News & Updates

In 2004, Jennifer Merry graduated from UNC Charlotte with a B.M. in Music Education and a license to teach, and eventually became a band director, first at Kannapolis Middle and later at Hickory Ridge Middle. That’s how most graduate profiles end, but for Merry, her bachelor’s degree was just the beginning of her Niner story. […]

Mark M. D’Amico, professor of higher education in the Cato College of Education, is the 2026 recipient of the Harshini V. de Silva Graduate Mentor Award. D’Amico was honored during the Spring Faculty Awards ceremony on Tuesday, April 28. The Harshini V. de Silva Graduate Mentor Award honors its namesake, an exceptional teacher, scholar and […]

Starting with the 2026-2027 academic year, Cato College of Education will offer two new programs for teacher preparation: a Graduate Certificate in Teaching with a concentration in health and physical education and an accelerated Bachelor of Arts in Special Education designed for teacher assistants. Both programs will be offered 100% online, with support from the […]

UNC Charlotte’s Center for STEM Education welcomes learners of all ages to the STEAM Innovation Expo from noon to 4 p.m., Sunday, April 26 on the Cauble Quad between CHHS and Mebane Hall. The expo will feature hands-on activities, Q&A sessions, lab tours, nature experiences, exhibits and performances from science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics […]

UNC Charlotte has a strong tradition of participation in the American Educational Research Association, and this year continues that momentum. A total of 31 faculty, 25 doctoral students and two postdoctoral fellows will present at the upcoming annual meeting. The delegation represents four of the five academic departments in the Cato College Education, as well […]

Cato College faculty are consistently at the top of their fields, whether in research, service, or support of students. We’re rounding up the awards our faculty have won in just the last few months, highlighting yet another amazing reason to become an EduNiner! Special Education and Child Development Michael Matthews NAGC 2025 Distinguished Scholar Award […]

In the world of academia, professor and podcaster may seem like mutually exclusive professions, but Jamie Kudlats would want you — and his fellow academics — to challenge that idea. Kudlats began his career as a middle school math teacher, progressed through administration and then pursued a Ph.D. in education after 15 years in schools. […]

Taylor Faulkner ’19, a proud alumna of Cato College of Education, has been named one of UNC Charlotte’s 2025 10 Under Ten Award recipients. The annual celebration, held Thursday, Feb. 19, in the Popp Martin Student Union, recognizes ten exceptional graduates from the past decade who demonstrate professional excellence, leadership and a commitment to service. […]

For the third year in a row, Cato College of Education at UNC Charlotte leads the state of North Carolina in online education graduate programs, according to U.S. News & World Report, tying for the No. 1 spot with NC State. Ranking No. 18 overall, Charlotte is tied with peers like NC State, UMass-Lowell, Auburn […]

A screening of the forthcoming PBS Kids show “Phoebe and Jay” will be co-hosted by the UNC Charlotte Mebane Early Literacy Center from 10 to 11:30 a.m., Saturday Feb. 14. The screening will take place in the PBS studio room of Charlotte’s PBS station, WTVI. The event will begin with an introduction by Kelly Cartwright, […]

Academics often love to say that their research drives real change in the world, but sometimes it’s hard to prove that it does. Charlitta Hatch, however, has some pretty concrete proof. Earlier this year, she ran for Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board in District 1 and won, defeating several other candidates. She defended her dissertation in urban […]

Beyond the classroom, teachers carry invisible titles — counselor, social worker, therapist — because no one spends more time with students than they do. Seth Gillis experienced this for ten years as a classroom teacher and decided that if that was going to be asked of him, he’d better get the training for it. “I […]

“Remember your why” is a phrase teachers hear constantly. It’s supposed to be an encouragement, reminding educators to center the reason they’re in the profession, because no matter how hard it may get, that “why” is supposed to always get you through. For elementary education senior Lindsay Blalock, her “why” is baked into her DNA. […]

Sejal Foxx ’08 Ph.D. has been honored with the 2025 Milestone Award by the 49er Alumni Campus Employees (ACE) Network for her outstanding service to UNC Charlotte as an alumna and a faculty member. The ACE Milestone Award is an accolade reserved for alumni campus employees who have dedicated 10 or more years of service […]

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte has been awarded $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education to support Project Teaching Our Rich Cultural Heritage, a five-year collaboration with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, located in western North Carolina. The project will prepare highly qualified educators who are culturally […]

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the Pädagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg have 30 years of history together, deep in the trenches of comparative education research. Originally brought about by the provost of UNC Charlotte and rector of PH Ludwigsburg, the German-American Symposium is now coordinated by Dawson Hancock in the Cato College of Education […]

Cato College’s summer programs give K–12 students hands-on research, tutoring and growth opportunities that bridge academics with future careers. Through STEM immersions, literacy and math camps, and writing workshops, students gain experiences that spark curiosity, build confidence and foster academic achievement. This summer, the university offered three distinct programs—each tailored to specific educational needs—demonstrating Cato […]

To say Bobbie Rowland was one of a kind would be an understatement. In a time where women educators stayed in the classroom and men made the policy decisions, she took up the cause of early childhood education in North Carolina and wouldn’t hear “no” from anyone. She became the first woman elected to any […]