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Winter 2014

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Sharing the journey with you Hello, Niner Nation Family!It’s hard for me to believe that the fall

semester and winter break are over. The University had plenty to celebrate last term — our record-breaking enrollment with freshmen and transfer students; our highly recognized faculty, staff and students; the continued growth and expansion of UNC Charlotte, and our inaugural season of 49er football.

This edition of Niner Nation Family Magazine shares fall semester’s journey with you. The football team, the main theme of this issue, made its debut Aug. 31 with a resounding 52-7 home

win over Campbell University. Many of you enjoyed tailgating, the “Team Walk” and, of course, the six spirited games at Jerry Richardson Stadium and McColl Richardson Field. Our stories take you behind the scenes of football’s arrival and give you an up-close look at the coaches, players and administrative team.

At the Office of Parent and Family Services, we expanded our services this autumn to attract many of you back to campus in connection with football. On Family Weekend Sept. 13-15 more than 1,100 parent and family members attended the game and took part in weekend activi-ties. On Nov. 9, we held our first Fall Family Festival, which was also a success. Over 500 parents and family members attended the Chancel-lor’s Brunch, Alumni Association tailgate party and football game.

Also in this issue, read about how our faculty, staff and students continue to win national awards for their research, achievements and volunteer outreach. You will also see how civic engagement and our recycling program are authentic and deliberative.

Niner Nation Family has over 11,000 parents and family members. We appreciate the passion, dedication and support you display toward UNC Charlotte and your students enrolled here. We want to continue that momentum by providing more and better programs and services — but without losing that personal touch. Our office is here to assist and support you and your student in transitioning to UNC Charlotte and feeling at home. Please do not hesitate to call on us to help.

You can also stay in touch by “liking us” on Facebook and visiting our website, http://parents.uncc.edu, throughout the year!

Go Niners!

Kesha Williams M.Ed.

Assistant Director for Parent and Family ServicesUNC Charlotte704-687-0341parents@uncc.edu

Contents

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Charlotte, NC 28223-0001704-687-0341

parents.uncc.edu

Niner Nation Family Magazine is a publication of the UNC Charlotte Dean of Students Office,

under the direction of Kesha Williams, Assistant Director for Parent

and Family Services. Edited by Tempestt Adams.

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If you would like to unsubscribe from this mailing list, please email parents@uncc.edu.

For questions, comments or suggestions, contact parents@uncc.edu.

Staging a Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Imagine No More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

High-Value Fabric: Coaches . . . . . . . 7

Interview: Coach and QB . . . . . . . . . 9

Season Recap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

49ers Uniform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Game-Day Operations . . . . . . . . . . 12

49er Drumline Takes the Field . . . . 13

‘Concessions’ to the Environment . . 15

Zero-Waste Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Keeping it All Clean . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Marching Band to Debut . . . . . . . . 19

What Fans Are Saying . . . . . . . . . . 19

‘Flavoring’ a Major . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

University Awards and Honors . . . . 22

Fall Sports Roundup . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

UNC Charlotte History: The Owls . . 28

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When more than 15,000 UNC Charlotte football fans took their seats at Jerry Richardson Stadium for the inaugural football game against the Campbell Fighting Camels, they basked in the comforts of a smooth and efficient operation.

Less noticeable — or in many cases indiscern-ible — were all the hours of planning and labor put in by stadium officials and other staffers leading up to the University’s first modern-day game day. There’s a lot of managing, prepara-tion and hard work that goes into producing a successful football program.

“Perhaps the biggest undertaking that isn’t ob-vious to fans is how much communication takes place,” said Trent Barnes, associate director

and stadium complex manager for the Student Activity Center and recreational facilities. “For us, everything is new. Every procedure, process and many jobs are new.”

According to Barnes, the first challenge was preparing the Judy W. Rose Football Center for daily operations. When his staff moved in, con-struction was full throttle on the stadium. It was a chaotic time in which his staff had to prepare

The hours of meetings, emails, brainstorming and

implementation are staggering.

continued on page 4Trent BarnesAssociate Director and

Stadium Complex Manager

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Staging a Game continued from page 3

the building, hire a staff, order sup-plies and equipment and learn all the building systems.

‘Year Round, Nonstop’“This didn’t just occur with the

student athletes and coaching staff but all over the University,” Barnes said about the preparations. “It really has been an entire University group effort to come together and pull this off. The hours of meetings, emails, brainstorming and implementation are staggering. This happens year-round and nonstop.”

Another key area of concern during college football games is security.

UNC Charlotte Police Chief Jeff Baker and his staff worked on a security blueprint for months, start-ing with a comprehensive written security plan that covered issues like evacuation, medical emergencies and emergency management.

On game days, the department brings in its Mobile Command Post, which serves as an Emergency Opera-tions Center. A Charlotte Fire Depart-ment ladder company also sets up

in a staging area behind the Student Union.

On hand to direct operations is a fire department battalion commander, an FBI special agent and a UNC Charlotte police captain. They serve as a unified command in case of an emergency.

Officers on Wheels“We also have officers on bicycles,

T3s and personal electric vehicles called ‘mules,’ which are similar to All-Terrain Vehicles,” he said. “Other police vehicles patrol the campus and tailgate areas.”

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police also assist in managing traffic in the area surrounding the campus, Baker said.

Barnes came to UNC Charlotte after working with two of the largest and most successful football programs in the country, at the University of South Carolina and the University of Alabama. One big difference here, he said, is preparing for first-ever games in Jerry Richardson Stadium.

“Working at those programs, you had a history on your side,” he said.

“There was a way of operating and working with thousands of workers. You had a template and experienced staff in place. You take for granted that Worker A has worked the play clock for the last 22 years and knows everything about the rules and technology behind it. Here, you have to hire someone new, train them and get them to game speed.”

Barnes said a lot of lessons were learned at the football team’s spring game, which attracted a near-capacity crowd.

“The first thing that I really learned was how passionate our fans were. The crowd was great and the fans re-ally came out,” he said. “At that point I felt we were really headed toward something special. The other part was that we really did have a good plan and support system in place. We did have minor issues but most were unnoticed by the fans. My confidence level was really boosted after the spring game.”

— Paul NowellUniversity Communications

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Football Unites Campus, Alums, Community

IMPACT OF FOOTBALL

Mac Everett, chair of the Football Feasibility Com-mittee that first recommended the addition of football to Chancellor Philip Dubois, stood on

the balcony of Duke Centennial Hall, overlooking stadium construction.

“It’s going to be just fabulous,” he said, as he imagined the 49ers first football game day. “People are going to come back, alumni are going to come back — people are

going to come out who have never been on this campus before. What a great day that’ll be.”

That was in 2012, and his words were prophetic. When the Niners hosted their first football game on Aug. 31 against Campbell University, his vision was in abundance. Dubois predicted football would be “transformational” for the University, and many factors leading up to the team’s debut hinted at that reality.

continued on page 6

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FSLs = $5.3 MillionThe sale of football seat licenses (FSLs) raised $5.3

million for the program. Community business icons Jerry Richardson, Hugh McColl and Dale Halton stepped forward with eye-popping donations to name the stadium, field and field house. Local independent television station WCCB signed on to televise all six home games during the inaugural season.

Last April over 13,000 fans turned out at the stadium for the school’s first annual spring game. Visitors to the athletic department’s website also climbed from approximately 58,000 in 2012 to over 87,000 in 2013 — an increase of 50 percent.

On campus the transformation has been different but no less important. Six committees came together to discuss the issues the University could face with the addition of football. They were a Student Affairs Committee, an External Affairs Committee, an Academic Affairs Committee, a Medical Committee, a Game Logistics Committee and Business Affairs Committee.

The committee structure served to unite the campus by opening lines of communication, exchanging ideas and suggestions and determining appropriate policies. From the start, an inclusive effort has been made to pull together representatives from throughout the campus com-munity.

Student Seats AboundFrom the student standpoint, approximately 7,500

seats are reserved for the 49ers student body. Much like the arrangement at Halton Arena, 49ers students have access to half of Jerry Richardson Stadium. Ap-proximately 5,000 students attended the spring game, many of them prominently displaying school colors.

Football is going to change the campus culture and climate, said Michelle Howard, director of the Early College Program and the former dean of students.

“We saw the beginnings of that in the spring,” she said. “And when (the students) leave here and when they graduate, it’s another reason for them to come back. It’s going to build those connections for them that are deeper and more spirited and more true than they ever have before, and that’s going to be the greatest benefit to UNC Charlotte over the long haul.”

In addition to the student body, football, as ex-pected, is attracting alums. Approximately 70 percent of FSL sales have been to alums, many of whom had not been previously tied to the athletic department.

During the seat-selection process, social media allowed alums to post pictures of themselves and their families from their actual seats. Dur-ing the spring game, timelines on social media were filled with images of families and friends enjoying an afternoon of 49ers football.

The common theme throughout was the amount of green and white displayed and the level of ownership assumed.

Even before the games actually began, the 49ers first football season was accomplishing much of what it was intended to do: build school spirit, engage alums and connect the community.

“You just can’t imagine this campus that day,” Everett noted that day about football’s debut.

Imagine no more.— Tom Whitestone

Associate Athletic Director, Media Relations

Imagine No More continued from page 5

Chancellor Philip Dubois

predicted football

would be “transformational”

for the University.

Approximately 70 percent of the FSL sales

have been to alums, many of whom had not been previously tied to the athletic

department.

7 continued on page 8

“We deal with kids and their families and ultimately we have to be able to motivate

these players.”— Brad Lambert

High-Value FabricFootball Coaching Staff Tight Knit, Committed to University

To say the coaching staff of the UNC Charlotte foot-ball team is tight knit is an understatement. The connections are — well — dizzying. Are you ready?

Offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen coached alongside head coach Brad Lambert at Wake Forest. Secondary coach James Adams, outside linebackers’ coach Napoleon Sykes and linebackers coach Drew Dayton played for Lambert, also at Wake, and were there at the same time. Adams and Sykes went on to coach with Lambert, too.

Offensive line coach Phil Ratliff played under Lambert at Marshall. Assistant secondary coach John Russell played for Lambert at Wake and coached at Duke alongside Dayton.

Running backs coach Damien Gary played at Georgia in Lambert’s final season there. Wide receivers coach Joe Tereshinski was a teammate with Gary for two years after Lambert coached there.

Defensive coordinator Bruce Tall coached at West Virgin-ia, leaving the Mountaineers the year Mullen joined that staff. Strength coach Jim Durning played alongside Ratliff and for Lambert at Marshall. Tight ends coach Johnson

Richardson played at Wofford while Adams coached there.To sum it up (take a breath): Lambert and Mullen

coached Dayton, Adams, Sykes and Russell. Dayton, Adams, and Sykes were teammates and later coached together, and Dayton and Russell also coached together.

Gary played for Lambert and was a teammate of Tereshinski. Ratliff and Durning played for Lambert at one school and coached together at another. Tall left one school just as Mullen arrived, and Richardson played for Adams.

OK, at ease — and why does this matter? Assembling an inaugural coaching staff with so many links was by design.

‘Relational Guys’“The big thing is that these are all relational guys,” Lam-

bert said. “That’s what we do. We deal with kids and their families and ultimately we have to be able to motivate these players. These guys are people persons.

“I know how they work with the players and I knew how they would treat our players,” he continued. “You want guys that you know will work together.”

Which is not to say this staff comes from the same mold.

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Couldn’t be further from the truth. At a media outing one day, Lambert joked — tongue firmly in cheek — that he may have to join Twitter while Sykes is ever-present on the social medium.

At practices, some coaches exude rough-and-tumble en-ergy and high enthusiasm while others are more reserved. Much of the staff has a background at Wake Forest, Marshall, Georgia or James Madison — but they

also have mixed in varied experiences from schools such as Michigan, Ohio University, Harvard, Wofford, Mars Hill and Wingate.

“One thing I learned from (Wake Forest) coach (Jim) Grobe was to mix some age and youth,” Lambert noted.

Coaches Tall and Mullen both have over 20 years of col-lege coaching experience. Adams and Gary less than five. Ratliff started his coaching career in 1993; Tereshinski in 2010.

For an upstart program, the wisdom of age is vital, as is the energy of youth.

Love for the ProgramWhile there is plenty of diversity in style and experience,

what the coaches all share is a love for the game — and a love for the program.

Although nearly all of them had strong ties to each other, they didn’t have a strong tie to the University. But they have built one.

At the beach, the Ratliff family tweets a picture of a sand-castle with a Charlotte logo. Sykes has built a Niner Nation following behind his “#stateofcharlotte” hashtag. Mullen moved to town and quickly built a tree house for his kids; although, admittedly, the project was as much to help fill his fall Saturdays without football as it was to make his family feel at home.

The staff has stuck together — from Lambert’s initial hires of Mullen, Tall and Adams two years ago to the completion of his staff one year ago.

That, in itself, says something. The coaches put their careers, or at least their coaching resumes, on hold for one or two years depending on their hire date. They have not added any wins to their record. They have not added a championship or notched another bowl victory.

But they are building a program.They committed to start a program, and that’s a com-

mitment they made to Lambert, to the school and to each other. These guys are all about relationships, and you don’t build relationships and earn reputations by cutting corners on commitments. They all know that about each other.

— Tom WhitestoneAssociate Athletic Director, Media Relations

Front row (L-R): James Durning, Napoleon Sykes, Drew Dayton, Trevor Lambert, Brad Lambert, Damien Gary, Bruce TallBack Row (L-R): Jeff Mullen, Donnie Smith, James Adams, Phil Ratliff, Johnson Richardson, John Russell, Joe Tereshinski

Coaching Staff continued from page 7

“One thing I learned from (Wake Forest) coach (Jim)

Grobe was to mix some age

and youth.”— Brad Lambert

The coaches put their careers, or at least their

coaching resumes, on hold for one or two years.

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Niner Nation Family wanted to get to know more about head football coach Brad Lambert and starting quarterback Matt Johnson, a red-shirt freshman from Newton, N.C. Tom Whitestone, associate athletic director for media relations, caught up with both to pose a few questions and topics. The interviews were edited for clarity and conciseness.

CoaCh Brad LamBertIf you could be called

a connoisseur of anything, what would it be?

I enjoy playing golf. I enjoy spending time with the kids play-ing golf. If I wasn’t involved in football, I may be involved in golf.

Childhood MemoryThe thing that prob-

ably stands out the most to me was my dad just always being there when I competed. No matter what sport it was. He was always the ultimate encourager. That really went a long way with me. No matter if we played bad or good, he would always find something good in what we did and particularly in what I did. He’s just the ultimate encour-ager. He’s still that way today — he always finds the good in what our kids are doing.

Playing CareerI had a chance to play smaller college ball from a

scholarship standpoint, but my dad had gone to Kansas State and I wanted to try to play at the Division I level, so I walked on at Kansas State with my dad’s help. He really afforded me that opportunity. It worked out well. Doesn’t always. An opportunity provided itself to me and I took advantage — did well in practice and ended up starting four years. It ended up being a really good experience for me. A lot of hard work went into that.

We tell guys all the time, when opportunity knocks you’ve got to be ready to go. I felt that’s what happened for me. You’re never sure as a walk-on if you’ll ever get an opportunity to show what you can do, so when you do, you need to really do well.

Probably the No. 1 memory for me was the first game I played in — I got an interception for a touchdown on the second or third play that I played.

Youth Sports in addition to FootballI played basketball and ran track. I played golf in high

school for the first two years and switched to track because I felt like track would help me in the recruiting process. And I wrestled since I was little boy. Wrestling out in Kansas is really big, and I started out wrestling early on.

Coaching CareerI wasn’t that guy that grew up thinking about coaching.

I was always just focused on playing. I had a guy named Sherwood Taylor who coached me at Kansas State — he

had played at Oklahoma, played for coach (Barry) Switzer. He got me started in coaching so I went (to Oklahoma) as a grad assistant, and kind of the rest is history. I said I needed to go see if this is what I want to do. I’ll go to Oklahoma and be a GA (graduate assistant coach), and I caught a break early with coach (Jim) Donnan getting the job at Marshall. He afforded me opportunity to go to Marshall with him.

Major Coaching MomentsMarshall: We won a national championship at Marshall.

Talk about a school that lost its whole team in 1970 with the plane crash — I’ve said all along one of the great things about coaching is doing things that hadn’t been done at a place — so to watch those fans and see them react to winning a national championship in ’92 after all that they had been through was really a fun moment.

University of Georgia: Coach (Steve) Spurrier was at Florida and nobody at Georgia had beaten him. We finally beat him in the Georgia-Florida game — to watch that fan base and the first time beating coach Spurrier. That’s a huge rivalry, not only Georgia-Florida but coach Spurrier and Georgia.

Wake Forest: (It was great to) win an ACC championship at a program that really hadn’t done much over the years. (Then) to sit in the Orange Bowl with that team was really gratifying, to be in a BCS bowl game and to see coach (Jim) Grobe and those players and that fan base get to experi-ence that.

UNC Charlotte: One of the coolest moments of my career was game one here. To be a part of a program that has its first game in the history of the school, man, that was a really nice day — something that will go down and you’ll never forget. That was a pretty cool day.

QuarterBaCk matt Johnson

Discuss how you handle being a stu-dent-athlete, manag-ing study hall, practice, workouts, class, life on the road, personal life, etc.?

It’s definitely been an adjustment since you didn’t have to do all those things in high school. The main thing is that I figured out it wasn’t impossible once I got here. Once I

really just found out how to organize it all I could handle it a little better.

The biggest thing I had to know was what to put first — I’ve really been trying to put my schoolwork first — I have to have my education. That’s what’s allowed me to play. Putting school first and taking care of that allows me to have a clear mind going into practice, which helps me practice better (and) take on the next day.

Getting to Know Coach Lambert and Quarterback Matt Johnson

continued on page 10

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Season Recap: 2013 Team Excites FansThe Niners left their football fans eager for next season. Selling out four home games

and winning five of 11 contests, the 49ers proved they were worth the wait. Here are a few highlights of the season.

The 49ers’ first game against Campbell University was something of a fairytale. First year football team — do the players have chemistry? How will they perform on game on day? These thoughts were disputed with a 52-7 victory over the Fighting Camels.

Kalif Phillips, a true freshman, rolled up 132 yards against Coastal Carolina University, Charlotte’s first 100-yard rushing effort.

Matt Johnson, starting quarterback, ranked 18th in passing yards in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and 12th in passing touchdown yards. Austin Duke finished first on the team in receiving yards with 601 for the season. Teammates Trent Bostick and C.J. Crawford followed with receiving yards of 578 and 276, respectively.

2013 FootBaLL resuLts

Aug. 31 vs. Campbell, 52-7 (W)

Sept. 7 vs. Chowan, 47-7 (W)

Sept. 14 vs. N.C. Central, 13-40 (L)

Sept. 21 at James Madison,

7-34 (L)

Sept. 28 at Presbyterian, 45-21 (W)

Oct. 5 vs. Gardner-Webb,

53-51 (W)

Oct. 12 vs. UNC Pembroke,

22-45 (L)

Oct. 26 vs. Charleston Southern,

14-36 (L)

Nov. 2 at Coastal Carolina,

25-50 (L)

Nov. 9 vs. Wesley College,

28-35 (L)

Nov. 23 at Morehead State,

61-17 (W)

Waking up early is something I have to do. If I don’t, it’s a tough day for me. A good sound workout is needed, and it leads from one thing to another. I’ve spaced out (classes) a little bit. My days go by really fast because I’m really busy.

What are some obstacles that you’ve had to overcome because of your role as a college football player?

Our coaches really prepared us for a lot of things. I had heard college is all about time management, and I found out how much different that is from a normal student. Time management is absolutely everything, and if you don’t have good time management, you’re going to fall behind. (During the) season if you fall behind, you’re not going to catch back up.

How does college football compare to your experiences as a high school football player?

I had guidance at home in every decision I made. I was lucky enough to have both my parents helping me with those decisions. When it came to school, I had teachers helping me along — you had one-on-ones — and you don’t necessarily have those one-on-ones like you did in

high school. A lot of responsibility for schoolwork and knowing where I’m at on the field and in film study is on my shoulders — not on someone texting me and saying you got to get here today. It’s really been a responsibility adjustment for me.

What do you like most about this program?School spirit — you can see it every single day and it’s

growing in basketball, soccer, volleyball, tennis, in abso-lutely every sport. You see more Charlotte shirts coming around. I really love that when football came, we’re help-ing that along. There’s such an enthusiasm for it … there’s a buzz on campus that I don’t think is going to go away.

What changes have you seen on campus since UNC Char-lotte premiered its football program?

The morale of the students. Whether we win or lose, we’ve got people in the stadium every week. It’s an awe-some thing to see that they’re noticing that we’re putting in work, and people are trying to support us. (This) kind of shows we may not be the biggest school or the biggest football team, but there’s so much potential for that.

Lambert, Johnson continued from page 9

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Explain the camaraderie among the players.

We try to keep everyone included in events we plan for ourselves. We’ll go see movies a lot. The little bit of free time we have we try to spend it together — we’re used to that. It’s second nature to do everything with each other. We have such a brotherhood. Most of us came in at the same age, basically. The older guys took us under their wing. We’re in this together. That’s really what drives us.

Recap he season. What have been the biggest surprises? Disappointments?

I was really pleased with it. I played better football than I’ve ever played in my life. I knew I would have to change as a player coming in. I feel like we’ve exceeded expectations on a lot of levels, but we’re not complacent with where we are. We do not want to stop here. We know it’s going to build on itself every year. There won’t be a satisfaction until we’ve completed

goals later on — it’s incredible to see how we worked this entire year. I think it’s … been more than I could have ever dreamed of, and I think a lot people think that way.

We showed people that we are going to come out and play. Charlotte’s going to be a specific name that people remember because of this: they have an incredible defense that comes in and knocks people out and they have a high-powered offense that runs the offense so, so fast. It’s an exciting thing to watch, and people are going to want to be part of it. That’s what we’re trying to build, and I think with the coaches that’s going to happen for us.

What would you say to fans as they anticipate next season?I honestly have to say thank you for all the support. We’re

going to keep playing, and it’s going to get bigger and bigger. They’ve shown awesome pride for the school, and it’s good to see how (that’s) changed.

Choosing a team’s uniform is not a

casual decision. Uniforms are a vital component of team spirit and need to tie in with the school’s athletic department and the institution as a whole. As a visual cornerstone, uniforms differentiate teams and serve as a recruitment tool.

To find out how and why UNC Charlotte chose its uniforms, Niner Na-tion Family caught up with head football coach Brad Lambert to provide perspective.

“First thing we had to do was decide the company — who are we going to go with,” he recalled. “We visited with all those people and ultimately decided on Nike. …For kids coming out of high school, Nike is a pretty good draw for them.

“Then we had to get into the actual design,” Lambert continued. “We had to fight through the whole four-color scheme of green and white with accents of black and gold. We wanted to include all four colors. When you use four colors, a uniform can get busy, so we had to find a way to use the four colors and not get busy. We probably had 30 to 40 jersey/pant combinations to look at, and we would ask the staff what they thought.

“I really like what we settled on,” he said. “I’m more of a traditionalist, but you want to be thinking about high school kids and recruits as well. Hopefully, it can stand for

a long time.” The Charlotte 49ers sport

their green jerseys at home and white on the road with changes in the combina-tions between white or green pants. “The first game was really important to me,” Lambert noted. “I knew everything we would do that’s all about the pictures that would last forever. We’re green and white and I wanted to make sure that’s what we looked like in the first game.”

As for the team helmet, there was significance

to the selection of white. “I always personally liked a white helmet,” Lambert said. “I thought it drew your eyes towards our brand and everything we have done since day one is to build our brand around the Charlotte 49ers (logo). When I saw the white helmet — that jumps out at you. It reminded me of the University of Texas where they have an all-white helmet. It’s all about their logo, and that’s what I liked about it.

Lambert and his staff put the white helmet to a test. “Every family that came in the office, I’d have the white helmet on the table and I’d have the green helmet,” he said. “It was about 80-20; people really liked the white helmet. That’s what sealed the deal for me. Ultimately, the recruits liked it. Hopefully going forward we can add a helmet or two to our uniform — bring the green helmet back or add a black helmet.”

The 49ers Uniform: Lambert Shares Inside Look

Lambert, Johnson continued from page 10

Johnson in action.

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Trent BarnesAssociate Director

and Stadium Complex Manager

At the 49ers’ six home games this fall, fans enjoyed an afternoon of football fun.

Little did they realize the behind-the-scenes work and coordi-nation that made the events possible. Trent Barnes did. As associate director and sta-dium complex manager for the Student Activity Center and recreational facilities, he was in charge of venue management on home game days. “I’m here at five in the morning,” he said. “I don’t leave until usually between 8 and 9 p.m.”

Venue management covers activities before, during and after the game, functioning as the control center for all game-day staff groups, such as parking attendants, security, ticketing staff and ushers. Venue management also ensures groups know their posts and assignments and there is an overall plan to make sure everyone knows whom to com-municate to.

Everyone learned so much the first couple of games that improvements occurred quickly. Venue manage-ment has steps for each function in writing and documents mishaps. Furthermore, there is a safety plan, parking plan and Barnes has a 119-page operations manual that covers everything.

Communication on game days

is essential to a successful event. Venue management, police officers and security use a template of unified commands. “In the event of

an emergency, police will take over at that point,” Barnes said. “If a tornado is coming, police come in, unified command kicks in. There’s a communication system in place of how we are going to operate.”

During games, venue management has a dis-patch center where staff members use a software program to log incidents.

The program tracks the response time to incidents and duration of resolution. While one person monitors the program, there are also police officer, security, athletic and medical personnel on hand. It’s a quick way for all groups to com-municate.

Safety is the main focus on game day. Fan safety is the highest prior-ity, and a great amount time goes into emergency preparedness and safety precautions. Venue manage-ment has a weather software pro-gram the staff monitors throughout games. With any sign of inclement weather, they are on top of it; they even have a lightening dashboard. It recognizes within several seconds when lightening has hit and how far away it is. With the help of this software, decisions can be made

Game-Day Operations =Preparation + Communication

continued on page 14

STAGING A STADIUM

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When the Charlotte 49ers ran onto the football field for the very first time on

Aug. 30, they were welcomed by a drumline funded with support from UNC Charlotte alumni. As an alum and snare drummer in high school, Eugene Johnson, former Board of Trustees chairman and CEO of Fairpoint Communications, worked to raise money for the drumline. In a matter of days, approximately 70 percent of the funding came from Johnson and other trustees who are alumni.

The next step was to assemble talent on campus, and Facebook helped get the word out. Students majoring and minoring in music and current members of the basketball band were a starting point for talent recruitment. A meeting to gauge student interest also occurred

Auditions were held, and percussionists participated in a weeklong camp of 12-hour days a week before school started. There were lots of drills, work on proper tech-nique and learning of music to create a repertoire. The drumline made its debut at the 49er New Year Aug. 18 and picked up more than a half a dozen students to join the hard-working group.

“We want to make sure that we are playing well and performing to our audiences,” said Drum Captain Austin Powell. “We practice twice a week for three hours to help us prepare for game days. It is usually necessary to practice at home as well to make sure you are prepared. It’s really no different than a class. Your homework is the music that you perform. You take it home and practice it.”

On game days, the day starts at 7:30 a.m. for drumline members. After warming up, they head to the Student Union, where they play for students before marching to the Alumni Tent to perform and get ready for the arrival of the football players at 9:49 a.m. The drumline escorts the players during the parade from the union to the stadium. Drummers play for the tailgaters at the football statue and then take to the field for a pregame show and play in the

49er Drumline Takes the Fieldstands for the rest of the game. After playing for people as they are leav-ing, their day finally ends around 4 p.m.

The drums are a focal point for the line. The custom Yamaha drums were purchased from the Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps. Students took the drums apart, cleaned, rewrapped and put them back together with a high-grade contact paper. The textures and variations in the 49er green make for stunningly beautiful drums.

Their uniforms also stand out. The drumline sports green coaches caps, white replica jerseys (so the green

drums are the focus), khaki pants and funky green Adidas sneakers.

This fall the drumline received many invitations to perform but had to turn many of them down to focus on campus events and football, including 49er New Year, homecoming and Family Weekend.

Another factor in the drumline’s success is its highly qualified staff. Head percussion instructor Rudy Gowern has been involved with marching percussion since 1977, marching for 15 seasons with such notable drum corps as the Heightsmen, Citations, Boston Crusaders and Star of Indiana.

As a snare drummer for Star of Indiana, Gowern per-formed with the drumline that won Drum Corps Interna-tional’s high percussion caption award while marching with the drum and bugle corps that finished second in the DCI World Championships. In addition to his success on the field, Gowern finished in the Top 5 of the DCI Indi-vidual & Ensemble Snare Drum Competition three times, establishing himself as one of the top snare drummers in the world.

His extensive drum corps teaching experience includes serving as the percussion caption head for the Boston Crusaders and the Crossmen. At the collegiate level, Gow-ern has taught drumlines at Boston College and Boston

Students took the drums apart, cleaned, rewrapped and put them back together.

continued on page14

14

Drumline continued from page 14

University. He is an active clinician and artist for Vic Firth Sticks & Mallets, Remo Drum Heads, Zildjian Cymbals, Sibelius Software and StickTape USA.

Assisting is Renae White, a 2008 UNC Charlotte music graduate; Justin Brewer, a 2011 UNC Charlotte grad and area band instructor; Nick Nichols, a music alum and current drum instructor at East Carolina University, and David Guion from Appalachian State.

Many of the drummers came with drumline experience from high school, but experience is not required to be part of the group. James Grymes, a professor of musicology and interim chair of the drumline program, said, “If you can count and you’re willing to work hard, there is a place for you.”

“My experience in the drumline has been spectacular,” said drum captain Powell. “Get-ting to attend every football game and really becoming a part of the game-day experience is so much fun. We are placed in the student sec-tion throughout the game and help get every-one excited in between plays. Our instructors are also top-notch. They help us become much better drummers, but we also have a ton of fun.

“I’m happy to say that the drumline here has a bond that is rarely found anywhere else,” Powell continued. “With this being the very first year, everyone came in and almost no one (including me) knew anybody there. We spend around 13 hours a week during the season to-gether, so we really get to know each other very well and became a close family. The people I met in the drumline will always be some of my best friends.”

The drumline will continue going strong, and auditions for next season will be held in the spring. Visit www.music.uncc.edu for more information, and connect with the drumline via Facebook.

“I’m really looking forward to meeting new people in upcoming seasons, as well as being able to continue to create an image for the great drumline that we have here at Charlotte,” Powell said. “Everyone here has been ex-tremely supportive of the drumline and it’s been awesome. But most of all, I’m excited for the drumline to become a part of the University’s marching band come 2015.”

UNC Charlotte will debut its marching band program in 2015. 49ers eagerly wait!

—Tempestt Adams

Game-Day Operations continued from page 12

(left) Lieutenant Shawn Smith, (right) Chief Jeff Baker.

quickly about safety.

Asked what lessons he learned from the first season, Barnes noted the unpredictability of some considerations. “We had to learn what human behavior will do and adjust to that,” he said. For example, there were issues with heat in the stands due to midday games and no shade. The staff provided tents and industrial-sized fans close to conces-sion stands to cool fans.

Another issue venue management is examining during the offseason is how to communicate game-day etiquette to UNC Charlotte students. There are many challenges in that category, Barnes said.

— Chase Propst

CONNECT EVEN MORE WITH NATION FAMILY ON FACEBOOK!https://www.facebook.com/ninernationfamily

15

Concessions are just about everyone’s guilty pleasure. You can’t help but indulge

yourself in hot dogs, cotton candy and soft drinks. The bet you made with your best friend, the anticipa-tion of the game and the fact that you want bragging rights leaves you helplessly turning to concessions to alleviate the intensity of the game. Concessions and football go together like tuition and a college education; they are inseparable.

Planning for football concessions started about two years ago, begin-ning with menu development, staff recruitment and exploring programs at other schools. Brad Green, direc-tor of catering and special services, and members of UNC Charlotte’s Chartwells staff visited N.C. State, Duke University, LSU and Texas A&M to see how their concession programs looked and operated. Their goal was to see how other universities ran their program, what worked for them and, in turn, make the UNC Charlotte concessions program unique.

Historically, concession operations have not considered environmental impact, but that has been changing in recent years. In April 2011 UNC Charlotte’s student gov-ernment passed the Zero Waste Vending Act with an eye toward the emerging football program.

As a result, fans are greeted at every trash can around the stadium by student volunteers helping them to recycle properly. Also, the University has asked partners Bojangle’s and Coca-Cola to package their condiments differently. Normally the cups have a wax lining. With a corn lining, the cups are 100 percent compostable. Also, straws and lids are compostable as well.

Traditional sauce cups are recyclable, but the foil lids are not. So to keep with the zero-waste initiative, Bojangle’s changed the approach, offering big tubs of condiments at stations. This ensures the lids aren’t in a landfill and provides fans a chance to easily obtain a variety of sauces. Fryer oil, meanwhile, is taken to a bio-recycling program at UNC Greensboro to generate biodiesel to run vehicles.

Implementing food and safety requirements on a large scale was also important to setting up a concessions program. To help with that and many other aspects, Green hired Terry Smith as concessions manager. “He was a huge help and has become a valuable asset to dining services,” Green said. “His resume focused on concessions (over a 17-year period) and has him in locations like convention centers, the Georgia Dome and the Cleveland Indians baseball stadium, but he was most recently managing the concession program at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Needless to say, he likes the weather down here much better.”

Instead of hiring traditional workers, Green reached out to volunteer groups to work concessions. The groups re-ceived extensive education, with each volunteer required to attend two training sessions. The first part was an eight-hour food and safety program, teaching volunteers how to prepare and handle food properly. A manual given to each person covered the rules and expectations of food safety. Page by page, training leaders went over the manual to ensure that everyone knew the standards.

The second part was a six-hour training for cashiers on good customer service. Over 20,000 hours were spent training the staff to ensure consistency and safety. None-theless, a Chartwells manager staffed each concession stand. They required no additional training because they are all “Serv-Safe” certified. Serv-Safe is an education pro-gram driven by the health department to make sure food handlers are abiding by the same rules and regulations.

Other than the mobile carts, UNC Charlotte handles most of its football concessions in house. The mobile carts are out-sourced to Below Zero Enterprise,” a third-party contractor. They handle mobile carts that serve ice cream, frozen and fresh lemonade and other items.

Planning is key to any successful program, and it served the concession program well. Green had his troops trained on game-day scenarios, including the possibility of hot weather. That proved important when the University’s opening game against Campbell was a scorcher. Thanks to the training, concessions sold 7,000 bottles of cold water and didn’t run out.

Next season, there are no big changes in store, Green said, though he looks forward to expanding the mobile cart area and continuing zero-waste initiative.

— Jadora Ross

‘Concessions’ to the Environment

Fans enjoyed the concessions at 49er football games. Plans for concessions started about two years ago and kept recycling and composting in mind.

16

Upon the ground-breaking for the stadium, student

government was working on a way to have a positive impact on the University in connection with the new football program. Through a student-led initiative, a resolution passed that asked University leadership to consider a zero-waste requirement in their vendor contracts for the stadium. That was the beginning of an effort that has turned into a highly successful recycling and composting campaign at the stadium.

According to the Grassroots Recyling Network, “zero waste” is a systems approach to managing materials and waste that “maximizes recycling, minimizes waste, reduces consumption and ensures that products are made to be reused, repaired or recycled back into nature or the marketplace,” said the group’s website, www.grrn.org.

Ray Atkinson, now a UNC Charlotte alum, wrote The Zero Waste Vending Act when he was a senator for the Col-lege of Liberal Arts and Sciences. It passed in April 2011.

“The idea for the resolution came about during a Char-lotte Green Initiative (CGI) meeting as we were discussing the potential to reduce the environmental impact of our football stadium,” Atkinson recalled. “We saw the zero-waste program as an opportunity to save the University money and create a lasting and direct culture shift in environmental education through educating everyone on how to properly recycle, compost and reuse water bottles. I’m not sure who mentioned the zero-waste idea, but I remember offering to help kick-start the idea through writing The Zero Waste Vending Act.”

After the act passed, Atkinson and others went work. They soon realized that UNC Charlotte would be the first stadium to be a zero-waste facility from the start. Facilities Management looked at other universities with successful zero-waste operations to figure out what and how to do it. Said Atkinson, “I worked with CGI, the Student Govern-ment Association, Facilities Management, Chartwells and Athletics to plan, design and implement the zero-waste football program. It took us two years, but we accom-

plished the goal and have been amazed by the results.” Though he graduated last May, he saw the fruits of every-

one’s labor. “I was able to see the implementation first-hand by volunteering at several of the games this year,” he said. “One of the unexpected results of this program for me was seeing how the culture shift can have an impact beyond just the football stadium. If people, including the larger Charlotte community, learn how to properly recycle, compost and reuse water bottles in their daily lives from attending our football games, then we can create a lasting culture shift, save precious dollars and preserve valuable natural resources.”

He also sees the larger campus as a potential beneficiary. “The impact of this culture shift could be stronger though the expansion of the zero-waste program across campus,” he noted. “Even though I wish I could still be working on the program, I look forward to returning to campus some-day and seeing the zero-waste program expanded across campus and eventually having a zero-waste campus.”

At the stadium, the goal is that cups, plates, utensils, bottles, etc., including ones brought into the stadium, are either compostable or recyclable. On the concourse this season, there were no trash cans, just options for com-posting and recycling.

Jerry Richardson Stadium is First to Open with Zero-Waste Initiative Students Play Big Role in Planning, Implementation

Committed student groups volunteered to make the zero-waste effort successful.

continued on page 17

17

The program was a big adjustment for fans looking for traditional trash cans. Volunteers staffed 18 stations around the stadium to help them determine where their items should go. CGI led the volunteer efforts with generous support from ROTC, the EARTH Club, the Levine Scholars and Honors Society and Greek organiza-tions.

A huge hit at the stadium were filling stations that fans could use to refill water bottles. Facilities Management is looking to add more stations over the next few years. Another compo-nent of the zero-waste effort was how vendors worked with the University on concessions (see related story).

During the games, there was a video clip played on the large screen to let fans know that the stadium is a zero-waste facility. Signage around the site and at the entrance gates also informed fans, as did the school website, fan guides and social media. Furthermore, pictures were on the composting and recycling bins to help fans identify what items go where and to minimize confusion.

After games, trash, recyclables and compostable items were easily sepa-rated into color-coded bags — green for compost, blue for recycling and clear for trash. Results were tracked and weights by waste type were disseminated on social media to keep people informed. The numbers were impressive. For the six home games, over 80 percent of stadium waste was diverted from the landfill through recycling and composting. The season average was 82.6 percent, while the

highest single-game diversion rate was 93.9 percent for the Oct. 12 game against UNC Pembroke.

Next steps include further minimizing trash. Switching from labels on the bins to stationary poles is in the works to enhance visibility and assist newcomers, as well as to handle crowd-ing during halftime. Because there are trash cans in the bathrooms, over the next few years Facili-ties Managements hopes to switch from paper towels to hand dryers to cut down on towel usage.

Facilities also wants to find a way to separate towels out since they are compostable. Reducing trash further will also require improving collection at the gates upon entry to games and adding bins near hospitality suites and the chancellor’s suite in the press box.

Volunteers are the face of the program and the educational link to the fans. Facilities Management’s recycling division is actively recruit-ing University groups to sign up for games. In late summer, new and old volunteers will be back at Jerry Richardson Stadium trying to get that diversion rate number even higher. University leaders believe 90 percent or better is within reach.

— Tempestt Adams

Zero Waste continued from page 16

Volunteers prepared bins with compost bags.

For the six home games, over 80 percent of stadium waste was diverted from the landfill through recycling and composting.

TUESDAYJANUARY 21

8:00 AM - 7:00 PMBarnhardt Student

Activity CenterCome out to donate, receive a pint of BLUE BELL ICE CREAM + an

‘I BLEED 49ERS GREEN’ T-Shirt!

Click here to make your donation appointment

18

Keeping it All

and Maintained

Apart from game-day operations, maintain-ing Jerry Richardson Stadium and the Judy W. Rose Football Center is a big focus

of venue management. The Rose Center is UNC Charlotte’s state-of-the-art field house that opened this fall.

Venue management’s greatest maintenance challenge is keeping the stadium and the Rose Center clean, said Trent Barnes, associate director and stadium complex manager. The field house is 46,000 square feet, and the stadium seats 15,300. With all that area to maintain, the staff stays busy. They also work on small projects for the football staff as well as set up and break down events.

The stadium is also being used for events un-related to football during the offseason. Stadium officials are considering hosting high school football playoff/championship games. They also have received interest in marching band competi-tions, University functions and private hospitality

events. Planning and hosting events will be year round responsibilities for stadium management staff.

As for the football field itself, maintenance crews tend the turf. Many people wonder why the field is turf and not grass. “Turf is probably more expen-sive up front but in the long run saves money,” Barnes said. “We don’t have to spend money in the upkeep (water, fertilizer, sodding). The end-zone paint usually kills the grass, and you have to work really hard to build it back up. It (turf) saves in labor costs as well. We have one person who keeps up with the grass practice fields, surrounding grounds and stadium fields.”

UNC Charlotte’s football stadium can be expand-ed to approximately 40,000 seats. If that happens one day, it would mean more responsibility for stadium management, and Trent Barnes is assured his department can handle the order.

— Chase Propst

19

The University’s music department will

debut a full marching band in fall 2015. It will augment the drumline that performs at home football games.

The introduction of a marching band — complete with brass instruments, wood-winds and a color guard — will coincide with the 49ers’ ascent into the elite Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of Conference USA.

The music department is conducting a national search for its inaugural band director. This director is expected to join the faculty in fall 2014 and begin leading students in planning the band and establishing traditions.

According to school officials, planning will include fundraising for band scholarships, purchasing new instru-ments and new uniforms and the construction of a building for offices and storage. This facility is expected to be within

walking distance of Robinson Hall for the Performing Arts, as well as the field next to Highway 49 where the band will practice.

“The addition of a marching band will greatly enhance the game-day experiences of our students, alumni and fans,” said Jay Grymes, interim chair of the music department in the College of Arts + Architecture. “This is truly a great time to be a 49er.”

He added that the band would offer students from every major and college exciting opportunities to perform at a high level, while contributing to the spirited atmosphere of football games.

Officials anticipate the band will play during pregame festivities and welcome the football team as the players and coaches run onto the field. Also, the band is expected to play the fight song and other tunes in the stands during the game and return to the field to entertain fans during halftime. At the end of every game, the band will lead the crowd in the alma mater.

— Story courtesy of University Communications

Marching Band to Debut in 2015

It has been amazing to

see the shift in campus community due to the

creation of the football team.

Before the football team, many students went home for the weekend.

Football games gave students a reason to

stick around campus and

become more involved

in campus activities. The games also

bring together a wide variety of people and add energy to

campus.

— Moriah MacDonell, Senior, Fine

Arts (Painting)

Football is one of my favorite

sports to watch. Coming into the 49er family a year before our inaugural football

season was amazing.

Last year as a 49er fan I was burning with anticipation.

This year with football has caused a significant increase in

the zeal and spirit of all 49er fans!

This season has been so

much fun from our very first game to our homecoming

to our last home game.

— Christian Pridgen

Sophomore, Sociology

Coming from Atlanta

to attend college at UNC

Charlotte, I’ve always

thought that campus life

was just what I needed. But

then there was football! The games were something to look forward

to, bring students

together and give us the opportunity to fellowship as one. As a result, Niner

Football has really enhanced my college experience and I am

grateful to be a part of

history!

—Natwana Pace, Junior, Mathematics

Football is about tradition,

the chill in the air and continuous non-stop,

hard-hitting, fast-paced

competition. As a new

employee to the University,

I am proud to be a part of a growing tradition and

excited to share our

growth with prospective

students. After a more than

50-year hiatus, I’m so excited it has returned

to Niner Nation!

— Zakiya Collins,

Assistant Director of

Admissions

I could not be more excited

that UNC Charlotte has

a football team! I cannot

wait for the day when I walk across campus and all I see are

students sporting UNC

Charlotte shirts! My

hope is that school spirit

will grow exponentially

as a result of football coming to

campus! I am proud to be a part of Niner

Nation!

— Leslie D. Robinson, Health Ed Specialist

UNC Charlotte Center for Wellness

Promotion

The energy I saw over the course of the season was exactly what I had been waiting to

see for two years prior to the inaugural game. From

the community atmosphere at the tailgates

to the tremendous support from the students

and alumni at the football games, this team has

brought our campus closer together than ever before.

— Ian Petrere, Junior, Mass Communica-

tions

I was ecstatic that we

finally have a football team

here, and it definitely influenced

my decision for returning for graduate

school. Athletics is

a big part of any collegiate

program, football

especially. We won a few games so I’m not

dissatisfied, and I know we will continue to improve in

the seasons to come.

— Austen Land,

Graduate Student, Class of 2010 Alum

As a transfer student and

big sports fan, I was looking

forward to the first day of football.

Witnessing the first game with

the national anthem and

the full length flag, chills

were crawling up my skin. As a 49er, I am proud of what the organization

has accomplished and wish for the tradition

to continue for many years to

come.

— Josè M. Reyes, Senior,

Finance and Spanish

What Football Fans Are Saying

20

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

‘Flavoring’ a MajorInterdisciplinary Minors Play Key Educational Role

Students choose an academic major, their primary program of study, based on their skills,

passions and career interests. While they usually put considerable thought into choosing a major, it is equally important to carefully select an academic minor.

Much like spices are an essential part of a tasty meal, a minor “flavors” a major. A student may choose a minor that provides additional career training or skills or is based on personal interests or passions. Furthermore, study and cooperation across academic disciplines is an increasingly vital component to a well-rounded undergraduate educa-tion.

A discipline is a field of study that has its own way of pursuing knowl-edge to better understand the world. Each discipline has its own scholars, theories and methods for gathering and analyzing information. Interdis-ciplinary education combines two or more disciplines into one program of instruction to allow for the creation of new ideas, systems or works of art.

Because interdisciplinary education encourages students to examine top-ics from multiple and often conflict-ing perspectives, students learn to think critically about why we know what we know, interrogate their own preconceived ideas and embrace the complexity of topics. Interdisciplin-ary education also can help students integrate concepts from different disciplines to see the “big picture.” All of these qualities embolden students to become better problem-solvers.

UNC Charlotte is committed to growing and strengthening inter-disciplinary teaching and scholar-ship. Faculty members from across disciplines collaborate on important research projects or draw on a wide range of theories to understand key societal issues. Likewise, interdis-ciplinary minors draw from two or more departments to offer students a well-rounded program of study.

The University has 21 interdisciplin-ary minors, two of which are high-lighted here: Urban Youth and Com-

munities and Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Studies.

Urban Youth and CommunitiesThe minor in Urban Youth and

Communities prepares students to be agents of change in the community through civic engagement and learn-ing through service.

The minor is open to all majors who seek to explore the strengths, capabilities and issues of youth and communities in urban settings. Elec-tive courses are concentrated in the areas of urban youth and education, communities and social justice.

The minor’s design and implemen-tation is the result of a competitive grant from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). The interdisciplinary coursework equips students to understand the complex context of urban schools and neighborhoods, the strengths and capabilities of urban children and the implications of public policy for primary and secondary public schools.

According to Susan Harden, assis-tant professor of middle, secondary and K-12 education and coordinator for the minor, the program offers pre-service teachers and their peers op-portunities “to have experiences with service-learning in urban settings and to … develop a rich understanding of the public policy context of urban schools and other community factors that affect school performance, com-munity connections to schools and learning outcomes for students...”

UNC Charlotte’s program is a model within AASCU, an organization of

over 400 institutions that collectively prepare almost 60 percent of Ameri-ca’s teachers annually.

In 2012-13, its first academic year, the minor enrolled 40 students. Jazzmin Sims and Linsey Robertson graduated with the minor in spring 2013. Sims chose it because she recognized that community service formed a significant part of her learning process at UNC Charlotte. The minor, she said, “provided the perfect opportunity for me to go into the community and figure out what they need to thrive and live a satisfy-ing life.” The most fulfilling aspect of her experience was recognizing “the power to help an individual or a neighborhood obtain sustainability,” Sims said.

Like Sims, Robertson found the coursework allowed her to engage the community beyond short volunteer experiences. The minor added “the community aspect of child devel-opment to my overall knowledge — which is an extremely important aspect of what my career will entail,” she said. “I want to be able to make a difference in every child’s life in every way that I can, and I believe these classes have put this aspiration in motion!” Both graduates are currently pursuing careers as high school guid-ance counselors.

The Urban Youth and Communities minor draws on diverse depart-ments for its coursework, including Africana studies, geography, history, criminal justice, Latin American studies, middle school and secondary education, anthropology, sociology, communication studies, religious studies, psychology, childhood and family development, liberal studies and education. The minor also can complement these fields and others, such as social work, public health and kinesiology.

Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Studies

Since 2009, the department of global, international and area studies has offered a minor in Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Studies.

Students examine the social, behav-

Tamara Johnson, Ph.D.Office of Academic Affairs

continued page 21

21

ioral and cultural origins of genocide and mass violence and better understand their consequences and legacies. The minor is closely related to the department’s Center for HGHR Studies, which advances both an academic and a public mission by organizing scholarly exchange and community activities to promote research, education and dialogue on genocide and violent exclusion perpetu-ated against people on the basis of ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender or sexuality.

As the unspeakable details of the Holocaust came to light in the aftermath of World War II, people wanted to understand the horror behind the attempt to eradicate an entire group of people. It was Polish legal scholar Raphael Lemkin who first coined the term “genocide,” a term later adopted by the United Nations. Genocide cannot always be easily distinguished from other crimes against humanity and human rights abuses. Post-WWII atrocities in Cambodia, East Timor, Guatemala, Bosnia, Rwanda and elsewhere were widely reported, little understood and seldom prevented.

The repeated occurrence of genocide and the violation of fundamental human rights make discussion, investigation and prevention crucial. John Cox, associate professor in the department of global, international and area studies and the center’s director, said: “I think our program helps its students to become true ‘citizens of the world’— the best antidote to some of the terrible things we study, such as racism, ethnic nationalism and war.”

The HGHR Center offers many opportunities to explore the Holocaust and human rights issues by sponsoring films and seminars and by bringing leading scholars to campus. During spring break 2013, 16 students trav-eled to Poland to explore lessons of the Holocaust. The trip was conducted in conjunction with a course in the HGHR minor and included a visit to Krakow, site of Oskar

Schindler’s factory, and to the Auschwitz-Birkenau con-centration camps.

Students also had the chance to observe behind-the-scenes documentation and preservation activities and to hear lectures from professional staff members. Not long after their return, some of the students shared their experi-ences with members of the Charlotte community at the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration at Shalom Park.

Senior Natalie Thomas decided to minor in HGHR because she has always wondered why the Holocaust hap-pened and why the global community proclaims “never again” and yet atrocities still occur.

Her passion for human rights began when she traveled to Cambodia in 2010 to volunteer with orphans and learn about the genocide that swept through that country dur-ing the 1970s. The trip inspired her to minor in HGHR and pursue a career in international humanitarian work.

The minor has “expanded my knowledge of human rights issues around the world,” Thomas said. “I am now able to fully analyze situations with a clear and thorough under-standing of the root problem without jumping to conclu-sions and not knowing all the facts. This minor has opened my eyes to the world around me and the real issues that matter, such as education, health care, social equality and freedom. I have become a more open-minded and less judgmental person.” She is planning to join the Peace Corps after graduating from UNC Charlotte in May.

These are only two of the UNC Charlotte nearly two dozen interdisciplinary minors. The University encourages students and their families to explore the wide variety of engaging and stimulating possibilities. For a list of all of the University’s more than 70 undergraduate minors, please visit http://academics.uncc.edu/undergraduate-minors.

Interdisciplinary Minors continued from page 20

Biotechnology

Children’s Literature and Childhood Studies

Classical Studies

Cognitive Science

Diverse Literature and Cultural Studies

Environmental Sciences

Film Studies

Francophone Studies

Gerontology

Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Studies

Humanities, Technology and Science

International Studies

Islamic Studies

Journalism

Judaic Studies

Latin American Studies

Linguistics

Public Health

Urban Studies

Urban Youth and Communities

Women’s and Gender Studies

UNC Charlotte’s 21 Interdisciplinary Minors: The List

22

Psych Prof Wins University’s Top Teaching Award

Psychology professor Kimberly Buch is the 2013 recipient of the highest teaching honor bestowed by UNC Charlotte, the Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence.

The announcement was made at a reception on Sept. 20 at Bank of America’s Founder’s Hall. Buch and the other finalists were honored dur-ing an evening ceremony and gala

attended by University faculty members and their guests.“We have an incredible faculty at UNC Charlotte and

the list of nominees for the Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence speaks volumes about our intellectual capital,” said Chancellor Philip L. Dubois. “I congratulate all of the finalists this year for this most prestigious recog-nition.”

The other nominees were: Ted Amato, professor of eco-nomics; John David Smith, professor of history; Hui-Kuan “Alice” Tseng, associate professor of economics; and Mark West, professor of English.

Buch, a faculty member in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, defines her teaching goals by her ability to become a “facilitator of learning” for her students. This philosophy has been a driving force of Buch’s research, teaching and service practices since joining UNC Char-lotte in 1987.

“Kim has taught our students to be engaged learners and good citizens of their community,” said Fary Cachelin, chair of psychology. “She teaches students that learning is more than grades and assignments — that true learning is growing through life-changing experiences like studying abroad or impacting the lives of others and one’s commu-nity through service.”

Says Buch, “Our students’ learning and development should be the true measure of our success, not our own engaging, entertaining or even enlightened teaching.”

For Buch, this means providing quality classroom and out-of-class experiences, being sensitive and responsive to differences in learning styles, staying abreast of disciplin-ary developments and curricular innovation and being an approachable educator and advisor to students.

She has made significant contributions to the scholar-ship of teaching and learning through publications and, starting this fall, will serve a two-year term as a faculty fel-low in UNC Charlotte’s Center for Teaching and Learning, where she will work with faculty interested in exploring innovative teaching and learning practices.

Equally significant to Buch’s teaching success is her commitment to engage students outside the classroom. Buch has served as chair of more than 70 graduate thesis committees, supervised more than 60 undergraduate research projects and managed internship placements for over 50 graduate and undergraduate students. Relation-ships developed with students have resulted in more than 40 jointly authored professional presentations and publi-cations.

Known for engaging students in community issues and partnerships, Buch is the faculty advisor for Niner Neigh-bors, a student-led organization that provides temporary housing for the homeless. She also is actively involved with one of the University’s most visible community service initiatives, Stop Hunger Now.— Story courtesy of University Communications

Foundation Names Burfield a Nurse Faculty Scholar

Allison H. Burfield, Ph.D., RN, has been awarded a highly competitive grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Nurse Faculty Scholars program. One of just 12 nursing educators from across the United States, Burfield will receive a three-year, $350,000 award to promote her academic career and support her research.

The Nurse Faculty Scholar award is given to junior faculty who show outstanding promise as leaders in academic nursing. For her research project, Burfield plans to evaluate the effectiveness of an interven-tion to assess and treat pain in older adult suffering with dementia.

“This award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provides a wonderful opportunity to conduct interdisci-plinary research that evaluates how we can reduce the use of medications that have an altering effect on perception, emotion or behavior on older adults, and better intervene and treat pain,” Burfield said.

“The aging population is growing; there are 5.4 million people in the United States and 35.6 million people world-wide who have cognitive impairment and are considered older adults,” she continued. “It is estimated that as many as 80 percent of these populations are suffering with chronic pain. In addition, the World Health Organization reports that there are 7.7 million new cases of older adults with dementia every year. Many of these people may be receiving inappropriate psychoactive medications rather than the safest analgesic(s) for pain, because they are un-able to verbalize their pain due to cognitive impairment.”

The findings from her study could provide important information about improving pain assessment and treat-ment, boosting socialization, reducing the risk of falls and injury and improving the overall quality of life of those residing in long-term care.

“The goal of my research is to improve how medications are used in older adults to reduce polypharmacy and medication costs, while improving care outcomes and quality of life,” she added. “The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar program will provide support for my research and enable the resources needed to infuse the best and most effective care of the elderly into the nursing curriculum I teach.”

The RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholars program supports the academic productivity and overall excellence of nursing schools by developing the next generation of leaders in academic nursing. Burfield is part of the program’s sixth

UNIVERSITY AWARDS AND HONORS

Kimberly Buch

Allison H. Burfield

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University Honors continued from page 22cohort.

Supporting junior nurse faculty helps curb a shortage of nurse educators today. Furthermore, the Affordable Care Act is vastly increasing the number of people who can access health care in the United States. As the number of patients increases, there will be greater demand for skilled nurses as well as faculty to educate them.

— Story courtesy of University Communications

Wilhelm is Latest from University to Become Academy Fellow

Election into the International Academy for Production Engineer-ing is a high honor. The number of fellows worldwide is limited to 175, and the number is also limited to 20 per country.

At this time, there are 15 fellows from the United States, and five are faculty members at UNC Charlotte. By comparison, major engineer-ing schools like MIT, Berkeley and Purdue have one fellow.

Robert Wilhelm, vice chancellor of research and economic development and professor of mechanical engineering and engineering science, is the latest UNC Charlotte researcher to be named a fellow of the academy, which is also known by its French acronym, CIRP.

Like Wilhelm, the others are University faculty members in the mechanical engineering and engineering science department. They are Matt Davies, Chris Evans, Bob Hocken and Scott Smith.

Wilhelm, who also serves as executive director of Char-lotte Research Institute, was elected recently at CIRP’s 63rd General Assembly Meeting in Copenhagen. The academy contributes to global economic growth and the well-being of society by promoting research and development in production engineering.

In addition, UNC Charlotte recruited German CIRP fellow Gert Goch to come to Charlotte and join the faculty. According to Smith, the number of CIRP fellows at UNC Charlotte is the largest concentration at any university in the world.

Some other U.S. universities with a CIRP fellow include Wisconsin, Ohio State, Oklahoma State and Nebraska.

— Story courtesy of University Communications

Alumni Awards

Eight Honored for Distinguished Service, Achievement

The Alumni Association honored eight individuals for embodying the core principles of the University and distinguishing themselves through outstanding service to the University, their chosen fields and humanity.

The 2013 awards were presented at the Alumni Awards Banquet on Nov. 2.

“These awards have become a part of our academic fabric here at the University,” said Niles Sorensen, vice chancellor for the Division for University Advancement.

“We have so many talented graduates who have excelled in their profession and in the community while simultane-ously being supportive and connected to their alma mater. These eight outstanding individuals have been instrumen-tal in making UNC Charlotte a great institution.”

The honorees are recognized in six categories:

distinguished FaCuLty award Albert A. Maisto, Ph.D.

Maisto’s work with honors stu-dents, which spans more than two decades, is legendary at the Uni-versity. As the first interim director for the Levine Scholars Program, Maisto played a key role in de-signing the scholarship program. Maisto is a longtime professor of

psychology and previously the associ-ate dean of the Honors College and

director of the University Honors Program.The Carnegie Foundation’s U.S. Professor of the Year for

1997-98, Maisto has served as an assistant to the chancel-lor for academic affairs, as faculty president and as coordi-nator of the undergraduate psychology program. He also was named a Bonnie E. Cone Distinguished Professor for Teaching.

In 2012, Maisto helped design the UNC Charlotte Faculty Council’s voluntary faculty scholarship fund. The Faculty Legacy Scholarship is aimed at meeting the financial needs of UNC Charlotte students. Starting with small donations from faculty that accumulate over time, the fund will eventually help defray tuition and fees.

Maisto is co-author of one of the largest selling general psychology textbooks, published in five languages and used at over 650 universities worldwide.

“I came to UNC Charlotte in 1977 when it was a small, principally undergraduate college dedicated to serving the greater Charlotte community,” Maisto said. “Over the past three and a half decades, I have enjoyed being part of its transformation into a fully developed research university, with a national reputation, yet still retaining its focus on high quality undergraduate education.”

outstanding young aLumni award

Adrienne D. Barnette, ’04, ’07Barnette was a member of the

49ers track and field team from 2000-05. A high jumper, she still holds the school’s outdoor and indoor records in the event. As a student, she graduated with degrees in organizational communications and psychology, often earning a spot on the athletic director’s aca-demic honor roll. She returned to UNC Charlotte in 2005 to work on her master’s in school counseling, which she earned in 2007. Barnette

is currently a licensed professional counselor.Barnette’s biggest adventure to date is a motorcycle trip

Robert Wilhelm

Albert A. Maisto

Adrienne Barnette

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University Honors continued from page 23

called “Route 1961” that she took during spring break in 2011. She recreated the 1961 journey by the Freedom Riders, who traveled from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans to protest segregation. Her goal was to teach her K-12 students with severe emotional disabilities a tale of positive character education. Her latest endeavor is “Pedal for Peace,” a character-education expedition in which she retraced 800 miles of the Underground Railroad on a bicycle to Canada.

From January 2008 to January 2013, she worked as a counselor, department chair and academic facilitator with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

“When I chose to attend UNC Charlotte, I was not sure what a 49er was,” Barnette said. “However, while attending UNC Charlotte, I soon began to understand that within Charlotte exists a gold mine, a place of opportunity, a network of support which encouraged me to reach my goals and echoed to me the importance of cooperation and collaboration in assisting others at reaching their aspirations.”

humanitarian award

Robin Hill Emmons, ’00After dropping out of high

school, Robin Hill Emmons obtained her general education diploma, moved from Boston and enrolled at UNC Charlotte, work-ing toward a bachelor’s degree at the age of 26.

After graduating in 2000, her first job out of college was with the Metrolina AIDS Project. From

there, she entered the corporate world, first with Goodrich and then with Bank of America. The money was good, but all the while Emmons yearned to work on issues of social justice. Overwhelmed by that desire, she walked into her office in March 2008 and quit.

Meanwhile, her older brother was struggling. Eventually he made his way to Charlotte and started living on the streets. He was arrested and later diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic. His arrest coincided with Emmons’ deci-sion to leave her job, freeing her to become his advocate and guardian. He was placed in a supportive housing program.

Emmons, who had been a gardener most of her adult life, noted that the 30 residents of the group home were not eating enough fresh fruits and vegetables. She began planting extra rows of vegetables in her 6-by-10-foot garden, bringing the harvest to the program staff for the residents. After doing that for a time, she began sharing the bounty with others in need.

Soon after, she founded Sow Much Good. She built up a team of 120 volunteer gardeners and farmers who worked two parcels of land, while Emmons continued to raise produce in her garden.

By now, the nonprofit has distributed eight tons of organic fruits and vegetables to food assistance programs

and low-income neighborhoods where produce is sold at rock-bottom prices at market stands.

Currently, Emmons is launching a new program called Community Roots. It will employ people in the commu-nity to grow food that they will then sell at farm stands in neighborhoods that lack fresh produce, areas often called “food deserts.”

Emmons recently completed the McColl Center’s Innova-tion Institute and was named a 2013 CNN Hero and one of 20 William C. Friday Fellows for Human Relations. The two-year fellowship is for emerging leaders in the public, private and nonprofit sectors who are able to directly affect issues facing communities, through the Wildacres Leadership Initiative.

honorary aLumna award

Elinor Caddell In 1965, University founder Bonnie Cone asked Elinor

Caddell to join the faculty at Charlotte College to develop a nursing program. This set in motion Caddell’s involvement for the next several decades at a school that would soon become UNC Charlotte.

Caddell’s devotion, enthusiasm and involvement grew to match the continued growth of the University. Though her outreach in the community, she became aware of the need for RNs to complete their master’s degree in nursing. Her name became synonymous with the Pathway Program Completion, which has produced thousands of UNC Charlotte alumni.

Caddell led her colleagues in obtaining a grant to de-velop the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) outreach program with Chapel Hill. For six years, she took students to Chapel Hill by some very unusual transportation meth-ods, including a twin-engine plane.

She also wrote the curriculum for the MSN program in the College of Nursing. In 1970, Caddell became the first member of the nursing faculty to receive the Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence.

After her retirement, she established a Faculty Scholar Award for Nursing to serve as seed money for research to improve patient care.

At 90, Caddell is active, using her nursing skills as a volunteer at Plantation Estates, where she resides. She continues to recruit for UNC Charlotte.

“The College of Nursing had as its goal to foster students’ desires and ambitions to better people’s lives through care, compassion and action,” Caddell said. “The University and the College of Nursing opened the world of learning to students eager to bring health services to people of all walks of life. There were courses to select from many other disciplines to broaden one’s life. This naturally leads to learning and intellectual growth — be it a professional career or other opportunities.”

aLumni haLL oF Fame award (three reCipients)Ed Davis, Ed.D., ’02

Ed Davis earned his doctorate in educational leadership at UNC Charlotte in 2002. Since that time, he has brought

Robin Hill Emmons

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University Honors continued from page 24

great honor to UNC Charlotte while working in the Union County Public School district. He retired in 2012 as super-intendent of the district after 35 years in the system. He began in 1977 as a teacher.

Davis strongly encouraged high school, master’s and doctoral students from his county to enroll at UNC Char-lotte. And many of the students from Union County who are enrolled in University teacher education programs indicate that Davis influenced their decision. In addition, Davis often recommended his district’s best teachers for admission into the school’s Master of School Administra-tion (MSA) program. As a result, many of the principals currently serving in Union County Public Schools are MSA graduates.

Davis also supported UNC Charlotte through his service on committees and advisory groups. When the University revised its MSA program to align with the Standards for School Executives established by the State Board of Educa-tion, Davis attended multiple meetings on campus to help identify how the standards could be implemented in the public schools.

Davis amassed many awards during his career. He was named the Union County Educational Office Profes-sionals’ Administrator of the Year in 1995 and 2009, the Union County Principal of the Year in 1996 and the North Carolina Southwest Regional Superintendent of the Year for 2009-10.

The North Carolina Principals’ Executive Program gave him the Jack McCall Award in 1997 and honored him as a fellow in 2001. In 2010, he won the Union County Rotary Club’s “Service Above Self” Award. The following year, the North Carolina Alliance for Athletics, Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance named him Superinten-dent of the Year.

“UNC Charlotte is an outstanding institution of higher learning that is positively impacting public education in our state and region,” Davis said. “Its programs equip teachers and school leaders with the competencies and skills to provide a quality 21st century education to K-12 students. I am proud to be a UNC Charlotte graduate.”

Harry S. Kirk, ’51While attending Charlotte College, Kirk had a special

friendship with college president Bonnie Cone and faculty member Herbert Hechenbleikner. Both were dedicated to the development of higher education for the Charlotte area. The University Foundation made this happen by purchasing land for the UNC Charlotte campus.

As work began, Hechenbleikner came over to Kirk’s dairy farm, which adjoined the north edge of the campus. The first two academic buildings were completed, but there was no money for landscaping.

At Hechenbleikner’s request, Kirk visited the budding campus the next morning. He and his family tilled the soil, picked up truckloads of rocks, raked the area by hand and sowed fescue seed. He then tackled a second project by mowing the University’s athletic fields.

When land was needed to access the north side of the

campus, the Kirk family donated land.In addition to being the mail carrier for the Newell area

for almost 40 years, Kirk was a member of the Newell Volunteer Fire Department for more than 20 years. He was also on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission. In this capacity, Kirk was instrumental in establishing the area plan for the UNC Charlotte area.

Kirk epitomizes the many supporters who make up the backbone of the University. He unselfishly gave countless hours of quietly mowing the University’s activity fields and landscaping the early buildings erected on the campus — all without any request for publicity or compensation.

Michael L. Wilson, ’93Charlotte attorney Michael Wilson

always makes the time to provide leadership and support to UNC Charlotte. A true believer in the value of higher education, Wilson speaks from the heart as the first generation in his family to attend college and as someone for whom a college degree would not have hap-pened without a scholarship.

Wilson — elected by the UNC Board of Governors to serve a four-year term on the UNC Charlotte Board of Trustees beginning on July 1, 2013 — is a partner at the Charlotte law firm of Johnston, Allison and Hord PA. He joins board chair Karen Popp as the second former UNC Charlotte student body president to sit on the board.

After graduation from UNC Charlotte, Wilson attended law school at UNC Chapel Hill, where he served as at-torney general of the honor court, chief justice of the moot court and graduated with the Order of the Barristers distinction. At the firm, he is the litigation practice group leader, and his area of expertise includes litigating com-plex business and commercial construction disputes. In 2009, his peers named him the top construction lawyer in North Carolina and one of the top attorneys under 40, ac-cording to Business North Carolina magazine. In the 2012 and 2013 editions of Law and Politics magazine, he was placed among the top 100 attorneys in the North Carolina across all practice areas.

Wilson was born in Richmond, Va. and raised in North Carolina’s Burke County. While at UNC Charlotte, he held the William H. Barnhardt Business Scholarship and the Alumni Merit Scholarship. He also served as an Alumni Ambassador and as student body president during his junior year. Wilson was one of two graduating students presented with the Bill Mitchell Award (now known as the Bonnie Cone Leadership Award) for academic excellence and service to the University.

“It was important for me to have a scholarship in place to attend college, and UNC Charlotte helped make that hap-pen,” he said. “Like a lot of my classmates, I worked while I was in school, but the scholarship was a tremendous help. I owe so much to our University for the numerous oppor-tunities that were afforded to me and the great education

Michael Wilson

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that I received.”“Now I have the privilege of serving on our University’s

Board of Trustees,” Wilson said. “We spend a considerable amount of time with the chancellor and his leadership team reviewing and planning for both the current and future needs of our University, region and state. I believe that the next 10 years are critical for UNC Charlotte and higher education. While nationally there are many institu-tions contracting or trying to reinvent themselves, we are in a unique position to continue to grow and meet the demand for an affordable, but high quality education in a rebounding and changing economy.”

distinguished aLumnae award Shelia B. Dillon, ’75

Shelia Dillon graduated from UNC Charlotte in 1975 with a degree in accounting. Since that day, she has dedicated much of her life to supporting the University’s athletic program as a donor, fan and former employee.

Dillon worked as a senior vice president for First Union Corp. (now part of Wells Fargo Bank), where she was in charge of corporate security and regulatory compliance. During her banking career, she maintained her connection to UNC Charlotte. She is a former member of the Alumni

Board of Governors and the Alumni Leadership Council.In 1993, Dillon was elected to the Alumni Hall of Fame.

She also served on the board of the Athletic Foundation and the advisory board of the department of accounting.

Upon retiring from her first career, she began her second career working for her alma mater. As executive director of the Athletic Foundation, Dillon increased the number of supporters and donors. She retired from the University to care for her elderly parents but continues to serve in volunteer roles.

“Shelia is one of the most loyal people I have ever met. Her community service exemplifies her desire to help and give. Her commitment to UNC Charlotte is well docu-mented in the areas of fundraising, sports and alumni affairs,” said Hulene D. Hill, Alumni Association past president.

To this day, Dillon continues to provide financial support to the Athletic Foundation. She serves on the annual Let Me Play Steering Committee, which is dedicated to raising money for women’s athletic scholarships. She also served on a football planning committee during the early stages of the football initiative and attends the annual Great Gold Rush Auction to support the athletic program.

— Story courtesy of University Communications

University Honors continued from page 25

Men’s SoccerThe highlight of the

season was Charlotte’s 1-0 defeat of Tulsa to win the school’s first Conference USA tournament title in the sport. Four Charlotte players made the all-tournament team: Tyler Gibson, Brandt Bro-nico, Thomas Allen and Giuseppe Gentile. Allen also was named Defensive

MVP, and Gentile, Offen-sive MVP.

The Niners finished the 2013 season with a second-round loss to Coastal Carolina in the NCAA tournament and a 12-6-3 overall record. Their accomplishments included beating No. 14 Clemson 3-1 at home, defeating No. 12 Coastal Carolina 2-1 on the road and tying No. 8 University of Alabama at Birmingham and No. 20 Wake Forest. The Niners were 2-0-2 against ranked opponents.

Kyle Parker, a sophomore from Marvin, N.C. led the team with 11 goals. Junior Giuseppe Gentile, who was All-America as a fresh-man, had eight goals. Klay Davis, a redshirt senior, had six shutouts this season and two combined shutouts. He was named Defensive Player of the

Week by Conference USA three times this season.

Women’s SoccerWith a 3-1 victory at Old Dominion,

Charlotte ended its regular season in the No.1 position of Conference USA’s East Division. The team then won its Conference USA quarterfinal 3-1 over Marshall before losing a heart-breaking semifinal. The Niners fell in double overtime 1-0 to North Texas, ending the season with an 11-8-3 record.

Two players made the C-USA all-tournament team: Amanda Jones and Monica Trickett. Jones finished the year with a career-high 10 goals, tying for ninth in school history for a single season with Jill Currie (2000) and Hailey Beam (2009). Four of her scores were game winners.

Trickett was appointed captain at mid-season following injuries to teammates. She helped solidify the back line that posted eight shutouts and tallied a collective 1.04 goals-against average during the season. In assists, sophomore Maddie Kiebel

FALL ATHLETICS RECAP

Sports Roundup: Soccer, Cross Country, Volleyball

Tyler Gibson

Brandt Bronico scores to give the 49ers the game-winning goal against Kentucky.

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led the team with six. Teammates Alex Kubrick and Tori Fubara earned Conference USA academic honors.

During the regular season, three players tore their ACLs. Despite that, the Niners posted a strong home record of 7-2-1.

Cross CountryThe Charlotte 49ers men’s

and women’s cross country teams wrapped up their 2013 seasons at the NCAA Southeast Regional, both placing in the top 25.

The men placed 24th overall as a team. They were paced by junior Zach Greth at 127th. Sophomore Ben Sterett was not far behind at 130th. Joseph Cotto, Daweet Dagnachew and Getisso Dentamo rounded out the scoring for the 49ers, finishing 139th, 154th and 161st, respectively. Michael Tamayo and Ross Roberson came in 178th and 191st. The regional was the last race for seniors Cotto, Dagnachew and Roberson.

The women, meanwhile, finished the 6k race 20th overall as a team. Kim

Spano, a graduate student running her last race for the 49ers, paced the team with a time of 21:54.2 to place 61st. Conference USA honoree Maraya Slatter, a senior competing for the last time as a 49er, finished the course in 22.11.9 for 76th. Morgan Richards came in at 22:38 for 108th.

Kristen Stout (143), Jen Molke (174), Carolina Casin-Silva (190) and Taylor Carcella (192) also ran for the Niners.

Off the field, Zach Greth and Nicole Morgan won Conference USA all-academic honors.

VolleyballThe Charlotte volleyball team and

its coaches had another tremendous

turnout for the annual “Dig Pink” match. The Niners lost to Tulsa that night, Oct. 18, but the 1,265 fans that showed up to support the 12th annual match that raises money to fight breast cancer was a victory in itself.

Among other season highlights, the 49ers won the Spartan Classic in Norfolk, Va. Amanda Videmsek was

named MVP and joined teammate Britney Leigh Held on the all-tourna-ment team.

UNC Charlotte hosted the 49er Invite and finished second to Elon after beating South Carolina State and Tennessee State. Senior captain Vi-demsek finished 17th on the all-time career kills list at Charlotte, posting 1,027 kills in four seasons in Niner Green. Videmsek, a six-foot middle blocker, also had a team-leading 10 double-double’s for the season. In assisted blocks, she ended her career tied for sixth with former teammate Kara Raker at 308.

Sophomore Michelle Hovey moved up to second in school history with 556 digs in a single season. She finished atop the league in digs-per-set average with 5.25, the second-best mark for a season in school history.

Though the 49ers finished with a 12-17 record, they played many close matches. They scored 20 or more points in 79 of 101 eligible (non-fifth) sets this season, including 30 times when Charlotte did not win the set — illustrating just how close the season was in 2013.

All photos courtesy of Charlotte Sports Information

Women’s soccer players Monica Trickett (left), Amanda Jones (middle) and Nicole Anderson were named to the All-Conference USA team.

Kim Spano (left and Zach Greth starred for the cross country teams.

Seniors Amanda Videmsek (left) and Taylor Cannon play their final volleyball match in Halton Arena.

Athletics Recap continued from page 27

Recent changes to North Carolina tax laws include a repeal of the sales tax exemption for student meals The North Carolina tax reform bill (H998) Session Law 2013-316, repeals the exemption in G.S. 105-164.13(27) on “meals and food products served to students in dining rooms regularly operated by State or private educational institutions or student organizations thereof,” effective January 1, 2014. As a result of the repeal of the exemption, sales of prepared food and food served to students in dining rooms by institu-tions of higher education are subject to tax effective January 1, 2014.

What this means to youThe University has been advised that meal plans will be

subject to sales tax effective Spring semester 2014; therefore the sales price of student meal plans for the Spring 2014 have been adjusted in order to accommodate sales tax due.

An additional 8.25% (which is the state and local sales tax on prepared food) will be added to the existing rates.

The increase resulting from this law will include Meal Plans of all types (Traditional, Block, DB, ODA) and affects universities state-wide. UNC Charlotte Meal Plans and 49er Card Office has contacted all students who are currently on meal plans.

Important Message for Parents with Students on a Meal Plan

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UNC CHARLOTTE HISTORY

The UNC Charlotte campus experienced football for the first time this past fall, but

it wasn’t the first time in history that the school fielded a football team.

A forerunner of the University, Charlotte Center of the University of North Carolina (UNC), had a football team for three seasons, 1946-48, at the school’s city center location at old Central High School. The team’s nickname was the Owls because the center was a night school that primarily served veterans returning from World War II.

The team had a tough first season. The Owls posted a 2-4 record, comprised of wins over Pembroke and Belmont Abbey and losses to Davidson, Catawba and Clemson’s junior varsity. The school struggled with funding the team and relied on ticket sales to balance off expenses. With only two home games and weak interest from students and the school, offsetting expenses was difficult.

The team practiced at 4 p.m. weekdays before classes in an open field close to Central High School (now Central Piedmont Community College) and played home games at nearby American Legion Memorial Stadium.

In January 1947, the director of Charlotte Center, Charles Bernard, hired the school’s first official football coach, Howard Baker. Baker continued the struggle with the pro-gram’s finances as well as getting support from the school’s board of directors.

C.E. McIntosh, the center’s assistant director, was con-cerned with difficulties in starting and running an athletic program, predominantly a football program. He strongly felt the program distracted students from academics and learning. McIntosh also believed the athletic program should be financed separately from the college.

Both Bonnie E. Cone — who eventually became the school’s director and later led its transformation to UNC Charlotte — and McIntosh agreed that if the athletic program and the football team wanted to stay a part of the college and be financially supported by the school, the program would have to prove itself and attract fans. “Unless the interest in Charlotte is sufficient to pay for the expenses of equipping the team, we do not feel we are justified in taking student fees and applying them to athletics,” Cone said.

As team losses mounted the second season, ticket sales declined and the stadium fan section grew smaller with each passing game. The Owls made sacrifices by firing the assistant coach and cutting staff for games. The team even used Central High’s uniforms to reduce costs. Coach Baker was determined to get fan support and didn’t want the school to let go after only two seasons.

But the fall of 1948 proved to be the Owls’ last foray into football. They ended the season early with a losing record, with the final game played on Oct. 27, 1948.

Approximately 60 years later, in 2008, football began its re-emergence. Chancellor Philip L. Dubois recommended adding a program, and on Nov. 13, 2008, the UNC Char-lotte Board of Trustees officially voted to add a Charlotte 49ers football program by 2013.

2013 Football Team Wasn’t School’s First

1947 Charlotte Owls football team

Carroll York played for the Owls in 1946 and 1947. Holding his original leather helmet, he was honored at the Charlotte 49ers inaugural football game on August 31, 2013.