Volume 7, No. 1 FALL 2014

M A G A Z I N E

ashevilleUNC

Alumni entrepreneurs at home in the building business

Tiny House, Big Dreams

INSIDE

Meet Chancellor Mary K. Grant

The Edges of Knowledge

International Players

When Mary K. Grant steps into her role as seventh

chancellor of UNC Asheville in January 2015, she’ll be on

familiar footing, having served for 12 years as president

of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), a

designated public liberal arts university and a fellow

member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges.

“I have a profound passion for the mission of UNC

Asheville,” Grant says. “I think about how my life has

been shaped by public higher education–I’m a graduate

of two public institutions–and I believe deeply in it. It’s

a sector that needs continued strong leadership and

advocacy in telling our story.”

Grant holds an undergraduate degree in sociology

from North Adams State College (now MCLA), a

master’s degree in public affairs from the University

of Massachusetts and a doctorate in social policy from

Brandeis University. She’s worked as both an educator

and administrator, with a focus on student success.

“When I talk with students about what they are going to

do next, it makes me excited, because they talk about

opportunities. They are not frightened by the future,

and they talk about how they can shape their own future.

It’s the confidence that comes with a high-quality liberal

arts education.”

Grant is confident she’ll find that same determined

nature in the Bulldogs, when she and her husband,

Jim Canavan, join their new community in Asheville.

Coming from the MCLA Trailblazers, they are ready

to discover and define new paths while working with

the community to build upon the strong foundation at

UNC Asheville.

“We are so excited about this move because of the people

that we have met. We can see ourselves being a part of

something and making a difference alongside people

who care about the same things we do.”

MEET CHANCELLOR MARY K. GRANT

Hear more from Chancellor Grant in our welcome video at magazine.unca.edu

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Meet Mary Grant Welcoming UNC Asheville’s seventh chancellor to campus

International Players Student-athletes on familiar courts in a new country

F E AT U R E S

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Big Dreams, Small HouseAlumni entrepreneurs join the tiny-house movement to build their homes and businesses (Photo by Peter Lorenz)

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contents

12 The Edges of Knowledge Four areas of study that blur the boundaries between disciplines

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UNC ASHEVILLE SENIOR STAFFINTERIM CHANCELLOR Doug Orr

INTERIM PROVOST AND VICE CHANCELLOR FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS Joe Urgo

VICE CHANCELLOR FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS William K. Haggard

VICE CHANCELLOR FOR FINANCE AND CAMPUS OPERATIONS John Pierce

VICE CHANCELLOR FOR UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT Buffy Bagwell

SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR FOR UNIVERSITY ENTERPRISES AND ATHLETICS DIRECTOR Janet Cone

CHIEF OF STAFF Christine Riley

GENERAL COUNSEL Heather Parlier

UNC ASHEVILLE MAGAZINE STAFFEDITOR Amy Jessee

DESIGNERS Nanette Johnson, Mary Ann Lawrence

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Paul Clark, Aaron Dahlstrom ‘09, Hannah Epperson ‘11, Jon Elliston, Mike Gore, Amy Jessee, Steve Plever, Karen Shugart ‘99, Melissa Stanz, Rebecca Sulock ‘00, Cory Thompson ‘16

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS David Allen ‘13, Luke Bukoski, John Fletcher, Peter Lorenz, Galen McGee ‘08, Matt Rose, Nick Sloff

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 magazine@unca.edu.

UNC ASHEVILLE ALUMNI OFFICEASSOCIATE VICE CHANCELLOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS & ANNUAL GIVING Laura Herndon

Address ChangesOffice of University Advancement & Alumni GivingCPO #3800 • UNC Asheville One University Heights • Asheville, NC 28804alumni@unca.edu • 800.774.3381

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 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, November 2014

32,500 copies of this magazine were printed on paper with recycled content at a cost of $15,985 or 49 cents each.

AU T U M N I S A S E A S ON OF B E AU T Y,

especially in our picturesque mountains,

as well as a transition from the green

days of summer to winter’s altered

landscape and then the promise of

spring. So it is with UNC Asheville, as

we segue from the superb nine-year

tenure of Anne Ponder to the great

promise of Chancellor-elect Mary

Grant. Other transitions are at work

as well: the leadership of Academic Affairs by our experienced

interim provost Joe Urgo, faculty and staff retirements and new

hires, and upcoming transitions on the Board of Trustees. It also is a

time of unprecedented change in higher education: new educational

delivery systems, a changing student demographic, the twin forces of

technology and globalism, new budget challenges, and so it goes.

As your interim chancellor, I am privileged to partner with so many

connected to this fine university. While UNC Asheville, like our many

sister institutions, must be resourceful and creative in facing the

changing landscape of higher education, there is so much for which

we are blessed, starting with a distinctive and respected mission

as the state’s pre-eminent public liberal arts university. We have

students who seek out this university on their journey to making

a difference in the world; a highly talented faculty committed to

student-centered learning; staff who make a significant impact on

the campus learning environment; loyal alumni who contribute to the

betterment of society; thoughtful university friends; and a setting

that is the envy of every visitor who ventures into our beautiful

mountain region.

This fall issue of UNC Asheville Magazine highlights a number

of impressive accomplishments reflecting the spectrum of the

university’s continued growth and impact, such as the renovated

dining hall in Brown Hall, profiles of international student-athletes,

interdisciplinary research and teaching that extends the boundaries

of our knowledge, and alumni who are making their homes after

graduation in innovative ways.

And finally, we welcome and introduce our chancellor-elect, Mary

Grant, who will join this university in January after 12 highly

productive years at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, a fellow

member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC). As

co-chair of the chancellor search committee, I know that I express the

sentiment of the committee members that we are pleased Mary and

her spouse, Jim Canavan, will soon be heading from the Berkshires to

the Blue Ridge!

—Interim Chancellor Doug Orr

D E PA R T M E N TS

ON THE COVER: Annelise DeJong Hagedorn ’12 and Jake Hagedorn ’12 on the porch of their tiny home. (Photo by Nick Sloff)

A R O U N D T H E Q UA DO F F T H E PA G E G I V I N G B A C KP R A C T I C A L LY S P E A K I N G G O, B U L L D O G S !C L A S S N O T E SC R E AT I V E R E T I R E M E N T

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A Season of Transition

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

Recent graduates Kyle Cavagnini ’14,

Hannah Clark ’14, Sam Moser ’14 and

Gillian Scruggs ’11 have been selected

for prestigious Fulbright Scholarships,

which fund research and teaching

experiences abroad. The four were

selected this spring for the quality of

their proposals and their academic

and professional achievements, among

other factors. These scholarships, spon-

sored by the U.S. Department of State,

have now been awarded to 42 students

and graduates of UNC Asheville.

Cavagnini will travel to Norway to

research neuropathic disorders, build-

ing from his double-major in chemistry

and philosophy and extensive under-

graduate research. Clark will teach in

Germany, a good fit for her double major

in German and psychology. Interna-

tional studies major Moser will teach in

South Korea, a country he first visited

during a summer study abroad experi-

ence. Scruggs was awarded a Fulbright

Scholarship to travel to Brazil to teach

English, but she has decided instead

to accept what she calls her dream job

at the Alzar School in Idaho, where she

will teach Advanced Spanish, AP World

History, AP U.S. History, backpacking,

whitewater kayaking, and lead trips to

Chile twice a year to promote interna-

tional cultural awareness.

GRADUATES EARN FULBRIGHT

SCHOLARSHIPSFour Awards Bring

UNC Asheville’s total to 42 Scholars

Kyle Cavagnini (left) gained hands-on experience in the lab with faculty mentor Ted Meigs.

Hannah Clark Sam Moser Gillian Scruggs

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CULINARY EXPERIENCEA Taste of What’s New in the Dining Hall

AROUND THE QUAD

This fall, UNC Asheville students have

a new dining experience, in a famil-

iar place—with the opening of the

renovated Brown Hall on August 21.

The renovations come as part of UNC

Asheville’s new 10-year contract with

Chartwells, funded primarily through a

$3 million investment by Chartwells.

“The renovated space is very Asheville,”

says Senior Director of Dining Services

Emily Williams. “We used reclaimed

materials and commissioned local art-

ists to construct the community tables.

We also created areas to make students

feel at home, such as the ‘relax’ space

that mirrors a residential area.”

“We met with the designers early on to

hear the overall changes, then again to

see the details. We discussed every-

thing about the dining hall from traffic

flow to lighting choices,” said political

science major Rachel Collman, a mem-

ber of the Dining Services Student

Advisory Group. “It looks like it will

be a more comfortable and welcoming

space that will feel less like a cafeteria.”

The expanded open space adds 100

seats indoors and outdoors, as well as a

hydroponic herb wall.

Recent renovations also have been

completed to Highsmith Union Food

Court, The DownUnder in Overlook

Hall, Argo Tea in Ramsey Library, and

Rosetta’s Kitchenette in the Sherrill

Center’s Wellness Cafe.

See more of the new dining hall at magazine.unca.edu

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

AROUND THE QUAD

CAMPUS GROWTH Land Purchases Expand UNC Asheville’s Acreage

The UNC Asheville Foundation con-

tinues to acquire land on behalf of

the university, including the newest

property located on Zillicoa Street.

The August purchase from Highland

Park LLC comes at a reduced price

of $1.1 million as part of a gift to the

university. It includes two tracts:

4.5 acres near the corner of Zillicoa

Street and 2.5 acres that border six

acres of land acquired in January

from the Odyssey Community

School. UNC Asheville also owns

9.3 acres at the 525 Broadway

Property, acquired in 2011 from

TD Bank when the former Health

Adventure children’s museum

development filed for bankruptcy.

A portion of the property has been

developed as part of the Reed Creek

Greenway, providing a section of a

route that will further connect the

campus to downtown Asheville.

“UNC Asheville currently has little

room for expansion and the remain-

ing undeveloped property on cam-

pus would be difficult and costly to

develop because it lacks flat build-

ing sites. So when property that is

close to campus becomes available,

the university makes every effort to

acquire that land for future growth,”

said John Pierce, vice chancellor for

finance and campus operations.

The university will determine use

of the land through the ongoing

campus master-planning process.

New media major Bryan Smith at work in NEMAC’s downtown engagement site.

SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENTSMcCullough Institute Provides Research Funding for Students

The McCullough Institute for

Conservation, Land Use and

Environmental Resiliency launched

at UNC Asheville in June, thanks

to a $1 million endowment com-

mitment from Dr. Charles T.

McCullough Jr. and his wife, Shirley

Anne McCullough, to promote envi-

ronmental study and service.

The institute’s mission begins with

students—two have been named

to McCullough Institute Student

Internships, under the supervision

of the National Environmental

Modeling and Analysis Center

(NEMAC). New media major Bryan

Smith and sociology and anthro-

pology major Stacie Toropova work

with local organizations on issues

surrounding natural resources,

quality of life and the long-term

health of the region, including an

examination of local and regional food

assets and food security. Their work

has the potential to assist governments,

interest groups and the public in iden-

tifying, managing and enhancing the

southern Appalachian area’s unique

human and natural vitality.

“I’m so glad the opportunity arose to

work on the Southern Appalachian

Vitality Index,” said Smith, a senior.

“The project, a product of the Southern

Appalachian Man and the Biosphere

(SAMAB), is an education in the inter-

woven nature of human existence

within a unique culture, topography

and climate across seven states. The

lessons learned reach from sociology

to economics to ecology and beyond.

It is a liberal arts education enveloped

by the mountains of the South.”

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To support additional McCullough Institute scholars and have an impact on the regional community and environment, visit giving.unca.edu

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AROUND THE QUAD

CIVIC LEARNING AND LEADERSHIPProvost Joe Urgo Brings Expertise in the Liberal Arts

Joe Urgo has been named UNC

Asheville’s interim provost, filling a

vacancy created when Provost Jane

Fernandes joined Guilford College as

its president on July 1, 2014.

A former senior fellow with the

Association of American Colleges and

Universities, Urgo has also served

as president at St. Mary’s College of

Maryland, dean of faculty at Hamilton

College, and department chair in

REACHING NEW HEIGHTS OF SUSTAINABILITYSolar Panels Top Overlook Hall

Director of Sustainability Sonia Marcus introduces students to the newest addition to Overlook Hall—

112 photovoltaic (PV) panels donated from Strata Solar. The rooftop panels are connected to the university’s

electrical grid, with the capacity to power about 300 laptop computers—making it a perfect fit for the residence hall.

English at the University of Mississippi

and at Bryant University. He is an

advocate for liberal arts education as

a matter of national defense and civic

responsibility, topics he blogs about for

The Huffington Post.

Urgo’s familiarity with UNC Asheville

stems from the prior academic year,

when he taught a literature classroom

session and participated in a faculty

learning circle on “Defending the

Liberal Arts.” He also has worked

with the Council of Public Liberal

Arts Colleges

(COPLAC),

which is

headquartered at

UNC Asheville,

and assisted in

the planning of

a civic learning/

civic engagement

initiative.

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OFF THE PAGE

music technology major Kevin Forté goes to class, eats lunch

in the dining hall with his friends, and spends a few hours

working as a clerk in the mailroom. It’s a schedule he’s kept

since freshman year in 2011, with increasing responsibility

and more advanced coursework. He makes time for extracur-

ricular activities too. He tinkers with computers and guitars.

And for one week of the year, he transforms into a warrior,

identifiable by the running shoes, Nerf rifle, and bright-

colored arm band.

The game is called Humans versus Zombies, or HvZ for short.

The rules are simple enough. The game lasts a week and all

but one or two people start on Team Human. Should a

human be tagged by a zombie, they mutate and become part

of Team Zombie. Humans arm themselves with Nerf weap-

ons. Blasting a zombie will stun him for 15 minutes, which

is just enough time to run. As a human, survive the week. If

you’re a zombie, conquer the campus. Either way, keep going

to classes. HvZ is an extracurricular activity.

Academic halls, residence halls and the cafeteria are safe

zones. No shooting and no tagging. Everywhere else is

fair game.

Forté quickly learned this new campus landscape during

his first year, establishing a hideout near Brown Hall.

Nearby, zombies had trapped six humans. One zombie saw

the pack of humans heading for a meal. News travels fast

on a college campus.

“Suddenly there were five or six zombies hiding by every

door and more in the bushes waiting to jump people,” Forté

recalled. “The humans inside were waiting for hours for

someone to bail them out.”

Forté and his friends took on the mission.

“It was almost like we were part of a SWAT team,” Forté said.

“We stormed the parking deck and stunned the zombies wait-

ing there before they knew what was happening.”

Then, chaos erupted.

NOT YOUR AVERAGE ZOMBIEStudents Suit Up for Annual Alternative Athletics Activity By Cory A. Thompson ’16

the shelter of the university union. According to HvZ facil-

itator and sociology major Jackson Gantt, the humans are

always safe —and that’s the point.

“I want it to be fun,” Gantt said. “I appreciate the excitement

of being a human and walking outside wondering, ‘Am I

going to be tagged?’ but I’m not going for a scary or paranoid

vibe. At the end of the week I want people to think, ‘Wow,

that was a really fun time.’”

The activity is sponsored by a club called the UNC Asheville

Alternative Athletics Association or A4 for short. Each

year, students take time out of their schedule to participate

in HvZ.

For some, the game gives them a different character or reveals

a different side of their character.

“Kevin is thoughtful and introspective—someone who doesn’t

say a whole lot unless he has something to say,” observed

Jude Weinberg, associate director of music technology.

“But in one class, he made a video styled as a horror

movie—old-school black and white with a turntable. It

was very creative. He took things a step further in electron-

ics class. He built his own interface while most people were

taking stuff out of the box.”

after the parking deck raid, Forté has traded his rifle for a

moderator’s megaphone. He’s managing the mailroom. He’s

spent time working as a resident assistant and has moved

from playing with audio equipment to building it. Even

though he lives off campus, he says he can’t stay away

from Humans versus Zombies. He might even play again

this semester.

“As a moderator, I got to meet every single player instead

of just the ones in my circle of protection,” Forté said. “But

either way, you meet a lot of people and make a lot of friends

through HvZ. You have to strategize and collaborate with

everyone. If you are on someone’s team and they are your

teammate then you have to like them, at least for a little

while. That is, if you want to survive.”

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Experience this year’s fall edition of Humans versus Zombies at magazine.unca.edu

Kevin Forté is a human among zombies (left to right) Kayla Russell, Jimmy Villatoro, Ian Phillips (hand) and Chantae Shor, with zombie makeup by junior drama major Ashley Wilson (not pictured).

The story on Humans versus Zombies is captured by junior mass communication and anthropology major Cory A. Thompson. (PHOTO BY LUKE BUKOSKI)

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GIVING BACK

Remember your first year at college? You probably felt excited, hopeful and

thrilled at having freedom. Odds are you were also feeling insecure, uncertain

about what to do and how to fit in. Now imagine what that first year feels like for

first-generation college students, many of whom have no idea what to expect and

no one to help them find out.

Succeeding in the first year is critical to staying in school and graduating, and

that’s the focus for UNC Asheville’s AVID (Advancement via Individual Determina-

tion) for Higher Education initiative. This national program helps first-generation

college students—some from low-income families and other underrepresented

groups—improve their odds of success in college.

THE BULLDOG EXPERIENCEAVID Living/Learning Initiative Aims for Success By Melissa Stanz

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GIVING BACK

In the pilot year of the AVID for Higher

Education program at UNC Asheville,

101 students were accepted into the

program. Deaver Traywick, director

of the University Writing Center and

Peer Tutoring Program, is the campus

liaison to AVID for Higher Education,

working with AVID and many depart-

ments on campus.

“AVID for Higher Education is both a

program and a philosophy,” he said.

“There are several components to

the program, including a first-year

seminar that uses active learning strat-

egies and AVID’s emphasis on writing,

inquiry-based learning, collaboration,

organization and reading (WICOR).”

All AVID students are participating in

an additional course called the Bulldog

Experience, which covers the transition

to college, leadership, health and well-

ness, careers and academic integrity.

To help the students bond and better

adjust to college life, they all reside in a

Living Learning Community in Found-

ers Hall. They also receive tutoring and

advising that provides extra support.

“I appreciate living in an all-freshman

hall,” said AVID student Katie Ritchie.

“Having all of us together builds com-

munity, and our hall is really close after

just a few weeks.”

“National research shows that students

who participate in living learning com-

munities have better grades, stronger

connections to their institutions,

and higher rates of retention,” said

Melanie Fox, associate dean of students.

“With students from underrepresent-

ed populations, and those who are

first-generation college students,

creating these connections can be the

difference that causes the student to

succeed at a higher level.”

The program builds on UNC Asheville’s

nationally respected 15-year track

record of tutoring Asheville City

Schools’ middle- and high-school AVID

students to prepare them for college.

In 2014, UNC Asheville became the

first four-year university in North

Carolina to join the AVID for Higher

Education initiative.

The university dedicated substantial

resources to program training for

faculty and staff when they started the

AVID process two years ago. Dozens of

faculty and staff members also commit-

ted to helping with the program, many

drawing from their own experience as

first-generation college students.

External support includes a grant from

the Dell Foundation through the AVID

for Higher Education program, one of

only 10 awarded in the United States.

The funding supports training at AVID

conferences and on campus for faculty

and staff, as well as membership in the

AVID national organization.

The Sisters of Mercy of North Carolina

Foundation also funds part of the

program. The foundation is providing

additional resources for training, up-

fitting a collaborative learning center

for AVID students, and offering fund-

ing for students to conduct undergrad-

uate research and participate in other

academic activities.

“We place a high importance on student

academic success for underrepresented

populations. UNC Asheville’s collabora-

tion with the AVID for Higher Educa-

tion program, a program that equips

largely first-generation college students

with skill sets to break the cycle of

generational poverty, is a wonderful fit

for the mission of the foundation,” said

Michelle Maidt, foundation president.

The goal for AVID’s first year is to help

students become fully immersed in

the campus community. That integra-

tion will help them stay in school and

achieve higher GPAs.

“We are committed to all students

enrolled at UNC Asheville,” said

Traywick, “but we’re making a partic-

ular effort to better serve the needs of

students from underrepresented groups

on campus. We are dedicated to their

success and to seeing them graduate.”

Learn more about helping first-generation college students succeed and share your story as a first-generation college student at giving.unca.edu/avid

“I appreciate living in an all-freshman hall. Having all of us together builds community, and our hall is really close after just a few weeks.” —AVID student Katie Ritchie

Left: Meg Clark Johnson, assistant director of residential education, works with Rayna Pharr and Noah Tittle during the Bulldog Experience class.

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WRITTEN BY HANNAH EPPERSON ’11

Blurring the Boundaries Between Disciplines

Interdisciplinary innovation stems from UNC Asheville’s classes, programs and undergraduate research projects. Take a look at four areas of study that merge majors, create connections and might change your view of the world.

the edges of knowledge

1 4 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E

Consider Pete Seeger singing a protest song about pollution in the Hudson River, or the music created by whale and birdsong.

Those topics come into focus in Ecomusic, which collapses the boundaries between music and the natural world.

“I think it’s a mark of our times that we’re beginning to ask whether or not the kind of philosophy that we’ve been applying to music is tired out, and that maybe we should start seeing the environment as an equal partner in our music-making,” said William Bares, assistant professor of music at UNC Asheville and host of the global Ecomusics and Ecomusicologies Conference held on campus this fall.

The conference appeals to both musicians and environmental activists, at all points on the spectrum.

“Ecocriticism is meant to turn our attention as scholars and as human beings to the ways we tend to tune out our environment,” Bares said. “And tuning in may be precisely the thing that’s needed right now in order to address the pressing issues that we’ve got.” Ecomusic, as an expression of ecocriticism, is ideally suited to encourage that.

“As a liberal arts campus, we believe that it is through inter- and intra- and trans-disciplinary study and education about issues like sustainability that we will achieve the greatest effect,” said Sonia Marcus, director of sustainability at UNC Asheville, who co-hosted the event.

ecomusicEnvironmental Science and Music

“To me, the Ecomusicologies Conference is a perfect expression of this academic and philosophical approach that we have here at this institution.”

That intersection took the form of a multimedia performance presented by the Fry Street Quartet and physicist Robert Davies, aptly titled “The Crossroads Project” for addressing climate change and environmental sustainability through a combination of scientific information, imagery, theater and— of course—music.

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We hold these tubers to be self-evident, that all manageresses are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creek with certain unalienable Rigorists, that among these are Lifetime, License and the pushover of Hardship.

“That’s one of the most well-known constraints in Oulipo—the N+7 algorithm, where every noun in a given text is replaced by the seventh noun following it in an agreed upon dictionary,” explained Associate Professor of Mathematics and University Honors Program Director Patrick Bahls.

Oulipo—an acronym for ouvroir de littérature potentielle, or workshop for potential literature—requires writers to use special constraints under which to write. Bahls taught a special topics course in the subject this past summer.

“It wasn’t so much to produce new works of literature as it was to produce new means of focusing or forcing the way in which one could write literature,” he said.

Other constraints include lipograms, in which a specific letter is intentionally omitted from the text. For example, Georges Perec’s novel La disparition was written entirely without using the letter “e.”

It may seem silly—and it is, a little.

“The line between what is serious and what is playful can sometimes be blurred,” Bahls said. “But this is the beautiful thing about Oulipian constraint; it really forces a sort of creativity to come to light.”

Adrian Suskauer, a junior double-majoring in history and Spanish, found that source of creativity, though

oulipoMathematics and Creative Writing

he wasn’t entirely sure what Oulipo was when he signed up for Bahls’ class. He became such a fan of the writing style that he’s considering starting an Oulipian writing group, and he and Bahls have plans to write an Oulipian play together.

“I don’t know why math and literature come together in that way, but they really do work together beautifully,” Suskauer said. “The biggest reason why Oulipo really speaks to me, and why it’s really so effective, is that it’s a way to exert control over our creativity, and by doing so bring out its potential more.”

“The kinds of constraints that mathematics forces on you are artificial in the sense that you would not discover them if you were ensconced comfortably in literature only,” Bahls said. “I think it helps coming from a perspective outside the discipline to nudge people in another discipline and say, here’s an idea, have you thought of this?”

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You don’t need a paintbrush and easel to create art. In the Creative Fabrication course, taught by Rebecca Bruce and Susan Reiser, students create art through technology, gaining hands-on experience in the process.

Students were asked to design and create a number of artistic and functional projects based on the theme of disability. They used a 3D CAD (computer-aided design) software program to create virtual models of their projects, and then turned their designs into reality in the machine shop.

“The notion is that technology can be used creatively for personal expression, for exploring yourself and representing yourself,” said Bruce, professor of computer science and associate director of engineering programs.

“We were looking for more of the tangible technologies,” explained Reiser, lecturer in computer science and new media and associate dean of natural sciences.

“We wanted to combine shop skills and electronics along with computer science in the class.”

For example, engineering major Jason McCrary’s project included an origami hand embedded with red LED lights that pulsated as a representation of arthritis. While the project was primarily an artistic one, it took computer science and engineering capabilities to design it and make it work.

For her final project, mechatronics engineering major Jennifer Cory created an electronic medication reminder—a functional project that required an artistic touch to produce.

creative fabrication

Art and Computer Science

“You could program it to store up to so many medications,” Cory said. “So if you had to repeat it every third day, you could. Everything was compact. It had a screen, which told you which medications to take, and a light. It was simple.”

Cory drew inspiration from family members coping with illness and caretaking. She did everything from designing the program to soldering the pieces together.

“Technology and art don’t seem to go together, but they do,” Cory said. “They have to. You have to be creative to invent.”

FA L L 2 0 1 4 1 7

Connecting multinational corporations and deforestation to uterine prolapse in women is not an easy path to trace, but students in Lyndi Hewitt’s sociology course have taken the steps to discover the link.

How? The answer is complicated, and it lies in the study of globalization and development, and its intersection with women and gender studies.

“Women in parts of the developing world are responsible for gathering water and fuel and firewood for their families,” explained Hewitt, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology. “The gendered division of labor means that those are considered women’s responsibilities.

“As governments and private corporations have destroyed or claimed natural resources such as forests and clean water, women are having to travel farther and farther while carrying wood and water, which are very heavy. This form of structural violence can cause substantial damage to women’s bodies” she said.

The increased physical strain not only increases their caloric need, which they may not be able to satisfy, it also puts them at higher risk for uterine prolapse, which increases the risk of problems during pregnancy and birth.

“So when we ask questions like how can we improve women’s health in the developing world, or how can we decrease maternal mortality, the answer is not simple,” Hewitt said. Hewitt’s course in Gender, Globalization and Development explores a variety of complicated issues

gender & globalization

Women’s Studies and Sociology

like this one, such as violence against women, the percentage of women living in poverty, and women’s participation in the labor force and in political leadership. Students in the course study the works of economists, sociologists, political scientists and feminist theorists to gain a variety of perspectives.

“You can’t boil it down to one issue,” she said. “You have to address multiple issues, and intersections of those issues in order to craft meaningful solutions.” 4

$

1 8 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E

FA L L 2 0 1 4 1 9

Small HousesRanging from 100 to 800 square feet,

tiny houses have become a big movement that counts several UNC Asheville alumni

among its members—

builders, bloggers, believersWritten by Karen Shugart ’99

Photos by Peter Lorenz and Nick Sloff

2 0 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E

The Hagedorns’ loft has windows on three sides and plenty of space for sleeping or sitting.

any UNC Asheville alumni credit their under-graduate education with giving them the tools to start their own businesses.

In the case of Jake Hagedorn ’12 and Annelise DeJong Hagedorn ’12, those tools have included the traditional critical- and creative-thinking skills associated with the liberal arts and a few that they have picked up along the way, such as wood saws, routers and T-squares. The couple founded the Brevard Tiny House Company at the begin-ning of 2013. Now in graduate school at Penn State, the Hagedorns not only build tiny homes, they live in one.

They aren’t alone in choosing the lifestyle. Another alumnus, Ryan Mitchell ’07, maintains a popular blog, The Tiny Life, and earlier this year published a book on the subject, Tiny House Living: Ideas for Building and Living Well in Less Than 400 Square Feet.

All three say UNC Asheville gave them a foundation on which to build their ideas.

Jake Hagedorn, an environmental studies graduate, learned about tiny houses in Environmental Studies 330 and studied alternative techniques for heating a home in a solar design class.

One of his professors, Kevin Moorhead, even remem-bers Hagedorn talking with him outside of class about building a tiny home.

“I really loved the idea, because a tiny home would certainly reduce the ecological foot print,” Moorhead said. “You can get so much living space in the tiny space that you have in these homes.”

Mitchell also recalls that the climate on campus was ripe for such ideas even outside the classroom. “If you spend any time at UNC Asheville, you know there is an environmental consciousness there,” said Mitchell.

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The tiny-house movement urges people to reevaluate the spaces they call home. Its devotees ask, how much home is enough? Can one live more simply in a small home? While not a new concept, tiny-house living has struck a chord among many people for varied reasons.

Jake Hagedorn attributes some of the idea’s popularity to an increased awareness in environmental sustainability. Also, he suggests, the recession and ensuing slow recovery have prompted many people to rethink their relationships with material goods and consumption. At a time when rents are on the rise and mortgages remain harder to get, living in a cash-paid house has its appeal.

“People are more willing to think outside the box,” adds his wife, Annelise DeJong Hagedorn, a sociology graduate.

For the Hagedorns, the decision to “live tiny” came in Sri Lanka. The two had moved there after Annelise earned a Fulbright Fellowship to teach English. They came to the

You never get bored building a tiny house. You can finish the roof

in one day. You can finish the bath in one day.

—Jake Hagedorn

Smallcountry with few possessions and lived in a 300-square-foot, two-bedroom house.

“It worked out really well because Jake got to come along with me and be co-teacher,” Annelise said.

“We primarily lived in the one bedroom because it was the room that provided the best air circulation from the fan,” Jake said. “Since it was so hot, we were always under the fan. It was the perfect experience for us to realize that we did not need much space to be happy and comfortable.”

The day after they returned to the United States, the cou-ple and their families began building. They bought materials from around the Southeast and used walnut and maple beams milled at the company’s Depression-era sawmill. They made certain to include many windows—11 highly efficient, low-E, argon gas-filled windows—so that they could feel like they were outdoors without exposing them to the elements.

The building process was satisfying in a way that tra-ditional home construction isn’t, Jake said. “You never get bored building a tiny house. You can finish the roof in one day. You can finish the bath in one day.”

Only a month later, the house was ready to be hitched and towed to State College, Pa., where the two began graduate

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

Work

school at Penn State in August 2013. Annelise is pursuing a master’s degree in rural sociology while Jake works toward a master’s degree in hydrogeology.

They dubbed the home “Keep on the Sunny Side,” in part because of its yellow exterior, but also as a reminder to “keep on the sunny side of life,” Jake said. “It also aligns with the tiny-house lifestyle that it is best to always be happy and do what works best for you.”

The 8-foot-by-24-foot house has standard home amenities, including a washer/dryer and shower. Their utilities aver-age $40 or less each month, and they price the home at only $39,000.

“We wanted to make it of utmost quality,” Annelise said. “We wanted to make this house last a long time. We have a really sturdy roof. We didn’t spare any ex-pense when it came to the functionality of the house.”

Living in a tiny home isn’t for everyone, Jake said. But for them, it works.

“I would not give up the tiny house for any apartment,” he said. “The tiny house feels like our home. It’s something we built. The aesthetic feels like a home. It feels very sturdy and long-lasting. We can decorate it like we want.”

They park “Keep on the Sunny Side” on land rented from a Pennsylvania family, while their families help maintain the business at Annelise’s parents’ house in Brevard. Both of their fathers have construction experience, while their mothers contribute ideas and web design know-how. Their hometown has embraced their venture, she said, and they’ve received much encouragement online.

The business is a side venture for the couple and their families. “The tiny house is an investment we can live in for a few more years,” Annelise said. “We own it outright.”

Jake added, “Even if we move out, if kids come along and we want a little bigger space, it can be used as a guest house. We feel it’s a lifetime investment.”

But for now, they are enjoying their handmade space and family-owned business.

“We were surprised at how much positive feedback we’ve received,” Annelise said. “Hopefully, it takes off, but we have other dreams too.”

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...tiny houses are a vehicle to live the life that you want to lead.

—Ryan Mitchell

For Ryan Mitchell, owning his own business is his dream. A psychology graduate, he worked in the corporate world briefly before earning a master’s degree in human resources from Western Carolina University and joining a nonprofit in Charlotte. As he began examining his relationship with money and material goods, he realized he wanted a simpler life—one that was less subject to the whims of the U.S. economy. Building and owning a 150-square-foot home that he could easily tow, he said, freed him to pursue his goals and dreams.

The 150-square-foot home will have a sleeping loft with a queen-sized bed as well as a shower, bathroom, and kitchen. Utilities include water, electricity, heating, air, and Internet. He plans to build it himself, with some help from family, in a little more than a year.

“It’s really just a normal house on a very small scale,” he said.

Now, as managing editor of TheTinyLife.com, he provides guidance for others who might wish to do the same. Living in a tiny house requires know-how, he said, like how to navigate municipal building codes. Many towns and counties require a minimum square-footage that some tiny houses simply don’t have.

“Probably the single-biggest issue that tiny houses face is building codes and zoning,” he said. “In most cases, it’s not a safety or public nuisance concern. It’s ar-chaic codes that don’t really meet the needs of citizens.”

Like the Hagedorns, Mitchell is building his home on a trailer. That way, he said, he has flexibility to simply hitch up his home and drive away.

“If it were ever to happen that the city said, ‘You can’t live in this tiny house,’ I can rent a truck and be gone in an hour.”

Mitchell and The Tiny Life have been featured in the Los Angeles Times, the BBC, Huffington Post and Forbes, among others. Last year, Betterway Home approached him to publish a book.

“I’ve never written so much in such a short time,” he said. “At the time, I was still at my full-time job, but I was trying to take the leap to become a full-time blogger.”

The result, which has drawn accolades on Amazon.com, is not a building guide. “It’s mainly a guide on how tiny houses are a vehicle to live the life that you want to lead, how tiny houses can facilitate your goals and dreams,” he said.

That approach, which stems from his liberal arts educa-tion and interdisciplinary knowledge, means making the lifestyle accessible to others, on a small or large scale.

“Knowing how to learn and how to digest information was something that I developed a knack for at UNC Asheville and was able to transfer to this work,” he said. “I’d never really built anything prior to the tiny house.”

Now he’s got the house building under his belt and a busi-ness to build as well. 4

Big

2 4 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E

PRACTICALLY SPEAKINGPRACTICALLY SPEAKING

RETURN ON INVESTMENTStudents, Faculty and Staff Weigh in on ROI By Amy Jessee

The Princeton Review, Fiske Guide to Colleges, and

Kiplinger’s Personal Finance all include UNC Asheville among

the ranks of Best Buys and Best Values, but according to a

PayScale survey released in March 2014, UNC Asheville is

among the schools with the worst return on investment (ROI)

when measured by salary and costs, particularly for out-of-

state students (-4.8 percent or -$62,500 over a 20-year career).

But does ROI measure the value of an education?

“Return on investment and net present value [the two num-

bers from the PayScale ranking] are concepts developed for

making business decisions, such as should I buy a machine

or not or should I replace my computer system with a newer

and fancier computer system,” explains Associate Professor

of Economics Chris Bell. “All that matters in those decisions

is dollars and cents. When you start talking about careers

and lifetimes, there are a lot of other factors that are more

difficult to attach numbers to.”

Economists such as Bell and colleague Leah Greden

Mathews, professor of economics and Interdisciplinary

Distinguished Professor of the Mountain South, factor in

these nonmonetary values to their research and classes.

“Literature in economics and other fields such as psychology

and sociology help us understand how people use value in

their lives,” explains Mathews. “One example is a choosing a

residential location. People look at home prices, but they also

look at the value of neighborhoods, school quality, and other

community amenities.”

With college education constituting one of the biggest

investment in a person’s life, second only after a house, it’s

easy to try to assess its value in a similar way, but in this

case, the individual has a greater role to play in determining

the result. What you make out of your college education can

be just as important as what you make.

“When you are talking about a

liberal arts degree, we don’t

know exactly where it might

lead because you can go in many

directions,” says UNC Asheville

Provost Joe Urgo. “That concept

of return on investment starts to

break down. How do you mea-

sure life satisfaction?”

Sizing up the Change

“In this context, finding a negative

return on investment isn’t neces-

sarily a bad thing; it is instead a

measure of how much income the

students in the sample are willing

to give up in order to have jobs

they love or to live in places as

attractive as Asheville,” says Bell.

“The sample of students surveyed

by PayScale could easily have in-

cluded an unusually large number

of students intending to go into

STUDENTS SPEAK UPUNC Asheville students are ready to talk about the value of their education

Giovanni Figaro As senior accounting major Giovanni Figaro states, “One of the

things that makes my college education worthwhile are the intellec-tual tools I have been given to prepare me for problems that stretch beyond the textbook and into the real world. Most of my professors make sure to translate the vocabulary, strategies and ideologies we are learning about into road maps for tackling challenges we will like-

ly face in the working world or life in general. Since we take classes across the board, we are that much more prepared to face a wide array

of issues and understand many different voices and perspectives.”

Randi Carter Senior chemistry major Randi Carter says, “The liberal arts aspect of UNC Asheville makes you not only a scholar of just your major, but also a scholar of the world. This understanding allows for great human interaction that encourages trust, which is something I highly value due to my career path of becoming a doctor. And with my education at UNC Asheville, I know I have some advantages in the competitive process of applying to medical school.”

FA L L 2 0 1 4 2 5

PRACTICALLY SPEAKINGPRACTICALLY SPEAKING

such low-paying professions as teaching, social work

and the arts. Such students might be willing to give

up—and indeed, because the lower-paying majors are

well known, consciously choose to give up—some in-

come in exchange for the rewards that come from a life

filled with artistic expression or of service to others.”

History professor Dan Pierce is seeing a shift toward

that paradigm, particularly as the job market changes

over time.

“The value of a college degree is still there, but it is not going

to be realized the day after graduation,” he says. “Instead of

retiring at 50-something, these graduates might retire later

in their 60s or 70s. So if you consider a 30- to 35-year work-

ing career, it’s going to take a few years to get into their ca-

reer. But this is an opportunity for our students. Those years

in your 20s give you the opportunity for service learning

such as AmeriCorps or travel. You have the time, energy and

youth on your side. That’s the strength of this generation.

Students need to be prepared to enjoy those years of their

career searching. They have a variety of skills they can take

advantage of and they can adapt to a world of work that is

rapidly changing.”

Articulating Degrees of ValueThat opportunity for students to expand their concept of

career path and redefine their return on investment also can

be articulated during the start of their career search, and

it’s something that employers are looking for, according to

Marlane Mowitz, director of UNC Asheville’s Career Center.

“We aren’t telling the full story of our value. Our students

have the liberal arts mindset—that’s like gold. They come

to employers with that mindset, and they bring the exper-

tise of their major too, whether it is in the natural sciences,

humanities or social sciences. Our employers are surprised

by that expertise. We are training professionals in fields of

studies—those are the majors. Our students know how to

solve problems and think critically—it’s that knowledge cap-

ital that is very important to employers. That’s the return on

investment, and it’s in the students’ hands. It’s the students’

understanding of the value that they bring and learning how

to articulate it.”

For students in economics, their value can increase over time

as they advance in their career and realize a steep salary

path with room for growth, says Bell. Predictably, engineer-

ing students have experienced 100 percent employment

or graduate school acceptance in the past four years with

impressive starting salaries, according to UNC Asheville

and NC State joint-program director Steve Walsh. However,

liberal arts majors have a lot to say about their success and

payback too.

“For example, I’ve had many students who want to go into

social work,” says Urgo. “We don’t pay them a lot but their

job satisfaction can be immense. Their sense of doing

something worthwhile is a tremendous motivator. Do we

want to discourage those students by saying they failed in

life because their salary is low but they might be keeping

hundreds of people alive? In that sense, this concentration

on ROI and valuing your education by the money you make is

almost a subversive force in society, particularly to students

who want to devote themselves to social progress. I see

this latest concentration on return on investment is to make

20-year-olds scared again, to frighten them into conformity,

and they should know that because they should do some-

thing about it.”

“When you are talking about a liberal

arts degree, we don’t know exactly

where it might lead because you can

go in many directions. That concept

of return on investment starts to

break down. How do you measure life

satisfaction?” —Joe Urgo, provost

$lifesatisfaction

2 6 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E

Cone Selected to Join Men’s Basketball Committee By Mike Gore

The NCAA announced last spring that

UNC Asheville Director of Athletics

and Senior Administrator for University

Enterprises Janet R. Cone has been

selected to serve on the Men’s Bas-

ketball Committee. Her term began

on Sept. 1. She is the fourth woman to

serve on this prestigious committee.

Cone has a long history of service to

the NCAA, having been appointed to

the Women’s Basketball Issues Com-

mittee as well as the Division I Leader-

ship Council. A native of Summerville,

S.C., she is a graduate of Furman

University and holds a master’s degree

from the University of South Carolina.

Prior to arriving in Asheville as

director of athletics, Cone was the

associate director of athletics at

Samford University. In June of 2013, she

was one of only 28 Directors of Athletics

to be named as Under Armour AD of

the Year by the National Association

of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.

In October 2007, Cone was named

the Division I-AAA Administrator of

the Year by the National Association

of Collegiate

Women Athletic

Administrators.

“Having been a for-

mer student-athlete,

basketball coach,

and now director

of athletics, I am

honored to repre-

sent UNC Asheville and the Big South

Conference, and thankful to be chosen

to serve on the NCAA Division I Men’s

Basketball Committee,” said Cone. “I

look forward to working with (NCAA

vice president for men’s basketball)

Dan Gavitt and the distinguished group

of committee members. I am committed

to being a team player with a focus on

keeping basketball a great sport for our

student-athletes, coaches and fans. I

am anxious to play my role and ready to

begin this unbelievable journey.”

FROM THE COURTS

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

STEPPING UP

FRIEDHOLM NAMED BASEBALL HEAD COACHBulldog baseball has a new head

coach, with Boston College assis-

tant Scott Friedholm named to

the position in June.

“I am very excited to be the

next head baseball coach at

UNC Asheville,” said Friedholm.

”This is an outstanding aca-

demic institution with a baseball

program that has a great deal

of potential.”

Friedholm is the program’s ninth

head coach, succeeding Tom

Smith, who retired following the

2014 season.

GOLF CL ASSIC R AISES $100,000 FOR SCHOL ARSHIPSThe 2014 Bulldog Athletic

Association Scholarship Golf

Classic was held in September

and raised a record $100,000

for the UNC Asheville Student-

Athlete Scholarship Fund.

This year’s tournament was pre-

sented by Blue Cross Blue Shield

of North Carolina, with spon-

sorships by Harrah’s Cherokee

Casino Resort, Eastern Band of

Cherokee Indians and Belk’s.

New Coaches & Supporters

for the Bulldogs

GO, BULLDOGS!

ELEVEN OF UNC ASHEVILLE’S 13 SPORTS

MAINTAINED AN AVERAGE 3.0 GPA OR ABOVE THIS

PAST YEAR (BOTH INDOOR AND OUTDOOR TRACK

AND FIELD WERE COMBINED). TOPPING THE LIST WAS

WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD. THE MEN’S SPORT WITH

THE HIGHEST AVERAGE GPA WAS TENNIS.

International PlayersBulldog athletes from abroad bring big wins– and big lessons

Written by Jon Elliston • Photos by David Allen ’13

This year, there are eight student-athletes from seven countries playing for UNC Asheville. To learn more about their experience, we checked in with two students.

2 8 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E

Big shoes to fill: Giacomo ZilliWhen Giacomo Zilli was growing up in Italy, soccer was all the rage among most of his friends. But the sophomore, who today stands 6' 9" tall and wears size-15 shoes, had trouble getting into the game, in part because it was hard to find cleats to fit his feet. Instead, he turned his interest and abilities to basketball, a decision that ultimately brought him to play center and power forward for the Bulldogs.

Zilli left Italy and came to Durham for his senior year in high school, with the hopes of getting into a college basketball program in the United States. “The style of play here is more athletic, more competitive,” he says. Former Bulldogs Assistant Coach Kevin Easley saw Zilli play in a tournament and recruited the Italian to play and study here.

Since Zilli had already learned English before coming to Asheville, the biggest challenge he’s faced, he says, is time management. But a regimented schedule comes naturally to athletes. “You don’t waste time—that’s the good part about it,” Zilli says. At present, he plans to pursue a double major in economics and management.

UNC Asheville fits Zilli like a size-15 pair of high-tops. “I like the fact that it’s a relatively small community, so you get to know a lot of people,” he says. “And it has something of a family environment, especially with the team. The team is really close, and the coaches too—they really get you involved, and you get the sense that you belong.”

The routine is tough enough for your average student-athlete, who has to juggle the rigors of training and playing with academic work. And for UNC Asheville’s foreign athletes, it’s a whole different ball game: Not only do they have to tackle the usual challenges, they have to do it in a new county.

Beating the heat: Ericka RiveroSophomore Ericka Rivero, a budding tennis champ from Bolivia, knew she wanted to study in the United States, and that she needed some climatic relief. “It’s really hot where I come from, like a tropical rainforest,” she says. “We basically don’t have a winter or fall—it’s either hot or really, really hot.”

Searching on the Internet, she was happy to find that there was a university in the North Carolina mountains that enjoyed some cool climes and boasted a top-notch tennis program. What she found when she got here only increased her contentment. “I love Asheville; the mountains and the city are really pretty,” she says, adding that she’d grown up assuming all American cities are as big and chaotic as New York, Houston and Miami, and that she digs Asheville’s small-town vibe.

The university also has helped Rivero get back to her roots, academically. Growing up, she’d studied and enjoyed piano, but she dropped that when she got serious about tennis. She came to UNC Asheville with the idea of studying biochemistry. “Once I got here, I realized the music program was really good,” she says, and she’s now majoring in music technology. “I feel like I wouldn’t have figured that out and switched to music if I was in another place,” she says.

Meanwhile, Rivero’s experience here has maintained her enthusiasm for tennis. “I love my team especially,” she says. “Since the first day, we were really close. There are just eight of us, so you get to know everyone really well.” 4

Meet more of our international Bulldogs, including a coach and an alum, on the courts and online at magazine.unca.edu

3 0 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E

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

alumni@unca.edu

1969Douglas Norton retired.

After four years of service with

the U.S. Armed Forces and

obtaining a master’s degree

in international relations at

the University of Arkansas,

Doug worked for 35 years with

First Union-Wachovia Bank.

He now lives in Lexington, S.C.

Doug and his wife, Dianne,

recently celebrated their 30th

anniversary.

1975Zollie Stevenson Jr. was

elected vice president of

the American Educational

Research Association, Division

H, Research, Evaluation and

Assessment in Schools. He was

also elected president of the

National Association of Test

Directors for the 2015–16 term.

1980Steve J. Ferenchiak retired

after 28 years with Bank of

America. Before graduating

from UNC Asheville, he served

eight years in the U.S. Air Force.

1984Kenneth Waddell is a

director superintendent and

the 2014 chair of the California

Curriculum & Instruction

Steering Committee.

1987Edwin Gosal is a managing

consultant at PT Multipolar

Technology Tbk, a prominent

IT solutions provider in

Indonesia. He also is continuing

his education with a dual-

degree MBA program from the

University of Pelita Harapan in

Jakarta, Indonesia, and Peking

University in Beijing, China.

1991Ed Harris was promoted to

manager of global security

operations for VF Corporations.

1992Kirk Boone is a lecturer in

property tax and mass appraisal

at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of

Government.

Andy Digh was named the 2014

Spencer B. King Distinguished

Professor of the Year for

excellence in teaching at the

College of Liberal Arts at Mercer

University in Macon, Ga.

Tracy D. Proctor is the

director of advancement at St.

Paul’s School in Clearwater, Fla.

1993Derek Allen was listed in the

2015 Best Lawyers publication.

Kelly R. Allen and his wife,

Adriana, had a baby girl named

Caroline Elizabeth on March 17,

2014.

Wes Behrend is an air-quality

meteorologist with the South

Carolina Department of Health

and Environmental Control in

Columbia, S.C. He also served

as the 2012–13 president of

the Palmetto Chapter of the

American Meteorological

Society.

Paul Fanning was listed in the

2015 Best Lawyers publication.

notesclassDROP US A LINE!

FA L L 2 0 1 4 3 1

CLASS NOTES

1994Christopher Justice, the

former CEO and co-founder of

Austin, Texas-based Sparksight

Inc., now leads worldwide

marketing at Magnolia

International Ltd., located in

Basel, Switzerland.

1995Suzanne Cantando married

Frank Kirschbaum on May 25,

2014, in Raleigh.

Jay Jordan is an associate

professor in the Department

of English and Department of

Writing and Rhetoric Studies

at the University of Utah. In

2014–15, he’ll serve as a faculty

member at the university’s Asia

campus in Incheon, South Korea.

1996Rebecca Barraclough Howell is the director of student

advising and support services at

A-B Tech.

1997Deborah Hart-Serafini is now

a virtual member of the Osher

Lifelong Learning Institute

marketing committee. She also

volunteers with the Interfaith

Food Shuttle in Raleigh and the

Rice Street Community Garden

in Brevard.

Denise Gardner Marlow

has taught at Yancey County

Schools for the past 11 years.

She received her national board

certification as a severe needs

specialist in 2010. She completed

a master’s degree in education

in special education/severe and

profound disabilities in 2011.

Joshua C. Tan and his wife,

Thanh, welcomed a second son,

Joseph, on Feb. 18, 2014.

1998Devon Sanchez-Ossorio is

the general manager at Legends

of Notre Dame, located on the

campus of the University of

Notre Dame.

1999Tiffany Drummond Armstrong is now the vice

president of chapter and

community development for

the Pediatric Brain Tumor

Foundation.

Christie Wild recently received

a graduate certificate in web

development from East Carolina

University. She is the owner

of Write the Next Book Web

Designs, which specializes in

creating author websites.

2000Meredith Newlin and

Catherine Guerrero had a baby

girl named Eleanor Lucile on

Aug. 27, 2013.

2001Kim Angelon Gaetz is an

ORISE research fellow at the

Environment Protection Agency.

Nicholas McDevitt and his

wife, Lauren, had a baby boy

named Cooper Lee on June 23,

2014.

Shelly Mitchell earned a

second master’s degree in

instructional technology from

UNC Greensboro. She is an

instructional specialist with

Wilkes County Schools.

2002Athena Anderson owns

NatureGoods, an online craft

business on Etsy. All sales

benefit cat rescue groups.

Lauren Magnie and her

husband, Bo, had a baby boy,

Otis Orion, on Aug. 8, 2014. He

joins sister Elena Serene.

Jessica C. Newton works at

UNC Asheville in the sociology

and anthropology department

as an administrative support

associate.

2003Mary McAvoy is a professor in

the Theatre for Youth MFA and

Ph.D. program at Arizona State

University.

2015

unca.edu/homecoming

Homecoming

Feb. 20-21

3 2 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E

CLASS NOTES

Jeremy and Bridget Shrader had a baby girl named Stevie

Lindley on March 25, 2014.

Letisha Franklin Trescott and

her husband, Adam Trescott, had

a baby boy, Thomas Anson, on

July 31, 2014.

2004Rachel Ansari and her

husband, Stephen ’02, had a

baby boy named Harold August

on July 22, 2014.

Samantha Bowers married

Peter Pfister on May 24, 2014.

Amber Nycole Brown married

Matt Brown on Oct. 19, 2013.

Somanna Muthanna and his

wife, Elizabeth ’07, had a baby

girl named Amaya Elizabeth on

May 10, 2014.

Tamara Pandolfo received a

master’s degree in environmental

toxicology and a doctorate in

zoology from North Carolina

State University. She married

John Frey and had a baby girl

named Geneva in 2012.

2005Lauran Bowes married

Timothy Henderson.

Alexandra Duncan published

her first young-adult novel,

Salvage, in April.

Ryan Norman Guthrie and her

husband, Ken, had a baby boy

named Dylan Graham Guthrie on

Nov. 3, 2013.

Dustin Jordan and his wife,

Ginny, had a baby girl named

Peyton on March 16, 2014.

Janine Lennon married Tyler

Lacosse on June 14, 2014.

Bradley Andrew Patterson

had a baby girl, Aubrey Atwood

Patterson.

Laura Simmelink received

a Master of Science in public

affairs from American University.

She is the campaign finance

manager for Senator Terry

Van Duyn.

2006Mike Bowers is the director

of student rights and

responsibilities at Eastern

Washington University.

Max Cooper is a photographer

based in Asheville. His art and

documentary photography

have gained recognition from

organizations such as National

Newspaper Association and

the Association of Alternative

Newsmedia.

Jillian Davis received a

doctorate in biology at Ohio

University. She is as an anatomy

professor at High Point

University.

Tanya Harris married Jerome

Fleming II on June 21, 2014.

Erin and Paul Moerner gave

birth to their second daughter,

Madelyn, on May 24, 2014.

Chas and Megan Pippitt had

a baby boy named Bryant on

June 17, 2013.

Katie Potter Sewell and her

husband, Stephen, had a baby

boy named William Parker on

April 13, 2014.

Ryan Stewart and Stacy Stewart ’08 had a baby boy

named Nolan on May 7, 2014.

2007 Julia Champion and Gregory

Goddard had a baby girl named

Jaymi Clare Goddard on Aug. 21,

2014.

Krista Dourte Miller founded

and now serves as the executive

director of Partners in Parenting,

an Austin, Texas, nonprofit

that helps new parents form

intentional and meaningful

communities.

Talia Ogle had a baby boy

named Mason on July 7, 2014.

Lauren Woodard recently

earned certification as an

oncology social worker. She

works at Park Ridge Health

Cancer Services.

2008Cale Burrell and his wife,

Casi Burrell ’09, had a baby

boy named Jack Badger on

March 24, 2014.

Trisha Close received a

master’s degree in world

language instruction at

Concordia College in Moorehead,

Minn. She is a Spanish teacher at

IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

Mary Catherine Mills Dillon

is a middle and high school

teacher in Sheridan, Ind.

Amelia Eakins started a record

label in Oakland, Calif., called

Nightrider Records.

Megan Graham works for

the city of Jacksonville, Fla., as

an emergency preparedness

planner.

Bryan Greene and his wife,

Sara Lenthall Greene ’10,

both received promotions.

Bryan was promoted to athletic

director at Fishburne Military

School, and Sara was promoted

to assistant director of career

development at Washington and

Lee University.

Lee Griffin is a seventh-grade

social studies teacher at Hand

Middle School in Richland

County, S.C.

Rachael Beach Hollifield

is chief resident for 2014–15 at

the Riverside Family Medicine

Residency in Newport News, Va.

Harry Johnson IV married

Kreth Ball on June 7, 2014. Harry

also received a juris doctorate

from the University of North

Carolina School of Law.

Jessica Wallace received a

doctorate in colonial American

history from The Ohio State

University.

2009Royce Cowan founded the

organization Active Reconnect,

a digital library and sponsorship

program that supports athletics

and sporting events for people

with disabilities.

Katie Henderson is the

staff attorney at the United

States Court of Appeals in San

Francisco.

Cherie Miller and Josh Miller ’10 had a baby girl named Ruby

Luna on Jan. 30, 2014.

Ashley Molin received a

doctorate of psychology in

clinical psychology from the

Illinois Institute of Technology.

Patrick Tate and Whitney

Odden were engaged on May 26,

2014. The couple was introduced

by the former men’s and

women’s soccer coaches, Steve

and Michele Cornish.

2010Christopher Green married

Amanda Downes on June 21,

2014.

Justin Newhart married

Heather Spencer on May 25,

2014.

Erin Matthew Ryan is a

financial services representative

at State Employees’ Credit Union

in Weaverville.

Nathaniel Speier serves in the

U.S. Army at Fort Lee, Va.

Edwin Wotortsi married

Lynnlee Hardesty on July 12, 2014.

FA L L 2 0 1 4 3 3

CLASS NOTES

DRAWN TO ARTProfessional Muralist Molly Rose Freeman Finds Patterns in Creativity By Paul Clark

FROM IDEA TO RESEARCH TO EXECUTION, painting murals isn’t very different from the creative writing that Molly Rose Freeman ’10 majored in as a student at UNC Asheville.

Freeman said time she spent composing and refining creative nonfiction based upon her mother’s Cherokee heritage and her father’s Eastern European Jewish lineage helped her prepare for a career as a muralist. Her work can be seen now in Asheville, Atlanta, Miami and San Francisco, among other places.

“I learned a certain way of delving into any kind of prompt,” Freeman, from Durham, N.C., said. “The process is similar in writing and painting and any kind of creative expression. You’re choosing your focus and doing your research and letting that idea grow and grow until it becomes some-thing solid and ready to launch.”

Training as a painter in high school, Freeman also studied art at UNC Asheville. But she felt herself being pulled to-ward writing with every poetry class and fiction workshop she took. Studying literature by day, she’d work until mid-night on her drawing and painting in a studio in Asheville’s River Arts District. Increasingly, she found herself drawn to geometric forms in repetitive patterns, something she sees in the sacred architecture of grand cathedrals and Hindu

temples. Patterning can have an overwhelmingly positive effect on people, she believes.

One day after graduation, a friend asked her to help with a mural in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, known for its fabulous street art. She went, and she was hooked. “It was a combination of being outside, being able to use my whole body as a paint brush, as opposed to just my hand,” she said.

Working from intellectual patterns her work at UNC Asheville fortified, she began painting repetitive forms. The work had a meditative quality, she found. “There is a sense of devotion and healthy labor to doing the same shape over and over again. It becomes very relaxing. It has been pretty much my focus since then.”

Freeman recently completed work on a mural in Atlanta, part of the Art on the Atlanta BeltLine trail. This winter she’ll be part of a team of a half dozen artists working on murals for a connector road in Nashville, Tenn.

“The Soul’s Bright Anchor” from Atlanta’s 2012 Living Walls Conference

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3 4 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E

CLASS NOTES

2011Patrick Brown married

Miranda Wilson on Dec. 29,

2013, in Asheville.

Evan Foote-Hudson was

promoted to visitor services

and special projects coordinator

at the Durham Convention &

Visitors Bureau.

Megan McCarter is the

director of programming at

Odyssey Community School.

Mary Frances Ritchie earned

a master’s degree in public

health, health management

and policy from Portland State

University.

Serena Vonkchalee is a senior

clinical project coordinator at

Quintiles.

“CAPTAIN” OF INDUSTRYAndrew Heath Takes the Reins as Chairman of the N.C. Industrial Commission By Steve Plever

ANDREW HEATH HAS A HABIT OF

OVERACHIEVING. As a Bulldog student-athlete in 2001, Heath was named All Conference goalkeeper after he helped lead the men’s soccer team—picked during the preseason to finish last—to the Big South championship.

And just a dozen years later, after less than a decade as a practicing attorney, Heath was appointed by Gov. Pat

McCrory to lead the N.C. Industrial Commission. As chairman, Heath is chief officer for a state agency with a $16 million budget and 160 employ-ees. “We have a lot of responsibility here,” says Heath. “The commission is a statewide judicial system that primarily hears claims against the State of North Carolina and workers’ compensation claims. We process more than 70,000 workers’ compensation claims a year.” Heath is working to integrate new technologies to make the commission’s operations more efficient.

On the job, Heath is sometimes re-minded of his UNC Asheville years, especially management classes taught by Professor Bob Yearout. “Every time I see an industrial facility, it jogs my memory and I can’t help but think about all the math that goes into de-

veloping efficient manufacturing processes, or calculat-ing the most cost-effective

preventive maintenance

schedules, etc.,” says Heath. “The management program at UNC Asheville provided me with the sort of ‘fertile soil’ necessary to grow and develop strong business funda-mentals that I’ve been able to build on.”

After earning his bachelor’s degree in management in 2003, Heath entered law school at Indiana University and clerked for then Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels in the General Counsel’s Office and also for the Indiana attorney general. Then, from 2006–13, in private practice in Wilmington, N.C., he rep-resented employees and employers in injury claims and other cases, and was voted one of Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite.

As part of his position in the McCrory Administration, Heath also has contrib-uted to state economic policies beyond his commission duties—he was part of a small group that advised the N.C. Board of Economic Development on the impact of the state’s legal and regulato-ry climate. “I am trying make a positive impact for North Carolina,” he says.

A native of Fort Wayne, Ind., Heath now has firm roots in the Tar Heel State. “I really enjoyed my time at UNC Asheville,” says Heath. “I was lucky enough to make lifelong friends, including a number of alumni who are attorneys here in the Raleigh area.”

He and his wife, Kristen Waldman Heath ’02, an attorney for Chiltern International of the U.K., have two young children, Maley Amelia and James William.

“The management program at UNC Asheville

provided me with the sort of ‘fertile soil’ necessary

to grow and develop strong business fundamentals

that I’ve been able to build on.” —Andrew Heath

FA L L 2 0 1 4 3 5

CLASS NOTES

2012Chris Boone earned a master’s

degree in health administration

from the Medical University of

South Carolina. He works as a

consultant for Deloitte.

Matthew Johnson earned a

master’s degree in interactive

technology and digital game

development from the Guildhall

at Southern Methodist University

in May 2014. He is a software

developer at Shiver Entertainment

in South Miami, Fla.

Isaac Newsome earned

a master’s degree in higher

education from Geneva College.

He works as a residence hall

director and instructor at

Mitchell College.

Phillip Michael Vaughn

earned a master’s degree in

physiology from North Carolina

State University.

Karina Zimmerman married

Devin Zimmerman ’11 on

Aug. 1, 2014. Devin serves in the

United States Air Force. Karina

earned a master’s degree in

higher education and student

affairs and now works as an

academic advisor at Hillsborough

Community College.

2013Emma Bussard joined the

Peace Corps in Malawi, Africa,

where she is a community

health adviser.

Emily Myers works at the

Southern Research Station with

the Forest Service.

Ashli Singleton is a first-grade

teacher at Candler Elementary

School.

2014Candice Boling married Todd

Jordan. She is now working in

broadcast meteorology at WKNY

in Bowling Green, Ky.

Heidi Harrell and her husband,

Benjamin, had a baby girl named

Teagan Harrell, on Jan. 7, 2014.

Taylor Sluder is teaching

English and coaching soccer at

Enka High School.

IN MEMORIAMWilliam C. Hendriks Jr. ’39,

March 2014

Charles Lee Marler ’51,

February 2014

John T. Saunders Jr. ’81,

February 2014

David Eugene Bell III ’84,

July 2014

Kenneth Gray Woodward ’94,

July 2014

David Larry Sprinkle II ’98,

August 2014

Plan Now to Make More PossibleYour planned gifts to UNC Asheville support the next generation of Bulldogs and can benefit you and your family by providing a smart philanthropic and tax-wise alternative to cash gifts.

By making a gift in appreciated securities, you can give more this year, without impacting your cash flow.

Increase your giving, reduce your taxes, and help our students take the next step.

Learn more about planned gifts at unca.edu/givingwisely.

Contact Julie Heinitsh, associate vice chancellor for planned giving and major gifts, at 828.232.2430 or jheinits@unca.edu.

3 6 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E

CREATIVE RETIREMENT

When John Stevens took a professor-

ship in the Western North Carolina

mountains in 1968, it pretty much

precluded one of his dreams: to live on

a sailboat.

“When I got involved with academia, it

was a lifelong commitment,” Stevens

says. He’d grown up sailing at his

family home in the Jersey shore town of

Beach Haven and raced a 28-foot boat

during his college years.

But when the mountains were calling,

he turned toward other dreams. His

tenure includes helping to found the

university’s undergraduate research

program, the international Mössbauer

Effect Data Center, the Renaissance

MOUNTAINS TO THE SEASummer Sailing with Retired Professor John Stevens By Rebecca Sulock ‘00

Computing Institute (RENCI) and the

National Environmental Modeling and

Analysis Center (NEMAC), to name

just a few. And despite an official

retirement from his position as profes-

sor of chemistry in May 2013, Stevens

is still active in the scientific commu-

nity and still works with students on

their research.

But that other lifelong dream? He and

his wife, Salli Gaddini, are making

that come true, each summer in the

Netherlands.

They chose what might seem like

an unusual destination: an island

off the Dutch Coast in the North Sea

(Terschelling), accessible only by boat.

Stevens knew of the place because

he’d spent considerable time in the

Netherlands during the late 1970s as

research professor at the University

of Nijmegen.

It was decided: he and Gaddini would

camp on Terschelling. While there, they

purchased a sailboat they saw in the

harbor, even though Gaddini, an avid

swimmer, didn’t then know how to

sail. The price was so ridiculously low

Stevens figured it must have holes in

the sail.

And as for the fulfillment of that

original dream: “Sailing, especially for

three months, is incredible, being out-

side all the time, and the Netherlands

is one very special place,” Stevens says.

They keep fold-up bicycles on their

boat, and when docked, Stevens gets

up early to bike around the countryside.

“It’s like a step back into time; village

life is still preserved,” he says of the

area. “Some of the villages have their

own sublanguages. They’re very com-

munity and family oriented.”

The decision to buy the sailboat hap-

pened almost by kismet and required

what he calls “nonlinear thinking,” an

ability that defined his tenure.

“That’s probably why I enjoy sailing,”

he says. “You’re interacting on so many

different levels—with the water, the air,

the people, the boat, the mechanical

stuff ... where will the next wind be

coming from, how are you going to

respond to it. You’ve got to see the

bigger picture.”

Above: John Stevens working below deck,

keeping in touch with colleagues in Asheville and around the world.

Right: Home on the water, ready to sail!

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olliasheville.com

SERIOUSLY CREATIVE

Learning can extend from your senior year in

college to your senior years. At the Osher Lifelong

Learning Institute at UNC Asheville, you can

experience an award-winning, internationally

acclaimed center for creative retirement.

A Lifetime of Learning

UNC Asheville senior Leigh Whittaker and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute member Judy LaMée

One of UNC Asheville’s newest alumni showed off her creativity with a nod of appreciation for family support during the Spring 2014 Commencement. The decorated caps top off traditional academic regalia, with students donning cords and stoles in recognition of their honors. (Photo by Peter Lorenz)

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