College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences

For his outstanding contributions to industrial and organizational psychology, UNC Charlotte Psychological Science Department Chair Eric D. Heggestad has been named a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP).

UNC Charlotte Chancellor’s Professor Steven Rogelberg is the 2019 recipient of the First Citizens Bank Scholars Medal, UNC Charlotte’s most prestigious faculty award in recognition of excellence in research. He was honored formally at an awards ceremony Tuesday, April 2, at the Harris Alumni Center at Johnson Glen.

The impact of transition for a transgender individual extends far beyond the self to their families, friends, colleagues and community. UNC Charlotte’s Aliaga-Buchenau Witness in Residence Initiative will host a community conversation on Tuesday, April 9, that explores transgender lives in the context of family, friends and communities.

UNC Charlotte professor Jeffrey Leak has been named an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow for the 2019-20 academic year. He is one of 39 individuals selected nationwide for this prestigious professional development opportunity. Leak is a faculty member in the departments of English and Africana Studies.

UNC Charlotte’s German Studies and Japanese Studies are number two and four, respectively, in the nation when it comes to awarding undergraduate degrees. The national rankings speak to a concerted effort by faculty, staff, students and partners of the Department of Languages and Culture Studies to ensure that what students are learning is not only challenging, but also relevant, said Ann Gonzalez, chair of the department.

UNC Charlotte’s nationally accredited Gerald G. Fox Master of Public Administration program has been ranked in the top 21% of 285 public affairs programs nationwide that were included in U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 Best Graduate Schools rankings, released on March 12. The UNC Charlotte program ranked #60 nationally, with or ahead of much larger public affairs programs that were part of the rankings. The program also has achieved national specialty area rankings, including #16 in local government management, #22 in urban policy, and #27 in public finance and budgeting.

Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys region is one of the coldest, driest, and windiest places on the planet. Temperatures in this area can plunge to 58 degrees below zero. Its deposits and landforms contain records of past climate not accessible elsewhere in the world. Antarctica’s unique climate enticed UNC Charlotte earth sciences researcher Martha Cary Eppes and her research colleagues to spend weeks camping out in a tent in the sub-zero temperatures, in order to – literally – monitor and listen to rocks as they fracture.

A team of UNC Charlotte graduate students is headed to Washington, D.C. to tackle the real-world problem of global migration, through an innovative national simulation competition called “The Refugee Simulation.” This year’s competition will focus on the issue of forced migration and refugees. The UNC Charlotte team and other teams will be asked to balance their budgets and their humanity, facing the underlying question of what sacrifices they are willing to make.

UNC Charlotte Associate Professor of English Janaka Bowman Lewis will spend four weeks this summer in residency at the National Humanities Center in the Research Triangle Park, working on a project about “Black Girlhood and the Power of Belonging.” Lewis will join a select group of about 40 scholars from across the nation who have been chosen to do research in residency at the Center.

Men hold nearly all primary breadwinning positions in top income households, and the glass ceiling that has hindered women’s advancement in the workplace is more extensive than previously thought, a new study by UNC Charlotte researcher Jill Yavorsky and colleagues finds.