General News

From Gandy dancer to UNC Charlotte Employee of the Year could be the title of Kurt Richter’s biography.

Richter, an instructional technology specialist in the Center for Teaching and Learning, was honored earlier this year; his plaque rests within a special place inside his Kennedy Building office – his halibut/orange roughy fishing net.

Tara Pritchett, a staff auditor in the Internal Audit Department, recently received a Janet Royster Scholarship to pursue specialized professional development in the field of internal audit.

Pritchett, who holds a master’s degree in accounting, plans to use the scholarship to obtain certification in internal controls self-assessment through the Institute of Internal Auditors. According to Tom York, director of internal audit, this certification is a building block toward the profession’s ultimate credential – certified internal auditor.

UNC Charlotte continues to grow, and it welcomes countless visitors to administrative and academic offices, performances venues and Charlotte 49ers athletics events throughout the year. As part of ongoing efforts to protect the campus community, the Environmental Health and Safety Office (EH&S) recently purchased four automated external defibrillators (AEDs) for campus buildings.

UNC Charlotte alumnus Kerr Putney was named police chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department effective July 1, 2015.

Alumni Jeannette Freedman (MBA ’14) and Kirk Beatty (’87, MBA ’10) will be the guests on the June 18 edition of “The Live Wire,” Inside UNC Charlotte’s streaming webcast. They will share their experiences as students in the MBA program of the Belk College of Business.

Watch “The Live Wire” via computer or mobile devices starting at 2 p.m.

The City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County recently released the updated Charlotte-Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer, an interactive online tool that can be used to explore social, housing, economic, environmental and safety conditions in neighborhoods across Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

The Division of Business Affairs will sponsor its annual campus-wide ice cream social from 2 to 3:30 p.m., Friday, June 26, 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 are encouraged to email RSVPs to vcba@uncc.edu by Monday, June 22.

The ADVANCE Faculty Affairs and Diversity Office recently welcomed “The Op-Ed Project” to UNC Charlotte. The two-day workshop focused on enlarging the pool of women and underrepresented minority experts who are accessing opinion forums and discovering effective ways to “get their feet in the door of the idea marketplace.”

Joshua Stokell, a UNC Charlotte post-doctoral fellow, died on Monday, June 8, as a result of complications arising from his lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis.

Stokell gained media attention recently based on the fact that he was using himself as a subject for his research into cystic fibrosis. His story was reported last month in the Charlotte Observer.

Fifteen young leaders from high schools across the United States, including 11 from North Carolina, have been named to the sixth class of UNC Charlotte’s Levine Scholars Program. They will join the University starting with the fall 2015 semester.