UNC Asheville Magazine Summer 2012

UNC asheville Volume 4, No. 2 · Summer 2012

MAGAZINE

Inside: Why We Need the Liberal Arts Undergrad Research at its Best Belize to Korea: Study Abroad

page 20 | UNC Asheville Men’s Basketball Team Graduates to the Next Level

ponderings UNC asheville MAGAZINE

University of North Carolina at Asheville One University Heights Asheville, North Carolina 28804 www.unca.edu UNC ASHEVILLE SENIOR STAFF Chancellor Anne Ponder Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Jane Fernandes Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs William K. Haggard Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations John Pierce Senior Administrator for University Enterprises and Director of Athletics Janet Cone Chief of Staff Christine Riley University General Counsel Lucien “Skip” Capone III UNC ASHEVILLE MAGAZINE STAFF Managing Editors Eric Seeger, Debbie Griffith Designers Nanette Johnson, Mary Ann Lawrence Contributing Writers Paul Clark, Jon Elliston, Mike Gore, Pam Kelley, Merianne Miller, Steve Plever, Karen Shugart ’99, Devin Walsh ’07, Jennifer Winters ’12 Contributing Photographers Mike Belleme, Erin Brethauer (courtesy of the Asheville Citizen-Times), Luke Bukoski, John Fletcher (courtesy of the Asheville Citizen-Times), Perry Hebard, Nick LoVerdi, Peter Lorenz, Jessica Miller, Marc Newton, Ben Porter, Robert Straub, Jake Wickerham, Jameykay Young UNC ASHEVILLE ALUMNI OFFICE Alumni Director Kevan Frazier ’92 UNC Asheville Magazine is published twice a year to give alumni and friends an accurate, lively view of the university—its people, programs and initiatives.

Contact us at magazine@unca.edu.

Address Changes: UNC Asheville Office of Development Owen Hall, CPO #1800 One University Heights Asheville, NC 28804-8507 email hgarr@unca.edu 828.250.2303 UNC Asheville enrolls more than 3,700 full- and part-time students in more than 30 programs leading to the bachelor’s degree as well as the Master of Liberal Arts.

The university is committed to equality of educational opportunity and does not discriminate against applicants, students or employees on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, disabling condition or sexual orientation. © UNC Asheville/Office of Communication and Marketing, June 2012 unca.edu/magazine

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his spring, as we “This year, the Admissions Department reports an applicant pool with gathered to celebrate a higher grade-point average and SAT score than ever before.” the many successes of our graduating seniors, we —CHANCELLOR ANNE PONDER were inspired to reflect on a year marked by outstanding milestones and achievements.

In the classroom, on the basketball court, around the campus and in our community, UNC Asheville demonstrates strength, spirit and serious creativity every day.

It’s something that our students, faculty, staff and alumni have known all along.

But word is getting out: UNC Asheville is a leader in higher education, and each of you has been part of making this happen.

For many years now, UNC Asheville has been widely recognized as a top value in liberal arts universities in our region and the nation. Once again this year, U.S. News and World Report ranked our university eighth in the nation among public liberal arts colleges.

During their recent visit to campus, delegates from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools were impressed by the level of commitment UNC Asheville has made toward fostering critical thinking skills throughout the curriculum. And our students’ scores were among the strongest of all participating institutions in growth between their freshman and senior years in the national Collegiate Learning Assessment, which measures improvement in

UNC Asheville seniors outperformed most students tested by the CLA, which measures improvement in critical thinking and other skills. critical thinking, reasoning and analysis.

This year, we also have been recognized as an outstanding “green university” by the Princeton Review, thanks to our campus community’s ongoing commitment to sustainability.

multidisciplinary education, in smaller classes, on a vibrant mountain campus.

They, and you, will continue to hear more about UNC Asheville in the coming months as we roll out the university’s new “Seriously Creative” marketing campaign.

We will continue to tell the With these and many more stories of our extraordinary accolades pouring in, procampus community and spective students have taken exceptional alumni who notice of UNC Asheville’s embody what is unique about growing prominence. This year, UNC Asheville: A culture of the Admissions Department lifelong learners who are reports an applicant pool with refreshingly smart, closely a higher grade-point avercollaborative and powerfully age and SAT score than ever engaged. before. Prospective students and their families understand —CHANCELLOR ANNE PONDER the value of highly credentialed faculty, teaching a

UNC asheville Volume 4, No. 2 · Summer 2012

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MAGAZINE

on the cover 20

GRADUATING TO THE NEXT LEVEL

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JAMEYKAY YOUNG

Winning their division and playing in the March Madness tournament, the UNC Asheville men’s basketball team had an outstanding year.

The Bulldogs proved you don’t have to be the biggest—or best-funded— program in the NCAA to compete at the national level.

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PERRY HEBARD

The Bulldogs’ at-home season opener against UNC-Chapel Hill at the new Kimmel Arena. On the cover: UNC Asheville basketball’s graduating seniors (left to right) Madison Davis, Matt Dickey, Chris Stephenson, Jeremy Harn, Quinard Jackson, and J.P. Primm.

Photo by Erin Brethauer, courtesy of the Asheville Citizen-Times. Above, undergraduate research student Tim Sawicki ’12.

features 12

BIG-PICTURE THINKING

Why the liberal arts and multi-disciplinary education are critical to today’s graduates and employers.

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departments 2 Around the Quad 8 Practically Speaking 9 Extra Credit 10 Longitude & Latitude

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Honor Society Go, Bulldogs!

Class Notes In Retrospect

THE POWER OF INQUIRING MINDS

From a Google-powered writer’s workshop to solving a 2,000-year-old algebra equation, learn about six of the student projects presented at this year’s National Conference on Undergraduate Research.

on the back: Commencement 2012

the around Q UA D Recreating Honest Abe New Media students use technology to build a photorealistic digital president knocked unconscious by a horse’s kick. an animation of a photorealistic digital Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address. They also learned about his fight with river pirates during his early years. “The “This is something I’ve been waiting to pirates had knives, and it didn’t go well do for 25 years,” says Oakley, a lifelong for him,” said Oakley. The group decided Lincoln fan. “Fortunately, these students to include the scar in their final work for were excited to jump in on it.” accuracy’s sake.

The project, which was featured in Most of Oakley’s New Media students Animation Magazine in March, has graduated in May 2012, but the project proven an exciting trek through hiswill be continued by a new team that will tory for the entire group of students. In apply the finishing touches to Lincoln’s The two-year project is directed by researching numerous photos of Lincoln, appearance and start animation work in Associate Professor Christopher Oakley, a they discovered the president had a scar the fall. There also is discussion of Virtual former 3-D character animator for Disney. running down the length of his nose, Lincoln becoming a teaching tool at the So far, each student has been assigned a which usually was not shown in photoLincoln Presidential Library and Museum— different feature to perfect—head, eyes, graphs. While it’s unclear how Lincoln a combination of historical accuracy and skin, hair, beard, body, clothing, etc. The acquired the scar, research led the group vivid use of modern technology. ultimate goal, Oakley says, is to produce to learn about the time Lincoln was IT’S NOT EASY to bring an American icon

LUKE BUKOSKI

back from the dead. But using three life casts, a digital scanner and hundreds of hours of work on 3-D animation software, a group of undergraduate researchers from UNC Asheville’s New Media department are recreating one of the nation’s best-known presidents in unprecedented detail. They call their work Virtual Lincoln.

VIRTUAL LINCOLN TEAM: Undergraduate researchers (clockwise from left) Ian Boyd ’13, Joy McKemy ’12, David Schmeltekopf ’12,

Taija Tevia-Clark ’12 and Christina Jones ’12, with Associate Professor Christopher Oakley and their work in progress 2

UNC asheville M A G A Z I N E

Room to Grow The university’s new Broadway Avenue property builds community relationships ROBERT STRAUB

ARMED WITH SHOVELS, rakes and mulch, UNC Asheville

students, faculty and staff joined campus neighbors in the Montford community and RiverLink volunteers in April to transform the university’s latest land acquisition—a neglected, graffiti-decorated property—into a new source of pride.

In the process, more than 150 participants not only rejuvenated the property, but they renewed partnerships among the university, the City of Asheville, local non-profits and neighborhoods that border the university.

The UNC Asheville Foundation purchased 8.9 acres of foreclosed land on Broadway Avenue adjacent to campus. With the help of TD Bank, the Foundation and the bank reached a combined gift/sale of the property in December 2011.

PITCHING IN: Former SGA President Renee Bindewald ’13 (left)

joined neighbors from the Montford community (seen above), and

“It is so encouraging to see the care that UNC Asheville is giving to the property,” added Wanda Newman, treasurer of the Montford Neighborhood Association. “We didn’t expect to see improvements so quickly.”

UNC Asheville students, faculty and staff, to help restore the 8.9 acres

There are no immediate plans for developing the land; that will be examined as the university considers the next phase of its campus master plan. In the meantime, the site is being stabilized and improved.

UNC Asheville also is working with the City of Asheville and RiverLink to extend a city greenway on the property bordering Reeds Creek.

of university property near Broadway Avenue.

What class did you take this year that helped you understand your major differently?

POLLY THEOBALD ’15

JEFFREY GUGNI

NICOLE BARNES ’14

JOHN-MARK HERRING ’13

(History and Environmental Studies) Buies Creek, N.C.

(Post-Baccalaureate senior, Health and Wellness Promotion, PreMed) Detroit, Mich.

(Sociology) Statesville, N.C.

(Environmental Studies) Clinton, N.C.

“As an Environmental Studies student, I knew that I wanted to take some geology classes.

It just helps me relate better to what’s around me.”

“I took Criminology, and I “Strategies for Sustainability think I will end up getting a with Dee Eggers: This class “Physics. I had to work harder master’s in that. The teacher, focused on how large than I ever had in my acaLeeAnne Mangone, really organizations could take demic career to pass this class. opened my eyes to being more responsibility for their It’s like learning a different involved in law and politics.” consumption. It was wholelanguage.” system thinking.”

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Congratulations to Annelise DeJong ’12, who recently was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach English in Sri Lanka. No stranger to international travel, DeJong has taught English to a predominantly Quechua-speaking class in Peru and studied at the Universidad Nacional in Costa Rica. In October, she will begin work in Sri Lanka through the Fulbright Program. DeJong is the 37th UNC Asheville student to be awarded this prestigious scholarship.

Celebrating Healthy Numbers N.C. Center for Health & Wellness exceeds most f irst-year goals by wide margins UNC Asheville’s N.C. Center for Health & Wellness recently celebrated its first anniversary, which offered the opportunity to take stock of how many people the Center reaches through its partner organizations.

Healthy Weight for Children, Youth & Young Adults NCCHW partners with teacher groups and after-school professionals who encourage students to maintain healthy weight. Through those partners, the Center reaches more than 64,000 kids and young adults across the state—exceeding first-year goals by 145 percent.

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Healthy Aging

Worksite Wellness

NCCHW facilitated training for The Center encourages public eduthe Council on Aging of Buncombe cation faculty and staff to increase County’s Project EMMA (Eat Better, physical activity and healthy eating and Move More, Age Well). EMMA’s main avoid tobacco. NCCHW originally estigoals are to improve access to and the mated they could have an impact on consumption of local fresh foods as 750 school employees, but wound up well as increasing physical activity for reaching more than 4,600—exceeding older adults. NCCHW plans to encour- their first-year goal by 500 percent. age the replication of EMMA in other communities across the state over the coming year.

LUKE BUKOSKI

Latest Fulbright Scholar Announced

Partners in Progress Technology and tighter budgets make inter-university majors more common of Robinson Hall, two Mechatronics undergraduates tweak a DC-powered motor to allow its speed to be controlled by a computer. On the other side of the Quad, in Karpen Hall, a classroom full of students working on their Pharmacy doctorates communicate with their professor in Chapel Hill via microphones and a massive teleconference screen. Both majors are made entirely possible by the collaboration of UNC Asheville and partner schools within the UNC System.

PERRY HEBARD

ON THE SECOND FLOOR

ENGINEERING SUCCESS: Professor Joe Fahmy (left) and students Nick Matney ’12 (seated, left) and

Patrick Herron ’12 discuss the practical applications of mechatronics with UNC Asheville Chancellor

At a time when states all across the country are slashing Anne Ponder, UNC President Tom Ross, and N.C. State Chancellor Randy Woodson. education budgets, university systems are finding it advantanary conversations were taking geous to establish partnerships at a liberal arts institution,” from UNC Chapel Hill’s between sister schools. “It’s Eshelman School of Pharmacy. place about possible collabosaid President of the UNC rations, but they were “in very a growing trend because the System Tom Ross, “but this Keith Krumpe, UNC Asheville’s early stages...There are defiUNC system is trying to find engineering program—which is dean of Natural Sciences, is nitely opportunities,” he said. ways to avoid the duplication a multi-disciplinary engineerparticularly excited about “Particularly in this climate of of programs—in regions, anying program—really fits with the influx of undergraduate fiscal retrenchment, universiway—to ensure efficiency,” said this campus.” recruits to UNC Asheville who ties will find it advantageous Edward Katz, UNC Asheville’s are interested in pursuing the The program at UNC to work together on programassociate provost and dean of sciences as a result of the new Asheville is one of only two ming like this. If these initial University Programs.

PharmD program. “When in the nation certified by discussions evolve into viable UNC Asheville has been taking the Accreditation Board for [Eshelman is] bringing in 30 collaboration opportunities, measures to strengthen its new graduate students, I want Engineering and Technology. faculty from participating science, technology, engithem to have at least 20 of Students in Mechatronics, institutions will, of course, neering and math (STEM) our (undergraduate) students now in its sixth year, attend take leading roles in program offerings through collaboraapplying who are ready for classes exclusively at UNC development and design.” tions with N.C. State’s College Asheville but receive a diploma doctoral work.”

“Collaborative education and of Engineering in Raleigh and that also lists N.C. State as Does this trend mean UNC collaborative work is not UNC Chapel Hill’s Eshelman a joint issuer; a graduate of Asheville will host more new something that’s on its way School of Pharmacy. this program thus has two majors or programs with its out,” Krumpe underlined, “it’s alma maters. For the stu“Mechatronics is not what you partner universities? Maybe. on its way in.” dents attending the Pharmacy would typically expect to find Katz confirmed that prelimiprogram, their diploma comes

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the around Q UA D Story Catchers Oral history course connects with communities to revitalize local roots The course, which is held each spring and drew 22 students last semester, was born four years ago at the YMI Cultural Center, a landmark of downtown Asheville’s AfricanAmerican community. There, students and longtime local residents explored and documented the aftermath of urban renewal programs in the 1960s and ’70s that all but unraveled the neighborhood connections around the YMI.

ON A FRIDAY MORNING in late April, John

Maltry Jr., a 91-year-old Army veteran, was holding court from his wheelchair on a screened-in patio at CarePartners, an adultcare facility in Asheville. He calmly but resolutely recalled his whereabouts on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor, where he witnessed and fired some of the United States’ opening shots of World War II. MIKE BELEME

Since then, students have recorded the memories of several other distinct local populations.

This semester, they also collected oral histories from the historically African-American Burton Street community in West Asheville, which was long buffeted by urban renewal programs and recently threatened by plans for a highway connector expansion that could eat up chunks of the neighborhood. It has a rich but overlooked history.

ReStorying Community takes an interdisciplinary approach, crossing anthropology, history and political science, Betsalel explains.

Sometimes, the stories pass both ways, between student and interviewee, finding a particular resonance. James McLelland, a rising senior Political Science major who just completed the class, is an Asheville native who LEARNING TO LISTEN: ReStorying Community students Crystal Gilliam ’14 and James recently retired from the Navy.

McLelland ’13 collected oral histories from CarePartners residents like World War II veteran John Maltry (center). Their class also worked with members of the Burton Street community.

There to collect the Asheville native’s bracing recollections was a small group of UNC Asheville undergrads enrolled in ReStorying Community, a class taught by Political Science Professor Ken Betsalel, 2011–12 Key Center Service Learning fellow. The class is bridging the distance between past and present—and between the university and its neighbors.

“The nature of the course is using storytelling as a way to build community and relationships, and a way for students to gain insight into various communities,” Betsalel said.

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UNC asheville M A G A Z I N E

Through the interviews he’s done at CarePartners, McLelland says, he’s gained an appreciation for the continuum of experiences many veterans face. “To be able to hear all this from them, it made me realize: I’ll be one of these guys in 40 years. And they were me, 40 years ago.”

It is out of such insights, Betsalel says “communities are built.”

click it: keycenter.unca.edu diversityed.org

Exemplars of the UNC Asheville Experience Alumni and students honored for service and achievements ALUMNI WHO HAVE LIVED THE UNC ASHEVILLE MISSION of giving back to their communities and to their alma mater were recently

honored at the annual Alumni and Student Leadership Awards ceremony.

Chancellor Anne Ponder, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Bill Haggard and UNC Asheville National Alumni Council Chair Barbara Baker ’71 made the presentations. “These men and women are exemplars of the UNC Asheville experience…serving their communities and this university with distinction,” said Chancellor Ponder, as she welcomed more than 150 attendees to the event.

James Buckner ’71 received presented to Allison Jordan the highest alumni recog’97, executive director of nition, the Roy A. Taylor Children First/Communities in Distinguished Alumnus Award. Schools of Buncombe County.

Buckner, a national leader in Jordan has served on a numteacher training and retention, ber of boards, including the has an extensive career that Asheville City Schools Board spans teaching, government of Education and the N.C. service and private indusSchool Board Association. try. He was founding chair Jasmin Gentling ’99 MLA of the university’s National received the Thomas D. Alumni Council, served as a Reynolds Alumni Award for member of the UNC Asheville Service to the University.

Foundation Board and as the Gentling was recognized for first alumnus chair of the UNC her mentorship of students, Asheville Board of Trustees. generous support of student The Francine Delany Award for scholarships, and many years Service to the Community was of effective service on the UNC

Asheville Foundation Board and the National Alumni Council.

Sarah Nuñez ’04 was inducted into the Order of Pisgah for outstanding achievement in her professional field. Nuñez, is an effective advocate for the Hispanic community in Western North Carolina. She recently was named executive director of the AshevilleBuncombe Community Relations Council. She has served as chair of the Latino Advocacy Council board, as a consultant for the Buncombe County Health Department

and the UNC Asheville Center for Diversity Education.

The Alumni Distinguished Faculty Award was given to Ted Meigs, GlaxoSmithKline Professor of Molecular and Chemical Biology. Meigs, a noted cancer researcher, was recognized for providing a national model for undergraduate research and highly effective student mentoring.

The Outstanding Student Organization of the Year award was presented to the Muslim Student Association for its collaborative work to raise awareness about Muslim culture. The MSA has been involved in interfaith events, hosted vigils and rallies, and received national press coverage over the year. Organization president Amarra Ghani accepted the award.

PERRY HEBARD

Other student awards presented during the event went to Emily Pineda ’12, Yaw Amanfoh ’15, Matt Owens ’12, Amarra Ghani ’13, Kirby Gibson’12, Kathy Woodard ’13, Jim Stanton ’14, Justin Ford ’12 and Justin Thompson ’12.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Chancellor Anne Ponder with honorees James Buckner, Associate

Professor Ted Meigs, Allison Jordon, Sarah Nuñez and Jasmin Gentling 7

[practically ]

inside UNC asheville

SPE AKING

Q&A: Powering Up Big energy savings can come from small changes across campus

By Karen Shugart ’99

POWER BROKER:

Joan Walker ’08 managed a state energy-efficiency internship program.

JOAN WALKER PUSHED for UNC Asheville to become more environmentally sustainable before she graduated in 2008. As an alumna, she continued her efforts, most recently by managing a $281,000 State Energy Internship Program grant. The initiative, which began in September 2011, helped 21 North Carolina students and recent graduates tackle energy efficiency projects on campus and in Buncombe County. Their efforts have paid off: Recent calculations indicate the program will create about $43,400 in annual energy savings—the equivalent of the utility costs for about 41 homes.

Today, Walker serves the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association as a community education and relations specialist. We spoke with her as the internship program came to a close in April to discuss its successes and how the university could further cut its energy use.

How has this program shaped the interns’ careers?

We’ve got five interns who are going to graduate school. An intern who’s been working at Buncombe County Schools has been doing such a great job there that they’ve created a full-time position for him.

The interns have taken on a lot and had a lot of accomplishments that they can show on their résumés.

You came to UNC Asheville in 2005. How have the university’s energy-efficiency efforts changed since then?

We have the lowest energy use per square foot of any campus in the UNC system. That’s

basically because of our Facilities folks. They’ve been working for decades to be energy efficient and use resources wisely. A couple of things changed while I was here, largely due to the efforts of myself and a group of other students who got the green fee passed [in 2007 at $5 per student].

What has the green fee funded?

We bought an electric car for Campus Police.

We created the Student Environmental Center, which has several student interns paid through the fee. They work on a plethora of different projects on campus. It’s bought lighting controls for our student union. It’s bought dual-flush valves for toilets to make them lowflow. It has funded several campus gardens.

How can the campus community reduce energy consumption?

I would really love to see people doing things like regularly turning off lights when they leave a classroom. They think, “Someone else will be here in 10 minutes.” Well, those 10 minutes could save a lot of energy. Turning off lights, turning off computers, not buying a printer for your office when your department has a printer right down the hallway. People don’t realize how many of these little things add up.

How does the university need to improve?

There are still a lot of savings to be gained through changes—in behavior, through lighting, through transportation changes—if we just have the energy and guidance to look for and implement those changes.

Investing in Sustainability By fall 2012, the campus will have finished adding geothermal heating and cooling systems to the newly renovated Rhoades Hall, the new residence hall, Governors Village and Governors Hall. Mills Hall will have a solar water-heating system, too.

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extrA+

CREDIT

Honoring Those Who Give Back Two May graduates receive UNC Asheville’s f irst-ever designation for service learning

MARIA PEDRO VICENTE, a

recent UNC Asheville graduate from Morganton, made the most of her senior year.

To begin with, she completed a double major, in Health and Wellness Promotion and Spanish. She also served as the campus’ volunteer coordinator for the Center for Diversity Education. To top it

MIKE BELLEME

By Jon Elliston grade of B- in each). They also must take a Key Center for Community Citizenship and Service Learning workshop, conduct an independent public service project and complete a paper documenting the project.

Service-learning designated courses—which also are new— have aspiring Community Engaged Scholars working in

It’s a new best practice that we’re trying.... Now, we’re actively listening to community members about their needs and partnering with them....”

—Joseph Berryhill, Key Center director all off, she became one of the first two students to earn the Community Engaged Scholar designation.

“I wanted something to motivate me to go through with a project that would both help the community and advance my studies,” said Pedro Vicente.

after-school programs, collecting oral histories around the Asheville area, and working with school-age students at the Urban Arts Institute.

For her project, Pedro Vicente, who is bilingual, launched a community health initiative at the Parish of St. Eugene, a Catholic church near campus with a large number of The Community Engaged Spanish-speaking members.

Scholar designation is the She disseminated literature newest special academic recogand set up free workshops, nition available to graduating pertaining to diet and exercise, students. To achieve the honor, for the parishioners. students must complete at least two service-learning Nola Jackson, a Psychology courses (with a minimum major from Asheville who

click it:

To learn more about the courses and requirements to earn this designation, visit keycenter.unca.edu/community-engaged-scholars.

FIRST IN CLASS & COMMUNITY: UNC Asheville’s first Community

Engaged Scholars, Maria Pedro Vicente (left) and Nola Jackson

was the other student to earn this designation, worked with Disability Partners, a local non-profit, to identify and overcome barriers to services for children with special educational needs. Jackson interviewed parents about their children’s special circumstances and requirements.

“Our work should start in the community—it should start with the community’s needs and concerns,” said Dr. Joseph Berryhill, an associate professor of Psychology and director of the Key Center. “It’s a new best-practice that we’re trying, one that reverses the old ivory tower model where we emerge from the university, dust off At first, “I struggled a bit trying our robes and tell the commuto make contact with parents nity what’s best. Now, we’re of children with these needs,” actively listening to community Jackson says. “But once I made members about their needs a few connections, word-ofand partnering with them mouth referrals helped quite on projects that will make a bit.”

Western North Carolina an even better place to live.”

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inside UNC asheville

Road Scholars From Belize to Korea, study abroad students navigate their own paths around the world

By Eric Seeger IN A REMOTE AREA OF BELIZE, a dozen UNC Asheville students and three faculty members put

their belongings into waterproof bags and entered a small river that runs near ancient Mayan ruins. This study abroad group had already visited jaguar reserves, hiked through rainforests and searched for frogs, snakes, and spiders in the jungle at night, but this day’s outing was something completely different—a history lesson that could only be fully appreciated firsthand.

Following a guide, they cautiously waded through the water as it passed through a two-mile-deep cave so narrow that their bodies could barely fit between the rocks. Inside, they were met by the sight of a woman’s skeleton that archeologists believe was a willing sacrifice from centuries ago.

Study abroad trips like this—and others that are arranged by individual students—are opportunities in which learning, immersion and a sense of adventure intersect to create some of the most powerful educational experiences possible.

HOW FAR THEY’VE TRAVELED: (Clockwise from bottom left)

Students on a recent faculty-led trip to India make chapatis at a Sikh communal kitchen. Alexandra Neidermeier ’11 visits the “Sólfar” sculpture in Reykjavík, Iceland. Students visit ruins in Scotland. Jonathan Gach ’12, samples the local fare in Hong Kong.

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[longitude&] L AT I T U D E

Study A b

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“Arriving in Seoul was a shock for me,” Environmental Studies Professor Kitti This year, 171 UNC Asheville students she said. “I’ve lived all my life in Asheville, signed up for study abroad trips, the Reynolds and the group spent two weeks same number as last year. More than half and going to a city that size was overover winter break visiting the Central whelming. I’ve never seen buildings that American nation’s ecosystems from grass are independent trips, put together by Parker’s office and the students who want big or so many people in the same place. savannahs, to rainforests, to coastal My friend was talking to me as we were mangrove habitats. “But we couldn’t pass to complement their courses of study. riding the bus from the airport, but I up the opportunity to share the country’s “In general, our students choose some of didn’t hear a word she said. I was just history,” said Reynolds. While visiting the less common study abroad destinatoo busy staring out the window with my the ruins, the professors taught students tions,” says Parker. “For U.S. students, jaw wide open.” It’s that total immersion about ecological factors that influenced Australia is one of the most commonly that many study abroad students crave, the Mayan culture’s growth and the socivisited countries, but many UNC Asheville and it’s what makes the experience so ety’s disappearance. students opt for destinations in Africa valuable—not just seeing the culture of a This year, the UNC Asheville Study Abroad and Asia. This year, we even have a couple different country, but moving with it. of students studying in Cuba.” office has organized eight faculty-led Bradley fell in love with South Korea durtrips like this, including a month-long Last summer, Asian Studies minor Caitlin ing her brief stay. After graduating in May, art and architecture appreciation session Bradley arranged a seven-week minishe already has plans to return to South at Cambridge University in England, an semester to learn to speak Korean at Korea this summer to teach English. “It’s archeology trip to Italy, and a five-week Sogang University in South Korea. UNC something I want to do, because I want cultural exploration trip to Ghana.

Asheville did not already have an existing to travel more,” she said. “I want to try “For many students, these faculty-led pro- exchange program with Sogang, but the something else.”

Study Abroad department coordinated grams are their first experiences outside with Bradley and Sogang ahead of her the United States,” said Bonnie Parker, H a p p en director of UNC Asheville’s Study Abroad departure to ensure that her courses ad in o would be accepted. office. “And many of them will later do r independent study abroad trips of their own making, often spending a semester or even up to a year studying at other Going East universities around the world.”

This summer, five UNC Asheville students (the most from any school in the UNC system) have been selected by the Carolina China Council to visit the Xinjiang Uygur region of China. Also, Erin Litke, an International Studies major, is one of four students from the UNC system to receive a full scholarship to attend the summer session at Fudan University, widely recognized as China’s equivalent of Harvard.

Bringing it Home UNC Asheville students often visit schools in the Buncombe County area to talk about their study abroad trips. The Global Ambassador program is intended to foster knowledge and interest in the rest of the world among younger students in our region.

click it: studyabroad.unca.edu 11

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rapid pace of change in the world makes adaptability “ The necessary, even vital. The people most successful at that will be the ones who have the broadest worldviews and skills at assimilating diverse (and divergent) ways of thinking—the very hallmarks of the liberal arts education.

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big-picture

thinking WRIT TEN BY PAUL CLARK

In today’s interconnected world, employers want liberal arts students who can look beyond their majors and connect the dots

D

istributing storyboards. Organizing meetings with the script and production crews. Conducting research for the film. Keeping his boss happy. As assistant to the director of the upcoming film “The Tomb,” currently in preproduction in New Orleans, Andrew Norman ’08 draws deeply upon the liberal arts education he experienced at UNC Asheville.

His job as director Mikael Håfström’s right-hand man employs not only his degree work as a Multimedia Arts & Sciences graduate, but it also brings in the math, science and psychology classes he took as part of UNC Asheville’s liberal arts curriculum.

“I took Patrick Foo’s class in Research Methods for fun,” Norman said, citing a class outside of his major, “and it not only reinforced my research in my major, but it also reinforced my ability to research for this film. I’m an assistant, but I want to be a producer. Producers have to do a lot of research.

Professor Foo made sure I was going about everything in the right way.”

A Music Technology major early on, he completely changed direction after taking a class in mass communication and

seeing films he doesn’t believe he would have seen had he gone to a non-liberal arts school.

“Taking what you learn in one discipline and applying it to another allows you to think freely and not just be stuck on one problem,” Norman said from his office in New Orleans. “You can think of solutions to that problem in so many ways.”

Employers say that’s the kind of thinking they are looking for. While they want employees to come to them with a specific sets of skills, they also want them to be able to think critically.

By exposing students to wide ranges of seemingly unrelated arts and sciences, UNC Asheville teaches them to think in new ways, connecting dots that they didn’t know existed.

Creating Critical Thinkers

David Kaufman-Moore graduated in May 2012 with a degree in business management and administration. From classes in sociology and anthropology, he learned about the dynamics of human interaction—knowledge that helped him in his business classes, he said.

“Knowing how to design an electrical load for a motor doesn’t teach you to interface with the board of directors or manage

13

advantages of a liberal arts “The education accrue over a career.

Exposing students to a wide range of cultures gives them broader interests throughout their lives.

”

—John Challenger, employment analyst at Challenger, Gray & Christmas

three people under you and an intern,” said Bob Kendrick, president and CEO of Avista Business Development Corporation.

Avista is a not-for-profit lending institution based in Weaverville near Asheville. Kendrick has found that skills learned in a liberal arts education are needed in the business world.

“If you studied psychology or sociology or literature, you’re better at understanding group dynamics and you understand where people are coming from when they make a business decision,” he said. “Liberal arts is not math, and it’s not science.

It’s understanding the human condition.”

Classically, the liberal arts included the arts, humanities, sciences, language, mathematics and other studies. UNC Asheville’s iteration of it is highly prized. In its annual college rankings issue, U.S. News & World Report ranked UNC Asheville the eighth-best liberal arts public college in America, based on such indicators as freshman retention and graduation rates, as well as the strength of the faculty.

This type of education “lays the foundation for being a quick study and someone who can adjust to new learning environments during the course of their careers,” said Bill Spellman, a UNC Asheville History professor and director of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges on campus. “The accountancy major here is grounded in humanities, foreign language and math, so students are at an advantage that enhances professional skills.”

Every day, Spellman and the rest of the faculty reaffirm their commitment to the liberal arts through Inquiry ARC, a new program that encourages students to engage in critical thinking in class and elsewhere. Inquiry ARC is an acronym for “Inquire, Apply, Reflect, Communicate,” which are stages in the process of approaching a given problem with a critical eye. With the university’s support, faculty are encouraged to create projects for students aimed specifically at enhancing critical-thinking skills. Such a commitment pays in many ways.

14

UNC asheville M A G A Z I N E

Liberal Arts at Work

“A liberal arts education translates into greater success in the job market,” employment analyst John Challenger at Challenger, Gray & Christmas said in April. The company is a national outplacement firm that helps place employees following layoffs. Unemployment among college graduates then was 4.3 percent, compared to 8.3 percent overall. “The advantages of a liberal arts education accrue over a career,” he said. “Exposing students to a wide range of cultures gives them broader interests throughout their lives.”

This helps them when they change careers, which employment analysts say will happen a half-dozen times for graduates these days.

Such lateral movement demands that students learn more than a specific set of skills, said Patrick Bahls, an associate professor of Mathematics at UNC Asheville.

“If all they take is math, they get set in one way of looking at problems and at the world,” Bahls said. “Math can be sterile if not inflected with [other areas of understanding]; you need to see how math has impacted culture. You need an environmental studies course and a physics course to see math applied in different contexts.”

More typically than not, students appreciate a liberal arts education several years after they graduate, said UNC Asheville associate professor of Psychology Patrick Foo, who taught the Research Methods class that is helping filmmaker Norman in New Orleans. “What they’re finding is that the graduates move up in management positions much more easily than some of their more narrowly trained colleagues. They work on problemsolving better.”

The rapid pace of change in the world makes adaptability necessary, even vital. The people most successful at that will be the ones who have the broadest worldviews and skills at assimilating diverse (and divergent) ways of thinking—the very hallmarks of the liberal arts education.

Performance Compared to Other Institutions Figure 3.5 shows the performance of all four-year colleges and universities, relative to their expected performance as predicted by the value-added model. The vertical distance from the diagonal line indicates the value added by the institution; institutions falling above the diagonal line are those that add more value than expected based on the model. Your institution is highlighted in red. See Appendix G for details on how the CLA total score value-added estimates displayed in this figure were computed.

3.5

Top of the List

Observed CLA Scores vs. Expected CLA Scores

Observed CLA Scores vs.

Expected CLA Scores

1500 1500

Your Results (continued)

The Collegiate Learning Assessment is3 a test used 1400 to measure a student’s critical thinking, analytic Performance Compared to Other Institutions reasoning, written communication and problemFigure 3.5 shows the performance of all four-year colleges and universities, relative to their expected ● solving skills. More specifically, the tool measures the 1300 performance as predicted by the value-added model. The vertical distance from the diagonal line indicates the value added by the institution; institutions falling above the diagonal line are those that add more value gains students make in those higher-order skills after than expected based on the model. Your institution is highlighted in red. See Appendix G for details on how four years of college.

1200 displayed in this figure were computed. the CLA total score value-added estimates Observed Mean Senior CLA Score

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Observed CLA Scores vs. Expected CLA Scores UNC Asheville’s 2010–11 CLA Institutional Report 3.5 1100 UNC Asheville indicates that our seniors’ performance on the UNC Asheville Other CLA institutions test was substantially better than that of hundreds Other CLA institutions Observed performance 1500 equal to expected 1000 of other schools admitting similar students. In performance Observed performance equal to expected fact, UNC Asheville seniors’ CLA scores in all tasks performance exceeded expectations based on their entering 1400 900 academic ability scores (SAT or ACT scores) and 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 ● ● ● their cumulative mean CLA score as freshmen. UNC ● Expected Mean Senior CLA Score ● Expected● Mean Senior CLA Score ● 1300 ● Asheville’s seniors scored in the 98th percentile of all ●● ●● ● ● ●● ●● ● ●● ●● 8 2010-2011 CLA Institutional seniors tested nationally. ● ● ●Report● ● ● ● ● ● 1100

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The findings, the report states, indicate that “greater gains in critical thinking and writing skills” were 1100 made by the seniors at UNC Asheville.

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● ● PEAK PERFORMANCE: In a recent nationwide Collegiate Learning ●●● ●● ● ●● ● ● ● ● ●● ●●● ●● ● ●● ● ● ● ● Asheville ● Assessment UNC students showed some of the greatest ● ● ● test, ● ● ● ● ● ●●● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●● ● ● ●● ●● ● between ● levels ● ●● improvement their freshman and senior years in areas ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●● ● ● ● ● like critical thinking and writing skills. ●● ● ● ● ● ●● ● ●● ● ●● ● ● ● ● ●● ● ●● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●●● ● ● ● ● ● ●● ● ● ● ● ●● ● ●● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●● ● ●● ● ● ●

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UNC Asheville Other CLA institutions Observed performance equal to expected performance

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900 said.

“We hear so much about globalization,” Spellman ● ● “Students who have an understanding of cultures outside their 900 1000 own political and economic worlds learn critical skills they need for special aptitudes required in engineering or, say, marketing.

8 2010-2011 CLAwould Institutional Report “If we were an insular nation, those professional skills be all you need. But in a global environment, you need critical skills and you need empathy. The liberal arts are about getting students involved in the conversation.”

1100

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Expected Mean Senior CLA Score

“ UNC Asheville teaches students to

think in new ways, connecting dots they didn’t know existed.

”

15

WRIT TEN BY ERIC SEEGER

THE POWER OF

INQUIRING MINDS

F

or a group of UNC Asheville students, the National Conference on Undergraduate Research represents a challenge accepted and an opportunity seized.

Their subjects span almost every discipline taught on campus, but their goals are all the same: to push their education beyond the classroom. Every year, dozens of undergrads pinpoint areas of interest and curiosity within their majors and, with the guidance of a mentor professor, create rigorous long-term study projects for themselves. By the time they’re finished, these students have done work that would normally be undertaken at the graduate level.

In this roundup, you’ll get a glimpse of some of the UNC Asheville students who were selected to present their projects at the 25th annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Utah.

Austin Mack & Tim Sawicki  “Creative” and “historical” are words

that don’t immediately come to mind when most people think about solving equations, but Math majors Austin Mack ’12 and Tim Sawicki ’12 used both those adjectives when describing their undergraduate research project. The two students set off to improve upon a 300-year-old method for solving a 2,000-year-old algebra problem.

Pell’s Equation, x2 – dy2 = 1, looks simple on the surface given that it’s

solved with whole numbers. When famed mathematician Leonhard Euler created a system for solving it, there was only one problem: the number of steps it took to solve for x and y could vary from only a handful up to thousands of iterations.

“You could work on the same equation for two hours and not reach an answer.

So you’d ask yourself, ‘Did I miss a minus sign somewhere along the line?’” said Mack. “We wanted to figure out if there’s a way to estimate how many iterations is this process going to take.”

The two students met for many hours each week last summer to refine their method. Sawicki created computer code to test their theories, while Mack spent much of his time at the chalkboard to prove their work. Then they’d split off and work in the evenings on their own.

Using a process called dynamical systems, the team developed a way to predict a stop time, and they also discovered numerical patterns to make solving Pell’s Equation more reliable.

“Since doing this research, I’ve studied the history of math, and I’ve seen methods people used to approach these solutions up to 1,000 years ago,” says Mack. Today, the pair of UNC Asheville math students have added their own entry into the annals of Pell’s Equation history.

WRITING & ARITHMETIC: Undergraduate researchers Austin Mack (seen at top) and Tim Sawicki developed a new method of solving Pell’s Equation. Bottom, Mesha Maren and Matt Owens (seen right) lead their writing group, Redaction. PHOTOS BY JAMEYKAY YOUNG (TOP) AND PETER LORENZ 17

Mesha Maren & Matt Owens

“With contemporary history like this, you can observe what people wanted to do and how they actually did it,” she said.  A couple of non-traditional English majors, Matt Owens ’12 and Mesha “And then look 20 years later, and you Maren ’12 wanted to create a new writers’ see how they were still trying to fix what workshop on campus. So they developed they did. I studied Chicago, but the same an undergraduate research project that thing occurred in almost every major city allowed them to travel to Portland, Ore., across the country. And we’re still seeing for six weeks to attend the Dangerous the aftereffects today.”

Writing workshop hosted by author Tom Though her research project is over, Spanbauer. she plans to attend graduate school to They studied the format closely, made study public policy and expects many a few changes, and returned to Asheville extended library stays ahead of her. to foster their own weekly writers’ group named Redaction. Unlike many workAvi Goldberg shops that require writers to distribute Mary Kate Tucker their samples weeks in advance (and group members to read them ahead of  Inspired by an idea from a friend—a DJ When she chose to be a Chemistry the critique), Redaction uses GoogleDocs who wanted a way to control his MIDI  major, Mary Kate Tucker ’12 didn’t expect to share the articles during each meetplayer with his mind—Avi Goldberg to find herself at the heart of a worldwide ing. Writers must be willing to read explored ways to use a single-sensor environmental issue like the threatened their work to the group, whose members electroencephalography (EEG) device to ozone layer. But she spent much of the connect his brain to a computer. simultaneously provide feedback via the past year working in the lab with her “This could be used for handicapped online document. professors, Bert Holmes and George accessibility, gaming or anything where Owens and Maren graduated in May, Heard, experimenting with hydrochloyou want to control a computer with your but Redaction will continue to meet at rofluorocarbons, or HCFCs, for her mind,” Goldberg said.

Ramsey Library under the guidance of undergraduate research project.

Goldberg, a Computer Science major, other students.

HCFCs, which replaced CFCs that developed a solution by modifying openwere phased out during the 1990s due to source software in order to connect the their negative impact on the ozone layer, Courtney Galatioto cheapest EEG device on the market (only serve as a common refrigerant. “HCFCs $100) to his computer’s controls. His goal are found in so many products that we was to prove that using mental power as  After spending weeks in Ramsey use every day: air-conditioners in your car Library researching the evolution of a computer input doesn’t have to cost and house, refrigerators, and other prod- Chicago’s public housing for her project, ucts,” says Tucker. “It’s critical for us to former Student Government Association understand their environmental impact.” President Courtney Galatioto ’11 evenTucker tested some of the ways that tually decided it was time to make her HCFC molecules change when released study area more like home. “I was a little into the atmosphere, where they are surprised that no one had a problem with affected by temperature, interaction with me bringing a beanbag chair into the other molecules and sunlight, among stacks,” she said, “but I guess the staff had other influences. She would start with seen me so much that semester that they computer models of variations of the just let it slide.”

HCFC molecule, where the bonds had In her research, Galatioto explored shifted or other atoms had joined or how public housing decisions from detached. Then she would experiment in the 1930s through the 1950s shaped the lab to try to mimic these changes.

Chicago’s landscape—physically, socially By the time she graduated in May, her and economically. She found a severe research had not only been presented dichotomy between the intent of these at numerous undergraduate research housing policies and how they were conferences, it made a contribution to implemented, which often resulted in the understanding of the lasting impact deepening social exclusion of the people of HCFCs to our planet. the policies were intended to help.

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UNC asheville M A G A Z I N E

NCUR: IT ALL STARTED HERE Twenty-five years ago, the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) got its start at UNC Asheville thanks to a few enterprising professors.

During the 1980s, undergraduate research was a relatively new concept on campus, and it wasn’t pursued nearly as widely as it is today. But former Chancellor David Brown enlisted John Stevens and Mike Ruiz, who were then associate professors, to start an undergraduate research program and drum up interest among students and faculty.

CHEMISTRY, HISTORY & SOFTWARE: Ricky Shriner (above) developed software to visualize flooding along the French Broad River. Opposite page, Mary Kate Tucker studies HCFCs in Zeis Hall (top) and History major Courtney Galatioto gets comfortable studying in Ramsey Library.

PHOTOS BY LUKE BUKOSKI (OPPOSITE PAGE) AND MARC NEWTON (ABOVE)

thousands of dollars and require massive research teams.

Wearing a headset that reads electrical activity in the brain, Goldberg can move a volume control on his computer by just thinking. Concentration makes the digital slider go up. The functionality of this software can be expanded by adding more EEG sensors to create more controls. But Goldberg’s most important finding is that affordable mind-computer connections are in our future.

Ricky Shriner  With a few clicks of a mouse, Ricky

Shriner ’11 can make rivers overflow their banks and turn an entire town into a disaster scene from the nightly news— well, virtually at least.

Shriner, a recent Computer Science graduate, participated in an undergraduate research project for the National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center (NEMAC) and a private Asheville company called The Elumenati.

The project aimed to simulate flood conditions in Asheville’s River District.

So Shriner combined the county’s Geographic Information System (GIS) survey data and GoogleEarth imagery with UNITY—the software engine used to create the digital worlds in online video games like BattleStar Galactica and Lego Star Wars.

“Imagine anything you can already do with GoogleEarth,” he said. “And now this allows you to make it interactive.

From floods in Asheville to radiation clouds in Japan, with the right data, anything can be modeled.”

Shriner’s simulator was created to give city planners a realistic look at how homes and businesses along the French Broad River would be affected in the event of 100-year and 500-year floods.

Being able to see the destruction caused by such floods, the city can plan how to use this land in ways that will minimize damage in the event of a great flood.

After all, environmental disasters don’t come with a reset button.

One of their strategies included creating a conference for undergraduate researchers— working in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities— from across the country.

“Some of our colleagues on campus told me that we’d probably only have 10 or 15 students attending from around the immediate area,” says Stevens, who is now a full professor at UNC Asheville.

He rebuffed their claims saying that NCUR would be a national conference that would draw at least 50 or more students on its first year. “Well, when we announced it, suddenly we had about 500 students sign up; we were blown over. The next year, we held it here at campus again and 1,000 students showed up.”

Today, NCUR is held at a different campus every year, with roughly 2,000 students presenting from several hundred universities across the country. Every tenth year, it returns to UNC Asheville.

The forum’s notoriety not only promoted undergraduate research as a pillar of the university’s pedagogy, it established UNC Asheville as a national leader on the subject.

19

NICK LOVERDI

to the next level

If

NICK LOVERDI

there were a men’s basketball tournament just for players who graduated this past May, UNC Asheville could have been the nation’s top seed. Six players, including four starters on the Big South champion Bulldogs, received diplomas in May.

WRITTEN BY STEVE PLEVER

20

UNC asheville M A G A Z I N E

Now, as these young men face the challenge of pro team tryouts, graduate school and careers in the real world, the men’s basketball program faces the challenge of maintaining its winning tradition.

In two seasons, the Bulldogs have become the dominating force of the Big South, winning 25 of 27 games against conference opponents. New recruits are no longer deterred by the prospect of playing in one of the oldest, smallest gyms in all of Division I. Now they are attracted by the sparkling new Kimmel Arena, where the Bulldogs won the conference championship before a packed house on national television in March.

And when UNC Asheville came within four minutes—and a few controversial whistles—of beating national powerhouse Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament, it was clear that the program had arrived.

Can the graduating Bulldog players succeed at the next level? Can the program continue to flourish in their absence? For the players and program, there are no givens, but a firm foundation is in place.

cover story

{

}

“We are able to overcome the things that we do not have if we work hard, we work together, and we work smart. It’s a pretty simple formula.”

—JANET R. CONE, DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS

“They’re focused, they have the scouting working tone for the team, but he singles reports just dead on every game. Coach out Primm and Dickey for their leadership Biedenbach has obviously done great things and work ethic. “If people only knew the for this program, but the assistants, Brett hours they have put in to become the playCarey, Nick McDevitt and Dion Dacons ers they are,” said Biedenbach. “They have have been awesome.” done so much for this program… done so “Our assistant coaches made me work much on and off the court for each other on the things I wasn’t good at, like my left and their teammates.” hand and shooting,” said Quinard Jackson.

Losing the six seniors will be a blow, but “And they would prepare us so I would know the players feel that UNC Asheville has an infrastructure in place to out-perform small- what the opposing players were about to do so I would be in position to defend it. You school expectations. “I don’t know what goes on at the bigger schools, but our coach- don’t become great fast, but by working ing staff has been incredible,” said Big South over the years, you get better and better and really polish your game.”

Conference Player of the Year Matt Dickey.

JOHN FLETCHER, ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES

PERRY HEBARD

IMES

LE CITIZEN-T

HER, ASHEVIL

JOHN FLETC

“Our number-one asset is our people. We have been able to recruit some very talented student-athletes and coaches who are truly teachers of the game,” says Janet R. Cone, director of athletics, whose department budget is not just the smallest in the Big South, but the third smallest among the 227 public Division I schools, according to USA Today. “We are able to overcome the things that we do not have if we work hard, we work together, and we work smart. It’s a pretty simple formula.”

Over four years, the Bulldog senior core came to embody Cone’s formula, beginning with togetherness—they usually studied together, worked out together, and lived together. Graduation separated three pairs of roommates: backcourt mates Matt Dickey and J.P. Primm; walk-on players Jeremy Harn and Madison Davis; and fellow Floridians Quinard Jackson and Chris Stephenson.

None of this year’s graduating Bulldogs were All-Americans in high school. They weren’t offered scholarships to NBA steppingstone schools like Kansas, Duke or UNC-Chapel Hill. It took time and a tremendous amount of effort for them to develop into a team that could compete with any in the country.

Head Coach Eddie Biedenbach says that all the seniors set a hard-

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS:

For four years, the championship seniors’ daily routine started with breakfast with Coach Biedenbach (left) and ended with team study sessions at Ramsey Library.

21

NICK LOVERDI

cover story Time to improve is one advantage that programs like UNC Asheville have over the Kentuckies and Syracuses, where star players often go right into the NBA draft after only one or two years. “We develop guys who are average coming in, but have potential,” said Bulldog Assistant Coach Brett Carey. “We didn’t beat anyone recruiting Matt Dickey. Everyone else said ‘he’s not big enough.’ And people were scared to take a chance on J.P. We were fortunate to get them, and to their credit, they came in and worked.”

Recruiting, Bulldog-Style When Bulldog power forward John Williams graduated in May 2011 and began touring with the Harlem Globetrotters, he left big shoes—high-flying shoes— to fill. But the Bulldogs didn’t miss a beat because Jeremy Atkinson, junior college first-team All-American, decided to transfer to UNC Asheville.

Atkinson took notice when the Bulldogs won the Big South title in 2011 and came to visit campus a month later. “I spent pretty much my whole visit with Matt, J.P. and Jaron Lane—a great group of guys,” said Atkinson.

That time together, which helped seal the deal for Atkinson, was no accident.

“One of the main things we want [prospects] to do is get a chance to hang out with our guys, because they are good guys and they’ll be able to sell the program,” said Assistant Coach Brett Carey. “That’s helped us continue to get good players and good kids.”

While the new arena and two straight Big South championships are certainly an attraction for potential new Bulldogs, the ‘togetherness factor’ could be just as important. “This university in particular has a family atmosphere that’s tough to find at some places,” said Associate Head Coach Nick McDevitt. And when you’re playing with what you consider one of your closest friends or your ‘brother,’ you fight that much harder for them.

PERRY HEBARD

Catching the Nation’s Eye

GOING TO THE DANCE:

Above, the team celebrates advancing to the NCAA tournament, where they drew top-seeded Syracuse (top).

22

UNC asheville M A G A Z I N E

Early in the second half of the Bulldogs’ battle against Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament, it looked like UNC Asheville could become the first 16-seed to defeat a top seed in March Madness history. It wasn’t until four minutes left in the game that Syracuse took the lead back, and for days after the game, the nation’s sports analysts argued over controversial referee calls that cost the Bulldogs a chance to win.

It is hard not to focus on what might have been, but the Bulldog players also came away with a strong sense of accomplishment. “On the final day of the tournament, on national television, Kenny Smith (sportscaster) gave us a personal shout out,” recalls Chris Stephenson. “It lets us know that people haven’t forgotten, and that’s what’s most important.” The professional basketball world also took notice of the Bulldogs. “After we lost to Syracuse,” said Stephenson, “there was about a 24-hour window and then the letters from agents started to come.”

And with their season over and final exams looming, four of the Bulldog seniors continued to practice, perhaps longer and harder than ever. Stephenson, Dickey, Primm and Jackson all hope to land professional contracts. “Coach isn’t telling us to come to the gym,” said Stephenson, “it’s our job now.”

The Bulldog seniors’ likeliest prospects are in Europe or Asia, but this summer could see a Jeremy Lin effect, with NBA scouts looking more carefully at guards like Dickey and Primm from smaller schools, hoping to discover the next unheralded star.

NICK LOVERDI

BEGINNING & END: The Bulldogs opened the season in a packed house (below). It was the first regular-season game played at Kimmel Arena.

Their season ended in Pittsburgh when they shocked basketball fans by leading Syracuse for much of the game (above).

next season. Will they have the same Dickey/Primm work ethic? Can Jackson is looking for work both on and off the court, “I’m lookthe winning team chemistry continue? ing at companies like Under Armor, Nike and Reebok, trying to use “I don’t think they realize yet that it doesn’t happen naturally by my athletic background and management degree.”

Jeremy Harn is headed to law school and Madison Davis is consid- osmosis by the older guys graduating and they take their place,” said Biedenbach. “Almost every year… we go through a tough spell of the ering graduate studies and future coaching prospects. players realizing how hard they have to play individually—and then collectively as a team—in order to win games in our league. That’s the fun of putting these teams together and seeing who evolves as a Looking ahead to next season, the Bulldogs’ most established players leader, as a consistent player, as a real team player.” are senior forwards Jaron Lane and Jeremy Atkinson, and center D.J. The fun starts all over again at Kimmel Arena in November.

Cunningham, who is returning following recovery from knee surgery.

A trio of younger student-athletes—junior Trent Meyer and sophomores Keith Hornsby and Corey Littlejohn—will be looking to establish themselves Bulldog Athletic Finances

Changing of the Guard

UNC Asheville’s athletics budget is the smallest in the Big South and the 3rd smallest among 227 public Division I universities. Some comparisons with other public non-football schools: • • • •

UNC Asheville: $4.8 million (14 teams, not including new swim team) Radford University: $10.0 million (17 teams) Binghamton University: $13.9 million (19 teams) George Mason University: $18.4 million (20 teams)

— Average yearly athletic expenditures, 2006–2011, USA Today, May 15, 2012

Funding for Bulldog men’s basketball comes from student fees, game guarantees, ticket sales, individual contributions, corporate sponsorships and NCAA support.

PERRY HEBARD

• Men’s basketball expenditures, 2011–2012: $750,000 • Men’s basketball revenues, 2011–2012: $500,000 — Expense and revenue figures are approximates, and include the 2012 Big South Conference Tournament, where revenues exceeded expenses by $46,000.

NOTE: No state funds are used for UNC Asheville athletics.

23

[honor ]

inside UNC asheville

Ellen Holmes Pearson recently received the 2012 Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Award.

Having joined the History Department in 2003, Pearson teaches History and Humanities, and she has developed new courses such as American Indian History and History of the Atlantic World.

George Heard and Bert Holmes of the Chemistry Department were awarded a research grant of $290,975 from the National Science Foundation. The grant will support seven to eight chemistry majors for 10 weeks of summer research under their guidance and mentorship.

SOCIE T Y

Brian Knopp, an adjunct instructor in the Literature Department, and Tommy Hays, the executive director of the Great Smokies Writing Program, collaborated with 10 other WNC authors to write “Naked Came the Leaf Peeper.”

Holly Iglesias, lecturer in the Master of Liberal Arts Program; Daniel Pierce, chair of the History Department; Heather Newton of the Distance Learning Department; Richard Chess, professor of Literature; and Tommy Hays, executive director of the Great Smokies Writing Program, contributed to the writing of “27 Views of Asheville: A Southern Mountain Town in Prose & Poetry.”

Mark Sidelnick, associate professor of Education and coordinator of Arts Education Licensure, has been named Art Educator of the Year by the North Carolina Art Education Association.

Sidelnick was honored for his teaching, mentoring and significant contributions to art education statewide.

The Religious Studies Students Club received the 2012 Collaboration of the Year Award for its efforts last fall to organize an interfaith panel with the Muslim Student Association of UNC Asheville. The panel featured 16 participants from many religious groups and organizations in the Asheville area.

Sam Kaplan, associate professor of Mathematics, has been awarded the Southeastern Section Mathematical Association of America (MAA) Award for Distinguished Teaching of Mathematics. He was honored at the MAA’s Southeastern Section spring 2012 meeting at Clayton State University in Morrow, Ga.

AWARD-WINNING PHOTOS Eric Tomberlin, assistant professor of Art, and Carrie Tomberlin, adjunct assistant professor of Art, were awarded honors in “Earth Through a Lens,” an international juried photography exhibition, which is shown at both the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego and in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

ABOVE: “Mineral Wealth, Bisbee, AZ” by Eric Tomberlin RIGHT: “Encroachment” by Carrie Tomberlin

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UNC asheville M A G A Z I N E

[

go,

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bulldogs!

Diving Back In Bulldogs assemble the f irst women’s swim team in 36 years

By Mike Gore FOR THE FIRST TIME in almost four decades, a Bulldogs swim

team will compete again. Earlier this year, Janet Cone, UNC Asheville director of Athletics, announced that the university will reinstate the women’s swimming program for competition in the 2012–13 academic year. Women’s swimming will

become the eighth women’s sport and 15th varsity program at UNC Asheville.

Cone said the decision to build a new team was based on the increased interest in competitive swimming across Western North Carolina and a desire to add another women’s program.

Cone also announced the hiring of Elizabeth Lykins as the Bulldogs new head women’s swimming coach.

Lykins comes to Asheville from Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Fla., where she has served as an assistant coach for the past five seasons. During her watch, the team earned four straight conference titles from 2009 through 2012.

Lykins will revive a Bulldog swimming program that competed from 1972–1976.

LUKE BUKOSKI

So far, the bulk of her work has been aimed at recruiting the first season’s team. Lykins hopes to have at least 11 swimmers signed on when practice starts in August. In the future, she would like up to 20 swimmers.

LEFT: Elizabeth Lykins, head women’s swimming coach

Power Players UNC Asheville inducts two into the Hall of Fame

click it:

For the latest news, rosters and schedules for all UNC Asheville Division I teams, visit uncabulldogs.com.

FORMER VOLLEYBALL head tournament titles and coach Lisa Rhodes and former the school’s first-ever men’s basketball player Tony post-season trip in Bumphus were inducted the Division I era. The into the UNC Asheville Hall Bulldogs won the 1990, of Fame as part of its ninth 1991 and 1992 regularclass. Also during this year’s season titles. In 1992, ceremony, a new home in the Asheville finished with a Sherrill Center was unveiled for 32-6 record and became the plaques honoring each of the first team in league the 35 inductees. history to go unbeaten in the regular season and in the Lisa Rhodes coached the league tournament.

Bulldog women’s volleyball program from 1989–1993 Tony Bumphus played for and led the program to three the Bulldogs from 1974 until Big South Conference regular- 1978. He was a three-year season championships, two starter and is the university’s

10th highest scorer in career points with 1,429. He is the program’s second all-time leading rebounder with 968 grabs. Among other credits to his name, Bumphus also played in a school-record 121 games for the Bulldogs.

25

CLASS notes 1971

1980

Marianne DeSaix Harshbarger joined a counseling group that provides mental health services to adults in assisted living and long-term care.

Jayum Jawan was appointed as a visiting professor at the University of Leeds, U.K. He was appointed to the National Science and Research Council in Malaysia for a two-year term.

1972

1981

Robert Hill recently retired as senior staff horticulturist at Park Charles Tipton retired in 2010 Seed Company, Greenwood, S.C. from 30 years of teaching Social Studies at Mountain Heritage Kaye Taliana retired in High School. He now serves as September 2011 after 32 years an elected member of the Board experience in public education. of Education for Yancey County.

Drop us a line!

We love to hear from alumni—and so do your classmates! So be sure to send us your accomplishments, career moves, family news, fascinations and celebrations. Either log on to alumni.unca.edu or send an e-mail to alumni@unca.edu.

1966 Nancy Dillingham had her work in collaboration with novelist Joan Medlicott, “Reflections in a River,” published by Grateful Steps Publishing House.

William Frank Plyler II has just completed a six-month service as an AmeriCorps volunteer member with Holiday Lake State Park in Appomattox, Va. As a ranger/interpreter, he taught fishing, conservation, canoeing, hiking, and nature identification and appreciation.

1969 Blanche Lorraine Maiden taught school for seven years in N.C., Ky. and Ohio. She later opened an upholstery shop in Cincinnati. During that time, she taught adult education at Northern Kentucky University.

Blanche is continuing her career as a writer.

Ruth Williams is a locum tenens anesthesiologist and is performing medical missionary work, most recently in Haiti. She now resides in Asheville.

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UNC asheville M A G A Z I N E

1974 Emily Knight Thomas has moved from the Gwinnett County Public School system to the Georgia Department of Education as an evaluation specialist.

Charles Young works at Methodist University after retiring from the U.S. Justice Department.

1976 William Holton retired in 2011 from his careers in transportation, computer software training and education. He currently is working as a substitute teacher in Metro Nashville Public Schools.

1978 Michael Ballew retired in January after working as the assistant human resources officer for the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement in Herndon, Va., for the past 32 years

1982 Thomas Eastridge is currently the southeast sales manager for Dorstener Wire Tech.

1983 Joan Stewart Inman accepted the role of director of human resources for SouthData, Inc. in Mount Airy, N.C. She has been with SouthData for 10 years.

Kaye Waugh was recently promoted to vice president of human resources and organizational development. She also is serving as the president of the Western N.C. Human Resources Association.

1984 Denise Bowman has just published her first ebook, “Living Victoriously in Health and Wholeness: 7 Truths for Living Above the Norm.”

Sheila Duncan is currently employed as a special education instructional assistant at Warren East Middle School.

1985 Robin Black owns Gahagan, Black & Associates, PLLC in Waynesville, N.C. Alicia Stewart is clinical director for Kingston Academy in Kingston, Tenn., which is a 52-bed psychiatric residential treatment center near Knoxville.

1986 May Cagle married Jesse Barker in 2011. She is currently the chief operating officer for a medical company in Charlotte, N.C. David Wells is currently the President of Wells Financial Management in Asheville.

1988 Allan Dawson has been working as a self-employed real estate investor in Buncombe, Haywood and Henderson counties since 2000.

Patricia Jackson recently joined Ingles Markets, Inc. as a controller after serving the non-profit health care industry for more than 20 years.

William Murphy launched a digital imaging business in 1996 that focuses on commercial and portrait photography.

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W = (mg)h F = G m1 m2 p = t ΔU =t Uf – U o = Q – W r2 CONTINUING RESEARCH: IN IT FOR LIFE

By Devin Walsh ’07

By graduation time, some students are glad to have their undergraduate research projects behind them. But for many students, this is just the beginning. For instance, of the 12 students who’ve completed undergraduate research projects with David Peifer, professor and chair of the Department of Mathematics, four have gone on to earn doctoral degrees. Here are three of those former students who have moved on to become career learners, researchers and teachers.

Michaela (Mikki) Logue ’04 Major: Physics and Mathematics Undergraduate research project title: Understanding the Reflection Groups

“I remember being a little intimidated by the thought of being a physics major,” said Logue, “but after taking the first semester classes with Dr. Bennett, Dr. Booker and Dr. Ruiz, and an honors course taught by Ms. Beck, I was hooked.”

Logue graduated from UNC Asheville in 2004 and successfully defended her Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Notre Dame in 2010. She recently started working for Pratt & Whitney as a senior engineer, designing quieter turbofan airplane engines.

1989

Richard Kent ’99

Linda Lindenmoyer is a real estate broker in Jacksonville, Fla., specializing in corporate relocations and bank foreclosures.

Undergraduate research project title: Ways to Visualize Three Manifolds in Four Dimensional Space

Michele Morgan Sheppard was recently promoted to the position of director at Catholic Social Services’ western regional office.

Where is he now? After taking a short breather by touring with his band Timinaction, Kent landed in Austin, Tx., where in 2006 he earned his doctorate in Mathematics. Following a four-year

Major: Mathematics and Literature

stint as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Brown University, he was hired to a tenure-track position in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin—Madison.

John Singler ’00 Major: Mathematics Undergraduate research project title: A Variation on the Standard Definition of the Braid Groups

After graduating, Singler completed a doctorate from Virginia Tech, where his research focused on applying math to fluid dynamics to better understand turbulence. The year 2005 found Singler as a postdoctoral researcher at Oregon State University, flirting with mechanical engineering. “There are a lot of amazing problems to research in engineering,” Singler said, “but I realized I was definitely a mathematician.” He is now an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Missouri University of Science and Technology, where he is developing algorithms that he hopes will one day be used to reduce the energy consumption of large buildings or help control generators powered by wave energy.

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CLASS notes W I L E Y C A S H : L I T E R AT U R E G R A D U AT E ’ S D E B U T N O V E L T R A V E L S F R O M MADISON COUNT Y TO THE BEST SELLERS LIST JESSICA MILLER

By Pam Kelley

When Wiley Cash ’00 attended UNC Asheville, he loved heading out for drives through nearby Madison County, a place that seemed mysterious and remote.

Not much later, Cash was a graduate student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. It was the first time the Gastonia native lived outside North Carolina, and his first time feeling like a cultural outsider.

“I realized all the things I’d missed— bluegrass, shade, seasons, fresh water,” he recalls. He realized, too, that what he wanted to write about was North Carolina. “Because I left, it really made me look at it.”

He got to work on his first novel, and of “Hot Reads This Week” on The Daily in April, “A Land More Kind Than Home” (William Morrow/HarperCollins) Beast. It debuted at number 33 on The New York Times Best Seller List for debuted to enthusiastic reviews. USA hardcover fiction and was number 7 on Today has featured it. O Magazine recommends it. He has been interviewed the Southern Independent Booksellers Association’s Best Sellers List.

by Vanity Fair, and the book led the list PROMOTING LITERACY

As he gives readings to promote his book, Wiley Cash is donating a portion of sales to local libraries and literacy programs. That’s an idea he also got from UNC Asheville. He was inspired, he says, by reading about the work of Amanda Edwards. A 1999 UNC Asheville graduate, Edwards served as director of the Literacy Council of Buncombe County and is now chapter executive at American Red Cross, AshevilleMountain Area Chapter.

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UNC asheville M A G A Z I N E

He drew inspiration from his Madison County explorations and also from one of his favorite classes, Appalachian History, taught by History Professor Dan Pierce.

The class syllabus included “Holy Ghost People,” a 1967 documentary about a snake-handling Pentecostal church.

Cash sets his story in Madison County, “When the snakes came out, I thought, where tragedy strikes when members of ‘Holy moly, this is something differa snake-handling church place their faith ent,’” Cash says. He also remembers that in a dark-hearted minister.

Pierce gave students the historical and The story centers on an autistic boy who cultural context needed to understand dies during a healing ceremony at The such practices. “That was a great class.

River Road Church of Christ in Signs I think it was one of the most important Following. It is told through the voices courses I took.” of three characters—the boy’s brother, Cash earned his degree in Literature the county sheriff and Adelaide Lyle, a from UNC Asheville, his master’s degree longtime church member who knows in English from UNC Greensboro and a that Carson Chambliss, her minister, had doctorate in English from the University covered up an elderly woman’s death of Louisiana at Lafayette. Until this year, during a snake-handling ceremony. he taught fiction writing and American Cash, who grew up in Gastonia, decided literature at West Virginia’s Bethany he wanted to go to UNC Asheville early College. He’s now writing full time and in high school, as soon as he learned he has already sold his second novel. He could major in creative writing. and his wife live in West Virginia.

1991

1995

Sheila Bryant was recently engaged to Michael Hollingsworth.

Jason Rhymer recently announced the opening of a second Fitness Revolution franchise location owned by Rhymer Fitness, Inc. in the state. It will be located in Concord, N.C.

Debbie Race is the University Registrar for UNC Asheville.

1992 Craig Malz and his wife Angela live in Concord N.C., with their two children. Craig works as a business architect for TIAA CREF in Charlotte.

1993 Alessa Edwards Leming has had three poems published at wordgathering.com, an online journal of essays and poetry focusing on disabilities.

Carole Lucas Woodard Marrs is the music director at St. Eugene Catholic Church in Asheville.

Larry Paul serves as an English instructor at La Universidad de Las Americas in Mexico.

Jacquelyn Wilson was recently promoted to the position of southeast regional vacancy manager at Eli Lilly/Quintiles.

1994 Sarah Addison Allen released her fourth book, a New York Times Best Seller, “The Peach Keeper,” in paperback in January.

Shannon Lorraine Davis is working on her teaching certificate at Mars Hill College.

Fran Randall received a Master of Science in Instructional Technology from East Carolina University.

1996 Brian Buff recently launched Brand Fanatics, a hosiery and apparel sourcing and distribution company.

1997

@

Stacy Waldroup is the branch manager of NewBridge Bank.

2002

2001

Thomas Erich Boeger and his wife have one child and are now living in Salt Lake City.

Kim Gaetz has recently moved to Raleigh and is working on her doctoral degree in Epidemiology at UNC Chapel Hill.

Zach Herrmann graduated with honors from UNC School of Law in 2011.

Peter Huskey earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 2009, and married Jesica LopezHuskey in 2010.

Thomas Estes is currently working as the judicial assistant to the Honorable Calvin E. Murphy of the N.C. Business Court in Charlotte.

Joseph Byers is the manager of North Gas Service Inc. Melanie Alene Currie returned to Asheville to teach at Oakley Elementary School.

Melody Lindsey teaches English at Blue Ridge Community College.

Matthew Pons was honored with the Dissinger Award for Junior Faculty, an award for distinguished teaching and service at North Central College in Illinois.

1998 Jeanette Castle is now a creative project manager at Capstrat, a communications agency based in Raleigh.

Bray Creech earned an MBA from the University of Maryland at College Park. Last year, he was promoted to director of major gifts at People for the American Way in Washington, D.C. Stephanie Annette Edwards married Robert DeBruhl in July 2011.

1999 Aldo Garcia Guevara is assistant professor of History at Worcester State University, and is the director of the WSU Center for the Study of Human Rights.

Kyle Phipps was recently named editor of the Morganton News Herald in Morganton, N.C.

Get ReConnected!

Join the UNC Asheville Alumni community online to reconnect with old friends, professors and your University.

Facebook: Find your old classmates, and keep up with alumni-only events. facebook.com/uncaalumni Twitter: Get fun posts about what’s happening on campus, in Asheville and within the alumni community. @uncaalumni LinkedIn: Network with fellow alumni through our LinkedIn group to make business connections or find your next job.

alumni.unca.edu 29

CLASS notes Robert Benjamin McGonagil has started his own commercial cleaning business in Panama City, Fla. Windy Ann McKinney completed a doctoral degree in Medieval History and Literature at the University of York in the U.K., and is now living back in the Asheville area.

Robert Schoen received his doctorate in Mathematics Education in Spring of 2010 from Florida State University.

He is currently working as the associate director of the Florida Center for Research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, a division of Learning Systems Institute at FSU. He married Courtney Modlin ’04; they have two daughters.

Shannon Gantt Shore married Andrew Shore in June of 2011.

2004 Jennifer Coats is attending AB-Tech. She spent 2010 running her own studio and stained glass gallery in Asheville.

Sharon Marie Besche Craddock is now married and living in Severna Park, Md. She received her B.S. in Nursing from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in 2007 and she has been working as a trauma/ER nurse for four years. Sharon has three girls.

Christopher Justice is the CEO and cofounder of Sparksight in Austin, Tx. His book, “The 7 Digits of Faith: Growing a Million Dollar Business through God and Finance,” is due to be released in the summer of 2012.

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UNC asheville M A G A Z I N E

JAMEYKAY YOUNG

2003

Travis O’Guin is currently working as a business development Analyst for LightSail Energy. His work involves in-depth analysis of solar and wind projects as well as regional energy markets.

2005 Tracy Lee Burkhardt moved to Brussels, Belgium, in May 2010.

Andrew Scott Fansler began teaching 3D design at Salem College.

Lindsey Paige Galloway was recently hired as a director of strategic business development and marketing.

Melissa Beaver Godfrey is now in her seventh year teaching third grade and is pursuing her National Board Certification in Middle Childhood Education.

Michael Neel recently began a new job at the University of Houston as an assistant professor of accounting.

2006 Adam Michael Brown is currently working as an outpatient counselor.

Chris Bubenik was named the underwriting associate at WCQS public radio.

Lauren Jefferies is working as a mortgage foreclosure prevention specialist at Legal Aid of N.C. in Winston-Salem.

2007 Kim Barto was recently engaged to Mr. John Buck III. She is in her third year as community outreach and grants coordinator for Martinsville City Public Schools, and serves on the

In tune with her community When Jann Nance retired, she moved to Asheville and joined the university’s N.C. Center for Creative Retirement.

Today, she’s giving back.

For 13 years, Jann has supported NCCCR as a member, a music appreciation instructor and a donor. “I see my gift to the Center as a way of facilitating what they already do so well, by supporting and expanding programs,” she says.

That’s why Jann chose to support this inspiring institution by establishing charitable gift annuities with the UNC Asheville Foundation.

With these gifts, Jann receives guaranteed income for life while making financial resources available in the future for the Center’s programs.

In addition, she received an immediate income tax deduction for a portion of her gifts.

To find out how a charitable gift annuity can benefit you, contact Julie Heinitsh, director of Planned Giving, at 828-232-2430 or jheinits@unca.edu.

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Board of Directors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Blue Ridge.

Ashleigh Whitney Carter has moved back to Colorado and has pursued a new profession as a brewer at a microbrewry in Aurora, Colo.

Megan Robertson Corkery holds a new position as internship coordinator/career counselor at Guilford College.

Allie Haake is the new executive assistant to the president of Hearst Magazines.

Angela Ramsey is attending Western Carolina University, working towards her master’s in Social Work.

2008 Stephanie Casey received her master’s in Reading and Language Arts from Saint Josephs College.

Kimberly Fulmer earned her Master of Arts in Education and Human Development in Higher Education Administration from The George Washington University.

2009 Jessica Lynne Clark and Christopher Johnson were married in October 2011.

Alexis Granum graduated from the London School of Economics with a Master of Science in Philosophy and Public Policy. She works as the development officer at St. Bartholomew the Great, a medieval church and heritage site in London.

Hannah Virginia Harrison has relocated from Greensboro, N.C., to Louisville, Ky., to pursue

a master’s degree in English with a focus in rhetoric and composition and a certificate in Women’s Studies.

Jason Herring graduated with an MBA in Health Systems Management, and works with the non-profit Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force as a medical case manager.

Jessica Renee Laney moved to Washington, D.C., after graduation and recently was hired in web editing and design at MicroStrategy in Northern Virginia.

Shanna Rae Russell recently started as a special education teacher at Woodfin Elementary.

2010 Dustin Allison is graduating with a master’s in Public Administration from Indiana University, and he has accepted a job offer with Grant Thornton LLP in Washington, D.C. Beth Doane has moved to Gainesville, Fla., where she is a victim advocate and case manager for families going through child-abuse cases. She is also working on her master’s in Criminology from Florida State University.

Matthew Lands was hired as human resources coordinator at Ingle’s executive offices.

Whitney Leigh McGinnis is now living in New Orleans, La., working as a human resource manager and managing partner for a private company.

Robert Muirhead is attending graduate school at Western Carolina University for an MBA.

Justin Newhart was recently hired as the new house manager at Bocage Plantation in Darrow, La. He runs a B&B, wedding and event facility, gives tours, and supervises restoration projects occurring onsite.

2011 Stephen Bava is married to Andrea Bava.

Carrie Harrell is attending the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University.

Lanie Honeycutt started working for the Western Carolina Medical Society’s Project Access, which assists low-income, uninsured Buncombe County residents in receiving healthcare.

Leanna Miller is currently working as a development assistant at Congregation Beth Elohim in New York City.

Hannah Pinkerton works for the Autism Society of N.C. as a community skills instructor.

Anne Marie Roberts is enrolled in the MS/EdS program at UNC Greensboro for Couples and Family Counseling.

ALUMNI DEATHS Laura E. Nance ’43, November 2011 Betty DuVall Belcher ’54, February 2012 George F. Bryan Jr. ’66, March 2012 Oma Wilsman ’83, October 2011

bulldog PUPS Jennifer King ’92 is expecting her third child, Charlie, in July of 2012.

Joseph Byers ’02 welcomed a daughter, Karina Byers, into the world in March 2011.

Kate Wittman Guzy ’02 and Andy Guzy ’02 welcomed their second child, Austin, on June 14, 2011.

Sara Buss Rem ’02 is celebrating her first child, Emma Grace Kelly Rem, born on August 23, 2011.

Jolene Haymans McGill ’04 and Jason McGill ’04 welcomed a baby boy, Graeme Joseph McGill, on November 2, 2011.

Christina McKeown ’04 and her husband welcomed the birth of their daughter, Sophia Abigail McKeown on February 7, 2012.

Caroline Zidaroff Allison ’05 welcomed her first child, named Alexander James Allison.

Melissa Beaver Godfrey ’05 had a daughter in July 2011.

Nancy Carol Dalton ’87, December 2011 Leigh A. Grindstaff ’87, October 2011 Gregory R. Collins ’92, January 2012 Michael W. Waldroup ’96, November 2011 Melody Ann Lindsey ’02, February 2012

31

in retrospect Campus in the Castle At the end of World War II, UNC Asheville’s predecessor, AshevilleBiltmore College, was inundated by returning veterans whose tuition and fees were paid by the G.I. Bill.

The increase in enrollment made it necessary to look for more classroom space and faculty. So in 1949, Asheville-Biltmore College moved again, its fifth relocation since 1927.

The new location was Overlook Castle, also known as Seely’s Castle.

The mansion had been the private residence of Fred Seely and his wife, Evelyn Seely, daughter of E.W. Grove.

Fred Seely helped build and manage

the Grove Park Inn, among other businesses.

Asheville-Biltmore College was nicknamed The College in the Sky. Students were proud of their campus in the castle, but access was difficult in bad weather, and the steep terrain left little space for parking.

Dr. William Highsmith recalls in his history of the university, “Students hitchhiked up and down the road, and it was common practice to pick them up and take them to the big gate on Town Mountain Road.”

As the student population grew, the small mountain-top campus became insufficient, and its location limited expansion possibilities. So 161 acres were purchased in 1958, and in 1961, the college came down from the mountain to take its place in North Asheville.

M OV I N G U P

Before Overlook Castle, Asheville-Biltmore College had moved through four different locations, including facilities it shared with public schools and another college, as well as a former county children’s home.

Being at the castle for more than 10 years established a sense of permanence for the college among the student population, faculty and the community.

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UNC asheville M A G A Z I N E

“At UNC Asheville, I learned with students whose creativity and passion were out of this world.”

Wasim Al-Abed ’01 Solar systems sales manager

This is today’s liberal arts.

North Carolina’s developing businesses and industries need employees who can think critically and solve problems that have never been encountered.

That’s why the solar company FLS Energy turned to Wasim Al-Abed, a UNC Asheville business and marketing graduate, when they needed a sales manager who could make the connections between economics, science, political policy and environmental impact for their clients.

That’s harnessing the power of the liberal arts.

SE RIOUSLY CRE AT IV E Visit us at www.unca.edu

UNC asheville MAGAZINE

University of North Carolina at Asheville One University Heights Asheville, North Carolina 28804

2012

commencement

At the May graduation ceremony (left to right): Asheville community leader Al Whitesides, Chancellor Anne Ponder, and former UNC President Erskine Bowles. Whitesides and Bowles received honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees. Bowles, who delivered the Commencement Address, served as White House chief of staff under President Clinton and co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Photo by Peter Lorenz