YuJa Panorama Replaces UDOIT for Canvas Accessibility
Posted on March 05, 2026
ITS is making the change to YuJa Panorama, an accessibility tool built into Canvas to support new ADA Title II requirements. The full launch is planned for August.
All state agencies, universities, community colleges, and other public entities are eligible to receive this award if they meet the highest standard of fiscal accountability.
“This award reflects the Controller’s Office’s commitment to accuracy, transparency, and fiscal stewardship,” says UNCG Controller Ghazala Bibi. “Achieving this level of audit excellence requires diligence, technical expertise, and year-round collaboration. I am incredibly proud of our team for upholding the highest standards of financial reporting and compliance on behalf of UNCG.”
OSA focused on three criteria: timely submission of the entity’s unaudited financial statement package, no record of any significant audit adjustments upon completion of the OSA’s financial statement, and no record of any audit findings (significant deficiencies, material weaknesses, or other findings required by auditing standards).
UNCG thanks all the staff within the Controller’s Office for their hard work to earn this achievement.
For the 2024 fiscal year, OSA recognized 27 institutions or agencies overall for financial statement audits or single audits.
SOAR Signing Up Volunteers to Support Summer Orientation
Posted on March 05, 2026
Help UNCG make a direct impact on the newest Spartans by helping create a welcoming, supportive, and unforgettable orientation experience.
New Student Transitions & First Year Experience seeks faculty and staff volunteers to support SOAR sessions this June. They create a warm first impression by greeting students and guests, assisting with directions near parking and check-in, and answering general questions.
All interested should sign up by Friday, May 4 at 5 p.m.
Volunteer shifts are two hours in the morning and take place outdoors near SOAR check-in locations. Volunteers will receive a t-shirt, pom-pom, lunch voucher, and other helpful material. They’ll also be invited to attend the SOAR Preview on June 1 at 3 p.m.
Interested volunteers should speak to their supervisor before signing up, as flex or comp time is granted at their discretion, and supervisors will be notified of participation.
Students Can Enter Now to Win University Libraries Research Awards
Posted on March 05, 2026
The ULRA awards are given in recognition of an outstanding original paper or project in any media format. Two individual undergraduates and one graduate student will be awarded a $500 prize. Application materials are due March 20.
Jarrod Rudd ’13 Builds Civic-Minded Spartans, Ready to Serve and Vote
Posted on February 25, 2026
Higher education not only introduces students to a more global view of the world; it also teaches them how their voices and efforts can have a ripple effect of impact. This is especially true of civic engagement, a practice that is learned, modeled, and encouraged at UNCG. Mentors play a critical role in helping students recognize their power to make a difference in their communities and beyond.
Rudd returned to his alma mater in 2021 with a passion to empower students to serve their community and be changemakers. By 2024, he was heading up OLCE, the office that students turn to for engagement in local service projects and leadership development.
Service day T-shirts are emblazoned with the word “changemakers,” reflecting OLCE’s mission to turn Spartans into changemakers for their communities. “You don’t need to be the mayor to be a changemaker,” Rudd says. “I want students to understand their values and live through that. I truly believe in the motto of the University… service.”
Under his direction, OLCE’s service days, which call for students to volunteer with local nonprofits on Spartan Service Day in September and MLK Day of Service in January, fill to capacity with waitlists. Now there are service days every other week, connecting students with volunteer work in Greensboro. This year, he also secured a grant to add a 9/11 Day of Service to the mix.
“It was powerful,” he says about teaching students about 9/11’s impact on communities. “Even as we think about our current environment, we reflected on what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, and also what happened afterwards. How did people come together? What type of community did we build? How did we show up for one another?”
Starting small and showing up for one another is how Rudd teaches students about civic engagement. When students are feeling discouraged by current events, he offers simple advice: “Advocate for what you believe in by starting small conversations within your friend group. This is how hope is inspired.”
On service days, Jarrod Rudd hypes up the changemakers before they head out to community sites for hands-on volunteer work.
Vested in Voting
Rudd’s hope and enthusiasm for civic engagement really comes alive when elections, like next week’s primaries, are happening: “Today’s debates are sparking curiosity in students, and I want to support that and encourage them to use their voice in many ways — whether that is voting, attending city council meetings, or writing to elected officials.”
To prepare for the primary election on March 3, Rudd worked with student groups to demystify the election process and help them “make a plan” to vote. Asking questions like “Are you registered?” “Where are you registered?” “How will you get to the polls?” helps them craft a plan. In addition to meeting one-on-one with students, he also empowered student catalyst leaders to share election information with campus organizations and peer groups.
Voting plans for students were further complicated when early voting polls closed at UNCG and across town at NC A&T State University. Convenient polling locations are important to students who may be casting their very first ballot while in college.
Removing barriers to election participation is a priority for Rudd, who coordinated transportation for students wanting to vote early. On Feb. 25 and 26, shuttles will run from the EUC to the courthouse on Market Street so they can participate in early voting. Sign up here to join them.
“This was an instance where we were truly listening to our students who were upset about the early voting poll closing,” he explains. “We knew that mandate wasn’t going to change, so our action was to get them there.”
These may sound like extra measures for a primary election, but Rudd wants students to get involved early. “They have more power than they actually think,” he says.
Deserving of Distinction
Rudd was honored for his work when he was named the 2026 Civic Engagement Professional of the Year by North Carolina Campus Engagement . The award recognizes exceptional leadership in advancing civic learning, strengthening campus-community partnerships, and embedding civic engagement into institutional practice.
Rudd’s’ colleagues on the UNCG Community Engagement Council nominated him for his role in transforming civic engagement from a set of individual programs into a coordinated and mission-aligned institutional effort. His management of UNCG student leadership programs, voter education efforts, community-based career experiences, and campus-wide service events made him a clear choice.
Students agree that his reach has real impact. Zainab Adamou-Mohamed is a recent UNCG graduate who now serves on his staff. She originally met Rudd when she served as an OLCE catalyst leader and has watched him welcome students to service-day events since she was a first-year.
“His upbeat and encouraging tone appeals to students who are unfamiliar or even nervous about participating in service,” she says. ”It reflects his ongoing commitment to empowering young people through acceptance, warmth, and encouragement, no matter where they are in their leadership journey.”
Judd loves working with students like Adamou-Mohamed, but he is quick to credit UNCG staff and faculty cooperation.
“Every day, I get to see UNCG students step into their power as changemakers, whether that is making a plan to vote, serving alongside someone with a different perspective, or building partnerships that create real impact in Greensboro,” he says. “This award is deeply meaningful because it reflects the collective commitment of our campus and community partners to civic engagement. It is not just recognition of my work, but of the incredible ways UNCG students show up to make their communities stronger.”
Story by Becky Deakins, University Communications and Nicole Merritt, Student Affairs. Photos by Sean Norona, University Communications.
Commencement team signing volunteers for Spring 2026
Posted on February 23, 2026
The Spring Commencement season is here once again, and all are cordially invited to join UNCG’s graduating class in these celebratory occasions.
Volunteers are an integral part of both the Doctoral and Master’s Commencement Ceremony and the University Commencement Ceremony. They play a key role in the success of these events each semester. Those ceremonies will be held on May 7 and 8 this year. Both are at First Horizon Coliseum.
The ceremonies begin at 10 a.m. Volunteers should report to the Coliseum by 8 a.m.
Volunteers will receive a continental breakfast the morning of the event, in addition to a volunteer thank-you event. For those that may be leery to commit to being a volunteer, we have a formal walkthrough with training and plan for virtual meet-ups. Volunteers will learn their team leads before the walkthrough.
Sign up here for the Doctoral and Master’s Commencement Ceremony, the University Commencement Ceremony, or both.
UNCG very much appreciates everyone who contributes their time, expertise, and support in bringing these special events to life for graduating students and their families.
Why should you volunteer for Commencement ceremonies? You help make unforgettable moments like these from May 2025 that graduates and their loved ones will never forget.
School of Nursing Expanding Care With UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of North Carolina Gift
Posted on March 02, 2026
The $715,000 investment will go toward the School’s goals to grow its health care reach, particularly in rural and underserved areas of the state. It will go toward the purchase of a second Minerva’s Mobile Health van and hands-on training for even more students.
Growing buildings in space: UNCG, Luna Labs test fungi as construction material for moon, Mars
Posted on February 16, 2026
With funding from NASA, a UNC Greensboro (UNCG) lab and Virginia-based technology company Luna Labs are exploring the use of fungus as a building material in space.
The project, led at UNCG by chemistry professor Nicholas Oberlies, will investigate whether certain fungi can be combined with regolith—loose rock and soil found on the surface of the Moon and other planets—to create materials that could one day support construction in places other than Earth.
“When you think about building on the Moon or Mars, you’re not going to fill up a rocket ship with bricks and mortar,” Oberlies says. “The goal is to explore whether we can create materials using what’s already available on-site.”
Building with biology
Instead of transporting heavy construction supplies across space, researchers are increasingly interested in in-situ resource utilization—using local materials to support exploration and long-term habitation.
Oberlies’ research team will attempt to culture fungi—which grow on dead and decaying matter and form dense webs of thread-like structures called hyphae—on a mixture of regolith and simulated human waste. The goal is to cultivate the hyphae so they link the regolith together into a solid composite, which can be sterilized and compressed into something resembling a brick.
“Astronauts will need to recycle as much as possible in space,” Oberlies says. “This is an early-stage exploration of whether mycology can help us turn limited resources into something useful.”
The researchers are particularly interested in shelf fungi and other species known for their rigidity.
“If you’re hiking in the woods and see fungi growing on the side of a tree in little steps, those fungi are actually pretty strong,” says Oberlies.
Prototype fungus bricks developed using oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus), photographyprovided by Luna Labs
New frontiers in fungal ecology
The NASA funding was awarded to Luna Labs, a Charlottesville-based product development company with expertise in advanced materials testing and structural analysis.
“Luna Labs brings the engineering side, measuring the strength and how much you can compress it,” Oberlies says. “Our expertise is in fungal ecology: which species are good candidates and how we can grow them.”
While Oberlies’ laboratory is best known for studying fungi’s bioactive compounds, the NASA-supported project represents an exciting new application of their expertise.
“This isn’t what we do every single day,” Oberlies says. “But as a geeky scientist who’s read The Martian, the idea of contributing something to NASA is cool.”
The project is exploratory but reflects the growing reality that future missions to the Moon and Mars will require innovative, sustainable ways to live and build far from Earth.
Art Comes Alive for High Schoolers in UNCG Summer Camps
Posted on February 26, 2026
Registration is now open for camps held each year at the College of Visual and Performing Arts. These camps are a big draw for kids who want a deep immersion into art and music and want to work with professionals in an art style of their choosing.
Alumna and Spartan Dining Whip Up Healthy Ideas for Smoothie-Lovers
Posted on March 18, 2026
UNC Greensboro students walked out of Fountain View Dining Hall with matcha smoothies they knew they’d like. UNCG Spartan Dining hosted the vibrant Matcha Smoothie Bar Teaching Kitchen, serving more than 350 handcrafted matcha smoothies to students.
This special event on Feb. 18 came together thanks to Littlefoot Matcha, a Greensboro-based small business owned and operated by UNCG alumna Anna Sullivan ’14.
Coming back to UNCG felt like coming full circle for Sullivan, who earned a degree in consumer, apparel, and retail studies with a minor in business. “When I was in school, I drank a lot of coffee and Red Bulls,” she says. “It felt good to introduce something to students that I love, with a healthier version of caffeine.”
Jennifer Domingo Candelario, a double major in accounting and marketing, enjoyed the opportunity to add a twist to her usual menu. “I tried the mango smoothie, and I honestly loved it,” she says. “It was my first time trying a flavored smoothie, so it was a fun change from what I usually get.”
The collaboration brought more than just a refreshing, antioxidant-rich beverage to campus; it showcased the power of supporting local businesses and celebrating Spartan success beyond graduation.
Good Taste Meets Benefits
Through the interactive teaching kitchen experience, students came away with a high-quality product sourced from a local, woman-owned business and new knowledge about the origins and benefits of matcha. Sullivan explains, “Matcha has different properties similar to other teas, and it has more of a bell curve with your energy versus a ‘crash out’ you get with espresso.”
Spartan Dining’s partnership with this alumna-owned company is part of its commitment to fostering meaningful community connections while highlighting entrepreneurship within the UNCG network. The overwhelming turnout reflected the growing student interest in menu options and experiential dining events centered on wellness. Sullivan says she would have loved to have this kind of program when she was still a student.
“It seemed all the students really enjoyed it,” she says. “It’s nice to be able to teach that you can enjoy matcha in many different ways other than just a latte, which a lot of people are now ordering from Starbucks.”
Spartan Dining looks forward to continuing to elevate campus dining through collaborations that celebrate the Spartan community, both on campus and beyond.
Story by Des St. Cyr, Spartan Dining Photography courtesy of Spartan Dining
