College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences

With resources provided through the Levine Scholars Program and the Department of Geography & Earth Sciences, student Danielle Miller has led an effort to create a weather studio in the McEniry Building for meteorology students to use to hone their skills. “I knew we needed a space to have higher quality equipment, to get more real life experience and help our students be better prepared,” she says.

Africana Studies outgoing chair Akin Ogundiran will serve as Editor-in-Chief of African Archaeological Review (AAR). This is the oldest continent-wide journal in the field of African archaeology. The five-year appointment will provide students with the opportunity to be part of the editorial process of a major international journal, in addition to providing UNC Charlotte with more visibility as a research university, Ogundiran said.

A photo of a rusted shovel with a broken handle, aged by years of harsh Appalachian weather and hard work, sat on display in UNC Charlotte’s Atkins Library during most of November. Seth Flynn, the creator, is a senior who is minoring in gerontology; he submitted it as part of a contest hosted by the Gerontology Program, with the support of the Gerontology Club and the J. Murrey Atkins Library, which asked students to answer the question: “How do you see aging?” The work and the touching story behind it earned Flynn first place in the competition.

In his 2017 memoir At Home, Away From Home, UNC Charlotte’s Tanure Ojaide speaks of the indelible impressions from his early years in Nigeria. In his words, “One does not forget what one yearns for at heart.” At age 70, many of his poems, short stories, critical essays, and books serve as activist works calling out for justice and fairness for the people and the ecosystem of the Niger Delta.

UNC Charlotte psychology alumna Laura Clark has been named the head of the United Way of Central Carolinas, which announced her as its new president and chief executive officer effective September 7. Clark became the sixth leader in the organization’s 86-year history. She earned a master’s degree in clinical/community psychology from UNC Charlotte and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Appalachian State University.

The Greater Charlotte Apartment Association has named UNC Charlotte alumna Kim S. Graham as its new executive director. Graham earned a Master of Public Administration degree from UNC Charlotte and most recently served as senior vice president of outreach and fund development with The Housing Partnership, a Charlotte-based housing nonprofit corporation.

Flu season is upon us once again. This October marked the 100th anniversary of the Influenza Epidemic (Spanish Flu) of 1918 in North Carolina, and we can learn lessons from the historic event. Lauren Austin, who earned her Public Policy Ph.D. and master’s degree in History from UNC Charlotte, researched this influenza pandemic, which left citizens “afraid to breathe,” as she describes it. Her research, with co-author Dr. William P. Brandon, appears in the book, “North Carolina’s Experience during the First World War,” co-edited by UNC Charlotte history professors Dr. Steven Sabol and Dr. Shepherd McKinley.

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Senior Associate Dean Shawn Long has received the Lyman T. Johnson Torch of Excellence Award from the University of Kentucky Lyman T. Johnson African American alumni group, honoring his impact on other people’s lives.

Akin Ogundiran, professor and chair of the Africana Studies Department, was inducted as a Visiting Fellow of Magdalene College, University of Cambridge. This honor recognizes his preeminent status as a researcher and scholar of emergent societies and social complexity in Yorubaland, Atlantic Africa and the African Diaspora during the past 700 years.

Gregory Mixon, professor of history, recently received the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council Award for Excellence in Research Using the Holdings of Archives. He was honored for the book, “Show Thyself a Man: Georgia State Troops, Colored, 1865-1905.”