Scholarship and Academic Life

North Carolina will have its fourth year of slow but uninterrupted economic growth in 2013, UNC Charlotte economist John Connaughton reported in his quarterly forecast for the state.
However, Connaughton cautioned that economic uncertainty in Europe and the ongoing negotiations on tax increases and the “fiscal cliff” may have a negative impact on the state and national economies in the coming year.

UNC Charlotte’s Center for the Study of the New South on will host “Without Sanctuary: A Conference on Lynching and the American South” Thursday through Saturday, Oct. 11-13. This event is in conjunction with the Levine Museum of the New South and its exhibit of photographs, postcards and narrative that explores one of the most horrific chapters of history.

UNC Charlotte will host more than 200 scholars from around the world at the first International Pragmatics Conference of the Americas and the fifth International Conference on Intercultural Pragmatics.
Pragmatics, generally speaking, is the investigation of human language and communication. This joint conference is promoting theoretical and applied research in pragmatics, and will bring together scholars who are interested in different subfields of pragmatics. These include the philosophical, linguistic, cognitive, social, intercultural and interlanguage subfields.

James Tabor, chair of the Department of Religious Studies, is a well-recognized blogger by peers in the field. His TaborBlog was highlighted as the second most popular blog by the Biblioblog Top 50, a website that publicizes, ranks, and archives the top biblical studies blogs each month. Rankings are based on website analytics as well as votes by Biblioblog users.

The Graduate School is accepting nominations for its annual Master’s Thesis Awards, which are presented based on the clarity of style and presentation, scholarship, research methodology and contributions to the field or discipline. 

Each year, the competition rotates between disciplines. This year, two awards will be presented – one in the category of math, physical sciences and engineering and the other in the category of humanities and fine arts. 

While many of their peers were sitting in air-conditioned classrooms during the summer, some UNC Charlotte students literally were getting their hands dirty while making some important discoveries about Mecklenburg County’s past.