That's A Wrap

A Look Back at Our Favorite Stories from 2022

By UNC Asheville

December 19^th, 2022

What stories from 2022 will you still be telling in 2023? It's been an incredible year at UNC Asheville, with journeys taking us around the world, research taking us deeper into the work we're most passionate about, community engagement linking us further to our own home, and so much more in-between and beyond. Take a look back at some of our favorite stories from the past year, and join us as we look ahead to a new year, and new stories, in 2023.

We traveled the world

Classes like field geology and desert ecology took our faculty and students across the United States, while faculty-led study abroad trips took them across the ocean to Scotland and Ireland.

We brought the world to Asheville

From June 14-18, some of the country’s preeminent global thought leaders converged over three days in WNC for the inaugural Asheville Ideas Fest, rooted in a belief that seeing the world’s significant challenges from new perspectives can improve our world.

Our alumni made us proud

Atmospheric science alumni Grant Gilmore ‘06 and Tyler Moore ‘18 worked together to provide life-saving coverage of Hurricane Ian in Tampa Bay; teachers Sarah Laws and Sean Winebrenner inspired us with their dedication to their students; journalist Jennifer Forysth came back to campus to share her expertise with students; and former McCullough Fellows near and far used their sustainability research experience at UNC Asheville to continue changing the world.

Our students made themselves at home

With Weeks of Welcome kicking off the fall semester, Bulldogs across campus found where they belong.

And then they got to work

Students got busy with student orgs, research, and community engagement projects.

Our student-athletes excelled

Our student-athletes are champions of the court, track, field, pool, and classroom. Seven teams earned a perfect score of 1,000 in the NCAA’s academic performance standard, the Academic Progress Rate. Our student-athletes have a 96% graduation rate and a 3.176 overall GPA; 72% earned the Big South Presidential Honor Roll, and 28 are All-Big South Student-Athletes.

NCAA Woman of the Year nominee, Grace Kwiatkowski (soccer), graduated magna cum laude with a major in health and wellness and minor in biology. Drew Pember (men's basketball) has been named Big South Player of the Week five times (so far!). Grace Volk (volleyball) won our Manley Wright Award as valedictorian, was a North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Scholar and Goldwater recipient, and 2021-22 Big South Conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and is now in medical school. Numerous student-athletes presented in the Fall Undergraduate research symposium, on topics from "Applying Theories of Communication to Food Justice in Western North Carolina" to "Implications of Race and Income in Disparate Exposure to Pollution."

We got involved in our hometown

Students, faculty, and staff took center stage in downtown Asheville, showcasing their work as part of the city's Art in the Heart series. STEAM Studio stole the show at the NC Arboretum's Winter Lights display, with faculty, staff, and students creating animatronic singing animals. And our students benefited from the involvement of hometown heroes offering their support through mentorship programs.

We made news

It's no surprise when Bulldogs make national headlines. The New York Times, for example, this year published a rave review of 2012 alumna Mesha Maren's new novel, Perpetual West; praised 2016 alumna Josie Silver's pandemic work in the classroom; and broke the story of new media faculty member Christopher Oakley's new discovery about the Gettysburg Address.

We earned accolades

Amazing things happen at UNC Asheville, and it's getting noticed. This year we made Princeton Review’s Top 50 “Guide to Green Colleges” List and earned Bike Friendly status, both for the first time. We were named a Hidden Gem by College Raptor, featured in The Princeton Review’s 2023 edition of The Best 388 Colleges, and were ranked #8 for Top Public Schools among National Liberal Arts Colleges in U.S. News 2023 edition (just to name a few).