Awards and honors

The U.S. Department of State has selected Spencer Salas, a Cato College of Education professor, for a weeklong project as an English language specialist; he will focus on curricular innovation and building teacher capacity in Tunisia.

The Thomas L. Reynolds Leadership Award will be bestowed for the first time this spring; the award will honor excellence in graduate program administration and will be presented annually to a graduate program director (GPD) or graduate program coordinator (GPC). Recipients will be selected by a committee of graduate faculty and students. The award recipient will receive $1,000 and an engraved plaque and will have his or her name engraved on a perpetual trophy.

The UNC Charlotte Alumni Association is actively seeking nominations for its 2019 awards class. The deadline to submit a nomination for this year is Friday, Jan. 25.

The UNC Charlotte Cato College of Education has received the 2018 Yachad Award from the Levine Jewish Community Center for the college’s work in support of the city of Charlotte. The award recognizes UNC Charlotte and the center’s collaborative work on a summer camp designed to help struggling students improve their reading while enjoying the fun and games of traditional summer camps.

UNC Charlotte alumna and College of Health and Human Services adjunct faculty member Tchernavia Montgomery has received the 2018 Charlotte ATHENA Leadership Award for Service, honoring her accomplishments with the Crisis Assistance Ministry. The award honors professionals in the nonprofit sector who give back to improve quality of life in the Charlotte community and assist women in discovering their full leadership potential.

Tanure Ojaide, the Frank Graham Porter Professor of Africana Studies, is co-recipient of the 2018 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa.

“Actually, it was here that I realized I wanted to be an entrepreneur,” said Miguel Avila during an interview in the 49er Foundry, the student business incubator at UNC Charlotte. Avila, a Belk College of Business senior, will graduate at Fall Commencement.

Recently, he was chosen to join the Venture for America (VFA) Fellowship program after a highly selective process. With more 2,400 applications for the class of 2018, the program extended offers to less than 18 percent, and Avila is the first UNC Charlotte student so honored.

A team of mechanical engineering graduate students from UNC Charlotte’s precision engineering program won the student challenge competition at the American Society for Precision Engineering’s (ASPE) 33rd annual conference in Las Vegas.

The Advanced Management Program for Legal Executives, a custom executive education program designed by the Association of Corporate Counsel Charlotte Chapter and UNC Charlotte Executive Education, has won an Outstanding Achievement Award for “Best Partnership Program” from the Association of Corporate Counsel.

Scott Smith, professor and chair of the Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science Department, has received the William T. Ennor Manufacturing Technology Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.