Category: Uncategorized
Fifth Anniversary of Learning Through Languages Celebrates Student Foreign Language Acquisition
December 20, 2019On December 5, 2019, 115 high school students from across North Carolina gathered at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the fifth annual Learning Through Languages High School Research Symposium. The event was organized by six area studies centers at UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University, including the UNC African Studies Center; Carolina Asia Center; Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies; UNC Center for European Studies; UNC Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies; and the UNC-Duke Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. The Learning Through Languages High School Research Symposium is an opportunity for high … Read more
Kevin Guskiewicz Named 12th Chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill
December 13, 2019University of North Carolina System Interim President Bill Roper today named Kevin M. Guskiewicz as the 12th chancellor and 30th chief executive officer of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Guskiewicz, who has served as interim chancellor since being appointed on February 6, 2019, will assume this new role effective immediately. “Kevin Guskiewicz possesses the leadership qualities needed to take Carolina forward: strength, poise, humility, vision, the strong proficiency to listen, and the ability to bring people together,” said Roper. “Throughout his distinguished career in higher education, Kevin has demonstrated a sustained track record of success. I have the … Read more
Jordan Maly-Preuss ’16 Finds Her Place Studying Classics at the University of Oxford
December 10, 2019When Jordan Maly-Preuss ’16 started studying biology as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she had no idea she’d one day use her background in science to analyze ancient Greek poetry. Yet, that’s exactly what she’s found herself doing as she begins her doctoral studies in classical languages and literature, focusing on ancient Greek, at Merton College at the University of Oxford. Maly-Preuss draws a close connection between the sciences and humanities, noting that she considers the systematic modes of thinking in the sciences to be useful within literary studies. Her dissertation will explore whether … Read more
Carolina Alumni Named Schwarzman Scholars
December 10, 2019University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Yusheng Zhang and Sandy Alkoutami have been selected for the elite Schwarzman Scholars Program. Modeled after the Rhodes Scholarship, the Schwarzman is an innovative master’s degree program that supports study at China’s prestigious Tsinghua University and bridges the academic and professional worlds to educate students about leadership and China’s expanding role in the world. Yusheng Zhang Zhang will spend his time as a Schwarzman Scholar pursuing a degree in global affairs at Beijing’s Tsinghua University. Zhang graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2019 with degrees in business administration and global studies and a … Read more
A Homecoming for a Convergent Scientist
December 10, 2019In 1999, the first time Caleb King saw Shyira Hospital in northwestern Rwanda, every window was broken. The X-ray machine was smashed to pieces. The facility had no electricity or doctors — not even beds, mattresses or blankets. Scores of patients lay on grass mats. Some were in labor. Others, feverish with malaria, were hooked to IV quinine drips. King, a Rhodes Scholar and newly minted pediatric gastroenterologist, had traveled to Shyira after a chance meeting at a Pawley’s Island, South Carolina, church with an Anglican bishop named John Rucyahana. Bishop John turned to his guest. “Well, Caleb,” he said. … Read more
Two Alumnae Named Recipients of Marshall Scholarship
December 10, 2019Two University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumnae are recipients of the prestigious Marshall Scholarship, which funds graduate studies in any field at up to two United Kingdom institutions. Anne Sutton, a 2018 graduate with degrees in music and geography, and Olivia Holder, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history in 2018, are Carolina’s 19th and 20th Marshall Scholars. The Marshall Scholarship averages about £35,000 a year, which covers university fees, cost of living expenses, annual book grants, thesis grant, research and daily travel grants and fares to and from the United States. Founded in 1953, the scholarship finances … Read more
Pharmacy Faculty Becomes First Russian-American Scientist Elected to Russian Academy of Sciences
December 9, 2019Alexander “Sasha” V. Kabanov, became interested in research at an early age. From his home in Moscow, he marveled at the work of his father, Viktor Kabanov, an award-winning polymer chemist and Chernobyl “liquidator,” whose advances in science and personal work on the contaminated soil helped lead cleanup solutions following the Chernobyl accident. His father donned roles in notable academies around the world, including the Royal Belgian Academy, the European Academy, and the Russian Academy of Sciences. Today, Sasha Kabanov’s scientific achievements mirror those of his father’s, who he credits for his love of science. Most recently, Kabanov received the … Read more
Conversations at Hickerson House: Michael Figueroa on Popular Music and Race Consciousness in Post-9/11 Arab America
December 9, 2019Michael A. Figueroa is an assistant professor of music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is an ethnomusicologist who specializes in music and politics in the modern Middle East and its diasporas. The first phase of his career has been rooted in ethnographic and archival research in Israel/Palestine, chiefly in the city of Jerusalem. In his first book (nearing completion), he argues that musical Jerusalem has been central to the formation of Israeli political consciousness. In the book, he shows how Israeli musicians have critically shaped their public’s territorial imagination, dispelling notions that the Israeli-Palestinian crisis … Read more
Six Undergraduates Selected as UNC Phillips Ambassadors for Study in Asia
December 9, 2019Six undergraduates from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been selected as Phillips Ambassadors for study abroad programs in Asia in 2020. Two scholarship recipients will study in Singapore, two in Taiwan, one in South Korea and one in Thailand. The Phillips Ambassadors Program is part of UNC’s Carolina Asia Center, in association with the UNC Study Abroad Office. Phillips Ambassadors are selected twice a year and receive $5,000 each toward the cost of a UNC-approved study abroad program in Asia. Recipients are selected based on academic achievement, strong communication skills, intellectual curiosity and ambition, evidence of … Read more
Carolina Researchers Make New Revelations About the Effects of Climate Change in Nepal
December 9, 2019An interdisciplinary team of Carolina researchers recently returned to the Himalayas to continue studying the effects of climate change on Buddhist holy lakes. A major goal: To retrieve data from instruments they installed 15 months ago. Editor’s note: Read about the scholars’ first trip in a 2018 story, “Science, Spirituality and Synergy in Nepal.” Windy. Cold. Wet. Those were the conditions one October day as a team of Carolina researchers tried to retrieve instruments left behind 15 months earlier in a remote lake in Sagarmatha National Park, the region of Nepal dominated by Mount Everest. The thermistors were supposed to … Read more