Provost recognizes Basinger, McCarter and UCAE for excellence

The Office of Academic Affairs recently recognized faculty and an academic unit for exemplary work in the areas of teaching and civic engagement at the annual Provost’s Awards reception. These areas are vital to UNC Charlotte’s mission to educate and prepare students for chosen careers and to address community needs in the greater Charlotte region.

Winners of this year’s Provost’s Awards are Susan McCarter, professor of social work; Erin Basinger, associate professor of communication studies; and the University Center for Academic Excellence.

Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching

The University Center for Academic Excellence is this year’s winner of the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. This award is given to an academic department, office or program in recognition of the collective responsibility faculty have for delivering high-quality teaching and continually working to improve student learning and outcomes.

The award recognizes a documented record of sustained accomplishment, commitment and innovation in undergraduate or graduate teaching. It also acknowledges unusual efforts on the part of a department or unit to work together to deliver teaching of the highest quality.

UCAE offers programs and services that support student success and learning effectiveness in all eight colleges. They achieve this through course-specific support services combined with intentional and tailored programs that build students’ academic and life skills.

In an effort to lower rates of D’s, F’s and withdrawals in historically challenging courses, UCAE’s Peer Assisted Learning program collaborated with the Center for Teaching and Learning to provide active learning and problem-solving experiences to more than 14,000 students. In addition, UCAE employs 175 peer leaders who completed a combined 374 hours of training in 2020-21 to assist with this effort.

UCAE has played a major role in helping students be successful during the past two years of the pandemic. In the 2020-21 academic year, the UCAE served more than 7,000 undergraduate students with support such as academic and personal growth workshops, one-on-one academic coaching and mentoring.

In response to the expressed needs of students in the transition to remote learning, the UCAE developed new resources to help teach students to master online courses. The center created the #KeepLearning: Mastering Online Classes training course in Canvas. To date, more than 700 students have enrolled in the course.

Plus, the UCAE established the 49er Connect academic coaching program that intentionally connects students to campus resources that they need at that moment. In its inaugural year, the 49er Connect Success Guides made more than 900 student contacts.

Bonnie E. Cone Professorship in Civic Engagement

Susan McCarter, a professor of social work in the College of Health and Human Services, is this year’s recipient of the Bonnie E. Cone Professorship in Civic Engagement. This is awarded annually to a tenured member of the faculty whose teaching and/or research embody the University’s commitment to civic involvement, and whose work profoundly and systematically affects the relationship between UNC Charlotte and the larger community in a positive and meaningful way.

McCarter has a long history of leading civic engagement efforts in the community and at the University. She was part of a small group of dedicated community leaders, in 2010, to found a nonprofit organization in Charlotte called Race Matters for Juvenile Justice. This collaborative leadership group works within the community to reduce disproportionality and disparate outcomes for children and families of color through institutional organizing, education and workforce development. The group works with many city and county organizations including law enforcement, the courts, the schools, the Department of Social Services and others to raise awareness, share decision-making and bring policy reform in the area of juvenile justice.

McCarter also spearheaded the Racial Equity Skills Building Caucus at UNC Charlotte. This caucus creates community, provides support, resolves conflict and solves problems collectively, and helps participants to build and practice racial equity skills.

She has been awarded multiple mini-grants from the Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Fund, which have been used to support the participation of University administrators, faculty, staff and students in Racial Equity Workshops. As a result, more than 300 members of the UNC Charlotte community now benefit from this experience.

Through McCarter’s collaboration with leaders at Johnson C. Smith University, Central Piedmont Community College, and Queens University, UNC Charlotte is now recognized as a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Campus Center.

Bonnie E. Cone Early-Career Professorship in Teaching

Erin Basinger, associate professor of communication studies in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, is this year’s recipient of the Bonnie E. Cone Early-Career Professorship in Teaching. This annual award goes to a member of the faculty who has earned tenure within the last three years. It recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated a commitment to teaching at the beginning of their academic career.

Known as a model instructor by her colleagues, Basinger operates according to two principles: skill building and mutual respect. She keeps students engaged by teaching transferable skills and giving them a continuous goal that allows them to see their progress. She also helps students develop useful skills by encouraging application to their lives and community.

Students seek out her courses despite her reputation as a tough grader because she adopts the perspective that students are whole people with lives and challenges outside the classroom. This guiding principle of trust and respect affects how she approaches and responds to her students — and it has made an impact on her students’ success.

Basinger organizes her courses around discussion and active learning. She routinely updates course content to reflect recent scholarship and trends in higher education and adapts her classroom management strategies around changing student needs. Her excellence in classroom teaching extends to online teaching, where she has implemented best practices based on her training in Quality Matters.