Scholarship and Academic Life

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.

A new book edited and co-authored by College of Education faculty dives into the current state of literacy instruction and looks to the future of reading and writing in the classroom.

In “What’s New in Literacy Teaching?” Department of Reading and Elementary Education professors Karen Wood and Brian Kissel assemble a group of leading literacy scholars to cover a wide range of instructional issues.

The publication is composed of three parts: “Text, Talk and Tasks”; “Collaboration and Communications”; and “Literacy Learning With and Through Technology.”

Todd Zakrajsek, executive director of the Academy of Educators, UNC School of Medicine, will present “How Students Learn: Strategies for Teaching Based on the New Science of Learning” at 2 p.m., Friday, Oct. 30, in the College of Health and Human Services, Room 376.

Zakrajsek, who also is an associate professor in the School of Medicine and the Department of Family Medicine at UNC Chapel Hill, is the author of “The New Science of Learning: How to Learn in Harmony with Your Brain.” The work was the Center for Teaching and Learning Common Read for the fall semester.

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@uncc.edu.

UNC Charlotte philosopher Shannon Sullivan posits that well-meaning white liberals are more concerned with establishing anti-racist credentials than with confronting systematic racism and privilege in her work “Good White People: The Problem with Middle-Class White Anti-Racism.”

A professor of philosophy and health psychology, Sullivan will discuss the award-winning book and why she decided to write it at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 10, at UNC Charlotte Center City as part of the 2015-16 Personally Speaking series.

The Center for Teaching and Learning has launched a new professional learning community for adjunct instructors at the University. Its goal is to build community among the participants and provide pedagogical support, which will benefit the faculty members as well as their students.

“Diversity and Design: Understanding Hidden Consequences,” being released this month by Routledge Press, features work by two professors in the UNC Charlotte School of Architecture. Edited by Assistant Professor Charles Davis II, with Beth Tauke and Korydon Smith, it includes chapters by Davis and by Associate Professor Peter Wong.

Sen. Richard Burr, chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, will deliver a keynote address during the College of Computing and Informatics 16th annual Cyber Security Symposium on Wednesday, Oct. 14. A dedicated executive education program will be on Thursday, Oct. 15.

Florence Martin, an associate professor in the College of Education’s Instructional Systems Technology program, is a 2015 recipient of a Crystal Award from the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Division of Distance Learning.

The honor is for “an innovative and outstanding multimedia-based distance learning course or distance learning project,” according to the AECT. She will receive the Crystal Award formally during the 2015 AECT convention in Indianapolis on Nov. 6.

Organizers for this year’s Career and Public Service Expo, hosted by the University Career Center, expect more than 170 organizations to attend the event; the companies will offer students thousands of full-time jobs, internships and co-ops in a range of industries.