Stake Your Claim

The UNC Charlotte College of Education is officially home to one of the nation’s top foreign language teacher educators. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) has selected Scott Kissau to receive the Anthony Papilia Award, an honor presented to one person annually for excellence in teacher education. The award recognizes a teacher, educator or author who has significantly influenced the lives of countless students and practicing teachers.

A team of four UNC Charlotte students was recognized with the People’s Choice Award in the 2016 Teradata University Network (TUN) Data Challenge, an international data analytics competition.

Laxmi Narayana Atluri, Sri Harsha Degala, Vrushali Sawant and Freddy Cabrera, all graduate students in data science and business analytics, demonstrated their findings at the 2016 Teradata PARTNERS Conference and Expo, and won the support of 3,500 of the world’s most advanced data and analytics experts and business leaders.

Music student Ben Shafer was accepted for Music House, an international music festival hosted by the Philadelphia Orchestra. This intensive training program, held on the campus of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania from June 15 through July 1, provides college students and young professionals the opportunity to work directly with musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra in private lessons, master classes, seminars and orchestral rehearsals and performances.

An unfolding partnership between an interdisciplinary team at UNC Charlotte and the Camino Community Center is helping to address the mental health needs of Charlotte’s Latino community.

Counseling student LaTonya Summers is one of 22 doctoral scholars across the United States to be selected for the Minority Fellowship Program by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC).

As a result of this honor, Summers will receive $20,000 and training to support her education and facilitate her efforts with underserved minority populations.

UNC Charlotte employees demonstrate devotion to duty, display innovation, participate in community/public service efforts and engender better human relations. For their efforts, staff members are nominated for and recognized as Employees of the Year. For 2016, the University honored Lebra Nance, Lee Beard, Paul Taylor and Dorothy Vick.

Needing multiple units of an expensive piece of equipment to complete his doctoral project, mechanical engineering student Sajad Kafashi decided to invent and build his own. Now, in addition to finishing his Ph.D., he is commercializing his invention, which he calls the Saji Waveform Generator.

Aayla Alexander, a graduate student in social work, is the 2016 recipient of the Presidents’ Award from the National Association of Social Workers North Carolina chapter (NASW-NC).

According to the association, Alexander was selected for exhibiting a “dedication to the social work profession through her academic excellence, community involvement and professional experience,” and the award honors her “exceptional leadership skills and professional potential.”

Edd Hauser, director of the Center for Transportation Policy Studies and the Center for Disaster Studies, recently received the academic Lifetime Achievement in Transportation Research and Education Award from the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC).

Forbes has named Chris Tyler, a 2015 mechanical engineering Ph.D. graduate of the Lee College of Engineering, to its 2016 30 Under 30 list.