Two departments in UNC Charlotte’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences will welcome new department chairs on July 1.

Yuanan Diao will serve as chair of the Mathematics and Statistics Department, and Greg Weeks will serve as chair of the Political Science and Public Administration Department. The outgoing chairs are Alan Dow and Bob Kravchuk.

The university community is saddened by the loss of Professor Emeritus Dr. Glenn S. Burne.

A celebration of his remarkable life occurred on Wednesday, May 2 at 4 p.m. in Rowe Arts Recital Hall at UNC Charlotte. Family members, faculty, staff, alumni, students and community members gathered to hear stories, poems and songs and to see photographs and other displays honoring Burne and his legacy.  Burne was a noted scholar and World War II veteran. 

He came to UNC Charlotte from Kent State in 1971 and served two terms as Chair of the English Department. He continued to teach courses in Irish Literature, European Backgrounds and Modern British Literature until he retired in 1987.  He recruited well-qualified faculty in the field and encouraged the development of courses in children’s literature because he believed that passionately engaged readers begin in childhood. Glenn’s family and friends will remember his enormous joy in life, his love of literature, art, and music, his keen sense of humor, and his reverence for the natural world.

Memorials may be sent to the Glenn Burne Award for Excellence in the Study of Children’s Literature, English Department, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University Blvd, Charlotte, N.C.  28223.

Jamie Strickland of Geography & Earth Sciences is the 2012 recipient of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences’ Excellence in Teaching Award for full-time lecturers. Iain Ross Bolton of  Political Science & Public Administration and Global, International, & Area Studies is receiving the award for part-time lecturers.

The college held a reception to honor the recipients and the other nominees on Monday, April 30 at 2 p.m. in the Cone University Center, Room 112.

 “We commend these outstanding teachers for their dedication to their students and their commitment to excellent teaching,” said Dean Nancy Gutierrez. “These faculty members primarily teach our undergraduate students and they are instrumental in helping set students on a solid academic career. Our award winners and other nominees embody the college’s intrinsic valuing of its educational mission.”

CanDiag Inc., founded by UNC Charlotte researcher Pinku Mukherjee, was selected the grand prize winner of the Charlotte Venture Challenge. The company has developed a novel technology that accurately detects early breast cancer.

Winning the grand prize of a $50,000 convertible-debt note from Vaterra Capital, would “pave the path for further clinical validation and regulatory approval to offer women an early detection breast cancer blood test,” Mukherjee said. “The anticipated impacts are greater peace of mind to women from a more accurate test and improved survival with early detection.” Health care costs should be lowered due to the reduction of expensive testing, she said.

Eighteen finalists competed for the grand prize. Winners of each Charlotte Venture Challenge category received $10,000.  They are InfoSense Inc. from Charlotte in the new energy and high tech category; Deal Cloud, a Charlotte-based entry in the information technology and informatics category; Asheville’s Mobile Potential in the consumer products and services category; and Qualiber Inc. from Chapel Hill in the life sciences and biotech category. Instruct Health from Queens University won the student category, and Bamboo Apparel of High Point topped the social enterprise category, which was presented in partnership with Queen City Forward.

A special screening of the 90-minute director's cut of the new film The Jesus Discovery will be shown from 2:30 to 5 p.m., Sunday, April 29, in the Queen’s Court Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel near SouthPark. This version has never been shown in the United States and was aired in Canada on Vision TV last month.

The film tells the story of the robotic camera investigation of a sealed first- century tomb from the time of Jesus and its controversial findings, including the earliest Christian art and a Greek inscription that the investigators identify with the first followers of Jesus and their faith in his resurrection from the dead.

UNC Charlotte Professor James Tabor, chair of the Department of Religious Studies, will introduce the film and give an account of his participation in the expedition as co-director and co-author of the new book The Jesus Discovery.

This free event is open to the public. A question-and answer-session will follow the lecture and screening.