UNC Charlotte Center City Community Day is Sept. 17

Community Day planned for UNC Charlotte Center City

Event Date:
Sat, 09/17/2011 - 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Event Location:
Center City Building, 9th & Brevard, Uptown Charlotte

With the opening of the Center City Building, UNC Charlotte is responding to the needs of the Charlotte region. The facility will offer programming focused on arts and the creative economy, business and finance, urban and regional development, health and community engagement.

On Saturday, Sept. 17, Center City opens its doors to welcome the neighboring community and University partners into the building to learn more about how UNC Charlotte plans to enhance existing connections and create new ones. UNC Charlotte faculty and staff members along with their family and friends are invited to the celebration.

“The campus community and our First and Fourth Ward neighbors will have a great opportunity to get better acquainted with UNC Charlotte Center City through our family-friendly Community Day celebration,” said Jerry Coughter, executive director. “This building promises to inspire collaboration between the University and the community, so it is fitting to bring us all together to discover how we can join forces.”

The UNC Charlotte Center City Community Day celebration will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The colleges of Arts + Architecture, Business, Computing and Informatics and Engineering, as well as the Auxiliary Services Office, Extended Academic Programs Office and Athletics Department are participating in this celebration. Parking will be available for a fee in nearby lots; visitors are encouraged to walk, bike or take public transit. UNC Charlotte Center City is two blocks from Seventh Street Station.

A fully operational race car, provided by the Motorsports Engineering Program will be among the displays featured at UNC Charlotte Center City. Motorsports students and staff will be available to talk about the car and the research associated with it. Also, the College of Computing and Informatics (CCI) will have an interactive, robotic virtual human on display; CCI students built it under the supervision of college faculty.

Mira Frisch, assistant professor of cello in the College of Arts + Architecture’s Music Department, will perform in a string trio with Charlotte Symphony musicians Kari Giles and Jenny Topilow. Adjunct faculty member and pianist Noel Friedline will perform with a flutist and flamenco guitarist, and Terranova Dance Theatre will give a preview of its performance that will be part of the N.C. Dance Festival. Two UNC Charlotte art professors will help children create print screen T-shirts while an art teacher from First Ward Elementary School helps others make tie-dye shirts.

English professor Mark West will stage a puppet show and deliver literary readings geared toward children and families, and there will be performances by the First Ward Elementary School step team and UNC Charlotte alumnus and slam poet Boris “Bluz” Rogers. Film screenings and more cultural and technological presentations are part of the celebration, too, and throughout the day, Charlotte 49ers mascot Norm the Niner will be on hand.

A complete schedule of events is being finalized, and new offerings from campus and community partners may be added prior to the celebration.

The 143,000 square-foot Center City Building houses graduate programs for the Belk College of Business and the College of Health and Human Services. Also, the College of Arts + Architecture’s Master of Urban Design and College of Education’s urban education program will meet at the building, and the Office of Extended Academic Programs will base its continuing education offerings there.

With its location at Ninth and Brevard streets, UNC Charlotte Center City borders the light rail tracks on one side and the First Ward neighborhood on the other. Fourth Ward is a few blocks away, and the core of Uptown Charlotte is nearby. University and community leaders envision the building will be a catalyst for continued redevelopment in the First Ward.


UNC Charlotte Center City Community Day 9/17/11