General News

The InnovateHER Challenge national prize competition organized by the Small Business Administration (SBA), in partnership with Microsoft, is seeking products and services that impact and empower the lives of women and families.

Regional competitions are under way to identify 10 national finalists that will compete for $70,000 in cash prizes funded by Microsoft.

The Charlotte regional competition, hosted by Ventureprise and UNC Charlotte, invites applications; the deadline is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

For Halloween, the Campus Activities Board is bringing two mentalists and a ghost hunter to campus.

Jeff and Tessa Evason, mentalists who perform feats of ESP and second sight, will present a show on Wednesday, Oct. 28, and ghost hunter Chris Fleming will speak about supernatural phenomena and his personal experiences with ghosts on Saturday, Oct. 30. Both events are free and will be at 7 p.m. in the Cone University Center, McKnight Hall.

Participants in Leadership Charlotte were on campus Thursday, Oct. 15, as part of the program’s Education Day to explore the history, current landscape and outlook of education for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS).

The current Leadership Charlotte class will examine challenges related to the educational opportunities for all students and ponder possible solutions. The day also will include a tour of Charlotte Engineering Early College High School, a presentation by CMS Superintendent Ann Clark and an interactive panel with four CMS Board of Education members.

Speaking to a crowd of more than 500 students, faculty and business people, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) praised UNC Charlotte for providing the educational programs and research to advance cyber protection and combat cyber terrorism.

The senator said cyber terrorism is one of the primary threats to national security, and he noted that the “number one (cyber) security concern” are everyday ploys by cyber terrorists that trick people into opening bogus emails that allow access to confidential information.

The Center for Teaching and Learning has launched a new professional learning community for adjunct instructors at the University. Its goal is to build community among the participants and provide pedagogical support, which will benefit the faculty members as well as their students.

World religions take various approaches to answer the question “Is There Life after Death?” Representatives from the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths will share their perspectives on the afterlife in a panel discussion at 6:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 19, in the Student Union Theater. The Office of Religious and Spiritual Life is sponsoring this event.

Speakers for the Oct. 19 discussion are:

Junjie Shan and Jinyue Xia, doctoral students in the College of Computing and Informatics, recently took second place in HackNC 2015 at UNC Chapel Hill. Their creation “CrowdFood” was the second-best overall application at the 24-hour hack-a-thon.

The application was designed to help individuals find food quickly by estimating wait times for restaurants. Xia developed the iOS app that supported collecting and showing real-time user reports, while Shan created the Web app to display the reports. UNC Chapel Hill student Hongkun Ge provided development support.

Autumn harvests can be a time of plenty, and at this year’s Staff Council Fall Festival, there was an abundance of employee participation, generosity and camaraderie.

Approximately 700 individuals attended this traditional event that offered food, fun, prizes and contests. It also was a time for community engagement, as University employees contributed items to benefit Joyful Hearts, an organization where people of any age can volunteer and serve the special needs community.

Robin Coger, dean of the College of Engineering at N.C. A&T State University and former UNC Charlotte faculty member, will present “Advancing Your Professional Career” at 10 a.m., Friday, Oct. 30, in EPIC, Room 1249. She also will discuss “Mentoring: Key to Your Success” at noon; graduate students are invited to this presentation, and RSVPs are required for lunch.

Joey Rincon, a UNC Charlotte music major, will play classical guitar selections from noon to 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 20, at the gazebo in the University’s Botanical Gardens.

Members of the campus and greater community are encouraged to pack a lunch and enjoy this free musical interlude.