General News

The Charlotte 49ers Athletic Foundation raised a record $191,000 at its 10th annual “Let Me Play” luncheon to surpass its goal and eclipse the $1 million mark overall in monies raised.
The event, chaired by Laura Schulte, president of Eastern regional banking, Wells Fargo and Co., exceeded its goal of $175,000. In 10 years, the event has raised $1.07 million dollars.

“Semantic Technologies in IBM Watson” is a new course for UNC Charlotte’s College of Computing and Informatics starting in spring 2014, and the University is one of only three in the country to offer it.
The class, which will cover text analytics with IBM Watson and its business applications, will be taught by Associate Professor Wlodek Zadrozny, who was a core member of the Watson team from 2008-12. 

The Office of Adult Students and Evening Services recently honored the inaugural recipients of the Bernard Osher Foundation Endowed Scholarship.
Last year, UNC Charlotte received a $1 million grant from the San Francisco-based Osher Foundation, which is being used as a permanent funding source to aid nontraditional students to complete their degrees. Through the Osher Reentry Scholarship Endowment, 29 undergraduates received scholarships for the fall semester.

Jeanette Sims, director of community affairs, will be a guest on the Nov. 19 edition of “The Live Wire,” Inside UNC Charlotte’s streaming webcast. She will talk about the many ways UNC Charlotte is engaged in the Charlotte area, and how the University community’s involvement in the larger region is becoming more important.

Employees can watch “Live Wire” at their desk or on their mobile device starting at 2:00 PM

Tyler Gibson’s penalty kick in the 88th minute gave the 49ers men’s soccer team its first Conference USA Tournament Championship with a 1-0 win against reigning tournament champ Tulsa. The team received one of the 16 national seeds in the NCAA tournament and will have a first-round bye.
“It’s amazing and feels great.  I am proud of the way the guys played over the last three games.  A lot of heart and courage,” said head coach Kevin Langan.

UNC Charlotte faculty, staff and administrators gathered in the Barnhardt Student Activity Center Salons Nov. 14 to celebrate the successful culmination of the 2013 Giving Green Campaign.
Co-chairs Joël Gallegos and Misty Hathcock made the “big reveal” as Chancellor Philip Dubois announced the campaign total of $154,609. This figure, which combines gifts to the ASC, SECC and the UNC Foundation, topped last year’s effort.

For 30 years, the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute has surveyed Mecklenburg County residents. The results of this annual survey have become an important resource for local governments and nonprofit agencies to discern community attitudes about issues that may impact their work.

John Allemeier, associate professor of composition in the Department of Music, and associate professor of English Aimee Parkison are among 15 artists across the state who received a 2013-14 North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship Award in the categories of songwriting, composing and writing.
Fellowships are awarded to artists to support creative development and the creation of new work. Recipients were selected by panels comprised of artists and arts professionals with expertise in each discipline. 

In recognition of his efforts to promote diversity, chemistry professor Daniel Rabinovich will be recognized this week by the American Chemistry Society’s Committee on Minority Affairs.

The Student Union Art Gallery is exhibiting the two-person display “Secret Lives of the Inanimate,” which features the works of alumni Rachel Simpson and Andrea Vail through Nov. 26.
“Secret Lives of the Inanimate” investigates the world through a unique lens by focusing on moments of interaction between objects and their environment. Pieces in the exhibit include a combination of altered found objects and photographic transfers that explore the interesting and odd in everyday objects.
Simpson said her works seek to explore “objects in the world and how they got there.”