University Operations

A bigger, better Belk Gym was on display Monday as campus leaders, students, faculty and staff celebrated the re-opening of a facility built in 1970.

Bernadette Donovan-Merkert, chair of the Chemistry Department, discusses the need for increased lab space for the sciences; the Connect NC bond would provide funding for a new science building at UNC Charlotte.

Efforts to remove Belk Tower are still under way. Inclement weather postponed D.H. Griffin Companies’ schedule to dismantle the structure during winter break.

In October 2015, the decision was announced to remove the Belk Tower due to significant structural issues and repairs and renovations estimated at approximately $1 million.  The UNC Charlotte Board of Trustees agreed unanimously to establish an immediate pedestrian safety zone around the tower, which will remain until the structure is dismantled within the next week.

The entire campus community will soon notice improved Wi-Fi connectivity as a result of the University’s new wireless vendor, Aruba Networks and the company’s new “Wave 2” access point technology.

Mike Carlin, vice chancellor for information technology and CIO for the University, along with other ITS leaders, carefully vetted different wireless solutions to select the most appropriate option for the state’s urban research institution.

Nearly 3,550 undergraduate and graduate students will receive degrees during commencement exercises on Saturday, Dec. 19.

These graduates will swell the ranks of UNC Charlotte alumni, and they will have an impact in the greater Charlotte community and across the nation, said Jenny Jones, executive director of alumni affairs.

Fourteen individuals representing the campus community and the city have been named to the Belk Plaza Design Committee.

Appointed by Chancellor Philip L. Dubois, the committee will assist the Charlotte architectural firm of LandDesign to transform Belk Plaza, the historic core quadrangle in which the Belk Tower is located. Earlier this year, the University announced plans to dismantle the tower due to significant structural deficiencies and deterioration.

On Nov. 5, Chancellor Philip L. Dubois sent a letter by email to all faculty and staff in which he reiterated a message from his August Convocation address: that the University will once again address compensation for employees

UNC Charlotte’s latest piece of public artwork, “Aperture,” was formally dedicated at a ceremony on Thursday, Nov. 5, near Hechenbleikner Lake.

The creation of artist John Medwedeff, the new artwork is a steel sculpture that is mounted on a bearing, which can be rotated to present different views of the lake and surrounding campus buildings.

Longtime University benefactor Irwin “Ike” Belk, who commissioned the work, was unable to attend the dedication ceremony. He was represented by his son, Carl Belk.

A pedestrian safety zone surrounds the Belk Tower, and the zone will remain until the tower is dismantled during winter break. Campus leaders now are focused on planning to revitalize what will be known as Belk Plaza.

LandDesign, a Charlotte-based urban design and landscape architecture firm, has been hired to provide recommendations for an improved aesthetic design of the quadrangle that is located in the historic core of the main campus.

Margaret Spellings, president of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas and former U.S. Secretary of Education, was elected president of the 17-campus University of North Carolina during a special meeting of the UNC Board of Governors Oct. 23.