UNC
asheville Volume 11, No. 2 SUMMER 2019
MAGAZINE
Celebrate UNC Asheville! National Thought Leaders Celebrate UNC Asheville and Chancellor Cable’s Installation
INSIDE
A Page from Summer School The Scotland Stage
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Thought Leaders Together Roundtable discussions connect local and national experts (Photo by Colby Rabon)
FEATURES
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Summer School Maymester makes it cooler to stay in Asheville or study abroad
A Beacon for the Liberal Arts Celebrate UNC Asheville with the Chancellor’s Installation
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To Scotland with Nothing John Cage’s classic comes to the stage and goes abroad
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BIG PICTURE A R O U N D T H E Q UA D L O N G I T U D E & L AT I T U D E
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G O, B U L L D O G S ! C L A S S N OT E S O F F T H E PA G E
ON THE COVER: Chancellor Cable delivers the Installation Address on April 26 surrounded by family, friends, local leaders, higher education colleagues, and the campus community (Photo by Adrian Etheridge ‘15).
LETTER from the Chancellor UNC ASHEVILLE CHANCELLOR
Nancy J. Cable
THE UNC ASHEVILLE CAMPUS
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNIT Y ENGAGEMENT
community and our partners across the city
Darin Waters
of Asheville have had a momentous spring
PROVOST AND VICE CHANCELLOR FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
semester, complete with the announcement
Garikai Campbell
of four Fulbright award recipients—a student,
VICE CHANCELLOR FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS
alumni and faculty member—an alumna who
William K. Haggard VICE CHANCELLOR FOR ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE
won a Pulitzer Prize, the thrill of the Class of 2019
John Pierce
commencement (our largest-ever senior class!),
INTERIM CHIEF ADVANCEMENT OFFICER
truly distinguished student undergraduate
Laura Herndon
research across all academic disciplines, and
SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR FOR UNIVERSIT Y ENTERPRISES AND ATHLETICS DIRECTOR
Janet R. Cone
an inspiring week of Installation activities culminating in my formal installation as your eighth Chancellor.
GENERAL COUNSEL
Clifton Williams SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE CHANCELLOR FOR COMMUNICATION AND MARKETING
Sarah Broberg
This issue of UNC Asheville Magazine highlights many of these activities to give you a sense of the genuine enthusiasm and energy on campus given the strength and distinctive mission of this university and the vitality of its future.
CHIEF STRATEGY AND ANALY TICS OFFICER
Michael Gass
The Installation activities included an appreciation concert for our colleague
CHIEF OF STAFF
leaders across Asheville and Buncombe County, including educational,
Shannon C. Earle
UNC ASHEVILLE ALUMNI OFFICE SENIOR DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS
Elizabeth Saxman Underwood ’01
UNC ASHEVILLE MAGAZINE STAFF
corporate, governmental, and nonprofit leaders. Grammy-award winning country music singer-songwriter Kathy Mattea was the star of the event that was hosted by the UNC Asheville Board of Trustees, the senior staff, and university faculty at Lionsgate at Biltmore Estate. Over 100 leaders gathered
EDITOR
to celebrate our shared work for the region and the importance of our town
Amy Jessee
and gown partnerships.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Hannah Epperson ’11 MLAS ’18 ART DIRECTOR
We hosted notable national and regional thought leaders in conversation
Hanna Trussler ’13
with many UNC Asheville faculty on key issues in higher education:
WEB DESIGN
the essential value of a liberal arts and sciences education; the critical
Casey Hulme ’05
importance of equity and diversity efforts; the environmental impact of the
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
thawing of the arctic permafrost; the value of cultivating interfaith under-
Emma Anderson ’16, Hannah Epperson ’11 MLAS ’18, Brian Hand, Casey Hulme ’05, Colleen O’Neil, Steve Plever, Peyton Rodgers ’20, Isabelle Stevens ’22 CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Adrian Etheridge ‘15, Peter Lorenz, Colby Rabon, Adam Taylor, Studio Misha
UNC Asheville Magazine is published twice a year by UNC Asheville Communication and Marketing to give alumni and friends an accurate, lively view of the university—its people, programs and initiatives. Contact us at magazine@unca.edu.
standing; and current trends and practices in health and wellness. These conversations highlighted the excellent, relevant work of our faculty and the visionary thought leaders who joined us in these discussions to Celebrate UNC Asheville! Explore the ideas and possibilities presented in each of these roundtables online at unca.edu/installation. The Installation Ceremony was the honor of my lifetime, made even more
Address Changes
meaningful by the many members of the Board of Governors, Board of
Office of University Advancement & Alumni Giving • alumni@unca.edu CPO #3800 • UNC Asheville • One University Heights • Asheville, NC 28804
Trustees, faculty, students, and staff who joined in this historic moment
UNC Asheville enrolls more than 3,800 full- and part-time students in more than 30 programs. The University of North Carolina at Asheville is committed to equality of educational experiences for students and is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. UNC Asheville does not discriminate against students, applicants or employees on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, disability, political affiliation or any other legally protected status.
Chancellor. Together we will build upon our historic academic quality, rele-
To make a report to the university, contact the Title IX Office at 828.258.5658 or visit titleix.unca.edu.
for UNC Asheville. I am deeply grateful for the privilege to serve as your vance, innovation, and distinction. We can—and we must—travel together on this journey as the “keeper of the light” in our role as THE liberal arts and sciences university of the UNC system. What a privilege we hold together! With abiding gratitude,
© UNC Asheville, June 2019 30,000 copies of this magazine were printed at a cost of $17,080 or 57 cents each.
Nancy J. Cable, Ph.D. Chancellor SUMMER 2019
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VIRTUAL MAGIC Victoria Bradbury, assistant professor of new media, is using virtual reality to bring to life the story of her 10th-great-grandmother, who was accused of magically transforming herself into a blue boar in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692—an accusation that in part led to her conviction of practicing witchcraft. In Bradbury’s virtual reality game, Blue Boar VR , players revisit the world of the Salem witch trials as either the accused Mary Bradbury, her accusers, or the magical blue boar. In this collaboration with the Computer Science Department, Bradbury has been working with student research assistants Kendall Breivogel ’20, a computer science major who is helping to develop the game on Unreal Engine, and music technology major David Freund ’21, who is creating the sounds and a dynamic score. The results? As Bradbury describes, “It’s an interpretation, and it uses metaphor, visual and conceptual interpretation.” The project has already been exhibited at the IEEE-GEM Conference at Yale University.
(Photo by Adam Taylor)
See more at unca.edu/programs/new-media
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PHOTO BY ADAM TAYLOR
(Above) Isaiah Green, 2019-20 SGA President; (Below) Roger Aiken and Mo Green, new members of UNC Asheville’s Board of Trustees
ON THE BOARD Meet the SGA President and New Trustees
When Isaiah Green decides to do something, he goes all out. That’s how, after his first year at UNC Asheville, he’s already well into his classes for his management major, finished an internship, owns his own small fashion retail business, spends his Saturdays teaching kids entrepreneurship skills, and has been elected president of the Student Government Association (SGA). And he’s not stopping there. “When I look at anything I do, I want to look at the highest opportunity possible,” Green says. In his first year at UNC Asheville he’s already diving into his management and accountancy courses, which aren’t only helping him get one step closer to graduation, but also with his own company, Full Circle Nation LLC, which he started in high school, where he sells t-shirts and apparel featuring his own original artwork. Green is excited about next year, when he’ll serve as the student body president.
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“It’s the ability to learn how to tell other people’s stories” that Green says he’s found most valuable in his SGA experience so far. As SGA president, Green will be one of three new members of UNC Asheville’s Board of Trustees next year, along with Roger Aiken, managing director - complex manager for Wells Fargo Advisors; and Mo Green, executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and, notably, Isaiah Green’s dad. Now that he’ll be working with his dad on the board, Green notes, instead of being known as “Mo Green’s son,” Mo Green might well be known as “Isaiah Green’s dad.”
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AWARD WINNERS From Fulbright Scholars to Pulitzer Prizes UNC Asheville has gained four new Fulbright Scholars this year—student Kay Tyrlik ’19, who will be conducting research in immunology in Poland; alumna Phoenicia Schwidkay ’19, who will teach English in Vietnam; Master of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumnus Jason Carter MLAS ’17, who traveled to Senegal in April 2019 on a Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms grant; and faculty member Agya Boakye-Boaten, chair and associate professor of Africana and Interdisciplinary and International Studies, who will teach in Ghana. “I hope that being part of the English Teaching Assistant program will allow me to improve my understanding of what issues students struggle with when learning English,” said Schwidkay, who graduated in December 2018. “I feel it is really important for students to maintain their cultural identity when it comes to teaching. It will be interesting to see how an English program is taught when students in that class also speak the same native language.” Beyond campus, UNC Asheville alumna Jennifer Forsyth ’90 was part of a team of journalists at the Wall Street Journal that won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism. She also completed a Fulbright Fellowship in Germany following her undergraduate degree. Annual faculty awards concluded the year, with UNC Asheville’s Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award going to Evelyn Chiang, associate professor of psychology; Ameena Batada, associate professor of health and wellness, was named UNC Asheville’s recipient of the Board of Governors’ 2019 Award for Excellence in Teaching. Additional awards were given for teaching, creativity, service and scholarship.
AACSB HONORS AGAIN Department of Management and Accountancy Earns Accreditation The Department of Management and Accountancy at UNC Asheville has once again earned an extension of accreditation from AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). AACSB Accreditation is the hallmark of excellence in business education, and has been earned by less than 5 percent of the world’s business schools.
ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP UNC Asheville Names New Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs UNC Asheville has appointed Garikai Campbell, Ph.D., to be the university’s next provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, starting July 2019. Campbell served as provost and dean of Knox College, bringing more than 20 years of experience across every facet of academic life, from executive leadership, teaching and research, to extensive consulting work in technology, math, and diversity in higher education. “Dr. Campbell is a scholar, innovator and passionate champion of liberal arts and sciences education,” said Chancellor Nancy J. Cable. “As a role model to our students and faculty, he will inspire excellence in pedagogy, student learning, undergraduate research, scholarship, diversity, and academic programs across our campus. His expertise in the classroom, in shared governance, and in increasing support for higher education will extend and enhance our efforts and elevate our work to provide transformational education and leadership.” Campbell succeeds Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor Karin Peterson, who has served in the role since January 2018. Peterson will serve as interim executive vice chancellor and provost at UNC School of the Arts for the 2019-20 academic year.
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COUNTRY MUSIC PHOTO BY ADAM TAYLOR
Ken Burns’s New Documentary Makes Its N.C. Debut at UNC Asheville
Country Music, Ken Burns’s new PBS documentary series, comes to public television this September, and Burns’s co-producers Dayton Duncan, Julie Dunfey, and Pam Tubridy Baucom hosted a special premiere screening and discussion at UNC Asheville in April, drawing a full-house crowd of nearly 500 in the new Blue Ridge Room in Highsmith Student Union. In addition to the premiere screening, Duncan, Dunfey, and Baucom also took time to meet with faculty and students from various departments on campus, including history, mass communication, and music—all disciplines that came into play during the creation of the Country Music documentary—and hosted a special reception for the Asheville community.
BOOKMARK THIS Summer Reading Selected This year, UNC Asheville’s incoming class will read Dave Isay’s Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work, an inspiring collection of courage, commitment, and the search for meaning from people who are doing what they love, built from Isay’s work as the founder of StoryCorps.
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VISIONARY LECTURES Spring Speakers Spanned Moments and Movements in History UNC Asheville brought the big conversations to the forefront this year, with a variety of engaging speakers, thought leaders, and activists who brought their work, ideas, vision, and hope to the campus and Asheville community.
On January 24, Tamika D. Mallory, national co-president of the Women’s March, delivered the keynote address for UNC Asheville’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Week and met with local leaders.
Three celebrated Appalachian authors came to campus for the 42nd annual Appalachian Studies Conference on March 14-17 to discuss their journeys to becoming writers, teaching, the importance of seeing Appalachia represented in literature, and much more: UNC Asheville Writer-in-Residence Wiley Cash ’00; Lee Smith, celebrated author of 18 books; and novelist, poet, and Western Carolina University Professor Ron Rash.
In April, UNC Asheville commemorated the 65th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision by hosting civil rights activist Sylvia Mendez on April 8. Her parents were plaintiffs in the Mendez v. Westminster School District (1947) case that helped pave the way for Brown v. Board of Education, and Mendez shared that story with a message of hope, not only with the campus but also with eighth-grade students from several local schools.
Bryan Stevenson, the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, author of Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, and founder of The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, spoke at UNC Asheville in April as part of The David & Lin Brown Visionary Lecture Series and The Van Winkle Law Firm Public Policy Lectures.
Inspiration from the world of athletics came from two special speakers this semester; Jack Ford, an Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist, joined a town hall meeting with Bulldog student-athletes, and Lesley Visser, a CBS Sports correspondent who was voted the No. 1 Female Sportscaster of all-time in a poll taken by the American Sportscasters Association, spoke at the annual Our Turn to Play Scholarship Luncheon, presented by Wells Fargo.
Commencement speaker Paula A. Kerger, PBS president & CEO, concluded the year. She received the Chancellor’s Medallion, the university’s highest distinction, given to recognize individuals who demonstrate the highest commitment to community service, national leadership and enhancement of the university. Kerger joined PBS in 2006 and is the longest-serving president and CEO in PBS history.
Summer School
It’s cooler in the mountains STORY BY HANNAH EPPERSON ’11 MLAS ’18 | ILLUSTRATIONS BY HANNA TRUSSLER ’13
We’re in the season of endless days and endless opportunities, particularly with UNC Asheville’s summer semesters in full swing. From credits for essential courses, to concerts and camps, this is the season for exploration and learning something new. That can happen even faster with the university’s new Maymester—offering a full course in just three weeks. Your studies might even take you a world away on a faculty-led study abroad trip. One thing is for sure: summer school is much cooler now. Hit the Books Believe it or not, summer school is here by popular demand. “Earlier this year, our colleagues in the Office of Institutional Research, Effectiveness & Planning (IREP) conducted a student survey about the summer session. Part of the results of that survey suggested that our students were looking for different options for summer classes,” said Brad Petitfils, senior director of advising and academic success at UNC Asheville. One of those options is the new Maymester, which allows students to complete an entire course in the last three weeks of May.
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“This is a valuable option for students because they can earn course credit in a few weeks, and can still have the rest of their summer to work, complete an internship, or take other classes in the regular summer sessions in June and July,” Petitfils said. Expect to be busy for those three weeks, though. Students are limited to one course during the Maymester, as classes will be rigorous and meet every day for two and a half hours. By the end of the course, students will spend just as much time in the classroom as they would during a normal semester. And there are some great course offerings, including everything from kiln building to humanities courses to math and social justice. For those looking for a more traditional summer semester, not to worry. The four-week and six-week summer semesters are still here, with classes offered based on student surveys. Tuition is even covered for students in the “First to Finish” program, which is designed to help students who are just a credit or two short of reaching their next class year. It’s all a part of making sure students have every opportunity to be successful. “We encourage all of our students to take summer classes if they can, to help make sure that they are
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on track for a timely graduation,” Petitfils said. “If a student has had to withdraw from a class in the fall or spring semester, summer is a great time to catch up. Also, if a student needs a boost to their GPA, taking a summer class can help, as you would only be focused on one or two classes rather than four or five.” But don’t think that summer courses are going to be a cakewalk just because they are short, Petitfils said. “Because the summer sessions are condensed, students will have to make sure to keep up with their assignments!”
Hit the Road It’s a very special class that doesn’t need a classroom. It’s even more special when that class takes place on the other side of the map. This summer, groups of globe-trotting students and professors will embark on faculty-led study abroad trips to South America, Africa and Europe, studying everything from management to new media. In Europe, new media students under the direction of faculty members Curt Cloninger and Peter Kusek will learn how various art forms factor into the artistic communities of London, Paris, and
Berlin, while in nearby Ireland another group of students will complete their Humanities 324 course with Sarah Judson, associate professor of history, by studying Irish history in all its complexities as both a modern nation state and an occupied colonial territory with a suppressed indigenous language. They’ll also practice their digital liberal arts skills with Anne Slatton, senior lecturer in mass communication, by creating a travelogue as either a video, audio, or photo essay piece. Across the ocean from UNC Asheville, Africana Studies Professors Tiece Ruffin and Agya Boakye-Boaten will lead students on a three-week trip through Ghana, where they’ll explore the connections between West Africa and its diaspora. It’s an incredible trip that was recognized by NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education—for best practices in international education. Management majors will spend 10 days with Professor Bill Kaprowski in Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina, learning about conducting business in Latin America and observing the area’s business, social and cultural practices. Farther north in Ecuador, students will travel with Patrick Bahls, professor of mathematics and director of the Honors Program, and with Elizabeth Porter, lecturer in economics, journeying from the Amazon to the Andes to learn about natural resource dilemmas and community actions. For Aly Pagano, an environmental studies major and Spanish minor, the Ecuador trip is the perfect fit. “As an ecology student, Ecuador’s natural landscape offers a biodiversity heaven that I am beyond excited to experience first-hand,” she said. “Beyond the educational component, I am excited to experience a new culture as a means of broadening my perceptions of my own immediate world, and those cultures I have already experienced.” Pagano’s adventure will begin in Quito, where she and her classmates will explore the historical center of the city, as well as participate in workshops in arts, poetry, and social change. They’ll journey to the ruins of Cochasquí in the Andes, learn traditional Pachamanka food preparation, visit waterfalls, and much more. “In Ecuador, I hope to learn more about local poverty as well as its impacts from oil pipelines in the region,” said Pagano, who spent last fall interning at an educational ranch teaching students about global hunger and poverty. “In addition, our visit to the Biodiversity Research Station within the Amazon is a place where I hope to learn more of the biological interactions within a
tropical ecosystem and how our changing climate is already, and will continue to affect the biodiversity within the forest.” This isn’t Pagano’s first study abroad trip; two years ago she took another faculty-led trip to Spain, where she studied the culture of Madrid and the surrounding areas, and then spent a week hiking the Camino de Santiago. And she hopes this trip won’t be her last, as she’s applying to take another study abroad course this winter, this time in Costa Rica to complete the lab component of her tropical ecosystems class.
Activities for All Ages Back home at UNC Asheville, it’s not just our college students who will spend summer learning something new on campus. Curious minds of all ages will spend their summer at a variety of summer camps held at UNC Asheville this year, learning everything from how to build a guitar to how to throw the perfect pitch. The musically-inclined have a number of great campus summer camp options, ranging from the Jazz and Contemporary Music Intensive for ages high school and up, Chamber Music Camp for string players and pianists, and Piano Camp for middle and high school students, to the Teen Girls Guitar-Making Camp at UNC Asheville’s STEAM Studio, where campers will design and build their very own electric guitar. STEAM Studio is also offering a Woodworking Camp for Girls and a Teen Girls Build a Bench Camp. And this summer’s Bulldog Sports Camps offer a wide variety of athletic choices, including baseball, women’s and men’s basketball, soccer, and volleyball. Writers of all ages can sign up for workshops with the Great Smokies Writing Program, with courses in nonfiction, fiction and poetry for both experienced authors and budding new writers. The College for Seniors at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute also offers courses year round, everything from Grandparenting in 2019 to Evidence-Based Investing in a Global Economy. And yes, when you all return to campus in the fall, we’ll be the first to ask what you did this summer. 4
Learn more at unca.edu/summer
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Thought Leaders Together STORY BY AMY JESSEE | PHOTOS BY COLBY RABON
The weeklong celebration of the installation of UNC Asheville’s Eighth Chancellor Nancy J. Cable brought together national and regional thought leaders and UNC Asheville faculty for university-curated roundtable talks on five topics integral to higher education and at the forefront of public discussion. From the vital role of liberal arts and sciences education, an essential right to health and wellness, inclusive excellent and equity in the context of university partnerships to interfaith leadership in a religious democracy and climate implications of the thawing arctic permafrost, the discussions offered insights and inspiration. Here, we share a few words from the panelists and faculty respondents, each expert in their fields, locally and nationally. To listen to the discussions in full, visit unca.edu/installation. 12
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Ms. Kimberlee Archie Equity & Inclusion Manager, City of Asheville
Mr. Al Whitesides Buncombe County Commissioner
Dr. Lawrence T. Potter Chief Academic Officer and Provost at the University of the District of Columbia
Mr. Frank Goldsmith Board member for Carolina Jews for Justice West
Ms. Debra Campbell City Manager, City of Asheville
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When the Association of American Colleges & Universities asked CEOs and hiring managers what they value most in new employees who graduated from colleges, the response sounded a lot like the liberal arts and sciences. “They said they value students who can communicate effectively, who can write, speak and think with precision, coherence, and clarity, who can think ethically, and who can work with others different from themselves… In a globally interdependent world, we know that the best preparation we can offer our students is a liberal arts education that teaches them to be adaptable and flexible in the face of this rapid change. It teaches them to be innovators in their own lives, prepares them not only for their first job but for their final job,” said Lynn Pasquerella, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in her opening on a key issues roundtable discussion on the vital role of the liberal arts and sciences in the future of our democracy. Joined on the stage by Jon Peede, chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Dr. Lawrence T. Potter, chief academic officer and provost at the University of the District of Columbia, Dr. Pasquerella stated, “So much of what we have to do is tell our story in a more compelling way.” The panel proceeded to do just that, pulling from the extensive experience of faculty respondents Dr. Patrick Bahls, Honors Program director and professor of mathematics; Dr. Lyndi Hewitt, Sara and Joseph Breman Professor of Social Relations and associate professor of sociology, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program director; and Dr. Keya Maitra, professor of philosophy and the Thomas Howerton Distinguished Professor of Humanities.
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Starting A Narrative “What struck me from our conversation is the importance of a narrative and the importance of a story to tell, whether it’s informing the community and the communities we work with, the stakeholders we are beholden to, particularly as a public liberal arts university, and helping them understand what we are about. One of the things we could do a better job of is articulating our narrative. What is liberal education from the point of view of UNC Asheville? What is it we conceive of as liberal arts and sciences, and how does the rubber hit the road? In other words, how do the ideas we talk about on campus engage with the community?” said Dr. Bahls. He answered his own question seconds later, “It’s about freeing the mind to be open to all of these ideas, and to think in big ways, but clear and focused ways about the problems that face us all.” The second panel took up this topic in the sector of health and wellness, with Dr. Rita Charon, founder and executive director of the Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University leading the discussion, along with local expert, Dr. Jeff Heck, president and CEO of MAHEC. “In order to mobilize and motivate any of us to do work toward improving, we have to be able to enter others’ narrative worlds and understand them, and understand what are their predicaments, what are their fears, their hopes. When I meet a new patient, I tell them to tell me what you think I should know about you…. The point is that in that intimate
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In order to mobilize and motivate any of us to do work toward improving, we have to be able to enter others’ narrative worlds and understand them, and understand what are their predicaments, what are their fears, their hopes. When I meet a new patient, I tell them tell me what you think I should know about you…. The point is that in that intimate conversation a clinician and a patient can even begin to decide together what are the problems and what it is we want to work with.”
—D r. Rita Charon, M.D., Ph.D. Founder and Executive Director of the Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University, 2018 Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities, National Endowment for the Humanities
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conversation a clinician and a patient can even begin to decide together what are the problems and what it is we want to work with,” said Dr. Charon.
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The promising partnership between UNC Asheville and MAHEC, with additional collegial collaboration from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, is one such example of this approach, according to Dr. Amy Lanou, chair and professor of health and wellness and executive director of the North Carolina Center for Health and Wellness. She and faculty respondents Dr. Ameena Batada, associate professor of health and wellness; Dr. John W. Brock, associate professor of analytical chemistry and toxicology; and Dr. Ted Meigs, GlaxoSmithKline Professor of Molecular and Chemical Biology, shared details of their work.
The People and the Place The panel on “Inclusive Excellence and Equity: The Power of a University Partnership” brought together local leaders, including Commissioner Whitesides; Debra Campbell, city manager, City of Asheville; Kimberlee Archie, equity & inclusion manager, City of Asheville; and Frank Goldsmith, retired civil rights attorney and a leader in Carolina Jews for Justice. As each defined and described their work in diversity, inclusion, and equity, Dr. Lawrence T. Potter, chief academic officer and provost at the University of the District of Columbia, shared an example of how to embed it into the university, as did faculty respondents Dr. Trey Adcock, assistant professor of interdisciplinary studies and director of American Indian and indigenous studies; Dr. Agya Boakye-Boaten, chair and associate professor of Africana and interdisciplinary and international studies; Dr. Tiece Ruffin, associate professor of Africana studies and education; Dr. Darin Waters, associate professor of history and executive director of community engagement.
“In addition to being present with ourselves and understanding our We are the engine. own stories and our own histories, We have the minds we need to think about doing public here—the students. health or health promotion or even We are to prepare them health care in a particular place. What do you need to know—history, Dr. Potter spoke in the first panel as well. to be good citizens once story, trauma that the place has they leave, and to be “When I think about the liberal arts in the context experienced, any of those kinds of of our democracy today, I think about the liberal productive citizens. In things. What is it that people love arts and sciences in the sense of looking out towards about being there,” Dr. Lanou said. order to do that, we’ve the future, and you really can’t project the future. I got to think about Buncombe County Commissioner and think we create the future now, and when we create UNC Asheville Trustee Emeritus Al the future now, we create a future that is represendiversity and inclusion Whitesides focused even more closely tative of the inclusive excellence that represents the as critical.” on place in the third panel. shift in demographics in this country,” he said. “It’s one thing for students to come to our campuses and — Al Whitesides “If we are going to make the changes engage with our faculty, it’s another thing in terms Buncombe County that we need to make in this commuof how those students are prepared when they leave Commissioner & nity, that we’ve started and continue the institution and engage with our world.” UNC Asheville to finish, it’s got to start right here at Trustee Emeritus the University of North Carolina at “I hope our students see inclusion as something Asheville, because we are an important transformative,” said Dr. Ruffin. part of the community, and we are the change agent. “One thing that I’ve always kept in mind in terms We are the engine. We have the minds here—the of my own experience is that when we have students. We are to prepare them to be good citizens communiversity—community and university once they leave, and to be productive citizens. In blended—that university students are not interorder to do that, we’ve got to think about diversity acting with local people from a savior missionary and inclusion as critical,” he said. complex,” she said. “I believe we do really well here at UNC Asheville, as a communiversity, with the city of Asheville as well as the university. We prepare
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How do you prepare graduates from UNC Asheville to be nurses, teachers, social workers, city managers in this highly religiously diverse democracy? From first year seminars to senior capstones, how might you think about the future of interfaith leaders at UNC Asheville?”
— Dr. Eboo Patel
Author, founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core, and Rhodes Scholar whose most recent text is Interfaith Leaders
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our students to have the ideology that when we go out in the AVID Program for 20 years, that there is credibility in the indigenous knowledge. If we are going to work in an equitable way, cooperatively where there’s reciprocity and mutual benefit, then we have to recognize that we all bring knowledge and skills to the table.”
Skills, Seminars, and Senior Capstones “How do you prepare graduates from UNC Asheville to be nurses, teachers, social workers, city managers in this highly religiously diverse democracy? From first year seminars to senior capstones, how might you think about the future of interfaith leaders at UNC Asheville?” asked Eboo Patel, author, founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core, and Rhodes Scholar whose most recent text is Interfaith Leaders. Faculty respondents from religious studies provided answers to those questions, with Dr. Rodger Payne, chair and professor of religious studies; Dr. Kate Zubko, associate professor of religious studies, NEH Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, 2018-21; Dr. Marcus Harvey, assistant professor of religious studies, and Dr. Rick Chess, Roy Carroll Professor of Honors Arts and Sciences and director of the Center for Jewish Studies, rounding out the panel on “The American Dream: Interfaith Leadership in a Religious Democracy.” Dr. Chess had a creative solution: “In creative writing classes, there’s a wonderful opportunity to teach students how to transform their lived experience into art. The religiously and/or fiercely held secular experiences could really be a focus for some phenomenal creative writing that would give the students the opportunity to inquire more deeply into their lives at the same time they are learning the craft and discipline of creative writing. Then there’s an opportunity when you start thinking about the craft of writing poetry and prose, and you start thinking of it as a discipline that has analogies to religious discipline and practice and spiritual discipline and practice, which helps cultivate culture and character traits that are held in common among many religious traditions,” he said.
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Leading to Shared Understanding “We have to keep doing the science, that’s what we do every day—refining our understanding of how quickly permafrost is going to thaw and refining our understanding of what happens when it does thaw… We need to do a lot more. Part of that is communicating the science, to different audiences, to policymakers, to voters, to students, to everybody. We have to think of what we can do to shorten the gap between what we know from the science to what we hope will be the wise application of public policy. We also need to train the next generation,” said Deputy Director and Senior Scientist at Woods Hole Research Center Max Holmes in the final panel of the two-day series. The faculty respondents on the roundtable addressing “The Thawing for the Arctic Permafrost: Climate Implications” educate the next generation each and every day. Environmental scientists Dr. Dee Eggers, associate professor of environmental studies; Dr. David Gillette, associate professor of environmental studies; Dr. Andrew Laughlin, assistant professor of environmental studies; and Dr. Evan Couzo, assistant professor of STEM education and coordinator of the 6-12 mathematics licensure program, shared their experiences. “I’ve struggled myself with the question Max asked at the end, ‘Where is the good news?’” said Dr. Couzo, noting that he’s focused in on the idea through his recent work and courses on climate communication. “There’s another piece that comes out of the communication, that integrates my role as a scientist and as someone at the university who trains the next generation of math and science teachers, and it’s ‘Where is the climate science in our standards and in public schools?’…. There’s a real need there, and it’s a communications piece. Experts need to start working with teachers to communicate what we know in a way that regular people can understand.” That’s just what these roundtables have started to do, a first step in shared communication and shared understanding, bringing together the university and community in conversation and building upon the bold work of thought leaders near and far. 4
“
We have to keep doing the science, that’s what we do every day— refining our understanding of how quickly permafrost is going to thaw and refining our understanding of what happens when it does thaw… We need to do a lot more. Part of that is communicating the science, to different audiences, to policymakers, to voters, to students, to everybody. We have to think of what we can do to shorten the gap between what we know from the science to what we hope will be the wise application of public policy. We also need to train the next generation.”
— Dr. Max Holmes
Deputy Director and Senior Scientist at Woods Hole Research Center, Founder and Director of the Arctic Great Rivers Observatory, the Global Rivers Observatory, and the Cape Cod Rivers Observatory
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A Beacon
for the liberal arts & sciences STORY BY AMY JESSEE | PHOTOS BY ADRIAN ETHERIDGE ’15, PETER LORENZ, & COLBY RABON
“I firmly believe that we at UNC Asheville are keepers of the light in higher education for this state, the region, and the nation, and we are keeping the light bright in these complicated and challenging times.” — Chancellor Cable speaks on the enduring value of the liberal arts and sciences education in the opening of her address, bringing the mountains to the sea via a lighthouse metaphor
T
HE INSTALLATION of UNC Asheville’s Eighth Chancellor Nancy J. Cable, Ph.D. shone the light on the legacy of the liberal arts and sciences, with a lens toward its future, from the notable scholars gathered on the stage, to the experts assembled in the university’s faculty, staff, students, and alumni.
Before joining UNC Asheville as chancellor in August 2018, Chancellor Cable served as president of the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. Her extensive experience in higher education also 20
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includes positions as Dean at Denison University from 1977-1986, Guilford College from 1986-1991, and Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Davidson College from 1991-2005. From 2005-2009, she served as Vice President for Development in the College of Engineering at the University of Virginia and later with UVA’s Semester at Sea Program. Following three years of service as Bates College’s Vice President, the Bates College Board of Trustees elected Dr. Cable as Interim President. On April 26, 2019, she was officially installed as the eighth permanent chancellor at UNC Asheville.
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The Honorable Calvin Hill, Chief District Court Judge, 28th District of North Carolina, administers the oath, officially installing UNC Asheville’s Eighth Chancellor Nancy J. Cable with her daughter Gretchen Cable Wells by her side.
Eighth Chancellor Nancy J. Cable, Ph.D.
UNC Asheville University Chorale with the Asheville Singers
“You have a chancellor who understands that the essence of the liberal arts is to prepare us for a meaningful life, a productive life, and an engaged life,” — Frederick M. Lawrence, the 10th secretary and CEO of the Phi Beta Kappa Society
BRIGHT DAYS AHEAD
Those who have known Chancellor Cable throughout her 42 years in higher education shared this vision.
Though the weather might have moved the celebration indoors, Kimmel Arena provided a fitting backdrop for the pomp and “I think that this is a special moment, because the liberal arts circumstance. In fact, the chance of rain did little to dampen are principally about what it means to nurture the whole of the spirit of the day. It only made it brighter. people’s selves for the whole of their lives for the sake of the whole of the world. This is an institution dedicated to that and That’s what UNC Asheville’s Board of Trustees and the it now has a leader dedicated to that mission,” Dr. Eboo Patel UNC System Board of Governors saw in Chancellor Cable said in his invocation. The author, founder and president of when they first met her during the interview process. Interfaith Youth Core also led a roundtable discussion earlier “I knew from the moment I met you I was seeing the future of in the day. UNC Asheville, and finding someone fiercely devoted to pub“You have a chancellor who understands that the essence of the lic liberal arts and sciences education,” said UNC Asheville liberal arts is to prepare us for a meaningful life, a productive Board Chair Kennon Briggs. Board of Governors Secretary life, and an engaged life,” said Frederick M. Lawrence, the Pearl Burris-Floyd echoed this sentiment, noting how she 10th secretary and CEO of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, of could see a new vision emerge and a bright future ahead. which Chancellor Cable is a member.
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Dr. Eboo Patel, Founder and President, Interfaith Youth Core
A Few Notes from Chancellor Cable’s Installation Speech Here’s what we intend to deliver:
Dr. William Roper, Interim President, The University of North Carolina System
Dr. John Kuykendall, President Emeritus, Davidson College
(center) The Honorable Richard Sneed, Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
1.
We produce thinking minds. We produce not just a workforce-ready graduate, which is true for many if not all of our graduates, but we produce a whole cadre of working thought-force leaders, ready to learn anything that they find beyond the halls of this institution. Our alumni are proof-positive of the evidence of that claim.
2.
We ensure that to the best of our ability, every student here has the opportunity to lead, to develop the emotional intelligence to work in collaboration with others like and unlike themselves.
3.
We honor not just the vitality and talent that emerges from close dedicated attention to diversity and inclusion, but we boldly seek to find new levels of equity…. We believe that will move us all forward in the common good.
4.
We have a deepening commitment to shared governance. We are beginning to know that expertise and common interest bind us together to do our best.
5.
We honor and remain dedicated to our sense of this place here in these stunning mountains and to all aspects of the partnerships in the region.
6.
We remain committed to shining the light of what we expect of our students as they become agents of their own lives—critical thinking, collaborative problem solving, creativity, a love of the arts and music, capability in complex information processing with a keen eye to the ethical questions that underlie all data, and finally an abiding sense of resilience in their own lives.
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STRONG FOUNDATIONS Chancellor Cable also acknowledged the strong foundations in the university’s 91-year history, including former chancellors gathered together for the ceremony, and Professor Emeritus Arnold Wengrow detailed the history and legacy as part of his speech. “How a two-year junior college begun in 1927 by the Buncombe County Schools aspired to become part of the first public institution of higher learning in the United States to open its doors, is a story of diligence, dedication, and sheer doggedness by this community’s leaders and its educational visionaries,” said Wengrow. “The University of North Carolina at Asheville was to have a distinctive, even a unique role in public higher education. We were to be North Carolina’s only [designated] public liberal arts university.”
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He cited the university’s first Chancellor, William Highsmith, in a defining description of the liberal arts and students as future leaders so they could emerge with an understanding of the world and a firm philosophy of life. These university leaders—pioneers—created something new and different in these mountains, which Wengrow quoted from the founding documents and the first vice chancellor for academic affairs, Roy A. Riggs, “UNC Asheville was to be academically rigorous, both traditionally sound and boldly experimental.” Chancellor Cable bought that mission back to the forefront in her address. “Our ability to be the designated and desirable liberal arts college of the UNC System came primarily because we stood for two
The week-long celebration started with a first pitch at the Bulldog Baseball game, followed by an afternoon on the Quad, complete with commemorative t-shirts created by students, a tree-naming with former chancellors, a Cable Crunch ice cream from The Hop, and a salute to the city and county with a concert by Kathy Mattea.
things: sound academic intellectual work and boldly experimental work, which we are really good at doing,” she said.
LIGHTING THE WAY That work, from the everyday tasks, the syllabi developed each semester, the shared governance and community partnerships, to the statewide leadership in the liberal arts and sciences and national recognition in undergraduate research and high-impact practices, continues to fortify UNC Asheville, and light the way for those coming to campus on a mission to learn more. “We do this work to prepare our students for the unexpected. That is the nature of a liberal arts and sciences education,” said Staff Council Chair Brian Hart ’11. “To give students the intellectual dexterity to encounter ideas they have never
encountered, to learn how to learn so they are prepared for a society that changes faster than they can, to know that when the unexpected comes their way, when their path changes and takes them to places they weren’t supposed to go, they are able to draw on their experience, knowledge, and self-sufficiency to thrive.” “Here we strive every day in ways big and small to imbue in our students, and our graduates, and in continuing support from our alumni, the will, the knowledge, and the ways of learning that allow them to contribute to society and to succeed,” said Chancellor Cable. 4
To see the ceremony, activities, and news, visit unca.edu/installation
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L O N G IT U D E & L AT I T U D E
R E ADY… S E T…
BULLDOG!
Becoming a Bulldog before graduating from middle school
By Peyton Rodgers ‘20
UNC Asheville’s Junior Bulldog Program is many middle schoolers’ first step on a college campus, but if students, faculty, and staff have anything to do with it (and they do), it won’t be their last.
“The research shows that if a middle school student steps foot on a college campus, the likelihood of them going to college goes up,” said John O’Neil, program coordinator of the Junior Bulldog Program. The survey data from campus supports this claim too. Before attending the Junior Bulldog Program, only 70% of students from urban counties saw themselves as college material along with 47% of students from rural counties. After attending the program, 96% of students from urban counties and 91% of students from rural counties see themselves as college material. “The students get to have an interactive day on a living and breathing college campus. They get to meet college students along the way that they can ask questions to,” said Alexis Brandt, campus recreation team building supervisor. “It is important that they get college on their radar as soon as possible so they can have time to think about their future and how they will accomplish their career goal.” With the goal of educating young minds about the different opportunities offered after high school,
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the Junior Bulldog Program is continuing to grow, hosting 10 schools in the 2019 spring semester. The fall semester focuses on GEAR UP counties, through a regional grant-funded program aimed at helping students in disadvantaged communities prepare for success in post-secondary school. Since 2013, 8,976 middle-school students have spent the day as a college student while participating in the Junior Bulldog Program. With roughly 80 students per session, each engages in an experience that highlights what their future has the potential to entail. “It’s a seed-planting trip. So, the whole idea is to plant the seed that college is an option and if they leave here thinking, ‘You know, college is an option. I didn’t think it was before,’ it’s a successful day for me,” said O’Neil.
Learn more at precollege.unca.edu/juniorbulldogs
L O N G IT U D E & L AT I T U D E
STEPPING OFF THE SCHOOL BUS, you’ll be surrounded by blue, from the Blue Ridge Mountains that flank campus to the royal blue shirts, monogrammed with a bulldog and worn by the university student ambassador who will be leading your tour for the Junior Bulldog Program.
“Welcome to UNC Asheville,” will be the greeting to more than 2,000 middle school students each year.
THE FIRST STOP IS THE GYM— either Kimmel Arena or the Student Recreation Center, where you’ll learn the ropes, literally if it’s with Outdoor Programs. Here you’ll enjoy a multitude of team building activities. If one of UNC Asheville’s 16 Division I sports are in season, you’ll get an insider view of what it’s like to be a student-athlete in college and the amount of dedication required to be successful on and off the court. THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES with a UNC Asheville admissions counselor, who is ready to teach you about the significance of college. You will discuss different options after high school and what students can do to ensure their success starting as early as middle school. For example, you might secure a scholarship with NASA
to explore new worlds, write your next chapter in the English program, or study political science to impact public policy and the next generation. “This is important in making the conversations about their college futures more open. It encourages the college conversations at their homes with parents,” said Brandt. THE NEXT STOP, and debatably the
favorite, lunch at Brown Hall. With an all-you-can-eat but eat-all-you-take buffet, your taste buds are sure to be satisfied. Your options range from a hot bar, vegetarian options, sandwich station, smoothie area, dessert bar and the luxurious ice-cream machine. To top it all off, you’ll learn that the UNC Asheville Brown Dining Hall has been certified by the Green Restaurant Association with three stars due to its commitment to sustainability, and UNC Asheville is the first designated Fair Trade Campus in North Carolina.
projects and games in a UNC Asheville classroom. A few favorites have included:
• Exploring Our World Through
Chemistry with a hands-on activity which allows students to use chemical properties that are typically found in a household.
• Geology Rocks station, which
shows students how to investigate secrets hidden beneath rocks and gain an understanding of how geology influences our everyday lives.
• Fun Music Station, where students gain an understanding of musical fundamentals through games.
• Exploring Ecology, where students
will meet plants and animals that are considered native to the southern Appalachians.
WITH YOUR STOMACH FULL, you’ll fill your mind through academic adventures that vary from day-to-day and year-to-year. You’ll sit in two 30-minutes classes, varying from art, music, and an exciting way to look at math, each filled with fun
THEN, IT’S TIME for you to find your own path, through a campus scavenger hunt, which takes you by the Bulldog statue for a good luck pat, to the stage in Belk Theatre and the practice rooms in Lipinsky, and to the seal on the Quad, a point where you can look to the mountains, as the university’s motto suggests.
It all adds up to approximately 11,000 steps on UNC Asheville’s campus, and an important initial step on your college journey.
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T O SCO TL A ND W ITH NO THING
, ....
W ITH A ND E V ERY THING WRITTEN BY STEVE PLEVER | PHOTOS BY STUDIO MISHA
UNC Asheville students—15 of them—are heading to Edinburgh, Scotland in August to perform at the famous Festival Fringe and they’re taking nothing with them. To be more precise, they are taking almost nothing, and also, Nothing. The almost nothing could almost fit in a big suitcase. It consists of a violin, an old typewriter, a few archive boxes, a small mattress, a few folders and papers, and a roll of tape to mark a grid on the stage floor in a totally set-free production. These few props were chosen by the student actors to help them summon forth students from 70 years ago at Black Mountain College (BMC) in vignettes, interruptions, songs, and choreography—all original—in a work of devised theater they will perform at Festival Fringe. The larger, overarching Nothing is the structure, backbone, and verbal backdrop of the performance.
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It is John Cage’s famous Lecture on Nothing, chosen by director Leon Ingulsrud as the inspiration and canvas for the original student creations. Ingulsrud, co-artistic director of New York City’s SITI Company, was UNC Asheville’s spring 2019 Black Mountain College Legacy Fellow, and he worked intensively with the students, starting with fourhour long work sessions in January. As training for the students, Ingulsrud used two different techniques. One was “Viewpoints” from the postmodern dance world, “a way of getting in touch with the space and your body, while also being able to maintain emotion,” said Casey
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“ W E NE E D NO T DE S T ROY T HE PA S T. I T I S G ONE .” Clennon ’19, a drama major who provides sound direction in addition to performing. The other was “Suzuki,” not the approach to musical training but a technique from a Japanese theater company which Ingulsrud leads with commands like those of a martial arts instructor. These techniques are not styles of acting, says Ingulsrud, but rather, methodologies of actor-training, “looking at acting as potentially virtuosic.” “We always leave a little sweaty because it’s super physical, but it’s been one my favorite processes working in the Drama Department,” said Clennon. “I’ve learned a lot in a really short period of time.”
— Excerpt from the Lecture on Nothing by John Cage
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During their first week of work, the students and Ingulsrud went together to find remaining pieces of the past in the Black Mountain College collection of the Western Regional Archive, located in East Asheville. In some senses, Black Mountain College is truly gone and there is next-to-no video of its classes or performances. But the college, which operated between 1933 and 1957 at Lake Eden where the LEAF Festival is now held, engaged
leading artists, scientists and other scholars in interdisciplinary study and a spirit of intellectual exploration that has left indelible marks on today’s culture. As part of its ongoing partnership with the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center in downtown Asheville, UNC Asheville hosts the ReVIEWING Black Mountain College Conference each fall. And for the past three years, the university’s Black Mountain College Legacy Fellows program has engaged the campus in BMC’s spirit of fearless intellectual exploration. Last year, BMC Legacy Fellow Jonathan Keats led students in creating a concert with a variety of stimuli that might reach human and non-human creatures on this planet and beyond; and BMC Legacy Fellow Mel Chin worked with students to create the largest art installation ever in New York City’s Times Square. The Black Mountain College Legacy Fellows Program is funded through a $180,000 grant from the Windgate Foundation and UNC Asheville’s partnership with the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center.
“So many things, people and ideas trace back to Black Mountain College—so many artists of my generation have seen it as this magical place,” said Ingulsrud. “And the undergrads have some of that sense too, but they related very much to the day-to-day of what these students were going through—they had this very human, very direct reaction.”
lecture—“Even though it’s a lecture about nothing, it’s also about everything,” says drama major Caroline Kelly ’19—with down-home elements of the students’ own creation, like Appalachian vocal harmonies, vignettes, and quotes sharing the ordinary lives of students, pulled from the archival remains BMC.
The last time the Lecture on Nothing received “There are these amazing scrapbooks where they large-scale public performances, the Los Angeles saved everything that was ever posted on the Times found it “charming, often amusing, bulletin boards—tiny notes and little things,” often quotable, equally often infuriating and said Ingulsrud after the visit to the archive. profoundly thought provoking.” The Lecture “The students immediately dove into this saying, was staged in Europe and the U.S. as part of the ‘oh, this is like a meme,’ … really seeing how John Cage centenary celebration in 2012-13. their peers in that time were responding in And now, in this quite ambitious undertaking, the same ways, even with vastly different the work is being brought back to Europe by technology.” UNC Asheville students. “This experience is The culmination of this exploration into so new for many of them—they’ve never done intellectual history, combined with Ingulsrud’s anything like it before,” said Lise Kloeppel, training and a broad artistic license, is a associate professor of drama, who will conduct 70-minute performance titled Nothing’s a three-day “boot camp” in late July to Happening—A Black Mountain College Project, ready the students for their Festival Fringe which previewed with four performances performances and then accompany them to in April in Belk Theatre on campus. It’s a Edinburgh. “The work of Black Mountain juxtaposition of Cage’s abstract, philosophical College was exploring form first and then
“ I H AV E NO T HING T O S AY A ND I A M S AY ING I T A ND T H AT I S P OE T RY A S I NE E D I T.”
— Excerpt from the Lecture on Nothing by John Cage
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“ I S OME T IME S T HINK I K NO W S OME T HING , BU T W HE N I A M W OR K ING , I T I S Q UI T E CLEAR T H AT I K NO W NO T HING .”
content, and that’s what we’ve been doing. A lot of the theater our students are used to doing and seeing is really about content—a narrative.” So it makes sense that the students’ creation, Nothing’s Happening, became a combination of Cage’s abstractions and ruminations on form, with tangible things the students found in research about BMC that they could relate to more directly. “Sifting through the Black Mountain College archives was like digging through treasure chests,” wrote Morgan Fuller ’19, a double-major in drama and mass communication, in a blogpost about the process of creating Nothing’s Happening. — Excerpt from the Lecture on Nothing by John Cage 32
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“Staring at a list of names like Merce Cunningham, Robert Rauschenberg, the de Koonings, Buckminster Fuller, and John Cage, among many more, is a little intimidating. So
many geniuses and incredible people came out of the college, I felt uncertain of how I could possibly relate to them,” wrote Fuller. “But visiting the archives offered a glimpse into the lives behind the big names. I saw the notices of cast lists from their bulletin board. I found memos and old school papers. I even read the love letters between a student and her boyfriend. This last one really captured my attention.” And so the Snapchat generation brought a manual typewriter and a generations-old snail-mail love letter into their production. The archivist who guided their explorations also became a character. And complaints from the BMC bulletin board about missing items compete for audience attention with Cage’s metaphoric language about harmony and dissonance, and his repetitive narrating of the structure of his lecture.
“I hope that in Scotland, they’ll have just as Putting aside Cage’s challenge to the nature much fun as the audience on campus if not of knowledge, the students certainly were more. A lot more people are aware of Black working. To prepare for the equivalent of the Mountain College outside of this area, which is off-Broadway performances before the main very interesting to me,” said Rebecca Boyce ’20, show—the ones where the Asheville commuUNC Asheville’s Black Mountain College nity could come to the exclusive preview in Legacy Intern and one of the performers. “In Belk Theatre, the student troupe had a total of six weeks with Ingulsrud, working four-hours a Edinburgh, I know a lot of people will be coming out specifically for the Black Mountain night, five nights a week in addition to the rest College content. Hopefully, they might find of their classes and jobs, to develop and hone more appreciation in some of the little nuances Nothing’s Happening. of what John Cage wrote, or inside jokes about At the beginning of the process, Ingulsrud Black Mountain College that this crowd may felt it was important to give the students a not have picked up immediately.” basic structure for their performance. “It’s While UNC Asheville’s students are bringing difficult and not always productive to start back to life (and to Europe!) an old work, their with a completely blank slate,” he said. “John performance is far more than a theater revival. Cage’s Lecture on Nothing which I brought in They have started with literally Nothing, and as a backbone, for me brings enough poetry, fueled by the inspiration of the now-renowned enough beauty, enough to think about, to students, artists, and thinkers who once gathsustain. But I want that to be a spine on which ered at nearby Lake Eden, they will bring the we hang other things that intersect with it, global audience at Festival Fringe everything interrupt it, coexist with it, while at the same they’ve got. time, performing the Lecture on Nothing at a level that will be satisfying.” Students are even paying part of their own way for the 11-day trip to Scotland, with the uniThe Lecture, with its repetition and its precisely versity contributing part, along with help from scripted odd meters, is challenging in form as well as content, and Ingulsrud, with his difficult one large anonymous donation and many small ones from donors who contributed to an online and structured technical practices, challenged crowd-funding campaign, and who put cash in the students to grow as performers. But in the the open violin case left on the stage after each spirit of what he calls John Cage’s “toppling of Belk Theatre preview performance. hierarchies,” Ingulsrud gave the students totally free rein to develop the added choreography, “It’s going to be amazing and I look forward music, vignettes, and more. What has resulted is to seeing what’s going to happen to these that “the ingredients of the piece set up certain UNC Asheville students going to Edinburgh’s collisions that we didn’t resolve.” Festival Fringe and getting their minds blown by the richness of what’s out there,” “My hope is that the audience feels free to be said Ingulsrud. “I really want to see what as confused as I am,” said Ingulsrud, after UNC Asheville students are uniquely going watching the first preview performance. to do with that experience that other students “There’s something there and we don’t do that enough in the theater. Theater makes too much wouldn’t do. I think that’s tremendously exciting and worth supporting.” 4 sense too much of the time, and it leads us to the illusion that life makes sense, and there is a certain pleasure in being nowhere. I think that’s what Cage is trying to tell us. And I Meet the student cast at think Black Mountain College understood that nothingshappening.wp.unca.edu pretty deeply.”
“A F INI S HE D W OR K I S E X A C T LY T H AT, R E Q UIR E S R E S UR R E C T ION.”
— Excerpt from Forerunners of Modern Music by John Cage
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GO, BULLDOGS!
BULLDOG CHALLENGE
From Coursework to Real-World Impact
By Brian Hand
“I think everyone in this class took on these tasks as if they were a part of the athletic teams,” Brown said. “They see how important it is to get everything through the Bulldog Challenge.” Together, the teams of students, each assigned to one of the 16 NCAA Division I Bulldog teams, developed and implemented a strategic communications plan, from custom videos to social media posts. “The wonderful part of this course for us in partnering with the Bulldog Challenge, the Athletic Department, Alumni Engagement and Advancement is that we have created a realtime social media lab,” DiPalma said. “This is something many universities do not have. This is a tremendous opportunity that we can afford our students. This experience of working with real-time social media analytics, creating live posts and dynamic and distinctive content is going to be a real plus for their portfolios on the other side of graduation.” The unique collaboration proved to be a huge success with over $211,000 raised for UNC Asheville Athletics as part of the Sixth Annual Bulldog Challenge in 2019. In addition, there were a record-breaking number of donors in this year’s
PHOTO BY BRIAN HAND
A junior on the track and field team, Desire Brown obviously has a connection and passion for UNC Asheville Athletics, but this spring she had the opportunity to apply that affinity and her studies in mass communication to build out a fundraising campaign from start to finish. The project was part of Associate Professor Sonya DiPalma’s inaugural Social Media & Fundraising course. Brown was one of three student-athletes enrolled in the class, and was joined by 16 students equally committed to their goal—raising $175,000 for the Bulldog Challenge, in collaboration with University Advancement.
The women’s basketball team ready for their close-up.
Bulldog Challenge, with more than 750. The annual event has surpassed $500,000 raised over the course of the six years since it has been instituted. The UNC Asheville track and field/cross country program took home the trophy for the 2019 Bulldog Challenge for the most donors (145), while the baseball program brought home the trophy for the most money raised overall with over $96,000 donated. For Brown, the win is about much more than team support or classroom grades. The class has more than reminded her at the end of the day what makes UNC Asheville special, particularly when it comes to being a part of a class that truly is a unique collaboration between athletics, academics, alumni engagement office, University Advancement, and more. To Brown it is simple—“We are all Bulldogs.” To learn more about the Bulldog Challenge and mark your calendar for next March, visit unca.edu/bulldogchallenge.
6 TEAMS HAVE BEEN RECOGNIZED BY THE NCAA FOR THEIR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT SCORES. THESE AWARDS ARE GIVEN EACH YEAR TO TEAMS WITH ACADEMIC SCORES IN THE TOP 10 PERCENT IN EACH SPORT.
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GO, BULLDOGS!
FIRST IN THE CLASS
Blanton Gillespie Earns 2019 Valedictory Award Scholar-athlete Blanton Gillespie ’19 earned the Manly E. Wright Award for Scholarship in the Class of 2019. A chemistry major and neuroscience minor, and member of the cross country and track and field teams, Gillespie graduated with a 3.996 GPA. He is a four-time Big South Scholar Athlete of the Year, and in 2018 he was awarded a Goldwater Scholarship, one of the most prestigious undergraduate scholarships in the natural sciences. He has published three papers in the Journal of Physical Chemistry, completed NASA fellowships, and plans to study medicine, then practice rural medicine in underserved Western North Carolina communities.
Women’s Soccer Bush Appointed to Head Coach
The student commencement speaker from Shelby, N.C. said to his fellow graduates, “If I can leave you all here with anything useful today, I implore you to thank all of those around you who have offered you support. Along with that, I think the other thing all of us have learned here is that we have the ability to make a difference in the world. And one of the best ways we can do that is by making a difference in our own communities.”
For the latest news, rosters, and schedules for all of UNC Asheville’s Division I teams, visit uncabulldogs.com
PHOTO BY ITA TENNIS
Clifton Bush has been named UNC Asheville women’s soccer head coach, after a national search. The position is close to home, as he spent the last season as an assistant coach with the UNC Asheville women’s soccer program. He served as the director of women’s soccer for the 2019 spring season. PHOTO BY COLBY RABON
Scholar-athlete Blanton Gillespie ’19 speaking at the May Commencement ceremony.
By Brian Hand
Men’s Tennis Oli Nolan and Henry Patten Become First in Big South History to be Ranked No. 1 Nationally The national championship-winning doubles pairing of Oli Nolan and Henry Patten moved up to No. 1 nationally in the Oracle Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings that were released on Feb. 6, 2019. The No. 1 ranking is the highest doubles ranking in Big South tennis history and it is the highest a Bulldog tennis duo has ever been ranked.
Women’s Volleyball Santos Named to NCAA Women’s Volleyball Rules Committee UNC Asheville volleyball head coach Frederico Santos has been appointed to the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Rules Committee. Santos began his duties in this role in September 2019 with his term running through August of 2023. The native of Brazil is in his ninth season in charge of UNC Asheville volleyball.
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class notes DROP US A LINE OR SHARE A MEMORY!
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. Visit alumni.unca.edu or send an e-mail to alumni@unca.edu
1979
Dr. David Szymanski has been selected as University of North Florida’s sixth president and was inaugurated Feb. 22.
1982
1994
Tanisha Wilkins and her boyfriend, Shane Faulk, welcomed their daughter, Mila Elizabeth, on July 19, 2018.
Matt Hutchinson has been appointed as the City of Hickory’s next fire chief. Tara Quinn earned her executive certificate in nonprofit leadership from Duke University.
1990
1995
Todd Fortune was promoted to deputy director of the Commonwealth Regional Council based in Farmville, Virginia.
1992 Fred Bryan has been named vice president of sales at Power Curbers Companies LLC.
Mia Anderson Overton is the new community relations
UNC ASHEVILLE MAGAZINE
demonstrates the attributes of a superior teacher in the discipline of accounting.
Doug Higgins is United Community Bank’s new Atlanta Metro president.
Joy Jones will be retiring from UNC Asheville on April 30, after working in her position for the Information Technology Services Department for the last 12 years.
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coordinator for the Osceola County Historical Society in Kissimmee, Florida.
Michelle Lord was honored in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on Feb. 1 at the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Banquet as a Groundhog Ambassador.
1996 Carol Hughes, a lecturer in management and accountancy, was given a national award, the J. Michael and Mary Anne Cook Deloitte Foundation Award, by the American Accounting Association for demonstrating outstanding teaching in accounting. The award is the foremost recognition of an individual who consistently
1997 Amy Burnett was a speaker at this year’s SALT Speakers Series. Her presentation focused on helping people recognize common birds in the Superstition Mountains.
1999 Marquis McGee received his doctorate in educational leadership from UNC Charlotte in June 2018. He also accepted a new position at James Madison University in January 2018, serving as the associate director of first year programs. Tracey Zaval has been named The 2018 Outstanding Middle School Social Studies Teacher of the Year by the National Council for the Social Studies.
C L A S S N OT E S
2000 Wiley Cash, writer-in-residence, was given the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction at the North Carolina Book Awards, for his latest novel, The Last Ballad, along with numerous other awards. He also sold the film rights to his first novel, A Land More Kind Than Home. Shon Patrick Norris and his wife, Julie Wunder, had twins, Hunter John and Jackson Thomas on Nov. 14, 2018.
2001 Bradley Branham has been appointed as Asheville’s new city attorney. Jennifer Springer married Eric Joseph on Aug. 11, 2018, in Pearl River, New York, surrounded by family and friends.
2003 Gretchen Horn is the new majority owner of Renaissance Bookfarm Inc., which owns Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe and Downtown Books & News.
2004 Russell Edwards was recently elected county commissioner to serve on the Athens-Clarke County Commission.
2005 Justin Belleme is the new owner of romanticasheville.com which is a popular Asheville travel website.
2006 Emily Sharples married Shant Sarkissian on Nov. 23, 2018.
2008 Stephanie Casey Fuhs and Matt Fuhs ’07 welcomed their second child, Elizabeth Magdalene “Maggie” on Oct. 29, 2018.
alumni THER E IS A PA LPA BLE MOMEN T U M
felt across campus at UNC Asheville. Our eighth chancellor has just been installed, and alumni, community members, and friends joined us on campus to share in the celebratory events. Chancellor Cable hosted thought leaders who traveled from across the country to lead discourse during many roundtables leading up to her installation. But the most striking words spoken came from our own faculty, “There’s work to be done. We’re doing a lot. We need to keep doing it, and do more.” This momentum resonates with our progress in providing alumni engagement. Earlier this semester we gathered together for our National Alumni Awards Ceremony, recognizing six graduates. David Ramseur ’76 shared with us his career trajectory from student activist to a published journalist with a noted political career. Professional artist and UNC Asheville Trustee Karen Brown ’81 exemplifies service to our university. Sabine Moses ’12, teaching fellow and current math teacher, shared with us her commitment to her students. Marquis McGee ’99 has taken his service of education to collegiate administration at James Madison University, and Peter Haschke ’07 returns to our alma mater with highly regarded international research. Ann Dunn ’93 has expanded the arts in our community while serving as a mentor to numerous alumni. We know there are countless alumni whose accomplishments are worth celebrating, but they are not yet on our radar. There is still work to be done, and we want to hear about it. Please tell us about your impact and nominate alumni for future awards. We also have work to be done as we grow our culture of philanthropy. Our Student Alumni Association is leading the way, and this semester established Student Philanthropy and Engagement Month with events that recognized our donors. With a lead gift by Chancellor Cable, we are challenging our alumni to contribute to the Annual Fund. Not only is private giving necessary for our growth, but our alumni participation matters as we earn grants and rankings. We need your support as we continue to advance our alma mater!
Elizabeth Saxman Underwood ’01, Ph.D. Senior Director of Alumni Relations // eunderw1@unca.edu // 828.232.5125
@uncaalumni
Ashley Elizabeth Kamiya had a daughter, Chandler Elizabeth Kamiya on Nov. 14, 2018. Ingrid Allstaedt Kirtley had a daughter, Liesl Magnolia Kirtley on Nov. 9, 2018.
To find out how you can engage with the Alumni Association, please visit alumni.unca.edu. You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter at alumni.unca.edu/newsletter.
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C L A S S N OT E S
Lauren Kortas-Peer received an Emerson Excellence in Teaching award which pays tribute to St. Louis area educators.
2009 Stephani Vick accepted a new position as the membership director with Girl Scouts North Carolina Coastal Pines.
2010 Barbara Muffoletto was recently promoted to programs manager with the global health nonprofit, Curamericas Global, whose mission is to save the lives of women and children in forgotten communities through sustainable approaches and education of health care. Jill (McDermott) Queen welcomed a new baby girl, Mackenzie, in Feb. 2018.
2011 Natalie DeRatt was named to 30 under 30 by Blue Ridge Outdoors. She also welcomed her son, Arthur, on Dec. 1, 2018. Beth Porter was featured on Jonathan Van Ness’ podcast Getting Curious, episode “What’s really going on with Recycling, Hunny?” on Dec. 19, 2018. Emily Porter-Fyke is now a reference and instruction librarian at Fairfield University in Connecticut. Janet Schafer accepted a position as budget analyst for Gaston County.
2012 Molly Burch headlined at a show sponsored by the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma’s Metro Music Series. Jeremy Harn and his wife Mariya had a baby boy, Lucas Mikhail Harn.
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Mesha Marin released her debut novel Sugar Run, and was interviewed by NPR. Katie Wangrin was one of 12 people inducted into the North Carolina REALTORS® William C. Bass Leadership Academy, Class of 2019.
2013 Kathryn Bost recently passed her captain checkride with Skywest Airlines on the CRJ 700. She is now a third generation airline pilot captain following both of her parents and her grandfather. Jamie Kelchner has been working in human resources and talent acquisition for five years. She is currently working with Kelly Services in Melbourne, Florida.
alumni events UNC Asheville graduates gathered for spring events, from a superhero-themed Homecoming and annual awards to the 40th anniversary of the Atmospheric Sciences Department.
Nick Mathiowdis was promoted to director of communications at the Housing Authority of Cook County. Kelsey Trimbur was promoted to regional operations manager at one of the nation’s largest coworking companies, Novel Coworking.
2014 Michael Jones became affiliated with Berkshire Hathaway as a real estate broker in Jan. 2019. Ashleigh Nash has completed her Master of Arts in History, with a focus in Early American History. Emily Reed is in the process of earning her Ph.D. in applied ecology from NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Her research focuses on how urban and urbanizing ecosystems affect the spread and movement of an invasive mosquito.
The Alumni Board of Directors cheer on the Bulldogs with Chancellor Cable. Also during Homecoming, many alumni gathered at The Orange Peel for a closeout celebration sponsored by Smith Edwards Group.
C L A S S N OT E S
Alumni award winners include Marquis C. McGee ’99, Ann Dunn ’93, Sabine Moses ’12, David Ramseur ’76, Karen K. Brown ’81 and Peter Haschke ’07 (left to right with Chancellor Cable in the center).
Atmospheric sciences alumni, students, and faculty celebrated 40 years with an on-campus conference in March.
A basketball double-header in February brought the Bulldogs back for Homecoming.
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C L A S S N OT E S
Hannah Walker and her husband Michael ’13, welcomed their first child, Sophia, in August of 2018.
2015 Maria Archibald is a program manager at the Grand Canyon Trust, where she supports young activists in organizing for environmental justice on the Colorado Plateau. Bryan Berry and his wife Tina welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Story in Dec. 2018. Katie Bess completed her master’s degree in social work from UNC Chapel Hill in May 2018.
2016 John Armstrong was recently promoted to assistant manager of Leslie’s Pools Commercial in Charlotte. He has also started filming for a weekly comedy series on YouTube called Sketch. Gray Barrett graduated with an MA in political science from Emory University in the spring of 2019 and will be starting a job as a data analyst for the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. John Browning won the Elijah Watt Sells Award and is currently working in KPMG’s deal advisory division in accounting advisory services. Lucas Owens is playing baseball for the Vienna Wanderers for the upcoming season. Coleman Rains was accepted into a two-year, multi-country Erasmus Mundus International Master’s Program. Richard Simpson accepted a position as the director of member services and operations for the North Carolina Medical Society.
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2017 Jason Carter, a science teacher at Evergreen Community Charter School in Asheville, has been awarded a Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms grant. He has also been named a Teacher Ambassador by the National Center for Science Education, where he will work with other educators to develop a curriculum covering climate change, and facilitate teachers at a number of national and regional conferences and other programs. Katherine Calhoun Cutshall accepted a position at Pack Memorial Library in Downtown Asheville. She will be working in the North Carolina Room, which houses archival materials relating to the history and culture of Asheville, Buncombe County, and Western North Carolina. Grace King was admitted to Western Carolina University’s Nursing School. Stephanie Smith is currently working as the media assistant at Calvary Church in Charlotte, NC. Shane Surratt reached BeverlyHanks Realtors’ Silver sales level.
2018 Brianna Carberry won the North Carolina Science Teachers Association (NCSTA) district award for her grade level.
LEADERS FOR LEADERS By Brian Hand
It’s been four years since the start of the Leaders for Leaders program at UNC Asheville, a mentoring program that pairs student-athletes with community members, but like an undergraduate education from UNC Asheville, the learning and connections last a lifetime, even beyond graduation and national borders. That’s particularly true for two of the inaugural participants in the special program, Galen Broido ’16 of UNC Asheville swimming and diving and Giacomo Zilli ’17 of UNC Asheville men’s basketball, now a world away pursuing careers and graduate school in Italy. They reconnect with mentors, Dick Murray and Dan and Linda Hinchliffe, when in the U.S. “Leaders for Leaders gave both of us so much,” Broido said. “Our mentors shared many stories from their years of professional work experience. They gave us insights about the hiring process, what working for small and large organizations was like and helped us figure out what kind of company we’d ideally like to be working for.” She currently works on freelance digital marketing with clients in youth sports and sports safety industries, living half of the year in the United States and the other half of the year in Italy where Zilli is playing professional basketball and pursuing his master’s degree. UNC Asheville’s Leaders for Leaders program is powered by Elk Mountain Wealth Partners.
Alec Wnuk recently launched a new platform called LockBox centered on student wellness and development. He is also in the Appalachian State MBA Program with a concentration in business analytics.
Galen Broido ’16 and Giacomo Zilli ’17
Transforming lives through
individual leadership, academic creativity, & civic engagement right here in the mountains. Support the annual fund at unca.edu/give
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Commencement Sapling Project UNC Asheville’s newest graduates gave back through two new initiatives this year—the $20.19 Senior Giving Campaign and The Commencement Sapling Project. Led by students, both efforts raised money for scholarships and gave graduates a way to honor their roots, with the red oak or white pine saplings as a growing reminder of their alma mater. (Photo by Peter Lorenz)
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