Scholarship and Academic Life

UNC Charlotte will celebrate Homecoming 2014 on Saturday, Oct. 25, as the 49ers take on James Madison University at noon in Richardson Stadium. The game will be broadcast on WCCB-TV in Charlotte.

A number of activities are scheduled leading up to the Homecoming game. They include:

The Apostle Paul is the single most influential figure in human history, suggests UNC Charlotte Religious Studies Professor James Tabor in his latest book “Paul and Jesus How the Apostle Transformed Christianity.” Tabor argues that Paul’s influence trumps even the great “founders,” whether Jesus, Moses, the Buddha or Mohammed.

Steven Rogelberg, professor and director of UNC Charlotte’s Organizational Science program, will be the inaugural speaker for the UNC Charlotte Alumni Association’s Bonnie Cone Faculty Speaker Series “Nuggets of Knowledge.” 

Eric Heberlig, professor of political science, is a co-recipient of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation’s D.B. Hardeman Prize for the work “Congressional Parties, Institutional Ambition and the Financing of Majority of Control.”

UNC Charlotte’s J. Murrey Atkins Library has acquired the “Bryant McMurray Motorsports Photograph Collection,” which documents the world of stock car racing through images captured over six decades by the award-winning motorsports photographer.

What began as small stock car races between rival bootleg moonshine runners has grown into a multibillion dollar industry. Today, North Carolina remains a leader in the racing world; the city of Charlotte is within 50 miles of 90 percent of the racing teams in the United States.

The selection committee for the 2015 Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence is soliciting nominees. This award is one of the most important and prestigious presented by the University, as it honors outstanding teachers on campus and provides an example of UNC Charlotte’s commitment to teaching excellence.

Joël Gallegos, assistant provost for international programs, was elected to the Board of Directors of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, widely regarded as the leading professional organization in the field of international education. He will serve a three-year term beginning January 2015 in one of three member-at-large positions. 

UNC Charlotte faculty members are among a prestigious group of experts seeking safe and practical solutions for disposing of coal ash. The University has convened a blue-ribbon panel of nationally recognized experts to serve on an independent board that will review Duke Energy’s strategy and procedures for closing its ash impoundments in North Carolina and throughout the nation.

Calculus courses are foundational for a number of majors, and a recently implemented redesign has created a fresh, modernized approach to the sequence.

Mohammad Kazemi, professor and associate chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, said, “If students do well in Pre-calculus and Calculus I and II, then they can proceed and do well in a number of other disciplines, such as biology, pre-med, chemistry, physics, math, of course, geology, engineering and computer science.”

Nathaniel Hendren, assistant professor of economics at Harvard University, will discuss “Intergenerational Mobility and Equality of Opportunity in the United States” at 2 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 2, in the College of Health and Human Services, Room 159.