STUDENTS STUDY LOCAL AGRICULTURE
Dr. Rita Hagevik (Biology), Dr. Debby Hanmer (Biology), and Dr. Brooke Kelly (Sociology and Criminal Justice) have been working with several undergraduate research assistants (Spencer Thomas, Scott Tyson, Valery Quinones, and Jeff Cooper) in partnership with the sustainable agriculture program, Agricultural Extension, and the Center for Community Action on a farmer interview project. Interviews with local farmers began as a service learning project in Dr. Kelly’s social research methods course in the fall. The UNCP local advantage grant has supported additional interviews and data analysis during the spring 2013 semester. Through the study of the current practices and challenges that local farmers face, the project aims to inform community partners already working to support local foods in Robeson and nearby counties. The students presented the preliminary findings from this project at the PURC Symposium.
BEGNAUD WINS "BEST IN SHOW" IN PORTRAIT COMPETITION
On Saturday April 27, 2013, Professor Joe Begnaud (Art) was awarded "Best of Show" at the ArtFields Portrait Contest in Lake City, SC. He was among 24 artists selected to compete. The event was divided into four rounds, in which contestants had only one hour to complete a full portrait of a local farmer who served as a model for the competition. After each round, a panel of jurors selected which artists would advance to the next round. Professor Begnaud passed each round of elimination and completed four portraits before being awarded top honors and a prize of $1000.
CONFERENCE SHOWCASES LOCAL FARMERS AND FOODS
Approximately 60 students, faculty, farmers, and consumers attended UNCP's first local foods conference at the Regional Center on March 22, 2013, to share ideas and learn more about how to support local farmers and local foods. Sessions covered topics ranging from backyard chickens to financing. Lester Locklear’s New South Catering of Pembroke prepared local beef, sausage, sweet potatoes, and cabbage Robeson County Farm Bureau sponsored the local lunch. Dr. Debby Hanmer (Biology), assisted by Dr. Rita Hagevik (Biology) and Dr. Brooke Kelly (Sociology and Criminal Justice), organized the conference, using a UNCP local advantage grant focused on supporting local foods. (For additional coverage of the event, see http://www2.uncp.edu/news/2013/local_food_conference.htm.)
STUDENT-ATHLETES RECOGNIZE TEACHERS
UNCP's Student Athlete Advisory Committee will honor more than 40 teachers, including several from the College of Arts and Sciences, for their teaching and commiment to students on Faculty Appreciation Night, February 7, 2013. A ceremony will take place during halftime of the men's home basketball game.
This year's honorees from the College of Arts and Sciences are Ryan Anderson (History), Larry Arnold (Music), Joyce Beard (Nursing),Debra Branch (Social Work), Gwenyth Campen (Mathematics and Computer Science), Anthony Curtis (Mass Communication), Katherine Denton (Foreign Languages), Camille DeVaney (Music), John DiSarno(Political Science),Cindy Edwards (Social Work), Warren Eller (Public Administration), Dena Evans (Nursing), Jeff Frederick (History), Kevin Freeman (Political Science), Nicholas Freeman (Psychology), Jeffery Geller (Philosophy and Religion), Amy Gross (Geology and Geography),Linda Hafer (Mathematics and Computer Science), Jo Ann Hart (Art),Scott Hicks (English and Theatre), Jason Hutchens (Mass Communication), Mary Ann Jacobs (American Indian Studies), John Labadie (Art), Siva Mandjiny (Chemistry and Physics), Stephen Marson(Sociology and Criminal Justice), Rohald Meneses (Sociology and Criminal Justice), Brandi Norman (Biology), Sara Oswald (English and Theatre),Linda Oxendine (American Indian Studies), Shilpa Pai (Psychology),Nathan Phillippi (Geology and Geography), Enrique Porrua (Foreign Languages), Ray Sutherland (Philosophy and Religion), Meredith Storms(Chemistry and Physics),and Mary Zets (Biology),.
STREMLAU'S BOOK HONORED
Sustaining the Cherokee Family: Kinship and the Allotment of an Indigenous Nation, by Dr. Rose Stremlau (History), was awarded the Willie Lee Rose Book Prize from the Southern Association of Women Historians. This is for the best book on any topic in Southern history written by a woman and published during the previous calendar year. The award is named after Willie Lee Rose, a path-breaking female historian and professor at Johns Hopkins University who wrote about race and slavery in the South. The award was presented by Dr. Janann Sherman, professor and chair of the History Department at the University of Memphis.
Sustaining the Cherokee Family also was given an honorable mention by the committee deciding the Wheeler-Voegelin Prize, an award given each year by the American Society for Ethnohistory for the best book-length monograph published the previous year. The book also was a finalist (one of six) for the Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize, which is given each year by the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln to the best book on a topic related to the region published during the previous year.
FLOWERS PRESIDES OVER ACS TECHNICAL SESSION
Dr. Paul Flowers (Chemistry & Physics) presided over a technical session on Electroanalytical Chemistry at the 2012 Southeast Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, held this year in Raleigh, NC. The session featured eight presentations, including one by Dr. Flowers titled "Sub-microliter Electrochemistry and Spectroelectrochemistry using Standard Electrodes and a Polymer Electrolyte Salt Bridge." The presentation abstract was coauthored by UNCP undergraduate David Blake, and the talk described traits of a novel device recently designed by Dr. Flowers that permits the chemical analysis of very small volume samples (as low as about 20 nL, roughly one-tenth the size of a typical grain of salt). Results of this research have been submitted for publication in the journal Analytical Chemistry.
UNCP FACULTY, STAFF LEAD EDUCATIONAL TRIP TO WASHINGTON, DC
By Dr. Scott Billingsley (History)
On Thursday October 4, 2012 twenty-three students, faculty, and staff departed the Amtrak station in Fayetteville, North Carolina, bound for the nation’s capital. Mike Severy (Student Leadership and Involvement), Amy Gross (Geology and Geography), and Dr. Scott Billingsley (History), guided the students on a four-day learning experience that included a tour of the United States Capitol building, visits to national museums and monuments, and, for some, the unique experience of traveling by rail and navigating their way around a large city.
Traveling via Amtrak dominated the first day and last day of the journey. Students were taken by bus to the Amtrak station in Fayettevill,e where we boarded the train around 1:00 p.m. and enjoyed the leisurely ride to Union Station in Washington, D.C. Along the way we saw a side of the nation that one normally does not see when traveling by car or airplane. For many of us, one of the interesting things about the train ride was getting to see the centers of many small towns along the eastern seaboard. Although seeing bustling downtown areas would have been commonplace for travelers a century ago, our students saw simply the remnants of the heyday of small-town life in America. Even the trip from Union Station to the hotel via Washington’s subway system, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (“the Metro”), was a learning experience for students who had never ridden public transportation before.
On Friday the group toured the U.S. Capitol and then split up to explore sites around the Capitol and National Mall. Students visited sites such as the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the various Smithsonian Institution museums. Later that afternoon students met near the Washington Monument to discuss the research projects they were supposed to complete before arriving in Washington. Each student conducted a short research project on different protest rallies that had been held on the National Mall since the 1890s. The students placed these protest rallies into the context of the leadership model that the students had been studying in their Living Learning Community Leadership program. After our discussion we visited the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean Veterans Memorial, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. On Saturday we completed a scavenger-hunt activity prepared by Amy Gross at the Museum of Natural History, which gave students an overview of the entire museum.
UNCP SENDS DELEGATION TO NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
UNCP's Office of Academic Affairs sent a delegation to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., on November 16. Two students, Lydia Locklear and Francine Cummings, joined Dr. Alfred Bryant, associate dean of the School of Education, Carlene Cummings, university library specialist for special collections, and Dr. Mark Canada, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, on the trip.
The delegation met with two NMAI administrators--Associate Director David Penney and Community Services Specialist Jill Norwood--and discussed several opportunities for UNCP students and faculty:
Living Earth Festival: Students are welcome to propose projects to present at the fourth annual Living Earth Festival, set to take place in August 2013.
Internships and Fellowships: NMAI internships and fellowships provide students with opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills.
Scholarly Exchanges: The NMAI welcomes scholars who can share their expertise in various aspects of American Indian studies.
Colloquia and Symposia: NMAI-sponsored colloquia and symposia provide opportunities to exchange information.
After the meeting, the members of the delegation took a VIP tour of the museum and met informally with Jimmy Locklear, a Lumbee who serves as the museum's volunteer coordinator.
Dr. Alfred Bryant, Francine Cummings, Lydia Locklear, Carlene Cummings, and Dr. Mark Canada pose in front of Sacred Rain Arrow, by Chiricahua Apache sculptor Allan Houser. The group saw the sculpture and other exhibits during a VIP tour of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.