Community Engagement

Drive by UNC Charlotte Center City at night before Sunday, Oct. 6, and see it “pretty in pink” in support of the Queen City in Pink Initiative and national Breast Cancer Awareness month.
According to Donell Stines-Jones, starting at dusk, the building’s internal stairwell from the first to 12th floors shines “bright pink.” Reusable sleeves that cover the florescent bulbs are responsible for the temporary transformation.

Ever calculated the odds behind whether your favorite team should punt or go for it – or who’s really number one? Charlotte Teachers Institute will tackle these and other tough questions related to the intersection of sports and math in its “Exploding Canons” event on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
This next installment of CTI’s flagship speakers’ series will take place from 5:30 to 8 p.m. the EPIC Building, next to the Jerry Richardson Stadium.

More Americans die annually from sudden cardiac arrest than breast and lung cancer, stroke and AIDS combined. Increasing bystander medical awareness and training to aid individuals who experience sudden cardiac arrest is the impetus for the Lucky Hearts Campaign.

James Cook, professor of psychology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is the first recipient of the Provost’s Faculty Award for Community Engagement.

Established in 2012, the award honors a tenured faculty member whose teaching, research and service embodies the University’s commitment to civic involvement and whose work strengthens the relationship between UNC Charlotte and the larger community.

College of Health and Human Services professor Jeffrey Shears recently partnered with local nonprofit organization, Communities In Schools, to host the Mecklenburg County Fatherhood Summit.
The event, which took place on Thursday, July 11, at UNC Charlotte Center City, drew nearly 200 attendees. The Fatherhood Summit is part of a larger initiative to bring greater attention to the importance of offering resources and programs for fathers in order to increase the number of men involved in the lives of their children.  

Jennifer Weller, an associate professor of bioinformatics and genomics in the College of Computing and Informatics (CCI), is helping Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS)students to fight chestnut blight, an Asian fungus that has killed off billions of American chestnut trees since 1904.
Weller is working with Olympic High School science teachers Jeanne Smith and Erica Putnam through the school’s B-3 Summer Program, which focuses on biotechnology, biodiversity and bioinformatics at Olympic’s School of Biotechnology, Health and Public Administration.

The Charlotte Action Research Project (CHARP) will host a neighborhood campus forum from 5:45 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, May 29, in Cone University Center, Room 210.
According to organizers, the forum is designed to connect UNC Charlotte faculty, staff and students with research opportunities with residents of Charlotte’s low-income and minority neighborhoods.
During a series of workshops, CHARP partners identified five research themes for further study: neighborhood change, spatial justice, empowerment and citizen rights, communities and schools and neighborhood safety.

The UNC Charlotte Model United Nations team recently ended the 2012-13 academic year as the most successful in the group’s history. The team earned 66 awards in the fall and spring, hosted training conferences for area high schools and colleges and attended six conferences.

More than 50 interactive, hands-on activities and displays will be featured during the UNC Charlotte Science and Technology Expo, set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday, April 21, on the plaza near the Student Union.
This free, public event will offer something of interest for virtually every member of the family, according to expo organizers.
Examples of expo activities include:

As part of the University’s celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the Multicultural Resource Center will host “The State of Asian Affairs in Charlotte” at 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 10, in Student Union, Room 200.