Community Engagement

America’s middle class is suffering an economic meltdown that threatens the sector of society long considered the nation’s bedrock. UNC Charlotte author and researcher Scott Fitzgerald will dissect these troubles and explore ways to regain prosperity, on Thursday, September 18 at 6:30 p.m. at UNC Charlotte Center City.

UNC Charlotte researcher Margaret M. Quinlan and colleagues won a regional EMMY® on August 2 for The Courage of Creativity, a documentary series that explores the role that artists and creativity can play in people’s well-being in health-related contexts.

Robin Emmons never anticipated the fame her social justice advocacy would bring to her Charlotte-area nonprofit, Sow Much Good. Emmons nurtures her national and regional honors as intentionally as she does the bees, chickens, and produce on her farm sites. They are a way to further the cause and increase awareness of food access and issues of social justice in marginalized communities.

People who live in food deserts in Charlotte struggle to find healthy fresh food. Lauren Whipp, who as an undergraduate anthropology major began researching the topic, takes this issue personally. While she has long been interested in the topic, Whipp expanded her formal research into food access issues as an undergraduate Charlotte Research Scholar in the summer of 2013.

One way to think about sustainability is as a three-legged stool, with environmental, economic and social sustainability as the legs. Social sustainability is the wobbliest of the three legs, because it is less defined and studied. To help address this aspect of sustainability, various UNC Charlotte faculty have organized the Integrated Network for Social Sustainability.

Effective volunteers are the lifeblood of nonprofit organizations. Without them, nonprofits can wither and even die, so understanding their needs is critical. UNC Charlotte’s Volunteer Program Assessment helps nonprofits understand and respond to their volunteer programs’ strengths and weaknesses. Since 2009, VPA has helped over 120 organizations in 20 states address their needs.

Charlotte Teachers Institute has accepted a new cohort of 104 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teachers into its innovative, interdisciplinary seminars for 2014, involving new partnerships with Discovery Place and the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture.

The U.S Embassy to Belgium and the U.S Mission to the European Union celebrated Black History Month in Brussels by hosting a lively panel discussion including panelist David Goldfield, the Robert Lee Bailey Professor of History at UNC Charlotte. Joining him on the panel were Prof. Maboula Soumahoro of the University of Tours (France), and […]

Eight UNC Charlotte and Davidson College faculty – including four from CLAS – will guide Charlotte Teachers Institute’s 2014 seminar season. Fifty-four Charlotte-Mecklenburg teachers also serve as leaders for CTI, adding to the inclusive and creative focus that distinguishes the unique professional development initiative.

Death is the end of life – often a difficult topic to discuss. UNC Charlotte Professor Jillian Tullis is working to change that. Tullis uses her personal experiences, combined with the experiences and knowledge she has gained working with hospices and cancer centers, to improve the ways people view and communicate about death. “Attitudes about […]