College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

“Hard Hits: Concussions and the Modern Athlete,” a panel discussion, will be held at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 5, at UNC Charlotte Center City.
Four UNC Charlotte faculty and staff members will consider the emerging research on sports-related concussions in this latest offering of the series “Sports in the New South: Culture, Color and Cash,” sponsored by the Center for the Study of the New South.

On Saturday, Nov. 16, undergraduate students from across North Carolina will come to UNC Charlotte to present research at a statewide symposium.
The joint State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium and N.C. Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Annual Research Conference is open to any undergraduate student currently enrolled at a community college or four-year institution in the state.

The University’s Energy Production and Infrastructure Center is the location for the joint UNC Charlotte and N.C. State University Photochemistry Symposium, scheduled for 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 26.
Photochemistry, basically stated, is the study of chemical changes caused by light. The symposium will focus on early-career researchers and students as a way to grow knowledge and enthusiasm for photochemistry and its implications for society, said symposium organizers.

A vision for a new central park in Reid Park Neighborhood on Charlotte’s west side is moving closer to reality. It is based on work by UNC Charlotte’s Dylan McKnight, who is pursuing master’s degrees in urban design and community planning.
The Reid Park Neighborhood Association, in partnership with Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department, will seek community feedback on the vision from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 17, at Reid Park Academy, 4108 West Tyvola Road.

O. Akinlolu Ige, a leading African geochemist and archaeometrist, is serving a one-month appointment as a visiting research scholar in the Department of Africana Studies in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

Charles Willie, the Charles William Eliot Professor of Education, emeritus, at Harvard University, will give the fifth annual Bertha Maxwell-Roddey Distinguished Africana Lecture at 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 16, in EPIC, Room G256.
Willie, a noted sociologist, has researched desegregation, high education, public health, race relations, urban community problems and family life. Before joining Harvard University in 1974, he was a faculty member and administrator at Syracuse University for more than 25 years.

The UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens will hold its annual Fall Plant Sale on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18-19, at the McMillan Greenhouse.
“With the abundant rain this spring and summer, everyone should be excited about their gardens,” said Paula Gross, assistant director of the Botanical Gardens. “Get your wish list together and come out to the Fall Plant Sale.”

Ever calculated the odds behind whether your favorite team should punt or go for it – or who’s really number one? Charlotte Teachers Institute will tackle these and other tough questions related to the intersection of sports and math in its “Exploding Canons” event on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
This next installment of CTI’s flagship speakers’ series will take place from 5:30 to 8 p.m. the EPIC Building, next to the Jerry Richardson Stadium.

Nationally known faith leader and social activist Rev. Yvette Flunder will explore race, sexuality, religion and politics in the lecture “Re-colonizing: Using the Fight for Gay Rights to Divide the Black Community” at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 22, in Cone University Center, McKnight Hall.   

In excavating sites in a long-inhabited urban area like Jerusalem, archaeologists are accustomed to noting complexity in their finds – how various occupying civilizations layer over one another during the site’s continuous use over millennia. But when an area has also been abandoned for intermittent periods, paradoxically there may be even richer finds uncovered, as some layers have been buried and remain undisturbed by development.