College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

From Mexico to Harlem, from white liberal anti-racism to campaign fundraising, UNC Charlotte researchers will lead four intellectual journeys as part of the 2015-16 Personally Speaking Series.

Faculty authors Jürgen Buchenau, Shannon Sullivan, Jeffrey Leak and Eric Heberlig will discuss their books and how they came to write them during the sixth annual Personally Speaking Series presented by the University’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences in conjunction with the J. Murrey Atkins Library.

A popular method of using marijuana may put young users at greater risk for burns than the more customary way of using marijuana, a UNC Charlotte professor suggests.

John Stogner, a criminal justice and criminology professor in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, assessed the dangers of a practice called “dabbing” in research recently published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Stogner and co-author Bryan Miller of Georgia Southern University warn of the implications of this growing trend.

David Goldfield, the Robert Lee Bailey Professor of History and a renowned Civil War authority, will join a panel to discuss the current debate on the Confederate flag at 9 a.m., Friday, June 26, on WFAE Charlotte Talks. Tune in to listen at 90.7 FM or stream online.

UNC Charlotte alumnus Kerr Putney was named police chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department effective July 1, 2015.

Joshua Stokell, a UNC Charlotte post-doctoral fellow, died on Monday, June 8, as a result of complications arising from his lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis.

Stokell gained media attention recently based on the fact that he was using himself as a subject for his research into cystic fibrosis. His story was reported last month in the Charlotte Observer.

In 2011, Larry Mellichamp was working on a book about native plants, when he envisioned an addition to the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens that would showcase such specimens. That dream became reality when the campus and greater Charlotte communities gathered Sunday, May 31, to formally open the Mellichamp Natives Terrace Garden.

The wooden and brick terraces of the one-fifth-acre Mellichamp Garden provide examples of how homeowners can use native plants in their landscaping.

John Reeves, Blumenthal Professor of Judaic Studies in the Department of Religious Studies, has received a prestigious American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellowship for 2015-16 to work on the project “Illuminating the Afterlife of Ancient Apocryphal Jewish Literature.”

This year, ACLS made 70 awards to faculty of all ranks and independent scholars to support research in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. The organization received more than 1,000 applications in this cycle, making the program once again the most competitive in ACLS’s portfolio.

Robin James, associate professor of philosophy, had the work “Resilience and Melancholy: Pop Music, Feminism and Neoliberalism” published by Zero Books. Recently, James was interviewed by Dave O’Brien for the New Books in Critical Theory website.

James notes in the podcast she uses music, particularly popular music, to “do philosophy.” She added music was a way for her to think through political questions related to gender/social inequality and value/philosophical concepts.

The conversation “I am a Man! Black, Male and Gay” will be at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, May 21, at UNC Charlotte Center City. It is the final installment of the year-long series of candid community discussions on the relevance of the American black male in the 21st century.

The UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens will offer the plant exploration class for children “Seeds and Sprouts” from 1:30 to 3 p.m., Sunday, May 24, at the McMillan Greenhouse.

Children will learn about how seeds “know” when to sprout and what happens when they do. This workshop is for children age 4 to 8. The cost is $5, and space is limited to 12 participants.

Adults must accompany children to the program, and participation is welcome. Email Paula Gross (pmgross@uncc.edu) to attend.