Academic Affairs

Ventureprise Associate Director Devin Collins recently attended the U.S. Department of State’s 2018 Young Transatlantic Innovative Leaders Initiative (YTILI) Opening Summit in Portugal as a U.S. mentor.

Selected for a second year, Collins will share his expertise with young European entrepreneurs who were chosen for the fellowship program. Seventy entrepreneurs from 45 countries will participate in a year-long series of projects designed to strengthen their businesses by learning best practices from established U.S. entrepreneurs and organizations.

The North Carolina General Assembly has ratified and forwarded to Gov. Roy Cooper its budget proposal for 2018-19. While the legislation includes the enrollment funding for UNC System campuses appropriated in the two-year budget approved last year, it also contains an $800,000 recurring cut to UNC Charlotte’s budget.

Demolition and reconstruction of the courtyard of the Academic Complex will begin Monday, May 28.

Expect noise as demolition activities occur. Additionally, there will be heavy construction traffic with equipment and personnel. Also, the courtyard will be inaccessible during renovations, which are scheduled through Aug. 17.

Remember to exercise caution when approaching construction areas.

UNC Charlotte is now a nominating entity for the Pew Scholars Program in Biomedical Sciences, one of the most prestigious junior-faculty fellowships in the field.

Participating institutions are selected on the basis of the scope of their work in biomedical research and recommended to the Pew Charitable Trusts by the National Advisory Committee of the program.

Active learning has been defined as activities that students can utilize to better construct knowledge and understanding. UNC Charlotte’s Active Learning Academy in the Center for Teaching and Learning supports faculty members to develop such techniques for their classes, and recently, the center hosted an expo that featured academy faculty teams that shared their projects designed to promote active learning.

Brian Bard (Student Health Center), Lijuan Cao (Software and Information Systems), Trudy Moore- Harrison (Kinesiology), Stan Homenick (ITS), Joanne Perry (Counseling and Psychological Services), Victoria Rankin (Sociology) and Jing Yang (Computer Science) are the 2017-18 recipients of the Accessibility Excellence Award for Outstanding Faculty/Staff.

The Office of Disability Services bestows this honor upon individuals who exhibit a strong commitment to accessibility and disability-related issues.

UNC Charlotte conferred degrees upon 4,565 candidates in three ceremonies Friday and Saturday, May 11-12. Retired superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Ann Clark received an honorary Doctor of Public Service at the 10 a.m., Saturday, event; read about other inspirational graduation moments that were captured during Commencement.

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships support outstanding graduate students. Devin Clegg and Corbin Grohol are two such students, and they are the latest UNC Charlotte recipients of this prestigious award.

Category winners and finalists received more than $20,000 at the 2018 Charlotte Venture Challenge; this year’s event featured 13 innovative startup finalists.

Jill Huerta will become director of the Center for Graduate Life effective Monday, July 2. She will assume the overall responsibility for the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the center, which is an initiative of the UNC Charlotte Graduate School.