CHESS

Charleata Neal and Greg Weeks recently were selected to join the fifth cohort of the UNC System Executive Leadership Institute. They are among the 33 faculty and staff members from across the system selected for this 10-month institute. Participants will learn more about the UNC System, its operations and leadership opportunities with the goal of […]

When Gabie Stanfield visited UNC Charlotte for the first time, she knew she had found her home. A first-generation college student from Burlington, North Carolina, she sought a bigger city to cultivate her creativity that also had smaller supportive spaces where she could thrive. 

Serena Bemmo Kamdem, who was born in Cameroon, moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands at the age of 7.

Relocating was tough, and her new school suggested ESL classes to avoid being held back a grade. But her dad, a middle school math teacher, created workbooks to help Kamdem and her three siblings learn English with their native French. She recalls sharpening her English by watching PBS and was excited when an episode of “Arthur” mentioned her native country during a song of the 54 nations of Africa. 

Christopher R. Boyer has been named the founding dean of the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences at UNC Charlotte following a national search.

The Department of Geography and Earth Sciences was renamed the Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographical Sciences, effective April 9.

This name change more accurately represents the collaborative approach within the department, said John Smail, interim dean of the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences.

This summer, the Charlotte Heat Mappers, a coalition of community organizations, nonprofits and government entities led by UNC Charlotte’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographical Sciences, will oversee a community science campaign to map variations in urban heat across the city. Charlotte is one of 14 U.S. communities and four international cities selected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to join its 2024 Urban Heat Island mapping campaign. This effort is designed to identify areas where people are most at risk during extreme heat waves.

On March 27, the namesake of the UNC Charlotte Master of Public Administration Program, Gerald “Jerry” Fox, died at the age of 91.

Fox was Mecklenburg County manager from 1980 to 2000; after retiring, he joined the MPA program as a part-time faculty member. Later, Fox was a founding member of the UNC Charlotte Practitioner Advisory Board, an organization dedicated to supporting the MPA program and its students.

Bertha Maxwell-Roddey, Ph.D., founding director of the University’s Africana Studies Department, died March 21 at the age of 93.

On March 8, Michael Whatley ’91 was elected co-chair of the Republican National Committee ahead of November’s national election. Whatley previously served as chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party since 2019.

Whatley, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history from UNC Charlotte, attended Wake Forest University, where he completed a master’s degree in religion. He also earned a master’s in theology and a law degree from the University of Notre Dame. 

Two outstanding UNC Charlotte Honors College juniors have been nominated for the 2024 Barry Goldwater Scholarship, considered one of the top awards for undergraduate U.S. STEM students. The scholarship helps identify the next generation of leaders in scientific, mathematical and engineering research, funding up to $7,500 annually for their education.