College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences

Unemployment significantly increases the odds of men entering jobs traditionally performed by women. Notably, some men find real job advantages as a result, a study published in the journal “Social Science Research” by Jill Yavorsky of UNC Charlotte and Janette Dill of the University of Minnesota finds.

Senior Neariah Mandisa-Drummond is the 2019 recipient of the John H. Barnhill Civic Trailblazer Award. While at UNC Charlotte, Mandisa-Drummond – a Communication Studies and Spanish major in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences – has developed a passion for serving people as a member of the institution’s inaugural class of Bonner Leaders.

Longtime UNC Charlotte professor Dr. Susan Cernyak-Spatz passed away on Nov. 17, 2019. Born in Vienna, Austria, Spatz survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, as well as the death march, during the Holocaust. She taught German language and literature in the Department of Languages and Culture Studies, and was instrumental in the creation of Holocaust studies at UNC Charlotte.

A book by UNC Charlotte history professor Karen L. Cox about Confederate monuments is one of the first four books under contract in the newly created Marcie Cohen Ferris and William R. Ferris Imprint for high-profile, general-interest books about the American South. Authors chosen are considered among the nation’s leading authors.

Janaka Lewis, associate professor of English, received the 2019 Bonnie E. Cone Early Career Professorship for Teaching in recognition of her strong commitment to teaching.

In the new book Dear Delia: The Civil War Letters of Captain Henry F. Young, Seventh Wisconsin Infantry, UNC Charlotte historian John David Smith and coauthor Micheal J. Larson have provided a deeper look at Young’s letters through their detailed research and annotations. On Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 3 p.m., Smith will sign copies of the acclaimed book at Barnes and Noble Charlotte bookstore in the Popp Martin Student Union.

Nancy A. Gutierrez, dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at UNC Charlotte, has been elected chair of the North Carolina Humanities Council Board of Trustees for 2019-2020. The Board of Trustees seeks to make the humanities accessible statewide.

Akinwumi Ogundiran, a transdisciplinary scholar and professor in the Departments of Africana Studies, Anthropology and History, is now designated as a Chancellor’s Professor at UNC Charlotte. This campus honor recognizes his outstanding scholarly achievement and demonstrated excellence in interdisciplinary research, teaching and service.

An outdoor, living exhibit is on its way to the UNC Charlotte campus to tell the story of North Carolina through plants and crops crucial to the state’s development. A team composed of the university’s Center for the Study of the New South, Botanical Gardens, and Urban Institute received a grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council for the project, “Walking Through Carolina: An Outdoor Living Exhibit.”

Dr. H. Leon Gatlin III, a retired professor in the Department of English at UNC Charlotte, died on October 3, 2019. “The English Department lost a friend, a former colleague, and a link to the department’s origin story,” department Chair Mark West said.