General News

Throughout April, which is National Counseling Awareness Month, UNC Charlotte and the Cato College of Education recognize the graduate students preparing to enter the profession. At the same time, the University salutes the faculty members guiding them; with varied experience and expertise, most are current or formerly practicing counselors. In an environment that offers a […]

Jeff Cox, a lifelong champion of North Carolina public education, became the 11th president of the North Carolina Community College System in June 2023. Previously, he was president of Wilkes Community College, superintendent of Alleghany County Schools, assistant superintendent for Lee County Schools and principal of Benton Heights Year-Round School in Union County. In 2017, […]

Three graduates of the Charlotte Teacher Early College (CTEC) are continuing their journey to becoming educators with the help of scholarships from the Barnhill Foundation. The Barnhill Foundation provided $90,000 in scholarship funds, with each student eligible for up to $30,000 to be used over a maximum of three years to attend the Cato College […]

Community mental health and school safety were in focus at the Dubois Center at UNC Charlotte Center City this month as Cato College of Education Dean Malcolm Butler and other leaders met with U.S. Senator Thom Tillis to discuss implementing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA). Butler joined Tillis, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools […]

by: Ann Doss Helms, Brianna Atkinson For years, North Carolina’s quest to improve reading skills focused on the kids who were falling behind. In 2021, attention shifted to the teachers who couldn’t increase reading proficiency, with the General Assembly providing more than $90 million to retrain elementary school teachers. But what about the schools that […]

UNC Charlotte counseling professor Dania Fakhro remembers her neighbors in Syria wearing the keys to the homes they had been forced to flee around their necks. They were people displaced by conflict with roots common to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war that today leaves buildings in rubble and thousands dead. Born and raised in Syria, Fakhro […]

The Cato College of Education faculty have been productive in research and creative discovery. Collectively, they have produced 161 journal articles, 57 book chapters, 11 books, 16 technical reports and 23 additional publications over the past year. The Department of Special Education and Child Development was the highest grant-receiving department at the university. The faculty […]

Dean Emerita Mary Lynne Calhoun passed away peacefully on Sunday, May 21, 2023. Calhoun retired from UNC Charlotte in 2013 after 31 years of service as a member of the faculty and a leader in the Cato College of Education. She arrived at UNC Charlotte in 1982 as an assistant professor of special education before […]

Education alumna Fatima Sail has been named New Hanover County Schools Teacher of the Year. Hear her story as told by her school district. Fatima Sail is effervescent, but don’t let the ear-to-ear grin, encouraging words, and springing thumbs up fool you: She’s a fighter. Growing up with four older brothers in a little village […]

By: Sonja Barisic Photos by: Ryan Honeyman & Kat Lawrence Straun Alexander was in a classroom chatting with other aspiring principals when he received a tap on the shoulder. A parent needed to see him right away, he was told. Waiting for Alexander in another room was a parent, angry because her son was suspended […]