Academic Affairs

UNC Charlotte faculty members are asked to encourage their students to enter the 2016 Undergraduate Research Conference, scheduled for Friday, April 22. The deadline to enter this competition is Wednesday, March 23.

This university-wide showcase of research projects completed by undergraduate students of all levels from all colleges and departments will be at the Cone University Center.

Student work submitted for conference presentation can range from in-class projects to year-long honors theses and everything in between.

Early voting for North Carolina’s March 15 primary begins Thursday, March 3, and continues through Saturday, March 12, which means faculty, staff and students can go ahead and cast their ballots. Because UNC Charlotte is committed to fostering a spirit of civic engagement, the University will host a free shuttle to the University City Regional Library, an early voting location, to enable interested students to vote prior to Spring Break.

UNC Charlotte’s 11th annual recognition of International Women’s Day (IWD) will be 3:30 to 5 p.m., Thursday, March 31, in the Student Union, Room 340.

International Women’s Day is recognized by the United Nations on March 8 and celebrated in various countries around the world. It is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities. The UNC Charlotte campus community has celebrated IWD since 2006.

Investigating how to advance the practice of teaching to enhance students’ learning is the impetus for research grants offered by the Center for Teaching and Learning.

Recently, grant recipients for eight funded projects shared their work at the second annual Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Research Showcase.

Thought leader April Rinne, an expert on shareable cities, will discuss “The Sharing Economy in the Urban Millennium” at 2 p.m., Thursday, March 24, in the Cone University Center McKnight Hall. This presentation is for the University’s TIAA Lecture Series.

Rinne is an advisor and guide on the sharing economy, the concept of a peer-based sharing of access to goods and services, coordinated through community-based resources. Examples include car sharing, the rental of apartments/houses and even the sharing of one’s talents and skills.

The J. Murrey Atkins Library is hosting the traveling exhibition “From DNA to Beer: Harnessing Nature in Medicine and Industry.”

 Produced by the National Library of Medicine, in cooperation with the National Museum of American History, the display explores some of the processes, problems and potential of technologies that use microbes.

College of Education professor Chance Lewis is the 2016 recipient of the Harshini V. de Silva Award. This annual honor is presented to a faculty member who best exemplifies the commitment de Silva, a former UNC Charlotte professor, displayed to graduate student mentorship.

The Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor of Urban Education and executive director of the Urban Education Collaborative, Lewis began his tenure at UNC Charlotte in 2011. Since then, colleagues consistently have noted his impact on the student experience.

The UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture and Urban Institute will launch the third year of the KEEPING WATCH initiative with a focus on air quality and the city’s tree canopy. Events will begin in early March and continue through the end of May.

Award-winning educator Bob Beichner from N.C. State University will be the guest speaker for the Center for Teaching and Learning’s “Midday Mini-conference: Active Learning Classrooms” scheduled for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Friday, April 8, in the Student Union, Room 340 A and B.

Online registration has started for this event, which will address

Mary Newsom, associate director for urban and regional affairs at the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, will moderate “People, Places and Pride: Charlotte’s Historic Black Neighborhoods” at 2:30 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 28, at the Levine Museum of the New South.

Mattie Marshall, president of the Historic Washington Heights Community Association; Second Ward/Brooklyn documentary filmmaker Kathryn Frye; and John Howard from the Charlotte Historic District Commission will discuss the rich history and uncertain future of black neighborhoods in the Queen City.