College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Oscar de la Torre, assistant professor of Africana studies, will discuss Brazil as the third speaker in the 2015 Great Decisions lecture series.  This talk, scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 28, at UNC Charlotte Center City, will be a joint networking event with the Magellan Society, the young professionals of the World Affairs Council of Charlotte.

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.

“Violins of Hope,” authored by Department of Music Chair James Grymes, has earned a National Jewish Book Award, considered the most prestigious honor in the country for Jewish-themed books.

Beth Whitaker, associate professor of political science and public administration, will discuss U.S. policy toward Africa as the second speaker in the 2015 Great Decisions Lecture Series. The free, public presentation is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 21, at UNC Charlotte Center City.

For the 2014 calendar year, authors in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences researched, wrote or edited 32 books on an array of topics including primates of Vietnam, trends in drug use and distribution, Hispanic children’s literature, middle class white anti-racism, stalled peacemaking in Israel and Palestine, the meltdown of the middle class, the U.S. Court of Appeals, HIV/AIDS, ethics and reality TV and discourse analysis.

The college recognized the authors and funding recipients at a celebration in the Harris Alumni Center prior to winter break.

JuliAnna Ávila, assistant professor of English, is the co-recipient of the prestigious Edward Fry Book Award for “Critical Digital Literacies as Social Praxis: Intersections and Challenges.”

Murray Webster, professor of sociology, is the 2015 winner of the Cooley-Mead Award from the American Sociological Association’s Social Psychology Section.

The Cooley-Mead Award, established in 1978, is given annually to an individual who has made lifetime contributions to distinguished scholarship in sociological social psychology. In addition to receiving the award, the recipient presents an address to the Social Psychology Section at the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting in August. The award is the top honor presented by the section.

Vivian Lord, professor of criminal justice and criminology and director of the Mediation Program, will discuss “Suicide by Cop: Practical Direction for Recognition, Resolution and Recovery” as part of the UNC Charlotte Alumni Association’s “Nuggets of Knowledge” series. Lord will share information about real-world tactics that have successfully resolved “suicide-by-cop” situations.

President Abraham Lincoln’s Jan. 1, 1863, Emancipation Proclamation set in motion the abolition of African American slavery, a move he later described metaphorically as a “king’s cure” for America’s “evils.”  Lincoln’s emancipation edict also authorized the mobilization of African Americans to serve in the federal armies to suppress the Confederates’ insurrection.

Akin Ogundiran, chair of the Africana Studies Department, is the co-editor of the recent work “Materialities of Ritual in the Black Atlantic,” published by Indiana University Press.