, and Owen.

About UNC Asheville

Founded in 1927, UNC Asheville is a proud member of the University of North Carolina System. With award-winning faculty, small class sizes, and 60+ academic programs in the natural sciences, human sciences, humanities, arts, and social sciences, the University is recognized for its robust paid internship programs to prepare students to immediately enter the workforce. In the US News & World Report 2025 edition of Best Colleges, UNC Asheville is ranked No. #9 in Top Public Schools, and No. #7 in Princeton Review’s 2025 Top 50 Guide to Green Colleges. Known as the Bulldogs, UNC Asheville student-athletes compete in 16 NCAA Division I Teams in the Big South Conference. For more information, please visit: www.unca.edu.