UNC Asheville Fall 2015

INSIDE

Student Leadership in Focus

Alumni Career Curves

An Imaginative Installation

Award-winning faculty in the spotlight

Transformational Teaching

M A G A Z I N E

ashevilleUNC Volume 8, No. 1 FALL 2015

Finest FacultyAward-winners from the classroom and community (Photo by David Allen ’13)

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B I G P I C T U R EA R O U N D T H E Q UA DL O N G I T U D E & L AT I T U D E

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Celebrating CommunityThe installation of UNC Asheville’s seventh chancellor

Learning CurvesAlumni serve up career tips248 12 Extracurricular

Student leaders changing the game and the world

D E PA R T M E N TS

F E AT U R E S

ON THE COVER: Patrick Bahls unfolds his creative teaching style. (Photo by David Allen ’13)

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T H I S FA L L , U NC A S H E V I L L E celebrated community. A host of

creative, engaging, thoughtful and

fun events started with move-in

day when we welcomed our largest

first-year class. We continued

through Installation Week, when

we showed how we will change the

world. And we took stock of the many

qualities that make UNC Asheville

unique and truly a world-class

university. Foremost among these are the students, faculty, staff

and volunteers who make this institution a shining example of the

public liberal arts. Thank you for the work that you do every day.

In this edition of UNC Asheville Magazine, we showcase just a small

share of that work. We learn from our award-winning faculty, and

we are inspired by their motivation for research, teaching and

service. Our faculty leads us to find solutions. Our alumni have

adapted to this mindset as well. In these pages, you will see the

paths some of our graduates have traveled—some linear, some less

direct—and some steps that have marked the way as they pursue

passions and professions.

We look to the next generation of leaders too, focusing on the

presidents of four of our student clubs (thanks to the talents of

one of our own student photographers). You’ll also see the work of

our student-athletes on the court, in the classroom, and out in the

community. It is in this province of service that our Bulldog family

continues to grow, a family of which I am proud to be a member,

now officially, as your seventh chancellor.

From my first day on campus almost a year ago to the Installation

Ceremony and weeklong celebration this fall, you have embraced

Jim and me, and you have made Sweeney feel like the top dog, even

in Rocky’s mighty shadow. You have reached out to us to make sure

this new place has become home, by inviting us for walks, for hikes,

for coffee and for dinner. We share one of these meals on the next

page, along with 175 of our friends who gathered for the first

Farm-to-Table Dinner on the Quad.

Join me at the community table. Sit down for a discussion or a

problem-solving session, and share with us the stories that are

important to you so that we may share them with our extended

family in the greater UNC Asheville community. Go Bulldogs!

—Chancellor Mary K. Grant

UNC ASHEVILLE LEADERSHIP TEAM

CHANCELLOR

Mary K. Grant

PROVOST AND VICE CHANCELLOR FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

Joseph R. Urgo

VICE CHANCELLOR FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS

William K. Haggard

VICE CHANCELLOR FOR ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE John Pierce

VICE CHANCELLOR FOR UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT Buffy Bagwell

SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR FOR UNIVERSITY ENTERPRISES AND ATHLETICS DIRECTOR

Janet Cone

GENERAL COUNSEL

Heather Parlier

ASSOCIATE VICE CHANCELLOR FOR EXTERNAL RELATIONSGreg Carter

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATION AND MARKETING

Luke Bukoski

SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE CHANCELLOR FOR OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENTDarin Waters

UNC ASHEVILLE MAGAZINE STAFFEDITOR Amy Jessee

DESIGNERS Mary Ann Lawrence, Hanna Trussler ’13

PROJECT MANAGERSusan Lippold

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Amber Abunassar ’16, Aaron Dahlstrom ’09, Jon Elliston, Hannah Epperson ’11, Amy Jessee, Casey Hulme ’05, Nick Phillips, Steve Plever, Molly Smithson ’15, Margaret Williams MLAS ’16

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS David Allen ’13, George Etheredge ’16, Peter Lorenz, Galen McGee ’08, Matt Rose, Nick Phillips

UNC Asheville Magazine is published twice a year by UNC Asheville Communication and Marketing to give alumni and friends an accurate, lively view of the university—its people, programs and initiatives. Contact us at [email protected].

UNC ASHEVILLE ALUMNI OFFICEASSOCIATE VICE CHANCELLOR FOR ALUMNI RELATIONS & ANNUAL GIVINGLaura Herndon

Address Changes

Office of University Advancement & Alumni Giving CPO #3800 • UNC Asheville One University Heights • Asheville, NC 28804 [email protected]

UNC Asheville enrolls more than 3,900 full- and part-time students in more than 30 programs leading to the bachelor’s degree as well as the Master of Liberal Arts and Sciences. 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, October 2015

32,500 copies of this magazine were printed on paper with recycled content at a cost of $15,362.79 or 47 cents each.

2 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E

BIG PICTURE

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Farm to Table“This is our first farm-to-table dinner on the Quad. On the surface, it’s a meal where we are getting together and eating food produced in our campus gardens and by our local farmers. But really, it’s about building community. … We are trying to bring everyone to the table, literally and metaphorically, who has a shared interest in sustainable food systems.”

- Sonia Marcus, director of sustainability

PHOTO BY DAVID ALLEN ’13

4 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E4 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E

GOLD STANDARDFirst LEED® Certification

for Campus

UNC Asheville staff, along with engineers and architects (below), celebrated the LEED Gold certification on Sept. 28.

UNC Asheville’s Rhoades Hall, which

was renovated during the summer of

2012 and is part of Rhoades Robinson

Hall, has earned LEED® Gold certifi-

cation from the U.S. Green Building

Council (USGBC). This certification is

the first for the campus.

The renovations run deep, with

geothermal wells added under the

Quad to support heating,

cooling and hot water, and a

10,000-gallon underground

rainwater cistern that

collects water for the

building’s low-flow toilets.

Energy-efficient windows

and gypsum interior wall

coverings complete the

transformation, while the

2015 lighting upgrade

using LED fixtures further

illuminates the university’s

dedication to green building.

The result is a 35 percent

reduction in energy use and a

40 percent reduction in water use

compared to a typical classroom

building of its size.

However, alumni will still recognize

the familiar building. Approximately 50

percent of the façade was saved during

the renovations. Now, it stands for

sustainability on campus.

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RANKINGS ROUND-UP UNC Asheville maintained

its ranking as the nation’s

eighth best public liberal

arts college in U.S. News & World Report’s new “2016

Best Colleges,” released in

Sept. UNC Asheville also

ranks 148 on the first tier

of national liberal arts colleges list,

public and private, up from 159 the

previous year.

In July, the Fiske Guide to Colleges

named UNC Asheville a “Best Buy”

among the nation’s top colleges, and

for the 12th consecutive year,

UNC Asheville’s Environmental

Studies Program was highlighted

as showing unusual strength in

preparing students for careers.

UNC Asheville is also featured in

the 2016 edition of The Princeton

Review’s The Best 380 Colleges.

AROUND THE QUAD

FALL FIRSTSLargest Class Convenes for Move-in Day and Convocation

UNC Asheville opened the fall 2015

semester with the largest first-year

class of approximately 750 students, up

roughly 16 percent from fall 2014. The

newest Bulldogs also include some

341 transfer students.

“We are excited to start the fall semester

at UNC Asheville with our largest enroll-

ment to date, to greet our new students,

and to welcome back our returning Bull-

dogs,” said Chancellor Mary K. Grant.

“We’re also welcoming 24 new full-time

faculty who will join the ranks of

UNC Asheville’s talented and accom-

plished scholars and teachers.”

The incoming class is more diverse,

with an increase in African-American,

Hispanic and American Indian students

choosing to attend UNC Asheville.

Students from the Eastern Band of

Cherokee Indians (EBCI) will start

their studies as part of an instructional

credit agreement signed in the spring.

First-year student applications

to UNC Asheville also increased

4.7 percent over the previous year.

“Our value is nationally recognized,”

said Shannon Earle, senior director of

admissions and financial aid. “Students

look to UNC Asheville for a top-quality

education, priced competitively for

in-state and out-of-state students, and

in the perfect place. We’re in an area

of the country and of higher education

that offers an opportunity for students

to explore, to find their path, and to

make an impact.”

To apply to UNC Asheville, visit admissions.unca.edu.

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AROUND THE QUAD

CHEMISTRY SCHOLARSNational Science Foundation Funding Students and Solutions

The first full cohort of

UNC Asheville chemistry majors

in the Chemistry Scholars

Program, funded by the National

Science Foundation (NSF),

graduated from UNC Asheville

in the spring of 2015. The

program, which began in 2011,

provides scholarships and aims

to increase academic success

for UNC Asheville’s chemistry

majors. Creation of the program

and scholarship funds comes

from two grants through the

NSF’s Scholarships for Science,

Technology, Engineering and

Mathematics (S-STEM) program,

totaling over $1.2 million. The

program will continue through

the class of 2022.

National Science Foundation

recognition also has been

awarded to UNC Asheville

student Tammy Hawley for her

research into “green chemistry”

and “new chemistry.” She is one

of only two undergraduate stu-

dents in the nation to be named

a 2015 National Science Founda-

tion Scholar. Hawley’s research,

The New Chemistry: Solutions for the 21st Century, explores an

approach to using and teaching

chemistry more holistically, and

considers not only the final prod-

uct of a chemistry process, but

also the byproduct, long-term

product effects and material and

energy waste.

LITERARY LEGENDSWriters Converge on Campus

Wiley Cash, UNC Asheville graduate

and author of two best-selling novels,

will return to his alma mater to teach

courses and mentor students as writ-

er-in-residence for the 2016-17 academic

year. The 2015 commencement speaker

also returned to campus as a Goodman

Endowed Visiting Artist in 2013.

Cash says he will use the

writer-in-residence position

to help introduce other

high-profile authors to

students and the community.

“One aspect of the position

I’m really excited about is

the responsibility of orga-

nizing a reading series that

will bring best-selling and

award-winning poets and

prose writers to campus,”

said Cash. “I’m devoted

to introducing students

to successful authors who

are talented, accessible,

collegial and kind.”

The Goodman Endowment,

along with the Department

of Literature and Language, and the

NEH Distinguished Professor in the

Humanities, brought Pulitzer Prize-win-

ning journalist Rick Bragg to campus

in September. Bragg is the best-selling

author of seven works of nonfiction,

including four memoirs chronicling the

history of his family in Alabama.

Wiley Cash (above) at the 2015 Commencement; Rick Bragg (below)

PHOTOS BY PETER LORENZ

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AROUND THE QUAD

GRANTING ACCESSExternal Funding Expands Undergraduate Opportunities

Recent grants to UNC Asheville have

offered opportunities for students—

from as early as middle-school age—to

explore college, gear up their studies,

and pursue degrees and professions in

the arts and sciences.

UNC Asheville’s “Explore the Tour”

pre-college readiness program for

middle school students has received a

grant for $19,644 from The Community

Foundation of Western North Carolina

(CFWNC), to bring students from

Madison, Rutherford, Swain and Yancey

to campus for interactive learning activ-

ities and a tour, of course. During the

2014-15 academic year, 430 students

from school districts covered by the

CFWNC grant visited UNC Asheville

as part of “Explore the Tour.” Some 800

students are already scheduled to partic-

ipate during the coming fall semester.

Middle-school students from eight

Western North Carolina counties

learned what it takes to be a successful

college student at UNC Asheville’s

two-day GEAR UP summer enrichment

program. The overnight program

helped students from Alleghany, Clay,

Graham, Madison, Rutherford, Swain,

Wilkes and Yancey counties develop a

college-going mindset through a sample

of campus life. GEAR UP—Gaining Early

Awareness and Readiness for Under-

graduate Programs—is funded by grants

from the U.S Department of Education.

Additional support for ninth-grade

students at Erwin High School,

Asheville High School and Mountain

Heritage High School has been made

available through the AT&T funded

Juntos Program at UNC Asheville.

“Together” in Spanish, Juntos works to

unite community partners to provide

Latino students and their parents with

knowledge, skills and resources to

prevent youth from dropping out and to

encourage families to work together to

gain access to college.

“UNC Asheville pursues funding for

projects that give more students

access to a pre-eminent public liberal

arts education and that deepens the

learning experience for students who

enroll,” said UNC Asheville Provost Joe

Urgo of the outreach programs. Those

students who enroll also have access

to scholarships and other support, from

the Advancement Via Individual Deter-

mination (AVID) for Higher Education

program and the CORE Scholarship for

transfer students from A-B Tech.

With a recent grant from the National

Science Foundation, UNC Asheville has

created the Atmospheric and Computer

Science Exploratory Scholars (ACES)

scholarship program, modeled on the

successful Chemistry Scholars program.

Funding from Riverside Technologies,

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation,

U.S. Department of Commerce, Cooper-

ative Institute for Climate and Satellites

and others administered by the National

Environmental Modeling and Analysis

Center at UNC Asheville also supports

undergraduate research. In addition

UNC Asheville will expand its Mecha-

tronics Program this year, thanks in part

to a $400,000 grant from Duke Energy,

which will fund new equipment for a

design and development studio that

encourages entrepreneurship and innova-

tion. Plus, an expanded partnership with

the Black Mountain College Museum +

Arts Center and a $180,000 grant from

the Windgate Foundation will fund Black

Mountain College Legacy Fellowships

and Research Internships—bringing

visiting artists and scholars to campus

and supporting undergraduate research.

FUNDING FIGURES

$4,553Asheville City Schools

$19,644Community Foundation of Western

North Carolina Grant for AVID

$25,000AT&T Charitable Gift for

Juntos Program

$28,044North Carolina Space Grants

Teacher Training

$83,652North Carolina Space Grant

Consortium

$116,450National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant for MRI in Health & Wellness

$180,000Windgate Foundation Grant for Black Mountain College Legacy

Fellowships and Research Internships

$180,576NSF Grant for Chemistry Scholars

$322,999NSF Grant for CEREUS

$400,000Duke Energy Grant for

Mechatronics

$613,608NSF Grant for ACES Program

$1,006,236U.S. Department of Education

Grant for GEAR UP


Moving Mountains

T HE CAMPUS COMMUNIT Y, Asheville neighbors, local and state legislators, university delegates, and friends and family of Chancellor Mary K. Grant ventured

to the Blue Ridge Mountains this fall, all to attend the Chancellor Installation Ceremony on Sept. 19, 2015. But the week was about much more than just one person. Faculty, staff, students, alumni and university supporters served on committees and volunteered for events. Even more showcased their work by speaking on panels, sharing research, singing as part of our community choir, planting a flag for a student orga-nization, making a special ice cream flavor, and showing how we will change the world—together. That theme brought everyone together in the mountains—looking forward and looking up.

“UNC Asheville’s motto translates to ‘I lift my eyes to the mountains,’” said Chancellor Grant in her installation address.

“And as I lift my eyes to the mountains, this is what I see. This is my challenge for all of us—a call to our collective action that we will continue to produce an educated, enlightened citizenry. … We are and will continue to be a partner in the innovation and creativity that are essential to a strong city, and to a strong and vibrant region. We will contribute to economic, civic, intellectual, cultural and social development through education, and advance both the development and application of knowledge.”

WRITTEN BY AMY JESSEE

ICE CREAM BY THE HOP ICE CREAM CAFÉ8 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E

READ MORE about the week of events

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Moving Mountains

PHOTO BY DAVID ALLEN ’13 FA L L 2 0 1 5 9

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T HE INSTALL ATION CEREMONY for UNC Asheville’s seventh chancellor was the culmination of a week focused

on creativity, collaboration across disciplines, community, and a whole lot of fun. Activities included concerts, literary readings, “Change the World” student projects, stargazing, ice cream on the Quad (featuring Espresso No. 7 made in honor of Chancellor Grant by The Hop), and much more. Installation also coincided with Family Weekend, welcoming parents and students to learn more about their new chancellor at the ceremony.

“Over the course of the week, it gives us an opportunity to talk

about who we are, to think about where we’ve been, to imagine

where we are going—and to do that together,” Chancellor Grant

said at the start of Installation Week. “The events are thoughtful,

creative and fun. It reflects who we are.”

Across the Arts and SciencesUNC Asheville’s Lookout Observatory, a partnership with the

Astronomy Club of Asheville and a regular haunt for amateur

astronomers in the area, hosted a special guided viewing of the

moon, star clusters and planets.

“We have people of all ages come to these events, kids as young

as six and folks as old as 70 and 80 and everywhere in between,”

said Brian Hart ’11, a UNC Asheville alumnus and administrative

assistant for the Physics Department. “So you get people from

all over town coming up there wanting to learn something,

wanting to look through the telescope. It really brings people

together.

“I enjoy being a part of something that is so alive and so vibrant,”

he continued. “It has really struck a chord with the folks not only

at UNC Asheville, but with the community.”

Over in the Art Department, student Sarah Adams shared a raku

ceramic firing demonstration.

“This firing in particular requires hands, and without the

participation of all of our people in our studio, we wouldn’t

be able to do it,” Adams explained. Raku involves firing glazed

pots in a kiln and then quickly moving them, while they’re still

glowing hot, into a steel can full of sawdust and paper. The

resulting flames are impressive, as are the beautiful colors and

patterns of the glazes on the finished pots.

“People get the chance to watch us all working in harmony and

really see that even though you can make stuff in this studio

independently, it takes a team to make a fire and to get it

complete,” Adams said. “The education experience is really

enhanced by all of our knowledge, collectively.”

The Literature and Language Department offered a reading

from faculty, students and alumni, dubbed “The Next Chapter,”

and joined with Health and Wellness Promotion and Biology to

share news from undergraduate research projects. Faculty from

the Music Department brought their talents to the stage for a

Friday night Concert on the Quad.

Around the Nation

True to the liberal arts spirit, speakers from a variety of fields,

institutions, and cultures came together to welcome Chancellor

Grant, including Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, North

Carolina State Senator Terry Van Duyn, and Terri Henry ‘87,

tribal council chair of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians.

Thomas W. Ross, president of the University of North Carolina

system, led the ceremony.

“In Mary Grant, you have gained a leader who personifies

what UNC Asheville is all about,” said Ross. “She is absolutely

PHOTOS BY DAVID ALLEN ’13

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passionate about the enduring value of the liberal arts and

improving lives and communities through higher education. And

after just nine months in the role, she has already demonstrated

the creativity, commitment, and boundless energy that will be

required to be an outstanding Chancellor and advocate for this

institution and the people it serves.”

Les Purce, president of The Evergreen State College,

UNC Asheville honorary degree recipient in 2009, and a long-

time colleague and friend of Chancellor Grant’s, delivered the

installation address. After working with Chancellor Grant for

over a decade to advance the mission of the public liberal arts

education through the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges,

Purce offered his insights into her priorities: “Here is what I know

about Mary. These thoughts: Stay close to the students and keep

them first. Build deep relationships. Trust and support the people

you work with every day. Have fun. Listen, and consider a broad

range of advice. Be patient and take the long view.”

That view starts from the mountains that surround

UNC Asheville, and it’s a familiar post for Chancellor Grant.

Prior to accepting the position, Grant served as chancellor

at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, Massa-

chusetts for 12 years. She moved nearly 900 miles from one end

of the Appalachian Mountains to the other, joining UNC Asheville

in January 2015, with nine months of hard work leading to the

official installation.

In the Campus CommunityExhibits during Installation Week chronicled the campus history,

and weeklong events focused on the next generation with an

afterschool supply donation drive collecting enough pencils

and paper to meet the needs of five local partners for the year.

Composting during the campus picnic following the ceremony

reduced the waste from the event to a single bag. Those efforts

go a long way in the community too, and that resonated as the

theme for the week.

“This installation is less about me—it is about UNC Asheville,

this relatively young institution,” Chancellor Grant said in her

installation address. “I take the helm of this outstanding univer-

sity at an exciting time but also at a time of uncertainty. We face

a future of unknowns as well as opportunities. We do understand

a bit better now the challenges that we brought with us from

the 20th century: the challenge of climate change, of global

inequality and global conflict, the ongoing challenges of race,

class and gender, the challenges of hunger, poverty, ignorance

and disease. But we do not face these challenges unarmed. …

In fact, our most powerful tool in taking on these challenges is

right here—the combination of optimistic, courageous, bright

hardworking students and a university of liberal arts with a

faculty and staff ready, willing and able to take on the task of

preparing the next generation. … In just a couple of years, we

will admit a class of students, nearly all of whom will have been

born in this rapidly changing, fast-moving 21st century. The

future is now and I say that we are ready. I know we are produc-

ing the graduates that our future demands.

“UNC Asheville’s motto translates to ‘I lift my eyes to the moun-

tains.’ We will lift our eyes, our minds, our hearts, our passions,

our hopes, our dreams, our intellect and apply all to a common

good. And we will do these things together and with intention.” 4

Staff Writers Amber Abunassar ’16, Hannah Epperson ’11, and Casey Hulme ’05 contributed to this story.

See more from the Installation Week and hear Chancellor Grant’s speech at magazine.unca.edu.

Photos from Installation Week (L-to-R): UNC Asheville’s Lookout Observatory; Lecturer Matt West ’99, student Sarah Adams ’16, and Associate Professor Megan Wolfe share a raku ceramic firing demonstration; Picnic on the quad; Chancellor Grant, UNC President Thomas W. Ross, and Grant’s husband Jim Canavan on stage for the chancellor’s medallion presentation

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VISIONS y

LEADERSHIPA PHOTO ESSAY BY GEORGE ETHEREDGE ’16

UNC Asheville Magazine captured a moment with four student leaders on campus to learn more about their work—and their plans to change the world.

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The work I have chosen to do has been dedicated to making myself and other underrepresented students feel that they have a safe space within our campus community. I have also worked to create allies to these marginalized groups so that all students grow in their understanding of the world around them. Our campus culture should be as diverse as we say it is.

“”

MAYA VICTORIA NEWLIN

—senior majoring in pre-med/health political science and

sociology, minor in Africana Studies

president of Student Government Association; president and founder of

Shades of Color; captain of the Cheer and Dance Team; a member of the

Black Student Association and University Ambassadors


MEREDITH MCLAINsophomore majoring in

political science

DEVYN SMITHjunior majoring in political science

It embodies what we try to be as a Native American student group. We are part of a culture that pre-existed before the establishment of the United States. But we also live in modern times and are successful in a contemporary environment.

“”

I’m able to help the student body find a voice as well as learn more about the legislative process on a small scale. She’s the First says that the smallest of actions can make a change. This idea influences my personal aspirations for change. If I can create change in the world for one person, then I can affect many people.

“”—co-president of She’s the First at

UNC Asheville and a sophomore senator

with the Student Government Association

president of the Native American

Student Association and a member of the

University Ambassadors, Order of Pisgah

and Baptist Student Fellowship

—

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CORY OSKARDMAY

Through the Ultimate Frisbee team I've learned a lot about leading a group of peers and keeping a positive group mentality that promotes hard work. We wish to create a program that gets better every year and makes alumni proud to have been a part of the team.

“”

junior majoring in environmental

management and policy

George Etheredge is an art major graduating in December with a concentration in photography. He was recently accepted into The Eddie Adams Workshop XXVIII, an intensive three-day photojournalism workshop of top photography professionals and 100 students whose selection is based solely on the merit of their portfolios. “For me, photography acts as a vehicle for allowing me to engage with the world in a meaningful way, and I am interested in creating visual narratives that highlight both challenges and successes faced by contemporary American society.”

—a captain for the Men's Ultimate Frisbee

team, and a project coordinator for the

Student Environmental Center

MEREDITH MCLAIN


LONGITUDE & LATITUDE

A BRIDGE TO CUBAFaculty build academic ties in the neighboring nation By Jon Elliston

After more than a half-century of conflict, the United States

and Cuba are reconnecting, and UNC Asheville faculty are

riding the waves of change to establish what could be a

groundbreaking set of academic exchanges.

The Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC),

a North American consortium of 29 schools with its

headquarters at UNC Asheville, will make its first major

international foray this winter, when it takes 20 professors to

Cuba in December to foster working relationships there. Four

faculty members will be from UNC Asheville.

“For a pilot program, the faculty leaders didn’t really know

what to expect,” says Claire Bailey, COPLAC’s program

associate. “But they had lots of applications, and something

of a hard time narrowing it down to just 20 participants.”

Aside from the COPLAC connection, two associate professors

of Spanish at UNC Asheville with longtime interest in Cuban

studies, Elena Adell and Greta Trautmann, have done much

of the groundwork for the initiative. Also leading the project

is Georgia College associate professor of political science

Steven Elliott-Gower, an old friend of Trautmann’s. Elliott-

Gower is the director of the honors program at GCSU, and

has long been involved in developing study abroad programs,

including to Cuba.

“When it comes to Cuba, we’re so near and yet so far,”

Trautmann says. The interactions that arise from the

exchange program “hopefully will allow us to think about

Cuba in more complex ways than either hating it or loving it,

which has so long been the narrative, without understanding

the complexities.”

Six busy days in CubaThe professors on the trip hail from colleges across the

country, and the planned academic outreach will cross

over both institutions and disciplines, Trautmann explains.

“There are at least two hopeful outcomes: One is that these

individuals can create their own networks with different

scholars and leaders of different communities in Cuba, and

two, that from this we can then get a study abroad program

for students.”

“We have high hopes,” Adell says. “But it’s a lot to put

together.” Indeed, even as the U.S. and Cuba make big

strides in mending ties, there are plenty of logistical and

PHOTO OF HAVANA COURTESY OF ELENA ADELL

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financial hurdles to establishing sustainable academic

relations between the two countries.

At the same time, conditions are newly ripe for engagement.

“This would have been possible before,” Adell says, “but now

people are even more excited about the possibilities and

paying more attention to them.”

“This has been well-received here and well-received in Cuba,

so now we’ve just got our fingers crossed,” Trautmann says.

The COPLAC faculty emissaries will visit Cuba for six days

in December, which is regarded as a primo time to visit

the country, given the climate then. But the trip bears little

resemblance to the stereotypical island vacation full of

beaches and bars.

The scholars will stay at a former convent in Havana that’s

still affiliated with the Catholic Church, hosted by Instituto

Cubano de Investigación Cultural Juan Marinello. Their

ambitious itinerary includes interactions with Cuban

scholars on everything from demographics and migration to

environmental and economic policies, among other topics. A

one-day road trip will take the group to Las Terrazas, a noted

eco-village in western Cuba.

An “intensely interesting time”Adell, who first visited Cuba in 2001 and has been back

eight times, has cultivated many contacts in Cuban cultural

institutions that are paving the way for the exchange. “Elena

knows half the island,” Trautmann jokes.

Cuba and its population also attract other UNC Asheville

scholars for their first venture into the academic exchange,

though for very different disciplines.

“It’s an island nation, so it’s great for modeling,” says Lothar

Dohse, chair of the Department of Mathematics. He’s most

curious, he says, about the state of computer technology in

Cuba and the teaching of mathematical modeling there. It’s

also an opportunity to examine some of the metrics he’s

always wanted to crunch, like demographic and migration

statistics, “And to be there as this relationship is thawing is

an intensely interesting time.”

Jennifer Rhode Ward, an associate professor

of biology, says that U.S. scientists and

academics can learn much by getting involved

with Cuban counterparts.

“Cuba has unprecedented terrestrial and

aquatic biodiversity, much of which remains

undescribed, and shared international

research could be key to preserving that

richness,” she says. “I envision establishing

joint pedagogical relationships with COPLAC

and Cuban faculty, and co-teaching groups

of Cuban and U.S. students in ecology and

marine courses.”

Adell says that contrary to the perception that the island

is closed to outsiders, many scholars will find that Cuban

academics are open to collaboration. “They are so eager to

have an exchange,” she says.

In some ways, the exchange is already up and running

between the two former enemy nations. In November, for

example, Adell and Trautmann hope to host Juan Nicolás

Padrón, a noted Cuban writer and poet who has been invited

by Lori Oxford, a professor at Western Carolina University.

“Padrón would say that it’s very difficult to understand Cuban

history without talking about the United States, and that the

reverse is true as well,” Adell says, a point that reinforces the

logic to rebuilding educational relations.

This exchange would not have been possible without Mark Gibney, Belk Professor of the Humanities; Sophie Mills and Dan Pierce, former and current NEH Professors; the Academic Deans; Louis Toms from the Office of Sponsored Scholarships and Programs; and Susan Maas, academic assistant to Modern Languages.

LONGITUDE & LATITUDE

“There are at least two hopeful outcomes: One

is that these individuals can create their own

networks with different scholars and leaders

of different communities in Cuba, and two,

that from this we can then get a study abroad

program for students.”

— Greta Trautmann, associate professor of Spanish at UNC Asheville

To find out more, visit coplac.org.


The world unfolds for UNC Asheville undergraduates—with just a blank piece of paper and the talents of award-winning faculty

—Patrick Bahls integrates the art form of origami into his honors classes.

Written by Margaret Williams, MLAS ’16

Photos by David Allen ’13

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One blank page could become a student-designed fitness plan for an older adult. It might contribute research on local housing in Asheville. Perhaps it will outline a survey asking alumni what their undergraduate research meant to them. It could be the start of a novel, poem, movie script or any other original creation. Or the student might crease, fold, bend, shape, and create origami designed to be part of a portable, sturdy refugee shelter. These are a few of the transformative learning experiences offered by five

award-winning teachers and scholars who regularly venture beyond the traditional classroom: Patrick Bahls, Leah Greden Mathews, Dwight Mullen, Peter Caulfield, and Kathie Garbe. The results enrich student lives, often while serving the community and broadening teachers’ own academic experiences.

The transformation starts with a blank piece of paper, indicative of the ideas and the possibilities. It’s all about “getting students to step outside their disciplines and getting them to think in ways they would not have thought before,” says Bahls, associate professor of mathematics and University Honors Program director.

He applies his own brand of breaking out of traditional modes of thinking. Bahls has authored a book that might seem unusual for a math teacher (Student Writing in the Quantitative Disciplines); he regularly teaches poetry in class (sonnets and sestinas can be very mathematical); and, most recently, he brings origami to the classroom.

“Origami lends itself to mathematics, but also art, history, aesthetics, philosophy [and] more,” he says. The honors program is “highly interdisciplinary,” so an origami class “is perfect for UNC Asheville,” says Bahls. “The interplay between the disciplines takes you [places] you wouldn’t expect.”

The 2015 UNC Asheville Distinguished Teaching Award-winner describes origami, for example, as “a dilettante-ish interest until a few years ago, when I realized it could be a fun

class. … I wanted to see what the students would do with it.” In constrained classroom exercises, students may make one fold in a piece of paper then pass it to the next person, or they “just keep folding without stopping and see what happens.” Whether writing a novel without using the vowel

“e,” or drafting a letter to a friend as a way to explain the mean value theorem, “constraint can be very liberating,” says Bahls.

Students also work in small groups to research a topic—origami robots, refugee shelters, or paper that unfolds into a cascading dress.

“The experience of doing research to learn something—instead of doing it to confirm something or fulfill a class requirement—is, in itself, transforming,” he says.

Classroom to Campus to CareerOf course, doing research to confirm a hypothesis can be transformative, too. “We’re really interested in … the perception of the value of undergraduate research,” says Mathews, professor of economics and Interdisciplinary Distinguished Professor of the Mountain South. By “we,” she means the students and researchers


who have created a survey that explores that perception. Together, they have gathered responses and are analyzing the results this semester, Mathews explains.

Such projects allow undergraduates “to see how economists do their work and how economics relates to the real world,” Mathews continues. Students also “get involved with the community in ways they might not otherwise engage. [They] see connections between the campus and community.” In the end, undergraduates also get a chance to understand the world around them by applying what they’re learning in the classroom, she says.

“It’s the most fun part of my job,” Mathews adds. That enthusiasm is evident to her students, colleagues and the entire UNC system, earning Mathews the 2015 Award for Excellence in Teaching from the UNC Board of Governors. She also received the Southern Economic Association’s Kenneth G. Elzinga Distinguished Teaching Award in 2015.

And Mathews—who triple-majored in economics, French and international affairs in her undergraduate days—notes the multifaceted, interdisciplinary aspect of each project, which helps create “a great alternative learning environment.” She continues, “In class, the teacher nudges you in a certain direction, but research … can take you to unexpected places.”

That focus on place is Mathew’s specialty, along with environmental economics—evaluating cultural heritage,

water quality, scenic beauty and other things not easily

associated with monetary value.

Exploring data on the value of a liberal arts education is a similar real-world issue, one that the latest student-driven survey project may illuminate. “We already know from cross-institutional research and previous studies that students regularly report that undergraduate research helps them with writing skills, critical-thinking skills, presentation skills, and for many, [it’s] seen as excellent preparation for [graduate school] and their careers,” says Mathews.

About 800 alumni responded to the undergraduate research survey, she mentions. Mathews hopes to share the results before the end of 2015. “I would like to think that [data] will show that students find tremendous value in their undergraduate research.”

The City as a Research LabFinding that inherent value can also come as a result of working in the community, as Dwight Mullen, professor of political science, has discovered during almost a decade of teaching a lab course on “The State of Black Asheville.”

“It would have been impossible to predict what the students were going to do,” he says. “From the first time

—Leah Mathews

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“Taking them into the community—taking them to the village—is an absolute necessity for their education.”

—Dwight Mullen

we offered it in 2007, every class has had students go on to graduate school and pursue the areas they had researched in these projects. To turn your career into it was something I didn’t expect.”

His students have pursued undergraduate research on topics that include racial inequality, public education, the criminal justice system, and income disparity. They’ve also turned the course into an annual public event and expanded it to study “The State of Black North Carolina.”

“They had to cross that divide,” Mullen says of students’ cross-cultural education. “Practically, they could see that closing the disparities gap began by closing their own cultural gaps.” This spring, through professional development leave and partnerships with HBCUs across the state, Mullen will further develop the project.

The 30-year veteran of UNC Asheville’s faculty, who was named a recipient of the 2014 UNC Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Award, also reflects on the changing state of the university. “I had considered a successful legacy for UNC Asheville to at least leave a mark that we, the group of faculty I first came in with, tried to fundamentally change things—by race and by gender—from how we first found it,” says Mullen.

“Now I’m beginning to believe that it’s not just that we tried to change it, but that it has changed, because of who we are when we came into this faculty and who we became when we decided to stay,” he says. “For a very long time, I thought the effort would be all that would be here to show that we tried to do it. Now I think this institution is fundamentally changed because we were here, which means that the education has fundamentally changed.”

Part of that evolution has come from bringing the campus to the city around it, starting with students.

“Taking them into the community—taking them to the village—is an absolute necessity for their education. It’s not an option. They have to do it. It’s unfair to expect them to graduate and to be functional in a diverse society without exposing them to it as undergraduates.”

In the process, says Mullen, students “inevitably see things that I haven’t seen before.”

Novel Ideas Transformative community connections and creative conversations have also been a goal for Peter Caulfield,


professor of literature and language and the 2014 Distinguished Teaching Award winner. “My favorite metaphor for what we do as teachers is the concept of a conversation,” he says. Almost 20 years ago, while on sabbatical and researching a novel, Caulfield visited an area Head Start. He became a regular volunteer that semester for the program and later launched the Head Start Holiday Party, a campus event for community youngsters. Now in its 18th season, the celebration has become one of UNC Asheville’s favorites.

Creative work also infuses Caulfield’s teaching and contributions to UNC Asheville. For a few years, he has been working on a novel set in the 1960s in Vietnam, based on his experience. Now entering phased retirement, Caulfield says he’ll revise the manuscript yet again next spring. “There’s something about writing a novel and putting all that work into revising it. You are talking to students [as] someone who has done it. You are talking from a place of understanding.”

It’s no surprise, then, that early in his nearly 30 years at UNC Asheville, Caulfield helped establish the university’s writing program, first called Writing Across the Curriculum and now known as the Writing Intensive Program.

With more than 4,000 students across those three decades, his own pedagogical approach continues to evolve. His curriculum vitae encompasses courses from

literature to humanities.

“When you teach literature and you teach it over and over again for years and

years, you get to know certain pieces of literature,” says Caulfield.

“There are poems I have read and taught many, many times. They’ve become part of my emotional and intellectual being. I’ve come to a deeper understanding of them. They teach you things and they say things about the human condition—everything from something like war to love. I think of them all the time. ... Because of all of the years of doing that, their wisdom is embedded in me.”

This fall, Caulfield has been focused on the classroom, and while the papers and pages continue, his method of

feedback has changed and developed through the years. The self-described Luddite often sends audio files back to each student with line-by-line feedback on first drafts and completed papers.

“I tell my students that all of human history is an ongoing conversation about many essential elements of the human condition. My role is to help them enter more fully and capably into that ongoing, never (so far) ending conversation … about literature, about history, about social and political ideas, about various philosophical issues.”

Whether interpreting a poem based on their own experiences or exploring a research project “I would never imagine,” says Caulfield, “my students always surprise me.”

Real World to Real Needs“There’s so much learning that can take place when undergraduates are placed in real-world situations,”

—Peter Caulfield

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“It’s very rewarding to see all kinds of students—shy or outgoing, confident or hesitant—develop skills and become leaders.”

—Kathie Garbe

says Garbe, associate professor of health and wellness and recent recipient of the university’s 2015 Community Connectors Award and the Champion for Students Award. “It pushes them out of their comfort zones, [but] like birds pushed out of the nest … they take it and fly,” she says.

Garbe pairs undergraduates with local health-and-wellness organizations. The YWCA, YMCA and Children First are just a few of the more than 100 local groups she’s worked with in recent years. “All civic engagement experiences are meant for student learning and skill development while they work to meet the very real needs of our community partners. Students select the organization they are interested in contributing to and learning from; often it aligns well with their own career interests,” she says.

This semester, undergraduates are working with 22 organizations while learning leadership skills, seeing social policy applied in the field and, in the process, accomplishing much more, Garbe explains. Students might, for example, have to develop a fitness program for an older adult in the Wellness Activities for Seniors in Asheville (WASA) program, she says. That elder could be a homemaker who has never been in a weight room or started an exercise regimen; or it could be a 70-year-old woman who competes in triathlons.

“What student could keep up with her?” Garbe jokes, adding on a more serious note that the right pairing of student with project population and organization makes a big difference in producing good outcomes for everyone involved.

Active in a number of community-wide initiatives, Garbe says that with internships and community projects, students “learn to relate to people and make a difference in their lives.” It’s “very rewarding” to see all kinds of students—shy or outgoing, confident or hesitant—develop skills and become leaders.

In these and many other ways, the work connects to her passion for collaborative partnerships and symbiotic relationships between students and participants, college and community, she emphasizes. Participating organizations “help the students learn, and we help with a [community] project. … Through these student-community initiatives, the university continues to develop stronger partnerships and supportive relationships with our surrounding community—all while our students are growing and learning.” 4

Longtime local journalist Margaret Williams will complete her MLAS degree at UNC Asheville next spring.


CURVESLEARNING

UNC Asheville alumni shape their paths to successful, fulfilling careers.

Julie and Dano Holcomb in their Creole and Southern food truck, Root Down

Written by Molly Smithson ’15

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Find Your RootsDano Holcomb ’97 discovered that many principles from playing and coaching soccer at UNC Asheville went hand in hand with running his Creole and Southern food truck, Root Down.

“Playing on a team and being a business owner are very similar,” he said. “You have to set goals and have good parts in place to be successful.”

Holcomb began his coaching career as an assistant to Michele Cornish, the UNC Asheville women’s soccer coach in 1995. After 14 years of assistant coaching at Division I schools, Holcomb had been offered head coaching jobs, but didn’t have the confidence to take the positions. He knew he loved cooking though, and wanted to change up his career to reflect that passion. Once he decided to open Root Down, he stepped into the role of both student and leader, which enhanced his decision-making skills.

“It takes a lot of courage,” he said. “Now that I’m in my role, it’s a big learning curve but I also look to my staff for advice.”

Holcomb often finds himself balancing the classic elements of Creole and Southern cuisine with fresh, exciting ideas that incorporate fresh, local ingredients from his college hometown of Asheville.

“I have so much respect for the chefs who taught me,” he said. “I want to make sure I get the true aspect of everything, but put my own take on it.”

DISCLAIMER: Finding your dream job is never as

simple as a few easy steps. But UNC Asheville alumni

are often able to make their life passions and their

daily work seamlessly fit together. With hand-crafted

careers in a variety of industries, their day-to-day

actions may be wildly different, but these alumni

share a few common steps.

PHOTO BY DAVID ALLEN ’13


Branch OutFor Julie Holcomb ’98, the health career she had always envisioned became her passion when she began exploring courses outside of her major at UNC Asheville.

Holcomb now works as a lactation specialist at Mission Hospital, but at UNC Asheville, she combined her biology major with the newly created minor of women’s studies. She also earned a bachelor’s in nursing, a master’s in nurse-midwifery, a certified nurse midwife degree and an additional certification as an international board certified lactation consultant.

“Our Bodies Ourselves was a book that was required for one of my women’s studies classes,” she said. “So I became interested in midwifery that way, and then I began volunteering with some local midwives who did home and hospital births to see if that’s where my passion was.”

Julie also operates Root Down with her husband, Dano. Together, they are working towards the common goal of improving health for people in Western North Carolina.

“For both of us, having a relationship with our work, with the farmers that Dano works with, and me with helping women do what’s best for their families and their health are very important,” Julie said. “Our goals for our family are very similar to many people in Asheville. We’re just everyday people, trying to make what we’re passionate about work, in a place where we want to live.” Look for

IntersectionsFor Stuart Parker ’14, the intersection of place and passion meant starting a business, specifically by combining environmental sciences with the arts, something he and his sister Allison had wanted to do for years.

The siblings cofounded Trail Palette this summer. Parker, an environmental science major at UNC Asheville, guided artists on hiking trips through the Blue Ridge Mountains and taught them about the geological, ecological and atmospheric features that they saw. Allison instructed them in painting, and class participants left with vibrant landscape art of Western North Carolina.

Stuart Parker enjoys the trail.

PHOTO BY

SARAH

ANTHONY

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“If you simply look at a landscape and try to recreate it, you’ll be incredibly overwhelmed and will end up with a final product which is flat, stagnant, and lacking vigor,” Parker said. “So my job was to talk about the form of the landscape to prevent this from happening.”

Parker used the class, and his time as a teacher’s assistant during his graduate program in geology at University of Montana to teach students that the outdoors could affect humankind’s relationship with nature for years to come.

“It is important to look around yourself and see how things are interacting around you in your absence,” he said. “This is what I try to get across to students, whether they are studying geology or painting. We have to learn to mesh into these cycles if we want to reap the benefits of the natural world…”

Continue Problem-SolvingIV Whitman ’94 chose to take risks throughout his career, which included founding two of his own businesses, one right out of college.

“Starting a business is just like starting a new piece of art,” he said. “You have the vision. You sketch out the idea. You work your butt off to bring it to life. You show it off and promote it, and maybe someone will buy it. Maybe not. You live, learn and move on.”

Today, Whitman shakes up traditional advertising through his role as a vice president of marketing for Skuid, a cloud-based startup software company in Chattanooga, Tenn.

“My study of fine art at UNC Asheville profoundly influenced the way I look at the world and solve business and marketing problems,” Whitman said. “Without my fine arts professors, my view of the business world would be flat and one dimensional.”

Instead, he’s added dimensions, applying his business and creative problem-solving skills in developing countries. Volunteering with The Global Orphan Project, he has led 14 fundraising and economic development trips to Haiti and East Africa for over 400 hundred people. He has organized among the first trail runs and mountain biking expeditions in Haiti, and supported job creation for mothers living in extreme poverty. “After all,” he notes, “there is much more to life than money and work. Caring for others is really where it’s at.”4

Molly Smithson ’15 recently graduated as a university scholar with a B.A. in mass communication and a double minor in creative writing and French. She decided to stay in Asheville as long as it will have her, and currently works as a digital media and account coordinator at Darby Communications.

IV Whitman visiting Source de la Grace East, Croix des Bouquets, Haiti.

PHOTO BY

STEPHANIE

MUTERT,

THE GLOBAL

ORPHAN

PROJECT


GO, BULLDOGS!

BAA Scholarship Golf Classic Sets New Fundraising Records By Nick Phillips

The 2015 Bulldog Athletic Association

Scholarship Golf Classic took place over

two days in late August and concluded

with the announcement that the tourna-

ment raised a record amount of money

for the UNC Asheville Student-Athlete

Scholarship Fund.

“I would like to thank the golf commit-

tee members and the many golfers,

sponsors, and volunteers for making

the 2015 Bulldog Athletic Association

(BAA) Scholarship Golf Classic the most

successful ever with over $106,000

raised for our annual scholarship fund,”

said Director of Athletics Janet R. Cone.

“Thanks to the great support from our

campus and community, our golf tour-

nament has become a signature event

that demonstrates how Asheville is our

home and the Bulldogs are our team.”

UNC Asheville Chancellor Mary K.

Grant and her husband Jim Canavan

served as honorary chairs for this year’s

tournament.

Close to 200 golfers came out on

August 24 and 25 to participate in the

tournament at the Country Club of

Asheville. This year’s tournament was

presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of

North Carolina, with additional support

from Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort,

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

and Belk. Hole sponsors included Belk,

Sports Clips, Harry’s on the Hill, Jim

Barkley Toyota, Dixon Golf, First Citi-

zens Bank, Beverly-Hanks & Associates

Realtors and Asheville Chevrolet.

BULLDOGS ON PAR

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

STEPPING UP

The Big South Conference had

a league-record 19 athletic

programs among those honored

in May by the NCAA with Public

Recognition Awards for their

latest Academic Progress Rate

(APR) scores. UNC Asheville led

the conference with four teams

receiving recognition—men’s

and women’s tennis, women’s

basketball and women’s outdoor

track and field programs. It is the

third consecutive year that the

Bulldogs have finished with the

most recipients in the Big South.

Each year, the NCAA tracks

the classroom performance

of student-athletes on every

Division I team through the

annual scorecard of academic

achievement. This announcement

is part of the overall Division I

academic reform effort and is

intended to highlight teams who

demonstrate a commitment to

academic progress and retention

of student-athletes by

achieving the top APRs within

their respective sports. By

measuring eligibility, graduation

and retention each semester or

quarter, the APR provides a clear

picture of academic performance

in each sport.

UNC ASHEVILLE WILL ADD A WOMEN’S GOLF

TEAM IN 2016-17 AND WILL COMPETE AS A MEMBER OF

THE BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE.

Four Bulldog Programs

Headline Big South

APR Scores

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Our Town. Our Team.Bulldog Athletes Expand Their

Sphere of Service By Steve Plever

The Bulldogs’ theme—“Our Town. Our Team.”—is simple enough on the

surface. “We wear Asheville across our chests, that’s the town,” said

senior Paige Love of the women’s basketball team. “Really bridging

the gap between community and athletics, and community and

UNC Asheville—that’s what ‘Our Town. Our Team.’ is all about.”

Paige Love is one of many student-athletes for whom “Our Town. Our Team.” is more than a hashtag. When she arrived

on campus four years ago, she was already accustomed

to volunteering in her hometown of North Wilkesboro. So

continuing and leading teammates in the service work that

builds a strong campus-community connection, she says, was

“normal” for her. Love volunteers at the Shiloh Community

Association garden, the YMCA in downtown Asheville, Ashe-

ville City Schools and is a mentor and friend to Elijah Roberts,

a Special Olympics athlete. But this doesn’t come naturally to

many student-athletes.

“A lot of students come in their own little world, so to get

them into the larger community is important,” said Greg

Garrison ’05 who works as a tutor at the Parsons Math Lab on

campus and employs many students as proprietor of The Hop

Ice Cream Café. Greg and his wife Ashley Garrison ’05 have

made community involvement a core part of The Hop’s busi-

ness model, hosting benefits for community organizations

every week. As a former Bulldog soccer star who remembers

doing volunteer work as part of his team, Greg has insight

into the athletics/service connection.

“My philosophy is, no matter what your background or how

large or small a sphere you have, the idea is to inject it with

as much positivity as you can,” said Garrison. “That applies

to everyone, not just athletes. The difference is the sphere,”

he says. Some world-famous athletes may have giant spheres

of influence, but for many student-athletes who spend so

much time with their teams, the spheres can be small, even

insular.

“Some athletes may not feel comfortable being outside of

their sphere,” said Garrison, who feels it is important for the

university to “find a way to transition them into finding a

way to get their sphere bigger. How do you create that? One

of the ways is through service work—it’s putting people in a

situation where they can grow.”

Bulldog ExpectationsThe UNC Asheville Athletics Department has been intentional

about offering opportunities for service and growth—every

student-athlete is encouraged to perform a minimum of six

hours of service work each season. “We set up a community

service project and some go because we ask them to go,” says

UNC Asheville Athletics Director Janet R. Cone. “But some

student-athletes go back on their own and continue. We see

those kind of examples where they just keep giving back.”

Love’s basketball teammate, junior KJ Weaver from the

Atlanta area, is a case in point. “Community service was a

new experience, for sure,” she said. “It started with us

volunteering together as a team and it’s slowly developed

BAA Scholarship Golf Classic Sets New Fundraising Records By Nick Phillips


over my three years.” Weaver joins Love in working with Eli-

jah Roberts, and in the Shiloh garden, and she is now ready

for more. “I’m thinking of trying to find a regular volunteer

position with the Red Cross next summer. It’s really sparked

my heart to start serving others.”

Weaver was reluctant at first to talk about her service work,

and credits Love with “giving me the connections to go and

help people like I want to. My favorite aspect is being able

to help others or make others happy without getting recog-

nition,” Weaver said. “I’m getting interviewed now [for this

article], but usually, I do it without anyone knowing.”

Weaver and Love are thankful for leadership in this area from

Women’s Head Basketball Coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick.

“From the beginning, she made sure that giving back to the

community was one of the top priorities,” said Love. “So

much has been given to us, especially because we’re on

scholarship. She really made it a big deal, to give back and

show appreciation for what has been given to us.”

Youth FocusAsheville City Schools are a prime focus for UNC Asheville

student-athletes’ service work, with some students tutoring

and more promoting reading as part of the Rocky Readers

program in the elementary schools. Student-athletes also host

sessions during the Explore the Tour programs that bring

middle school students from all over Western North Carolina

to UNC Asheville to boost enthusiasm for college among rural

youth. Teams and coaches also provide clinics to help young

students develop in sports like basketball, tennis and soccer.

Other places where UNC Asheville student-athletes volunteer

are the YMCA in downtown Asheville, and the Shiloh garden,

increasing access to fresh, healthy food for that low and

middle-income, historically African-American South Ashe-

ville neighborhood. And last summer, coaches and athletics

administrators led UNC Asheville’s staff team helping build a

new playground for Oakley Elementary School.

“We really believe in the health and wellness component,”

said Cone, who spent the entire day building playground

equipment. “Whether we’re out on the playgrounds or

doing clinics, even in our tutoring and our Rocky Readers

program, part of it is education and part is athletic activity

and promoting an active lifestyle. A lot of it is youth-focused.

Student-athletes and coaches can make a big difference

because many of the young people look to college athletes as

role models.”

GO, BULLDOGS!

KJ Weaver, foreground, joined by Bulldog basketball teammates Chatori Major (left) and Paige Love. Laura Lee Petritz ’14 in blue cap, is coordinator of the Shiloh Community Garden program.

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“I had the opportunity to see him in

the 40-meter dash and the softball toss

in the Special Olympics. It was amaz-

ing—one of the best moments—I’d never

been to a Special Olympics before.

It’s not really community involvement

anymore—it’s really building a relation-

ship with someone and being a mentor

figure.” - Paige Love ’16

Athletes’ RolesReflecting upon what service work can mean for

student-athletes, Garrison says the experience comes

with challenges and isn’t the same for everyone. “The

athlete part makes it easy for people to connect to them,”

he said. “But as individuals, it would be more important

for students to define themselves as something other than

a basketball player or soccer player.

“With about 200 student-athletes involved, there are

probably 20 or 30 who are exceptional when it comes to

community. There are many more who will get something

positive out of it. … Those who will be really changed by

it are the reason you should do it. And hopefully, they’ll

bring other people along with them.”

Goal Oriented For the Athletics Department, “Our Town. Our Team.” is

a simple imperative: “We live in this town,” said Cone.

“We go to school in this town. We play in this town. We

work in this town. And our town is so much bigger than

our campus. So we’ve got to get out and show that we’re

giving back. We reap the benefits too because we live

here. We want to be part of the bigger team and the

bigger team is our community. Our team is the Bulldogs.

We want Asheville to see us as part of the big team and

we want them to be part of our team.”

To learn more about UNC Asheville’s athletics visit www.uncabulldogs.com.

GO, BULLDOGS!

PH

OT

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Y M

IKK

I R

OB

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TS

FA L L 2 0 1 5 3 1


We love to hear from

alumni—and so do your

classmates!

So be sure to send us your

accomplishments, career

moves, family news and

celebrations. Either log on to

alumni.unca.edu

or send an e-mail to

[email protected]

notesclass

DROP US A LINE!

1973Reba Smith retired from

teaching.

1975Zollie Stevenson Jr. was

named associate vice president

for academic affairs at Philander

Smith College in Little Rock, Ark.

1980Ron Caldwell is currently

working on a sequel to his

first book, Days and Nights in Parisienne Heights, as well as his

first novel.

Jayum Anak Jawan was

appointed as the Tun Abdul

Razak Chair in Malaysian Studies

and visiting professor of political

science at the University of Ohio,

Athens.

1991Patrick Britz and his wife

Joanna had a baby boy, Zachary

Thomas Britz, on Sept. 7, 2015.

1992Wendell Thorne recently

published a collection of fiction,

The Hot Dog King and Other Stories, available on Amazon

and Kindle.

1993Kristin Rokosz is now living

in London working for General

Reinsurance.

Marietta Wright received

the Lucas-Hathaway Teaching

Excellence Award and was

promoted to associate professor

at Waynesburg University.

1995William Ross Bryan is now

the assistant dean of the

Honors College at University of

Alabama.

Marc Kiviniemi was appointed

director of undergraduate

public health initiatives at the

University at Buffalo, SUNY.

Shannon Knupp is now

working as the executive

director of human resources at

Beachbody LLC.

Jo Linda Landreth earned her

master’s degree in educational

psychology with a concentration

in gifted and talented education

from University of Connecticut.

1996Anthony Oakes is now

a second grade teacher at

McDowell County Schools.

Douglas Palmer was named

vice president for academic

affairs at Walsh University in

North Canton, Ohio.

1997Suzanne Alford married

Rebecca Nelson and welcomed

two children, Nate and Livi

Nelson.

Pamela Allen married Joseph

Meliski in July 2015.

Shannon Davis and Frank Hirtz

welcomed their second child,

Miles Bradley Hirtz, on May 30,

2014.

FA L L 2 0 1 5 3 3FA L L 2 0 1 5 3 3

Melissa Mitchell now works

for Shell Pipeline Company in

Houston, as the tariff, lands and

permitting manager.

Dhaval Patel and Kinjal Patel

had a baby boy, Moksh Patel, on

Sept. 13, 2015.

1998Mark King and Stephanie King

had a baby girl named Isla Rose,

born May 15, 2015.

2000Jennifer Miller and John Miller

had a baby girl, Rachel Miller on

May 21, 2015.

Ted Rogers, with two

co-inventors, received a U.S.

patent for a scope correction

apparatus, which fits to weapon

scopes and will be used for

training during video simulation

drills. Rogers has worked as

a research scientist with the

Center for Applied Optics at

the University of Alabama -

Huntsville for the last 12 years.

Cindy Upright has adopted

two boys, Aaron and Levi, with

her husband Jonathan.

2001Mike Bender is now working

at SolarCity as the senior

marketing manager.

Aminda Katz and her husband

Matt welcomed a baby girl, Maya

Quinn Katz, on June 30, 2015.

Elizabeth Underwood is

now working as the associate

vice chancellor of government

and university relations at The

University of Arkansas, Fort

Smith.

2002Jessica Cooper and her

husband Clarence ’06

welcomed a baby boy named

Atticus Drayton Cooper on Dec.

13, 2014.

Mike Roach and his wife

Carolyn had a baby boy named

Charles Bruce Roach on June

18, 2015.

Carrie Scharf moved to West

Virginia.

2003Craig Arnold will be moving to

Vermont with his family to work

as a social worker at the VA

medical center.

2004Amber Brown and Matt Brown

had a baby boy named Elijah

Augustus Brown on June 12,

2015.

Suzanne Hermann had a baby

girl named Avery Belle Hermann

on Aug. 7, 2015.

Joe Ludes is the mid-Atlantic

teacher trainer for REAL School

Gardens.

Jennifer Mayer’s company,

Charlotte Street Computers, has

been named an Apple Premium

Service Provider for 2015.

homecoming-ad-for HT.indd 1 10/13/15 4:06 PM

CLASS NOTES


ENVIRONMENTAL RESILIENCEStudies in Sustainability Span Careers By Hannah Epperson ’11

UNC ASHEVILLE HAS LONG HELD A

COMMITMENT TO ENVIRONMENTAL

CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY, from cultivating campus gardens to energy efficiency measures in campus buildings to incorporating conservation into classes across the curriculum. It’s a calling many students take with them beyond the university and into their careers.

PAUL BEATON ‘02 took his passion for energy and environmental policy to Washington, D.C., where he now works as senior program officer at the National

Academy of Science—an independent advisory body for the U.S. government.

“When there’s a matter of science or science policy that there’s some question about, that the government wants an independent and reasonably objective answer about, they come to us,” Beaton explained.

The two projects Beaton is currently working on were requested by Congress and the Department of Energy, respec-tively. Beaton guides the projects from start to finish, assembling teams of the world’s leading science experts to address questions like the impact of tax policy on greenhouse gas emissions. The entire process can take anywhere from nine months to three years.

“There is nothing better you can do to prepare for this kind of job than get a really high quality liberal arts education,” Beaton said. “The thing that’s important about what I do is that I have to have a level of confidence that I can undertake any challenge that’s given to me, no matter how new, and I can learn what I need to learn in order to do it … and use good, creative, liberal arts critical thinking and problem solving skills.”

Beaton’s job involves asking a lot of big questions that don’t have easy answers, like how to create policies and laws to accelerate wide-scale adoption of clean energy technologies. But Beaton knows asking those questions is important—a value he learned in Professor of Chemistry Bert Holmes’ class years ago.

“The thing that Bert emphasized again and again in his courses, he’d say, ‘I’m going to ask questions of you; I hope you’ll ask questions of me. Only a ques-tioning mind can learn.’”

ANNA LANGE’S ’08 passion for the environment took her across the country and back again, from her first job with Green Corps that put her on the cutting edge of building a clean energy economy in cities like Chicago and San Francisco, and back to the east coast, where she served as sustainability director in Richland County, South Carolina.

During her time as sustainability director, Lange helped pass a comprehensive sustainability policy for the county and the region, and reduced the county’s energy use by 10 percent.

“Today I serve as the recycling market development manager for the South Carolina Department of Commerce,” said Lange, who was one of the students that launched UNC Asheville’s Student Environmental Center in 2007. In her current role she tracks the economic impact of the recycling industry, and connects with companies to find buyers for waste products that would otherwise end up in the landfill. She also focuses on capturing food and organic waste for commercial-scale composting.

CLASS NOTES

“There is nothing better you can do to prepare for this

kind of job than get a really high quality liberal arts

education. The thing that’s important about what I do

is that I have to have a level of confidence that I can

undertake any challenge that’s given to me, no matter

how new, and I can learn what I need to learn in order

to do it … and use good, creative, liberal arts critical

thinking and problem solving skills.” —Paul Beaton ’02

FA L L 2 0 1 5 3 5FA L L 2 0 1 5 3 5

CLASS NOTES

Sonya Breanna Pratt and her husband

Greg welcomed a baby girl named

Starlynn Ruth Pratt of April 30, 2015.

Leah and Mark Schuurman ’02 had a

baby girl named Stella Ruth Schuurman

on July 6, 2015.

2005Lisa Batten earned a master’s

degree in teacher leadership at Lamar

University.

Charlotte Claypoole married Chase

McKinney on July 11, 2015.

Kimberly Eggett and Stephen Eggett ’08 had a baby girl named

Amelia Camerina Eggett on May 13, 2015.

2006Omar James Collington and Madlen

Pie had a baby boy named Omari Akeem

Collington on June 11, 2015.

Erin Curtis married Bryant Carson on

May 9, 2015.

Kim Garrett just purchased her first

home in Winston Salem.

Aundria Lear opened an optometry

practice, Twenty 20, in Asheville.

Chad Mohn and his wife Erin Mohn

had a baby boy, Charles Henry Mohn, on

September 12, 2015.

Ian Montgomery founded Blue Ridge

Aromatics, a locally-grown essential oil

distillery, in Asheville.

Bethany Niebauer is now working as a

technical writer at Canna Advisors.

Dustin Sipes and Jessica Ray Sipes ’05 had their first child, a baby girl

named Norah, on July 10, 2015.

2007 Elif Englert married Austin Englert.

Peter Haschke received the Best

Dissertation Award of the Human Rights

Section of the American Political Science

Association.

William Young Jr. is retired and

enjoying it.

“The most rewarding part of my job is being the gatekeeper that creates new supply chains and moves us closer to zero waste,” Lange said. “In nature waste equals food, I get to work with businesses to rethink what is going to the landfill.”

KATIE HICK’S ’09 passion for protecting drinking water plays out right here in Asheville, where she’s assistant director of Clean Water for North Carolina (CWFNC). Her love for local ecology was ignited by an internship at the Cradle of Forestry in Transylvania County, and by her professors in the Environmental Studies Department.

“There were—and are—so many wonderful educators in the Environmental Studies Department, most of them with an infectious interest and love of the ecology of the southern Appalachians,” Hicks said.

As the assistant director of CWFNC, Hicks writes grants and promotes fundraising, conducts research on issues affecting drinking water in North

Carolina, and works on outreach and presentations to the public to advocate for policies to protect drinking water.

“Clean Water for NC’s mission is to promote clean, safe water and environments and empowered, just communities for all North Carolinians through community organizing, educa-tion, advocacy and technical assistance,” Hicks said. It’s a job that gives her lots of opportunities to use her science background, as well as skills developed in her second major, Spanish.

“Trying to advocate for clean drinking water in the crazy arena of state and local politics can be infuriating at times,” Hicks said. “But at the end of the day, it’s really rewarding to be able to work on such an important issue of protecting water for the public good and fighting to clean up sources of contamination.”


2008Elyse Rolfe completed 200

RYT through Raleigh-area Yoga

Legacy, with advanced training in

aquatic and detox yoga. This fall,

she will complete further training

in hot, senior and prenatal yoga.

Nicholas Thuell married

Jennifer Thuell on Sept. 6, 2015

Ashley Wrightenberry

married Daniel Kamiya on July

18, 2015.

2009Alexa Jacobs married Taylor Shanklin ’10, on Feb. 21, 2015.

Jacobs is currently in her sixth

year of teaching second grade in

China Grove.

Lakesha McDay has accepted

the position of Mission Health’s

first director of diversity, health

equity, and inclusion.

Patrick Tate married Whitney

Odden on July 3, 2015.

2010Anna Grace Deierlein married

Brooke Colver in Weaverville on

May 16, 2015.

Catherine Williams married

Justin Smith in their hometown

Rosewell, Ga., on May 16, 2015.

2011James Chick will begin a

new job at Metlife as a senior

annuities professional in

Charlotte.

Mary Ellen Dendy married

Aaron Dahlstrom ’09 on Sept.

12, 2015.

Carrie Harrell married Ben Jones on May 30, 2015, and

is now working as an OB/GYN

resident at Duke University

Hospital.

Carolyn Island graduated from

Thurgood Marshall School of Law

at Texas Southern University in

May 2015.

James Phillips moved to Austin

and became the economist for

Battlecry Studios, a video game

company.

2012Kelsey Baired had a baby boy

named Reavis Allen Baired.

Kristen Englert-Lenz released

a new album, The Extent of Play.

Meredith Houck is now

married and attending graduate

school at Princeton University.

Tatiana Potts exhibited

her collection Topophilia: Printmaking by Tatiana Potts at

UNC Asheville in fall 2015.

Emily Williamson married

Andy Williamson ’10.

Karina Zimmerman and her

husband Devin Zimmerman ’11 had a baby boy named Aiden

Kent Balaoro Zimmerman on

Aug. 1, 2015.

2013Brent Allison graduated from

the University of Florida with his

MBA in finance and is moving

to Orlando to become a senior

financial analyst with Darden

Restaurants.

Lauren Gunter is engaged to

Cody Mink.

Alyssa Smith is traveling to

Germany to teach English.

2014Amie Cloer, women’s tennis

alumna, married Shane Lewis

June 20, 2015.

Eric Frid and his wife, Amber,

had a baby in the spring of 2014.

Michael Eli Miller married

Rachel Wells on July 25, 2015.

Cassidy Robbins married

Elizabeth Sheppard on April 13,

2015.

Corlee Thomas-Hill participated in the 2015

Remember the Removal bike

ride, a nearly 1,000-mile bicycle

ride from Georgia to Oklahoma

commemorating the forced

removal of the Cherokee people

from their homeland during the

Trail of Tears.

2015Joseph Anderson accepted a

position with Gould Killian CPA.

Juliana Grassia is now the

campaign manager for The

Committee to Elect Corey

Atkins.

Kelly Olshan is attending

Columbia University for

a master’s degree in arts

administration.

Kaitlin Pindell is an

accountant at Kearney &

Company, a CPA firm in

Alexandria, Va.

Daniel Thomas married

Martina Underwood.

Did we miss your class note? Check

online and send your update to

alumni.unca.edu/

class-notes.

CLASS NOTES

If you own low-yielding

assets and are seeking

higher income, a charitable

life income gift such as a

charitable gift annuity or

charitable remainder trust

may be worth exploring.

Contact Julie Heinitsh,

assistant vice chancellor for

planned giving and major

gifts, at 828.232.2430 or

[email protected].

Plan your path with a charitable gift

unca.edu/givingwisely

FA L L 2 0 1 5 3 7FA L L 2 0 1 5 3 7

INSTEAD OF A BENEDICTIONIn honor of the installation of Chancellor Mary K. Grant, September 19, 2015

By Richard Chess, Roy Carroll Distinguished Professor of Literature and Language

Levo oculos meos in montes Psalm 121

So what shall we make

of this moment, the ceremony

nearly over, its robes and hoods

soon to be returned

to the closet, its chairs

folded, its words

dispersed into air?

What shall we make of

the promise of this hour—here

where the rule of reason catches

a glimpse of the fugitive

imagination and feels

an urge to charge and chase

it down and lock it up and

away where it will pose

no further threat to order?

But even from the smallest

cell in the deepest hole, imagination

finds a way out and into

the objective eye, the skeptical mind.

Pisgah lifts our eyes.

Are we the ones assigned—

called to the work

of creating a universe

that will hold and honor

every kind of intelligence?

Let us live as if it were so.

Even at a dark time

when we ourselves are seen

as fugitives, scientists, humanists,

artists—explorers all—

let us know with our feet

the ground on which we stand,

let us lift our eyes to the mountains—

esa einai el heharim—

to honor the vision of one

who believed our help

would descend from above.

O promised land!

Let us who have been granted

a brief stay here

learn from one another what it is

to be human in a human

and other than human world.

Before the arena is cleared, the court

returned to the players,

before each of us is drawn

back into the fields

of our fearless investigations,

let us turn to one another—

the diverse, expanding universe!—

in whom we find strength

and love of truth, and let us say

amen.

OFF THE PAGEP

HO

TO

BY

PE

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The summer Concerts on the Quad drew a crowd of more than 4,700 for five performances, starting with local stand-out Sirius.B. Community partners Mission Health and the Asheville Citizen-Times sponsored the series. (Photo by David Allen ’13)

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The Heart of Campus

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