Community Engagement

Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, was born March 2, 1904, and in honor of his birthday, UNC Charlotte will hold its annual Seuss-a-thon from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, March 5, at Park Road Books, 4139 Park Road.

During this event, area educators and literacy advocates will read Dr. Seuss books aloud to children in a marathon fashion for four continuous hours. Children will have opportunities to participate in Dr. Seuss-related craft projects.

The UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture and Urban Institute will launch the third year of the KEEPING WATCH initiative with a focus on air quality and the city’s tree canopy. Events will begin in early March and continue through the end of May.

Designed to showcase the field, “Discover Engineering Day” will feature a talk from a NASA expert, tour of EPIC energy labs and the motorsports engineering facility, faculty research displays and more on Saturday, Feb. 20.

Tim Ezell, chief of NASA Systems Development, Integration and Test Division, will speak, and participants will learn more about the Charlotte Engineering Early College, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools facility located near EPIC.

UNC Charlotte will host a Women + Video Games Festival Monday through Sunday, Feb. 15-21. Through a series of workshops, lectures, panel discussions and video screenings, the festival will encourage women and girls to explore game design and programming and to promote a creative gaming culture that is inclusive of individuals, regardless of gender, race or creed.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) teachers will share bright, new ideas for teaching and learning about energy at a Charlotte Teachers Institute (CTI) event scheduled for 5:30 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 4, at the Discovery Place in Uptown Charlotte.

An upcoming free event will examine the story of Latino education in the Carolinas during the last two decades. “Latinos and Education: Success and Challenges,” scheduled for 6 p.m., Monday, Feb. 1, at the Levine Museum of the New South, is presented by the UNC Charlotte College of Education in conjunction with the museum’s exhibit “¡NUEVOlution! Latinos and the New South.”

Teenagers from across the region gathered recently at the UNC Charlotte College of Health and Human Services to learn how to make informed decisions about their health and relationships, and how technology they may take for granted can help them along the way.

The Department of Public Health Sciences partnered with the outreach organization I Am My Sister to offer the “I Am Teen Empowerment Summit” for a third straight year.

UNC Charlotte and TIAA-CREF have a history of partnering on community engagement projects in support of students at Governor’s Village Schools – recently the two institutions expanded their efforts to address food security and college preparedness.

For this year’s Hunger and Homelessness Week, volunteers from the University and TIAA-CREF, a leading financial services and life insurance company, assembled 18,000 meals for Stop Hunger Now in less than three hours. Plans are in the works for another Stop Hunger Now meal assembly at Vance High School in December.

More than 1,000 National Guard members serving in Bosnia will get holiday greetings from UNC Charlotte as a result of the University’s #GivingTuesday event.

“UNC Charlotte’s founding was in part to serve veterans returning from World War II, so it was exciting to see so many students, faculty and staff members come together to support North Carolina National Guard members who will be serving overseas during the holidays,” said Shayna Long, assistant director of annual giving in the Division of University Advancement.

More than 300 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools high school students spent the day at UNC Charlotte recently to explore careers in teaching. Hosted by the College of Education, Future 49ers Teach painted a picture of the teaching profession and of student life at UNC Charlotte.