Academic Affairs

Damon Williams, a recognized expert on strategic diversity leadership and youth development, will speak at 3:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 10, in the Popp Martin Student Union Theater. This presentation, which is open to students, faculty and staff, is sponsored by the Council on University Community.

Civic engagement and education go hand-in-hand, and one important aspect of shaping American society is through the ballot box.UNC Charlotte Votes, a student-led, nonpartisan initiative that is part of the 49er Democracy Experience, is sponsoring Voter Registration Thursdays on Oct. 3 and 10. Members of the campus community are encouraged to stop by Atkins Library between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to learn more about the voting process and drop off their printed and signed TurboVote voter registration form.

The Provost Awards, presented each year, recognize faculty and academic units for exemplary work in the areas of teaching, advising and community engagement. These three areas remain vital to UNC Charlotte’s mission to educate and prepare students for chosen careers and to address community needs in the greater Charlotte region.

The Teaching Excellence Selection Committee for the Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence and the UNC Charlotte Award for Teaching Excellence is accepting nominations through Thursday, Nov. 21. These awards are two of the most important and prestigious awards at UNC Charlotte as they honor outstanding professors and provide an example of the University’s commitment to excellence in teaching.The strongest nominations include specific examples from students; submit a nomination and the professor will be considered for the award for which they are eligible.

Charlotte Inno announced its inaugural list of Under 25 innovators, and four of the nine honorees have strong ties to UNC Charlotte.

Manufacturing jobs today are highly skilled within workplaces that are among the nation’s most innovative environments. To inspire more students to consider careers in manufacturing, UNC Charlotte and Dassault Systemes recently hosted nearly 175 high school students and teachers for an event in advance of National Manufacturing Day

Potential faculty nominees for the 2019-20 O. Max Gardner Award are being sought. This award is given annually by the UNC Board of Governors to “that member of the faculty of the University of North Carolina who, during the current scholastic year, has made the greatest contribution to the welfare of the human race.”Nominees can be of any rank, “including instructors, engaged in teaching in any unit, institution or branch of service” in the UNC System. UNC Charlotte faculty members who have won the award include Pinku Mukherjee and Diane Browder. 

UNC Charlotte researchers have received two of 43 awards from the inaugural round of grants from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Convergence Accelerator pilot. The new NSF initiative supports multidisciplinary research teams and lays the groundwork for public-private partnerships with Fortune 500 companies to apply Big Data to science and engineering, and create technologies that enhance the lives of American workers.  

After nine years as dean of the Belk College of Business at UNC Charlotte, Steven Ott has announced his intention to step down from his post on Oct. 15. Ott has served as the dean of Belk College since 2011.

As part of its ongoing efforts to increase degree completion, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) has named UNC Charlotte among three finalists for its 2019 Degree Completion Award. This annual honor works to identify, recognize and reward institutions that employ innovative approaches to improve degree completion while ensuring educational quality.