Academic Affairs

The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute is coordinating annual Jane’s Walks for Friday through Sunday, May 1-3. This year, because of the Urban Institute’s involvement in KEEPING WATCH on WATER: City of Creeks, there are a number of Jane’s Walks being held along Charlotte creeks.

Engineer Bruce LaMattina has joined the Charlotte Research Institute as director of research. Prior to the University, he was director of federal research relations development at Rutgers University.

LaMattina earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at North Carolina State University, and he completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering at the University of Delaware. 

 Jose “Zito” Sartarelli, Ph.D., a former pharmaceutical executive who now serves as chief global officer and dean of the College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University, was elected chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington by the Board of Governors of the 17-campus University of North Carolina. UNC President Tom Ross placed Sartarelli’s name in nomination April 10 during the board’s regular April meeting, held on the campus of East Carolina University in Greenville. 

UNC Charlotte will host the inaugural Engaged Scholarship and Community Partnership Symposium Thursday and Friday, April 23-24.

Distinguished cancer researcher Pinku Mukherjee was honored with the O. Max Gardner Award – the highest faculty accolade given by the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina. She was presented the honor formally Friday, April 10.

“The Live Wire,” Inside UNC Charlotte’s streaming webcast, will feature two programs on Thursday, April 9.

At 11 a.m., Madeline Keeter (’08), community and government relations coordinator at CaroMont Health; Zacch Estrada-Petersen (’05), senior accountant at the Hearst Corporation; and Stacie Young (’98), director of annual giving; will discuss UNC Charlotte’s inaugural 24-hour online giving day, Niner Nation Gives.

Friday, April 10, is the deadline for full-time faculty members to complete a survey of faculty job satisfaction as part of the national research program Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE), which has operated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education since 2003.

Earlier this year, faculty members received unique links to the survey via email from COACHE (coachefaculty@opinioncast.com).

A student volunteer venture to help veterans near Camp Lejeune this past fall recently earned the University the Outstanding Community Partner Award from the Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project (SERCAP).

This past fall, eight students from the University College/College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Learning Community participated in a SERCAP Volunteers for Communities Alternative Break Program. The volunteers, all freshmen, were Jessica Beavers, Selena Brown, Alyssa Finkelstein, Benjamin Iuliano, Hannah Javidi, Madison McKinnon, Edwin Ogachi and Sarah Payne.

General Graphene, an Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based company, won the grand prize of $20,000 at the 2015 Charlotte Venture Challenge.

The company is developing industrial scale graphene manufacturing capabilities using production methods licensed from the University of Texas and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Each machine will produce 60,000 sheets (square meter) of graphene (a form of carbon described as having “extraordinary” properties) per year.

Bill Ribarsky, the Bank of America Endowed Chair in Information Technology, is the 2015 recipient of the First Citizens Bank Scholars Medal, UNC Charlotte’s most prestigious faculty award in recognition of excellence in research.

Ribarsky’s research has greatly influenced the field of visualization and visual analytics. He has been lauded by peers for advancing the way in which individuals visualize data and approach real-world problems.