Called the TRAC Project, or Trajectories Related to ADHD in College, the study recognizes that as increasing numbers of young adults with ADHD attend college, there are few guidelines for clinically managing the condition on college campuses. With the aim of helping to develop practices for assessment and treatment that can be used on campuses, the five-year study will explore how ADHD impacts the educational, cognitive, psychological, social and vocational functioning of college students.

The three nationally recognized ADHD researchers are psychologists Dr. Arthur D. Anastopoulos of the UNCG Department of Psychology, serving as lead principal investigator; Dr. George J. DuPaul of the Lehigh University Department of Education and Human Services; and Dr. Lisa L. Weyandt of the University of Rhode Island Department of Psychology.

“This study will advance our understanding of ADHD in young adults by ascertaining the degree to which college students with ADHD experience difficulties across a broad range of outcomes relative to their non-ADHD counterparts,” said Anastopoulos. “It will also give us a better understanding of how the trajectory of functioning may differ between these groups over a four-year period and what factors may predict these trajectories.”

The study will be the first to systematically assess the educational, cognitive, social, psychological and vocational functioning of college students with ADHD, relative to a sample of peers without ADHD. It will also be the first of its kind to shed much needed light on how ADHD and its associated impairments unfold across the college years.

One area in which college students with ADHD have problems is self-regulation. Having the support of parents and school personnel while in high school helps students get through and into college, but two things happen when they set foot on a college campus. Their support system, which serves as a form of treatment, gets withdrawn, while the demands for self-regulation skyrocket. Now they’re managing their college lives on their own – assignments, money, personal life, friends, laundry, car and, not the least, resistance to temptations on campus.

“We believe this is the mechanism whereby a college student with ADHD will have problems,” Anastopoulos said.

Starting this summer, groups of 210 first-year college students will be recruited in two consecutive years for the study across the primary sites in North Carolina (UNCG, Guilford College and High Point University), Rhode Island (University of Rhode Island, Brown University and Rhode Island College) and Pennsylvania (Lehigh University, Muhlenberg College, Cedar Crest College and Moravian College). Each primary site will be responsible for recruiting a total of 70 first-year students – 35 students with ADHD, 35 without – in each cohort.

The study’s results will raise understanding of the natural course of ADHD among college students and identify potential targets for assessment and intervention. The data can help to increase the probability that students with ADHD will succeed and graduate from college, thereby impacting their long-term chances for financial stability and positive mental health.

ADHD is described as a chronic disruptive behavior disorder that is associated with long-term impairment in educational attainment, occupational status and social relationships, as well as increased risk for psychopathology and legal difficulties. The results of a recently conducted national survey involving 250,000 first-year college students found that 5 percent of these incoming students reported having ADHD. Other research has produced data about ADHD and young adults:

• Individuals identified as having ADHD in childhood are significantly less likely to graduate from high school and significantly fewer (20-21 percent) go on to post-secondary education relative to their non-ADHD peers (68-78 percent).
• Children and adolescents with ADHD who do attend college are at increased risk for obtaining significantly lower grade point averages, withdrawing from a significantly greater percentage of courses, and not completing their degree programs relative to control individuals without ADHD.
• Only 9.1 percent of individuals who continued to display ADHD in young adulthood actually graduated from college compared to 60.6 percent of the normal control group.
• The lower rate of college degree attainment among young adults with ADHD has critical implications for the long-term financial and mental health status of this population and society at large.
• Although the exact prevalence of diagnosed ADHD in the college population is unknown, estimates based on large sample studies indicate that approximately 2 to 8 percent of college students report clinically significant symptoms of ADHD.

“Despite these compelling data, we really don’t know a lot about college students with ADHD,” said Anastopoulos. “We’re assuming that those students who get into college have a lot more coping mechanisms and adaptability to help them. Once they’re in college, however, we don’t know what happens to them over time. This study will help document it.”

Dr. Robert Brown

Dr. Robert Brown will retire at the end of July after serving 10 years as dean of UNCG’s Division of Continual Learning (DCL).

Provost David H. Perrin said, “I am grateful to Dean Brown for all he has done to raise the level, profile and quality of online courses and programs at UNCG during his distinguished period of leadership.”

Dr. Jim Eddy will serve as interim dean.

During Brown’s tenure as dean, UNCG has fostered a reputation for high-quality online programs and courses. ECON201, an economics course delivered as a video game, received Gold Award from the U.S Distance Learning Association. Platinum awards were awarded for Western Civilization 101 and 102; and a bronze award was presented for Political Science 105. An International E-Learning Association award was earned for Music 241.

There were no degree programs completely online when Brown’s tenure began. Now, there are 25 online degree and certificate programs: 12 online degree programs, 13 online certificate programs.

Currently, about 40,000 student credit hours each year are in online courses.

Full story at Campus Weekly.

The 4,000-square-foot exhibition, titled “Wild Music: Sound & Songs of Life,” is on display at the Danville Science Center, in Danville, Va., through Sept. 3. It was funded by a $2.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a BioMusic national exhibition for science centers nationwide. BioMusic is the study of musical sounds in and from nature. The “Wild Music” exhibition includes an opportunity to learn how sound works, explore how animals make sounds and offers visitors a chance to make their own soundscape.

The exhibit was developed by the UNCG’s Music Research Institute, the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) and the Science Museum of Minnesota. UNCG’s involvement was led by Dr. Patricia Gray, a professor and senior research scientist in UNCG’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance. Dr. Donald Hodges, the director of the UNCG Music Research Institute, was a science advisor.

Hours and admission prices for the Danville Science Center can be found on the center’s website.

Dr. John Deal

Dr. John Deal, dean of the School of Music, Theatre and Dance, will step down when he completes his term this summer.

A professor of music education, he will return to the Music faculty in 2013.

His term comes to a close June 30, 2012.

Deal became dean of the UNCG School of Music in 2001. He became dean of the School of Music, Theatre and Dance (SMTD) in 2010.

“New deans are hired to take schools to higher levels of excellence, and this is exactly what John Deal has done over the past 11 years,” said Provost David H. Perrin.

Full story at Campus Weekly.

Echinacea constitutes a greater percentage of the multibillion dollar US dietary supplements industry than any other herbal medicines, with annual sales of more than $100 million, the study’s abstract notes: “A major goal of this project is to develop methods to produce Echinacea extracts with consistent, high anti-inflammatory activity. In so doing, we also seek to address a confounding factor in Echinacea research, which is that some immunostimulatory compounds may be produced by bacterial endophytes – microbes living asymptomatically within the Echinacea plant.”

Read more about the study on the Office of Research and Economic Development Office website.

When Bonnie McElveen-Hunter was a child, her mother made her write the word can’t on a piece of paper. They put it in a shoebox and promptly buried it in the backyard.

“Can’t doesn’t exist,” was one of “mother’s pearls of wisdom” that McElveen-Hunter, founder and CEO of Pace Communications, former U.S. ambassador to Finland and current chairman of the American Red Cross, passed on to the 2,500-plus UNCG graduates who received their degrees Friday, May 4. Other “pearls” in her commencement address were reminders that time is precious, that work is a privilege, and that “failure is a comma, not a period.”

She warned them not to underestimate their parents, quoting writer and cultural critic Mark Twain. Twain confessed that at 18 he thought his father was “colossally stupid” but at 21 he was amazed at how much his father had learned in three years.

“You will never be able to love your parents the way your parents love you,” she told the crowd in the Greensboro Coliseum, “but remember today to tell them you love them anyway.”

This prompted shouts of “I love you!” that echoed across the arena.

Some excited graduates donned personalized mortar boards. “Official Teacher Status 2012,” “Thank God I Survived,” “Thanks UNCG,” “Blessed Beyond Any Measure” and “Take Care of All” were just a sampling of the messages they carried.

Chancellor Linda P. Brady conferred 1,888 undergraduate degrees, 552 master’s degrees (including the first degree awarded by the new Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering), 33 education specialist degrees and 49 doctoral degrees. McElveen-Hunter received an honorary doctorate.

Brady said UNCG is remarkable not only for academic excellence but for service. UNCG stands apart, she said, “for the difference our people make, for how the lessons learned are carried forward.”

McElveen-Hunter recalled her own graduation from Stephens College in Missouri. Betty Friedan, feminist author of “The Feminine Mystique” gave the commencement address. Friedan told the students that “the only limitations on your success are self-inflicted.”

McElveen-Hunter took Friedan’s words and her mother’s lessons to heart. She vividly recalled driving to Greensboro in the 70′s in a powder blue Pinto, wearing a polyester pantsuit. Her checking account was overdrawn, but she had a plan to start a magazine for Piedmont Airlines. So Pace Communications was born.

For McElveen-Hunter, altruism is essential to true success. During a time when the future of Pace was in jeopardy, she decided to bump up the company’s tithe to the community from 10 percent to 15 percent of profits.

“We can be first. we can be leaders,” she told graduates. “We do this all by creating a culture of giving back. Ultimately, all we ever keep is what we give away. Some of you will look from success beyond, to significance. All of us human beings will be called to do small things with great love.”

Krista Carter, speaker for the Class of 2012, built her speech on the story of the Spartans, the ancient Greek warriors who lent their name to UNCG.

“The versatility of Spartans was revered,” Carter said. “They were poets, magistrates, ambassadors, and governors as well as soldiers. The Spartan lifestyle included gender equality, a concept unknown to the rest of the classical world. During these times women were similarly educated to men, while no other city-state allowed this to occur. Clearly Spartans did things differently. They sought great things, achieved great things and have remained a fascination throughout time.”

Modernday Spartans carry on that tradition, she said, through academic excellence, service, spirit and perseverance. She also noted the campus’ dedication to multiculturalism.

“Our character is heroic and altruistic,” she said. “We are a catalyst for change. We are strong, dignified, and courageous.”

Hephzibah Roskelly, professor of English, received the UNC Board of Governors’ Teaching Excellence Award during Friday’s ceremony. The award goes to a faculty member at each UNC System campus each year.

Faculty marshal and mace bearer was Dr. Daniel Winkler. Matthew Moss was chief marshal; Seth Parker and Philip Drum were assistant chief marshals. Tassel turner was Ryan Redd.

Dr. Sarah Shoffner represented the Class of 1961 as alumni bell ringer. Cassandra Velarde rang the bell for the  Class of 2012.

This review has occurred in an environment of diminishing resources, changing mandates from the North Carolina General Assembly and UNC Board of Governors, and growing demands for greater efficiencies, effectiveness and accountability in higher education. Since 2007, which marked the beginning of the most significant economic downturn since the Great Depression, colleges and universities have experienced major budget cuts and have been forced to raise tuition to maintain the quality of academic programs. For several years we have endeavored to do more with less. Now we must do better with less.

 I have carefully considered the recommendations provided by the provost and executive vice chancellor. In addition, I have reviewed in great detail the reports of unit-level committees, academic deans and the University Program Review Committee. These reports speak to issues of quality and function/demand across 254 undergraduate and graduate programs offered by UNCG. In addition, I have made myself available to meet with department heads and/or program directors before reaching any final conclusions.

 The attached document conveys my decisions regarding programs identified as exceptionally strong in quality and/or function/demand to be considered for future investment, programs identified as having challenges in quality and/or function/demand with recommendations to strengthen them, and programs recommended for discontinuation. Also listed are programs established within two years of the onset of Academic Program Review that are considered high priority and were not reviewed as part of this process. These decisions were reported to the UNCG Board of Trustees during their meeting earlier today.

 Next steps in this process include preparation of program modification and discontinuation paperwork, notification of substantive changes and approval of teach-out plans by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), and discussions between deans, department heads and faculty regarding any potential faculty reassignments. I have previously noted my commitment to respect the rights of tenured and tenure-track faculty (as specified in the BOG Code and in our own policies and procedures) and to address the needs of students currently enrolled in programs recommended for discontinuation.

 I anticipate forwarding those programs recommended for discontinuation (along with the associated plans noted above) to UNC General Administration for action by the UNC Board of Governors in fall 2012. During the 2012-13 academic year I will ask the provost and executive vice chancellor to work with deans and department heads on the development of plans to strengthen those programs identified as having challenges in quality and/or function/demand.

 Throughout our history, UNCG has risen to meet the challenges and changing circumstances we have faced. We shall do so now. We must become a stronger, more selective and more focused university. The realignments and restructuring that have occurred during the past three years are essential elements of our plan to enhance academic quality, in conjunction with efforts to enhance the undergraduate student profile and build learning communities. The future demands we shift our emphasis from growth to academic quality and student success. The future also demands that we build from our academic and research strengths and capitalize on our historic commitment to community engagement and partnership.

 Academic Program Review, as challenging as it has been for the campus, has identified significant areas of strength and opportunity that will help shape the direction of this university in coming years. The results of this process will inform future decisions by the provost, deans and department heads regarding the investment of resources, including internal reallocation. The areas of strength and opportunities for distinction that have been identified will provide an important foundation as we develop UNCG’s next strategic plan and design the case for the university’s next comprehensive fund-raising campaign.

 Let me extend my thanks and appreciation to the many faculty, staff, students and administrators who invested their valuable time, effort and good judgment throughout this process. These groups include the Program Process Review Committee, which designed the process and adapted aspects of the process as the review proceeded; academic program and department faculty; academic unit-level review committees and the University Program Review Committee; members of the Deans Council; associate deans and department heads/chairs; the UNCG Faculty Senate; past Faculty Senate Chairs who offered the benefit of their long years of experience with this institution; and the UNCG Board of Trustees. Finally, I want to convey my special thanks to David Perrin, provost and executive vice chancellor, for his leadership of this effort.

Chancellor’s Decisions on Academic Program Review

The following programs have been identified as Exceptionally Strong in Quality and/or Function/Demand and should be considered as candidates for future investment, as resources become available. Inclusion of a program on this list does not guarantee that additional resources will be forthcoming. Resources may be allocated to programs not on this list because of factors not adequately represented in the review (e.g., programs not reviewed due to establishment in the past two years).

•           BA Biology (U117,U119,U220)

•           BS Biology (U114,U116,U218)

•           BA English(U155,U157)

•           BA History (U175,U177)

•           BFA Interior Architecture (U540,U791)

•           BA Media Studies (U134)

•           BA Psychology (U215,U217)

•           BS Biochemistry (U860)

•           BS Speech Pathology and Audiology (U143)

•           BM Instrumental Music Educ Cert (U629)

•           BM Choral-General Music Educ Cert (U626)

•           BFA Art: Design (U111)

•           BFA Dance (U431)

•           BFA Acting (U881)

 •           MS Computer Science (G167)

•           MS Counsel and Ed Development (G227,G241,G286,G545,G806,G848)

•           MSN Adult/Gerontological Nursing Practitioner (G653,G725)

•           MSN Nurse Anesthesia (G651,G726)

•           MSN Nursing Administration-Health Management (G683,G603)

•           MSN Nursing Education (G727,G724,G610)

•           MFA Creative Writing (G154)

•           MFA Acting (G773)

•           MSES Counsel and Ed Development (G536,G537,G538,G543,G544,G548,G807,G858)

•           MM Music Education (G830)

•           MS Accounting (G215,G850,G851,G852)

•           MS Biology (G108)

•           MA Speech-Language Pathology (G818)

•           MS Biochemistry (G173)

•           MS Information Systems (G710)

•           MS Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation (G236)

•           MS Gerontology

•           MFA Dance Choreography (G681)

•           MFA Media Studies (G690)

•           MFA Studio Arts (G105)

•           MPA Political Science (G816,G814,G181,G180)

•           MA-PhD Psychology (Experimental) (G794,G795,G796,G811,G812,G797,G798,G799,G184)

•           MA-PhD Psychology (Clinical) (G183,G793,G185)

•           PhD English (G152)

•           PhD Counseling and Counselor Ed. (G211)

•           PhD Nursing Science (G652)

•           PhD Nutrition (G425,G843)

•           PhD Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation (G360)

•           PhD Information Systems (G709)

•           DPH Community Health Education (G713)

•           DMA Music Performance (G581,G587,G588,G589)

•           PhD Human Dev. and Fam. Studies (G410)

•           PhD Music Education(G510)

The following programs have been identified as having challenges with Quality and/or Function/Demand, or have been identified for further study. The APR process suggests they are important to the mission and vision of the University and should be retained with consideration given to the interventions noted.

 BFA in Sculpture (U115)

Consider restructuring the undergraduate studio art degree to provide a more logical configuration of concentrations.

 BA in Philosophy with Pre-Law Concentration (U190)

Begin offering the BA online in Fall, 2012, andconsider making the Pre-Law concentration available online within two years.

 BA in General Music (U602)

Review the implications of recent curricular changes and first-year retention rates on enrollment in this program. This program is the first choice for students who do not wish to pursue performance or education degrees with the School of Music, Theatre and Dance, but has had a significant decline in enrollment over the past five years.

 BS Middle Grades Education 6-9 Licensure (U254)

Establish as a priority recruitment efforts for Middle Grades Education and other high needs areas, especially STEM related programs for 2012-2013. The Middle Grades Education program addresses an area considered “high needs” by the State of North Carolina, which argues for devoting more resources to it. As part of a larger effort to address the need for additional faculty in the Teacher Education program, three new tenure line faculty have been hired and will begin in the fall of 2012.

 BS Community Youth Sport Development (U422)

Transition the program from its current location in the Department of Kinesiology to the Department of Community and Therapeutic Recreation.

 BS Elementary Education k-6 Licensure (U251)

Review the number of students admitted to this program and explore the potential of replacing adjunct faculty with clinical faculty. The addition of three new tenure line faculty in the Teacher Education program this year should also provide greater stability to this licensure program.

 BS Operations Management and Supply Chain Management (U339,U330,U786,U783)

Work with Community Colleges to determine how the program can be developed as part of the Online Degree Completion program.

 MA in Urban Planning & Economic Development (G817)

Explore the feasibility of offering the program online so as to increase its appeal to working professionals and draw enrollments from beyond the immediate area.

 MA in European History (G153)

Combine the MA in European History (G153) and the MA in American History (G149) into a single MA in History. Combining these concentrations will give students greater flexibility in planning their programs of study.

 MS in Interior Product Design & Architecture (G454) and MS in Historic Preservation (G475)

Replace the MS in Interior Product Design & Architecture (G454), the MS in Historic Preservation (G475), and the MS in Museum Studies (G474) with a new MFA in Interior Architecture. The MFA is the more appropriate degree for a studio program and eliminating separate concentrations will give students greater flexibility in planning their programs of study.

 MA in Applied Mathematics (G161)

Combine the MA in Pure Mathematics (G722) and the MA in Applied Mathematics (G161) into a single MA in Mathematics. [Note: This combination has already been submitted by the department and approved by the Graduate Studies Committee.] Combining these programs will consolidate enrollments with no loss of program quality and align the Master’s degree more closely with the new PhD in Computational Mathematics.

 MA Conflict Resolution (G865) and MA Conflict Resolution Online (G865) 

Beginconversations between the program faculty and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dean of the School of Health and Human Sciences, and Dean of the School of Education to explore relocation of these programs to a permanent academic unit.

 MS Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies-Thesis (G415) and MS Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies-NonThesis (G416,G840)

Continue plans to develop a revised version of the MS non-thesis concentration that would be offered entirely online, to fulfill a critical need to supply globally-oriented learning opportunities to an internationally dispersed workforce. This revision should address current industry needs and be accessible to a variety of constituents in the global apparel and textile industries. 

 PhD Higher Education (G250)

Clarify the programmatic function and review the number of students by a small number of faculty either through reduced enrollment or increased resources. The program appears to meet a community/workforce need in the region.

The following programs are recommended for discontinuation based on advice coming forward largely from the academic units. The relevant discontinuation paperwork should be prepared (if not already completed) by the program leadership in the affected programs and submitted to the University Curriculum Committee or the Graduate Studies Committee, whichever is appropriate. Where appropriate, Deans and Department Heads/Chairs should work with faculty on the potential of reassignment to higher priority programs within the department or academic unit.

•           BA Biology 4+1 Medical Technology (U231)

•           BS Biology 4+1 Medical Technology (U186)

•           BA Environmental Biology (U122)

•           BA Chemistry 4+1 Medical Technology (U232)

•           BS Chemistry 4+1 Medical Technology (U188)

•           BS Mathematics Concentration in Computer Science (U182, U854)*

•           BS Interdisciplinary Math (U178)

•           BS Statistics High School Teaching (U855)*

•           BS Applied Math (U852, U850)*

•           BS Pure Math (U853, U851)*

•           BS Mathematics High School Teaching (U185)*

•           BA Elec Media News (U846)

•           BA Moving Image (U845)

•           BS Financial Economics (U329,U778)

•           BS Bioinformatics-Computer Science (U838)

•           BS Elem. Education (K-6 Lic 2+2) (U788)

•           BS 2+ Educ of DeafAud-Oral-B-K L (U790)

•           BS B-K-Hard of Hearing Tch Lic (U162)

•           BA IGS: European Studies (U812)

•           BS Health Studies (U447,U448,U449))

•           BS Entrepreneurship/Small Business (U337,U784)

•           LIC Art Licensure (UL01)^

•           LIC Chemistry Licensure (UL02) ^

•           LIC Latin Licensure (UL03) ^

•           LIC Professions in Deafness (UL05)

•           PB Certificate Geographic Information Science (U879)

•           PB Certificate History: Museum Studies (G472)

•           PB Computer Sc: Comp (U920)

•           PM CERT Marriage and Fam. Coun. (G539)

•           PM CERT Financial Analysis (G880)

•           PM CERT Management (G217)

•           PM CERT International Business (G210)

•           MEd Instructional Tech (M Lic-MEd) (G790)

•           MA Financial Economics (G719)

•           MA History: Historic Preservation (G471)

•           MA European History (G153)+

•           MA American History (G149)+

•           MA Applied Math (G161)**

•           MA Pure Math (G722)**

•           PhD Curr and Tch-Cultrl Studies (G547)

•           EdD Exercise and Sport Science (Kinesiology) (G319)

The following programs are high priority programs that were not reviewed because they were established within a two-year period of time from the onset of the APR process:

•           BS Entrepreneurship (U718)

•           MS Nanoscience (G551)

•           PhD Environmental Health Science (G165)

•           PhD Medicinal Biochemistry (G846)

•           PhD Computational Mathematics (G845)

•           PhD Nanoscience (G552)

*Mathematics had 12 different undergraduate area of study codes, including six for secondary licensure. This was very confusing to students and advisers and probably discouraged students from getting licensure. In 2010-11 there were 34 students in BA with licensure and only five in the other fivearea of study licensure programs combined. Now all Mathematics students seeking licensure will be in the BA degree program and they will be advised by Mathematics faculty who work closely with the faculty in TEHE. Providing a single pathway for these students should increase the number who graduate with secondary licensure in Mathematics. The Applied Mathematics and Pure Mathematics concentrations have been combined into a new BS in Mathematics.

* The LIC designation was added to help track students who were returning for licensure only in subject areas. Another method was found to do this tracking through NC Teach and the designations were inactive although they had never been eliminated from the program inventory.

 +These two concentrations will be combined in a new MA in History.

 **These two concentrations have been combined in a new MA in Mathematics.

In an interview for UNCG’s Campus Weekly a week before commencement, Chancellor Linda P. Brady spoke about some highlights of the year: The opening of the UNCG Middle College. The growing number of learning and living & learning communities, including one devoted to sustainable entrepreneurship at the new Jefferson Suites. Success for athletics programs both on the field or court and in the classroom.

The chancellor also spoke about why she has shone a spotlight on UNCG’s people this year, and she looked to the coming academic year.

“Two of the important tasks in the coming year will be to implement the results of the academic program review and to identify areas of distinction for the university,” she said. “These efforts will feed into our next strategic plan and the next major fundraising campaign.”

Full story at Campus Weekly.

She will spend 10 days in hands-on, inquiry-based science education activities. At UNCG, D’Agostino is a biology major with a minor in chemistry who is pursuing science teaching licensure in secondary schools. She is expected to graduate in 2014.

D’Agostino is a Noyce Scholar in the ExSEL program at UNCG, and holds a scholarship funded by the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, an NSF grant at UNCG that is directed by Dr. Jerry Walsh, Dr. Catherine Matthews and Dr. Valerie Vickers. Her workshop participation is made possible by grants from the National Science Foundation, Shodor and the National Computational Science Institute.

Matthew Williamson

Matthew Williamson, who graduates Friday, was featured in the News and Record. Williamson decided to become a nurse after undergoing a bone marrow transplant for cancer. His inspiring story was also featured on the UNCG web site.

During May, Oring will complete a residency to research potential sites within the airport’s new terminal. She will develop a proposal for creation and installation of site-specific art that will “stimulate an intentional, ongoing dialogue with the local and traveling communities.”

Oring was awarded the commission through a competitive process associated with Green Build, which is the $1 billion, 10-gate expansion due for completion in 2013, and is the largest improvement project in the airport’s history.

The selection panel noted that Oring’s work “relies heavily on engaging broad-based audiences through the facilitation of public discourse on political, social, historical and personal subjects.” Additionally, the panel “found her work to be very inclusive and community-driven. They appreciated her ability to create discourse in a way that is non-threatening.”

Oring, an assistant professor in the UNCG Department of Art, has created art for public spaces that include Bryant Park, the Brooklyn Museum and the Eldridge Street Project, all in New York City; the Boston Public Library; the Jewish Museum Berlin; the New Children’s Museum in San Diego; and the 01SJ Biennial in San Jose, Calif. She has received a Creative Capital grant, a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship and a College Art Association Professional-Development Fellowship.

Two of her projects have drawn national attention. Most recently, she went to New York City’s Bryant Park on the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center to record peoples’ recollections of the catastrophic event for “Collective Memory.” Her “I Wish to Say” project allowed people to speak their minds on typed postcards that were sent to the the President, and earned her the “Person of the Week” award by ABC’s World News Tonight.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Dr. Michelle Dowd, an associate professor of English at UNCG, has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship at the Newberry Library in Chicago for the 2012-2013 academic year.

With the award, she will work on her book project, “Delinquent Pedigrees: The Spatial Rhetoric of Lineage on the Early Modern Stage,” which examines how Renaissance drama helped transform understandings of genealogy and inheritance in early modern England. The Newberry receives applications for its long-term fellowship program from a large pool of international scholars, making the process highly competitive.

Dowd specializes in English literature of the 16th and 17th centuries, with concentrations in Tudor and Stuart drama, Shakespeare, and early modern women’s writing. Her additional teaching and research interests include early modern theater culture, dramatic genres, feminist theory and gender studies, economic criticism and early modern religious culture.

The National Endowment for the Humanities provides grants to independent centers for advanced study and international research organizations to support their fellowship programs for scholars in the humanities through its Fellowship Programs at Independent Research Institutions (FPIRI). NEH fellowships provide awardees with stipends, a collegial environment, and access to resources that might not be available at their home institutions.

Founded in 1887, the Newberry Library in Chicago is a privately endowed independent research library dedicated primarily to study in the humanities. Its collections comprise more than 1.5 million volumes, 5 million manuscripts, and 500,000 historic maps, with a strong general collection focused on Europe and the Americas from the late Middle Ages to the 20th century.

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The CPN Star Award is a symbol of excellence in construction and the selection is based on the merits and challenges of the project. The Star Awards recognized the projects along with CPN members who participated in the projects.

UNCG staffers who were recognized are John Merrill, executive director of Gateway University Research Park, and Fred Patrick, director of Facilities Design and Construction. Receiving the award for a project under $20 million was the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, in Greensboro.

The JSNN is the first building for the school that is being created by UNCG and N.C. A&T State University, and the high-tech research there will attract private partners to participate and become an economic engine to drive the community and the state in the 21st century, said Patrick, who chaired the Star Awards committee.

The JSNN won over area projects that included the UNCG School of HHP locker room renovation; N.C. A&T general academic classroom building; WFU off-site storage facility renovation, Winston-Salem; N.C. Merz Pharmaceutical warehouse upfit, Greensboro; Greensboro Aquatic Center.

CPN of North Carolina, Inc. is a statewide, non-profit organization of business and professional leaders who are involved with design, construction and related services. Its mission is to utilize expertise for the common good of the membership, industry and community.

Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest and most widely known of collegiate honorary societies. It was established in 1776 at the College of William and Mary and only 280 chapters exist nationally. Notable members include actress Glenn Close, news anchor Tom Brokaw, physicist Brian Greene, and activist/writer Gloria Steinem.

In 2006, the national society named Epsilon chapter the nation’s most outstanding chapter at a public university. Epsilon chapter was formed during the Woman’s College era in 1934 as a branch of the UNC-Chapel Hill chapter and became an independent chapter in 1956. UNCG is one of only seven institutions in North Carolina to have a chapter. Others are UNC-CH, N.C. State University, Wake Forest University, Davidson College, Duke University and Elon University.

Phi Beta Kappa recognizes outstanding scholarship in the liberal arts and sciences. At UNCG, students are generally elected in the spring of the senior year; however, a few students with exceptionally high averages may be elected earlier. Acceptable programs of study are the Bachelor of Arts or the Bachelor of Science, with appropriate majors or concentrations, in the College of Arts & Sciences, the School of Music and the Department of Economics.

In addition, the student must have the following: a high grade point average, at least six credit hours of a foreign language at the intermediate level, and three-fourths of the total number of hours in courses of a genuinely liberal character, as determined by the chapter.

The inductees and their academic majors are as follows:

In-state Inductees

Alamance County
Matthew Keith Moss, history, son of Larry and Diane Moss of 2149 Troendly Street, Burlington; Emily Cecelia Mason, biology, daughter of Charles and Tamara Mason of 1523 St. Andrews Drive, Mebane.

Carteret County
Anastacia Brooke Newton, sociology and history, daughter of Terrie Newton of 258 Steel Tank Road, Beaufort.

Davie County
Jennifer E. O’Neal, International/Global Studies and sociology, 168 Cedar Hill Lane, Advance.

Forsyth County
Amy Albright, psychology, daughter of Tom and Carol Albright of 150 Lochmoore Court, Winston-Salem; Kayla Erin Cavenaugh, art history and German, daughter of Dewey Edward Cavenaugh Jr. of 510 Hedgewood Place, Winston-Salem, and Kimberly Cavenaugh of 2650 Wyman Road, Winston-Salem; Matthew Winston Jester, mathematics, son of Martha Jester, 3580 Parrish Road, Winston-Salem; Katherine Rebecca Cranfill, English, daughter of Les and Becky Cranfill of 5929 Kenton Drive, Kernersville; April Frake, geography, 413 Rockbridge Drive, Kernersville; Brian James Malek, anthropology and sociology, son of James and Karen Malek of 573 Doe Run Drive, Kernersville; John Everhart, religious studies, women’s and gender studies and French, son of Dennis and Teresa Everhart of 5685 Sweetbriar Road, Pfafftown.

Guilford County
Lee Bailey, political science and media studies, 917-D Shelby Drive, Greensboro; Chanda Lynn Green, English, 609 Catalina Drive, Greensboro; Nathan Howell, biology, son of Geoffrey and Silvia Howell of 5705 Falkirk Drive, Greensboro; Helen Marie Humphrey, International/ Global Studies, 3605-C Parkwood Drive, Greensboro; Thomas James Humphrey, religious studies and International/ Global Studies, 3605-C Parkwood Drive, Greensboro; Lindsay Marie Kohl, English, 1902 Pembroke Road, Greensboro; Brenna Sutherland Riley, Spanish, daughter of Rex Riley and Jennifer Jordan of Greensboro; Anna V. Tuck, mathematics, 3002 Laurel Springs Drive, Greensboro; Peyton Ford, political science, son of Brad and Valerie Ford of 4623 James Crossing Drive, Jamestown; Hannah Hemphill, Russian studies and history, 7235 Bulb Road, Julian; Brian Hayden, Russian studies, 8707 Sherfield Road, Colfax; Edward Miles Beaver II, geography and anthropology, 183-D West Hartley Drive, High Point; Joshua Christian Smith, biology, son of Stephen and Lisa Smith of 912-B Lakecrest Ave., High Point.

Iredell County
Sarah Allison Harner, psychology, daughter of James and Lynne Harner of 179 Sloan-Wooten Road, Olin.

Mecklenburg County
Jessica Friday Dormady, English, daughter of Richard and Harriet Dormady of 4311 Ruskin Drive, Charlotte.

Orange County
Lani Katherine Willcockson, philosophy, daughter of Helen Willcockson, of 503 Sharon Road, Chapel Hill, and William Willcockson of Siler City; Madeline Kate Farlow, history and religious studies, daughter of Brad and Phyllis Farlow of 212 Thomas Ruffin Road, Hillsborough.

Randolph County
Barbara Ann Smith, political science, daughter of Gregory and Barbara Smith of 3802 Morris Road, Trinity.

Wake County
Ann Marie Elmayan, psychology, daughter of Mary Margaret Samson Elmayan of 7525 Drayton Court, Raleigh, and Russell Elmayan of 2012 Port Royal Road, Raleigh; Morgaine Ariana Bowers, psychology, daughter of John Bowers of 4201 Lassiter Road, Wake Forest; Linda Esperanza Guzman, psychology, daughter of William and Maria Guzman of 5201 Camfirth Way, Raleigh; Kathleen Hardin, art history and museum studies, daughter of David and Maureen Hardin of 103 Shaftsberry Court, Cary.

Wayne County
Kristen Prosser, anthropology, daughter of Camille Costa of 476 Nahunta Road, Pikeville.

Out-of-state Inductees

California
David William Gallagher, biology, 391 Island Street, Morro Bay.

Georgia
Matthew Joseph Satusky, biochemistry, son of Gregory and Mary Jo Satusky of 7050 Grosvenor Place, Cumming.

Nevada
Sarena Nichols, liberal arts, 401 Sandstone Drive, Carson City.

Virginia
Grace Renee Anderson, biology, daughter of Jason and Guadalupe Thomas of 3901 Adonis Court, Virginia Beach.

They are Dr. Derek Krueger (left) and Dr. Eugene F. Rogers Jr. Both are also faculty members in the Women’s and Gender Studies Program.

Krueger will be working at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton’s think tank where people like Albert Einstein, Kurt Goedel, Robert Oppenheimer, George Kennan and the art historian Irwin Panofsky worked. He will be a member of the School for Historical Studies for the 2012-13 year. Website at http://www.ias.edu/about/mission-and-history.

He will be finishing a book called “Liturgical Subjects: Christian Ritual and the Formation of the Self in Byzantium.” In it, he explores how people’s experiences attending church, saying prayers and hearing and singing hymns shaped their concepts of who they were, particularly in relation to God. While at the Institute, he will be writing about how composers of hymns and liturgies conveyed the idea that people were sinners in need of salvation. An earlier phase of this project was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Krueger, the Joe Rosenthal Excellence Professor of Religious Studies, who came to UNCG in 1991, is serving as president of the Byzantine Studies Association of North America. He holds a doctorate from Princeton University. He has previously received National Endowment for the Humanities grants for his research and he received UNCG’s Senior Research Excellence Award. His books include “Symeon the Holy Fool: Leontius’s Life and the Late Antique City,” “Writing and Holiness: The Practice of Authorship in the Early Christian East” and “Byzantine Christianity.”

Rogers has won a fellowship and a summer stipend to work on two books. He will spend next year at the Center of Theological Inquiry on the grounds of the Princeton Theological Seminary to work on “The Analogy of Blood.” It uses sociology of religion to show why evolution’s detractors tend to use the language of blood – as well as why its defenders should reclaim the same language. The summer award from the National Endowment for the Humanities will allow him to finish “Thomas Aquinas on the Supreme Court: Race, Gender, and the Failure of Natural Law in His Biblical Commentaries.”

Before coming to UNCG, Rogers taught from 1993 to 2005 at the University of Virginia. In 2002-03, he was the Eli Lilly Visiting Associate Professor of Christian Thought and Practice in the Religion Department at Princeton University. He has held fellowships or residencies from the Fulbright Commission, the Mellon Foundation, the National Humanities Center, the Lilly Foundation, the Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton Seminary, the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University, and Tantur Ecumenical Research Institute in Jerusalem. He is author or editor of five books and some 35 articles and translations. In 2010 the journal Christian Century named his book “Sexuality and the Christian Body” (1999) among the “essential reading in theology in the past 25 years.”

Beyond Academics has grown to 36 students, and this year’s graduates will receive certificates in integrative community studies through UNCG’s Office of Undergraduate Studies. The public is invited to attend.

The graduating students have met the requirements of the course of study, which is directed toward achieving self-determined lives as young adults in their community of choice.  Their four years at UNCG were designed to prepare them for careers, independent living and community involvement and networking. 

The keynote speaker will be Duncan Munn, a North Carolina public leader, whose experience before retirement involved planning and implementation of community service systems for adults with intellectual disabilities and more recently for infants and toddlers with developmental delays.  

Recipients and their awards are:st

Dr. Leandra Bedini – TR Instructor of the Year Award

Kathryn Giampa – TR Scholarship Award

Kimberly Epley MS ’05 – Individual TR Service Award

Dr. Stuart J. Schleien, Ginger Walton and Lindsey Brake – Best New TR Program for their Photovoice initiative. Schleien and Walton were project co-directors; Brake served as project coordinator.

Photovoice is a creative form of research that has placed individuals with intellectual or other developmental disabilities in charge of documenting their lives and creating a ‘voice’ through photography. Throughout this participatory and community-based journey, photographers from The Arc of Greensboro, Beyond Academics and their peers without disabilities share perspectives on access, participation and social inclusion. They discuss their photos through individual and group meetings in order to generate critical dialogue about inclusion within our community. The photographs and accompanying narratives with participant quotes are creatively displayed at community-wide exhibitions in order to increase awareness, influence perspectives and instigate change toward a more inclusive community.

The next Photovoice exhibition will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 5 at the Friendly Center Caribou Coffee, 3109 Northline Avenue.

“”He showed how you can basically, overcome everything just by being determined and actually wanting to work for it,” Mahdi Ali, a sophomore on the team, told the reporter.

Baker’s story was also recently featured on the UNCG homepage.

Shivaji joined UNCG last fall and his appointment to the endowed professorship was effective earlier this year, according to Dr. Timothy Johnston, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UNCG. Funds for the professorships are made possible by the UNCG Excellence Foundation Inc., a long-time support organization for the institution.

“I was delighted when Dr. Shivaji agreed to join us at UNCG as head of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, where he is already providing excellent leadership,” Johnston said. “I am equally pleased that the Board of Trustees has approved his appointment to the Barton Professorship, which is a fitting recognition of his outstanding accomplishments in mathematics.”

Shivaji earned a Ph.D. in 1981 from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. Prior to joining UNCG, he served for 26 years at Mississippi State University, where he was honored as a W.L. Giles Distinguished Professor.

His area of specialization is partial differential equations, in particular, nonlinear elliptic boundary valve problems. His research work has applications in combustion theory, chemical reactor theory and population dynamics, and it has been funded by the National Science Foundation for several years. He has authored over 100 research papers and presented over 150 research talks at conferences and international institutions. He is a member of the Editorial Board of several mathematics journals. Shivaji also organized eight highly successful Mississippi State-UAB conferences on “Differential Equations and Computational Simulations.”

Daniel J. Nasrallah, a chemistry major from Winston-Salem who is studying at UNCG, has been named recipient of a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, one of the nation’s top academic awards for college juniors and seniors in science, mathematics and engineering.

Nasrallah (seen left) and a second student, Dominick S. DeFelice of Newport, N.C., were honored by the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, which announced that 282 scholarships were awarded for the 2012–2013 academic year to undergraduate sophomores and juniors from the United States.

As a Goldwater Scholar, Nasrallah will receive $7,500 annually during his junior and senior years to cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board. His career plans are to earn a PhD. in organic chemistry along with a postdoctoral experience, and pursue work as a chemistry professor directing a research group.

DeFelice, a human biology major at UNCG, received honorable mention. His career goal is earning an M.D. degree and a Ph.D. degree in medical research. He hopes to conduct medical research in nutrition and exercise research.

“First and foremost, these awards are a credit to the talent and hard work of Daniel and Dominick,” said Dr. Jerry Pubantz, dean of the Lloyd International Honors College. “But they are also an acknowledgment of the extraordinary science education going on at UNCG and the exceptional nurturing environment of Lloyd International Honors College.”

The Goldwater Scholars were selected on the basis of academic merit from a field of 1,123 mathematics, science, and engineering students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities nationwide. Of the scholars, 174 are men, 108 are women, and virtually all intend to obtain a PhD. as their degree objective. The scholars’ academic majors break down: 20, mathematics; 194, science and related majors; 58, engineering; and 10, computer science majors. Many have dual majors in a variety of disciplines.

Goldwater Scholars have gone on to earn prestigious post-graduate fellowships, including 78 Rhodes Scholarships, 112 Marshall Awards and 104 Churchill Scholarships. The Goldwater Foundation was established by Public Law 99-661 in 1986 to encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. The Goldwater Scholarship is the premier undergraduate award of its type in these fields. Since its first award in 1989, the foundation has bestowed over 6,200 scholarships worth approximately $39 million.

After graduation in May 2011, Liles studied intensive Russian courses at the Federal University of Kazan in Tatarstan, on a Critical Language Scholarship from the State Department. The highly competitive scholarship is part of an effort by the U.S. government to dramatically expand the number of Americans studying and mastering critical need foreign languages.

An honor student at UNCG, he triple-majored in music performance, German and international and global studies, with a minor in political science. He won first prize in the past two Honors College symposia and graduated with Full University Honors. He also studied abroad in Klagenfurt, Austria, as an exchange student.

“Thomas is one of the Honors College’s most accomplished graduates,” said Dr. Jerry Pubantz, dean of the Lloyd International Honors College. “While at the university he had the opportunity to study in the Balkans, Russia and Georgia. His success in achieving a Fulbright Award to Azerbaijan reflects not only his talent and skills, but also what can be made of the rich opportunities offered by UNCG.”

Established in 1946, the Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. More than 1,500 U.S. citizens will travel abroad for the 2012-13 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

Over the past 14 years, 17 UNCG students have received Fulbright awards. The latest Fulbright recipients round out a good year for prestigious student awards at the university. Kelly Donovan has been awarded a Critical Language Scholarship, a competitive award also sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, to study Chinese. UNCG also has a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship recipient, Daniel Nasrallah, and a Goldwater runner-up, Dominick DeFelice.

Dr. Daria Kring, a triple alumna of the School of Nursing, is the school’s 2012 Distinguished Alumna.

Kring received her BSN in 1988 and her MSN with a concentration in education in 1995. She was the first graduate of the PhD program in 2008.

Kring is currently director of nursing practice, education and research at Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem. She is responsible for leading the nursing department in the use of methods and processes for evidence-based practice and the conduct of nursing research. She has been instrumental in establishing the infrastructure for a strong program of clinical nursing research that has affected quality outcomes, increased nursing and, patient satisfaction, and resulted in financial savings. She is frequently consulted on nursing research and assists nurses to distinguish between research, evidence-based practice and process improvement. She leads a team of 30 Clinical Nurse Educators and Clinical Practice Specialists who use evidence-based practice to design nursing care.
She has worked as a staff nurse, assistant manager, staff educator, clinical nurse specialist and Magnet coordinator. Most of her clinical background has been in medical-surgical nursing, with a focus in nephrology. She has published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals including Nephrology Nursing Journal, Clinical Nurse Specialist: The Journal for Advance Nursing Practice, MEDSURG Nursing Journal, and Advances in Nursing Science. She was awarded the Nephrology Nursing Journal’s Research Writing Award for 2009 for her article “Factors affecting quality of life in persons on hemodialysis.” She has received Excellence in Research and Excellence in Clinical Practice Award from Sigma Theta Tau Gamma Zeta Chapter, and the Research Abstract Award from the American Nephrology Nurses Association National Symposium. In 1995 she received UNCG’s MSN Alumni Excellence Award and in 1999 was a North Carolina Great 100 recipient.

Beta Gamma Sigma (BGS) is an international honor society for business students. Qualifying for membership is the highest scholastic honor a student in business can obtain. To be eligible, students must rank in the upper ten percent of their junior class, the upper ten percent of their senior class or the upper twenty percent of their graduate class.

Students who receive a BGS award must attend schools that are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International).

Timothy R. Davis, executive vice president of BB&T, was inducted as an honorary member of BGS. He is an alumnus of the Bryan School and is currently serving on the board of directors of the UNCG Excellence Foundation. He has also served on the advisory board of the Bryan School’s Business Administration Department.
In-state inductees are:

· Alamance County – Elizabeth Bowen, Caroline Cardenas, Robert “Adam” Ford, Michael Ward

· Cabarrus County – Ian Kitchen

· Davidson County – Joshua Hulin

· Davie County – Gene Dwiggins, Ogechukwu Onwurah

· Forsyth County – Greg Phillips, Andrew Walker

· Guilford County – Nathan Asamaoh, Gwendolyn Exner, Susan Galiano, Jessica Gulledge, Brian Howell, Amanda Manuel, Catherine McDonald, Brian Moore, William Parish, Vikrant Rai

· Moore County – Linda Yow

· Randolph County – Freddie Ingle, Andrew Warner

· Wake County – Diana Phelps

· Wilkes County – Anna Reynolds

Out-of-state inductees are:

· China – Wai “Mandy” Chow
· Germany – Andreas Frische
· Michigan – Maia Richardson
· Pakistan – Ayesha Khan
· Saudi Arabia – Turki Alkhalifah
· Virginia – Lori Hutcherson, Jared Peck

Contact the Bryan School at (336) 334-5338, or visit bryanschool.uncg.edu.

The ceremony begins at 10 a.m. in the Greensboro Coliseum.

Bonnie McElveen-Hunter – founder and CEO of Pace Communications, current chairman of the American Red Cross, and former U.S. ambassador to Finland – will give the commencement address. McElveen-Hunter will also receive an honorary doctorate during the ceremony.

Krista Carter will speak for the Class of 2012.

Dr. Daniel Winkler will serve as faculty marshal and mace bearer; Matthew Moss is chief marshal; Seth Parker and Philip Drum are assistant chief marshals; bell ringers are Dr. Sarah Shoffner, Class of 1962, and Cassandra Velarde, Class of 2012; Ryan Redd is tassel turner.

For more details, visit UNCG’s Commencement Central website at http://www.uncg.edu/reg/CommencementCentral.html.

Watch the ceremony live online at www.uncg.edu/reg/Com/video.html.

Donovan will study intermediate-level Chinese at Beijing Language and Culture University from June 4 to August 6. This fall, she will continue her studies at Beijing Normal University on an exchange program. At UNCG, Donovan is a 4.0 Dean’s List student majoring in Spanish and Asian Studies, and she is a student in the Lloyd International Honors College (LIHC). Her career goal is to be a translator or interpreter for international government service.

“Kelly’s accomplishment is a testament to her talents and to the quality of the academic experience she has had at UNCG and in the Honors College” said Dr. Jerry Pubantz, dean of LIHC. “In our growingly interdependent world with many serious threats, the United States needs linguists who can negotiate between cultures. Foreign language ability is more important today than ever before. I am pleased that UNCG’s International Honors College can support Ms. Donovan’s further language and culture study at Beijing Normal University once she completes the CLS program.”

The CLS Program is part of a U.S. government effort to expand the number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages. CLS institutes provide fully-funded, group-based intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences for seven to 10 weeks for U.S. citizen undergraduate and graduate students. Languages offered include Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla/Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish and Urdu.

Finalists picked for the 2012 CLS Program are from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia and represent 239 institutions of higher education. During CLS Program outreach activities, particular attention is paid to states/regions of the U.S. that have been historically under-represented in the CLS applicant pool and to students from diverse backgrounds and academic majors.

The Bryan School of Business and Economics has named Boyd A. Rogers as its 2012 Distinguished Alumnus.

Rogers, who earned an MBA from the Bryan School in 1985, will receive the award April 26 during a reception and dinner at Starmount Forest Country Club in Greensboro.

Rogers retired from VF Corporation in 2011 after a 40-year career, moving up through through the ranks to vice president and corporate officer and then president, global supply chain. During his tenure, VF reduced costs by over $1 billion while serving tens of thousands of customers, including Wal-Mart, with hundreds and thousands of stores.

Rogers has served on the Bryan School’s Business Advisory Board, and has endowed a scholarship in the school to support high-potential students with financial need.

The forum, free and open to the public, begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Elliott University Center Auditorium. A reception precedes the forum at 6 p.m. in Cone Ballroom, Elliott University Center.

North Carolina farmers are becoming more aware of their impact on the environment. The “green” movement has caused some farmers to rethink the way in which they produce food and consumers to purchase more local foods. Hear from farmers who focus on sustainable agriculture practices, restauranteurs, and others involved in the local foods market.

Speakers will include: Kenneth Rudd and James Kenan, farmers; Chef Jay Pierce, Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen; Rick Cecil and Robert Smothers, Piedmont Triad Farmers Market; Dr. Michael McIntosh, UNCG professor of nutrition studies; and Dennis W. Quaintance, CEO and CDO, Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants and Hotels.

The forum is sponsored by the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Commissioner Troxler will attend.

Dr. Hephzibah Roskelly is the 2012 recipient of the UNC Board of Governors Award for Teaching Excellence. It will be presented to her at UNCG’s spring commencement ceremony.

The 17 BOG Teaching Excellence Award recipients, representing an array of academic disciplines, were nominated by special committees on their home campuses. They were selected by the Board of Governors Committee on Personnel and Tenure. Established in 1994 to underscore the importance of teaching and to reward good teaching across the system, the awards are given annually to a tenured faculty member from each UNC campus.

A professor of English, Roskelly joined the UNCG faculty in 1989. She has held the Linda Carlisle Professorship in Women’s and Gender Studies since 2006.

She received the Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award in 2003.

Her research interests include rhetoric and composition theory, American literature before 1900, women’s history and rhetoric, philosophy and composing, and pedagogy. She has developed and taught dozens of courses at both the graduate and undergraduate level in writing, literature and theory.

Full story at Campus Weekly.

General admission tickets to the concerts three showings — 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and a 2 p.m. matinee performance Saturday — are $12 and are available through the University Box Office at 336-334-4849 or boxoffice.uncg.edu. Discounts are available for seniors, students and children. The UNCG Dance Theater is located in the Health and Human Performance Building at the corner of Walker Avenue and Kenilworth streets. Parking is available in the Walker Parking Deck.

Ruth Gibbs opens the concert with “Aspects, Chain (ges),” which explores the entangled relationships between five predominant aspects of “self.” This work was created from the internal struggle of past and present, and their inability to find balance within acceptance.

Rachael Mauney follows with “there is a two-fold silence, sea and shore, body and soul.” This work is a collection and expression of stories about loss and the process of lingering between death and life. The work investigates the effect disease has on us as a community as well as the effect it has on the human body. The struggle for life is most evident in the way we surrender to death.

Kimberly Wilson’s piece “My Hero. My Silent Motivation. My Greatest Teacher.” is a series of duets that explores three relationships that have been a great source of knowledge, inspiration and motivation in the life of the choreographer. This work is made possible by the commitment, hard work and patience of the performers through the process as well as the guidance of Larry Lavender, professor of dance at UNCG.

Chelsea Flanagan’s work will lead into the concert’s intermission with an energetic piece that remains untitled.

Emily Aiken opens the second half of the concert with her piece, “finding-truth.” This is an exploration of personal religious culture, experiencing the process of sifting through confusion, commodity and facade to find individual truth.

Brittany Clark’s “Angst” is dedicated to her mother who overcame a childhood troubled by alcoholic parents. The work hopes to honor those who have died due to alcoholism by bringing awareness to the secret traumas that often drove people to drink as a way to “self medicate” to avoid the social implications surrounding depression and mental illness in the 1960’s.

Haley Marsh concludes the evening with “Simulacrum.” This piece begins at twilight when three beings take a journey through what it means to be alive…or dead. Accessing their deepest sense of self, a complete mystery to those watching, they fall deeper into night. The only one who seems to know is a strange visitor whose identity and purpose will unfold with night.

The call to prayer, which is heard across the Muslim world, like Islam itself, is interpreted and experienced in a range of ways. Ali, who gives public lectures on “The Many Faces of Islam,” and teaches a course at UNCG entitled “Islam, Africa, and the Diaspora,” concludes: “For me, the azzan, like the rising sun, remains an immeasurable source of comfort — an invitation into the seamlessness of history, where the past and present are inseperable, an audible reminder of my connection to all of life, and all of what we create together.”

UNCG Theatre will present “In the Blood,” a contemporary adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic “The Scarlet Letter,” in Brown Building Theatre April 17-22.

In the adaptation, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, Hester is a homeless African-American woman with five children. As they struggle to make ends meet in their “home under the bridge,” their lives become more fraught because, as Hester notes, “ends got further apart.”
“In the Blood” demonstrates the ways in which the most vulnerable among us sometimes fail to get the genuine help they need while in the depths of poverty. Hester is exploited by the things and people who are charged with helping her — medicine, religion, welfare, even her lover and her best friend —  ultimately conducting an act of violence that shatters her world and abolishes what little hope she had left.

Performances of the play will be at 7:30 p.m. April 17-19; 8 p.m. on April 20-21 and 2 p.m. on April 22. Tickets are $18 and may be purchased online at boxoffice.uncg.edu, by calling 336-334-4849 Monday-Friday between noon and 5 p.m. and at campus box office locations. Discounted rates are available for seniors, students, UNCG alumni and groups of 10 or more.

Playwright Parks is noted for the theatricality of her writing, stretching the limits of evocative wordplay, said Christine Woodworth, the play’s director. In many ways “In the Blood” is a play about language,  Woodworth, a faculty member in UNCG’s theatre department, added.

“As the play opens, it is clear that Hester is illiterate as her 13-year-old son, Jabber, teaches her how to write the letter ‘A,’” Woodworth said. “Language and literacy can be the keys to liberation but language can also contain, oppress and damage. Throughout the play, Hester is defined by other figures in fairly derogatory terms, illustrating the negative power of words.

“We’ve attempted to underscore the ways in which language operates in Hester’s life as both promise and a prison. Additionally, given the doubling of characters that Parks calls for, we’ve fully embraced that theatricality by situating all transitions within the space, in full view of the audience. This production will be staged in the round (with audience on all sides of the playing space), inviting the audience to bear witness to Hester’s story but also to bear witness to each other as we watch this world unfold.”

The opportunity to direct a run of “In the Blood” fulfills a long-held desire for Woodworth. “‘In the Blood’ is a play that I have wanted to direct for almost a decade,” she said, dating back to one of her first academic presentations. “I find (Suzan-Lori Parks’) entire body of work to be daring. She confronts history and language in a wonderfully provocative manner.

“I’m fascinated by contemporary adaptations of literature and this piece is a riff on Hawthorne’s ‘The Scarlet Letter.’ Instead of an adulterous religious and social outcast, however, Parks’ Hester is a homeless African-American woman with five children. Parks weaves a compelling story that illustrates the complexities of poverty in contemporary culture. ‘In the Blood’ illustrates the ways in which institutional systems that are set-up to help those on the margins of society can sometimes fail to do so in extraordinary ways.”

UNCG’s presentation of the play is also a wonderful challenge for theatre students, she added. “Because the cast is so small — with just 6 actors — it is a wonderful challenge to build ensemble and create a dynamic and taut performance.”

For more information, contact Jody Kaizen at (336)-334-4601.

I-Fest presents an opportunity for UNCG and greater communities to celebrate diverse countries of the world and to foster multicultural awareness. The festival promotes cultural appreciation and understanding through music, food, exhibits, educational demonstrations and live entertainment from all regions of the globe.

Full story at Campus Weekly.

Dr. Kay Lovelace

Dr. Robert Aronson

In today’s economy, everyone — from individuals to officials in governmental agencies — is looking to make dollars stretch as far as possible.

Three UNCG faculty members — Dr. Kay Lovelace, Dr. Robert Aronson and Dr. Kelly Rulison–  have been awarded a $200,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to help determine when and why local public health departments use evidence-based public health strategies that have been shown to make a difference in population health. In a time of shrinking budgets, knowing what works is critically important to policy makers, communities and funders.

The researchers will investigate factors at the local, regional and state level that influence health departments to use evidence-based public health strategies to address a population’s overall health, social factors that bear on health and health disparities. The faculty members, all of whom work in the Department of Public Health Education in the UNCG School of Health and Human Sciences, said they are grateful to have the opportunity to do work that has the potential to improve the public health system.

Researchers have “learned a lot being engaged with local health departments, but sometimes there’s a gap between research and practice,” Aronson said. “This is a great opportunity to look at the set of challenges local health departments have and apply what has been learned.”

“If we can find some of the things that impact what a local health department does, it might be possible to take a more systematic approach to helping local health departments,” Lovelace added.

UNCG’s grant is one of 11 grants totaling $2.7 million. The projects are part of a broad effort by RWJF to support research that hones in on effective strategies to improve the quality and effectiveness of public health practice and policy, and increase the demand for and the use of public health laws, policies and practices that improve health. The awards will support two-year studies examining the impact of budget reductions and program cuts on population health, and key areas such as the recruitment and retention of staff, the structure of health departments, and the delivery of public health services.

“Public health services and systems research is putting evidence of what works in the hands of those who need it most – policy-makers who are making the decisions that ultimately affect our health, and practitioners who must make the most of limited resources to address the needs of their communities,” said Dr. Debra Joy Perez, interim vice president for research and evaluation at RWJF. “Both face very difficult decisions, underscoring the critical need for timely, concrete evidence.”

UNCG’s faculty members, who started their research in December, have already delved into national data. They’ll wrap up their work in November 2013, after spending the second year of the grant drilling deeper to investigate individual case studies.

The grants are being facilitated by the National Network of Public Health Institutes, with guidance from the National Coordinating Center for Public Health Services and Systems Research, a RWJF-funded center housed at the University of Kentucky College of Public Health.

RWJF focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing the country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care, the foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, measurable and timely change. For 40 years, the foundation has brought experience, commitment and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves.

Earth Day festivities, which are free and open to the public, will run from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. along College Avenue and in Foust Park. Groups from the campus and community will host a slate of interactive activities and educational events, including a collection site for old jeans which will be used for housing insulation, a E-waste center, a children’s story corner, bike clinics, two tree plantings, tours of UNCG Gardens and the new LEED-certified School of Education and a variety of vendors.

The day’s event will end with a reception at the Weatherspoon Art Museum starting at 5:30 p.m. where the winners of the inaugural Creative Sustainability Initiative will be announced.

Any organization interested in participating in Earth Day should contact the UNCG Office of Sustainability at jgtrotma@uncg.edu or 336-334-3664.

General admission tickets to the concerts three showings — 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and a 2 p.m. matinee performance Saturday — are $12 and are available through the University Box Office at 336-334-4849 or boxoffice.uncg.edu. Discounts are available for seniors, students and children. The UNCG Dance Theater is located in the Health and Human Performance Building at the corner of Walker Avenue and Kenilworth streets. Parking is available in the Walker Parking Deck.

Highlighted choreographers include members of the dance faculty and selected students.

Senior Emily Aiken’s “Go/No,” explores the behavioral shifts between self-satisfaction, anger, nervousness, exhaustion and truth. “Go/No” is a quirky look in on a situation unfolding. Attempting to unpack the intricate ideas and emotions involved in manipulation, the work takes vocal, text and visceral inspiration from Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Goldberg Variations.”

Faculty member Duane Cyrus premieres “Give Mama a Moment,” which was inspired by the voice of Etta James and the underlying meaning of the lyrics in her songs. The contrast between the freedom of James’s voice and the messages of repression in the lyrics provides an opportunity to explore the roles and choices communicated to women within American culture.

Janet Lilly, the head of the dance department, premieres “Requiem” to honor dear friend and former colleague Buddy Ed Burgess, who died last year. With this piece she celebrates three things that Ed loved most: dancers, dancing and making dances.

Senior Haley Marsh’s “Vivification” seeks to translate “raw” and “uncut” feelings into movement while exploring how film enhances the movement experience for both the audience and dancer. “Vivification” follows four women throughout the course of a normal day, while exposing their true thoughts and feelings – with a twist. All four share similar stories but express themselves individually and uniquely.

Dance faculty member B.J. Sullivan restages “EXIT,” a solo originally commissioned and created for Courtney Lopes, a soloist with Concepts In Motion, a dance company in Hamilton, Bermuda. In creating “EXIT,” Sullivan was thinking of a significant transition in one’s life, leaving behind what is known to begin a new phase of uncertainties. Playing with this dichotomy, the dancer is provoked and prodded with commanding yelps. Sullivan aims to portray the inner voice of the dancer, full of persistence, pursuit and inquiry. The exit is an arrival, balancing between acceptances and being replaceable.

Senior Jessi Tilden’s “Doh! Now that’s an Ouph!” explores the dynamic range of persistently hopeful approaches within difficult setbacks. Inspired by the choreographer’s relationship with her sister, core values like optimism, endurance and strength come together to present meaning that is bigger than their relationship.

Junior Devonte Wells will present a work “In the Grey” set to Jill Scott’s “Hear My Call.” Thoughts, emotions, and impulses are just as real as the physical being. They live and express themselves through the human body. This piece was inspired by taking reactions to real life scenarios and using those three elements to express the interpersonal human being.

On the upside, the health care reforms Romney signed into law in Massachusetts have had a positive impact on the health of the state’s citizens. On the downside, they are similar to the national package proposed by Obama, a Democrat.

Daniela Zapata, a PhD student in economics in the Bryan School of Business and Economics, co-wrote a 54-page report on the impact of Romneycare in Massachusetts, with Dr. Charles Courtemanche, an adjunct faculty member in the Bryan School. Their report, part of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Working Paper Series, has gotten national attention from high-profile outlets like the Washington Post as the U.S. Supreme Court debates the constitutionality of Obama’s universal health care package.

Zapata and Courtemanche began their study of the Massachusetts health care reforms in Feb. 2011. They looked at Massachusetts as a microcosm to study the potential outcome of universal health care nationwide.

“We were curious to see how (Romney’s) reforms worked,” Zapata said. “While the national health care model is more comprehensive, the Massachusetts reforms were the most similar to the national proposal. We wanted to pinpoint the impact of the reforms on people’s health.”

Romney’s reforms were signed into law in 2006 and implemented in 2006 and 2007. Romneycare focused on three main factors which are also found in the Obamacare proposal:

• Modifications to the non-group health insurance market – insurers can no longer deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions or set premiums based on a person’s health
• Mandates for coverage – all residents are now legally required to have health insurance
• Subsidies – help for people with low incomes to afford health insurance

Massachusetts had a high rate of insurance coverage before the reforms, Zapata said, but the numbers did go up eight percentage points after the law was passed, rising from 90 percent of Massachusetts residents with health insurance to 98 percent.

For their study, Zapata and Courtemanche used data compiled through the Centers for Disease Control’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a national survey. That data, all self-reported, came from phone surveys with more than two million people interviewed between 2001 and 2010.

Their findings showed that Romney’s reforms increased the likelihood of reporting excellent or very good health as opposed to good, fair or poor health. More specifically, the study showed improvements in “physical health, mental health, functional limitations, joint disorders, body mass index and moderate physical activity.”

Women, minorities, near-elderly adults and those with incomes low enough to qualify for subsidies benefited most.

Zapata, who graduates this year, wants to work in public policy. She was surprised and gratified to see her work pulled into the current health care debate.

“I love to do research with this kind of policy impact,” she said. “It is so important to have empirical evidence and academic studies to inform a debate. Our evidence shows that the Massachusetts reforms improved people’s health.”

The 8 p.m. performance is the final event for the 2011-12 UNCG Performing Arts Series, sponsored by the UNCG School of Music, Theatre and Dance. The show will be followed by a Q&A session with Ronald K. Brown, the company’s founder, and members of the dance troupe. Tickets are $25-35 and may be purchased online at boxoffice.uncg.edu, by calling (336) 334-4849 or at campus box office locations.

“Ebony Magazine: to a Village” begins with a parade of individuals preoccupied with their own façade and beauty. The mantra in the score, “do you see what I see” is a challenge to question one’s perceptions. Through the work, the dancers shift from their self-consciousness to a physicality more connected to the ground and to each other.

“Incidents” is inspired by historical texts including Linda Brent’s “Incident in the Life of a Slave Girl.” The images in the work allude to the physical and emotional influences that have helped to shape the character of women of African descent. The choreography is accompanied by a soundtrack that includes the music of The Staple Singers, Aretha Franklin, Wunmi Olaiya and Donny Hathaway.

“On Earth Together,” created last year and inspired by the music of Stevie Wonder, explores the commitment to making the world a better place through self introspection and looking at society as a whole. The dancer’s movements speak to purpose and carving a particular path.

Founded 27 years ago by Ronald K. Brown, the dance company uses movement to show a unique view of human struggles, tragedies and triumphs. Their work reinforces the importance of community in African American culture and introduces audiences to traditional African American forms and rhythms. Brown, a noted choreographer, has created works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Cleo Parker Robinson Ensemble, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Jeune Ballet d’Afrique Noire and others. His choreography for Regina Taylor’s award-winning play “Crowns” was recognized with an AUDELCO Award.

Through a competitive application process, top entrepreneurial students will be selected to be matched one-on-one with experienced entrepreneurs who will serve as mentors. The inaugural class of up to 20 students will be selected this spring and the pilot program starts this fall, to run throughout the 2012-2013 academic year. The application deadline is Friday, April 13, and applications may be sent to ncec@uncg.edu. More information can be found at http://entrepreneur.uncg.edu..

In addition to one-on-one mentoring, the program will also include activities to encourage networking and information sharing among mentors and students, along with dinners and receptions. Generous support from the Stanley and Dorothy Frank Family Foundation, the Greensboro Partnership Entrepreneurship Initiative, the Proximity Hotel and Print Works Bistro, there is no cost for either students or mentors to participate in the pilot program.

Bryan Toney, director of the NCEC, started a similar program, the Dale Tweedy Mentoring Program for Entrepreneur Scholars, while he was at Appalachian State University. “We’ve found that one of the best ways for students to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams is through meaningful engagement with successful role models,” Toney said. “GEMS will allow a very select group of Greensboro area college students to learn from top entrepreneurs in our region and gain an instant network that can help accelerate their entrepreneurial careers.”

GEMS is designed to benefit students, mentors and the greater Triad community. Students will receive a personal coach to explore business opportunities, evaluate career options and develop professional skills.  In addition, they will join an exclusive network of experienced entrepreneurs and peers.  Mentors will experience meaningful engagement with the some of the brightest, most entrepreneurial college students in Greensboro and gain access to future talent. The greater Triad community will benefit from having a new talent pool that can create new businesses and help existing businesses grow.

A maximum of 20 students will be selected to participate in the inaugural program. Applicants should be able to demonstrate entrepreneurial passion either through their academic and work experiences, programs and ventures they have helped to create and lead and/or their career plans. To be eligible, students must be currently enrolled in any full-time undergraduate or graduate program in Greensboro and plan to graduate no earlier than spring 2013.  Participating schools as part of Opportunity Greensboro include the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, North Carolina A&T State University, Guilford College, Greensboro College, Elon University, Bennett College and Guilford Technical Community College.

Preference will be given to students at the rising junior level and above, but rising sophomores with exceptional qualities and motivation may apply. Students from all academic disciplines are encouraged to apply by submitting a current resume, photograph, letter of recommendation from a faculty member, and a three page essay describing their entrepreneurial interests and why they would like to participate in GEMS.

The North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center (NCEC) at UNCG provides co-curricular and outreach programs to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses, and to serve as a catalyst for the creation of sustainable and globally competitive enterprises in the Piedmont Triad, North Carolina, and beyond. For more information, visit the NCEC’s website at http://entrepreneur.uncg.edu or call 336-256-8649.

That’s the question seven UNC campuses — including two experts from UNCG — have spent the past year and a half answering, for each of the state’s seven economic development regions, at the request of the Governor’s Task Force on Logistics through the N.C. Department of Transportation. The answer? Some things old and some things new.

George List and Bob Foyle from NC State’s Institute on Transportation Research led the study, focusing on “how economic development can be encouraged in North Carolina through infrastructure investment. The resulting “Seven Portals Study” is a series of regional analyses by teams of researchers from East Carolina (Northeast Region); NCA&T State (Piedmont Triad region); UNC-Chapel Hill (Eastern Region); UNC Charlotte (Charlotte region); UNC Greensboro (Southeast Region); and Western Carolina and NC State (Advantage West region). In addition to coordinating the statewide effort, NC State wrote the report on the Research Triangle region.

The analyses of 35 sites across North Carolina were built around dozens of interviews with stakeholders to assess existing air, rail and highway capacity and what improvements could be carried out in the future to make the region more effective. Each study looked at the unique assets of the region, such as the importance of military logistics in the Fayetteville area.

For example, in southeastern North Carolina, UNCG researchers Joyendu “Joy” Bhadhury, associate dean of the Bryan School of Business and Economics, and Sam Troy, executive in residence with the Bryan School, reviewed four sites to determine which had the greatest potential for job creation.

After making specific recommendations for each of those sites, the pair also proposed a new “virtual logistics village” to include the Port of Wilmington, three industrial parks and the Wilmington airport, all operating under a single coordinating authority: “If you take a 30-mile radius from Wilmington, you have the strongest candidates for a logistics village in our area,” said Troy, who came up with the idea.

What happens next? That’s up to the regional partnerships and the Logistics Task Force. But they could make a difference, says Steve Yost, President of North Carolina Southeast, who was intrigued with the ideas for his region: “The final report was very comprehensive and presented the unique idea of a virtual logistics village…this idea of pursuing and could help economic development efforts in our part of the state.”

At a time when new jobs and new ways of thinking are in short supply, that’s a start.

Classics Day: Clash of the Spartans will be Saturday, April 14, 2012, in Foust Park from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

The day begins with a PanAthenaic Procession. Events include a demonstration of Greek and Roman military techniques; Olympic games; scenes from a Greek tragedy and a Roman comedy; an Oracle; and a sand art activity at the “archaeology dig” center, in addition to a Homer-a-Thon.

Full story at Campus Weekly.

Students will showcase their research projects, and $1,000 prizes will be awarded in each of six categories.

Congressman Brad Miller will attend a portion of the expo. Miller will speak at 1 p.m.

Now headed by Lisa Goble, OIC was originally founded in 2002 as the Office of Technology Transfer. That year, Jerry McGuire was hired from the State University of New York at Buffalo to head the office.

The day’s events will include speakers from 10 a.m. to noon, the innovation showcase from 2-4 p.m. and an OIC reception from 4-6 p.m. in the Alumni House. Speaking will be attorney Cynthia Rothschild with Kilpatrick, Townsend and Stockton on “Intellectual Property and Patents”; David Sipple, assistant regional center director of the Small Business and Technology Development Center, on “Synergy with small business and OIC”; and Zachary Cary, director of new product acquisitions for KeraFAST, on “Economic Potential of Lab Reagents.”

Except for the reception, all events will be in the Moore Humanities and Research Administration Building.

Ezra Klein reported on their study in the Washington Post on March 12.

Their research was also mentioned on The Rachel Maddow Show on March 14.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

A large-scale study of AMSTI – the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative, Alabama’s homegrown math and science program – by UNCG’s SERVE Center confirms the value of hands-on, inquiry-based learning.

The multi-year study, done under a U.S. Department of Education contract, involved approximately 30,000 students and 780 teachers in 82 Alabama schools. The final data analysis shows that students in AMSTI schools got the equivalent of 28 extra days of schooling in math after one year, and 50 extra days after two years.

Also significant is that, while AMSTI does not explicitly teach reading skills, AMSTI students saw reading gains after one year equivalent to 40 extra days of schooling.

“We can feel very good about our findings,” said Pam Finney, project research leader for SERVE. “The rigor was here. Every step of the way, we had a constant review process. It wasn’t done in isolation.”

AMSTI is based on the premise that students learn through doing, and focuses on teacher training. All K-12 math and science teachers are eligible for AMSTI, which requires extensive training sessions over two consecutive summers. AMSTI schools also receive free equipment kits and materials, which rotate from school to school on a schedule and are continually refurbished.

SERVE findings speak well for AMSTI, which is being studied as a model by 21 European countries, Russia, China and Mexico in addition to other states across the U.S. Such extensive study is essential, Finney says, because programs like AMSTI require a huge financial investment.

Jean Scott, SERVE’s senior policy research analyst in Alabama, said the state set aside $25 million for AMSTI this year. AMSTI currently exists in 50 percent of Alabama’s schools; about 400,000 students are taught by AMSTI-trained teachers each school day.

Scott said AMSTI emerged as a top candidate for the study because of positive evaluations from other groups and an unprecedented growth rate.

To take part in the SERVE AMSTI study, at least 80 percent of a school’s math and science teachers had to agree to participate. Math results were based on SAT 10 Mathematics scores for grades 5-7; reading results were based on SAT 10 Reading scores for grades 4-8.

SERVE Center at UNCG is a university-based research, development, dissemination, evaluation and technical assistance center. SERVE works to foster empowered, information-rich, educational systems by finding and translating the best current knowledge, generating new knowledge, and partnering with stakeholders to identify and apply best evidence to practice.

The AMSTI research was conducted under SERVE’s contract with the U.S. Department of Education for the Regional Education Laboratory, Southeast, which included Empirical Education Inc., Academy for Education Development, and Abt Associates as subcontractors.

Access the full report at http://www.serve.org/.

Speaking will be State Sen. Gladys Robinson, Representatives Marcus Brandon and Alma Adams, and Amos Quick III, vice chairman of the Guilford County Board of Education. The free, public event will be in Alexander Room of EUC, and is sponsored by the UNCG African American Studies Program.

Full story at Campus Weekly.

UNCG is getting its entrepreneurial game on Tuesday, March 27, as more than 40 successful entrepreneurs, many of them UNCG alumni, visit classes across the curriculum as part of the inaugural UNCG Entrepreneur Day.

Students will hear from guests such as artist William Mangum, a double alumnus; Odell Cleveland, CEO of the Welfare Reform Liaison Project; and Niveen Kattan, alumna and president of Atlantic Contracting Company. Guests will talk to students in 48 different classes including business, religion, sociology, communication studies and social work.

In addition to specific class sessions, four open sessions are slated:

• 9:30 – 11 a.m. — Panel Discussion featuring Pat Holder ’69, ’71 MA, Alicia Fields-Minkins ’86, Renae Myers ’85 and Victor Jones ’06 – Bryan 202
• 11 a.m. – noon — Guest Speaker – Steve Hassenfelt – MHRA 3208
• 3:30 – 5 p.m. — Guest Speaker – Mickey Freeman ’88 – Graham 207
• 3:30 – 4:45 p.m. — Guest Speaker – Megan Metzger ’05 – Bryan 105

Entrepreneur Day is organized by the NC Entrepreneurship Center at UNCG with help from the UNCG Alumni Association.

For more information, contact Bryan Toney, director of the Entrepreneurship Center, at bctoney@uncg.edu or (336) 256-8647.

UNCG alumni, students, university employees and friends of Preservation Greensboro will be on hand March 24 for the first work day. Work will begin at 8 a.m. Anyone in the community interested in volunteering may register at UNCG Glenwood Landscape Project. 

Volunteers have put months of planning into the landscaping work, creating a plan that will complement the Craftsman and Queen Anne architecture of the properties. “The UNCG Alumni Association is excited about this project,” said President Marirose Steigerwald. “We see it as a positive way to connect with our neighbors in the Glenwood area, as well as contribute to the Greensboro community. One of the hallmarks of UNCG is service; this is a tangible way for us to give back, and have some fun.”

In addition to their labor, alumni have also contributed starter plants from their own gardens to serve as a basis for the design. “We’re trying very hard to make sure that we are being true to the history and culture of the neighborhood,” said Linda Carter, executive director of the UNCG Alumni Association. Linda spoke to WGHP Fox 8 about the project.

The Preservation Greensboro Development Fund has provided a grant that will cover the costs of anchor plants, seed, mulch, straw and bed preparation.

The first phase of UNCG’s mixed-use village includes an 800-bed residence hall and mixed-use spaces that will be used for offices and retail. Construction on the first phase is scheduled to be done in time for the 2013-14 academic year. Additional information on the mixed-use village is available at http://campusenterprises.uncg.edu/community.

Logie Meachun, courtesy Alex Forsyth Photography

Lorenzo “Logie” Meachum, a blues musician and storyteller and PhD student at UNCG, spoke with radio host Frank Stasio this week as part of Stasio’s WUNC program, “The State of Things.” Listen to the interview here.

Meachum, will headline the annual Friends of the UNCG Libraries dinner Wednesday, March 28, in Elliott University Center.

The blues celebration kicks off at 6:30 p.m. with a reception, followed by a seated dinner. The program starts at 8:30 p.m.

Meachum, a member of the Friends’ board of directors, is a founding member of the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society and a past recipient of the Keeping the Blues Alive Award for his efforts to perform and promote blues music. He is completing his PhD in English.

The lectures will be held in the Alumni House on March 22 (1:30-4:30 p.m.) and March 23 (9 a.m.-noon). This year’s series title is “Understanding Depression and Anxiety: Biopsychosocial Factors in Emotional Responsivity and Implications for Prevention and Treatment.” All are free and open to the public.

Dr. Kari M. Eddington of the UNCG Department of Psychology said, “Depression and anxiety are the most common and costly psychological problems in our society. Attendees at this year’s Kendon Smith Lecture Series will gain a better understanding of why some people are more vulnerable to these problems than others and will hear about cutting-edge research on etiology from some of the leading experts in the field. The speakers will also discuss the current status of efforts to prevent and treat depression and anxiety disorders.”

The Kendon Smith Lecture Series is an annual event that brings national and international experts to UNCG to discuss a topic related to mind and behavior. Four experts will speak:

March 22:

1:45 p.m. – “Understanding and Reducing Risk for Depression,” Dr. Ian Gotlib of Stanford University.

3:15 p.m. – “Toward an Objective Characterization of Depressive Phenotypes: Clues from Affective Neuroscience,” Dr. Diego Pizzagalli, Harvard University.

March 23:

9 a.m. – “Social Anxiety: The Role of Emotion (Dys) Regulation in its Nature and Treatment,” Dr. Richard Heimberg, Temple University.

10:30 a.m. – “Common and Specific Risk Factors for Mood and Anxiety Disorders: Prospective Four Year Follow-Up Results from the Youth Emotion Project,” Dr. Susan Mineka, Northwestern University.

UNCG historian and political analyst Omar Ali was quoted in the March 18th Sunday edition of the Greensboro News & Record regarding changes in black political leadership and the growing number of independent voters. Regarding the electoral contest for the North Carolina House District 60 seat between the upstart incumbent Marcus Brandon and the Democratic Party establishment figure Earl Jones, the News & Record article stated:

Ali, an associate professor of African American history at UNCG, said Brandon and Jones are different types of black progressives. He counts Brandon among a new generation of black leadership. “I would describe him as a closet independent. Many black politicians are, in some ways, not yet ready to leave the Democratic Party,” Ali said.

“The tree idea was most interesting to me,” Lee told the paper. “I took the idea and thought about it: how a tree, like a police station, is rooted in the community and is strong and steady. I took that notion and came up with my own concept, which is what will stand outside the police station.”

The 7th Annual Threads Fashion Show, “Alter Egos of Fashion,” gives UNCG student designers a chance to interpret what “alter ego” means to them. The show starts at 8 p.m. Friday, March 30, at The Empire Room, 203 South Elm Street, Greensboro. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Threads, a group of Consumer Apparel and Retail Studies (CARS) students, has teamed up with VF Corporation to sponsor the show. During the show, VF will feature jeans designed by CARS student Song Anh Nyguen, winner of Wrangler’s national Next Blue design competition.

In a new development, a section of this year’s show will spotlight capsule collections from upper-level design students. A capsule collection is a small group of looks that captures the designer’s inspiration and artistic point of view. Capsule collection designers created mood boards, sketches for 4-6 looks, and chose their own inspiration, season, models, hair and makeup, and music.

“This new format works as a platform for design students to build their portfolio and showcase their designs,” says Threads President Victoria Kim. “That has never been available before, within Threads or the university.”

General admission tickets are $7 each for UNCG students with ID; $10 each for non-students. Preferred seating tickets are $15 each.

Buy tickets online at http://www.uncgfashionshow.eventbrite.com or in stores at Rebecca & Co., Perch, and Palm Avenue.

U.S. News’ just-released Best Grad Schools in America 2013 rankings rate UNCG’s Counseling and Educational Development program fifth in the nation. The program is part of UNCG’s School of Education, which ranks 58th in the nation overall.

Specialty rankings for programs in counseling are based on nominations by education school deans and education school deans of graduate studies from the list of schools surveyed. They selected up to 10 top programs, which were ranked by the number of nominations received; ranked programs received between 10 and seven nominations.

For overall rankings, U.S. News surveyed graduate programs at 280 schools granting doctoral degrees in Fall 2011 and early 2012. Of those schools contacted, 238 provided data needed to calculate rankings based on program quality, student selectivity, faculty resources and research activity.

UNCG’s counseling program admits about 35 master’s students and 7-10 doctoral students each year; 110 graduate students are now enrolled in the program. Currently, 980 graduate students are enrolled in the School of Education, including those seeking post-baccalaureate and post-master’s certificates.

Both the counseling program and the School of Education have consistently appeared in the U.S. News rankings for best graduate programs. In 2012, the counseling program ranked fourth in the nation; the School of Education ranked 64th.

The opera follows the escapades of the nobleman Don Giovanni, a manipulative playboy whose exploits leave behind a trail of people looking for revenge. The work is considered among the best of the genre, said David Holley, a UNCG music professor and director of the UNCG Opera Program. Shows will begin at 7:30 p.m. March 29-30 and at 2 p.m. April 1.

“To many people, Mozart was one of the greatest opera composers of all time,” Holley said. “We had not programmed one of his operas as the Spring Opera since 2002, when we did ‘The Magic Flute,’ and I have been anxious to get back to doing Mozart. We choose our shows based on the very talented singers we have in our program, and it has not been until this year that all of the pieces fell into place and we have just the right combination of singers to mount ‘Don Giovanni.’”

The UNCG production is loosely set in the 1950s and will emphasize the destructive nature of Don Giovanni’s actions on others and eventually himself, Holley said.

This spring opera marks the first time UNCG Opera has produced “Don Giovanni” in almost 20 years. “The last time we did this opera at UNCG was 1994. We rented the scenery, so many of our artistic choices were made for us,” Holley said. “This time with, a great design team of Deborah Bell, Randy McMullen, and Alex Ginder from the UNCG Theatre, we were able to determine the look and the feel of the show from the ground up.”

Tickets are $23 and may be purchased online at boxoffice.uncg.edu or by calling 336-334-4849 Monday-Friday between noon and 5 p.m., at campus box office locations. Discounted rates are available for seniors, students, UNCG alumni and groups of 10 or more.

Photo information (L-R): Jourdan Laine Howell  as Donna Elvira; David Weigel  as Leporello; and Scott MacLeod as Don Giovanni

“Yet every time we turn around, society is whittling away at that ability,” she says. From business policies that don’t consider nursing mothers to the lack of positive representations of breastfeeding in the public sphere, many nursing mothers face an uphill battle.

The seventh Breastfeeding and Feminism Symposium, co-sponsored by UNCG, will explore these issues. The international gathering of researchers, medical practitioners, policy makers and lay leaders aims to make it easier for women to be successful at nursing and seeks to advance the call to action in support of breastfeeding made by U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin.

The event, to be held March 29-30 in downtown Greensboro, is co-sponsored by UNCG’s Center for Women’s Health and Wellness and UNC Chapel Hill’s Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute.

The symposium will encourage consideration on “how we think about women’s lives” as we advance the Surgeon General’s call to action, says Smith, the director of the Center for Women’s Health and Wellness.

“We don’t want women to have to choose between breastfeeding their child and working or living fully in public life.  Employers can find ways to make it possible for women who work to breastfeed,” she says. “By failing to develop workplace responses to the real needs of women, we make it more difficult for women to succeed.”

A practice as old as the ages, breastfeeding is an issue still making news. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently recast its support of breastfeeding as not only important for a mother and her child but also to public health. A federal law that went into effect in 2010 helps nursing women by mandating reasonable breaks and a private, non-bathroom space where women can express milk.

Symposium topics involve a diverse set of issues — local, national and international in scope — surrounding breastfeeding. They include effective and not so effective breastfeeding campaigns, the business case for breastfeeding, the impact of breastfeeding on public health, the normalization of breastfeeding through television, the eroticization of breastfeeding in the 18th and 19th century, and a discussion of a variety of state level initiatives.
A full conference schedule can be found here. Early conference registration,  which ends March 7, is $50  for students, $250 for other participants.

For additional information, contact Smith at phsmith@uncg.edu or visit www.uncg.edu/hhs/cwhw.

Regarded as one of the greatest dramatists of all time, Shaw used “Man and Superman” to provide comedic commentary on the uptight social norms common in England in the early 20th century. “He’s a classic playwright that our students — both in the theatre department and across campus — need to know about,” said John Gulley, the play’s director.

“Man and Superman” — which gets its title from philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s ideas about the “Übermensch” (“Superman”) — centers on John Tanner and his relationship with Ann Whitefield. Tanner is a confirmed bachelor, despite the pursuits of Whitefield and her persistent efforts to solidify their relationship.

The play is a great romantic comedy and social satire, Gulley said. “The irony is that Jack, who thinks he’s taking the world forward into the future, is the dumbest character in the play when it comes to human feelings and emotions. He thinks he can just use his brain to conquer the world and become an authentic person. Ann reminds him that human beings are more than just brains and great arguments.

“From the beginning, we know that he’s in love with Ann Whitefield. We’re just waiting, in a fun way, for him to come to that realization.”

Instead of using a forward-facing proscenium stage, this production of “Man and Superman” will be performed in the round, with the audience right up on the action. “We’re doing it in the round to try to strip the play down to the essence of the human relationships,” Gulley said. “It’ll be interesting for the audience to be right on top of the action. The actors will make entrances and exits through the audience.”

As is common in many productions of “Man and Superman,” the UNCG production will omit Act 3 of the play.

The play will be performed in the Brown Building Theatre at 402 Tate St. at 7:30 p.m. March 27-29; 8 p.m. on March 30-31 and 2 p.m. on April 1. Tickets are $18 and may be purchased online at boxoffice.uncg.edu, by calling 336-334-4849 Monday-Friday between noon and 5 p.m. and at campus box office locations. Discounted rates are available for seniors, students, UNCG alumni and groups of 10 or more.

For more information, contact Jody Kaizen at (336)-334-4601.

The sustainability challenges that Greensboro faces as a city will be examined on Tuesday, March 20, when UNCG’s Harriet Elliott Lecture Series focuses on “Greening Greensboro: How the Sustainable Cities Movement Can Make Our City and Region More Livable.”

Keynote speaker for the event will be David Owen, author of “Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability.” Greensboro Mayor Robbie Perkins will serve on the event’s afternoon panel discussion.

Owen has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1991. Before joining The New Yorker, he was a contributing editor at The Atlantic Monthly and, prior to that, a senior writer at Harper’s. Owen, who is author of more than a dozen books, will speak and answer questions from 7-9 p.m. in Mead Auditorium (Room 101) of the Sullivan Science Building.

“I am pretty sure that not everyone in the Triad will agree with David Owen, since he’s basically saying that the path to sustainability is living in very dense cities,” said Dr. Corey Johnson, assistant professor of geography and coordinator of this year’s Elliott Lectures. “He’s also pretty harsh on the modern environmental movement with its focus on open spaces, compost bins, and sourcing everything locally.

“But these are precisely the conversations we need to be having. That’s why we are inviting the panel of experts on urban sustainability to address some of the ideas that David put forward in his book. I think it will be a really thought-provoking set of events at UNCG.”

The panel discussion, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. in the Weatherspoon Art Museum Auditorium, is drawing experts from the fields of sustainability science, design, and policy to answer the question:“How do we move towards a ‘greener’ future in Greensboro and beyond?” A reception will follow.

The panel will be moderated by Johnson. Panelists include:

• Mayor Perkins was elected mayor in November 2011, after serving on the City Council for much of the last two decades. He has been a commercial real estate broker in the Triad for over 30 years.

• Robin Abrams is a registered architect specializing in inner city revitalization, housing, and urban design. She is a member of the American Institute of Architects and a licensed member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Abrams has worked in the field of urban design in Austin, Texas, since 1979 and has produced over 30 master plans. In addition to work in the U.S., Abrams has consulted on projects in Mexico, Japan, and England.

• Simon Atkinson is a professor of architecture at N.C. State University as well as the Hogg Centennial Professor in Community and Regional Planning at the University of Texas at Austin. He is an urban consultant, currently working with the Capital Metro Transit Authority on a light rail system for Austin, Texas. Atkinson also is as an advisor for sustainable forms of new development in developing regions, most recently in rebuilding of the city of San Salvador in El Salvador.

• Stanley Faeth is professor and head in the UNCG Department of Biology. Faeth’s research focuses on terrestrial and urban ecology. His research group studies how urbanization influences arthropod diversity and how trophic structure of plant-herbivore-natural enemy communities changes in human-dominated environments.

The lecture series is named for Harriet Wiseman Elliott, a pioneer in the women’s rights movement and the namesake of Elliott University Center. She taught political science from 1913 until 1935 and served as dean of women from 1935 until her death in 1947. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called her to Washington in 1940 to serve on the National Advisory Defense Commission.

All the concerts will be held in the UNCG Dance Theater located in the Health and Human Performance Building at the corner of Walker Avenue and Kenilworth streets. Parking is available in the Walker Parking Deck. General admission tickets are $12; student and senior citizen tickets are $9; and $6 for UNCG faculty and students. Tickets will be available in the lobby of the Dance Department beginning one hour before each performance, or through the University Box Office at 336-334-4849 or boxoffice.uncg.edu.

Christine Bowen Stevens will present her concert “civilized habits; conditional antagonism; accepted behavior” at 8 p.m. March 16-17. The concert is an evening length dance investigating the multiplicity of human existence. The work explores the natural self, and how it is revealed through the stripping of culture and learned behavior. Who are we as raw, exposed humans, and where are the intersections between the emotional and the physical?

Originally from Durham, Stevens earned a bachelor’s degree in dance from UNCG in 2001. Her work has recently been presented in the Greensboro Fringe Festival, at the American College Dance Festival in Ohio, and the North Carolina Dance Alliance annual event. She has toured with the NC Dance Festival and has performed with [project incite], Queen City Jazz Company, and Sidelong Dance Company. Prior to graduate school she created and implemented the dance program at Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School. She currently teaches dance appreciation, ballet and contemporary courses at UNCG.

Sarah Wildes Arnett will give present “The Light by Which We Remember” at 8 p.m. March 23-24. Arnett’s choreography has been described as athletic, taking physical risks, but also tender, encompassing the fear and acceptance within human relationships. “The Light by Which We Remember” promises the audience a deep experience of space and sound and will leave the viewer questioning their own process of remembering.

Arnett, from Concord, graduated from Vanderbilt University with a bachelors degree in American Studies. She has taught and presented choreography in North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee and, in addition, performed in New York City and Mississippi. She is also a trained percussionist and performed with groups such as Music City Mystique Percussion Ensemble and the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps.

Denise J. Murphy will present “One Hundred Forty-Six,” at 8 p.m. March 30-31. In the work, she explores the March 25, 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire through movement, text, video, photography and original music. The fire erupted in one of the largest garment factories in New York City killing 146 people, mostly young women, and became a turning point in the history of the U.S. Labor Movement. The performance of this work coincides with Women’s History month and the 101st anniversary of the fire. An excerpt of the work has been selected to be presented at the National College Dance Festival at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in May.

Murphy’s work stems from research into the fire through literature, photographs, documentaries and survivor interviews. While these resources proved consistently valuable, Murphy often returned to the body as a primary place of research, working with cast members to uncover the individual lived experiences of the young women and men who became Triangle victims. This empathetic research process involved visiting the graves of victims in Brooklyn and Queens and working with poignant images and text. The movement, generated by Murphy and cast members, evokes images of textile work, individual workers and their relationships, as well as the fire.

An original and affecting composition by Elizabeth Kowalski, a candidate for master’s of music degree in composition, conveys emotion and spirit as she addresses both movement and narrative. At the forefront of “One Hundred Forty-Six” is a desire to remember the individuals who died in the fire and to ask the audience to speculate about their personal lives. The piece serves as a poetic documentary and as a moving memorial to the men and women who died that day.

A native of New York City, Murphy holds a bachelor’s degree in dance education from New York University. (She first learned of the fire while a student at NYU, as the building is now home to  science classrooms.) She has worked in arts administration and taught master classes at The Ailey School. Murphy has recently set choreography on students enrolled in The Ailey School’s 2010 and 2011 Summer Intensive Programs in New York City. This past February, Murphy presented a work of choreography at the American College Dance Festival in Virginia.

To reserve seats, send an e-mail to planet@uncg.edu with the number of attendees and the date you will attend. Please include your home address and a phone number.

There is no charge for the hour-long shows, which are put on by UNCG faculty and student volunteers. The events are appropriate for older children, but young children may become restless.

Parking is available in the nearby McIver Street Parking Deck at a modest cost. A campus map is available online.

“The belief was that being active would somehow harm a women’s reproductive organs and it would affect her ability to bear healthy children,” Duffy told the paper. “There were also questions about the ability of women to handle pain. None of it was true and none of it was supported by evidence, but that was the thinking.”

For the keynote event of his residency, Schwarz will present a lecture on “The Future of Classical Music,” Thursday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the Music Building Recital Hall. On Friday, March 16, Schwarz will host a composer’s workshop from 10 a.m-noon in room 110, followed by a seminar on preparing for orchestral auditions from 1-2:30 p.m. in Room 111. All events are free and open to the public.

This residency continues the commitment of the School of Music, Theatre and Dance to provide its students and faculty with opportunities to interact and learn from successful professionals in the fields of music, theatre and dance.

A renowned interpreter of 19th century German, Austrian and Russian repertoire in addition to his noted work with contemporary American composers, Gerard Schwarz recently completed his final season as music director of the Seattle Symphony after an acclaimed 26 years. The success of Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony helped raise the profile of the city of Seattle into that of a progressive leader of art and culture.

With more than 300 world premieres to his credit, Schwarz has always felt strongly about commissioning and performing new music. As music director of the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina, one of this country’s foremost training programs for young musicians, Schwarz programmed a record nine world premieres for the recent 50th Anniversary Season.

Born in America to Viennese parents, Schwarz began studying music at age five and soon focused on the trumpet. A graduate of both New York City’s High School of Performing Arts and The Juilliard School of Music, he joined the New York Philharmonic in 1972 as co-principal trumpet, a position he held until 1977.

Schwarz’s numerous previous positions include music director of New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, music director of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and director of both the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the New York Chamber Symphony. In his nearly five decades as a respected classical musician and conductor, Schwarz has received hundreds of honors and accolades, including two Emmy Awards, 13 Grammy nominations, six ASCAP Awards and numerous Stereo Review and Ovation Awards.

Schwarz’ residency is made possible by the Eastern Music Festival and an endowment from Shirley Pierce Spears.

Speaking will be four women who contributed to the book, “Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts of Women in SNCC.” They are Margaret Herring, Rutha Harris, Faith Holsaert and Martha Noonan. Holsaert and Noonan were part of the six-woman group of editors.

SNCC was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, an organization on the frontlines of the Civil Rights Movement. The book tells of their activities, including early sit-ins, voter registration campaigns, Freedom Rides, the 1963 march on Washington, Mississippi Freedom Summer, Black Power and antiwar activism.

The event is presented by the Duncan Women’s History Lecture Series and is part of UNCG’s observance of Women’s History Month. This annual women’s history lecture has been generously supported by UNCG/Woman’s College alumna Peggy Duncan Jeens, a 1959 history graduate who and went on to become an award-winning history teacher.

The UNCG Theatre production of the play, adapted from E.B. White’s children’s book by playwright Joseph Robinette, adds an urban flair to the mild-mannered, New York City mouse adopted into a human family. After finding that his best friend Margalo, a bird spooked by the family cat, has flown away, Stuart sets out into the city to find his missing friend.

“We chose to do the show with a bit more of an urban feel to it,” said producer Michael Flannery. The show is “maybe a bit edgier than some interpretations but still faithful to the story.”

Performances will be in Taylor Theatre at 406 Tate St. at 9:30 a.m. March 13-16; and 2 p.m. on March 17-18. The show is intended for audiences age five and up.

Tickets are $18 and may be purchased online at boxoffice.uncg.edu, by calling 336-334-4849 Monday-Friday between noon and 5 p.m., at campus box office locations, and at the door one hour prior to each curtain in the Taylor Theatre lobby. Discounted rates are available for seniors, students, UNCG alumni and groups of 10 or more.

For more information, contact Jody Kaizen at 336-334-4601.

“We know there are anatomic, genetic, hormonal and muscular influences,” Shultz, who is also the co-director of the Applied Neuromechanics Research Laboratory at UNCG, told the paper.

Female athletes aren’t more susceptible because they are weaker or lack physical fitness, she said. “If it were, we wouldn’t see NFL players getting these things,” she’s quoted as saying. “You just turned wrong one day. You’re doing the same activities day after day, and one day, it just goes.”

Parker, the hearing son of two deaf parents, is fluent in American Sign Language. “Children” is a love story set in the deaf community. Parker elected to use shadow interpreters for his production, interpreters who follow the actors and sign for them.

“I walked into the theater where the entire cast was waiting to begin rehearsal and I noticed none of them were talking,” Parker told the Observer. “All of them were communicating through sign language. This was wonderful to see.”

The play runs through March 11 at the Armour Street Theatre in Davidson.

The MSITM program – housed in the Bryan School of Business and Economics – has seen a jump of 262.5 percent in new enrollments since last fall.

Eight new students enrolled in the program in Fall 2010, while that number jumped to 29 for Fall 2011. New spring enrollments increased by about 133 percent, with six new students enrolling in Spring 2011 and 14 enrolling in Spring 2012.

Dr. Lakshmi Iyer, director of Information Systems and Operations Management (ISOM) graduate programs, says moving the master’s program online in Fall 2011 and streamlining requirements from 42 semester hours to 30-36 hours, has proven to be a practical solution for working students who live at a distance and need the flexibility of online classes.

“We’ve been able to draw students from all over North Carolina, domestic and international students as well,” Iyer says. “Students are no longer location dependent.”

Dr. Kwasi Amoako-Gyampah, ISOM department head, says the revamped program is drawing students from as nearby as Asheboro and Clemmons and as far away as Dubai, India and China. International students wanting to experience the U.S. firsthand can opt to take up to 50 percent of their courses in person.

Amoako adds that beyond the convenience of the streamlined online curriculum, UNCG’s programs are high quality, accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and taught by full-time faculty.

“Students like online programs, but most students want accredited programs,” Amoako says. “They want regular full-time faculty to teach the classes. The regular faculty who are already teaching our face-to-face programs teach our online classes. With terminal PhDs, faculty are well-qualified and accessible.”

While other online, graduate-level information systems technology programs exist in the Triad and outlying areas, UNCG’s dual focus on technology and management appeals to students, Amoako says. The department also offers online post-baccalaureate certificate programs in such highly-specialized fields as Supply Chain Logistics and Transportation Management and Healthcare Information Technology Management.

Area industries such as New Breed, Syngenta, Polo/Ralph Lauren and Moses Cone Health System need highly skilled workers, Amoako says, and UNCG can provide them. A partnership with Cone Health, for example, allows Healthcare IT students the option to complete a full-time, semester-long, paid internship working with digital health records.

“It’s a win-win situation for everybody,” Amoako says.

Registration and networking will take place 5-5:30 p.m., and the program itself will last about 45 minutes with a Q&A and a networking reception to follow. The speaker series is organized by the North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center.

From an early age, Zimmerman trusted his instincts, ambition and work ethic. After joining the family’s furniture business on the factory floor, he got a taste of every employee’s role on the way up to V.P. of sales and marketing where he grew the company’s sales to over $13 million. Then the itch to turn his kayaking hobby into a business was just too strong.

At age 28, he and a friend started Wilderness Systems Kayaks, building one boat at a time. The new company booked sales of $86,000 its first year. Within 12 years, sales were $12 million and Wilderness Systems was widely considered the premier brand of kayaks in a fast-growing industry. Wilderness Systems was bought out in 1998 and with Zimmerman as CEO, the new corporation, Confluence Watersports, acquired Mad River Canoe, Voyager Accessories and Wave Sport Kayaks bringing sales past $20 million by 2001.

Welcoming the opportunity to restore his spirit with adventure travel and fitness, charity and non-profit work, Zimmerman stepped away from the role of CEO and soon after accepted a buy-out offer. By 2005, his business itch had returned. He was soon launching a new brand, Native Watercraft, focused on the fast-growing fishing segment of the kayak industry. The acquisition of another small kayak company created the umbrella company Legacy Paddlesports. In three years, sales reached $12 million.

In 2011, he turned the company’s operations over to the employees and partners. As a consultant, he now shares his practical and proven best practices in general management sales, marketing, branding, distribution, R&D and manufacturing with mature companies and start-ups, large and small.

Parking for the March 15 program will be available in the Walker Avenue Parking Deck, adjacent to the Bryan Building. The Bryan Building is located at 516 Stirling St. The series is free and open to the public, but seating is limited, so attendees are asked to RSVP to ncec@uncg.edu.

The Entrepreneurial Journeys monthly program provides opportunities for community members and students to hear first-hand how businesses are created in an informal, interactive setting. Previous speakers in the 2011-2012 series have included Kayne Fisher and Chris Lester, the founders of Natty Greene’s Brewing Company; Angie Besecker, owner of Eco Dwelling; David Caudle, partner with Frogman Interactive; Dennis Quaintance with Quantaince-Weaver Hotels and Restaurants; and Chris Laney, president of Zenergy Technologies.

The North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center (NCEC) at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro provides co-curricular and outreach programs to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses, and to serve as a catalyst for the creation of sustainable and globally competitive enterprises in the Piedmont Triad, North Carolina and beyond. For more information, visit the center’s website or call 336-256-8649.

History is “not just about the great individuals, it’s about people of all kinds creating things together. That is what produces history,” Ali told attendees.

“The people who have pressed for changes in the most critical ways are the outsiders, the independents. It’s these ordinary men and women who push and push from the outside and then ultimately the changes are adopted by people in power.”

Eddy serves as the director of the Office of Academic Outreach in the UNCG School of Health and Human Sciences and is a professor in UNCG’s Department of Public Health Education. He’s taught at the university since 2008.

“As a leading journal in the field of health education and health promotion, AJHE provide information to practitioners to design interventions that improve the health of all people,” Eddy said. “Serving as editor enables me to bring over 40 years of experience in the field to help shape the future of health education and health promotion.”

Now in its 44th year, the American Journal of Health Education goes out to more than 6,000 subscribers and numerous academic libraries. The journal is published six times a year.

The prestigious honor recognizes Ennis’ substantial achievements in research. Over the course of her career, Ennis has focused her work on curriculum theory and development in the field of public education, with specific emphasis on urban classroom settings. Most recently, Ennis was awarded a five year, $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to create and test a new curriculum designed to increase middle school-age students’ knowledge of healthful living, health education, science education and information and technology.

Ennis will be formally inducted as an AERA Fellow at the organization’s 2012 annual meeting this April in Vancouver, Canada.

“In our winner-take-all culture, we tend to glorify the winners, emphasizing the individual – from historical figures, such as George Washington, to contemporary figures, such as Oprah Winfrey or Barack Obama,” he wrote. “We learn about them as individuals who ‘make it’ – on their own, through extraordinary acts, with vision, and a little bit of luck. The formula: They struggled, they failed, but pressed on until they won (glory, money, the war, the vote, the presidency).

“But what if in history there is no such thing as ‘the individual’ or ‘winning’? What if there is only the seamless process of collective creation – no victory (no defeat), only what people do together? Back stories – the ones you don’t usually hear – can teach us about collective creativity, about the fleeting nature of winning and about the production of history of many people doing mostly ordinary, but sometimes, extraordinary things together.”

“What most of us learn about ‘black history’ entails the people and/or movements that succeeded in making political changes – notably, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. But what about those who didn’t make it to the mountaintop? What about the dreams that remain unfulfilled and the movements that failed?

“Black populism, the movement of black farmers, sharecroppers, and agrarian workers from 1886 to 1900, was such a movement …”

WFMY: The NAACP filed a lawsuit several weeks ago in U.S. District Court in Greensboro stating that thousands of citizens are going to be left unrepresented in the county due to redistricting led by Republican legislators. What is going on?

Ali: The lawsuit states that some 43,000 residents will go unrepresented on the County Board of Commissioners and that the new district lines are therefore unconstitutional. The presiding federal judge, William Osteen, issued an injunction last week, but there will be a court hearing – likely an appeal – on Wednesday.

WFMY: Is there a reason other than simply partisan advantage that the Republicans decided to create new districts that would leave out so many people?

Ali: Unfortunately, it is precisely for partisan advantage that the lines were drawn in the way that they were. This is part of a larger problem of partisan-driven politics in the state (and nation!). Redistricting brings this out very clearly – and on both sides of the aisle. While it is now Democrats who are raising the flag of lack of representation, they too have been engaged in gerrymandering to keep their districts “safe.” The reason the NAACP came in is because the new district lines disproportionately affect black voters. But the issue of Jim Crow-like legislative tactics directed towards African Americans actually pales in comparison to the numbers of people who are unaffiliated with ANY party. The unaffiliated, nearly one quarter of all voters in the state, are consistently locked out of the poltiical process, from getting on the ballot to holding office because of partisan legislation.

WFMY: So what happens next?

Ali: Judge Osteen will need to decide what do to with what he is presented later this week. However, this issue of redistricting raises the larger issue of structural forms of partisanship that are embedded into our political system – and which are indeed unconstitutional. Who gets the short end of the stick are North Carolinians caught in between the partisan bickering and positioning of the two major parties. Redistricting needs to be done in non-partisan ways by an independent commission. We simply can’t have legislators picking their constituencies before constituencies pick them! This is something being discussed in Raleigh, under pressure from North Carolina independents and reform-oriented Democrats and Republicans. When legislators are fixated on gaining partisan advantage they become blind to basic issues of democracy and representation. That’s why it’s always been the outsiders – the independents – who have had to press for structural reform issues.

There are four steps to launching a campus business.

1. Discuss your idea with Joe Erba, a faculty member in the Bryan School, or Bryan Toney, director of the N.C. Entrepreneurship Center. Contact Erba at 256-8592 and Toney at 256-8647 or bctoney@uncg.edu. If your idea is approved:
2. Prepare a formal business plan and submit it no later than April 13. (Help is available if you need it.) If your business plan is approved:
3. Present your business plan to the UNCG Selection Committee, which grants licenses. If you receive a license, you qualify for a startup loan of up to $1,000. If your license is approved:
4. Start your business. Make $$$.

Businesses started at UNCG by students include Student Image Photography, Ja’el’s S.P.E.D (swimwear) and A&M Compu-Tech.

The Campus Entrepreneurs Program was created in 2009 and had required students to take the Campus Entrepreneurs course before turning in a business plan. (Taking the class is still a really good idea.) This semester, thanks to Erba and Toney, students can get the ball rolling without that extra step.

The North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center (NCEC) at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro provides co-curricular and outreach programs to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses, and to serve as a catalyst for the creation of sustainable and globally competitive enterprises in the Piedmont Triad, North Carolina and beyond. For more information, visit http://entrepreneur.uncg.edu or call 336-256-8649.

Associate Professor of Communication Studies Spoma Jovanovic, winner of the Robert L. Sigmon Service Learning Award

Jovanovic, an associate professor of communication studies, received the Robert L. Sigmon Service-Learning Award, and Brady received the inaugural Leo M. Lambert Engaged Leader Award at the network’s 10th annual Civic Engagement Institute.

“Spoma’s award is well-deserved recognition of her talent for creating partnerships between our campus and our community,” Brady said. “Her work in the service-learning field was instrumental in the university’s decision to reward engaged scholarship in the promotion and tenure process.

“The Lambert Engaged Leader Award is a tribute to the dedication of faculty, students and staff to engagement in Greensboro and around the world. ‘Service’ has been UNCG’s motto since the institution was founded in 1891, and it remains as true today as it was then.”

Named for the service-learning pioneer and North Carolina native, the Sigmon Award recognizes a faculty member for service-learning experience and impact on the community, institution and students. Jovanovic has taught more than 20 service-learning designated courses and a dozen others that incorporate service-learning.

Chancellor Linda P. Brady and faculty member Spoma Jovanovic pose with service-learning pioneer Robert L. Sigmon, the namesake of the award won by Jovanovic

Beginning in 2007, Jovanovic created a partnership with Dudley High School, the Greensboro News & Record and the Guilford Education Alliance to promote discussions about community and civic literacy between UNCG undergraduates and students at the high school. These discussions led to the students working together on a project to advocate for more bus benches and shelters.

“She helps students see their true potential, valuing their role as a citizen within their communities, and the importance of democratic expression,” a student wrote in Jovanovic’s nomination for the award. “She deserves this award because she has worked hard to awaken the leader in all of her students to make a difference.”

The Lambert Award, named in honor of Elon University President Leo M. Lambert, is to be presented annually to a North Carolina college president or chancellor committed to creating and sustaining engagement that deeply impacts community and campus. At UNCG, students perform more than 600,000 hours of service, and about 3,800 students engage in service through community-based learning courses each year.

The conference also included a presentation about the Welfare Reform Liaison Project by UNCG social work professor Bob Wineburg and the Rev. Odell Cleveland, president and CEO of the faith-based nonprofit. Cleveland founded the nonprofit dedicated to job training and placement in 1997, following discussions with Wineburg, the Jefferson Pilot Excellence Professor of Social Work. The organization has helped put about 1,000 people to work with participants’ cumulative earnings surpassing $9 million.

Kristin Buchner, who received an MPA from UNCG in December, was recognized by Kenneth Peacock, chancellor of Appalachian State University and chair of the N.C. Campus Compact Executive Board, for her undergraduate work at Appalachian supporting community engagement and partnerships. Buchner was named a Publicly Active Graduate Education Fellow by Imagining America, and she is the new communications and partnerships manager in UNCG’s Office of Research and Economic Development.

UNCG faculty and students, in collaboration with noted Triad arts groups including Bel Canto Company, will give voice to the silent film Feb. 28 with the performance “Voices of Light.” The free concert, conducted by Dr. Welborn Young,  director of choral activities and associate professor of music,  starts at 7:30 p.m. in Aycock Auditorium.

Read the full story on the movie screening/performance in Campus Weekly.

Feb. 22, discussion, “Finding the Feminine in Arnold Schönberg’s Modernist Music” by Dr. Elizabeth L. Keathley, UNCG associate professor of historical musicology. 4 p.m. Room 2211, Moore Humanities and Research Administration Building (MHRA). Event sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. For more information, contact Arndt Niebisch at a_niebis@uncg.edu.

March 14, film, “Miss Representation,” 7 p.m., Elliott University Center (EUC) Auditorium. The film explores how the media’s misrepresentations of women have led to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence. Members of the American Association of University Women Greensboro Branch and Women’s and Gender Studies Program (WGS) faculty will lead a post-film discussion. Event sponsored by WGS.

March 19, lecture, “Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Personal Experiences from SNCC.” Four women, all of whom shared their stories for the book, “Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC,” will speak about their experiences during the Civil Rights Movement for the Duncan Women’s History Lecture Series. 4 p.m., Alumni House. Event sponsored by the Department of History; co-sponsored by WGS.

March 21, discussion, “Lady Gaga, Glee & It Gets Better,” 1 p.m., Phillips Lounge, EUC. A discussion lead by Sabrina Boyer, a UNCG doctoral student, and Erin Dell surrounding the recent rash of LGBTQ suicides. Sponsored by WGS.

March 23, lecture, “Girl’s and Women’s Participation in Sport: Local and Global Perspectives,” 2 p.m., Claxton Room, EUC. The second Linda Arnold Carlisle Professorship Lecture Series featuring Dr. Chery A.  Cooky, assistant professor in the Department of Health & Kinesiology and Women’s Studies Program and an affiliated faculty member in the American Studies Program at Purdue University.

During the past 15 years, Sam Wineburg’s work has spanned a wide terrain, from how adolescents and professional historians interpret primary sources to issues of teacher assessment and teacher community in the workplace. He “has not merely contributed to our understanding of how history is created, taught and learned; he has nearly single-handedly forged a distinctive field of research and a new educational literature,” according to Lee Shulman, past president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

His book “Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts” (2001) won the 2002 Frederic W. Ness Award from the Association of American Colleges and Universities for the book “that best illuminates the goals and practices of a contemporary liberal education.” He also is the executive producer of the new Department of Education National Clearinghouse for History Education, a collaboration between George Mason University, Stanford University and the American Historical Association.

His lecture is sponsored by the Department of History.

“Under Control” features dancers Ashley Meeks, Abby Mathias, Megen Burgess, Paige DeRosa and Ruth Gibbs. The concert consists of five different pieces with the ideas of control, manipulation and power at its heart, and will also feature work by filmmaker Mandi Hart. The choreography can be described as dynamic and vigorous, balanced with Howie’s intrinsic sense of gentility.

“Desperately Trying” features a soloist restlessly searching and grasping hold to some semblance of control. “Bound to You” is a duet which explores themes of authority, dominance and dependence. The trio “Follow Me” is inspired by Howie’s relationship with her two sisters. “Sheltered” is a quartet created out of personal reflections generated in response to her father’s battle with leukemia. The performance closes with “Under Her Spell,” a lighthearted and sensual piece featuring all five dancers.

Originally from Mechanicsville, Va., Howie earned a BFA in performance with a concentration in jazz dance from East Carolina University in 2004. She performed and studied in Chicago until 2006, then moved to Winston-Salem and became a member of Sidelong Dance Company under the direction of Karla Coghill. Howie has been a guest jazz dance teacher at numerous universities in North and South Carolina. She currently teaches dance appreciation, beginning, intermediate and advanced jazz courses at UNCG, along with classes at two local dance studios.

General admission tickets to the MFA dance concert are $12; student and senior citizen tickets are $9. UNCG faculty and student tickets are $6. Tickets will be available in the lobby of the Dance Department beginning one hour before each performance,  may be purchased by phone from the University Box Office at 336-334-4849 or online at boxoffice.uncg.edu. The UNCG Dance Theater is located in the Health and Human Performance Building at the corner of Walker Avenue and Kenilworth streets, and parking is available in the Walker Parking Deck.

"The Artist as Metaphysician" by Clarence John Laughlin. Copyright Historic New Orleans Collection

Laughlin is one of the most important visual artists from Louisiana. In a career that spanned 50 years, he created more than 17,000 photographic prints and accompanying texts, including haunting, black-and-white images of New Orleans and of the region’s faded plantation culture.

Co-director Michael Murphy is a long-time film producer from New Orleans. Louisiana Public Broadcasting is a state network of six non-commercial television stations that cover the state.

Recent criticism of the program by conservative politicians is misguided, they argue. “The nation’s food stamp program is an essential part of the American safety net. Why? Because people can’t be productive — in school, at work or looking for work — if they are hungry and fearful about not having enough food to feed their families.”

Levenstein is the author of the 2009 book “A Movement Without Marches: African American Women and the Politics of Poverty in Postwar Philadelphia,” which won the Kenneth Jackson Book Award from the Urban History Association and an honorable mention for the Frederick Jackson Turner Award from the Organization of American Historians.

Teams of up to 18 students will compete in events including building a battery-powered vehicle to traverse a specific course; testing a white powder to determine as many properties as possible; reading maps; and solving astronomy problems. Teams from Alamance, Chatham, Forsyth, Guilford, Orange, Rockingham and Stokes counties will take part in events in the Sullivan Science and Petty Science buildings and the Student Recreation Center.

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, located in nearby McLeansville, is supporting the event with volunteers and a contribution for trophies and medals. General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems has served as a trusted partner to the U.S. intelligence, maritime, space and homeland communities for more than 50 years, and has been a supporter of the North Carolina Science Olympiad for almost a decade.

“The Science Olympiad provides students that have an interest in science an opportunity to compete and to receive recognition of their achievements. It is a nice counterpoint to athletic competition and recognition,” said Dr. Robert Muir, UNCG associate professor of physics and astronomy.

Muir and fellow faculty members Meg Horton and Jerry Walsh are directors of the regional competition, which is supported by dozens of faculty and student volunteers from across the campus.

The top performers in this regional tournament will compete in the state tournament held at North Carolina State University. The top two middle and high school teams at the state tournament will go on to the 2012 National Tournament.

North Carolina Science Olympiad (NCSO) is a nonprofit organization with the mission to attract and retain the pool of K-12 students entering science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees and careers in North Carolina. Each year NCSO hosts tournaments on university, community college and public school campuses across the state.

For endurance athletes, hamburgers, Skittles and chili cheese fries are the wrong fuel for peak performance.

But for many young dancers, often influenced more by the eating habits of their peers rather than what their bodies need for optimal energy, sugary snacks and fast food are regular parts of their diet.

UNCG senior Allyson West hopes to change that. A trained dancer and Greensboro native, West is studying to become a registered dietitian and has created the online newsletter “Nourish” full of nutritional wisdom on how dancers can fuel themselves for the rigors of performance.

West knows the need for proper nutrition. A graduate of UNC School of the Arts, West has spent years in the dance world, working for Dance Magazine, as a dance instructor, a freelance professional dancer and as an assistant artistic director of a ballet company. “I started dancing when I was very young,” said West, 30. “It’s all I’ve ever done.”

But in all her years of dance instruction, no one ever explained to her the correlation between her performance on stage and her diet.

At one point in her career, a busy schedule meant lots of meals from drive-thrus. “I was traveling all the time and I realized I wasn’t eating well,” West explained. “One day, I wasn’t feeling so great nor was I performing well. I said to myself, ‘You’ve been eating burgers and fries and you’re not feeling well. There has to be a connection.’ I did some research. It opened my eyes.”

West became passionate about nutrition, researching the foods that would best nourish her body for long days of teaching and performing. Now working on a second undergraduate degree in UNCG’s Human Nutrition and Dietetics program, she’s learning the science to back it up. Her excellence in the classroom has been rewarded with a prestigious Excellence Award from the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions.

On track to graduate this spring and then begin the required dietetic internship, West is preparing to make a positive impact on the lives and careers of young dancers.

“Dancers are endurance athletes,” she said. In the middle of a production, it’s not uncommon for a dancer to perform one or two shows on top of rehearsals and other obligations.

Once licensed, she envisions herself giving presentations at dance conferences and festivals on the importance of proper nutrition. “The fuel you put in your body does reflect how much energy you’ll have to perform,” she said. “If you’re training to be a professional, you have to understand why that’s important.

“There’s such a big need for this education. And because I have a dance background, I feel I have the instrument to truly provide it.”

The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded the 110,500-square-foot building on Spring Garden Street LEED Gold certification. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) specs are set by the Council; gold is the second-highest certification level.

The School of Education opened to students in August. It is UNCG’s first LEED-certified building.

John Pope, design project manager for UNCG, says the building exceeds a number of LEED certification requirements in areas such as maximizing open space and water conservation.

“We were even able to divert 88 percent of the construction waste from the landfill through reuse and recycling,” Pope says. “We began with LEED Silver as our target certification level10, but by taking advantage of every possible opportunity we were able to achieve LEED Gold.”

Gold certification requires a total of 39 points on the Council’s scorecard; silver certification requires 33 points. The School of Education Building earned 41 out of 69 possible points.

Total water savings for the building was close to 50 percent, well above the required 30 percent required by LEED. Open space around the building measures more than twice the required area.

Other areas where the building earned additional points were:

• Added bicycle storage and changing rooms

• Used low VOC-emitting paints, sealants and carpet (VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compound)

• Increased building ventilation to 30 percent over LEED requirements

• Used recycled and rapidly renewable materials, and certified wood

• Installed bio-retention pond and sand filtration system to filter storm water run-off

• Installed ample thermostats throughout, allowing for efficient temperature control

The $47.5 million building’s sustainable design is estimated to save the university about 35 percent on energy costs. It includes 19 general use classrooms, two new general-use lecture halls, and a tiered case-study classroom.

Mills’ presentation, “The Path to Entrepreneurial Success: Capitalizing on Opportunities and Resources,” will begin at 2:30 p.m. in the Elliott University Center Auditorium. She will take questions from local entrepreneurs after her presentation, and will speak to area media from 3:30-4 p.m.

Mills’ visit to UNCG is part of a tour of U.S. colleges and universities that includes George Washington University and the University of Colorado-Boulder. She was drawn to UNCG because of the university’s nationally recognized entrepreneurship initiatives such as the N.C. Entrepreneurship Center and the Entrepreneurship Cross-Disciplinary Program, said Mike Tarrant, UNCG’s director of strategic initiatives.

Dr. MacRae C. Banks II, dean of the Bryan School of Business and Economics, will moderate the event, which includes a panel discussion with local entrepreneurs. The presentation is free and open to the public, but attendees should register online at http://thepathatuncg.eventbrite.com/.

UNCG will also stream the discussion. Watch live online at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-path-at-uncg.

Mills was sworn in April 6, 2009, as the 23rd administrator of the SBA after being appointed by President Barack Obama and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. On January 13, 2012, she was elevated to serve in the President’s Cabinet.

SBA’s mission is to help entrepreneurs and small business owners grow and create jobs by providing greater access to capital, counseling, federal contracting opportunities, disaster assistance and more. Among its priorities, the SBA has a portfolio of more than $90 billion in loan guarantees. Each year, the agency helps leverage nearly $100 billion in federal contracts to small businesses and supports free counseling and technical assistance to more than one million entrepreneurs. In addition, SBA provides disaster assistance to homeowners, renters, and businesses.

Throughout her career, Mills has owned, managed, mentored, and invested in small and growing businesses across the country. She earned an A.B. in economics from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School where she was a Baker Scholar. She has served on the Council on Foreign Relations and was vice chairman of the Harvard Overseers.

For more details on the Mill’s visit, contact Mike Tarrant at 336-501-2673 or mttarran@uncg.edu.

All events are open to the public at no charge unless noted.

Feb. 6, book discussion, “From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Struggle for Economic Justice” with author and UNCG associate professor of history Thomas Jackson. 4 p.m. Multicultural Resource Center, Room 062, Elliott University Center. For more information, contact Jeffrey Coleman at 336-334-3702.

Feb. 21, discussion, Conversations with the Community: “Afro-Eccentricity: Beyond the Standard Narrative of Black Religion” featuring UNCG religion professor William “Bill” Hart. 6 p.m., Room 136, Petty Building. For more information contact Bruce Holland at 336-334-5507.

Feb. 21, performance, “King of the World,” a theatrical production from the New York City-based company Between the Lines Productions. It it an example of the finest in Hip-Hop theater, connecting issues of fame, culture, stereotyping, community, the media and romance. 7 p.m. (must arrive by 7:10 p.m. for guaranteed seating). Elliott University Center Auditorium. Free for UNCG students, faculty and staff. Tickets must be picked up at the EUC Box Office by showing a valid UNCG ID. Event co-sponsored by the Department of History; the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures; University Libraries; the Neo-Black Society and the Office of Multicultural Affairs. For more information, contact Dr. Mark Villacorta at mavillac@uncg.edu or 336-334-5090.

Feb. 23, discussion, “Color-Blind Justice: Albion Tourgée and the Quest for Racial Equality from the Civil War to Plessy v. Ferguson” featuring Dr. Mark Elliott, UNCG associate professor of history, and Dr. Frank Woods, a visiting assistant professor in the UNCG African American Studies Program. Noon, UNCG Faculty Center. The event is sponsored by the Black Faculty and Staff Association and Human Resource Services.

The arts are big business. In North Carolina alone, creative industries employ more than 160,000 people who earn annual wages totaling more than $5.5 billion, according to the regional nonprofit organization South Arts.

Organized by UNCG’s North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center, the conference in Elliott University Center will provide opportunities for emerging and mid-career artists to learn from successful professionals about how to create self-sustaining and job-creating enterprises. Registration begins at 8 a.m. and the closing reception ends at 6 p.m.

The opening keynote speaker for the 2012 conference will be acclaimed painter Beverly McIver. A native of Greensboro and a resident of Durham, she has charted a new direction in contemporary American art as an African American woman artist. In February, she will be featured in the HBO documentary “Raising Renee.”

Other speakers include Michael Parker, author of the novel “The Watery Part of the World”; Carol Strohecker, director of the Center for Design Innovation; George Scheer, founder and co-director of Elsewhere; Jim Dodson, editor of the O.Henry Magazine; Jimmy Hunt, founder of Music on the Mountaintop; Margaret Collins, executive director of the Center for the Creative Economy; and many more.

Breakout sessions will cover topics such as business basics for emerging artists, collaboration and networking strategies, marketing using social media, how to get published, jump starting your career while still in school and how to protect your work.

Key sponsors of the event include Opportunity Greensboro, Self Employment in the Arts, the North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center and the Entrepreneurship Cross Disciplinary Program at UNCG. Among the contributing sponsors are PostcardMania, UNCG’s Center for Creative Writing in the Arts, Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff, the Greensboro Review and O’Henry Magazine.

The sponsorship by Opportunity Greensboro, a consortium of business and higher education leaders working to transform the city’s educational assets into commercial success, expands the reach of the conference to include participation by all seven colleges and universities in Greensboro. The conference was chosen as an ideal first project for the consortium because all seven institutions offer arts and entrepreneurship programs.

Advance registration costs $53 for the public, $38 for students. Registration at the door costs $63 for the public, $48 for students. Registration covers all conference sessions, lunch and a reception on Feb. 11.

There are additional conference-related events Feb. 10: An iron pour 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10, at the studio of sculptor Jim Gallucci, 499 Industrial Ave., Greensboro, costs $15; a reception at the studio, 6-9 p.m. Friday, costs $10 and will feature a pig picking and entertainment by fire dancers The Ember*Ellas.

For more information and to register, visit the conference website at seac.uncg.edu.

About the North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center
The North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center (NCEC) at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro provides co-curricular and outreach programs to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses, and to serve as a catalyst for the creation of sustainable and globally competitive enterprises in the Piedmont Triad, North Carolina and beyond. For more information, visit the NCEC’s website at http://entrepreneur.uncg.edu or call 336-256-8649.

Set in New York City during the 1930s, “Stage Door” tells the ups and downs of a group of young actresses, all yearning for their big break. The actresses’ lives intersect at the Footlights Club, a boarding house for aspiring thespians run by an actress whose time in the spotlight has dimmed. The play’s rich storylines, penned by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman, details the women’s experiences as they delve into their nontraditional career paths.

UNCG theatre professor James Fisher, the play’s director, said the Depression-era play struck him with its modern-day relevance. “All these women are aspiring young artists in economic hard times,” said Fisher, head of UNCG’s Department of Theatre. “It made me think of our students and what they’re trying to do in economic hard times. The clothes and fashions are different, but the situations are the same.”

The play will be performed Feb. 10, 11, 17 and 18 at 8 p.m; Feb. 12 and 19 at 2 p.m.; and Feb. 14-16 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $18 and may be purchased online at boxoffice.uncg.edu, by calling 336-334-4849 Monday-Friday between noon and 5 p.m., at campus box office locations, and at the door one hour prior to each curtain in the Taylor Theatre lobby. Discounted rates are available for seniors, students, UNCG alumni and groups of 10 or more.

Notable for its large, primarily female cast, the play features the work of more than 140 UNCG Theatre students, faculty and staff. The set was designed by Dede Farrell and Randy McMullen, with Cindy VanZomeran designing the 1930s-era costumes. The lighting was designed by Kaitlin Gill and the production is stage managed by Kelly Burns with assistance from Katie Byron and Sean Gray.

For more information, contact Jody Kaizen at 336-334-4601.

Laney has more than 20 years of experience in the information technology industry with 16 specifically in software quality assurance and testing. A US Navy veteran and graduate of East Carolina University, he was executive vice president and co-owner of a successful 65-person software consulting firm that he sold and integrated into the $50 million acquiring company.

In 2006, the Triad Business Journal recognized Laney as one of its 40 Leaders under 40. He often volunteers in the Greensboro community, having served as board president for two successful non-profits, and speaks to civic and community organizations on topics such as networking for life and finding one’s passion. In his free time, he writes for magazines, flies planes, teaches fitness classes, and enjoys life with his wife and three sons in Greensboro.

The program will be held in Room 416 of UNCG’s Bryan Building, 516 Stirling St. Registration and networking will take place 5-5:30 p.m. The program will start at 5:30 and run about 45 minutes with a Q&A and a networking reception to follow. Parking is available in the Walker Avenue Parking Deck next door to the Bryan Building. The series is free and open to the public, but seating is limited so attendees are asked to RSVP to ncec@uncg.edu.

Entrepreneurial Journeys, sponsored by the North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center, provides informal, interactive opportunities each month for community members and students to hear how businesses are created. Previous speakers have included Kayne Fisher and Chris Lester, the founders of Natty Greene’s Brewing Company; Angie Besecker, owner of Eco Dwelling; David Caudle, partner with Frogman Interactive; and Dennis Quaintance with Quantaince-Weaver Hotels and Restaurants.

The North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center at UNCG provides co-curricular and outreach programs to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses, and to serve as a catalyst for the creation of sustainable and globally competitive enterprises in the Piedmont Triad, North Carolina and beyond. For more information, visit the NCEC’s website at http://entrepreneur.uncg.edu or call 336-256-8649.

“By far the most interesting thing about this primary – and also the most lamentable – is that 2.1 million independents will be denied entry into the primary process. Florida is a closed primary state,” Ali said.

“Unlike New Hampshire and South Carolina, independents are barred from participation in the primaries in Florida, which means that we won’t get as robust a picture of what Floridians actually want. We do know from the latest polls that twice as many independents have an unfavorable view of Romney, who will likely win the primary (favorable: 22 percent, unfavorable: 42 percent).

“To be sure, independents are working on opening up the process through Florida Sunshine Independents, among other groups. Here in North Carolina, we have semi-closed primaries, where the parties decide if ‘the outsiders’ are allowed in. But North Carolina’s primary is also a ways away – May 8. We’ll see who’s still around at that point. I’m betting Romney, Gingrich, and Paul – the latter representing a dissenting, more independent perspective within the GOP.”

A folklorist, William Ferris, and a blues musician, Lorenzo “Logie” Meachum, headline the annual Friends of the UNCG Libraries dinner Wednesday, March 28, in UNCG’s Elliott University Center.

The blues celebration kicks off at 6:30 p.m. with a reception, followed by a seated dinner. The program starts at 8:30 p.m.

Ferris teaches at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he specializes in Southern studies, African American music and folklore. His book, “Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues” provides the focus for his presentation. Ferris, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, has conducted thousands of interviews with musicians – from blues legends like B.B. King to inmates working in the fields.

Meachum, a member of the Friends’ board of directors, is a blues musician and storyteller from Greensboro. He is a founding member of the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society and a past recipient of the Keeping the Blues Alive Award for his efforts to perform and promote blues music. He is completing his PhD in English at UNCG.

Tickets are available for the entire evening, or for the program only. Contact the UNCG Box Office at 336-334-4849 or visit http://www.uncg.edu/euc/boxoffice. 

For corporate and table sponsorships for the dinner, call Barry Miller at 336-256-0112, Linda Burr at 336-256-0184, or Cindy Wyrick at 336-334-3248.

Ticket options include:

• $50 dinner and program for members
• $60 dinner and program for non-members
• $18 for the program only (members or non-members)
• $500 personal table sponsorships (includes a table for eight, recognition on program, signage, and from the podium)
• $1000 for business table sponsorships (includes a table for eight, recognition on program, signage, and from the podium)
• $70 individual sponsor (includes a seat at a preferred table with others in this category)

Parking is available in the Walker Avenue Parking Deck.

88.5 WFDD is an official media partner of the event.