General News

Stacey Rose ’08 received the inaugural Bonnie and Terry Burman New Play Award, through a national contest at Barrington Stage Company in Massachusetts. Rose, whose play was chosen from nearly 500 submissions, will receive $25,000 and a production of her play at Barrington Stage.

Rose’s winning play, “America v. 2.1: The Sad Demise & Eventual Extinction of the American Negro,” is set on a day in the near future, in which a troupe of black actors reenact a revised history of the “once-thriving American Negro.”

This February, UNC Charlotte is asking alums to share their love stories of how they met their significant others as well as what they love about the University.
Elizabeth Wagner ’10 said the quality she most treasures about her husband Rodney Graves ’97 is his sense of adventure.

The School of Nursing 2019 Distinguished Alumni Conference, Opioids: What Every Nurse in Charlotte Needs to Know, will be from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 7, at Hope Haven in Charlotte. Tickets are $75 per attendee and include admission to the conference, lunch and light refreshments. 

Associate Professor of Theatre Robin Witt is directing a production of “A Doll’s House, Part 2” at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, one of the premier ensemble theatre companies in the United States.

The Charlotte Green Initiative, a student-led organization, recently approved funding for two sustainable projects: the installment of bird boxes and the Statement Making Fashion Show.
The Biological Sciences Department’s proposal to build and install 25 bird boxes on campus was approved. These boxes will provide nesting areas for Eastern bluebirds, Carolina wrens, red-breasted nuthatches, Carolina chickadees and other cavity-nesting birds and will be placed in a specific trail across campus, which will include the greenway, Davis Pond and Hechenbleikner Lake.

The U.S. Department of State has selected Spencer Salas, a Cato College of Education professor, for a weeklong project as an English language specialist; he will focus on curricular innovation and building teacher capacity in Tunisia.

For the fifth consecutive year, UNC Charlotte has earned the Tree Campus USA Award. Given by the Arbor Day Foundation, this national honor recognizes colleges and universities that are committed to urban forest management and that engage staff and students in conservation goals.

Established in 2008 by the Arbor Day Foundation, Tree Campus USA currently has more than 250 colleges and universities that have achieved this distinction.

UNC Charlotte’s Botanical Gardens is celebrating chocolate, just in time for Valentine’s Day. This free, public event is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 10, at the McMillan Greenhouse.

Jeff Gillman, director of the Botanical Gardens, will give a short talk about the cocoa tree at 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Esa Weinreb, head chocolate maker at the Underground Truffle, will demonstrate chocolate making at noon and 1:30 p.m.

James Walsh from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs will present “The National Opioid Crisis” at 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 20, in the Barnhardt Student Activity Center, Salon D.

Walsh was appointed the bureau’s principal deputy assistant secretary in September 2018. In his UNC Charlotte talk, he will address the global dimensions and international implications of the opioid crisis and the drug trade.

Beth Whitaker, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, will discuss “Refugees and Global Migration” as the second speaker for the 2019 Great Decisions Lecture Series. This free, public presentation is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 6, at UNC Charlotte Center City.