General News

The American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) Bus and Paratransit Conference will be held in Charlotte in May.

In advance of the conference, the APTA is seeking transit-related ideas from students and professionals age 25 or younger for a “pitch session” on Wednesday, May 18. Ideas can involve technology, service delivery or any other area of transit, as long as it is innovative.

Brian Arreola, associate professor of voice and director of Opera Workshop, will sing the role of Tybalt in Opera Carolina’s production of Charles Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet.” The performances will be Jan. 24, 28 and 30 in the Belk Theater of the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center.

Gounod’s treatment of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy was composed in 1867. The character of Tybalt, for tenor, is Juliet’s cousin who is slain by Romeo after killing Romeo’s friend, Mercutio.

Nurses from across Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools recently attended a UNC Charlotte workshop on diagnosing and dealing with child maltreatment.

School of Nursing clinical professor Kathy Jordan led the half-day event, which provided a comprehensive overview of child maltreatment, focusing on prevention, early recognition, intervention and treatment. More than 150 area nurses attended.

Jordan, a certified emergency nurse practitioner who researches and presents nationally on the issue, describes child maltreatment as a deeply troubling public health problem.

A team of UNC Charlotte engineering technology and construction management students won the 2015 Concrete Construction Competition sponsored by the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and the American Society of Concrete Contractors (ASCC).

Betty Doster, special assistant to the chancellor for constituent relations, was included on the Charlotte Business Journal’s list of behind-the-scenes newsmakers of 2015.

According to the CBJ, victories in the General Assembly for colleges and for larger cities such as Charlotte have been rare since a Republican majority shifted the state’s emphasis toward cutting taxes and tightening budgets. Among the notable exceptions: UNC Charlotte, which Gov. Pat McCrory included in his $2 billion bond proposal that goes before voters on March 15.

Henry Dumas was considered a pivotal figure in African American literature of the 1960s. At the age of 33, he was killed by a white transit policeman in 1968 on a Harlem subway platform, and the circumstances of his death were never fully explained.  

Most of the writer’s fiction and poetry was published posthumously through the efforts of former Random House editor and Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison.

Bernadette Donovan-Merkert, chair of the Chemistry Department, discusses the need for increased lab space for the sciences; the Connect NC bond would provide funding for a new science building at UNC Charlotte.

Efforts to remove Belk Tower are still under way. Inclement weather postponed D.H. Griffin Companies’ schedule to dismantle the structure during winter break.

In October 2015, the decision was announced to remove the Belk Tower due to significant structural issues and repairs and renovations estimated at approximately $1 million.  The UNC Charlotte Board of Trustees agreed unanimously to establish an immediate pedestrian safety zone around the tower, which will remain until the structure is dismantled within the next week.

The UNC Charlotte School of Architecture chapter of “Freedom by Design” earned two awards at the 2015 AIAS FORUM, the national conference of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), held Dec. 29-Jan. 2 in San Francisco. The UNC Charlotte team was recognized as the 2014-15 Chapter of the Year and received the 2014-15 Project of the Year award.

UNC Charlotte Chancellor Philip L. Dubois says the $2 billion Connect NC bond package is vitally important to the continued growth of the University and the long-term economic vitality of North Carolina. The bond measure is on the March 15 ballot statewide.

State leaders officially started a formal effort to rally support for the initiative today. Gov. Pat McCrory, Speaker of the N.C. House Tim Moore and Senate Democrat Leader Dan Blue Jr. headlined the Connect NC Bond Campaign Kickoff in the Duke Energy Room of the Jim Hunt Library at N.C. State University Centennial Campus.