College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences

Gold Reel Film Festival: X marks the tenth anniversary of the UNC Charlotte student film festival on Friday, April 21 at 6 p.m., celebrating student films at the fabulous Independent Picture House. Students in Rodney Stringfellow’s “Film Festivals: Production & Theory” class in the Film Studies program, part of Interdisciplinary Studies, have organized the festival to showcase films created by over two dozen student filmmakers.

In fall 2024, the city of Charlotte will continue America’s tradition of embracing the adaptable, celebrated fairy tale The Wonderful Wizard of Oz through a community-oriented Oz festival, organized by two UNC Charlotte experts and supported by seed money from North Carolina Humanities. CharlOz will be centered around the book L. Frank Baum wrote in 1900, but which has been interpreted and adapted in ways that continue to reflect America, its values and its diversity.

The five inaugural recipients of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (CLAS) Distinguished Leadership Awards have helped make the college strong, leaders say. Honorees are Twig Branch, Nancy A. Gutierrez, Margaret Kocherga, Boris “Bluz” Rogers and Shawn Long, who was honored posthumously.

Scholarship recipients Zach Bessant and Toni Moss have benefitted from scholarships and other life-changing opportunities offered through OASES. They shared their stories at the recent OASES scholarship event.

Beth Whitaker, a professor of political science, is interim divisional dean for the humanities and social and behavioral sciences within the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. In fall 2021, the University announced it would launch a review of the structure of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

Thinking about death can be terrifying, or at least unsettling. One way we conquer our fear is by telling stories. Storytelling also gives death meaning and significance, as is often seen in the creative works of scholars, artists, writers and philosophers. At the next UNC Charlotte Personally Speaking series talk, on Tuesday March 28, UNC Charlotte expert Christine S. Davis will consider how ideas of death are constructed, using narratives drawn from real life and fiction.

Heather A. Smith’s students and colleagues have long praised her generosity and inclusivity. For the exceptional way she mentors others, the UNC Charlotte geographer has received the 2023 Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award from the American Association of Geographers. Smith’s professional interests and mentoring strengths have guided a generation of geography students who have carried the impact into other spaces and places.

A new book that includes an essay by UNC Charlotte historian Karen L. Cox on myths related to Confederate monuments has landed on The New York Times Best Seller List just nine days after its release, making it an instant best seller. The book, “Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past,” debuted on the hardcover nonfiction list at No. 8.

A book by Amanda Pipkin, History Department chair and professor, has received the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender’s national 2022 Best Book Award. Through compelling, detailed case studies of women, the researcher reveals the vital contributions women made to the spread and practice of the Reformed faith.

Heather Smith, professor of geography, interim chair of the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences and Levine Scholars faculty fellow, has been appointed faculty director of the Levine Scholars Program, effective July 1, 2023. She succeeds Diane Zablotsky, who will return as a faculty member to the Department of Sociology.