General News

UNC Charlotte is joining with Classroom Central, Communities in Schools and WSOC-TV for the 18th annual School Tools Campaign.
School Tools is a drive to collect and distribute school supplies to children who need them. All supplies collected will be distributed through Classroom Central, a free store for teachers and Communities in Schools site coordinators.
Classroom Central gives area teachers an opportunity to shop for donated school supplies for their students, many of them live in poverty and would start the school year unequipped otherwise.

Staff Council officers Jim Kay and Penny Stevens recently honored Elizabeth Mace for her years of volunteer service as the council’s webmaster.
Mace, a post-award specialist in the College of Health and Human Services, was nominated for the role in 2009 when budgetary restrictions eliminated funding for the work-study student who maintained the council website.

Recently a painting of an SR-71 Mach 3 jet was added to the stairwell in Duke Centennial Hall. It is the latest creation by Peter Tkacik, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and engineering science in the William States Lee College of Engineering.

Dedicated on Sept. 8, 2006, William H. Grigg Hall is home to a number of Charlotte Research Institute offices and facilities, including the Center for Optoelectronics and Optical Communications.

During the past academic year, the Department of Music has had access to first-class standard and digital pianos through an association with the Rockley Family Foundation.
To perpetuate this program, these instruments, along with those provided other institutions, will be sold Friday through Sunday, Aug. 8-10, at the Robinson Hall for the Performing Arts.
Individuals can schedule appointments to attend a “pre-sale” on Friday and Saturday; a final day sale will be from noon to 5 p.m., Sunday.

University Policy 317 sets the standards and conditions for requesting and authorizing an allowance for business use of an employee’s personal mobile communication device (MCD).  This practice is part of a growing trend termed “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) environment.
According to Tom York, director of internal audit, promoting a BYOD environment can have positive implications for an organization including:

Conference USA announced Wednesday that a new television partner, Sinclair Broadcast Group, will produce and distribute more than 100 events during the next two years.  Those games will be part of the newly launched American Sports Network (ASN). A pair of UNC Charlotte home games will be among those aired on ASN – the Sept. 6 contest against Johnson C. Smith and the Nov. 15 one versus Wesley College. Both games kick off at noon.

UNC Charlotte’s Police and Public Safety Department (PPS) has launched a new initiative to equip all campus officers with an iPad for use in the field. It is an effort to increase police proficiency through cost-effective measures.
“We are a research-based police department,” said Jeffrey Baker, UNC Charlotte chief of police.  “We continually strive to stay out in front by researching methods of policing that can help ensure that we are doing the best in providing a safe and secure environment.

UNC Charlotte freshman Jack Bretz Jr. was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia this past August. At the time, the 20-year-old was weeks from attempting to obtain a black belt in the martial art form Tang Soo Do.
After months of treatment, staff members at Novant Health Blume Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, inspired by Bretz’s “courage, resolve, determination and discipline,” contacted the Dream On 3 organization to help Bretz realize his sports dream to meet Chuck Norris.