College News
As part of the effort to advance experiential learning for students, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences faculty and staff learned best practices during a two-day workshop in June with Worcester Polytechnic Institute facilitators. The primary goal of the workshop was to explore how to integrate project-based learning throughout CLAS.
From planting American flags at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, to performing ‘Amazing Grace’ at the Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial, members of the Pride of Niner Nation are representing UNC Charlotte and the United States at the 74th commemoration of D-Day. Over 40 of the student musicians are majors or double-majors in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.
This summer, dozens of College of Liberal Arts & Sciences undergraduate students from varied majors and disciplines will gain experience in research through UNC Charlotte initiatives that emphasize learn-by-doing models. They also will benefit from professional development opportunities, mentoring and interactions with each other.
CLAS students and their family and friends – along with UNC Charlotte faculty, staff and dignitaries – celebrated the students’ successes at the May 2018 Commencement ceremonies.
Kevin Chauncey, a master’s student in English, received the UNC Charlotte Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, presented by the Graduate School. The award honors students nominated by faculty supervisors for their work as teaching assistants, recognizing outstanding and innovative teaching techniques.
Andrea Pitts, an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy at UNC Charlotte, has received a six-month Career Enhancement Fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. With the fellowship, Pitts will work on a book project in fall 2018, analyzing structural racism and linguistic communication.
For her transformational impact on international education at UNC Charlotte, Anabel Aliaga-Buchenau, associate professor of German, is the 2018 recipient of the International Education Faculty Award. Notable contributions include a keen focus on expanding opportunities for students to study, work and intern abroad, with a parallel focus on growing community partnerships to support students. She also has grown academic offerings and community outreach.
Joyce Dalsheim, a cultural anthropologist in the Department of Global Studies, has been selected as a 2018 Luce/ACLS Fellow in Religion, Journalism & International Affairs. She will use her ethnographic research in Israel/Palestine to engage in a critical examination of the relationship between sovereignty and liberation, focusing on questions of religion and religious freedom. Her work adds new perspective to a broad set of interdisciplinary conversations on secularism and citizenship in the modern world.
Jordan Flynn, a senior criminal justice major from Mebane, North Carolina, is UNC Charlotte’s 2018 Student Employee of the Year. He was honored for his work since fall 2016 as a maintenance assistant in Housing and Residence Life (HRL).
Anita West Moss, 74, professor of English, died Wednesday, April 11 following a brief illness. Described as an avid reader, lover of fine film and theater, enlightened conversationalist, and progressive intellectual, Moss joined UNC Charlotte’s Department of English in 1972 and continued teaching until a week before her death.
Michele Bissière from UNC Charlotte’s Department of Languages and Cultural Studies in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences is among the recipients of the 2018 UNC Board of Governors Awards for Excellence in Teaching.
UNC Charlotte’s nationally accredited Gerald G. Fox Master of Public Administration program has been ranked in the top 21% of 282 public affairs programs nationwide that were included in U.S. News & World Report’s 2019 Best Graduate Schools rankings. “This ranking reflects a top tier program on the rise and is a testament to the quality of our program,” said MPA Director Tom Barth.