College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences

UNC Charlotte researcher Cheryl L. Brown delivered a keynote talk at the Duke-UNC China Leadership Summit on April 9, titled “China’s Evolving Role in Cybersecurity and Hyperconnectedness in the Internet of Things.” Other keynote speakers included Joseph Nye of Harvard University and Thomas Christensen of Princeton University.

When the Charlotte literary festival Novello ended in 2010 after a successful 15-year streak, a huge gap emerged in Charlotte’s creative market. This considerable loss has inspired Mark West, children’s literature professor and chair of the English Department at UNC Charlotte, to create a new literary festival to be held on May 6, 2017 at UNC Charlotte Center City.

UNC Charlotte history professor Mark Wilson has won two top international prizes from the Business History Conference for his book, Destructive Creation: American Business and the Winning of World War II, including the Hagley Prize for the best book in business history in the previous year. Wilson also was co-recipient of the Gomory Prize, in the first time a scholar has won the organization’s two major book awards.

In his acclaimed book, Destructive Creation: American Business and the Winning of World War II, research by UNC Charlotte history professor Mark Wilson offers a fresh and fascinating look. During World War II, the United States transformed its massive economic capacities into military might, which proved critical to winning the war against the Axis powers.

UNC Charlotte researchers have examined over one million tweets sent during the protests of the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte in September 2016. This research holds implications for understanding the role of cluster tweets and other public relations strategies in relation to online activism.

As temperatures spike each spring, mosquitos start to swarm. They bring with them an increased risk of mosquito-borne diseases and a need to understand how to guard against these pesky – and at times dangerous – insects. Researchers at UNC Charlotte and the Mecklenburg County Health Department are collaborating on a study to determine which factors in the environment lead to hotspots of mosquito activity, in a project led by doctoral student Ari Whiteman.

Heather Smith, professor of geography and earth sciences and director of the doctorate in Geography and Urban Regional Analysis, is the 2017 recipient of the Harshini V. de Silva Graduate Mentor Award. She was honored at a ceremony on Thursday, March 30, at the Harris Alumni Center at Johnson Glen.

Hollywood writer and producer Calvin Brown Jr. is serving as the 2017 Africana Studies Artist-in-Residence from March 13-March 23, 2017. Brown, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate and native Charlottean, Brown will guest lecture in classes, meet with students in a brown bag question-and-answer session, and work with select students to produce a short film on the history of the Africana Studies Department.

For his leadership in foreign language education throughout North Carolina and nationally, UNC Charlotte’s Bobby Hobgood has received a “lifetime achievement award” as the recipient of a Foreign Language Association of North Carolina Honorary Life Member Award.

Nancy Gutierrez, dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at UNC Charlotte, has been named a trustee of the North Carolina Humanities Council for a three-year term. The organization provides ways for North Carolinians to engage with one another through the humanities. All the programs support lifetime learning in North Carolina through the humanities, especially literature, history, art, music and philosophy.