The Graduate School

2026 Harshini V. de Silva Graduate Mentor Award Nominations Are Now Open!

October 07, 2025 by Armelia Baldwin

The Harshini V. de Silva Graduate Mentor Award committee is soliciting nominations for the 2026 award. This award was established in memory of Dr. Harshini de Silva, an associate professor of biology. She was noted for her deep dedication to the academic and professional development of graduate students.

Each year, the Chancellor’s Office and the Graduate School present this award to a full-time member of the graduate faculty who evinces these qualities of outstanding graduate mentoring. The recipient will be
honored at a ceremony held on the UNC Charlotte campus in the spring with an award of a crystal obelisk, a framed citation, and a cash prize.

All UNC Charlotte regular graduate faculty members are eligible to receive this recognition. Nominees should be distinguished, active scholars in their appropriate fields and should have a proven record of continuing interest in the growth and success of their students. Evidence of an outstanding graduate mentor should include activities that demonstrate an apparent dedication to providing graduate students with the skills and resources that they need to succeed as scholars and a sincere and active interest in the well-being of their students. These efforts should be related to professional appointments and accomplishments of former students as scholars. Although graduate students, past or present, staff, and faculty members of the University may recommend graduate faculty members for this award, nominations should come from chairs of academic departments. If the nominee is a department chair, the nomination should be made by the college dean.

Nomination materials should include at least the following:

A letter of nomination clearly explaining the nominee’s qualifications. What sets this individual apart from the ordinary in their devotion to graduate students and to graduate education? Also, evidence should be presented that the nominee’s commitment to graduate student education goes significantly beyond that of the average, dedicated member of the graduate faculty.
A copy of the nominee’s curriculum vitae, highlighting activities conducted with graduate students.
Up to six letters of support from graduate students, faculty, alumni, and others.
A statement from the nominee discussing their perspective on the role of mentoring in graduate education.

The deadline for nominations is Friday, November 7, 2025. Visit the Graduate School’s website to submit your online nomination form.

Link to nomination form: https://forms.gle/PG233KJBdmtoi3Zj9

Link to webpage: https://sites.google.com/uncc.edu/gs-award-gateway/home/harshini-v-de-silva-graduate-mentor-award

Please contact Christi Skerlak at cskerlak@charlotte.edu with any questions.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to honor deserving candidates.

New Graduate Recruitment Newsletter

October 07, 2025 by Armelia Baldwin

We are excited to share that we’ve published the first edition of our Graduate Recruitment Newsletter! This monthly newsletter is designed to be your go-to resource for everything recruitment-related — updates on enrollment, upcoming events, professional development opportunities, and tools to help your programs thrive.

Access the Newsletter here!

Recruitment, Reception Move to Reese 1st Floor

August 26, 2024 by White, Brian

The Graduate School reception desk and Graduate Admissions recruitment team have moved to the first floor of the Reese building, centrally located on the UNC Charlotte campus.

This relocation aims to better serve the graduate student community and prospective students by providing improved accessibility and convenience for all visitors.

Faculty Fellow for Grant Writing Position – Graduate and Postdoctoral Writing Center

August 31, 2023 by Sam Finley

The Graduate and Postdoctoral Writing Center is a new initiative created through a collaboration among the Graduate School, the Division of Research and the Writing Resources Center. Launching in Fall 2023, the center’s team will include the Graduate School’s Associate Teaching Professor of Writing, the Director of Charlotte’s Writing Resources Center, a faculty fellow, two doctoral writing fellows and part-time administrative support.

The Graduate Writing Center seeks a faculty fellow to provide grant-writing training to Charlotte postdoctoral scholars and graduate students in doctoral and research master’s degree programs. Course release and/or compensation to be negotiated based on faculty salary and teaching load.

Responsibilities

Build and deliver curricula (delivered through workshop series or academic courses) that train cohorts of postdoctoral scholars and graduate students to find and apply for grants in both STEM and social science fields (similar to the Catalyst program for faculty). This may involve sourcing and collaborating with peers who serve as guest speakers. Topics might include:
- Searching for funding opportunities using PIVOT and other resources
- Interacting with program officers
- Analyzing solicitations
- Preparing all components of the proposal
- Designing figures, tables, and infographics to enhance clarity
- Budget design and budget justification writing
- Preparing supporting materials such as CVs, current and pending funding forms, data management plans, etc
- Routing proposals through the Division of Research (when applicable)
- Identifying next steps if proposal is declined
- The resubmission process
Provide one-on-one coaching and grant proposal review to help postdoctoral scholars and graduate students submit competitive proposals
Search for and publicize postdoctoral scholar and graduate student grant opportunities via postdoc and graduate student newsletters
Create and maintain a collection of grant-writing resources on the Thomas L. Reynolds Center for Graduate Life and Learning website
Collaborate with the Associate Teaching Professor of Writing to improve postdoctoral scholars’ and graduate students’ writing skills and habits related to grant writing.

Qualifications

Open to tenured or tenure-track faculty, with Associate rank or higher
Experience writing grant proposals, particularly NSF or NIH-funded grants
Experience managing a successful grant as a PI or Co-PI
Strong mentorship and teaching skills

The initial appointment would be for 18 months, with annual renewal options.
Desired Start Date: January 2024

Application review will begin on Monday, October 2.
Interested faculty are encouraged to send a resume and letter of interest outlining why they believe they will be successful in this position to Dean Mukherjee at pmukherj@charlotte.edu.

Embedding Website Lead Generation within Departmental/Program Websites

April 26, 2023 by Sam Finley

The Graduate School and its partners, like you, continue to manage and support enrollment management efforts to recruit, enroll and retain students in more than 150 graduate programs of study. We recognize the need to place emphasis on improving awareness of UNC Charlotte’s graduate offerings, which includes increasing lead generation and cultivating applicant connection throughout the admissions process to grow enrollment.

The Graduate School will be partnering with a trusted vendor, Carnegie, to implement a website lead generation strategy and we need your help.

Key Terms
Lead Generation	Nurturing
Lead generation is the process of attracting future students to our portfolio of programs and increasing their interest through nurturing − with the end goal of converting them into a student. Generating leads is a fundamental point in an individual’s journey to becoming a satisfied student. Website lead generation and reporting are critical components of an effective graduate student funnel. The website lead generation forms will collect key information like first and last name, email and cell phone number and automatically associate the contact record with the program they are searching for.	Lead nurturing is the process of building relationships with prospective students by building trust, educating, anticipating needs, establishing awareness, and building brand recognition. Nurturing is important because it’s our opportunity to provide value to future students and help them learn more about UNC Charlotte. Website leads are approximately seven times more likely to convert compared to other sources. All leads/contacts will feed into the current Slate communication campaigns and begin nurturing.

Current State
- Over 80% of UNC Charlotte graduate program web pages do not have a lead generation form on their website.
Future State
- The ‘Request for Information’ form will be embedded on each graduate program webpage by OneIT before the fall 2023 semester (Phase 1). If you prefer to opt out of this lead generation form, please email grad-comm@uncc.edu with the programs that will be opting out by May 5, 2023.
- Phase 2 will include embedding each form on the college-level program webpage during the fall semester.
- All contacts will feed into the current Slate communication campaigns and begin nurturing.
How You Can Help
- If you have a graduate program that would not like to embed a lead generation form on your program website, please let us know by sending an email to grad-comm@uncc.edu with the programs that will be opting out by May 5, 2023.

Thank you for your partnership,

Pinku Mukherjee, Ph.D.
Irwin Belk Distinguished Professor of Cancer Research
Interim Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate School

Sam Finley
Director of Marketing and Communications
UNC Charlotte | The Graduate School

Sources:
HubSpot Academy, Understanding Lead Generation
Ruffalo Noel Levitz (RNL) Graduate and Online Enrollment Workshop

Search Under Way for Graduate School Faculty Fellow

December 10, 2021 by White, Brian

The Graduate School is seeking candidates for Faculty Fellow to serve as a part-time member of the Graduate School Senior Staff. The Faculty Fellow’s role spans a variety of activities in the Office of the Dean and may be assigned specific projects in graduate education that match the education, experience and talent of the Faculty Fellow.

For more information and to apply, please download the Graduate School Faculty Fellow position description.

Session Helps Students with Common Interview Questions

November 08, 2021 by White, Brian

In this CGLL course Nov. 11 at 4 p.m., students can learn how to prepare and practice answers to commonly asked interview questions. Facilitated by Karen Arrington, Assistant Director and Career Coach at the University Career Center. The session will be held in Cone 268.

To register, please visit the Center for Graduate Life and Learning.

Health Informatics (CERT)

August 26, 2015 by akforsyt_admin

Health Informatics provides students with foundational and core competencies in the management of health and medical information and its secure exchange between consumers and providers. Health Informaticians bridge the gap between the worlds of medici…