College News

Scholarship recipients Zach Bessant and Toni Moss have benefitted from scholarships and other life-changing opportunities offered through OASES. They shared their stories at the recent OASES scholarship event.

Heather A. Smith’s students and colleagues have long praised her generosity and inclusivity. For the exceptional way she mentors others, the UNC Charlotte geographer has received the 2023 Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award from the American Association of Geographers. Smith’s professional interests and mentoring strengths have guided a generation of geography students who have carried the impact into other spaces and places.

A book by Amanda Pipkin, History Department chair and professor, has received the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender’s national 2022 Best Book Award. Through compelling, detailed case studies of women, the researcher reveals the vital contributions women made to the spread and practice of the Reformed faith.

Earning probation or parole may be challenging, but having it revoked is surprisingly easy – clogging prison systems and derailing an individual’s ability to build a productive life. Nationwide, one in four state prison admissions in 2017 were a result of a technical violation by someone on supervised release. With support from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), UNC Charlotte professor Shelley Johnson and her colleagues are building and piloting a novel approach they hope will break the cycle of recidivism and lead to a new national model for parole and probation practices.

Christian Rios is a double major in political science and history with a minor in American studies. His involvement on campus ranges from being a Niner guide, previously a Student Senator and now the current Student Government Association chief of staff. He also participates in the Mock Trial club and works in the Popp Martin Student Union as a reservation specialist. As a senior, he will be the first in his family to obtain a high school diploma and to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. 

To support the first translation into English of an extensive 12th-century Persian poem that presents a Sufi spiritual journey, UNC Charlotte’s William Sherman has received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The $48,371 award will enable continued work on a critical collaborative translation of a poem called the “Musibat-Namah,” or “The Divine Tragedy,” by Sufi poet Farid al-Din ‘Attar.

UNC Charlotte researchers and the Gaston County Department of Health and Human Services have created the Gaston Water Map, a website with tools that map known groundwater quality in the county. The site also provides resources on best practices households can use to understand their well water quality. The researchers have mailed more than 8,000 postcards to residents, encouraging them to locate their addresses on the interactive maps on the website.

An article by UNC Charlotte researcher Andrea J. Pitts and colleagues published in the world’s leading medical journal details how competing interests in academic medicine can harm patient care and perpetuate structural racism. Published in early June in the New England Journal of Medicine, the article explores the tensions found in academic residency clinics, as doctors deal with dual loyalties to their patients and their academic institutions.

UNC Charlotte Professor of History Mark Wilson is one of 28 exceptional scholars, journalists and authors chosen as members of the 2022 Class of Andrew Carnegie Fellows. Wilson will receive a $200,000 stipend to conduct significant research and writing.

The nation’s most prestigious academic honor society, Phi Beta Kappa, installed a new chapter at UNC Charlotte on April 20. Following the installation, the new Theta of North Carolina chapter inducted 68 UNC Charlotte students, selected for their academic excellence in the arts and sciences. The chapter also inducted 11 Foundation members, each chosen for their commitment to the ideals of the liberal arts and sciences.

UNC Charlotte has been recognized for some of the best graduate programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, including the MPA program and statistics track in the Applied Math Ph.D. in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

UNC Charlotte’s new Phi Beta Kappa chapter, Theta of North Carolina, will induct its first class of Phi Beta Kappa students  on Wednesday, April 20, 2022. The chapter also will be officially installed at the ceremony that will include UNC Charlotte students, faculty, staff and alumni, and community leaders.