Research

UNC Charlotte faculty member and alumna Dina Massachi has followed a long and winding road to build her extensive knowledge and understanding of L. Frank Baum, author of the enduring classic, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. She is one of the experts chosen to provide insights on Baum in a PBS documentary “American Oz,” which premieres on April 19.

The latest U.S. News & World Report rankings place the Gerald G. Fox Master of Public Administration at #48 nationally, with the program moving into top 17 percent of all ranked public affairs programs. For UNC Charlotte’s nationally accredited MPA program, its ranking marks a 19% increase over last year’s results.

Akin Ogundiran, a Chancellor’s Professor and professor of Africana Studies, Anthropology and History,  is the 2021 recipient of the First Citizens Bank Scholars Medal, UNC Charlotte’s most prestigious faculty award, in recognition of excellence in research. undiran is a renowned archaeologist and transdisciplinary scholar-teacher who has consistently used diverse research methods in the humanities, social sciences and physical sciences to study African and African Diaspora history, with an emphasis on the Yoruba civilization.

To most observers, the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, illustrates how extremist groups have increased in power and visibility. UNC Charlotte’s Shannon Reid, associate professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, describes the criminality and violence exhibited during the Capitol riots as a major concern.

New UNC Charlotte social and behavioral sciences research on gender inequality indicates that fewer leadership prospects in the workplace apply even to women who show the most promise early on in their academic careers.

Former FEMA Administrator Brock Long will headline UNC Charlotte’s third annual “Talking Policy in the Queen City” symposium on Feb. 24, hosted by the Public Policy Ph.D. and MPA programs with UNC Charlotte Urban Institute.

Eighteen researchers in UNC Charlotte’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (CLAS) are among the top 2% percent of the world’s most cited researchers, detailed in a Stanford University study. CLAS researchers from five academic departments represent almost 45 percent of the UNC Charlotte researchers on the list.

Jason Black, chair of the Department of Communication Studies, in early 2020 received a Fulbright award in support of a cross-cultural study of the indigenous mascotting controversy in Canadian and U.S. cultures of sport. Black was based at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, when the COVID-19 pandemic cut his trip short. Yet, he’s stayed on track to publish his second book on mascotting issues.

Despite the critical nature of authorship to researchers, their institutions and the public, just 24% of U.S. doctoral-granting universities with very high or high research activity have published institutional authorship policies, UNC Charlotte researchers Lisa Rasmussen and George Banks and their colleagues have discovered.

As people react to the 2020 U.S. presidential election results, we have turned to the animal kingdom to see how animal societies make decisions and resolve conflict. We asked CLAS researchers to consider what we can learn from animal societies. Alan Rauch, an English professor, earned degrees in zoology and literature, and he studies and writes about dolphins. Stanley Schneider, a biologist, studies honey bees and their hive behavior. Anthropologist Lydia Light researches gibbons and other primates.