Cato College of Education

Cato College of Education faculty member Clare Merlin-Knoblich was named Counselor Educator of the Year by the North Carolina School Counselor Association.

This award recognizes Merlin-Knoblich’s outstanding contributions to the field of school counseling in North Carolina and beyond. She joins UNC Charlotte counseling professors Sejal Foxx and Taryne Mingo, who received the award in 2015 and 2020, respectively.

The Omicron Pi chapter of Kappa Delta Pi continued won a trio of awards at the honor society’s 55th convocation in St. Louis, Missouri.

Charlotte’s Omicron Pi chapter received its sixth Achieving Chapter Excellence Award from for its outstanding programming in support of the society’s mission and strategic goals.

Counseling professor Dania Fakhro remembers her neighbors in Syria wearing the keys to the homes they had been forced to flee around their necks. They were people displaced by conflict with roots common to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war that today leaves buildings in rubble and thousands dead.

The Association of Counseling Education and Supervision recently recognized UNC Charlotte’s counseling master’s program with the Robert Frank Outstanding Counselor Education Program Award for its excellence in standards and innovation. This national award is given to one master’s and one doctoral program annually.

Misty Hathcock is the 2023 recipient of the Outstanding Contributions to Teacher Preparation Award from the North Carolina Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Hathcock ’85, ’91 M.Ed., ’92 M.A., ’96, ’04 Ed.D. is director of alumni engagement and the N.C. New Teacher Support Program in the Cato College of Education.

UNC Charlotte has named the building that houses the Cato College of Education Mebane Hall in honor of a transformative endowment of up to $23 million from the Mebane Foundation to support early literacy.

Monday, Aug. 28, was the first day of a new year for UNC Charlotte’s school — Niner University Elementary, and Charlotte 49ers student-athletes were on hand to welcome students.

Mary Lynn Calhoun, dean emerita of the Cato College of Education, died May 21.

During a 31-year tenure with UNC Charlotte, starting in 1982, Calhoun served as an assistant professor of special education before rising the ranks to be appointed dean of the College of Education in 1999.

From January to mid-December, Santa Claus traditionally fills his time preparing for the holiday season. Making gifts, checking lists and … earning a Ph.D.? Titus Hopper, career readiness coordinator for Cleveland County Schools, spends his days encouraging students to stay engaged with school. Lately, he has been spending his evenings taking classes as part of UNC Charlotte’s Educational Leadership doctoral program.

Adriana Medina, associate professor, reading and elementary education, is one of 17 outstanding faculty members to receive the 2023 Awards for Excellence in Teaching from the UNC Board of Governors.