Awards and honors

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.

Junior Sarah Whitmire is a Campus Compact Newman Civic Fellow; the national honor recognizes individuals who are investing in their communities through service, research and advocacy.

As a Levine Scholar, Whitmire is working the UNC Charlotte faculty members, practitioners in the Carolinas Healthcare System and a group of women experiencing homelessness on a community-based research project.

Dena Shenk, professor of anthropology and graduate coordinator of the Gerontology Program, is the 2015 recipient of the Harshini V. de Silva Award; the honor is presented annually to a faculty member who best exemplifies de Silva’s commitment to graduate students.

Colleagues regard Shenk as an exceptional graduate mentor who has had an influential impact on the Gerontology Program.

Reading and elementary education professor Tracy Rock is a recipient of the 2015 UNC Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Award.

This annual honor recognizes one professor at each of North Carolina’s public institutions. The 17 recipients were nominated by individual campus committees and selected by the Board of Governors’ Committee on Personnel and Tenure. Each award winner will receive a commemorative bronze medallion and a $12,500 cash prize; the honor will be presented formally during the spring graduation ceremony on each campus. 

Dena Shenk, professor of anthropology, recently received the Mildred Seltzer Distinguished Service Recognition from the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education.

The Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) is the educational branch of the Gerontological Society of America, the nation’s oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education and practice in the field of aging.

“Visible Man: The Life of Henry Dumas” by Jeffrey Leak, associate professor of English, is the nonfiction recipient of a 2015 Literary Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA).

Devin Collins, assistant director business and entrepreneurial development, Charlotte Research Institute, was named by the Charlotte Business Journal to its 22nd consecutive list of the region’s “Forty Under 40.”

According to the publication, the 40 individuals named are “making major strides in their careers and having a positive impact on their communities.”

Chancellor Philip L. Dubois is the 2014-15 recipient of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District III Inclusion and Diversity Leadership Award, which recognizes an individual for his/her efforts to foster inclusion and diversity within the higher education profession, on his/her campus or in the greater community.

Roslyn Mickelson was named the 2014 University Professor of UNC Charlotte.  This honor recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement in a professional field, as well as demonstrated ability to excel in interdisciplinary research, teaching and service.  The University Professor is recommended to the UNC Charlotte Board of Trustees by the chancellor and holds this title for life.

J. Scott Derrick, executive director of the Student Union and Cone University Center, is president-elect for the Association of College Unions International (ACUI); he will be installed formally in April at the organization’s annual conference in San Antonio, Texas.

“I am both honored and humbled to have been elected by my fellow ACUI colleagues as president-elect,” said Derrick. “To be trusted with this responsibility is something that I take very seriously.”