Community Engagement
Urban Educators for Change
Urban Educators for Change (UEC) is an interdisciplinary Graduate Student Association that works for the advancement of scholarship that promotes transformative urban education through six strands of study: urban, mathematics, reading, English literacy, TESOL, and elementary education. The organization aims to provide support for graduate students who work within these strands of urban study to advance urban education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the city of Charlotte, and other urban centers across the nation and world.
For more information, email: urbaneducatorsforchange@gmail.com or view the UEC Website.
CIGSPA (Curriculum and Instruction Graduate Student Professional Association)
The national goal to “leave no child behind” in educational achievement requires a highly qualified teaching force, and a highly qualified teaching force requires a teacher education faculty that generates new knowledge, investigates new solutions to educational challenges, and supports the professional development of the next generation of teachers. Such a teaching force also needs education leaders within school systems who support and help retain both new and experienced teachers through professional development programs, curriculum design, policy development, and data-based decision-making. The Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction was designed to address these goals. The degree focuses on urban education, with particular emphasis on literacy and mathematics. The program consists of three specialty areas: literacy education, mathematics education, and urban education.
As the students’ voice, we will benefit PhD cohorts across these three specialty areas by keeping the flow of communication open between these strands and by promoting opportunities on the UNC Charlotte campus. We will also support research in the field of urban education and provide prospects for professional growth. Finally, we will work to disseminate knowledge about urban students in the surrounding districts and across the state and nation in order to enrich the lives of all children, their families, and their communities.
We invite you to join us! By doing so you will have full benefit of the annual Doctoral Student Research Forum, limited travel funding, and additional opportunities for program participation. A membership form can be found in the last section of the student handbook. (Modest annual dues are required.)
Urban Education Collaborative
The Urban Education Collaborative was formed in Fall 2011 to fulfill the goals of the University designation as the urban research institution of the state of North Carolina. The goal of the Collaborative is to serve as a central ‘hub and repository’ of empirically based research and other valuable resources to improve urban schools in the state of North Carolina and the nation. To fulfill the true essence of the University designation, it has an intentional purpose to provide strategic outreach to schools and other organizations to fit their needs to improve the educational environment to facilitate high-level learning for the nation’s urban students.
Visit the Urban Education Collaborative’s website: https://thecollaborative.charlotte.edu/
The Educational Leadership Student Organization
The Educational Leadership Student Organization (ELSO) is open to all graduate students from across the College of Education at UNC Charlotte. ELSO is a graduate student organization that centers three core pillars: (1) community building, (2) academic support, and (3) civic engagement. Ultimately, ELSO strives to adapt to meet the needs of the graduate students in Educational Leadership and across the College of Education, supporting students socially, academically, and professionally.
Visit the Educational Leadership Student Organization here: https://ninerengage.charlotte.edu/organization/elso