Diversity

UNC Charlotte will hold its 12th annual campus recognition of International Women’s Day from 3:30 to 5 p.m., Tuesday, March 28, in the Student Union, Room 340.

The Council on University Community is accepting proposals for the Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Fund, which supports initiatives that promote the daily value of diversity in the intellectual life of the campus. Faculty, staff or students are eligible to apply for awards of up to $5,000.

U.S. Rep. Alma Adams (NC-12) will present “Revolutionizing the Dream,” celebrating the life, work and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., at 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 17, in the Cone University Center, McKnight Hall. This event is free and open to the public.

“We are excited to have Congresswoman Adams address our campus community for this year’s MLK celebration,” said Kim Turner, director of the UNC Charlotte Multicultural Resource Center. “She has dedicated her life to public service, helping shape local communities as well as influencing policy on the national level.”

The lack of women in the information technology workforce directly affects the nation’s economic future — only 26 percent of IT professionals are women. This lack of gender diversity is a key factor to the growing shortage of tech talent; future U.S. graduates with bachelor’s degrees in computing can fill only 40 percent of the country’s projected tech jobs.

UNC Charlotte’s College of Computing and Informatics (CCI) Women in Computing Initiative aims to tackle this national challenge.

Counseling student LaTonya Summers is one of 22 doctoral scholars across the United States to be selected for the Minority Fellowship Program by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC).

As a result of this honor, Summers will receive $20,000 and training to support her education and facilitate her efforts with underserved minority populations.

For the majority of girls born into poverty in the Charlotte region, they will have a harder time breaking out of that economic state. UNC Charlotte’s Women + Girls Research Alliance (W+GRA) is bringing researchers and the community together to explore improving economic mobility opportunities for women as the focus of its 2016 W+GRA Summit.

A day-and-a-half event, the 2016 W+GRA Summit will be Thursday and Friday, April 14-15. Registration is through April 8; space is limited.

John Quiñones, anchor of ABC’s “What Would You Do?,” one of TV’s highest-rated newsmagazines, will speak at 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 12, in Cone University Center, McKnight Hall.

His presentation is for the Forty-niner Forum Speaker Series, sponsored by the Center for Leadership Development; it is free to all students, faculty and staff with a UNC Charlotte ID. This event is open to the general public, too.

World religions take various approaches to answer the question “Is There Life after Death?” Representatives from the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths will share their perspectives on the afterlife in a panel discussion at 6:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 19, in the Student Union Theater. The Office of Religious and Spiritual Life is sponsoring this event.

Speakers for the Oct. 19 discussion are:

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); its passage enacted federally mandated, wide-sweeping changes in employment, transportation, communication and education, especially at the post-secondary level.

Gena Smith, director of disability services at UNC Charlotte, considers the ADA the broadest civil rights legislation of the 20th century.

Charlotte Pride honors outstanding individuals each year with the “Champions of Pride Awards” in recognition of their demonstrated exemplary work and dedication to the LGBTQ community. This year, Josh Burford, assistant director for sexual and gender diversity in the Multicultural Resource Center, was honored with the Charlotte Pride “Harvey Milk Award.”