General News

Asher Haines recently joined the University as director of continuing education. Prior to UNC Charlotte, he oversaw communications, training and development and change management for Walmart’s Global Shared Services Center in Charlotte. Haines also served as campus president of the Art Institute of Charlotte, associate vice chancellor of operations for Keiser University and senior territory vice president for University of Phoenix.

Participants in the Department of Theatre summer Circus Theatre class will present a public showing of their work at 11:30 a.m., Wednesday, June 29. This outdoor performance will take place on MAX, the UNC Charlotte Mobile Arts & Community Experience, on the lawn in front of Robinson Hall for the Performing Arts.

The extension of light rail from Center City to UNC Charlotte is scheduled to begin operations in summer 2017, with two stations serving the main campus. To prepare for this transformational event, the University has launched a new informational website.

Lightrail.charlotte.edu is a campus resource for students, faculty and staff on how the Blue Line Extension will connect the University to Center City and other points along the light rail route to its southern terminus.

The UNC Charlotte Gerontology Program celebrated its 25th anniversary earlier this year and took the opportunity to help state leaders roll out North Carolina’s first plan to comprehensively address dementia.

Ted Arrington, professor emeritus of political science and public administration, authored the third-place entry for Common Cause’s second annual Gerrymander Standard Writing Competition.

Arrington’s paper presented a “workable criteria for determining when districting arrangements so distort the process of translating votes into seats in a legislature that the process or the redistricting plan rises to a constitutional violation.”

Common Cause sponsored this national contest to generate measurements for partisan gerrymandering that could be used in court.

The Charlotte 49ers women’s soccer schedule includes eight home regular-season matches at Transamerica Field in addition to the squad playing host to the Conference USA Championships in November.

The Johnson Band Center, built for the UNC Charlotte “Pride of Niner Nation” Marching Band, has received two design awards. In May, the building received a 2016 Merit Award from the South Carolina chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). This month, the Charlotte chapter of the AIA also selected the band center for a 2016 Merit Award. 

The Johnson Band Center was dedicated on Oct. 21, 2015. It is named for Vickie and Gene Johnson, UNC Charlotte alumni whose generous support launched the “Pride of Niner Nation” Marching Band.

UNC Charlotte researcher Margaret Quinlan and colleagues received a regional Emmy nomination for the film “Creative Abundance,” which explores how art can redefine vocational opportunities and expand the lives of people with developmental disabilities.

Yi Deng, dean of the College of Computing and Informatics, will become the dean of the College of Computing and Informatics at Drexel University, effective Sept. 1.

The Division of Business Affairs will sponsor its annual campus-wide ice cream social from 2 to 3:30 p.m., Thursday, June 30, in the Cone University Center, After Hours Lounge.

During this free event for faculty and staff members, vanilla and chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup, strawberry topping, whipped cream, chopped nuts and cherries will be served while quantities last. Ice water also will be available.

Prospective attendees should email RSVPs to vcba@uncc.edu by Thursday, June 23.