Scholarship and Academic Life

Adam Dignan, an adult student and Marine Corps veteran, recently received a $3,600 scholarship from the Alpha Sigma Lambda National Honor Society, the leading honor society for adult students in the United States.Dignan, a senior biology major, transferred to UNC Charlotte from Coastal Carolina Community College. He selected UNC Charlotte to continue his studies as he related to the school’s origins, being established to serve the educational needs of veterans.

A virtual solo exhibition of new work by Associate Professor of Art Marek Ranis is on view through Toshkova Fine Art through July 26. The “Liminal” series includes seven large paintings on linen that depict the cracking and weathering of boulders, an artistic response to current research on how climate influences the mechanical breakdown rates of surface rocks.

This fall, UNC Charlotte will welcome new classes of scholars from its most prestigious scholarship programs funded through the generous donations of dedicated alumni.Five students make up the second class of Johnson Scholars. Gene ’73 and Vickie ’71 and ’82 Johnson established the Johnson Scholars program to increase opportunities at UNC Charlotte for students from middle income families who do not qualify for federal grant programs. 

Colleen Hammelman, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences, has received a prestigious National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) grant to study population change and gentrification in urban foodscapes.

Associate Professor of English Juan Meneses will spend four weeks this summer in residency at the National Humanities Center in the Research Triangle Park completing the third chapter of his second book, tentatively titled “Denizens! On Foreigners, Visitors and Other Outsiders.”Meneses will join a select group of about 40 scholars from across the nation who were chosen to do research in residency at the center, with the timing guided by the state’s protocol on COVID-19.

Geography major Kenley Triplett ’20 is this year’s UNC Charlotte Student Employee of the Year. She was recognized for her work with the Cone University Center and the Popp Martin Student Union, where she had been employed since fall 2017.Initially, Triplett began as an information desk attendant in the Popp Martin Student Union; she was one of approximately 20 student employees who staff the Union Information Desk from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily. The Information Desk interacts with an average of 12,000 visitors during the week. 

As the University transitioned to online classes due to the coronavirus pandemic, 10 UNC Charlotte student entrepreneurs participated in Ventureprise’s inaugural virtual 49er Foundry and Student Entrepreneur Showcase.

“The Transposed Musician: Teaching Universal Skills to Improve Performance and Benefit Life” is a new book by Associate Professor of Piano Dylan Savage; it was released recently by GIA Publications Inc.

Two projects by UNC Charlotte School of Architecture graduate students are among the  winners of the 2020 AIA COTE Top 10 for Students Competition, presented by the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment (AIA COTE) in partnership with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA).

When the coronavirus pandemic hit in the middle of the spring semester, it added a new layer of significance to the assignments in Assistant Professor of Architectural History Lidia Klein’s spring seminar. The curriculum for the graduate course, “Architecture and Production: From Assembly Line to 3-D Printing,” challenged students to investigate “changes in methods of architectural production from the 19th century to the present,” placing those changes “within social, political, cultural and economic contexts.”