Do you know a colleague who is passionate about making a difference on campus? Through Feb. 26, Staff Senate is seeking nominations for new members. This is a great opportunity for staff to have a voice in university initiatives, advocate for colleagues, and help shape our workplace community.
This year’s day of giving returns March 3-4. Lend your voice and show support by making a gift of any size to the fund of your choice, sharing the word with personal and professional networks, or attending an event in person.
A Parking and Transportation Survey is Coming Your Way
Posted on February 02, 2026
On Feb. 9, an email invitation went out toΒ participateΒ in a campus-wide survey focused on parking and transportation at UNCG. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete, and your feedback will playΒ an important roleΒ in shaping future planning decisions.
As the University continues to grow and evolve, parking, access, and transportation remain ongoing challenges. These issues affect students, faculty, staff, and visitors every day and directly impact how we experience campus. To help address these challenges thoughtfully and strategically, UNCG has engaged Walker Consultants to develop a comprehensive update to our Transportation Master Plan. This plan will help us better serve the campus community, use resources more effectively, and enhance our overall quality of life.
Because parking and transportation affect all of us, broad campus input is essential. This survey is your opportunity to share your experiences, priorities, and ideas.Β Therefore, when you receive the survey invitation, we encourage you toΒ participate. The survey will remain open through Feb. 20. All responses will be anonymous, and the feedback collected will directly inform the consultantβs recommendations and the Universityβs future transportation planning.β―Β
Thank you in advance for taking the time to share your perspective and help shape the future of parking and transportation at UNCG.
Sincerely, Zach Smith Interim Vice Chancellor for Administration
UNCG Students Ponder Modern-Day Mindfulness at The Walk for PeaceΒ
Posted on January 22, 2026
Greensboro found itself in a kismet moment as a group of Buddhist monks made their way into Guilford County on a bright, cold Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The monks, on a 2,300-mile journey from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington, D.C, are raising awareness for peace and compassion across America and the world.
Spartan student groups attended the local stop on their historic Walk for Peace, finding power in the Buddhist leadersβ simple actions in a busy, public scene.
Spartan Side Quest
Meeting near campus, a group of first- and second-year students in a seminar class titled Mindfulness, Resilience and Meaning boarded a Spartan Chariot with their teacher Sarah Krive. The group was bound for the Walk for Peace stop at Grandover Resort and Spa just south of campus. They brought daisies, the UNCG flower, to offer the monks. On the drive over, students talked about their class, which had just begun the week before. This βfield tripβ came at the perfect time for an introduction to mindfulness practices in religions like Buddhism.
Damani Davis-McLendon talks mindfulness with her teacher, Sarah Krive, on the way to the Walk for Peace.
Gregory Grieve, head of the Liberal and Professional Studies Department whose research includes Buddhist and Hindu religious practices, joined the class with a Buddhist flag to wave in support of the monks. Traffic thickened as the Chariot neared its destination, following a line of red brakelights as the sun dropped below the horizon.
Grieve and his sister, who had traveled from Idaho to see the Walk for Peace, had attended the monksβ lunch stop in High Point earlier in the day. He said the monks addressed their largest crowd to date at Truist Point Stadium and wondered if this group would be even larger.
Krive commented that the event had βcaptured the attentionβ of so many people. βWe are watching history unfold right in front of our eyes,β she said.
As cars began to make parking lots out of medians and road shoulders, the group decided to disembark the Chariot and walk the mile and a half to Grandover Resort & Spa where the monks would address the crowd. If the monks could walk over 1,800 miles in 86 days, this crew could handle a three-mile hike.
βThis is what the world needs today,β said Gabriella Pittman, a student from Charlotte. βWhat a perfect day for a side quest!β
UNCG students and faculty trek to the Walk for Peace.
Ripples of Peace Through a Busy Crowd
Meanwhile, Marcia Hale, associate professor in the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, had arrived with some of her graduate students just in time to see the monks walk towards the entrance to the resort. As part of a Skills in Transformative Conflict class, these students are learning about nonviolent communication, mindfulness, negotiation and mediation, as it relates to relationships and community building.
βI was amazed how many people turned out,β she said. βIt felt a bit more like a concert or celebrity event than I anticipated, but it was amazing to see so many people hungry for peace and unity, and willing to stand in the cold for the sake of it.β
UNCG student Gabrielle Pittman watches as the monks walk into Grandover Resort.
Haleβs group witnessed a quiet fall over the crowd as the monks passed. They saw acts of kindness ripple through the crowd. Masterβs in peace and conflict studies student, Caitlin Poe watched with her child and found a likeminded mother with tears in her eyes. They bonded over their hope for a more peaceful world for their children.
Hale noticed a sweet moment when one of the monks passed a bouquet he had received to a woman in the crowd. She was visibly touched by his gesture and paid it forward by sharing individual buds with those around her.
Unbeknownst to the monk, that woman was MariKay Abuzuaiter, the mayor of Greensboro. Minutes later, she would issue a proclamation declaring Jan. 18, 2026, Walk for Peace Day in Greensboro in honor of the monksβ βwisdom, passion and mindfulness.β
Monkinβ Ainβt Easy
After the mayor issued her proclamation, Bhikkhu Pannakara stood to address the crowd, spotlights catching his orange wrap as it glittered with the pins given to him along the walk. He stepped to the microphone, as his solemn Buddhist brothers sat in a line behind him, and began by addressing the obvious:
βI never thought weβd walk for peace and end up at a fancy resort.β
Bhikkhu Pannakara addresses the crowd gathered at Grandover Resort.
Although the monks had declined the offer of private rooms and would be sleeping on the floor in a communal space at the resort, the optics of these simple people arriving at a castle on a hill to rest from their journey was just one of the many visuals illustrating the dichotomy of this event.
Walk for Peace attendees and their “lovers.”
Hundreds of raised phones recorded videos of the speech as Pannakara beseeched the public to live in the moment, stop chasing the world, and take time to breathe. βYouβll never get this moment back,β he said. Using his cheeky reference to our societyβs connection to our phones, he added, βRecord it in your minds, not with your lovers (or cell phones).β
Pannakara led a meditation practice and encouraged breathing with awareness, but participation was difficult. Even in this group gathered for peace, distractions were everywhere: security announcements, babies crying, dogs barking, audible phone conversations. His words about the importance of mindfulness impacted the UNCG students in our group, even as the event underscored societyβs roadblocks to mindfulness and meditation.
Peace in Our Times
βThe sheer numbers of attendees were powerful,β said Damani Davis-McLendon when Kriveβs class met the next day to reflect on their experience at the Walk for Peace. The Mindfulness, Resilience and Meaning students speculated about how much attention the monks would receive by the time they arrived in Washington, and what that means in todayβs politically divided landscape.
When the monks began this journey on Oct. 26, 2025 at Huong Dao Vipassan Bhavana Center, they emphasized that their journey was neither a political protest nor a religious parade to build donations for the centerβs $150 million expansion. It was simply an opportunity to bring blessings of peace to lost souls in uncertain times.
Greensboroβs response to their arrival proved that those blessings are welcome. Folks of all ages, backgrounds and viewpoints followed a live map through heavy traffic to catch a glimpse of the monksβ peaceful and kind countenances. Since October, each town they cross seems to draw larger crowds, but the Greensboro stop on MLK Day was particularly poignant in a city known for its role in the advancement of civil rights. One imagines the Greensboro Four would have been proud of the UNCG students who came out in the cold for the Walk for Peace. Dr. King would have also approved of how they honored his birthday. After all, it was he who said βWe must keep moving. If you can’t fly, run; if you can’t run, walk; if you can’t walk, crawl; but by all means keep moving.β
Story by Becky Deakins, University Communications. Photography Sean Norona, University Communications.
UNCG Professor Improves Mental Health Care Accessibility in Ukraine
Posted on January 28, 2026
Viktor Burlaka, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, partners with first responders in Ukraine to expand mental health care and prepare professionals to better manage trauma in high-stress crisis conditions.
Black History Month has hit a significant milestone. Itβs the 100th year the United States has honored the contributions of Black Americans to our nation, and UNC Greensboro joins the tribute with a variety of ways our community can observe the centennial this month.
A Century of History in the Making
The origins of Black History Month can be traced back to Feb. 7, 1926, when βNegro History Weekβ was established by Carter G. Woodson, an American historian, author, and journalist. He chose the second week in February to honor the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.
One hundred years might feel like a long time for a nation that still struggles with equity, but much Black history has come to pass in that time. Its founding year, 1926, was three years before Martin Luther King Jr.βs birth and 37 years before his βI Have a Dreamβ speech at the 1963 March on Washington. It was 34 years before the Greensboro Four sat at a segregated lunch counter at Greensboroβs Woolworthβs drug store on Feb. 1, 1960, fueling a sit-in movement that led to desegregation of the American South.
Black History at the G
Chancellor Gilliam and Marcus T. Johnson at the Alumni House naming in October 2025.
One hundred years ago, UNC Greensboro was the North Carolina College for Women. Although only White women were enrolled at the time, many of these early Spartans had a passion for womenβs rights that later expanded to civil rights. Negro History Week was 30 years old when the first African American students were admitted to the Womanβs College in 1956. Four years later, three of our students joined the growing crowd of supporters on Day Four of the Woolworthβs sit-in.
The University still celebrates the early pioneers of Black history at UNCG. This year, UNCG students painted a mural in the Foust Building to honor JoAnne Smart Drane and Bettye Tillman, our first African American students.
Black history continues to be made at UNCG, as evidenced by the naming of the Alumni House for alumnus Marcus T. Johnson β99, just last year. His historic gift inspired the University to name the building after him, the first on our campus to honor a person of color.
Q&A with JoAnne Smart Drane and students who painted a mural in her honor.
Meet Marcus T. Johnson ’99 and visit the Alumni House that bears his name.
Change Begins with Education
Chronicling historyβinβtheβmaking is what Woodson had in mind when he designated a week to honor Black history, which was expanded to Black History Month in 1976 by President Gerald R. Ford. Woodson spoke of using the weeklong tribute not as a βnew tradition,β but to remind schoolchildren of what they had learned all year.
As the first scholar to study Black African diaspora in the United States, Woodson was passionate about using education to change hearts and minds. He famously said, βThis crusade is much more important than the anti-lynching movement, because there would be no lynching if it did not start in the schoolroom.β
Since Woodsonβs historic designation, weβve seen 100 years of Black history education, the Civil Rights Movement, and the ongoing work that must be done to advance equity in this country.
Join the Celebration
At UNCG, there are many ways to commemorate Black History Month through cultural celebrations, educational opportunities, and open discussions throughout February. Below are some of the popular campus events planned for Black History Month this year:
Music, Performances & Games
BHM Kickoff Party x ILC Monday, Feb. 9, 5-7 p.m. in the EUC Cone Ballroom Free food, SWAG, and a live DJ to celebrate the start of Black History Month.
Alive in Color Feb. 11 & 13 at 6:15 p.m. in the EUC Auditorium UNCG honors Black culture with a showcase of Spartan talent.
BHM Night at Bodford Arena Thursday, Feb. 12, 7 p.m. Cheer on the womenβs basketball team as they take on Wofford.
AUX Wars Wednesday, Feb. 25, 5:30-7 p.m. in the EUC Cone Ballroom Join a jam session as students battle in a reimagined take on aux music.
Education & Enlightenment
CACE 2026 Β 36th Annual Conference on African American and African Diaspora Cultures and ExperiencesΒ Feb. 24, 25, and 26 at the Elliott University Center Presented by the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, this three-day educational conference includes presentations, roundtable conversations, poetry, performances, and workshops. Themed βRace and Education,β the sessions and keynote speakers present history and its impacts in ways you wonβt expect. Itβs free and open to the public, but registration is required. Click here for conference details, the official program, and the registration link.Β Β
Reflections of Art
Of Salt and Spirit: Black Quilters of the American South Feb. 14 β Aug. 1 at the Weatherspoon, 2nd floor in The Bob & Lissa Shelley McDowell Gallery An exhibition of vibrant quilts hand-stitched by Black quilters across the United States features 24 quilts and two portraits from the Mississippi Museum of Art’s collection.
Precious D. Lovell: Harrietβs Powers Open through July 25 at the Weatherspoon, 2nd floor Gallery 6 Precious Lovellβs installation is site-specific and multi-sensory. It represents her response to the Of Salt and Spirit exhibit, including stitched elements, sculpture, and historical artifacts commemorating the life and art of 19th-century Black quiltmaker Harriet Powers.
Story by Becky Deakins, University Communications. Photography by Sean Norona, University Communications.
Hansen Performing Arts Collection Continues to Strengthen Theatre Education
Posted on January 27, 2026
Dr. Robert Hansen, retired associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, donated his extensive performing arts collection to UNCG Archives and established an endowed fund to preserve it. Today, the collection spans thousands of valuables and continues to support students through the Robert C. Hansen Scholarship for aspiring theatre arts educators.
Alumna Shelby Rodriguezβs turn from ballet to nutrition and dietetics.
After starting her career as a professional ballet dancer, Shelby Rodriguez faced a turning point. Knowing she wanted a new path that directly addressed nutrition issues, she turned to UNC Greensboroβs School of Health and Human Sciences to pursue a B.S. in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, a choice that helped her become board-certified specialist in gerontological nutrition.
βI don’t think another institution could have been as supportive as UNCG for an alternative student while really maintaining a huge emphasis on academics and professional preparation,β Rodriguez says.
A Dancerβs Motivation and a Professorβs Support
A high school graduate of the UNC School of the Arts, Rodriguez never intended to go to college. Instead, she began her career as a professional ballet dancer in Pennsylvania.
βA lot of my colleagues in dance really struggled with eating disorders and mistaken ideas about nutrition,β she says. βI wanted to understand more about that.β
She first took community college courses and then transferred to UNCGβs human nutrition and dietetics program.
βI wasnβt quite aware of the competitiveness and academic rigor the program had in store for me, but Iβm really grateful thatβs where I landed,β she says. βUNCG is incredibly supportive of transfer students. I never felt like an outsider, I was immediately welcomed by instructors, professors, and other studentsβthe entire community.β
Rodriguez credits her mentor Professor Keith Erickson with supporting her through the program.
βMy mother was battling breast cancer while I was taking his microbiology course,β Rodriguez says. βHe proctored a final exam for me at 6 a.m. so I could get on a flight and go see my mother before she passed. Since then, heβs kept in touch and it just demonstrates the student-first approach I felt while I was with UNCG.β
Pandemic Professional Shift
Rodriguez went on to earn her master’s in public health at the University of Minnesota.
βI was in the middle of my dietetic internship when COVID 19 hit,β she says.
She and her fellow interns were part of a group that helped administer the first COVID vaccines. With jobs for new dietitians scarce at the end of the pandemic, Rodriguez went out on a limb and applied for a position as lead dietitian for patients in a long-term care and skilled rehabilitation facility in Eugene, Ore.
βMy husband and I moved to Oregon sight unseen for this new job, newly pregnant while in the middle of a pandemic,β she says. βIt amazingly has all worked out.β
During her 2,000 hours of specialty practice with the rehabilitation facility, Rodriguez treated patients across the spectrum, with issues ranging from complex health problems to physical trauma to the unique needs of the geriatric population. Following her maternity leave, she sat for her board exam in gerontological nutrition.
βI wanted to be the best dietitian I could be for my patients,β she says. βThe board specialty opened up a lot of doors to what Iβm doing now on a national scale as a fellow for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.β
Be Brave and Say Yes
In her current role she serves as one of two gerontological nutritional specialists on the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics national board where she reviews new procedures and certifications, exam requests and more.
βIβm currently the lead developer for their new certificate for end-of-life nutrition,β she says.
She is president-elect of the Oregon Academy of Nutrition and Dietetic and teaches nutrition at Lane Community College. She and her husband are still in Eugene raising their daughter, now age 4.
βDietitians are becoming more integral members of interdisciplinary health care teams and finding roles in non-clinical settings,β Rodriguez says. βMy advice to students: allow yourself to be flexible and not too rigid in your expectations for your career in the field. Be brave and see where new opportunities may take you.β
Eller Education Scholarship Pushes Spartans’ Aspirations Forward
Posted on February 24, 2026
Mom, first-generation student, and education major, Candy Chambers reflects on her journey to graduation. She attributes the Eloise N. Eller 1965 Scholarship in Education, along with a vast support system, for helping her move closer to her dream of becoming a teacher.
Winter belongs to menβs and womenβs basketball in the pantheon of UNCG sports. But as the wintry weather marches our Spartan cagers towards the SoCon Tournament, held in Asheville in March, our warm-weather teams gear up for exciting seasons of their own.
From the diamond to the track to the links to the courts, spring Spartans are here for the Wβs.
BATS AND BALLS
Spartans Softball is predicted to win the SoCon this year.Twenty players from last year’s baseball squad will be returning this year.
Baseball
Last season, the UNCG baseball team finished the regular season 21-33 overall with a 9-12 conference record, earning the sixth-seed in the SoCon Tournament, falling to Wofford in the first round of play.
This season, theΒ thirdΒ for Head CoachΒ Cody Ellis,Β Β sees the return of outfielderΒ Luke Jenkins. AΒ redshirtΒ fourth-year, Jenkins wasΒ named the 2025 Male Spartan of the YearΒ and to the College Sports Communicators Academic All District Team.Β TheΒ hometownΒ Grimsley High School graduate had a spectacular season in the field,Β with a .950 fielding percentage, and on the basepath, with seven steals in eight attempts.Β
Joining himΒ again this seasonΒ will beΒ fourth-yearΒ infielderΒ Jacob Budzik,Β who was named to the All SoCon Defensive Team lastΒ year,Β andΒ third-yearΒ fielderΒ Brantley Truitt, who led the team last season with a batting average of .318.Β
Schedule highlights includeΒ the season-opening three-gameΒ homeΒ stand againstΒ the 18th-rankedΒ University of Kentucky (Feb. 13-15),Β an SEC powerhouse.Β TheyβllΒ play two other Triad squads this season: NC A&T State UniversityΒ at homeΒ on Feb. 18Β at A&Tβs field on March 3Β and March 11; andΒ 21-rankedΒ Wake Forest University at home on Feb. 24 and in Winston-SalemΒ on April 21. Other notable out-of-conference matchups during the regular season include a home game against Davidson College on Feb. 17 and an away game against 11th-ranked UNC on March 18.Β
Softball
SpartansβΒ softball Head CoachΒ Janelle BrenemanΒ is the winningest coach in the teamβsΒ 41-yearΒ history, logging her 400thΒ victory early last season against St. Francis CollegeΒ and ending the seasonΒ withΒ a 39-18 record, her seventh straight with 30 or more wins.Β And the team has already been recognized as theΒ No. 1 pickΒ in the SoCon Pre-Season Coaches’ Poll.
Sheβs built on last yearβs success with a crop of new recruits and a few returning sluggers, including fourth-year outfielder Kaylyn Belfield, who broke the UNCG single-season batting average record last year, finishing with .431. Team 40 broke the UNCG record for RBI in a single season with 318. The previous mark of 306 was set by the 2014 team. The Spartans sat second with 318 RBI behind Mercer’s 319 last season
The season kicks off with six softball tournaments, four of them with games at UNCG:
The Spiro Classic, beginning Feb.Β 13 with games against Columbia University, Fairfield University, and Appalachian State University;Β Β
The UNCG Invitational, running Feb. 20-24, where the Spartans will compete at home against Bucknell University, Canisius University, and Kent State University
The UNCG/Elon Tournament, starting on Feb. 27, includes home games against Indiana University.Β
The UNCG Tournament, from March 13-15, will bring Lehigh University and Tarleton State University to campus.
CLUBS AND GREENS
The spring season kicks off for men’s golf with two tournaments in Puerto Rico.
Men
The menβs spring golf schedule starts next month with tournaments in Puerto Ricoβthe Palmas del Mar Collegiate running Feb. 8-10, and the Dorado Beach Collegiate from Feb. 22-24. Later, a flurry of road tournaments leads up to the SoCon Championship April 27-29, followed by the NCAA Regionals May 18-20 and the NCAA Championship May 29-June 3.
Highlights of the fall tournaments include a fifth-place finish at the Bryan National Collegiate at Bryan Park, where fourth-year BJ Boyce clocked a career-low 64 on his way to a third-place finish; and the Elon Phoenix Invitational that saw second-year Will Guidry card a career low β8 (63) in the second round, which included two eagles, on his way to finish in a tie for 24th place.
The UNCG Women’s Golf Team enters the spring after a strong fall.
Women
The womenβs golf teamΒ benefitedΒ from strong fall performances, including a win at the UNCG Invitational in October, earningΒ fourth-yearΒ Julia BaemkenΒ SoCon Golfer of the Week honors.Β The spring season begins on Feb. 1Β at the Advance Golf Partners CollegiateΒ in West Palm, Fla.,Β and wends through Greensboro, Ga. (Reynolds Lake Oconee Invitational,Β Feb. 20-22), Hilton Head, SC (Low Country Invitational, March 8-10), and Morganton, NC (Mimosa Hills Intercollegiate, March 30-31).Β The regular seasonΒ wrapsΒ withΒ a one-day tournament inΒ ChapelΒ Hill, NC (UNC Challenge Cup, AprilΒ 4)Β followed byΒ theΒ SoCon ChampionshipΒ fromΒ AprilΒ 20-22, leading into the NCAA Regionals (May 11-13) and the NCAA Championship (May 22-27).Β
THE RACKETS
Men’s Tennis will have a 5-game home stand from Feb. 27 to March 9.
Men
The Spartan Menβs Tennis Team began its spring run with a loss to NC State University earlier this month. Upcoming home matches include contests against NC Central University on Feb. 7 and Elon University on Feb. 8. There will be five home matches from Feb. 27-March 9 against James Madison University (Feb. 27), Florida Gulf Coast University (Feb. 28), Furman University (March 4), Samford University (March 7), and Gardner-Webb University (March 9). Other schedule highlights include a home grudge match against NC A&T State University (March 26) and a SoCon faceoff against Mercer University (April 1). The SoCon Tournament begins April 16 in Chattanooga, Tenn.
WOMEN
The womenβs tennis team began 2026 with three straight losses, two to the University of Virginia and one to NC State University. Their SoCon slate includes matches against Eastern Tennessee State University (Feb. 28, at home), The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (March 15, at home), Furman University (March 21, at home), Wofford University (March 26, away), Western Carolina University (April 7, at home), and two away matches to end the regular season, Samford University (April 10) and Mercer (April 12) before the SoCon Tournament.
FLEET FEET
Spartans are already breaking records on the track this season.
EarlyΒ in the springΒ season,Β indoorΒ runners for the SpartansΒ Track Team have already set record times. First-yearΒ Maddison McIntyreΒ broke the UNCG record in theΒ 400 metersΒ in December atΒ the Winston-Salem College Kickoff,Β while in January at the Mondo College Invitational,Β first-year studentsΒ Ayzia JeffersonΒ set a new school record for the 200-meter for the women, andΒ Emery AndersonΒ andΒ Jeremiah JonesΒ broke the 200-meter and 600-meter school records, respectively.Β Jefferson bested her own 200-meter record in January at the Liberty Open, where first-yearΒ Alana HillΒ also set a UNCG record by beating the mark set byΒ McIntyre in the 400.Β
Just four regular-season meets remain, all on the road: The Tryon College Banked Invitational on Jan. 30, The Sound Invite on Feb. 14, The Tryon Last Chance on Feb. 20, and The JDL Last Chance Invitational on Feb. 21. The SoCon Indoor Track & Field Championship happens Feb. 27-28 in Lexington, Va. and the NCAA Championships are March 13-14 in Fayetteville, Ark.
CHEER THEM ON
Remember that all spring sporting events, aside from menβs basketball, are free to attend. So come on out and support your Spartans this spring.
