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Transcript of UNC Asheville Magazine Spring 2015
M A G A Z I N E
ashevilleUNC Volume 7, No. 2 SPRING 2015
INSIDE
Making the Grade with Admissions
The Baseball Team Pitches In
Chancellor Grant Hits the Ground Running
Alumni Lead in the Craft Beer Industry
Brewing Success
Moving Forward Liberal arts leadership in the driver’s seat
Pitching In The baseball team hits a home run for community service
F E AT U R E S
28
Brew MastersMeet the alumni who lead the industry (Photo by David Allen ’13)
18
contents
6 12 Multiple Choice Examining the many factors in UNC Asheville’s admissions
UNC ASHEVILLE SENIOR STAFFCHANCELLOR Mary K. Grant
PROVOST AND VICE CHANCELLOR FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS Joe Urgo
VICE CHANCELLOR FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS William K. Haggard
VICE CHANCELLOR FOR FINANCE AND CAMPUS OPERATIONS John Pierce
VICE CHANCELLOR FOR UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT Buffy Bagwell
SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR FOR UNIVERSITY ENTERPRISES AND ATHLETICS DIRECTOR Janet Cone
CHIEF OF STAFF Christine Riley
GENERAL COUNSEL Heather Parlier
UNC ASHEVILLE MAGAZINE STAFFEDITOR Amy Jessee
DESIGNERS Nanette Johnson, Mary Ann Lawrence
PROJECT MANAGER Carol Barnao
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Aaron Dahlstrom ’09, Jon Elliston, Mike Gore, Debbie Griffith, Amy Jessee, Patricia LaHay, Steve Plever, Molly Smithson ’15, Melissa Stanz, Cory Thompson ’15
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS David Allen ’13, John Fletcher, Jameykay Huffman, Galen McGee ’08, Matt Rose, Erin Sattler ’15
UNC Asheville Magazine is published twice a year by UNC Asheville Communication and Marketing to give alumni and friends an accurate, lively view of the university—its people, programs and initiatives. Contact us at [email protected].
UNC ASHEVILLE ALUMNI OFFICEASSOCIATE VICE CHANCELLOR FOR ALUMNI RELATIONS & ANNUAL GIVING Laura Herndon
Address ChangesOffice of University Advancement & Alumni GivingCPO #3800 • UNC Asheville One University Heights • Asheville, NC [email protected]
UNC Asheville enrolls more than 3,700 full- and part-time students in more than 30 programs leading to the bachelor’s degree as well as the Master of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The university is committed to equality of educational opportunity and does not discriminate against applicants, students or employees on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, disabling condition or sexual orientation.
© UNC Asheville, April 2015
32,500 copies of this magazine were printed on paper with recycled content at a cost of $15,990 or 49 cents each.
I T ’ S B E E N A N E XC I T I NG STA RT
this spring semester, as my husband,
Jim, and I join you on this journey—
moving to our home on campus,
exploring our new hometown, and
getting to know more about the great
work at UNC Asheville. We’ve met
many wonderful colleagues, alumni,
students and supporters along the
way, and I want to thank you all for
the warm welcome. Already, we’ve
had the opportunity to contribute to our community—volunteering
for a Day On during MLK Day and announcing the impressive
statewide and regional economic impact of UNC Asheville.
It’s thanks to your hard work that we add value through the high-
quality liberal arts education here at UNC Asheville. Our students
solve real-world problems, such as the social entrepreneurship
challenge chronicled in Around the Quad. Our alumni find
meaningful, satisfying careers, such as those featured in our cover
story. Our student-athletes pitch in, with an impressive 20-year
record in the case of the baseball team.
It’s this Bulldog determination that comes into focus in this issue of
UNC Asheville Magazine—determination that combines competition
with community service, and merges classroom expertise with
compelling careers. That resiliency and grit are traits we look for in
our newest Bulldogs too, as you’ll learn in our feature story on the
admissions process. (Advance warning: there’s a quiz at the end.)
As one of the newest Bulldogs on campus, I’m also grateful to learn
more about the work of our students, staff and faculty, who never stop
in their efforts to make the campus community more efficient and
effective. This issue of the magazine introduces us to the Blue Crew
students who lead orientation, our internal auditor who volunteers
her time as an active member of the community, and our many faculty
members who flip the classroom to improve their teaching.
We have several activities and events to look forward to this year,
including the return of Concerts on the Quad this summer, and
I hope you will join me on campus this fall for the chancellor’s
installation ceremony on September 19 to celebrate our shared
path toward the future. It is a privilege, an honor and an awesome
responsibility to serve as your seventh chancellor, to become blue,
as our orientation leaders might call it, and to be a Bulldog.
—Chancellor Mary K. Grant
D E PA R T M E N TS
ON THE COVER: Chris Ivesdal ’02 on his career path in the brewing industry (Photo by David Allen ’13)
A R O U N D T H E Q UA DE X T R A C R E D I T G I V I N G B A C KP R A C T I C A L LY S P E A K I N G G O, B U L L D O G S !C L A S S N O T E S
21025263132
Spring Forward
2 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
THE HEART OF BUSINESSStudents Succeed in Social Entrepreneurship
UNC Asheville students Madison Eddings and Ben Eisdorfer were
awarded the grand prize from the 2015 UNC Social Entrepreneurship
Conference—$3,000 to launch their business idea, Pro(TECH)t,
wearable technology designed to prevent campus assault.
Eddings, a sophomore majoring in biology, and Eisdorfer, a
sophomore management student, competed against undergrad-
uate teams from all 17 UNC system schools. The UNC Social
Entrepreneurship Conference challenges students to identify some
of North Carolina’s most pressing social problems, then take a
business-oriented approach to solving them. Teams were judged
based on market analysis and sustainability, social impact potential,
and likelihood of success, as well as their formal presentation and
question-and-answer session.
“The success of these excellent students at this year’s competition
demonstrates the value of interdisciplinarity and the liberal arts for
the development of skills in critical thinking, problem solving, and
communication,” said Edward Katz, associate provost and dean of
university programs at UNC Asheville.
“It also reflects the dedication and quality of our outstanding faculty and
staff, who worked intensively with our students throughout the academic
year to prepare for the event,” he said.
Eddings and Eisdorfer began their development of Pro(TECH)t
in an interdisciplinary studies course
at UNC Asheville on the fundamentals
of project and business-plan devel-
opment, taught by a team of faculty
leaders. The class culminated with
a campus-wide competition judged
by local entrepreneurs. Two teams—
Pro(TECH)t and the CPR-training
business HeartRacers—advanced to
the state competition.
Eddings and Eisdorfer plan to immedi-
ately invest their winnings into a pat-
ent for their device, which will feature
real-time GPS that can be activated to
send a signal to campus police when a
wearer feels threatened.
The course, Social Entrepreneurship:
Your Ideas in Action, will be taught
again in upcoming fall semesters.The statewide social entrepreneurship winners showcase their work (above). Two teams advanced from the campus competition, judged by local entrepreneurs (below).
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COLLEGE CREDITUNC Asheville Announces Dual Enrollment Agreement with Asheville City Schools
Students of Asheville High School and SILSA (School of Inquiry & Life Sciences at Asheville) will be able to take courses at
UNC Asheville while still in high school, beginning next fall as part of a new dual enrollment agreement signed in February.
“What this means is that students from the Asheville City Schools, in addition to the excellent work that’s happening there,
will be able to take real college courses for real college credits, which expedites the time toward a degree and exposes them
to a higher level of work,” said UNC Asheville Chancellor Mary K. Grant.
“We are excited that our students will be able to extend their learning throughout their tenure here at Asheville City Schools and work with a wonderful university. This is an opportunity for exposure to college. ... Our students will know there’s an avenue for success.”
—Pamela Baldwin, Asheville City Schools Superintendent
THE OUTDOOR SOUND OF MUSICConcerts on the Quad Return Summer 2015
UNC Asheville’s Concerts on the Quad, once a fixture of Asheville’s summer calendar, will return in 2015. This
summer’s lineup will feature five free concerts on UNC Asheville’s Quad, spanning many musical genres, and will
include shows by two local Asheville bands.
During its first 28 years, Concerts on the Quad had become a Monday-night tradition for many in greater Asheville,
bringing thousands to campus before the series ended at the close of the 2010 season due to lack of continued
funding. Thanks to the financial support of community partners Mission
Health and the Asheville Citizen-Times, UNC Asheville will be able to present
the concerts once again, starting this June with Asheville-based Sirius.B,
a large and eclectic ensemble.
See the concert schedule at cesap.unca.edu/concerts-quad
AROUND THE QUAD
4 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
PH
OT
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OH
N F
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TC
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EDUCATIONAL VALUEStatewide Study Shows Higher Education Drives the Economy
Public higher education institutions in
Western North Carolina injected at least
$2 billion into the state economy during the
2012–13 fiscal year through the combined
impact of payroll, operational, construction
and research expenditures by universities
and community colleges, and the spending
habits of our students, visitors and alumni.
Of this $2 billion, roughly 75 percent or
$1.52 billion remained right here in the 11
counties of WNC (Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay,
Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson,
Macon, Madison, Swain and Transylvania).
Those are among the findings of a com-
prehensive study conducted by Economic
Modeling Specialists International (EMSI)
to examine the impact of higher education
on North Carolina. The EMSI study exam-
ined the combined impact of the University
of North Carolina system, North Carolina
Community College system and private institutions, and also
assessed the impact of individual UNC campuses, private
colleges and community colleges on their local economies.
Educational leaders in the WNC region joined together on
Feb. 20, in a collaborative celebration at the Asheville Area
Chamber of Commerce, to share specific impacts, including
added income, equivalent job creation, and the benefits gen-
erated for students, taxpayers and North Carolina as a whole.
“This study makes real for all of us the extraordinary long-
term benefits to North Carolina of investing in top-quality
higher education. The financial return-on-investment is sub-
stantial, but it is really only part of the story: Graduates from
all of our institutions are making a crucial difference in the
civic and social fabric of our society, every single day,” said
UNC Asheville Chancellor Mary K. Grant.
“This study demonstrates how vital public higher education
is to North Carolina’s economy,” said UNC Asheville Board
of Trustees Chair King Prather. “It’s compelling evidence
that UNC Asheville, as a great liberal arts university, is an
engine of regional growth and economic vitality, and contrib-
utes meaningfully to the economic, social and environmental
sustainability and health of the state.”
unca.edu/north-carolina-higher-education-economic-impact
Chancellor Belcher from WCU, Chancellor Grant, and President King from A-B Tech announce a $2 billion economic impact from public institutions in WNC.
MAKING AN IMPACT UNC Asheville Rated Third Nationally on New Princeton Review List
UNC Asheville ranks third nationally on the “Best Schools for Making an Impact” list, part of The Princeton Review’s
new college rankings guide, Colleges That Pay You Back: The 200 Best Value Colleges and What It Takes to Get In— 2015 Edition. UNC Asheville is one of only four public universities included on the “making an impact” list.
AROUND THE QUAD
S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 5
AROUND THE QUAD
HONOR SOCIETYFaculty, Staff and Students Recognized for Service and Achievements
UNC Asheville senior Stephanie Watkins-Cruz has been recognized
for outstanding leadership and service
by North Carolina Campus Compact,
a statewide network of colleges and
universities that are committed to
community engagement. Watkins-
Cruz is a recipient of the network’s
Community Impact Student Award,
which honors one student leader at
each member school.
UNC Asheville Professor of Physics Randy Booker was honored for his
teaching and mentorship at the winter
meeting of the American Association
of Physics Teachers. Booker received
the 2014 Outstanding Chapter Advisor
Award issued by the national Society of
Physics Students (SPS).
Chancellor Emerita Anne Ponder was honored at the annual meeting
of the Council of Public Liberal Arts
Colleges (COPLAC) for her decades of
leadership in higher education. Ponder
served as chancellor of UNC Asheville
for nine years, retiring in summer 2014.
It was during Ponder’s tenure that
COPLAC selected UNC Asheville as its
national headquarters.
CASE STUDIESWebsites, Videos and Publications Earn Awards
UNC Asheville Magazine was recognized at the annual conference of the southeast
region of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE),
earning an award of excellence in the Magazine I category and special merit in
magazine improvement for the fall 2013 redesign. In addition, UNC Asheville earned
top honors with a grand award for the giving.unca.edu website redesign, special
merit for the recruitment video, an award of excellence for the 30-second commercial
Experience UNC Asheville, special merit for the fundraising publication Investing in Success, and special merit for media relations about The Virtual Lincoln Project.
LIGHTING THE WAYEnergy-Efficient Upgrades Bring Cost Savings
UNC Asheville is undertaking a $3.2 million project to upgrade the majority of all
indoor and exterior lighting on campus to energy-efficient LED fixtures, as part of
a University of North Carolina system-wide campaign to reduce the energy inten-
sity of its facilities by 30 percent between 2002 and 2015. The project, estimated
to save at least $468,000 in energy costs per year, is expected to be completed by
the end of May, with utilities savings guaranteed and used to pay back the debt
incurred. The lighting upgrade initiative is projected to save at least $3.5 million
annually across 12 of the system’s campuses.
Watch the recruitment video at magazine.unca.edu
6 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
The UNC Asheville campus community first met Mary K. Grant on August 1, 2014, when she stepped into the driver’s seat of the university, accepting UNC system President Thomas Ross’ nomination to become the seventh chancellor. A four-hour bus
ride with faculty and students back to Asheville followed her
appointment by the Board of Governors in Chapel Hill. Chancellor
Grant has stayed on the move since then—learning about her new
hometown and moving into Pisgah House in January.
UNC Asheville Magazine followed Chancellor Grant during her first
months and on social media @AvlChancellor to get a glimpse at
the road ahead. Here, we share a few of the first impressions from
students, staff, faculty and the Asheville community.
MOVING FORWARD
“From the ‘Welcome Back’ video to her participation in the MLK Day of Service, she has made it clear that students are one of her main priorities as chancellor.”
BY DEBBIE GRIFFITH
Ph
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Ph
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—Leigh C. Whittaker, senior, former UNC Asheville Student Government Association president, and current student body vice president of the UNC system
S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 7
BOARD OF GOVERNORS
MLK DAY OF SERVICE
From the time we first met on the bus ride up, I noticed her high energy and visibility. …
My hopes for Chancellor Grant are that she uses that amazing energy to truly listen and engage with student needs. I hope she will find that the students that truly care about the issue of diversity want to pursue improving campus with her, not without her.
—Stephanie Watkins-Cruz, senior, political science, Charlotte
I’ve always found Chancellor Grant to be a good listener, a thoughtful consensus builder, a strong and consistent advocate for college access and the value of the liberal arts and sciences.
—Bill Spellman, executive director, Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC)
I’ve noticed many times that whenever Mary Grant speaks, people listen to her. She seems never to get tired, she has the ability to continue to think creatively and to continually generate ideas.
—Joe Urgo, UNC Asheville Provost
AUG 1, 2014
JAN 19, 2015
ROTARY CLUB
Despite the long day capped with an even longer bus ride, Grant was still smiling, still chatting with
students on the bus, posing for “selfies” and jumping behind the wheel at a rest stop to pose for yet
another photo. In the middle of the journey, she took the time to make a phone call to her team at her former college, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, to thank them for their hard work.
“We’re going to have some fun,” Grant said in her acceptance of the nomination to become UNC Asheville’s seventh chancellor, “The need has never been stronger for the work that we do, and I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and being part of it. I bring to this work a deep passion for how public higher education can change lives and how the liberal arts transforms those lives in the process.”
Chancellor Grant sat on the floor with an elementary school student and patiently cut out letters and
numbers from construction paper. It was a part of the MLK Day of Service project in which dozens of UNC Asheville students, faculty and staff volunteer for community projects. “The little girl told me I wasn’t very good with the scissors, so I was relegated to glue stick duty,” the chancellor recalled. “I had a great time, and it was really special for me to talk with this little girl and to learn her story and to meet the staff and volunteers at the YWCA.”
JAN 29, 2015
Seated at the head table, Grant engaged with Rotary leadership. Her first-ever off-campus speech as
UNC Asheville’s chancellor was a hit. With self-deprecating humor and revealing stories of growing up in Massachusetts, she told the crowd why a liberal arts education is transformational—for herself and for the students she serves. “I work in the business of the future, for opportunities to make a difference, and I’m delighted to think about all the ways we can do this work together,” she said.
S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 7
8 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
With a meeting room full of area alumni, business leaders, legislators and members of the Board of
Governors, Grant and Chancellor David Belcher of Western Carolina University stood behind the
podium with Dennis King, president of A-B Tech, to celebrate the release of a report that showed a
$2 billion economic impact from WNC public universities and community colleges. The leaders were articulate and proud, and Chancellor Grant used this opportunity to congratulate two UNC Asheville students in attendance, who recently placed first within the UNC system social entrepreneurship competition. “You can look at the numbers, but what we have is an impact that goes beyond the confines of the classroom; what we have is an impact in changing lives in this community,” she said.
BULLDOG WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GAMEJAN 31, 2015
The stands in the Sherrill Center/Kimmel Arena were pretty bare, but a valiant women’s basketball team
ran up and down the court giving it their all despite the sparse crowd. Their No. 1 fans were there however, with Grant and her husband, Jim Canavan, cheering, clapping and smiling, always smiling.
ASHEVILLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCEFEB 20, 2015
If I were to use one word to describe Chancellor Grant it would be ‘engaging.’ After meeting the chancellor last fall I was impressed by her desire for and interest in community engagement.
—Darin Waters, assistant professor of history
My first encounter with Chancellor Grant was at the Asheville Rotary Club meeting, She pulled off an articulate, humorous and poignant keynote speech, which smoothly intertwined UNC Asheville’s message, support for the liberal arts, service, public education, and her own backstory. I am happy to call her a fellow Bulldog.
—Gray Barrett, junior, international studies, Maryville, Tenn.
Mary is very warm and easy to talk to. She’s very obviously excited to be at UNC Asheville and eager to meet and hear opinions of the community. The one word that I would use to describe my first impression would be ‘genuine.’
—Wilma Sherrill, UNC Asheville Board of Trustees
8 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 9
I was exhilarated as
Chancellor Grant described all she’d accomplished on and off campus
in just a few short weeks… She’s a whirl-wind of energy and enthusiasm. I believe
she has the ability to make lots of good things happen at UNC Asheville.
—Pat Smith, chair-elect, UNC Asheville Board of
Trustees
She clearly understands that our future success will come through building strong partnerships in the community and across the state, and I feel confident her work will solidify UNC Asheville’s status as the state’s pre-eminent undergraduate institution.
—John D. Noor ’07, attorney, Roberts & Stevens, P.A. Asheville
Photos by David Allen ’13
I predict that she will move UNC Asheville forward both as an academic institution and a community organization.
—Don Locke, retired director of Diversity and Multiculturalism at UNC Asheville
UNC Asheville has hit another home run in choosing Dr. Mary Grant as Chancellor! She obviously will be a fast study in effectively matching our student and university needs with our limited financial resources.
—Ed Broadwell, chairman/CEO emeritus, HomeTrust Bank, Asheville
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1 0 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
EXTRA CREDIT
Long before summer, before the first
incoming student arrives on campus for
orientation, the Blue Crew chants.
“Everybody remembers ‘Bulldog
Rumble,’ right?” says Taylor Heise, the
18-year-old sophomore from Burlington,
N.C., who serves as head orientation
leader for the team of 20 students.
“It’s the same one we did last week.”
BECOMING BLUEStudents Embark as Orientation Leaders By Cory A. Thompson ’15
The group claps and cheers as if to
welcome a parade marching beside
them along the tiled Karpen Hall cor-
ridor. When the last giggle subsides,
Heise calls the class into order and
explains another spirited chant.
In her other classes, Heise studies psy-
chology and creative writing. But every
Wednesday during the spring semester,
she trains to be a leader. Not only a
leader of orientees, but a leader worthy
of directing her peers.
“It requires an incredible amount of
preparation and follow-through to
be the head orientation leader,” says
Stephanie Franklin, the Blue Crew’s
supervisor and UNC Asheville’s director
of Transition and Parent Programs.
PH
OT
OS
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IN S
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15
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EXTRA CREDIT
“Taylor’s able to clearly communicate
what’s happening with a variety of dif-
ferent groups on campus. She has really
taken the responsibility seriously and is
doing a phenomenal job.”
Functionally, embark orientation season
is a marathon running the entire month
of June. Freshman orientation sessions
are two-day affairs, which last from
8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on day one and 8 a.m.
to 4 p.m. on day two, plus a one-day
session for transfer students. Two orien-
tation leaders handle every group, and
these orientation teams are responsible
for the safety and wellbeing of the new-
est Bulldogs. Like all marathon athletes,
the Blue Crew trains all year round.
“In addition to the class, they go to a
conference every year in March to learn
how to apply certain skills to help them
become better leaders,” Franklin says.
“It’s much more of an involved process
than most people realize.”
In class, the student-leaders study the
history of the orientation program and
what it means to be a leader. They
prepare chants for midyear events like
homecoming. For orientation leaders
hired between June seasons, the class
provides newbies, like sophomore
Torey Todd, a safe space to cut their
teeth before the intensity of summer.
Todd, a 20-year-old sophomore study-
ing biology from Black Mountain, N.C.,
says he’s no stranger to being a leader
despite never leading an orientation
group. He’s served as patrol leader in
Boy Scouts and filled a leadership role
in his high school marching band. Still,
he says the Orientation Leader program
offers new challenges for someone
experienced with being in charge.
“They say some people are born leaders
and others are not, but that’s not always
true,” Todd says. “People can become
strong leaders through whatever trials
they’ve had. The biggest issue for me is
learning how to lead in a team.”
Heise says she wants the Blue Crew to
resemble a family by the time the first
orientees arrive in June, and, according
to Todd, her effort is paying off.
“We can all be leaders alone, but being
leaders together is the big goal,” Todd
says. “We’re getting together every
Wednesday night and we’re becoming
friends, but we’re also becoming co-
workers. We’re developing an under-
standing for how we lead and how our
peers lead. We strengthen ourselves by
learning our weaknesses.”
Heise says she remembers her first
class being informative, but nowhere
near as transformative as her first
orientation season. She says her family
has remarked on how much more extro-
verted her role has made her.
“I remember standing by the flagpole
in the center of campus for four hours
straight,” Heise says. “I just stood
there answering questions and giving
people directions. It really drew me out
of my shell and was unlike anything
I’d really experienced before. At home,
I lived on a farm far away from every-
body I knew.”
Heise says her transformation during
orientation is fitting, especially be-
cause orientation bookends the monu-
mental life shift of going to a university.
“I see orientation as a way for students
to realize that their entire life is about
to change,” Heise says. “They are
about to enter a new part of their life
which they’re probably not expecting
to be as dramatic of a change as it is …
UNC Asheville is school as school
should be.”
“We’re also becoming co-workers. We’re
developing an understanding for how we
lead and how our peers lead. We strengthen
ourselves by learning our weaknesses.” — Torey Todd ’17
Senior mass communication and anthropology student Cory A. Thompson and senior health and wellness promotion major Erin Sattler became blue to write and photograph this story.
Taylor Heise ’17 becomes blue for homecoming.
1 2 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E1 2 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
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Examining UNC Asheville AdmissionsWRITTEN BY AMY JESSEE
“
”
You can tell more in the four-year portfolio and GPA about a student’s motivation and resilience than you can from four hours of taking a test. I P L E
C H O I C E
Taking a holistic approach to admissions means UNC
Asheville factors in more than numbers to find students
with the best fit and grit to succeed in college. It’s a multiple-
choice scenario with more than one answer—for students
searching for their perfect school and for a university
balancing admissions criteria with a creative approach.
1 4 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E1 4 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
“ Finding the talent in our students
means we have to go beyond the
numbers.” —JOE URGO, UNC ASHEVILLE PROVOST
A Critical Reading of the SAT
he Admissions Office at UNC Asheville is not alone in reconsidering the weight of
SAT scores. More than 800 four-year colleges have made the test optional in recent years, according to The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, which notes growing concerns about “under-matching,” where students don’t find the best fit at a school where they could succeed.
“It goes along with the trend, but that’s not why we made the decision,” says Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Bill Haggard. “We were looking inward at our own processes and having candid discussions about why some students didn’t persist. We’ve hovered around 80 percent for our freshman to soph-omore retention rate. So we looked more closely at the 20 percent to try to discover any patterns. The pattern that we found was that just because someone has a 1400 SAT score doesn’t mean they are going to do well here. So we ques-tioned on what other variables we could place greater emphasis.”
To understand those shared qualities for the group, UNC Asheville turned to Archer Gravely, a 30-year veteran as the director of institutional research.
“In the statistical models, we find that the high-school achievement measures have more weight than the SAT. The high-school performance measures give a good signal to the student’s motivation,” Gravely says, while stressing that it’s one of many factors to consider.
“This holistic approach means we don’t rely on any single one measure, but instead we review the student’s academic performance in multiple ways,” explains Pat McClellan, assistant provost for aca-demic administration. “We seek to find strong indicators of personal responsibil-ity and achievement. The trick is, how do you measure that resilience? You know it when you see it, but it’s hard to define in any sort of quantitative way. There’s no resilience test that we are aware of.”
However, there is the SAT, an admissions standard that has been tested through the years and one recently discussed by UNC Asheville in a recali-bration of admissions standards.
“This recalibration of our criteria makes admissions much more of an art than a science. It’s not just a series of metrics,” says UNC Asheville Provost Joe Urgo. “Finding the talent in our students means we have to go beyond the numbers.”
Calculating & Recalibrating Admissions Standards
iterature and Language Professor Dee James, who is also director of the first-year
writing program and a UNC Asheville alumna, remembers her own application process and echoes this approach. “I don’t think any one factor is a good predictor.
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You need to examine an array of factors. Recalibrating makes sense because populations change, so what counts and how it counts and how we look at it and what we ask of our students needs to be revisited. This is a welcome idea, but politically it’s a tricky idea.”
James cites how easy it is to sum up academic quality in a number such as an aggregate or average SAT score for an incoming class—a number that has kept UNC Asheville on par with schools such as UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State. Plus, she’s seen the evolution come full circle, starting with her recruitment in 1969 to integrate the women’s residence halls.
“We cycle through,” she says. “By the time I had graduated, we were aiming for the more elite and high-end SAT scores. Then we went through a period of trying to serve more local and community needs through rebalancing our admissions practices. When I was a new faculty member 31 years ago, we had a large portion of nontraditional students, with an average age of 27. Then we decided as a liberal arts institution we would make a name for ourselves in the state with higher scores. We continually revisit how to serve well and who we are supposed to serve.”
According to Urgo, that focus on students as individuals remains at the forefront. “It’s also acknowledging the changing demographic of students apply-ing, including first-generation students, and setting a standard that treats them fairly,” he says. “As the American population gets more diverse—multicultur-ally and geographically—the challenge is about recognizing different ways that intelligence is manifest.”
Multiple Choices for Students
Like many UNC Asheville Bulldogs, James Whalen and Juliana Grassia studied their college options carefully to determine the best fit, but what they now know as president and vice president of the Student Government Association is that the university also studied their accomplishments across a broad spectrum of quantitative and qualitative measures. People say to have your top choice, middle
choice and last choice, but I think that’s a silly system, because no one wants to go to their last choice,” says Whalen, a senior from Charlotte, N.C., with a double major in philosophy and math at UNC Asheville. “I applied to four schools and I got into four schools, but I didn’t have a top and bottom. I had a reach for different things—one was too expensive so I looked for scholarships, one was too far away but I needed to see if I would enjoy it. UNC Asheville ended up as my top choice and the most affordable.”
When I was applying to schools, I applied to some of the bigger names,” explains New Jersey native and senior French and political science double major Grassia.
“I got momentarily focused on the name of the school, not the quality. My dad said, ‘you need to apply to UNC Asheville because it’s you. It’s everything that you believe in, in terms of education.’ So I did, and I don’t regret it. I focused on the content of the university and if it reflected my personal values instead of a big name.”
“
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1 6 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E1 6 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
We read everything—the essays, the recommendations,
the transcripts and the test scores ... It’s a more personal
approach. One person reads your entire application.”
—SHANNON EARLE, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS AND FINANCIAL AID
“
UNC Asheville still includes the SAT as part of its admission requirements. In fact, the 16 universities in the UNC system have a statewide standard of 800 on math and critical reading set by General Administration for fall 2013, with higher minimums decided by institutions, with some exceptions. This includes a pilot program in fall 2015 at North Carolina Central University, Elizabeth City State University and Fayetteville State University to admit stu-dents whose SAT/ACT scores are below the system’s minimum requirements but whose high-school GPAs are above the current standards.
Each university also may apply for a chancellor’s exception to this minimum for individual students, limited to 1 per-cent of new applicants accepted.
“We’ve never used a chancellor’s exception,” says Senior Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Shannon Earle. “But we take a critical look at our approach and find creative ways to make sure we are serving our students. We’ve found that you can tell more in the four-year portfolio and GPA about a student’s motivation and resilience than you can from four hours of taking a test.”
Writing the Next Chapter in Higher Education Admissions
tudents have more than a test score, GPA and transcripts to make an impression, and in
many cases the essay is the place on the application where students can show how they are the best fit for UNC Asheville.
“We read everything—the essays, the recommendations, the transcripts and the test scores,” says Earle. “Admissions counselors do not use computer soft-ware to filter applications. It’s a more personal approach. One person reads your entire application.”
That’s why admissions counselors at UNC Asheville often know students by name the first time they come into the office for a tour or an interview or call with questions. They have about 24 pages to get to know each student, for more than 2,500 applicants. These details of a student’s achievements are some-thing faculty are interested in as well.
“What I think most faculty members want are students who are committed, hard-working, responsible, well-rounded people, who intend to create lives of
S
S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 1 7
Test Your Knowledge of
UNC Asheville Admissions
1. What was the first essay question included on
UNC Asheville’s application for the fall 2008 class?
a. Why is UNC Asheville the place that you will feel most
content and creative?
b. What lessons did you learn from a time that you
experienced a failure?
c. How will UNC Asheville help you achieve your goals?
d. What is a special attribute or accomplishment that
sets you apart?
2. How many admissions counselors read applications?
a. 4 b. 6 c. 8 d. 10
3. How many campus tours are given in a year?
a. 156 b. 199 c. 215 d. 288
4. How many students and families attend admissions
events on campus each year?
a. 1,000 b. 4,000 c. 7,000 d. 10,000
5. As estimated by our admissions director, what’s the
total number of phone calls, emails and personal
contacts to applicants?
a. Thousands b. Millions c. Billions d. Zillions
Answers: 1.c, 2.b, 3.d, 4.d, 5.d
meaning and who embrace their respon-sibility to contribute to the betterment of the world as global citizens,” says Dee Eggers, associate professor of environmental studies and chair of the faculty senate. “Now, most high-school students don’t talk about such things, but we see evidence of those tendencies in the choices they make. For example, the courses students chose to take are quite telling. Are they in AP Physics and AP English Literature? Then they probably know how to work hard and are invested in their own futures. A background in athletics also is a good indicator of work ethic, responsibility, discipline—all factors that contribute to success in the classroom.”
Of course, the process and the ques-tions have changed. Just 10 years ago, UNC Asheville used paper applications. Now, everything is online, with options for the College Foundation of North Carolina (CFNC), common app, and homegrown application, as Earle calls it. Other schools, such as Goucher College, have pushed the paper application even further, now accepting student videos instead of test scores, transcripts and recommendations.
UNC Asheville hasn’t taken that digi-tal step yet, but creative students can still find a way to stand out and get in.
“With this holistic approach, we’ve seen an increase in accepts in Western North Carolina by 9 percent and an increase in self-reported underrepre-sented students,” says Earle. “That’s a benefit, but that was not the driving force. The driving force is to find the well-rounded student who will succeed at UNC Asheville. By doing that, we’ve opened up the door to a lot of students who will make a difference here and in the world.” 4
1 8 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
WRITTEN BY MOLLY SMITHSON ’15 AND AARON DAHLSTROM ’09
Photo by Galen McGee ’08
MAKING IT
S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 1 9
UNC Asheville
alumni are rising to
the top of the craft
brew scene. Despite coming from a variety of
different majors, these seven alumni
prove that having a liberal arts
education is a key ingredient for a
successful career.
Evan Crutchfield ’06 manages sales for Asheville brewery Wicked Weed, but that doesn’t mean he’s completed his job once he secures a customer. Not only does Crutchfield check in with clients, he also runs outside events, helps with merchandising and even delivers some of the beer himself.
“At small breweries it takes everybody doing lots of different things to make it all work.”
Wicked Weed self-distributes its beer, which cuts costs and allows closer relations with customers. Crutchfield is especially useful to the relatively new brewery in that he’s worked in the craft beer industry as both a salesman and brewer himself for 11 years.
“Not a lot of the guys in sales and distribution have brewing experience, so that’s why I’m part of the team, to kind of bridge the gap between the brewing world and the sales and distribution world,” he says.
Crutchfield’s biology degree from UNC Asheville came in handy when he completed the Master Brewing program at University of California Davis, helping him bypass classes in biology, chemistry and physics. He also earned a professional brewers certificate.
“I learned so much and I did so many things at UNC Asheville,” he says. “The more you know, the more you can relate and understand a lot of things. A lot of my job is talking to people about beer and brewing, but most of the time when you’re drinking beer, you’re being social, so those go hand in hand.”
the Manager
MAKING IT
2 0 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
Asheville wasn’t always Beer City, USA. Now home to more than 20 breweries, the region has become a destination for craft beer lovers worldwide. And John Lyda ’89 helped put it on the map.
As the brewmaster of Highland Brewing, Asheville’s first craft brewery, Lyda oversees the day-to-day operations of the company, making sure every drop of beer measures up to its standards. That focus on quality has been with the company since the beginning.
“[In our early days] we dumped about 6,000 gallons of beer that was drinkable but wasn’t what we were looking for,” he says. “We don’t want to release anything that isn’t up to our standards.”
Lyda has been with Highland since its inception in 1994, but his interest in brewing actually began much earlier. The person who got him started? His mother.
“I’ve always liked good beer,” he says. “Even in college I didn’t drink the cheap stuff. My mom found a home-brewing kit in the church rummage sale and said, ‘Here, just make your own instead of buying that expensive beer you like.’”
Lyda is still coming up with new recipes, as well as welding together parts of the assembly line. In fact, Highland’s brewing system was partially inspired by the industrial engineering courses taught by Professor Bob Yearout.
“It was a well-rounded education. I graduated from UNC Asheville with a business degree after thinking I couldn’t do chemistry,” says the management major who avoided science labs in favor of on-the-job experience.
“Turns out I could.”
the Brewmaster
Photo by David Allen ’13
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the Brewmaster
By some characterizations, the craft beer world is an industry of self-taught rebels never content on following the leader. That’s why when it comes to legal matters, it’s good to have an attorney like Derek Allen ’93 on your side.
“They want to do things their own way,” Allen says. “That’s what makes them great brewers. Those same things, from a business perspective, can get you in trouble.”
The political science major earned his law degree from UNC Chapel Hill in 1997. Now an attorney at Ward and Smith P.A., in Asheville, Allen has made a name for himself, and his firm, specializing in the city’s favorite frothy beverage. His firm represents some of the biggest players in the craft beer scene, including New Belgium, Oskar Blues and Sierra Nevada.
“Their job is to brew and sell beer. Our job is to make sure there are no issues that prohibit them from doing that,” he says.
Allen never imagined his legal career would focus on alcoholic beverage law. Rather, the business found him, after the owner of Oskar Blues contacted his office to help them handle some legal matters when they were opening their Western North Carolina location.
“Beer may be the end result, but behind the scenes, a whole host of legal matters could be fermenting. Manufacturing laws, trademarks, zoning and other legal issues can financially cripple a brewery if they are not careful.”
Making good beer may be the easiest part of it.
the Attorney
Photo by Galen McGee ’08
2 2 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
For Ashleigh Carter ’07 making beer is all about balance. It’s about bringing malt and hops together in harmony, but it’s also about combining intellectual and physical work together for one purpose.
“I needed to tie mental work with physical work. Brewing does both of those things: combining physical activity and labor with thinking.”
Carter is the co-owner and head brewer at Bierstadt Lagerhaus, a microbrewery in Denver, Colo., that will specialize in lagers when it opens it taps this summer. Last year, she traveled to Germany to purchase a copper brewing system dating back before World War II.
Pairing smarts and strength is something that Carter learned well at UNC Asheville. As a member of the women’s soccer team, she was expected to be at the top of her game both in the classroom and on the field. After a sports injury sidelined her graduate school plans, Carter decided to investigate the brewing industry, apprenticing and volunteering to get her foot in the door. She credits soccer coach Michelle Cornish with teaching her how to improve upon her weaknesses and excel at her strengths.
Carter has balanced that determination with a calculated approach, applying her mathematics degree to the details of a business plan and carefully measured recipes for her signature beers.
the Owner
OPEN
Photo by Bettina Wang
S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 2 3
When Chris Ivesdal ’02 moved to Asheville in 1996, he only knew of one or two breweries in the area. Now, the UNC Asheville management graduate believes we’re on the path to universal craft beer domination.
“This area will become a world brewing center. I’m already seeing tourists from all over the world coming to experience beer.”
Ivesdal is in the perfect position to see that transition as a tour guide at Sierra Nevada, which gave Asheville a stamp of approval when they selected the area as their East Coast location. He finds his liberal arts education especially useful when telling visitors about the wonderful world of beer.
“All those presentations that I gave while in the management department really paid off,” Ivesdal says.
“I think to humanities when I’m discussing the evolution of beer styles. Any work with chemistry or biology is helpful when discussing the process of making beer.”
Plus, he needs to constantly adapt on his job, as Sierra Nevada continues to roll out various features on its 190-acre property in Mills River, which opened to the public in late 2014.
“We are very lucky to have such a thriving craft beer community in Western North Carolina, which affords a need for not just brewers but people with all kinds of backgrounds and experience to work within this industry.”
Photo by David Allen ’13
the Guide
2 4 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
John and Michelle Savard ’11 have carried their love of craft brewing from the mountains all the way to the East Coast.
John began home brewing with a friend from UNC Asheville. He worked at Asheville Brewers Supply and Craggie Brewing Company, until a move across the state took the couple away from the mountains and their favorite craft beers.
“When we moved back home to Wilmington, we realized there was no homebrew shop and only one brewery,” Michelle says. “Having our little piece of the beer industry here in Wilmington really feels like we’ve brought a piece of Asheville with us.”
John and Michelle opened Wilmington Homebrew Supply in 2012. They expanded their store in 2014 with the Wilmington Brewing Company. Now they’re serving up some of their own creations, which draw inspiration from throughout the country.
“Our West Coast-style IPAs are our favorites and a favorite of our taproom,” Michelle says. Both credit UNC Asheville with providing tools and knowledge about running a small business. Michelle’s
mass communication degree put her in charge of getting the word out to the community, while John applied management principles to their start-up.
“No degree can ever give you all the information you’ll ever need for whatever job you do, but my management degree gave me the fundamentals that I built on to meet the needs of our business,” John says. 4
the Suppliers
Photo by Mike Spencer
S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 2 5
“I’m a believer that you need a liberal arts
background to help you understand more
than just number-crunching.”
— Monique Taylor, UNC Asheville internal auditor
PH
OT
O B
Y D
AV
ID A
LL
EN
’13
Monique Taylor must stand alone—it is
a matter of professional ethics. As UNC
Asheville’s internal auditor, she must
be independent in fact and appear-
ance. But outside of her daily job, she’s
an active member of the community,
partnering on projects and leading in
teaching and service.
Taylor may be best known on the
UNC Asheville campus for her work
as the volunteer director of the uni-
versity’s VITA (Voluntary Income Tax
Assistance) program, engaging students
in providing free income tax preparation
for low- and moderate-income individ-
uals in Asheville. Students at A-B Tech
know her too—she teaches accounting
there as an adjunct faculty member.
Plus, she’s been a board member for
Asheville Sister Cities and traveled to
Nigeria to help establish Asheville’s
sister cities relationship with Osogbo.
ACCOUNTING FOR THE COMMUNITYUNC Asheville’s Auditor Balances Education and Service By Steve Plever
Taylor learned the service ethic from
her family and has carried it through a
30-year accounting career that began
almost by accident—she was talked
into applying for her first account-
ing job by Howard University’s vice
president for finance when she was
in graduate school. Taylor holds two
master’s degrees —one in taxation and
one in international development. She
also has two undergraduate degrees —
one in political science and another in
accounting. She worked for 17 years at
Winston-Salem State University, devel-
oping the audit program there before
moving to UNC Asheville in 2007.
“As an auditor, you need to understand
accounting, the foundational piece…
but I’m a believer that you need a
liberal arts background to help you
understand more than just number-
crunching. You can look for underlying
causes so your findings are more useful
to management.”
Then the YMI Cultural Center, which
was struggling financially, invited her
to join its board and bring in needed
financial controls.
As she got involved with the YMI, she
also began work on a Ph.D. in higher
education administration from the
University of Phoenix.
Her thesis-in-progress is titled The Institutional Prioritization of Service.
“The bulk of existing research is about
students who have self-selected to
do the service, and the outcomes look
great,” she says. “But if students per-
form service as a requirement, do they
still have that level of commitment to
the activity? That’s what I’m trying to
measure. … My belief is that the tone is
set at the top of the organization. When
they make service a priority, then you
see a positive result.”
GIVING BACK
2 6 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
“Students today are different than when most of
us were in college. People want to learn about
new approaches to teaching and learning to help
them address some of those differences.”
— Melissa Himelein, Center for Teaching and Learning director
About 30 people sit in rows, listening intently as Professor of
Psychology Melissa Himelein introduces the speaker for the
day. They don’t look like average UNC Asheville students,
but they are just as familiar with the classroom. That’s
because the audience is faculty.
The presentation, sponsored by the Center for Teaching and
Learning (CTL), focuses on ways to improve teaching and
bolster student success, a frequent and popular topic.
“There is a lot going on in higher education,” said Himelein,
director of the center. “Students today are different than
when most of us were in college. People want to learn about
new approaches to teaching and learning to help them
address some of those differences.”
The Center for Teaching and Learning at UNC Asheville,
founded in 1994, offers everything from orientation and
mentoring for new faculty to programs designed to help
mid-career and veteran faculty reinvigorate their class-
rooms, become more effective teachers and balance teach-
ing with scholarship.
Public events such as lunch workshops and small-group
discussion circles are among the most visible, but the CTL
provides more personal support too. Himelein consults with
individual faculty, helps interpret teaching evaluations and
peer reviews, and even surveys whole classes face to face
to help instructors identify and address their strengths
and weaknesses.
TEACHING IMPACTA Front Seat in the Center for Teaching and Learning By Patricia LaHay
That variety may be a factor behind the high level of par-
ticipation in CTL programs, which has nearly doubled in
the last three years to nearly 65 percent of full-time faculty
during the 2013–14 academic year.
The numbers are even more impressive when stacked up
against average participation in comparable programs at
colleges and universities around the country. According to a
recent report from Western Carolina University, only 30 to 40
percent of faculty take part in similar professional develop-
ment programs nationwide.
Lunchtime Learning
Monthly lunchtime workshops are quite popular and attract
faculty from many academic departments. Sophie Mills, pro-
fessor of classics, said the chance to talk to colleagues from
other fields is the biggest draw.
“It gets me out of my office. It gets me out
of just engaging with stuff about classics,”
Mills said. “It opens up thinking about
new ways of teaching, new things that I
wouldn’t necessarily have thought of to
do myself.”
At UNC Asheville, where exploring the
connections between different subjects
is considered the cornerstone of a liberal
arts education, this kind of cross pollina-
tion is especially valuable.
Chemistry Professor George Heard calls the CTL “one of the
most interdisciplinary units on campus.”
“You’ll meet people at CTL meetings that you won’t meet
anywhere else,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to discuss
ideas with faculty in other departments, ideas that I can
incorporate into my own teaching.”
Model Teaching
Heard has presented at two lunchtime workshops to discuss
a new teaching approach called the “flipped classroom.”
In this model, students access lectures and PowerPoints—
traditionally given in class—by computer on their own time
PRACTICALLY SPEAKINGPRACTICALLY SPEAKING
S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 2 7
and spend class doing work that would ordinarily be take-
home assignments. The presentations were so popular they
had to be moved to larger rooms, Heard said.
“I said to myself, Wow! People from everywhere want to come
talk about this crazy way I’m teaching chemistry and compare
it to what they are doing in their classes,” he said. “There’s
someone from classics sitting right there, and someone from
health and wellness in the back, and biology and economics.”
CTL has recently tackled topics such as universal design
practices to increase accessibility for students with physical
or learning disabilities, issues facing first-generation college
students, and new approaches to STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math) education that have been shown to
improve student learning.
Classroom Colleagues
James Perkins, assistant professor of physics, has attended
several lunchtime workshops and discussion circles. One
of the most valuable experiences, he said, was a classroom
analysis that Himelein did during his second semester teach-
ing at UNC Asheville.
“Melissa gathered a lot of feedback from the students, who were
much more open to talking because I wasn’t there,” he said.
“She studied the results and wrote a report. We discussed it, so
she was able to soften the blow on some of the feedback and
point out some of the good things, the successes.”
Because the in-class survey came in mid-semester, Perkins
had time to adjust.
“It impacted my teaching in several specific ways,” he said.
“I implemented some things that had come out of the stu-
dents’ feedback, and that showed up in a bunch of student
evaluations at the end of the term.”
Perkins, Mills and Heard are generous in their praise for
Himelein and credit her with much of the center’s success.
But Himelein offers a different explanation for the strong
participation in the program she directs.
“I give all the credit to the faculty wanting to learn how to be
better teachers,” she said. “I am so highly impressed with
my colleagues and how their involvement in CTL programs
demonstrates their commitment to teaching.”
PRACTICALLY SPEAKINGPRACTICALLY SPEAKING
PH
OT
OS
BY
MA
TT
RO
SE
Faculty participate in a learning circle on “New Approaches to STEM Education”: (Top L–R) Greg Dillingham, manager of distance learning services; Becca Hale, assistant professor of biology, Melissa Himelein, professor of psychology and director of the CTL, and Susan Reiser, associate dean of physical sciences and lecturer in new media; (Bottom L–R) Paula Willis, adjunct assistant professor of physics; Steve Walsh, director of the NCSU Engineering Program at UNC Asheville; James Perkins, assistant professor of physics.
2 8 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
While all Bulldogs sports programs delve into community service, few can boast of a good deed done 20 years ago that people are still talking about.
pitching inCommunity service goes hand-in-glove with Bulldog baseball
Back in January of 1995, UNC Asheville had a new baseball coach, Bill Hillier. He’d found the players’ locker room in
sad shape and sought help from local business owners, Chris Young and his wife, Nina, of Office Environments.
Hillier, who’s now a school teacher in Roxboro, N.C., remembers making his case to Young: “It’s so neglected, and it looks so bad, that it’s going to impact our recruiting. We can’t bring parents and recruits in there—we just don’t look the part.”
The company came through with donated lockers and office equipment for the baseball staff—“The coach won me over,” Young says—and the teams’ facility got a much-needed makeover.
Just a few weeks later, though, Young found his own facility facing even bigger problems: The company’s 30,000-square-foot warehouse in Biltmore Village was one among many impacted by major flooding. It was stocked with hundreds of pieces of new furniture on their way to the company’s clients.
“We knew we were in big trouble,” Young says. “We couldn’t even get to the building at first. Everything was under water as far as you could see. When we
finally opened the doors, it was like a big bathtub, with the water three-feet deep. We had furniture floating around the place.”
Dan Coker and Piedmont Paper, a neighboring business, offered a tractor-trailer to move the merchandise, and Young found a dry warehouse to relocate to. But it would take some seri-ous heavy lifting to salvage the furniture before it was ruined.
“It was pretty traumatic— you could see your business just going away,” Young says. “We were looking at ruin, to tell you truth.”
But the next morning, when Young arrived at his building, “There were two
WRITTEN BY JON ELLISTON
S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 2 9
Eric Filipek ’97, captain of the team that saved the Young’s business from flood, now captains a division of their company, Clean Environments. (PHOTO BY DAVID ALLEN ’13)
coaches and 30 baseball players standing there, waiting to go to work,” he remem-bers. The Bulldogs’ full roster would spend a week—one that was to have been their first week of practice for the upcoming season—moving the furniture and saving the business.
“You talk about a godsend: We never could have gotten that stuff out of there on our own,” Young recalls. Hillier says that it not only felt like the right thing to do, returning Young’s favor, but the furniture-rescue mission also gave him a quick sense of just who on the squad was a team player.
The team’s captain at the time, Eric Filipek ’97, agrees. “We found out more
about our team in those five days that we helped than we could have found out on the field,” he remembers. “We found out a lot about our coaches at the time as well, because they got in there first and showed us what needed to be done and worked as much as we did.”
Filipek took even more away from the experience. After graduating, he coached collegiate baseball for 10 years but then decided he’d pursue something more in line with his management major. “I called the Youngs and, without hesita-tion, they gave me an interview,” he says. Then they gave him a job, and today he runs a division of the Youngs’ latest company, Clean Environments.
Citizen-AthletesThe team roster might have changed in the past 20 years, but the spirit of giving back has not. That kind of perspec-tive, born from community service, is exactly what the university seeks for its student-athletes, Director of Athletics Janet Cone says. On the one hand, the students should succeed in the class-room, and on another, in their respective fields of athletic competition. But there’s a third component.
“That’s community service,” Cone says. “What kind of citizens are we? We stress to our staff and our athletes that we’ve been very fortunate and blessed,
3 0 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
and therefore it’s part of our responsibil-ity to be servant leaders and give back to the community.”
Consequently, every student-athlete is required to do at least six hours per year of community service. But many do more, notes Director of Student-Athlete Services Rebecca Nelms Keil.
In the 2013–14 academic year, she reports, student-athletes and the athletic staff logged 2,500 hours of community service, supporting a wide range of local groups and institutions that tackle every-thing from early childhood education to
several kinds of cancer, from food banks to the Special Olympics.
Head-On ServiceHunter Bryant, a senior management major from nearby Leicester, who plays first base for the Bulldogs, is normally what you’d consider a clean-cut type. But last year, he grew a full-on mullet.
Bryant wasn’t making a fashion state-ment: He was putting on hair to cut it off later. He’d joined the other members of the baseball team in a pledge campaign for fighting children’s cancer. The pitch to potential sponsors: “If I raise this amount of money, I’m going to get my head shaved at the end of the game.”
And a big game at that. In what has become an annual tradition, the team schedules one of its bigger games at McCormick Field in downtown Asheville, drawing a large crowd on a night that’s dedicated to raising funds for both Vs. Cancer, a national program started by a former collegiate ballplayer, and Mission Health’s Children’s Cancer Center.
Last May, the pledge drive drew $18,000 for the cause, according to recently retired baseball coach Tom Smith, and $15,000 the year before that, including support from Neal Hanks and Beverly-Hanks. Perhaps surprisingly, it
didn’t take any prodding to get the team involved in the effort. “Most every one of them had someone who’d been affected by cancer in their own family, so it was not a hard sell,” Smith remembers.
“It’s voluntary, but everyone has done it in the past two years,” Bryant says. “It’s certainly not a task for us—I mean, we have fun with it. We actually have a blast getting our heads shaved in front of all the fans, and then we go bald for a few weeks.
“Even though all of us have a full schedule, and during the season we sometimes hardly even find time to eat, the kids that we’re doing it for are way worse off than us,” Bryant says. “So it puts things into perspective for all of us.”
The Bulldog baseball team is look-ing to the next generation of leaders too, engaging in a community service program at Asheville Middle School. Last fall, 27 players served as mentors or led “Move More” sessions there—creating activities to get kids out of their seats.
Keri Pavelock ’14, an AmeriCorps VISTA staffer who’s based at the univer-sity, coordinates their placements at the school. The benefits of the outreach and involvement are evident for both the grade-schoolers and the college students, she says.
“A lot of the student-athletes are really busy, but they like interacting with the kids, hanging out with them, and feeling like they’re giving something back,” she says. “It teaches them how to lead by example by showing that they went to college, and that their sports and their studies helped them get there. 4
Fresh from a victory and head-shaving, the 2013 UNC Asheville baseball team poses for a photo. The fundraising tradition has grown since that first year, with Bulldog fans donating thousands annually to support cancer research.
Hunter Bryant has a close shave.
S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 3 1
Bulldogs Aim for 1,000 on the Court and in the Classroom By Mike Gore
Andrew Rowsey is the first player in
UNC Asheville history and the second
player in Big South history to record
1,000 career points by his sophomore
year. The starting guard achieved the
milestone during a Big South match
against defending conference champi-
on Coastal Carolina on Jan. 22, where
his 17 points helped the Bulldogs win,
75-65.
The Bulldog basketball star isn’t alone
in the 1,000-point goal. Eight of UNC
Asheville’s 15 NCAA Division I teams
earned a perfect 1,000 points on the
2014 Academic Progress Report (APR),
a team-based metric that accounts for
the eligibility and retention of each
PERFECT SCORES
For the latest news, rosters and schedules for all UNC Asheville Division I teams, visit uncabulldogs.com
ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME
EDDIE BIEDENBACH was the Bulldogs head coach
for 17 seasons from 1996–2013.
He led Asheville to a school-
record 256 wins, five Big South
Conference regular-season titles,
three tournament titles and three
trips to the NCAA Tournament.
ANDRE SMITH was a four-year starter for
Bulldog basketball in the
backcourt and is the school’s
eighth all-time leading scorer with
1,495 points. He was the 2000
Big South Rookie of the Year and
2003 Big South Tournament MVP,
helping to lead Asheville to the
NCAA Tournament.
HIL ARY MCK AY WILLIAMS is UNC Asheville women’s soccer
all-time leader in goals scored
with 53. She set a single-season
record for goals scored in 2003
with 21. The Asheville native was
the 2002 Big South Rookie of
the Year and 2005 Big South
Player of the Year. She also
helped lead the Bulldogs to two
Big South Conference regular-
season championships.
2015 Inductees
UNC ASHEVILLE WOMEN’S SWIMMING
TEAM WRAPPED UP ITS BEST-EVER PERFORMANCE AT
THE COASTAL COLLEGIATE SWIMMING ASSOCIATION
CHAMPIONSHIPS IN FEBRUARY 2015, SETTING 10
TEAM RECORDS AND FIVE FRESHMAN RECORDS.
student-athlete each term. Men’s
basketball, women’s basketball, men’s
and women’s tennis, cross country, and
track and field all scored 1,000 in the
most recent report.
New head men’s soccer coach Mathes
Mennell joins the Bulldogs from Loyola
Marymount University in California,
where he served as an assistant coach
for the past 14 years.
Before LMU, Mennell served as an
assistant at the Air Force Academy
after returning from active duty follow-
ing graduation from the academy.
“We are going to build a program that
will be based on character and devel-
opment of student-athletes. You do that
and you win games,” said Mennell at a
February press conference.
NEW SOCCER COACH STARTS SPRING SCHEDULE
GO, BULLDOGS!
3 2 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
We love to hear from
alumni—and so do
your classmates!
So be sure to send us
your accomplishments,
career moves, family
news and celebrations.
Either log on to
alumni.unca.edu
or send an e-mail to
195 4Lewis Israel Jr. is a retired
engineer who lives in Candler. He
has four children, Belinda, David,
Daniel and Dorothy.
1969Linda Nelms retired from UNC
Asheville in June 2014 after 36
years of teaching and working
with students in accounting,
management, humanities and
undergraduate research.
1971Steven Coster retired after
working for the Department of
the Army Civilian for 32 years
and contracting for the office
of the Secretary of the Defense
for seven years. For the past
24 years, Coster worked with
Middle Eastern and Central
Asian countries selling military
equipment and training.
He spends his retirement
volunteering at public gardens
and assisting residents with
garden issues.
notesclassDROP US A LINE!
1972Donald Rice retired. He lives in
Miami, Fla.
1982Dr. Tim Vogler is the
department chairman of foot
and ankle surgery and the
medical director of the limb
preservation program at Novant
Health Forsyth Medical Center in
Winston-Salem.
1984Tom Steele co-founded Pittman
& Steele PLLC.
1990Greg Burnette was named
“Outstanding Volunteer
Fundraiser” by the Association
of Fundraising Professionals
Western North Carolina Chapter.
1991Tony Rollman married Gayle
Valeros on May 10, 2014.
John Howard Smith (MLA ’96) is an associate professor of
history at Texas A&M University—
Commerce. He recently published
his second book, The First Great Awakening: Redefining Religion in British America, 1725–1775.
Anthony Thomas and
Alexandria “Jennifer” Bracanovich ’89 have
announced their engagement.
Bonnie Upright serves on the
national board of directors for
the Public Relations Society of
America. She is also included
in the recently published book
Local Legends of Jacksonville.
1992Kevan Frazier is the executive
director of the Western Carolina
University Programs at Biltmore
Park.
1993Steve Dunnington celebrated
his 20th year at local musical
instrument manufacturer Moog
Music. He has worked in sales
and marketing, as well as for the
Moog Engineering Department.
S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 3 3
CLASS NOTES
Marchant Harman is the
contractor of the N.C. License
Plate Agency in South Asheville.
1995Tim Hardin is the director of
pricing & planning at Scripps
Networks Interactive in New York
City.
1997Dr. Pamela Gutbier Allen was
named one of the 2014 Asheville
40 Under 40 by The Biltmore Beacon.
Brian Bero founded
Modestspark Software in
Redmond, Wash., which focuses
on building products for
registered investment advisers.
Allison Jordan was named one
of the 2014 Asheville 40 Under
40 by The Biltmore Beacon.
Mark Robinson was named the
chief executive officer of Capital
Regional Medical Center, starting
in January 2015.
1998Bray Creech works as a
financial advisor at Joel Adams,
Registered Investment Advisor
Representative of Raymond
James Financial Services Inc., in
Asheville.
Michael Jones and Cheryl Fox Jones had a baby girl
named Merritt Ansley Jones on
Jan. 20, 2015.
1999Tiffany Drummond Armstrong is vice president
of the Pediatric Brain Tumor
Foundation, the world’s largest
non-governmental funder of
pediatric brain tumor research.
Travis Bryenton married Ellen
Pearson on Oct. 18, 2014.
Sok Heang Cheng was named
one of the 2014 Asheville 40
Under 40 by The Biltmore Beacon.
2000Laura Thuotte Bibb and her
husband, Benjamin Bibb, had a
daughter named Gaillen Faith
Bibb on Oct. 24, 2014.
Wiley Cash and his wife,
Mallory Cash, gave birth to a
baby girl named Early Elizabeth
Cash on Sept. 29, 2014.
Leigh Ann Henion is the
author of Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for Wonder in the Natural World,
released by Penguin Books in
March 2015.
Carrie MacKichan Simmons
and her husband, Lane Simmons,
had a baby boy named Blake
Andrew Simmons on Dec. 31,
2014.
2001Jason Boyles and Kristy
Fairhurst Boyles had a baby boy,
Liam Thomas Boyles, on Jan. 9,
2015.
Each stride you took at UNC Asheville put you one step closer to your goals.
Now help pave the way to excellence for future students with a personalized paver. Your unique message, carved in stone, will become a permanent part of UNC Asheville’s campus.
Pavers will be located outside of the Wilma M. Sherrill Center and along Alumni Walk near the Justice Center. Each 12ˇ̌ by 12ˇ̌ square costs $230, with net proceeds used to fund scholarships at UNC Asheville.
To order, contact [email protected] or visit giving.unca.edu/paver
to excellence
3 4 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
“I spent many, many hours in the studio
on campus, and there was nowhere else
I wanted to be.” — Kyle Carpenter ’00
CLASS NOTES
A THRIVING COMMUNITY OF
UNC ASHEVILLE ART GRADUATES is producing exceptional work in the River Arts District (RAD) in Asheville. And although these four artists didn’t all graduate at the same time, they share a bond created through the edu-cation received and time spent in the studio on campus.
“UNC Asheville taught me about a work ethic, and Megan [Wolfe, professor of art] showed me I had to take it seri-ously,” said KYLE CARPENTER , a 2000 graduate. “I spent many, many hours in the studio on campus, and there was nowhere else I wanted to be.”
Carpenter stepped into a job at Highwater Clays right out of under-graduate school. It was there he learned the business side of ceramics,
working in the warehouse, in retail, and networking with an incredible number of potters and sculptors. He took many classes at Highwater; one of them was an 18-week salt-glaze firing course with Linda McFarling. She proved to be a mentor, inspiring him to create the salt-glazed work he does today.
After a brief stint as a teacher, Carpenter decided he wanted the lifestyle of a studio potter, so he built a kiln in his backyard and began making pots, attending craft shows to sell his work. He ran across a new gallery in Atlanta called Mudfire and submitted photos. The gallery accepted his work and he exhibited off and on there for almost a decade.
“Mudfire Gallery marketed me, and I was a best-selling potter for them,”
he said. “I was fea-tured in Clay Times because of my asso-ciation with Mudfire, and that helped me get into more and
more galleries.”
Today his studio and gallery (Curve Studio) is in Asheville’s River Arts District. He is a juried member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, and his works are in many collections, includ-ing Charlotte’s Mint Museum.
MARIA ANDRADE TROYA , a 2001 graduate, shares studio and gallery space at Curve Studio. From a long line of bakers, Troya works with water and clay instead of flour to create func-tional pottery that mostly focuses on kitchen items.
A printmaking major, she began working with clay in earnest when she rented a studio in the River Arts District with a friend who had a pottery wheel. An internship at Odyssey Clay (now Odyssey Center for Ceramic Arts) allowed her to take many classes and workshops.
“After my experience at Odyssey, I began to focus; I like pattern and consistency, and later I started draw-ing on pottery using a slip-trailer. I use printmaking tools now, so I’ve come full circle in the last decade,” she explained.
Written by Melissa Stanz • Photos by JameyKay Huffman
RAD WORKIn the Studio with Four Asheville Artists
S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 3 5
“The most important thing is to
spend time on your art; you must
practice to get better.” — Heather Knight ’06
L–R: KYLE CARPENTER, MARIA ANDRADE TROYA, JOSH COPUS, HEATHER KNIGHT
CLASS NOTES
Her time at UNC Asheville helped her build lasting relationships, and she notes that her experience with Wolfe was a turning point for her career.
“There are a ton of UNC Asheville grad-uates that are still doing their art. I run into a lot of people at craft shows. Although many people don’t do it full-time, they continue to create amazing work,” she said.
Nontraditional student HEATHER
KNIGHT, a 2006 graduate, came to UNC Asheville after going to another school, and she was determined to be successful and make her living doing art. The moment she set foot in the ceramics studio on campus she knew what she wanted to do.
“I probably spent more time in the studio than anyone, and after count-less hours of practice, I graduated and completed a residency at Odyssey and taught in Greenville at the museum,” she said. “I also set up a shop on Etsy.”
Creating an Etsy store was a very good idea; Interior Design Magazine found her online and dedicated a full page to her work. She also founded Element, a group studio in downtown Asheville.
Knight works exclusively in porcelain using a white color palette, creat-ing tiles, bowls, and curios that are inspired by the natural world. Her art has been exhibited nationwide and in France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Dubai.
She knows what it takes to be success-ful in a highly competitive business.
“You have to be focused and spend your time wisely. The most important thing is to spend time on your art; you must practice to get better,” she said, “I work long hours and am very determined, and I’m con-stantly looking for outlets to learn more.”
JOSH COPUS, a 2006 gradu-ate, creates his pottery using clay from Madison County; but the roots of his art date to undergraduate research in the art department.
“I participated in an undergrad research scholarship program. It was an amaz-ing experience,” he said. “My project was about ceramic materials and local clays, and I was digging clay out of the ground.
That project defined my body of work and the methodologies I use today.”
Copus has two studio collectives in RAD, Clayspace and Foundation Clay. He has another studio in Marshall that includes his kiln and most of his oper-ations. Using funds provided by the Windgate Fellowship he received while at UNC Asheville, he built a 27-foot-long woodfired climbing chamber kiln in Marshall. Those funds also allowed him to start Clayspace and propelled
him from being a student to becoming a professional. Today he works with galleries across the country and sells his work all over the world.
“I came to UNC Asheville to work in dif-ferent mediums and get a well-rounded art education,” he said. “I am grateful that we were encouraged to be self- directed and create our own work.”
3 6 U N C A S H E V I L L E M A G A Z I N E
Did we miss your class note? Check online and send your update to alumni.unca.edu/class-notes.
CLASS NOTES
Cathy McFalls and Rickie McFalls II ’02 had a baby girl
named Addison Grace McFalls on
Sept. 22, 2014.
2002Rachel Cook married Matt
McMillan on Sept. 20, 2014.
Ashley Brooks Simon and
her husband, Jesse Simon,
gave birth to a baby boy named
Emmett Oliver Simon. He joins
big sister Leila Harper Simon.
2003Courtney Elise Crawford
married Mario Maturell ’14 on
Dec. 21, 2014.
Jody Howard and his wife,
Anna Howard, welcomed their
second child, August Burton
Howard, on Sept. 20, 2014.
Matthew Raker was named one
of the 2014 Asheville 40 Under
40 by The Biltmore Beacon.
Jeremy Shrader was promoted
to director of Carruthers & Roth
P.A.
Bryan White composes and
plays electric and upright
bass live and in the studio for
various Asheville artists. He
leads Up Jumped Three, a jazz
trio, and released a solo CD in
October 2014. He also competes
regionally in distance running
events and had several overall
and age-group wins in 2013 and
2014.
2004Clinton Barden and Victoria Barden ’08 had a baby boy
named Samuel Thomas Barden
on Dec. 28, 2014.
Jetta Baynard and her
husband, John Baynard, had a
baby girl named Gracie.
Matthew Mastin and his wife,
Lauren Mastin, welcomed a baby
boy named Alex Edward Mastin
on Sept. 8, 2014.
Tara Sanders and her husband,
Michael Sanders, had a baby
girl named Olivia “Olive” Claire
Sanders on Feb. 10, 2015.
2005Sarah V. Goodman is the
chaplain of spiritual care at the
Children’s Medical Center of
Dallas.
Diana Manee was named one
of the 2014 Asheville 40 Under
40 by The Biltmore Beacon.
2006Kristina Jonas received a
B.S. in nursing in 2010. She has
been married to Alex Jonas for
four years, and they have a son
named Evan. She is starting a
legal nurse consultancy business.
Shannon Watkins is a broker
associate at Beverly-Hanks and
Associates Realtors in Asheville.
2007 Stephen Burnich and
Amanda Burnich ’06 had a
baby girl named Greta Cecile
Burnich on Jan. 30, 2015.
2008Stephanie Casey Fuhs and
Matthew Fuhs ’07 had their
first child, Thomas Maxwell, on
July 18, 2014.
Tasha Lewis had twin boys
named Oliver and Maxwell on
Sept. 16, 2014.
Silvia Meyer had a baby boy
named Noah Adam Meyer on
Aug. 6, 2014.
2009Erin Coleman and her husband,
Brett Coleman, are expecting
their first child in April 2015.
Julie Luong works as a middle
school social studies and special
education teacher in Orange
County, Calif.
Stephani Pelchat Vick
married Brian Vick on Aug. 31,
2014. They live in Fort Collins,
Colo.
Shanna Peele and her
husband, Blake Peele, gave birth
to a son named Oliver Buerleigh
Peele on Feb. 4, 2015.
Mary Catherine Grant is
currently completing her sixth
year of teaching at David Cox
Road Elementary in Charlotte. In
July, she will enter the mission
field for 11 months with The
World Race, where she’ll serve
people in 11 countries. Her work
abroad will be documented
at www.marycatherinegrant.
theworldrace.org.
2010Jessika Carney and Brandon Bond ’12 were married on Sept.
6, 2014.
Greg Hicks is the executive
assistant and special projects
coordinator at the Mecklenburg
County Bar.
Samantha Little and Zachary Winecoff became engaged on
Dec. 6, 2014.
Christine Quinley and Gabe
Quinley were married on Oct. 4,
2014.
2011Lydia Cauley completed
volunteer work for Americorps
and works at a full time job in
Swansboro. She also attends
graduate school at Duke Divinity
School.
Andrew Waight began law
school at the West Virginia
University College of Law in
August 2014.
Jonathan Williams and his
wife, Whitney Williams, had a
baby girl named Selah Wren
Williams on Dec. 6, 2014.
2013Amanda Glenn-Bradley
received a master’s degree in
library and information studies
from UNC Greensboro. She works
as a user engagement librarian
at UNC Asheville.
Carrie Roth teaches high
school English in Union County
Public Schools.
Amber White is a technical
multimedia communications
director at Advanced Simulation
Technology Inc. in Herndon, Va.
2015Jack Derbyshire is a software
engineer at IBM in the Research
Triangle Park.
IN MEMORIAMPatrick Tebo ’73,
October 2014
Celeste Dulin ’82,
October 2014
Patricia Queen ’48,
November 2014
Jeanne Griffin Gochenour ’81,
January 2015
Harriet Storms Manley ’94,
February 2015
Where art meets
science
Hands-on learning and critical thinking provide a powerful focus for
new media majors, and students work side-by-side with faculty to
create careers in fields such as animation and video production.
Visit us at www.unca.edu
SERIOUSLY CREATIVE
UNC Asheville practically invented undergraduate research, founding one of the top conferences in the nation—the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in 1987 and hosting the first two conferences. NCUR returns home in spring 2016. (Photo by David Allen ’13)
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