Honors & Awards

Students from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences earned top honors for their research at UNC Charlotte’s 15th annual Graduate Research Symposium, held in April, 2015 in the J. Murrey Atkins Library. This year’s theme, “Learning Across Disciplines,” emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of the symposium.

With their naming as the 2015 Pharr/Buchenau Travel Grant recipients, UNC Charlotte history graduate students Chris Kinley and Marissa Nichols will travel abroad to study Greece and World War I and the impact of the 1942 smallpox epidemic in Mexico.

The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences will add the position of Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Diversity to the Dean’s Office in 2015-16. Shawn Long, currently chair of the Department of Communication Studies, will assume this role on July 1.

UNC Charlotte historian Aaron Shapiro has received The Midwestern History Association’s annual Jon Gjerde Prize for the best book on a Midwestern history topic for his book “The Lure of the North Woods: Cultivating Tourism in the Upper Midwest.”

Dena Shenk, professor of anthropology and graduate coordinator of the Gerontology Program, is the 2015 recipient of UNC Charlotte’s Harshini V. de Silva Award; the honor is presented annually to a faculty member who best exemplifies de Silva’s commitment to graduate students.

Dena Shenk, graduate director of UNC Charlotte’s Gerontology Program and professor of anthropology, has received the Mildred Seltzer Distinguished Service Recognition from the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education.

Charles J. Brody, associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UNC Charlotte, has been named vice president of academic affairs at Misericordia University in Dallas, PA. He begins his new role at Misericordia on July 1.

UNC Charlotte English professor Jeffrey Leak has won the top award for a nonfiction book from The Black Caucus of the American Library Association, Inc. for his critically acclaimed work, Visible Man: The Life of Henry Dumas.

UNC Charlotte historian Shepherd W. McKinley’s book, “Stinking Stones and Rocks of Gold: Phosphate, Fertilizer, and Industrialization in Postbellum South Carolina,” has been named the best book of South Carolina history published last year.

Roslyn Arlin Mickelson has been named the 2014 University Professor of UNC Charlotte in recognition of her outstanding scholarly achievement in a professional field, as well as demonstrated ability to excel in interdisciplinary research, teaching, and service. The University Professor is recommended to the Board of Trustees by the Chancellor and holds this title for life.