College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Jeff Gillman, director of the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens, will be the guest on the Dec. 11 edition of “The Live Wire,” Inside UNC Charlotte’s streaming webcast. Starting at noon, he will share insights into all that the Botanical Gardens has to offer and what’s ahead for this community treasure. 

Mark West, chair of the English Department, will receive the 2016 Anne Deveraux Jordan Award.

Presented by the Children’s Literature Association, the award is a kind of lifetime achievement award, recognizing significant contributions in scholarship and service to the field of children’s literature over the course of the scholar’s career. West will receive the award at the association’s annual conference in June 2016.

Junior Angelica Rose Brown has been recognized for outstanding leadership and service by North Carolina Campus Compact, a statewide network of colleges and universities with a shared commitment to community engagement. She is a recipient of the network’s Community Impact Award honoring one student leader at each member school.

Sixty UNC Charlotte students who are enrolled in Spanish language classes caught a glimpse of what it means to live in poverty in a foreign country, struggling to survive with limited language skills.

During the poverty simulation, conducted in partnership with Crisis Assistance Ministry, the students were organized into “family” groups of three to six people with specific background stories and roles. They could only speak Spanish during the simulation and had to complete tasks while overcoming obstacles.

Jeanette Bennett has been named one of the 10 “Must Take Psychology Professors in Charlotte” by the website Careers in Psychology.

Dorothy McMillan was known for her love of exotic flowers and her philanthropy, and the University benefited greatly from her largesse. A loyal backer of UNC Charlotte, McMillan donated her collection of 3,000 orchids to campus. This gift blossomed and led to the creation of a permanent campus facility that attracts thousands of visitors annually.

Four talks comprise the series “Food Production, Marketing and Consumption in the United States – Colonial Era to Present.” The first presentation, scheduled for 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 4, in Denny Building, Room 220, will feature Baldemar Velasquez, founder and president of the Ohio-based Farm Labor Organizing Committee.

Velasquez, a recipient of a “genius” grant from the MacArthur Foundation, earned a bachelor’s degree from Bluffton College; he has dedicated his life to improving the working and living conditions for migrant laborers and their families.

Brian Magi, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, will be the guest on the Oct. 22 edition of “The Live Wire,” Inside UNC Charlotte’s streaming webcast. Starting at 2 p.m., Magi, an atmospheric scientist who explores the relationship between fires, climate and air quality, will discuss his long-term research goal to simulate global fires as a process that is fully coupled to the human and physical dimensions of the Earth system.

Carlos Castillo-Chavez, Regents Professor and the Joaquín Bustoz Jr. Professor of Mathematical Biology at Arizona State University, will discuss the recruitment of students and faculty from underrepresented groups at 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 28, in the Atkins Library Halton Reading Room. Lunch will be provided; email RSVPs to advanceuncc@charlotte.edu.

As office manager for the Department of Aerospace Studies, Cole Carter often is the initial point of contact for prospective cadets for the University’s Air Force ROTC Detachment 592.

Since joining the University and aerospace studies in 2000, Carter has worked for seven department chairs or commanders, along with numerous other officers and non-commissioned personnel who oversee the University’s Air Force ROTC program. Lt. Col. Richard Sanders is the current ROTC commander.