Community Engagement

Masks have served as a symbol of cultures around the world for centuries. Masks are unique and through their appearance, they can communicate about the unique people and cultures they represent. A student-created exhibit in the Languages Resource Center communicates about cultures while using visual and digital features.

UNC Charlotte community garden co-founders Jake Emerson and Kevin Rodengen see the garden as an opportunity for students to shape a space that meets their needs and the needs of the community.

Artists, musicians, authors and performers will enliven the second annual Center City Literary Festival on October 17 and 18 at UNC Charlotte Center City.

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.