UNC Asheville Annual Report 2017: 90 Years in the Making

90 years in the making UNC ASHEVILLE ANNUAL REPORT 2017

CONTENTS

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Letter from the Chancellors Collaborative Leadership A Well-Crafted Path Public Arts and Humanities Stellar Science Groundbreaking Work World Class Lifelong Learning Scholar-Athletes Home Base Raising the Bar Achievements Economic Impact University Leadership

LE T TE R FRO M TH E CH A NCELLOR S UNC Asheville is a place of inspiration and ideas. A little over one year ago, we began bringing our comprehensive strategic plan to life, using its core values and strategic directions as a guide as we pursue our mission as North Carolina’s public designated liberal arts university. As you read the pages of this report, you’ll see the exciting ways our students, faculty, and staff are all making a difference and establishing new initiatives that support our core values of diversity and inclusion, innovation, and sustainability.

Our mission-driven approach centers our work on teaching, research, and service, leading to success for our students who make a difference around the world. Our students and graduates are equipped with a broader way of approaching issues that make them better citizens, leaders, managers, teachers, and artists. Our faculty, staff, students, and alumni are entrepreneurs and leaders in their respective fields.

We live, work, and contribute to the heart of Asheville and Buncombe County, serving a unique and important educational role within the UNC System, in the state of North Carolina, and the country.

Every great city has a great university. Our community partnerships are deeper and more meaningful than they’ve ever been, and we’ll continue to move them forward with passion and perspective to become an even stronger, richer, more interesting community. These important partnerships in Asheville and across the region will only continue to become more necessary and meaningful in the months and years ahead. As UNC Asheville celebrates the 90th anniversary this year, we look forward to our next 90 years and beyond.

As great teammates for the last three years as Chancellor and Provost, our roles are changing but our respect and appreciation for this wonderful community and remarkable university remain as strong as ever. Thank you for all you do and everything you will continue to do for UNC Asheville and our students.

Go Bulldogs!

Mary K. Grant, Ph.D. Chancellor, UNC Asheville

Joseph R. Urgo, Ph.D. Interim Chancellor, UNC Asheville

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Collaborative

PROVOST JOSEPH URGO & CHANCELLOR MARY K. GRANT

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Leadership Behind every great university is great leadership. And at UNC Asheville, the style of leadership reflects the university’s personality, its size, and its liberal arts mission. Three of the university’s leaders, Student Government Association President Tim Hussey, outgoing Chancellor Mary K. Grant, and Provost and incoming Interim Chancellor Joseph Urgo, sat down together for an insightful conversation. It covered highlights of the past three years, a behind-the-scenes peek into the internal discussions about the strategic plan, and how the university’s pioneering community engagement work will continue to gain momentum.

TIM HUSSEY: What have been your most memorable accomplishments of the past three years?

CHANCELLOR GRANT: Really seeing how the work with the community is starting to pay dividends.

The memorandum of understanding with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the work that’s evolved there, STEAM Studio getting us right into the community, getting the Connect NC Bond passed, breaking ground on the new residence halls. The opening of Whitesides Hall was certainly something very special and driven by student energy, ideas, and optimism.

PROVOST URGO: I echo that. The partnerships that Chancellor Grant has inspired between UNC Asheville and the community are unprecedented in number over the past three years and there are many more on the way. It’s invigorating to see these partnerships blossom.

In general over these three years, I’d say it’s really the spirit of innovation that has captured the faculty and staff, leading to new ideas. We want the campus community to look at things we can do and what ideas we can bring based on their knowledge and experience.

In terms of specific accomplishments, I echo the STEAM Studio and community engagement. When you see the mechatronics program and the woodworking program in the same space, interacting in classrooms based on both, that’s what we mean by liberal arts collaboration and the practical application of a liberal arts education.

CHANCELLOR GRANT: Partnerships and contributions are essential to the continued success of higher education. We need our community, and our community needs us.

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PROVOST URGO: Yes, the purpose of a university is to educate its students, but it’s also to inspire the communities around it. We are the source of renewal and reinvigoration, that’s what we do in higher education.

The purpose of a university is to educate its students, but it’s also to inspire the communities around it. We are the source of renewal and reinvigoration, that’s what we do in higher education.”

Joe Urgo UNC Asheville Provost

CHANCELLOR GRANT: That’s exactly right. Another exciting moment was, cutting down a basketball net. I have to say, that was great fun!

TIM HUSSEY: You both mentioned community engagement and partnerships, which is a big piece of the UNC Asheville strategic plan. What do you see as the next steps for our campus with regard to the strategic plan?

CHANCELLOR GRANT: When you asked the question about a sense of accomplishment, I think having a strategic plan with such buy-in and ownership from the campus and community was a highlight. The participation level was inspiring, with more than 500 students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members taking part in the process.

Now, the secret to any good plan is to carry it out. Our focus on community engagement and holding ourselves accountable for how we invest in student success and academic rigor is part of that. We debated that word, rigor. Joe, I remember you really pushing for that along with the faculty because many plans talk about academic success, but rigor is different. Rigor is about pushing and challenging, making students stretch and stretch ourselves, so that it’s an education you will benefit from significantly.

PROVOST URGO: We embedded in the plan a healthy tension and debate between academic rigor and student success. We want our students to be challenged and be successful in that challenge. That was part of the debate all over campus among faculty members: how do you make something that is both rigorous and oriented toward student success, how do you do both of those things at the same time.

What can animate a strategic plan is when there are tensions and debates, and out of those debates come new programs and initiatives. I think that is one of the great accomplishments of the strategic plan. It can’t sit on the shelf because it’s challenging us with those terms. It’s the same with community engagement.

The strategic plan is challenging us to maintain those ties in the community.

TIM HUSSEY: That leads me to my next question. With UNC Asheville being the only public liberal arts university in the UNC System, how do you see our strategic plan aligning with the System plan, and are there any initiatives that we’re leading statewide?

CHANCELLOR GRANT: The plan has many different pieces, including looking at issues of student success, diversity within an institution, and making a difference to the economic and civic well-being of the state. We are contributing to each of those.

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PROVOST URGO, TIM HUSSEY, & CHANCELLOR GRANT

I feel at home here and I appreciate not being just a number. I like being able to have these types of conversations, to be able to talk to faculty one-on-one and feel supported here.”

Tim Hussey Student Government Association President

To have an institution that is mission-driven like UNC Asheville—we know who we are, we have a distinct purpose within the system—we are a strong institution with great support from President Spellings, and from the Board of Governors. We are a leading public liberal arts institution nationally, that is something the system and the state can be proud of.

In terms of contributing to the economic goals of the UNC System plan, we prepare students for jobs that don’t even exist yet. We prepare our students to be creative, collaborative, pragmatic problem-solvers and innovators. We produce more women going into computer science fields than some of the big research universities. We align with the plan in terms of student success. We will continue to contribute to the plan and be a leader in the system. It speaks volumes that the UNC System of North Carolina today has prioritized having a public liberal arts university. A high-quality liberal arts education should be accessible to all. The value here is incredible.

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PROVOST URGO: One area where we intersect strongly is access. We do not pride ourselves on the number of students we turn away; we pride ourselves on the number of students for whom this is an ideal form of education and we find those students. We have a statewide mission to look for students in rural areas, low-income students, and students who want this form of education as a pathway to something more in their lives.

TIM HUSSEY: I definitely appreciate all the student success efforts at UNC Asheville. Coming in as a freshman, and now about to graduate in a couple of months, as well as being an RA, working with firstyear students, I definitely appreciate that student success piece that UNC Asheville provides. I feel that we have a private school feel with public school costs. I definitely love that about UNC Asheville.

CHANCELLOR GRANT: So let me ask you a question, Tim. What brought you to UNC Asheville?

CHANCELLOR GRANT

It speaks volumes that the UNC System of North Carolina today has prioritized having a public liberal arts university. A high-quality liberal arts education should be accessible to all. The value here is incredible.”

Mary K. Grant UNC Asheville Chancellor

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TIM HUSSEY: I came here because it’s small and when I got here I didn’t know anything about liberal arts, so I say I came here for the external factors, the small classes, the weather and things like that, but I stayed because of the faculty, the programs offered, and my major. I feel at home here and I appreciate not being just a number. I like being able to have these types of conversations, to be able to talk to faculty one-on-one and feel supported here. I definitely think many students feel that they have a strong support system here, whether with faculty, staff, or fellow students. I feel that this university does a lot to support its students, not just coming in, but throughout the entire process and even after you’ve graduated and become an alum.

PROVOST URGO: Students are involved in making UNC Asheville a better place, whether it’s personal relations among students, success in the classroom, or helping break down administrative barriers. We pick up the phone and help each other. This is not a huge bureaucracy.

If you want to talk to the registrar you can talk to the registrar, you can talk to the provost, you can talk to the chancellor. Going to a school where you can speak directly to people in those positions is a valuable experience when you’re out building your career. Going to talk to the CEO of a company or a state representative is not as daunting because you realize they are human beings and you came from a university that encouraged those kinds of conversations.

CHANCELLOR GRANT: Yes, and it’s across all disciplines. I’ve been to summer cookouts at the homes of our faculty where through sharing a meal with their students, they are building a stronger community. The students look out for each other too. Tim, I think about the work you

do as a student leader on campus, and I know you’re always keeping an eye out for someone you can give a hand to.

I look at our Board of Trustees, who are all volunteers, and the time they put into the university, getting to know the faculty, staff, and students; they make a profound difference.

You have to work at creating community relationships, it doesn’t just happen by accident. If you don’t keep nurturing or tending the garden, things can get a little weedy.

TIM HUSSEY: You brought up the Board. How have you seen campus leadership develop throughout your time here across students, faculty, staff, and the boards?

CHANCELLOR GRANT: I believe that leadership happens at every level of an institution. I’ve been very excited to see the reinvigoration of the Staff Council and we have a strong and engaged Faculty Senate with faculty leaders who make this a better institution. I think the National Alumni Council is another good example. I’ve been so excited to see that group coalesce in the last few years and really want to make a difference. Student leadership is also very important. When students come forward and bring not only their passion, but also information, that helps leadership move forward.

Leadership has to be very active and it’s all around us. We have to take time to listen to one another, bring good ideas forward, and recognize that no one place corners the market on good ideas; they’re all over campus. But we have to keep working on that. As Joe steps in as interim chancellor, that’s the work he will continue to do.

PROVOST URGO: This is a campus in which students will learn that the definition of a leader is not that you get to boss people around, but it’s that you inspire others to do their best work, or you welcome solutions, options, and opportunities.

That’s the kind of leadership we want to cultivate on campus and I think we see that happening thanks to the inspiration Chancellor Grant has brought to us.

TIM HUSSEY: We have momentum and a clear vision here at UNC Asheville. What’s next, where do you see us heading?

PROVOST URGO: Chancellor Grant has galvanized the community. There’s a lot of energy and many projects underway. The strategic plan is noteworthy and all over campus are pockets of energy, grants are being written, new classes formulated, new graduate and undergraduate programs being proposed, new ways of delivering the curriculum through online courses and the reinvigoration of summer school. I’m excited about where we’re going, and there’s a great deal of excitement on campus for the potential for the future. Part of me wants to say, just try to stop that momentum.

CHANCELLOR GRANT: When I think about momentum, the work we do here is a team sport. We talk about being Bulldogs and it really is infused in this place, that spirit of team. Joe and I have been teammates for the last three years. From the very beginning we had the benefit of working with a wonderful senior team, an engaged board, inspiring faculty, and dedicated staff—you are all still here.

Institutions that know who they are and what matters to them are the ones that will be successful in these very challenging times in higher education. Understanding the mission, purpose, place, and opportunity will help keep the momentum going as well. There’s an incredible team here across the institution. We have the most dedicated faculty, committed to student success. We have some of the smartest folks working in campus operations, in our residence halls, the problem solvers, and all they do to keep this campus beautiful. It’s all over campus. Financial aid officers help as part of the student experience, library staff who want to make sure the library is a place that’s welcoming and inviting, it takes all of us. I think that as Joe said, the momentum continues and I think it’s going to be great. I’m very grateful to have had the chance to serve with Joe as a friend, a colleague, and a partner, and to be able to turn the keys of the office over to him.

TIM HUSSEY: Thank you both for taking the time to speak with me today. It’s an exciting time at UNC Asheville and I’m proud to be a student at this great university.

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A Well-Crafted

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Path IN 2016, UNC ASHEVILLE LAUNCHED A STRATEGIC PLAN, which has set our path for the past year and provides a strong foundation for our next steps. Built upon the university’s core values of diversity and inclusion, innovation, and sustainability, the strategic directions focus our work on Academic Rigor, Student Success, Community Engagement, and Organizational Capacity.

It has been a distinct privilege and pleasure to serve alongside Chancellor Grant for the past 18 months. Mary exemplifies integrity, innovation, and strong character—and her authenticity, humility, and insightfulness have been the cornerstone for her remarkable success as Chancellor these past three years.”

Margaret Spellings UNC System President

Faculty, students, staff, alumni, trustees, community leaders, and friends of the university have contributed to the initiatives and strategies that move this plan forward. This work defines UNC Asheville as a 21st century public liberal arts university. We are a regional powerhouse, a statewide treasure, and a national leader in higher education focused on student success.

This plan, which aligns directly with the UNC System’s comprehensive plan, aims for the same goals of access, affordability and efficiency, student success, economic impact and community engagement, and excellent and diverse institutions.

It sustains our commitment to those values and attributes that have made North Carolina’s public university system one of the best in the nation, built upon a commitment to college access, cutting-edge research, and public service. We are one of 17 institutions to set out on this path, but as North Carolina’s public liberal arts university, UNC Asheville is blazing our trail from the mountains, with a clearly defined guide in our strategic plan.

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Public Arts &

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Humanities

#7 Public Liberal Arts University in the nation U.S. News & World Report

TH E H E ART O F H U M A NITIE S UNC ASHEVILLE’S LEADERSHIP IN THE PUBLIC LIBERAL ARTS gained national recognition in 2017 with a $700,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support an arts and educational alliance focused on public humanities and community engagement. The four-year project connects many partners and areas of Asheville, rooted in a deep practice of the humanities and craft in the region.

The grant projects enrich an ongoing partnership with the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC), further initiatives in Affrilachia, uncovering what has been the largely undocumented influence of African Americans on the culture and social fabric of Western North Carolina, and support programming at the Center for Creative Entrepreneurship and UNC Asheville’s STEAM Studio, as well as foster partnerships with The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design.

In addition, the grant funding stimulates new partnerships with local community colleges and educational institutions in order to broaden awareness of and participation in the Humanities Program through the creation of new Humanities Readers and the establishment of an Affiliates and Fellows Program in Humanities—bringing what UNC Asheville does best to the heart of the city.

“Under the leadership of Chancellor Mary K. Grant, UNC Asheville has strengthened its ties with academic and cultural institutions in the surrounding community. This grant will help UNC Asheville further cultivate relationships with historic colleges and arts organizations in Western North Carolina, developing an alliance that promises to contribute significantly to the region in cultural, academic, and economic terms,” said Cristle Collins Judd, senior program officer at the Mellon Foundation.

Chancellor Grant’s exceptional leadership paved the way for true collaboration in support of students and creative entrepreneurs.

We are grateful for the opportunity to work with the University on a number of projects to ensure that the arts and broader creative sector remain an integral component of Asheville’s identity.”

Stephanie Moore

Center for Craft, Creativity & Design Executive Director

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ARTIST MEL CHIN WORKS WITH STUDENTS IN THE STEAM STUDIO

FRO M A S H E VILLE TO N YC STUDENTS IN NEW MEDIA, ENGINEERING, AND ART have a unique opportunity for large scale projects with an even larger scale audience, as they work with renowned artist and 2017-18 Black Mountain College Legacy Fellow at UNC Asheville Mel Chin. The projects, which will debut in summer 2018, include huge physical and “AR” (augmented reality) installations in Times Square in the heart of New York City.

The conceptual and interactive art will address contemporary issues, and immersing students in the projects is just the first step. Their audience also will have an immersive experience, which is characteristic of Chin’s work. He has staged many works with environmental themes in the U.S. and Europe, including Revival Field and Fundred Dollar Bill.

As part of his fellowship, Chin is teaching a course in UNC Asheville’s New Media Department. His students are working on hand-drawn animation for a documentary film on singer-songwriter Guy Clark, and learning all they can about AR, which is, as Chin describes it, “a new version of interface where you can look at something with your phone or tablet and see something there in that same space. That’s why I called the class Beyond Pokemon Go, because that’s for a gaming purpose and we’re going to do a little more.” Additionally, Chin is working with a team of engineering and art students in UNC Asheville’s STEAM Studio to design and build a large kinetic sculpture conceived by the artist for Times Square in New York City.

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Working closely with Chin is art major Jeb Hedgecock, a senior who is UNC Asheville’s 2017-18 Black Mountain College Intern. The Black Mountain College Legacy Fellows and Intern program is funded through a $180,000 grant from the Windgate Foundation and a partnership between the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) and UNC Asheville. Chin also provided the keynote talk to the ninth annual ReVIEWING conference held by BMCM+AC at UNC Asheville.

CO M M U N IT Y RE SILIEN CE AN D RE SE A RCH UNDERSTANDING OUR RICH HISTORY starts in the classroom and the community, as the fourth annual African Americans in Western North Carolina and Southern Appalachia Conference brought together scholars and the community to address the African American experience in Southern Appalachia. Convened

by Assistant Professor of History Darin Waters, and showcasing Professor of Political Science Dwight Mullen’s decade-long project on the State of Black Asheville, the conference spanned three days with panels on campus and events at the YMI Cultural Center and The Collider.

CHANCELLOR GRANT PRESENTING AT CREATIVEMORNINGS

Yvonne Mims Evans, a superior court judge for the 26th Judicial District of the Seventh Division of the Superior Court, serving Mecklenburg County, gave the keynote Jesse & Julia Ray Lecture. The community achievement award was presented to Shirley Whitesides, program director of Delta House Life Development of Asheville Inc.

CRE ATIVE H O U R S BRINGING THE BEST OF OUR CLASSROOMS TO THE COMMUNITY happens on a monthly basis, with UNC Asheville faculty members regularly giving talks at Pints with Professors at Habitat Brewing, located nearby on Broadway Avenue, and offering inspirational talks at CreativeMornings, hosted by the Center for Craft, Creativity & Design.

“Each year the conference has not only grown, but has demonstrated the ongoing interest in understanding the historical experiences and contribution of African Americans to Western North Carolina and Southern Appalachia.

What makes this year’s conference even more exciting is that in addition to history, conference participants received an assessment of the current state of affairs within the region’s African American communities and heard about the ways that these communities are using their histories to meet existing challenges and further stimulate community resilience,” said Waters.

SHIRLEY WHITESIDES

Chancellor Grant took to the stage in May 2017, demonstrating how the liberal arts lead to open minds and creative collisions. She shared her experiences in a talk on serendipity, encouraging the audience to continue their creative pursuits. “Lifelong learning should be the standard, not the exception,” she said.

UNC Asheville student Michael Davis ’19 shared the stage the following month, moderating June’s panel on equality, with Associate Professor of New Media Curt Cloninger giving December’s talk.

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A RT S FE S T RE TU RN ED IN A PRIL UNC ASHEVILLE’S ANNUAL CELEBRATION of Arts Fest returned for the third year in 2017, bringing free musical performances, film screenings, exhibits, and creative workshops to the campus. Featured artists Clarissa Sligh, David LaMotte, and David Hess presented their respective works related to the Arts Fest theme, “Arts for Social Change.”

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FA S T FILM H E A DS TO FR A NCE FOR THE THIRD TIME, UNC Asheville’s team of faculty, students, alumni, and friends has claimed Best Picture in Asheville’s annual 48 Hour Film Project. The 2017 submission, which was written, produced, filmed, and edited all in the span of—as you might guess—48 hours, also brought home Best Sound Design, Best Ensemble Acting, an Audience Choice Award, and Best Directing for UNC Asheville Senior Lecturer in Mass Communication Anne Slatton.

Formed by Slatton in 2007, Team UNCA is now well versed in the challenge of creating a completely original film in just one weekend. On Friday the team received a set of required elements, along with a genre they must use in their film.

Team UNCA received a choice between two genres: a war film, or slapstick. Both genres present unique challenges. So the team decided to do both.

Team UNCA created a film in which a 48 Hour Film Project team goes to war—a very slapstick war—over whether they should create a war film, or a slapstick film. The resulting “Stooges of War” heads to Paris next for Filmapalooza where it will be screened on an international stage.

TH E PL AY ’ S TH E TH ING UNC ASHEVILLE’S BELK THEATRE opened its doors to the community in an expanded way, building upon its partnership with the Asheville Community Theatre to provide a home to the local entertainment staple while its mainstage underwent renovations. TheatreUNCA and Asheville Community Theatre’s co-production of Peter and the Starcatcher opened to great reviews in March.

Asheville Citizen-Times reviewer Bruce Steele praised the show’s imaginative set and props that turned the UNC Asheville Belk Theatre’s theater-in-the-round stage into a pirate ship, a mermaid’s cave, and other places in “the land of roiling imagination.”

“Lighting designer Rob Bowen [UNC Asheville chair and professor of drama] keeps up with action and creates the illusion of surroundings where there are none,” Steele wrote.

“The show is a wonder of motion and energy,” according to Mountain Xpress film reviewer Jeff Messer. “You feel like you are on a ship at sea, a tropical island, afloat on the ocean and in a deep cavern with a mystical mermaid, even though your eyes inform you otherwise. It is a journey of the imagination, pulled off with supreme creativity.”

Four UNC Asheville students performed onstage in the cast: Justin Day, playing the Lost Boy named Prentiss; Lea Gilbert and Missy Sullivan in a variety of ensemble roles; and Julian Gonzalez as an orphan named Ted, and 15 another 25 worked behind the scenes, oftentimes with alumni well established in their careers.

UNC SYSTEM PRESIDENT MARGARET SPELLINGS & THE UNC BOARD OF GOVERNORS

Mary Grant’s efforts as Chancellor of UNC Asheville will have a lasting impact on both the university and the Asheville community. North Carolina’s public liberal arts university has reached a new level of excellence under Mary’s guidance. She will be missed by all of us, both as an incredible leader and as a friend.”

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Lou Bissette UNC System Board of Governors Chair

A S H E VILLE IN N OVATIO N ON JULY 12-14, UNC ASHEVILLE WELCOMED THE UNC BOARD OF GOVERNORS, UNC System President Margaret Spellings, Chancellors, and the General Administration to campus for the UNC Board of Governors summer meeting. The visit was an opportunity to showcase many of the innovations taking place at UNC Asheville, from the creative collisions between art and engineering occurring at the STEAM Studio at the RAMP, to Asheville’s window to the stars at Lookout Observatory and the Chemistry Scholars’ cutting-edge research in the lab.

The Board learned about exciting research happening across campus and the UNC System through poster presentations by UNC Asheville students and presentations by faculty members from the UNC School of the Arts, the UNC School of Medicine and UNC Health Care, Mountain Area Health Education Center, and N.C. A&T. The visit marked the first time the board held their orientation retreat and meeting at UNC Asheville.

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CO NCERT S O N TH E Q UA D UNC ASHEVILLE’S ANNUAL SUMMER CONCERT SERIES brought the crowds to campus, beginning with statewide favorite Chatham County Line and closing the summer with Southern Culture on the Skids. Weaverville natives and brothers Randy and Oscar Weston and their band Westsound performed in June. Flood: Electric Herbie Hancock Tribute, featuring UNC Asheville’s own music faculty members Brian Felix (keyboards) and Jacob Rodriguez (saxophone), followed with a performance in July.

The free community concerts are sponsored by the Asheville Citizen-Times and Ingles.

4,200 people attended the 2017 Concerts on the Quad series 18

ART FO R A LL AG E S EACH SUMMER, UNC Asheville hosts Celebrating Middle School Success—a collection of work by local artists, who are still in middle school. Their works in paint, graphite, and even sculpture, fill a university exhibit hall, with a reception filling the space with even more proud parents and administrators.

“We come together around a common goal that all of our students graduate high school ready for college, career, and community,” said Laura Elliot, director of the Middle School Success Initiative.

“That is work that we come to joyfully and take very seriously.”

The Celebrating Middle School Success exhibition featured work from 40 students from Asheville Middle School, Clyde A. Erwin Middle School, Enka Middle School, and North Buncombe Middle School. The United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County’s Middle School Success initiative works to increase access to and the quality of after-school and summer programs at the middle school level, as a means of increasing high school graduation rates. UNC Asheville faculty, staff, and students play active roles in area after-school programs and in-school tutoring. Partners in Middle School Success include Asheville City Schools, Buncombe County Schools, UNC Asheville and its Department of Education and ¡Vamos! program.

N E W MA J O R S A N D M IN O R S ART AND BUSINESS COLLIDE in one of UNC Asheville’s newest majors and minors. The Arts Management & Entrepreneurship Program began in 2017, designed for students seeking a career in the arts who also want to start their own business, or innovate, market, and monetize their creative ideas. Each student can gain vital hands-on experience working in arts internships with an on-campus department or program, or as part of an approved off-campus professional arts organization, creative business and/or working artist. With Asheville's thriving arts scene, students have a variety of local learning opportunities and career connections available.

UNC Asheville also launched a new minor in American Indian & Indigenous Studies, an interdisciplinary course of study rooted in regional Cherokee history as well as indigenous populations worldwide. In addition, the university now offers a certificate in contemplative inquiry creating opportunities for greater inquiry, connection, reflection, insight, and communication.

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Stellar Science

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UNC Asheville’s Environmental Studies Program makes the list Pre-professional programs with unusual strength in preparing students for careers for 14 consecutive years in the Fiske Guide to Colleges

SO L A R ECLIP S E S TA RT S TH E Y E A R SCIENCE TOOK CENTER STAGE at the start of the school year, as the first day of classes in August coincided with a spectacular total solar eclipse. Though the shadow that crossed campus during the afternoon only resulted in a 99 percent partial eclipse, that sliver of sun still seen through the clouds drew just as large as crowd as any well-known speaker. More than 1,000 campus community members gathered to share in the moments as the moon crossed in front of the sun, all while enjoying a fitting menu of Moon Pies and Sun Chips.

Faculty members in the Physics Department, who led planning efforts in advance of the momentous event, traveled to the path of totality and reported on their experience. Some students also experienced it first-hand. Senior Lecturer in Physics Judy Beck and Assistant Professor of Physics James Perkins took a busload of freshman astronomy class students to Furman University in Greenville, S.C., to experience the eclipse in totality. The group left UNC Asheville bright and early to beat the predicted eclipse traffic, and used their spare time at Furman to create solar-eclipse viewers from shoeboxes, learn how to set up and operate solar telescopes, and read a selection of essays and articles about solar eclipses.

Many of the classes continued their discussions through the fall semester, such as Modern Languages and Literatures Assistant Professor Juan Guillermo Sánchez Martinez’ and Assistant Professor of Physics Britt Lundgren’s co-taught course ASTR 301, Indigenous Perspectives on the Sky. Lundgren and Sánchez Martinez met during new faculty orientation last fall and realized they had a mutual interest in how native and ancient cultures observed the night sky. Now their students not only have a shared experience in seeing the eclipse but a unique course of study looking at it from many different angles.

The opportunity to experience an eclipse didn’t stop there, as campus worked together with the Center for Diversity Education, Physics Department, and Student Environmental Center to donate their eclipse glasses. As a result, 1,000 eclipse glasses have been donated to Explore Scientific to be donated to Chile and Argentina for the next total eclipse of the sun on July 2, 2019.

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UNC ASHEVILLE’S NORTH CAROLINA GLAXOSMITHKLINE FOUNDATION SCHOLARS WITH FACULTY MENTORS TED MEIGS, HERMAN HOLT, AND AMANDA WOLFE

L A B LE A DER S BEING ON THE CUTTING-EDGE of science comes naturally for UNC Asheville’s North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation scholars. Now in their first full year, the 12 student scholars have been working in the lab with faculty mentors Chair and Associate Professor of Chemistry Herman Holt, Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry Amanda Wolfe, and GlaxoSmithKline Distinguished Professor in Molecular & Chemical Biology Ted Meigs.

Three post-doctoral teaching and research fellows have also been chosen to mentor the scholars and gain teaching experience by shadowing faculty members. Their work is funded by a generous $1.5 million grant from the North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation to advance the undergraduate research program in chemistry and biology with a focus on giving women and historically under-represented minorities more access to professional opportunities in science.

The scholars are working in three teams of four with a faculty mentor to conduct research in two prominent areas: antibiotics and cancer. In their research to develop new antibiotics naturally produced by bacteria, Wolfe’s team has already successfully isolated and synthesized several molecules capable of killing bacterial pathogens. Holt’s team is working to develop anticancer medication, and Meigs’ team is studying a class of proteins associated with the progression of several cancer types as part of his ongoing cell biological research. Their findings on how these proteins interact with other proteins in cells have recently been published in several scientific journals.

Meigs also serves as principal investigator for a $76,527 grant from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center awarded in 2017 to purchase a CytoFLEX flow cytometer, a laser-based, biophysical technology employed in cell counting, cell sorting, biomarker detection, and protein engineering.

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Wolfe also has been named a 2017 Cottrell Scholar by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA).

S TO RM CH A S ER S UNC ASHEVILLE’S NEWEST CLASS OF SCIENTISTS rarely stays in the classroom. As weather forecasters, they launch weather balloons in snow storms from a home base at the peak of campus at the Reuter Center and travel to the Great Plains to spend their summer chasing storms.

Christopher Godfrey, associate professor of atmospheric sciences, and Elaine Godfrey, adjunct professor in atmospheric sciences, led the weather-chasing adventure with a hands-on field trip to Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, called the Severe Weather Field Experience. It’s one of the few of its kind in the nation.

“In a classroom, you can spout all the equations at them, show them pictures, but they don’t actually grasp what it is they’re learning about until they’re standing out there in the Great Plains, looking at a thunderstorm going up,” Christopher Godfrey said.

O LY M PIC FE AT S O F SCIEN CE THE REGIONAL SCIENCE OLYMPIAD, hosted and staged by UNC Asheville, brought young scientists from 24 middle and high schools across Western North Carolina together to compete in 46 events on Saturday, March 25.

In addition to thunderstorms, hail, and rainbows, the class also saw four tornadoes during their trip—from a safe distance, of course. The 12-day trip was about more than the hands-on experience of chasing weather, however.

It was also a “comprehensive career development experience,” Christopher Godfrey explained.

The group visited the National Weather Center, the NOAA/Radar Operations Center, the Storm Prediction Center, Weather Decision Technologies Inc., and KOCO-TV, among other centers and companies.

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FIR S T RO BOTIC S FIRST (FOR INSPIRATION AND RECOGNITION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY) ROBOTICS COMPETITION came back to center court in Kimmel Arena for its own version of March Madness, with 28 teams of high school students from North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia bringing their best to battle. Their industrial-sized robots, which they both built and programmed, can drive autonomously, pick up and shoot balls, and climb a rope.

UNC Asheville fields Team GLITCH in the annual competition, with dedicated high school students, powered by volunteers, parents, mentors and coach Neil Rosenberg, lecturer in engineering at UNC Asheville, working throughout the academic year and building a robot for this competition over the course of six weeks.

Beyond their robot work, Team GLITCH also has been spending time reaching out to the community, working with younger students through the Boys and Girls Club and mentoring the FIRST Lego League team of middle school students, called PATCH. Rosenberg, who has a long history of mentoring FIRST Robotics teams, says programs like these are designed to create a continuum that supports students studying in the STEM fields from a young age all the way through college.

“It’s a win-win, in that we become a more active partner in the community promoting STEM— and of course we’re hoping that some of the kids will grow up and decide to go to UNC Asheville in one of the several STEM related fields that we present here,” Rosenberg said.

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C A LLED TO CO DE S TATE WIDE SCH O L A R S TOP HIGH SCHOOL AND MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS presented their science projects at UNC Asheville for the North Carolina Student Academy of Sciences Competition in February, each vying for the opportunity to take their work to the state-level competition.

More than 60 students from Brevard High School, Hanger Hall Middle School, and Nesbitt Discovery Academy participated in the NCSAS competition this year, which was the seventh consecutive year the competition has been hosted by UNC Asheville. The students conducted research in chemistry, environmental science, biotechnology, mathematics, behavioral science, biological science, earth and space, engineering and technology, and computer science.

Local science professionals, UNC Asheville faculty members, and biology students all contributed feedback to the budding scientists. Marietta Cameron, chair and associate professor of computer science at UNC Asheville, served as one of the competition’s judges.

“To expose young people earlier to scientific research, to expose them earlier to what scientific writing is, that compliments what they’re learning in the their middle schools and high schools,” Cameron said. “It also instills confidence and selfesteem in our young people, that they can stand in front of their peers and other researchers and explain their work and get feedback from it.”

COMPUTER SCIENCE CAN BE A COMPETITIVE ACTIVITY, particularly when it combines college experts with high school scholars. UNC Asheville hosted a programming competition in April, where students gained hands-on problem-solving skills in Java, C, C++, Python, and more.

"Engaging students in this level of programming while they're still in high school is so important in introducing them to the STEM fields they could go into at the college level,” said Cindy Hamilton, a parent mentor for GLITCH, UNC Asheville’s FIRST Robotics Competition team, which hosted the programming competition. “We'd love to see each high school in the region send a team."

UNC Asheville’s Departments of Computer Science and New Media have been ranked 16th in the nation

by ComputerScience.org for their percentage of women computer science graduates.

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Groundbreakin

Even though Mary and Jim will leave us and start the next phase of their lives, their legacy will be with us for years to come. Their focus on community engagement has made us the model for our community.�

Al Whitesides 26

Buncombe County Commissioner

g Work

The Princeton Review features UNC Asheville in its Guide to 375 Green Colleges September 2017

A PL ACE TO C A LL H O M E THE UNIVERSITY BROKE GROUND in April 2017 on UNC Asheville’s new residence halls which will become home to 294 students in the fall of 2018. The project will increase the amount of on-campus housing by 20 percent and aim for a LEED Silver Certification.

“For me, these new residence halls mean community and home,” said Tim Hussey, 2017-18 president of the Student Government Association (SGA). “Living on campus has granted me the opportunity to know what’s going on and how I can get involved. … There’s a feeling of family here that cannot be duplicated off campus. In these halls are where some of my closest relationships are formed, and I hope that proves to be true for the future students who will live in these new residence halls. Residence life provides a sense of family away from your family, and being able to rely on the support of others is and always will be a crucial part of residence hall life.”

Consisting of multiple buildings with room configurations for four to six students, the new residences will be UNC Asheville’s first apartment-style housing.

The new student housing option is being built along Founders Drive below Brown Hall. Concurrent construction is taking place on the other side of Brown Hall with renovations to Highsmith Union and the addition of a multipurpose room that will connect to the catering kitchen in Brown Hall. The 5,000 square-foot multipurpose room will increase the university’s ability to host campus and community events, from large lectures to banquets and conferences, while the addition of a student-life porch will provide meeting spaces and open areas for student organizations, as well as an area to showcase a student art gallery and a more central location for the Intercultural Center.

27

M O RE SEEDS O F TH O UG HT UNC ASHEVILLE WELCOMED worldrenowned activist and author Vandana Shiva in October. The three-day residency included hands-on time in the campus gardens, a visit with the Indigenous Perspectives on the Sky course, and a regional seed swap hosted at the Stephens Lee Recreation Center. The public lecture attracted a full house, where Shiva drew connections between plates and the planet, and complimented the food that she had eaten while on campus.

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FOO D CO N N EC TIO N S A N D CERTIFIC ATIO N S UNC ASHEVILLE’S BROWN DINING HALL—operated by Chartwells—is now a 3 Star Certified Green Restaurant® by the Green Restaurant Association (GRA), joining Asheville restaurants like Cúrate, French Broad Chocolates, Green Sage Café, Corner Kitchen, and several others as a certified Green Restaurant. Operating in 47 U.S. states and in Canada, GRA encourages restaurants to green their operations using transparent, science-based certification standards.

A S EED O F IN S PIR ATIO N

Additionally, UNC Asheville became the first higher education facility in the state of North Carolina to be designated as a Fair Trade University by Fair Trade Campaigns, recognizing Dining Services’ work to educate students about the issues of Fair Trade and sourcing Fair Trade products like coffee, tea, and sugar.

UNC ASHEVILLE’S RAMSEY LIBRARY has a new resource to checkout—a seed library.

Spearheaded by Resource Management Librarian Barbara Svenson and Library Administrative Assistant Wendy Mullis, the proposed seed library, which aims to open in spring of 2018, will provide students and community members with free access to seeds from plants grown on UNC Asheville’s campus.

Fortunately, it has a no-return policy, meaning library users can plant the seeds and enjoy.

The new 3 Star Certified Green Restaurant honor plus Fair Trade certification are the latest milestones in the continuing sustainability efforts by UNC Asheville Dining Services. Other steps have included working toward near-zero food waste in the kitchens, dedication to providing compostable serveware and recyclable food containers in every food outlet on campus, nurturing new and existing relationships with local farms and purveyors such as New Sprout Organics and Mountain Food Products, and ongoing food recovery for donation to the hungry in conjunction with Food Connection. Since starting the partnership with Food Connection in 2015, UNC Asheville has become the organization’s largest donor, with between 300 and 600 pounds of food picked up from Brown Dining Hall every week and distributed to places like BeLoved Asheville and Trinity Place, shelters for runaway youth and the homeless.

“We’re so very proud of all of our efforts towards sustainability.

Things like the Green Restaurant certification and the achievement of Fair Trade status make our community outreach and our commitment to local food tangible,” said Brooks Casteel, director of dining services at UNC Asheville. “We’re so excited to show how invested we are in bettering not just our campus, but our community.”

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FIR S T RE S P O N DER S UNC ASHEVILLE STAGED A FULL-SCALE EMERGENCY PLANNING EXERCISE on July 19, 2017, designed to give university staff, first-responder agencies, and Mission Health a chance to practice response and communication during a simulated violent incident on campus. UNC Asheville hosted the exercise in partnership with the Asheville Police Department, Asheville Fire Department, Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, Buncombe County’s Offices of Emergency Services and EMS, Mission Health, and EnviroSafe, a preparedness consulting firm.

As part of the exercise, more than 60 “victims”—volunteer role-players with make-up appearing like gunshot wounds and other serious injuries—were triaged and safely transported to Mission Hospital by ambulance and emergency transport bus. University staff worked to track the “victims,” contact the volunteers role-playing victims’ families, and reunite families later in the afternoon. The university also practiced how it would communicate with partner agencies, campus and the community, and how it would make decisions about resuming normal operations. More than 140 individuals volunteered during the exercise, and more than 200 university staff members and first-responders directly participated. The emergency planning exercise is a key part of the UNC System’s effort to assess and enhance campus safety, and was supported by a grant from the UNC System General Administration.

“It was gratifying to see that we were able to respond quickly and effectively, with all of the agencies communicating and coordinating well,” said David Weldon, UNC Asheville director of emergency management. “The university, first responders, and Mission Health all worked together over several months to plan the exercise—that process and the exercise itself helps enable all of us to stay updated, in sync and able to respond effectively when necessary.”

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CO N N EC TIO N S PEED THERE’S MORE HIGH-SPEED INTERNET ON CAMPUS, thanks to the summer work by Information Technology Services to triple the bandwidth coming into UNC Asheville. The expanded service allows students, faculty, and staff to connect many devices simultaneously without any decrease in speeds. The improvements are keeping students connected in classes and in their residence halls, and the technology advances also allow for future expansion when needed. The result is something that users might not even notice, but they certainly would have missed otherwise.

Y E A R O F TH E TREE UNC ASHEVILLE’S CAMPUS OPERATIONS called 2017 the Year of the Tree, as three crew members earned an elite Arborist certification from the International Society of Arboriculture. Ray Magalski, Brady Gottman, and Josh Elliott, along with Campus Grounds Manager Melissa Acker, have made it their jobs to learn the trees on campus, and together campus operations pursues a Tree Campus designation.

Arborist certifications are especially important at UNC Asheville, a campus that Acker says has a “commitment and dedication to the notion that this campus is a place graced by trees, that we understand that trees are essential to our human and environmental well-being.”

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World Class

(ABOVE) AGYA BOAKYE-BOATEN AND DEE JAMES WITH STUDENTS VISITING GHANA IN 2015 (RIGHT) REID CHAPMAN, DEE JAMES, ROBIN HAMILTON, AND CHARLES JAMES

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UNC Asheville is once again named a “Best Buy” on the international ranking list from The Fiske Guide to Colleges, 2018

DI SCOVER G H A N A AGYA BOAKYE-BOATEN, CHAIR AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF AFRICANA STUDIES at UNC Asheville, was awarded a fellowship by the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program, to return to his native Ghana in June to begin a curriculum development initiative. He assisted Ghanaian faculty at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) in the development of multidisciplinary, liberal arts curricular design, and will plan future opportunities for UNC Asheville students to collaborate with Ghanaian students on undergraduate research projects. The fellowship is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and managed by the Institute of International Education in collaboration with the United States International University-Africa.

In addition to chairing UNC Asheville’s Africana Studies Program, Boakye-Boaten directs the university’s Interdisciplinary and International Studies Programs. Under his leadership, the Africana Studies Program is launching Moja, An Interdisciplinary Journal of Africana Studies, an open-access journal debuting soon.

Boakye-Boaten has also joined with other faculty to lead many study-abroad summer trips to Ghana for UNC Asheville students. The “Discover Ghana 2015” trip won the 2017 Best Practices in International Education Award for Study Abroad Programming from NAPSA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.

The “Discover Ghana 2015” trip was a one-month faculty-led study abroad program, and was an inaugural collaboration between the Interdisciplinary, International, and Africana Studies Program and Residential Education within the Division of Student Affairs. The synergy of this intentional partnership resulted in a positive living and learning environment for student learning and development in a study abroad locale.

The program allowed students from different academic disciplines to enroll in two courses, Science in Ghana and Humanities: Individual in the Contemporary World, taught by UNC Asheville faculty Charles James, associate professor of chemistry, and Reid Chapman, lecturer in education, respectively. These courses focused on helping program participants become globally informed citizens, and to understand the importance of developing intercultural competence through an interdisciplinary perspective while studying abroad.

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ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION TIECE RUFFIN

FU LB RIG HT SCH O L A R UNC ASHEVILLE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION TIECE RUFFIN has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright Scholar grant for 2017-18, which has afforded her the opportunity to teach and conduct research in special education in Ghana. Her 10-month project will focus on Ghana’s approach, strategies, and plans of inclusive education for including students with disabilities and the sharing of practices to strengthen the capacity of Ghana’s teachers to meet the needs of students with disabilities. She joins 45 UNC Asheville Fulbright alumni in this prestigious honor.

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TH E B USIN E S S O F IREL A N D UNC ASHEVILLE’S DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTANCY took students abroad to Ireland this summer. The students, along with faculty members Dennis Cole and Jim Canavan, spent much of their two-week study abroad trip visiting cultural and historic sites, engaging with speakers, and observing the complexities of the Irish economy. Students toured companies and organizations such as Guinness, the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland, an eco-business, a technology company, and a media outlet. The group also took an overnight trip to Belfast to explore the Belfast Murals that depict the region’s past and present political and religious divisions.

A M ERIC A N IN DIA N A N D IN DIG EN O US S TU DIE S STUDENTS ENROLLED IN UNC ASHEVILLE’S CHEROKEE LANGUAGES COURSES, one of the newest offerings at the university, presented their skills at a Second Language Learners Cherokee Language Symposium in April. The prestigious conference held at the Museum of Cherokee Indians in Cherokee, North Carolina brought together several universities from around the nation including Stanford University, Western Carolina University, and UNC-Chapel Hill.

UNC Asheville students were asked to speak on a panel, organized by Gil Jackson, a lecturer in modern languages and literatures at UNC Asheville, focusing on their experience with learning the language. The weekend-long conference included tours of native Cherokee land, conversations with locals, and events meant to highlight Cherokee living in the modern day.

As the students continue their coursework, they can earn a minor in American Indian and Indigenous Studies, which began in the fall of 2017.

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G ERM A N SCH O L A R S MORE THAN 30 GERMAN SCHOLARS from public and private institutions and all levels of their academic career gathered in Ramsey Library’s Whitman Room in March 2017 for a conference on the subject of diversity and decolonization in the German curriculum.

With participants from universities ranging in distance from Asheville to South Africa, this symposium was a major event in German studies worldwide.

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SHARING CU LTU RE S A N D CU I SIN E THE MILLS HALL COURTYARD TRANSFORMS into a multilingual classroom for the annual Languages and Cultures in Action Day. With songs, poems, food, recitations, dance, plays, performances, and poster presentations in Cherokee, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Latin, Lingala, Portuguese, and Spanish, UNC Asheville students showcased their engagement with languages and cultures from various parts of the world.

Attendees also could taste the cuisine from cultures around the world, all on the same plate, with student-prepared Brazilian, German, French and Spanish food and drink as part of the festivities, as well as virtual city tours and presentations about student service-learning and internships.

“Languages and Cultures in Action is a collective cultural celebration whose vision is to bring students, faculty, staff, and the campus community together to celebrate our true diversity,” says Assistant Professor of Africana and Lusophone Studies Jeremias Zunguze, founder of Languages and Cultures in Action.

Chancellor Grant has been one of the most inclusive leaders we have had in this community in my 20+ years in Asheville.”

Gene Bell Housing Authority of the City of Asheville CEO

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Lifelong Learni

NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST DAVID BROOKS

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A+

ng

UNC Asheville is included in the “A+ Schools for B Students” list U.S. News & World Report recognizes schools that seek and admit a broad and engaged student body, and where spirit and hard work, individuality and seriousness of purpose are valued by the admissions office

M A S TER CL A S SE S NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST DAVID BROOKS delivered UNC Asheville’s 90th anniversary Founders Day lecture on Oct. 12, offering a master class with students earlier in the day. He called the class “one of the most provocative ones I’ve had in years.”

Students appreciated the exchanges as well, drawing in articles and assignments from the semester and questioning Brooks about politics and public figures. The crowd of 2,000 in Kimmel Arena also had an opportunity to ask questions of the well-known public figure, who used everything from food, to styles, to sports to convey the patterns he sees in American culture, and how those patterns have produced today’s political divide. These topics also frequent his writing.

In addition to writing for The New York Times, Brooks appears regularly as a commentator on the PBS NewsHour and NPR’s All Things Considered. He also teaches courses on humility at Yale University. His most recent book, The Road to Character, has been translated into Spanish, Chinese and other languages.

His visit to UNC Asheville, originally scheduled for Founders Day on Sept. 12, was delayed by a month due to Hurricane Irma. UNC Asheville’s 90th anniversary Founders Day keynote lecture was supported by The David and Lin Brown Visionary Lecture Series and The Van Winkle Law Firm Public Policy Lectures.

The students quoted Immanuel Kant and St. Augustine, and then they made me squirm on issues I hadn’t really thought about, and I was sort of unsatisfied with my own opinions on issues... They were serious, they were intent, and they were really challenging me. And I’m grateful for that.”

David Brooks New York Times Columnist

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M LK DAY K E Y N OTE WALTER KIMBROUGH, president of Dillard University and a rising star in higher education, presented the keynote address to UNC Asheville’s 2017 Martin Luther King Jr. Week of Celebration on Jan. 19.

He drew inspiration from Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous question asked in the title of his 1967 book, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community, noting that technology can impend communication and community, creating bubbles that we must move beyond. He reminded students about Martin Luther King Jr.’s six steps of nonviolent social change and recommended that we work together.

WALTER KIMBROUGH, PRESIDENT OF DILLARD UNIVERSITY

Chancellor Grant has demonstrated bold, creative thinking at two public liberal arts colleges. ... She has strengthened vibrant ties between programs, between people, between universities and local regions.”

Cole Woodcox 40

Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges Executive Director

CJS DIRECTOR RICK CHESS

CENTER FO R J E WI S H S TU DIE S THE CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES AT UNC ASHEVILLE celebrated 35 years in 2017, recognizing Director Rick Chess’ 25 years of service. Since taking the role of director in 1992, Chess has steered the CJS into becoming a valuable resource for education and insight into the Jewish experience, for both the Asheville and campus communities. Over the years the CJS has brought a multitude of writers, musicians, poets, historians, philosophers, and scholars to present their work and provide the community with a deeper understanding of the Jewish faith and culture. The center also provides opportunities for students to engage in research, travel, and community, particularly though internships.

The anniversary events included performances by Israeli writer and recording artist Danny Maseng, a screening of Marty Gillen’s short film documenting the history of the CJS, and the 2017 Phyllis Freed Sollod Memorial Lecture, presented by Chess.

FA M ILY ENTERPRI SE RE SE A RCH CO N FEREN CE UNC ASHEVILLE HOSTED THE FAMILY ENTERPRISE RESEARCH CONFERENCE (FERC), an international conference dedicated to creating usable knowledge for family-owned businesses, in June 2017. More than 100 attendees from 17 countries focused on “Bridging the Gap,” a theme that explores generations in family business, the connection between research and practice, the interdisciplinary approach across academic disciplines, and the span of knowledge in the field. They also enjoyed many local family-owned business, with a variety of Asheville vendors sharing food and expertise, thanks to the logistics direction of UNC Asheville’s Family Business Forum Executive Director Cindy Clarke.

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FACU LT Y PATH S IN EARLY JUNE, COPLAC (The Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges) sponsored its 13th annual Summer Faculty Institute on Liberal Learning in the Disciplines at its headquarters at UNC Asheville, bringing together 30 faculty in fields ranging from studio arts and art history to graphic design and museum and gallery direction. Participants identified a set of “best practices” in art and art history instruction, noting how liberal arts institutions recognize that there are many paths to a degree, including blazing one’s own path.

C ARING FO R CO M M U N IT Y THE NORTH CAROLINA CENTER FOR HEALTH & WELLNESS (NCCHW) AT UNC ASHEVILLE has received a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to expand access to and utilization of evidence-based falls prevention programs across 18 counties in Western North Carolina. The three-year grant helps fund programs demonstrated as effective by research, such as tai chi classes and the A Matter of Balance Program. Partners include Mission Health, North Carolina Alliance of YMCAs, YMCA of Western North Carolina, Western Carolina University, North Carolina Falls Prevention Coalition, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Aging and Adult Services and Division of Public Health, and the five Area Agencies on Aging covering Western North Carolina.

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(LEFT TO RIGHT) MARQUIS MCGEE, CERISE GLENN, AND ALDO GARCIA GUEVARA

With the unwavering support of Chancellor Grant, our faculty continued to create meaningful impact for our students and stakeholders inside and outside of the classroom. She has been a tireless advocate for the public liberal arts and a champion for faculty innovation.”

Micheal Stratton UNC Asheville Faculty Senate Chair

H O M ECO M ING FACU LT Y THE FACULTY IN FRONT OF THE ROOM during UNC Asheville’s Homecoming & Family Weekend 2017 included a few familiar faces, particularly from the Class of 1999 as Cerise Glenn and Aldo Garcia Guevara co-facilitated a workshop on Friday, Sept. 22. Glenn is an associate professor in communications studies at UNC Greensboro, and Guevara is an associate professor of history at Worcester State University. Both Glenn and Guevara are classmates of Marquis McGee, assistant director of academic programs at UNC Asheville. They joined Richard Reddick, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin in the Departments of Educational Leadership and Policy, and African and African Diaspora Studies, in leading the workshop on “Novel Recruitment Strategies for Diversifying the Faculty.”

Each identified areas of importance, from mentorship and the work of the Intercultural Center to the classes they had as undergraduate students and best practices of ally-building.

Reddick also hosted a public lecture on “Campus and Community Racial Climate—Its Influence on Creating Inclusive Faculty Environments” the prior evening.

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(LEFT TO RIGHT) GORDON MCKINNEY, JOE MOBLEY, STEVE NASH, AND DARIN WATERS

M O N U M ENTA L DEBATE MORE THAN A YEAR OF PLANNING had a timely conclusion, as UNC Asheville’s Department of History and the Vance Birthplace State Historic Site partnered to present a two-day symposium, Zebulon B. Vance Reconsidered, in September. The symposium took place as the region and the nation discuss and debate the fate of the many monuments to Confederate-era figures like Vance.

“The heated debate we see now over Vance and others from his era is a natural development in our nation’s history—it was past moments like this that led to construction of many of the monuments now being reconsidered,” said historian Dan Pierce, UNC Asheville’s National Endowment for the Humanities Distinguished Professor and co-convener of the symposium. “I am glad to see the importance of history come to the fore, and with this symposium, we hope to present historical context and facts to help inform and advance the public debate.”

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CO NTIN U ING EDU C ATIO N UNC ASHEVILLE’S CONNECTION TO CITY SCHOOLS extends well beyond undergraduate education, with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) stepping in daily to inspire students at all grade levels. Sarah Reincke is one of those thousands of members who knows her way around a classroom. The Asheville City Schools Foundation volunteer of the year serves as a teacher’s aide and has inspired others to step up to the plate too, recruiting almost 100 volunteers to work on education, housing and homelessness, and hunger and food security. Their latest project as part of OLLI’s civic engagement committee is to organize a food pantry at Asheville Terrace Apartments.

TERRY AND SARAH REINCKE

H I S TO RY IN 3D STUDENTS IN GAME PROGRAMMING spent the semester collaborating with history students in the Digital History course to create interactive video games based on local Western North Carolina history. Groups focused on the WWII years of Black Mountain College, the Agudas Israel Congregation in Hendersonville, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, and the Mountain Dance Folk Festival. Each team also built a website displaying their research and hosting links to the games, a clear demonstration of their work across disciplines and their work to bring history to back to life through technology.

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Scholar -Athlet

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es

163 student-athletes earned a GPA of 3.0 or higher during spring of 2017

CH A M PIO N SH IP SE A SO N UNC ASHEVILLE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL BUILT THEIR OWN MOMENTUM in 2017, starting the season as the reigning Big South Champions and ending it in the same position, but not without its obstacles.

They returned 12 players from a team that had won the program’s first Big South Conference tournament crown since 2007 and first-ever regular-season title the year prior en route to the program’s second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. Included in the 12 returners was the previous year’s Big South Conference Player of the Year and Big South Championships Most Valuable Player in Chatori Major. UNC Asheville also returned three other program-changing seniors complemented by eight strong underclassmen who had now “been there before.”

Just as the team was beginning to find its identity as a gritty squad that could find ways to win, the Bulldogs lost three lead players to season-ending injuries. Players stepped into new leadership roles. The Bulldogs went 5-4 through the first half of the league slate and were squarely in the hunt for a top-four position in the league well into the latter portion of the season, but it was a late-season surge that will be remembered for years to come.

UNC Asheville closed out the season on an 8-2 run in the final 10 games, including four wins in four days to capture the Big South Conference crown. It was the first time a team had ever accomplished the feat to win the league title. The Bulldogs also became the first seven-seed to win the Big South Women’s Championship crown.

Chancellor Grant and Jim have been ‘Champions and Leaders’ for the Bulldogs from day one. On behalf of our studentathletes, coaches, and staff, I want to thank them for their service to UNC Asheville and for making such a positive impact on all of us. We are going to miss seeing them cheering in the stands but know that they will always be proud Bulldogs.”

Janet R. Cone UNC Asheville Director of Athletics

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SU CCE S S FU L S E A SO N THE 2016-17 SEASON was another special year for Bulldog basketball with the men’s team claiming their sixth Big South Conference regular-season title and advancing to postseason play in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT).

The Bulldogs did not lose a conference home game during the 2016-17 regular-season en route to a 15-3 league record overall. They also secured a school-record nine straight Big South wins. Their ability to win big games on the road plus protecting home court allowed the Bulldogs to secure the co-championship in the Big South Conference regular-season with Winthrop.

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U N C A S H E VILLE’ S SCH O L A R-ATH LE TE S

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Earned Dean’s List recognition

CL A S S ROO M CO M PE TITO R S THE UNC ASHEVILLE ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT placed 72 percent of its eligible 190 student-athletes to the prestigious annual Big South Presidential Honor Roll for the 2016-17 academic year. UNC Asheville women’s swimming competes in the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association and are not eligible for the Big South Conference Honor Roll, which is why the number of student-athletes is 190. Bulldog swimming is also extremely stout in the classroom though as the program garnered Scholar All-America Team honors from the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) for the 10th consecutive semester in late June.

“Sometimes I think what our student-athletes are doing in the classroom is lost in all of the great things they are doing athletically for our university,” UNC Asheville Director of Athletics Janet R. Cone said. “Their efforts athletically are just a small part of the story as these numbers show. We truly have student-athletes at UNC Asheville that value and champion pursuing greatness with their academic, athletic, and lifelong goals.”

The 2016-17 athletic year overall for UNC Asheville saw the Bulldogs excel in not only their respective sports, but also in their efforts in the community, and particularly, the classroom.

The proof is in the numbers.

I have never worked with a leader as energetic and as collaborative as Mary K. Grant. She has been masterful in developing consensus with a group of CEOs from Big South members that are as diverse as you can imagine.”

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Earned Chancellor’s List recognition

3

Teams received recognition for Academic Progress Rate from NCAA

3.247 Combined GPA for UNC Asheville student-athletes

Kyle Kallander

Big South Conference Commissioner

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FA S T FIR S T Y E A R THE TREMENDOUS FRESHMAN CAMPAIGN for Matthew Harding of UNC Asheville track and field came to a close in the national semifinals of the 800 meters at the 2017 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., as he finished sixth in his heat, televised live on ESPN. Harding originally advanced to the national semifinals by posting a personal-record time of 1:47.92 in the national quarterfinals of the 800 meters on Friday, May 26, at the NCAA East Regional Preliminary in Lexington, Ky. His time in the national quarterfinals is a school-record and the second-best time in Big South Conference history in the 800 meters.

The Big South Indoor and Outdoor Freshman of the Year and the league’s 2017 indoor and outdoor 800 meters champion, the Conwy, North Wales native enters his sophomore season owning two of the three top times in the 800 meters in conference history.

MATTHEW HARDING

TEEING U P THE 2017 BULLDOG ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION SCHOLARSHIP GOLF CLASSIC raised a record-breaking $120,000, bringing the total to $500,000 over the past five years.

The annual event sponsored by Adidas, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, and Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort raises money for the UNC Asheville Athletics Annual Scholarship Fund.

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ATHLETICS DIRECTOR JANET CONE & MEN’S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH NICK MCDEVITT

TO P TE A M S

HENRY PATTEN

TEN NI S CH A M P AS A JUNIOR, UNC ASHEVILLE TENNIS PLAYER HENRY PATTEN is the best in the Carolinas. He won the championship at the USTA/ITA Carolina ITA Regional.

Earlier in the fall, Patten won the title at the oldest fall college tennis tournament, the Southern Intercollegiate Championships.

He was also named the 2017 Big South Men’s Tennis Player of the Year, and his 19-0 record at the conclusion of the regular season allowed him to become the first in program history to achieve an undefeated regular season at No. 1 singles. He won every match but one in singles in straight sets during the regular season.

UNC ASHEVILLE’S WOMEN’S SWIMMING garnered Scholar All-America Team honors from the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) for the 10th consecutive semester in late June, and in July the women’s tennis team was named an All-Academic Team.

UNC Asheville women’s basketball was ranked 10th nationally amongst NCAA Division I programs on the academic team honor roll by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) as the Bulldogs recorded a 3.597 team gradepoint average (GPA) for the 2016-17 school year. Graduating senior Chatori Major was recognized by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education as she was named to the 2017 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar second-team. The award honors undergraduate students who have excelled in the classroom as well as on the athletic field. She also was named to the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (ADA) Scholar Athlete Team.

Three UNC Asheville men's basketball student-athletes were named to the 2016-17 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court with graduated senior forwards Will Weeks and Giacomo Zilli and senior guard Kevin Vannatta being recognized. Vannatta and Zilli also were tabbed to the 15th Annual Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (DI-AAA ADA) Scholar-Athlete Awards.

The accolades from the NABC were the second for the Bulldogs, who were noted for their performance in the classroom during the 2016-17 athletic year by earning the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Team Academic Excellence Award in July.

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BA SEBA LL’ S B E S T UNC ASHEVILLE BASEBALL THIRD BASEMAN Brandon Lankford can add All-American to his resume as he was named to the 2017 Collegiate Baseball News Freshman All-American Team.

He also was named to the 2017 Big South Conference Baseball Championship Presented

by Hardee's All-Tournament Team.

Teammate Joe Tietjen earned his second Big South All-Conference honor as he picked up All-Big South Conference Honorable Mention plaudits as well as his second Big South Conference All-Academic Team honor.

BRANDON LANKFORD

COACH E S O N CO M M IT TEE S UNC ASHEVILLE VOLLEYBALL HEAD COACH Frederico Santos has been appointed to the new Southeast Regional Advisory Committee of the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Committee.

He is one of six on the committee, which evaluates teams in the American, Atlantic Sun, Big South, Mid-Eastern, Southern and SEC and is critical to the administration of the NCAA. Santos is in his seventh season as head coach of the UNC Asheville volleyball program.

UNC Asheville men’s soccer head coach Mathes Mennell has been appointed to the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Committee. This fall marked his third season at UNC Asheville.

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UNC ASHEVILLE’S MEN’S SOCCER TEAM IN COSTA RICA

VI SITING TE A M FOR THE UNC ASHEVILLE’S MEN’S SOCCER PROGRAM the chance to visit Costa Rica for 10 days in May was truly an opportunity of a lifetime. They combined team bonding and community service, while playing four matches against reserve professional teams. The trip included two days in the rainforest.

“Every athletic department talks about the student-athlete experience and how it is paramount,” Coach Mathes Mennell said. “However, to be fortunate enough to work at UNC Asheville where everyone from the Chancellor to the Athletic Director to the volunteer assistant coach embodies this mantra daily is truly unique. I hope we will be a better soccer team because of this, but I know we will be better Bulldogs. I am not sure you can ask for a better statement of actual commitment to making the total development of student-athletes a priority. This trip proves UNC Asheville’s commitment on every level.”

ROCK Y TH E R ACE C A R THE BULLDOGS ARE ALWAYS COMPETING for championships, and one huge friend of UNC Asheville athletics took that competitive spirit to the racetrack. Mike Burke’s race car, Rocky II, a 2016 Mazda Miata, represents the Bulldogs at local events, and this year, traveled to the National Championship at the "Racing Capital of the World" at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

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Home Base

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More than 200 alumni and friends attended Homecoming and Family Weekend

H O M ECO M ING & FA M ILY WEEK EN D THE BULLDOGS WERE BACK ON CAMPUS in September to celebrate a 90th birthday during Homecoming & Family Weekend. Faculty members offered “Back to Class” sessions, and the campus community gathered for a parade around campus and picnic on the Quad. The extended family cheered on the Bulldogs in cross country, volleyball, tennis, and a double-header for men’s and women’s soccer. In addition, the university celebrated alumni with the National Alumni Awards Banquet and the induction of alumni athletes and community supporters into the Bulldog Hall of Fame. Chancellor Grant also hosted a special reception for families coming to campus for the weekend.

Weekend events included an on-campus tailgate and receptions at alumniowned or managed cafes and breweries. A special kids’ zone welcomed the newest Bulldogs to campus on Saturday.

“We always look forward to having family members of our students join us on campus for the weekend to get a sense of what it’s like to be a member of the UNC Asheville campus community. Family members enjoy our back-toclass sessions because they provide full immersion into our interdisciplinary curriculum with our talented and highly esteemed faculty,” said Stephanie Franklin, director of transition and parent programs at UNC Asheville.

As a proud Bulldog, I’ve been thrilled to see our alma mater, under Dr. Grant’s leadership, making a concerted effort to reconnect and engage with alumni, and to involve us in the life of the University. Each time I return to campus, for events like Homecoming & Family Weekend, I am reminded of what a special place this is.”

Mike Roach ’02 National Alumni Council Chair

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CHANCELLOR GRANT AND RONALD A. PAULUS, MISSION HEALTH PRESIDENT & CEO

MI S SIO N H E A LTH A PARTNERSHIP WITH ONE OF THE REGION’S LARGEST EMPLOYERS, Mission Health, became more robust this year, as Chancellor Mary K. Grant and Mission Health President and CEO Ronald A. Paulus, M.D. signed an agreement that extends the collaborative work of each institution. The enhanced partnership establishes an inaugural Healthy Campus 2020 Committee dedicated to improving the health of students, faculty, and staff with the expertise from Mission Health’s Wellness Teams.

Mission Health also partners with UNC Asheville to provide comprehensive sports medicine services for the UNC Asheville Bulldog’s 16 NCAA Division I teams and works closely with the Career Center to identify internships.

In addition, research projects aimed at undergraduates that focus on everything from cancer studies, genetics, and integrative health to kinesiology, physiology, and geriatrics are also in motion. Mission Health staff hold positions as adjunct instructors at the university, while UNC Asheville extends continuing educational opportunities to Mission Health employees, which allow them to advance in their careers. The ambitious partnership also establishes Mission Health Scholarships, awarded to 25 students in 2017.

“We are certain that our alliance with UNC Asheville will result in expanded opportunities for their student body and student athletes, as well as our own team members. Our partnership will lead to a healthier community, prepare the workforce of tomorrow, and raise awareness about UNCA’s mission and our own.

This is another important way we are helping our community be well, get well, and stay well,” Paulus said.

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UNC Asheville has been designated a 2017 Military Friendly® School

VE TER A N CENTER FO R E XCELLEN CE

UNC ASHEVILLE CELEBRATED THE OPENING of the university’s new Veteran Center for Excellence with a graduation celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony in May. The renovated space in Highsmith

by Victory Media, a service-disabled, veteranStudent Union serves as a place for UNC Asheville’s student veterans owned business to study and relax, and as the meeting place for members of the Veterans Alliance student organization. It houses a library and repository for resources for student veterans, facilitates collaborations between the Veterans Alliance and other student organizations, and is The Asheville Chamber has benefited designated space for Green Zone trainings, which help participants from having Mary Grant on our board. develop an understanding for the Her understanding and ability to challenges faced by student veterans.

communicate about the important role higher education plays in maintaining quality of life in a community is valuable.

She’s been a big asset.”

The Veteran Center for Excellence is funded by a $10,000 Vet Center Initiative grant from the Student Veterans of America (SVA) and the Home Depot Foundation.

Kit Cramer Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce President & CEO

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M A RVELO US M ATH A LITTLE SNOW IN MARCH DIDN’T DETER THE FIRST PI RUN, particularly for the Asheville Initiative for Math, which is also known for creating mathematically beautiful snowflakes.

The event welcomed runners of all ages for the 3.14 mile run/walk, in addition to a one-mile competitive run, with proceeds benefiting the Marvelous Math Club, which builds community and leadership while celebrating math in partnership with Asheville City Schools ParentU and Asheville Housing Authority.

Listening to Chancellor Grant give a charge to students within Multicultural Affairs at the Welcome Back Dinner every year is inspiring and over the past three years has pushed me to be the best version of myself and make change happen.�

Liz Torres UNC Asheville student 58

H O M E WO RK DIN ER S UNC ASHEVILLE VOLUNTEERS take their evening meals with a side of homework when they work with the United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County in family engagement events throughout the year.

The diners offer a meal and tutoring to middle school students and their families.

Attendees also have an opportunity to learn about community resources and educational opportunities.

S EN IO R H O N O R S SOLIDIFYING ITS PLACE AMONG SOUTHERN UNIVERSITIES, the UNC Asheville Honors Program hosted a conference in April for the Southern Regional Honors Council, bringing together 105 prestigious universities. With a theme of “Diving into Diversity: The Obligations and Opportunities,” the conference gave thought to the way in which honors education can help to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion in all areas of society.

Students at UNC Asheville presented their original research, which included senior sociology major Savannah Purdy’s senior thesis investigating the connections between racial and national identities. Purdy has been a part of the honors program throughout her entire college career.

“The honors program has always felt like my family on campus,” she says. “It’s basically all my favorite things about UNC Asheville, but condensed. The small class sizes, the faculty, the discussion-based classes; the program just amplifies those things.”

Senior sociology major Tatiana Miller agrees, which is why she also is a mentor in the new incoming honors mentoring program, inspiring other students to consider the honors program at any stage of their college careers.

TE ACH ER EDU C ATIO N WHEN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA FACED A TEACHER SHORTAGE, the solution came in the form of a unique public-private partnership between two of the region’s educational institutions, forged

by UNC Asheville Associate Professor of Education and Associate Department Chair Kim Brown. Through this new teacher licensure partnership, students will complete their disciplinary major at Warren Wilson College while concurrently enrolling in the teacher licensure program at UNC Asheville as early as their junior year. This program is in addition to UNC Asheville’s longstanding teacher licensure program.

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WH EN WO M EN LE A D ON NOVEMBER 8, Chancellor Grant, Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, Our VOICE Executive Director Angélica Wind, were joined by nearly 75 students, faculty, staff, and community members on campus for the When Women Lead panel discussion, presented jointly by UNC Asheville’s College Democrats student group and Buncombe County Young Democrats.

The inspiring women, leaders, and role models spoke about their professional paths and perspectives on leadership, sharing valuable advice for women seeking influential roles in the community.

“Education opens doors wide,” said Chancellor Grant. “Explore as many opportunities as possible while you’re on a college campus. And to leaders, I’ll say: Make sure you create space at the table for others. ...You can always get a bigger table.”

While sharing candid stories about their pathways to leadership, past jobs provided a natural opportunity for reflection and lessons learned over time.

“In college, I was a nanny for two children of a very successful doctor. Her life was crazy and I remember driving the kids to an activity one day thinking ‘My life will never be that crazy.’ Now, I think my life is even crazier than hers,” said Mayor Manheimer.

“Work-life balance is always something I’m working on. Over the years, I’ve made it a priority to figure out what I need to do to take care of myself so I can be my best self.”

During the Q&A session, attendees asked the local leaders questions about their professional successes and challenges, to which Angélica Wind offered: “Know your worth and believe it.

Don’t be afraid to engage in courageous leadership.”

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(LEFT TO RIGHT) CHANCELLOR GRANT, OUR VOICE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ANGÉLICA WIND, UNC ASHEVILLE’S COLLEGE DEMOCRATS MEMBER LEILA CAROLINE FALLAHI ’19, BUNCOMBE COUNTY YOUNG DEMOCRATS MEMBER LINDSEY PRATHER ’10, AND ASHEVILLE MAYOR ESTHER MANHEIMER

Mary Grant has taken inclusive, inspired, strategic leadership to a whole new level during her time as Chancellor of UNC Asheville. She has connected the university and the community in unprecedented ways. Her energy, enthusiasm and great passion make her a powerful advocate for the public liberal arts, not only here in North Carolina, but across the nation.”

Esther Manheimer Mayor of Asheville

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Raising the Bar

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$5.5 million philanthropic gifts and private grants in FY17

PHIL A NTH RO PIC P OINT S FREE THROWS ADDED UP TO BIG MONEY for one UNC Asheville program. In July, executives from George Fisher Linamar, a worldwide auto parts manufacturer, wanted to turn their corporate retreat into a philanthropic event. With a basketball goal attached to a lift, employees took turns shooting free throws as the lift was incrementally raised from 10 feet, to 15 feet, to 20 feet, and eventually to 25 feet. Each time the height increased, so did the value of a successful basket.

Mechatronics engineering students from the UNC Asheville Formula SAE team were invited to participate in the contest. They also received a tour of the company’s new facility in Mills River.

The event raised $10,000 to support the team’s effort to build an electric car.

Chancellor Grant was innovative and collaborative with the community from day one. Her broad vision to position UNC Asheville as the anchor institution of Asheville has already taken hold. UNC Asheville, the Gillings School of Public Health, and MAHEC were able to create a vision for a new and innovative School of Public Health campus in Asheville utilizing the best of all three institutions. It could not have happened without Chancellor Grant’s leadership.”

Jeffery E. Heck, M.D. MAHEC President & CEO

2017 B U LLDOG CHA LLENG E

$106,000 raised in this year’s Bulldog Challenge

265%

above its original goal of $40,000

571

overall gifts with 442 unique donors, including 200 alumni

The gifts directly impact today’s scholar-athletes by providing scholarships, tutoring and essential academic support that allow the Bulldogs to compete at the highest level. 63

(LEFT TO RIGHT) MIKE ADAMS, PRESIDENT OF MOOG MUSIC, WITH UNC ASHEVILLE PROFESSORS MELODIE GALLOWAY & WAYNE KIRBY

M USIC M A K ER S MOOG MUSIC INC. HAS PRESENTED UNC ASHEVILLE WITH A GIFT of a Moog Model 15 modular synthesizer—a re-creation of the original 1973 synthesizer and one of a limited number of historic synthesizers hand-built by Moog Music using original documentation. The Model 15 was donated with proceeds from the Sub 37 Tribute, a limited edition analog synthesizer created in honor of Bob Moog, his passion for education, and his love of music.

The instrument is now part of UNC Asheville’s Bob Moog Electronic Music Studio which was dedicated in 2009 to the late electronic music pioneer and inventor Bob Moog, who served on the university’s faculty for five years as a research professor of music.

“Really, this gift acknowledges Bob’s love for the university and honors all the UNC Asheville graduates we have working at Moog Music,” said Mike Adams, president of Moog Music, at an October gift presentation ceremony on campus. “Over the years we’ve had dozens of graduates, including more than a dozen working for us right now who’ve come to Moog Music out of the UNC Asheville program, and they’ve all been fantastic. … We’re very pleased to be able to do this, and we hope that many more students will have the opportunity to explore the creative world of electronic music through this instrument.”

Three UNC Asheville graduates—Kevin Forte, Zac Fischman and Dylan Jordan—were on the team of technicians responsible for the hand-built Moog Model 15 that is now part of the university’s Moog Studio.

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“Music is the gateway for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, and we see that over and over again,” said Adams. “UNCA—a liberal arts school with a music technology program—has produced some of the brightest technical minds we have in our organization. The students who graduate from this school are among the best equipped employees we have in terms of their raw skill set, communication skills, and just very good people. When I think about this liberal arts school producing some of our best and brightest and ask ‘HOW?,’ I can only conclude that a foundation in music is the gateway to a fundamental understanding of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math.”

Blue Ridge Public Radio enthusiastically shares UNC Asheville’s commitment to civil communication. We look forward to future partnerships that contribute to a deeper understanding of the issues and events that are critical to the future of the communities we both serve across Western North Carolina.”

David Feingold Blue Ridge Public Radio General Manager & CEO

G IVING TU E S DAY UNC ASHEVILLE SUPPORTS GAVE BACK ON GIVING TUESDAY, contributing $62,432 in a single day, surpassing its goal of $45,000 by 138 percent. The 270 donors contributed just over $24,000 to the student scholarship fund and more than $21,000 was designated to other categories, including specific scholarships, academic departments, and other university programs. More than $13,000 was designated to go toward UNC Asheville Bulldog Athletics, and almost $3,000 was given to the University Excellence Fund.

UNC Asheville’s Giving Tuesday fundraising was helped by a $10,000 matching gift from an anonymous alumni donor which was “unlocked” when the total of other contributions reached $35,000 just before 5 p.m.

A LL IN FO R A S H E VILLE TOGETHER OUR COMMUNITY WENT #ALLINFORASHEVILLE and raised $56,664 in just 15 days of June 2017. The 508 donors supported scholarships so that deserving students could focus on their education instead of how they are going to pay for it. They supported undergraduate research that helps bring new knowledge to the world.

They supported athletics so that our student-athletes could continue the pursuit of excellence on and off the court. In short, they supported the things that transform lives.

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Achievements

FACULTY AWARD RECIPIENTS

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FACU LT Y AWA RDS Professor of Sociology and Anthropology Heidi Kelley, 2017 UNC Board of Governors Award for Teaching Excellence Associate Professor of Psychology Patrick Foo, UNC Asheville’s 2017 Distinguished Teacher of the Year Associate Professor of Classics Lora Holland, Teaching Excellence in the Humanities Associate Professor of Chemistry Herman Holt Jr., Teaching Excellence in the Natural Sciences Assistant Professor of Sociology & Anthropology Lyndi Hewitt, Teaching Excellence in the Social Sciences Assistant Professor of Chemistry Amanda Wolfe, Teaching Excellence for Untenured Faculty Award Adjunct Lecturer of Humanities Chrystal Cook, Teaching Excellence, Non-Full-time Faculty Award Associate Professor of Management & Accountancy Micheal Stratton, Distinguished Service Award Associate Professor of Drama Lise Kloeppel, Distinguished Service Award Professor of Physics Michael Ruiz, Scholarly and Creative Achievement Award Assistant Professor of English Amanda Wray, Scholarly and Creative Achievement Award Professor of Political Science Dwight Mullen, Ruth and Leon Feldman Professor for Service Professor of Drama Rob Bowen, Ruth and Leon Feldman Professor for Scholarly and Creative Work Professor Emerita of Art Virginia Derryberry, 2017 College Arts Association (CAA) Distinguished Teaching of Art Award Cole Woodcox, selected as the director of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC), a consortium of 30 North American universities with its headquarters at UNC Asheville Local writer Kim Winter Mako, named the first UNC Asheville Ramsey Library Community Author Award (RCLAA) for a prose writer in Western North Carolina

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(LEFT TO RIGHT) JIM PETERSON, KAREN K. BROWN, AND TIM HUSSEY

O N TH E BOA RD UNC ASHEVILLE BOARD OF TRUSTEES welcomed three new members in 2017: Karen K. Brown, Jim Peterson, and student representative Tim Hussey.

New board members Brown and Peterson are both Asheville-area residents. Brown, who was appointed to the board by the UNC Board of Governors, earned a BFA from UNC Asheville in 1981 and is a full-time landscape painter with a studio in Asheville’s River Arts District. She is a member of the Asheville Area Arts Council board and has experience as an art teacher and as a real estate agent.

T F A R D

Peterson, former CEO of Metroquip, a construction equipment rental company based in Minneapolis, has chaired the Board of Directors of Manna FoodBank and is a volunteer with the Asheville chapter of Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway. His business and MBA degrees were earned at Western Illinois University and the University of Minnesota. Peterson was appointed to the UNC Asheville Board of Trustees by the North Carolina General Assembly.

New trustee Tim Hussey, from Greenville, North Carolina, is president of UNC Asheville’s Student Government Association and was sworn in as a trustee at the June meeting. He is a senior majoring in psychology who has previously held numerous leadership roles on campus and won the university’s Outstanding Diversity Program Award last spring for his leadership in the program, Black Lives Matter: The Revival.

Hussey replaces outgoing SGA President Charlie White, who graduated summa cum laude in May with a B.A. in French and political science. He started Duke Law School in the fall.

Also completing their terms of service to the board were Piyush Patel and Pat Smith, who served as board chair from 2015-17.

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Chancellor Grant’s leadership qualities and vision have had a profound impact on UNC Asheville. Her advocacy for the distinctive value of a liberal arts education, approachability, visibility at campus-wide programs, and ability to build relationships at all levels has fortified UNC Asheville’s commitment to a high-quality liberal arts education and strengthened our value proposition. Chancellor Grant indeed is an inspiration to us all.”

Josh Cavenaugh UNC Asheville Staff Council Chair

S TU DENT E XPERIEN CE UNC ASHEVILLE STUDENT AFFAIRS professionals and student leaders were active this summer in national leadership activities, and three staff members, Stan Sweeney, Christina Jaeger, and Fred Tugas, were selected for national committees and fellowships.

UNC Asheville’s Student Government Association delegation to the UNC Association of Student Governments (ASG) was awarded the organization’s Delegation of the Year Award for 2016-17.

UNC Asheville junior international studies major Karmen Kurtz of Raleigh, N.C., has been selected for an exclusive national scholarship to participate in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute's Leadership and the American Presidency Summer 2017 program.

UNC Asheville’s weekly student newspaper, The Blue Banner, won nine awards in the small school category for its coverage during 2016, and the student literary journal, Headwaters, took home two honors.

E XECUTIV E CO M MIT TEE S Congratulations to the faculty and staff selected for the executive committees of Faculty Senate and Staff Council.

FACULTY SENATE Micheal Stratton, Chair Marietta Cameron Brian Butler Lyndi Hewitt STAFF COUNCIL Josh Cavenaugh, Chair Anna Peitzman, Vice Chair Brian Hart, Secretary

U N C A S H E VILLE’ S 2017 RE TIREE S Congratulations to our retired faculty and staff, who, combined, have contributed 280 years of service to UNC Asheville!

Leigh Atkinson, Mathematics, 28 years Thomas Baldwin, Campus Operations, 14 years Judith Bohan, Athletics, 15 years Brenda Henderson, Chemistry, 17 years James Johnson, Campus Operations, 28 years Joseph Jones, University Police, 11 years Judy Morgan, Campus Operations, 20 years Rosella Palmisano, Campus Recreation, 22 years Cathy Pons, Modern Languages and Literatures, 22 years Timothy Proctor, Campus Operations, 10 years Rebecca Reeve, N.C. Center for Health and Wellness, 6 years Connie Schaller, Campus Operations, 23 years Roger Sellers, Campus Operations, 27 years Susan Sellers, Housing Operations, 1 year Susan Shandor, Psychology, 10 years Monique Taylor, Internal Audit, 9 years Nealon Wilde, Housing Operations, 17 years

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S TAFF AWARDS Margaret Mahlin, Distinguished Individual Staff Excellence in Service Award Women’s Basketball Staff, Distinguished Team Staff Excellence in Service Award Robert Straub, Don Locke Excellence in Diversity Award Sara Sanders & Brent Skidmore, Spirit of Innovation Award Tammy Justice, Spirit of Sustainability Award

M EE T TH E DE A N Herman Holt, professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry, has been appointed Dean of Natural Sciences for a five-year term beginning in January 2018.

AC TING PROVOS T Karin Peterson, professor and chair of sociology and anthropology, has been named as acting provost for the spring 2018 semester, following the appointment of current Provost Joe Urgo as interim chancellor.

Peterson has been with UNC Asheville since 1999. In fall 2017, she was named a UNC General Administration Academic Affairs Fellow, with a project focusing on enhancing the agency and efficacy of department chairs. With a career-long interest in the development of students as learners, she also supports faculty in the work they do.

NATIO NAL A LU M NI AWA RDS Dwight Mullen, Alumni Distinguished Faculty Award Steve Woody ’89, Roy A. Taylor Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Bill Gettys ’74, Francine M. Delany Award for Service to the Community Molly de Mattos ’02, Thomas D. Reynolds Award for Service to the University David de Haan ’97, Order of Pisgah Award for Alumni Achievement Patrick Conant ’11, Order of Pisgah Award for Alumni Achievement

NATIO NAL RECOG NITIO N Regine Criser, assistant professor of German, earned the AATG/Goethe-Institut Certificate of Merit for outstanding achievement in furthering the teaching of German in schools of the United States.

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Our Chancellor is absolutely wonderful, hands down, and has helped this campus prosper and flourish. Through her journey at UNC Asheville she touched the hearts and the minds of everyone who interacted with and encountered her, particularly students. She will always be a Bulldog.”

Michael Davis UNC Asheville student

NEW FACULTY MEMBERS

WELCO M E N E W FACU LT Y UNC Asheville welcomed 13 new faculty members In 2017. (First row, left to right): Mahmut Reyhanoglu, Glaxo Wellcome Distinguished Professor, Director of the Engineering Program; Kelly Biers, Assistant Professor of French; Jennifer Sanchez-Flack, Assistant Professor of Health & Wellness; Shawn Mendez, Assistant Professor of Sociology; Mary Schultz, Lecturer in Biology; Alexander Persaud, Assistant Professor of Economics; Laura Tinney, Lecturer in Mathematics. (Back row, left to right): Patrick Hester, Associate Professor of Management; Mark Hursty, Lecturer in New Media; Suzanne Dittenber, Assistant Professor of Art; Brian Drawert, Assistant Professor of Computer Science; Casey Watkins, Lecturer in Drama; Julia Webster, Lecturer in Mathematics.

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Economic Impact As the anchor academic institution for higher education in Asheville and one of the top 20 employers, UNC Asheville serves as an economic driver for the region.

Since its founding in 1927, the university has been an intellectual and creative hub, creating jobs, educating citizens, attracting visitors, residents and new students, and building on the strengths of a region inherently innovative and inspiring.

In fiscal year 2017, UNC Asheville continued this momentum, contributing $450 million in local economic output, an increase of over $100 million in five years. Economic activity generated by UNC Asheville supports 3,911 local jobs and adds $164.6 million in labor income within the four-county metropolitan area of Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, and Madison. It increases annual tax revenues by more than $62.4 million dollars.

Through its faculty, students, staff, and facilities, UNC Asheville serves as a comprehensive and dynamic academic, cultural, economic, and social center of the Asheville region and provides a tenfold return on investment for every dollar appropriated by the state of North Carolina.

For every dollar the state of North Carolina appropriates to UNC Asheville, total economic output increases by $11.30 in the Asheville area: $

11.30

$

6.56

$

4.13 $ 1

Appropriated by the state

Labor Income Increase Economic Value Added

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Economic Output Increase

UNC Asheville’s Total Economic Impact

$

450 million

CAMPUS OPERATIONS

$

278 million

The overall impacts of operating expenses, purchases to run the university, and household spending by faculty and staff

ALUMNI EDUCATION PREMIUM

$

96.1 million

Accounting for the increased spending power of the more than 7,000 area alumni with increased earnings due to their postsecondary degrees

$ OUTSIDE VISITORS

$

15.3 million

$

44.3 million

Spending by the more than 52,000 annual visitors

Spending on off-campus housing, transportation, and personal items

ANNUAL NEW RESIDENT ATTRACTION

ON-CAMPUS CAPITAL SPENDING

$

9.4 million

Estimated impact of 115 new households attracted each year by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNC Asheville to relocate to the Asheville area

STUDENT SPENDING

$

7 million

Impact of 2017 fiscal year capital spending; projects planned for 2018 and 2019 will increase the impact dramatically

The economic impact study completed by SYNEVA Economics LLC for fiscal year 2017 provides a comprehensive analysis of the university’s impact upon the regional economy, objectively quantifying local spending and tracking spending as it moves through the local economy. Results of the analysis demonstrate the economic contribution and value of UNC Asheville in terms of local supported jobs, increased income, value added, raised economic output, and additional tax revenues generated.

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Economic activity generated by UNC Asheville supports

3,911 local jobs

1,552 jobs - UNCA Operations Impacts 404 jobs - UNCA Student Spending

835 jobs - UNCA Alumni Education Premium 166 jobs - Outside Visitors

823 jobs - UNCA Employees

81 jobs - New Resident Attraction

50 jobs - Capital Projects

An examination of employment impacts by industry demonstrates the far-reaching effects of UNC Asheville on the Asheville economy. For example, outside of Educational Services, UNC Asheville supports 500 local jobs in Retail Trade, 488 local jobs in Health & Social Services, 425 local jobs in Restaurants & Lodging and 367 local jobs in Real Estate & Rental Services. On-campus employment accounts for less than one-quarter of the local jobs UNC Asheville supports.

UNC Asheville is planning to invest more than

$79 million in capital projects beginning in the current 2017 fiscal year through 2021 LEADING TO AN ANNUAL AVERAGE OF:

224 LOCAL JOBS 74

$

3.1 million IN INCOME

$

31 million

RAISED ECONOMIC OUTPUT

$

2.6 million GENERATED TAX REVENUES

E XEM PL A RY PROG R A M S E X TEN D RE ACH & IM PAC T ATHLETICS AT UNC ASHEVILLE, a NCAA Division I program that champions UNC Asheville’s mission and strategic plan by creating an environment where student athletes have high-impact learning experiences and engage internal and external constituents and communities, contributes $16.6 million to UNC Asheville’s overall impact. Of this total, $14.3 million is attributed to UNC Asheville Athletics Campus Operations with $2.3 million from outside visitors.

THE OSHER LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE (OLLI) at UNC Asheville, with over 2,500 members, is recognized as one of the largest and most innovative lifelong learning programs for older adults in the U.S. About 95 percent of OLLI members have relocated in retirement, and over 60 percent of them cite the existence of OLLI as a deciding factor in choosing their retirement destination. The total impact of OLLI operations is $12.6 million, with $2.8 million from OLLI Operations and $9.4 million from annual new resident attraction.

VO LU NTEER H O U R S A DD VA LU E Additionally, UNC Asheville employees, students, and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) members contributed over 100,000 volunteer hours annually. While this is not measured for local economic impact, it represents significant civic engagement.

100,000+ hours volunteered annually

EQUAL TO

15+ hours

per campus community member

It is clear that UNC Asheville is an engine of economic growth within the region. While it is impossible to put a value on the cultural impact of the institution, the students and wide scope of events held on campus reinforce the critical role the university plays in the creative economy. UNC Asheville’s regional impact is multifaceted, vibrant, sustainable, and diverse, further solidifying its status as the academic, cultural, economic, and social hub of the region.”

Tom Tveidt

SYNEVA Research Economist

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UNIVERSITY LEADERSHIP CHANCELLOR Mary K. Grant

SENIOR STAFF

DEANS

Sarah Broberg Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Communication and Marketing

Edward Katz Associate Provost, Dean of University Programs, and Professor of English

Janet R. Cone Senior Administrator for University Enterprises and Athletics Director

Jeffrey Konz Dean of Social Sciences and Professor of Economics

Shannon Earle Chief of Staff Bill Haggard Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Stacey Millett Executive Director for Community Engagement John G. Pierce Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance Joseph Urgo Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Darin Waters Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Outreach and Engagement Clifton Williams General Counsel Carla S. Willis Vice Chancellor for University Advancement

Keith Krumpe Dean of Natural Sciences and Professor of Chemistry Wiebke Strehl Dean of Humanities and Professor of German

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Kennon Briggs Chair Rick Lutovsky Vice Chair Wilma M. Sherrill Secretary Karen Keil Brown ’81 J.W. Davis Tim Hussey ’18 Student Government Association President Robert B. Long Jr. Ronald A. Paulus Jim Peterson N. King Prather Robby Russell Cissie Stevens Oscar Wong

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UNC PRESIDENT Margaret Spellings

BOARD OF GOVERNORS W. Louis Bissette Jr. Chair

James L. Holmes Jr.

Harry L. Smith Jr. Vice Chair

W. Marty Kotis III

Pearl Burris-Floyd Secretary

Ann Maxwell

Darrell Allison Kellie Hunt Blue Robert P. Bryan III C. Philip Byers Carolyn L. Coward N. Leo Daughtry Walter C. Davenport Thomas H. Fetzer Thom Goolsby H. Frank Grainger

Joe Knott

Steven B. Long

J. Alex Mitchell Wendy F. Murphy Anna S. Nelson R. Doyle Parrish David M. Powers Randall “Randy” Ramsey Robert A. Rucho O. Temple Sloan III William Webb Michael Williford

Tyler Hardin

2017 ANNUAL REPORT MANAGING EDITOR: Sarah Broberg CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Amy Jessee, Casey Hulme ’05 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Aaron Dahlstrom ’09, Hannah Epperson ’11, Brian Hand, Sarah Humphries MLAS ’17, Steve Plever GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Hanna Trussler ’13 CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: David Allen ’13, Aaron Dahlstrom ’09, Adrian Etheridge ’15, Emmanuel Figaro ’18, Leslie Frempong ’16, Peter Lorenz, Colby Rabon

The University of North Carolina at Asheville is committed to equality of educational experiences for students and is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. UNC Asheville will not discriminate against students, applicants or employees on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, disability, political affiliation or any other legally protected status.

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NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID ASHEVILLE, NC PERMIT NO. 31 Office of the Chancellor CPO 1400 UNC Asheville One University Heights Asheville, NC 28804-8503