General News

UNC Charlotte broke ground May 12 on a new residence hall dedicated to housing students of the Levine Scholars Program and the Honors College. The new facility will be known as Levine Hall, in honor of Sandra and Leon Levine. Through their foundation, the Levines have committed more than $18 million to the Levine Scholars Program, which began in 2009. Levine Hall is scheduled to open in summer 2016.

Through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the UNC Charlotte J. Murrey Atkins Library will investigate how best to license and acquire electronic resources for academic libraries. The $271,000 award is a two-year research and planning grant to produce recommendations for the licensing and acquisition of electronic resources, particularly eBooks. 

Starfish will replace Niner Advisor on 49er Express starting Sunday, June 28. This new system will allow instructors to notify their students systematically regarding their academic performance in their courses. Starfish is already integrated with Banner and Moodle for users.

 Former Charlotte 49ers defensive back Desmond Cooper has signed a contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars to become the first UNC Charlotte football player to sign an NFL contract.

 Cooper signed the contract shortly after the conclusion of the Jaguars two-day mini-camp.

Members of the UNC Charlotte Retired Faculty and Professional Staff Association recently gathered for lunch, tour and wine tasting at Morgan Ridge Vineyard, located in Gold Hill.

The association organizes three to four events a year; the group participated in a tour of the PORTAL Building recently, too.

The mission of the UNC Charlotte Retired Faculty and Profesusional Staff Association is to provide a way for interested retired faculty and professional staff to continue their relationship with the University.

Larry Mellichamp, director emeritus of the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens, will be the guest on the May 14 edition of “The Live Wire,” Inside UNC Charlotte’s streaming webcast. He will discuss the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens and the opening of a new display garden, the Mellichamp Native Terrace. A ribbon-cutting and self-guided tours of the new garden will be from 4 to 6 p.m., Sunday, May 31.

 “The Live Wire” can be viewed on desktop computers or mobile devices starting at 2 p.m.

At one time, news coverage centered on worries about video games’ negative influence on kids — but these days, they are making headlines because of the ways they are being used to help students learn.  An avalanche of research supporting video games’ ability to encourage academic development has driven momentum on this issue.

Declining civility among higher education faculty was cited as a concern this year by an Inside Higher Education survey of college/university chief academic officers. According to the results, 27 percent of provosts were “very concerned” and 44 percent were “somewhat concerned.”

The 2015 BioEnergy Symposium, scheduled for Thursday, May 14, will center on the topic of beneficial byproducts of bioenergy.

Patrick Serfass, executive director of American Biogas Council, will deliver the keynote address; he will provide insight on the “National Biogas Markets, Policies and Trends Influencing North Carolina.” The luncheon keynote will feature Mary Biddy, senior research engineer of the National Renewables Energy Laboratory, who will discuss “Maximizing Value from Biomass: Developing Pathways for the Production of Fuels and Products.”

The UNC Charlotte School of Social Work will host a daylong summit on Tuesday, May 12, on the business and sustainability needs of behavioral health care executives, focusing specifically on women and minority health care leaders.

The program will include health care providers, agency executives, faculty, staff and students currently practicing or planning to practice in North Carolina.