Student Stories

Students from the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences swept the 2025 Honors College Dean’s Prizes, which were awarded for their outstanding honors capstone theses/projects. A virtual award ceremony was held this summer, with winners each receiving a $500 prize. Students were nominated by their respective Honors Program director after they met the […]

Skylar Tirotta fell in love with UNC Charlotte a decade ago, during a Charlotte 49ers Football home game, in the pouring rain.  “Looking back, going to the football game is one of my fondest memories. It was my birthday. There was a hurricane and we got rained out, so my friend and I had to […]

Seth Collings Hawkins, M.D., is embracing lifelong learning by graduating with yet another degree. The emergency medicine physician is building upon the anthropological foundation he began at Yale decades ago, even with one of his same professors. While successfully holding a ton of jobs—emergency and wilderness medicine physician; contract medical director, officer, and adviser to […]

Maya Barbee, a double major in sociology and Spanish, is set to walk the stage at Halton Arena at spring commencement, closing the book on her time at UNC Charlotte. Barbee, an academic overachiever bursting with 49er spirit, says the moment will be bittersweet. “It doesn’t feel real yet, but I’m excited to start a […]

Award-winning Communications major follows his passion for sports journalism Bryson Foster ’23 became a lifelong sports fan in 2009 when he witnessed outfielder Jonny Gomes hit three home runs while attending his first-ever major league baseball game. Foster’s family took him to the Cincinnati Reds home game during a stay for some medical appointments at […]

On December 14, Syreeta Taylor will conclude a journey for her master’s degree that is many years in the making.  Taylor began coursework for a graduate certificate in special education in 2016 and took extra classes to apply towards a master’s degree in the same field. She worked with faculty in the Cato College of […]

Jeremiah Morris rattles off the names of students and faculty he’s connected to without missing a beat. In fact, Morris can’t walk around campus without friends coming up to hug him or say hello. He built an extended network of support he needed at UNC Charlotte to push through and thrive in his education.  Morris […]

Luci Flores is a first-generation college student from Wilmington, North Carolina and a proud Mexican American. She is a double majoring in Spanish and public health. Stepping out of her comfort zone, she is driven by her mother’s dreams and her ambitions to attend college. With graduation around the corner, Flores reflects on her journey, […]

Princela Flores, a junior in the Honors College, is majoring in communications with a focus on public relations. As a first-generation student and daughter of parents from El Salvador, she has built a strong support system on campus, immersing herself in clubs, honors societies and her sorority. She is dedicated to making her mother proud […]

Providence Adu ’24, who earned a Ph.D. in geography, has been awarded this year’s Graduate Dean’s Distinguished Dissertation Award for the dissertation “Analyzing Housing Market Dynamics and Neighborhood Change: A Case Study of Charlotte, North Carolina.” Utilizing the rapidly growing city of Charlotte as a case study, Adu established a framework incorporating spatial statistics tools, natural […]