Awards and honors

UNC Charlotte junior Rebecca De Luna has been recognized for outstanding leadership and service by North Carolina Campus Compact.

UNC Charlotte Chancellor Philip L. Dubois and First Lady Lisa Lewis Dubois were honored recently by Mayor Vi Lyles for their leadership, dedication and service to the city of Charlotte.

Senior Neariah Mandisa-Drummond is the 2019 recipient of the John H. Barnhill Civic Trailblazer Award.

UNC Charlotte’s chapter of Kappa Delta Pi (KDP), the International Honor Society in Education, continued its award-winning streak with a trio of honors at the 53rd Kappa Delta Pi Convocation.Omicron Pi Chapter received its fourth Achieving Chapter Excellence Award, which recognizes Kappa Delta Pi chapters that exhibit outstanding programming supporting the society’s mission.

Assistant Professor of Architecture Catty Dan Zhang has won the 2019 University of California, Berkeley, College of Environmental Design “Emerging Designers” competition. As the winner, she will receive a $5,000 honorarium, an exhibition of her work in the college’s Wurster Gallery, a reception and the opportunity to deliver a public lecture.

Nancy Gutierrez, dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at UNC Charlotte, has been elected chair of the North Carolina Humanities Council Board of Trustees for 2019-20.

Charlotte 49ers defensive end Alex Highsmith has been nominated for the Burlsworth Trophy, which is awarded to the most outstanding football player who began his career as a walk-on and has shown outstanding performance on the field.Highsmith joined the 49ers as a walk-on in 2015 and was awarded a scholarship in summer 2017, following his red-shirt freshman season.

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) has named Manuel Pérez-Quiñones as one of its Distinguished Members. This honor recognizes those ACM members with at least 15 years of professional experience and five years of continuous professional membership who have achieved significant accomplishments or have made a significant impact on the computing field.

Akinwumi Ogundiran, a transdisciplinary scholar and professor in the departments of Africana Studies, Anthropology and History, is now a Chancellor’s Professor at UNC Charlotte.

The UNC Charlotte Alumni Association celebrated Homecoming Week by honoring outstanding 49er alumni with the 10 Under 10 and Excellence in Leadership awards.