Swim Coach Bobby Guntoro (left) helps a D.C. Virgo student learn to use a kickboard in the Earl Jackson pool.

June 2021

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Message from Chancellor Jose V. Sartarelli

Dear Seahawk Community,

The month of June has brought change and new opportunities to our Seahawk community. We celebrated the latest success of SeaHawk-1, UNCW’s first nanosatellite, now collecting stellar images with the potential to transform how scientists study the health of the world’s oceans. The university installed “Because It’s Time,” new artwork by award-winning North Carolina artist Dare Coulter. We also partnered with the College Advising Corps to recruit more underserved, rural students to UNCW and re-launched our special Learn to Swim Program in partnership with our D.C. Virgo lab school.

We welcomed new leadership to the Center for Marine Science: Kenneth M. Halanych will join UNCW in the fall from Auburn University, where he is the Stewart Schneller Endowed Chair and Alumni Professor of Biology and the Curator of Invertebrates at the AU Museum of Natural History. We bid a fond farewell to Interim College of Arts and Sciences Dean Rich Ogle, who has taken on a new role as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at California State University, Stanislaus. UNCW also mourned the loss of special members of our community, including Randall Library colleague Anne Pemberton and former Provost Charles L. Cahill.

The first summer session has wrapped up on campus, and classes for the second session began June 28. Our summer youth programs are off to a great start, and most of our faculty and staff are returning to campus full time in July as we prepare for an exciting start to the fall semester in August. We can’t wait to welcome about 18,000 new and returning students to UNCW for a great fall filled with UNCW traditions and new campus experiences.

Go Seahawks!

Jose V. Sartarelli

Chancellor

Top photo: UNCW Swimming and Diving Head Coach Bobby Guntoro (left) and his team of instructors are providing free swim lessons to D.C. Virgo students at the Earl Jackson Pool on Wilmington's Northside. The Learn to Swim Program is an outgrowth of research conducted by Ann Freeman, assistant secretary to the UNCW Board of Trustees, for her Master of Public Administration degree.

SPOTLIGHT

Chancellor Sartarelli (left) shakes hands with artist Dare Coulter in front of her artwork, titled "Because It's Time," encapsulating the joy and pain of the Black experience in Wilmington.

Chancellor Sartarelli and award-winning sculptor, artist and illustrator Dare Coulter participated in the unveiling of her public artwork "Because It's Time," which celebrates resilience and highlights a core belief that Black lives matter. The concept for the sculpture, which stands near the Amphitheater, was developed with student and community input. Members of the campus and greater Wilmington community were on hand for the event.

Satellite photo of the Outer Banks and surrounding ocean.

This view of the Outer Banks is from UNCW’s first nanosatellite, which is collecting unprecedented high-resolution images that have the potential to transform how scientists study the health of the world’s oceans. UNCW's John Morrison and his team of international partners launched the operations phase of the SeaHawk-1 Cubesat this month. The low-cost miniature satellite can circle the globe in 15 days and gather crisp images of the ocean from more than 350 miles away.

Picture of the Film Studies Building with a purple-pink sky in the background.

The new Film Studies Building, situated near the intersection of Plyler Drive and Riegel Road, includes a 4,000-square-foot soundstage. There, students will receive hands-on training in a broad range of media applications, including digital cinematography; digital editing; and sound recording, design and mixing. The facility also houses a state-of-the-art theater.

The Department of Music's Jerald Shynett spent time at home during the pandemic writing four new jazz compositions that premiered at a concert directed by Shynett and performed by the 16-piece band Hwy 17 Big Band. The band comprises professional jazz musicians; members of the UNCW jazz faculty and other regional institutions; and alumni from the UNCW Department of Music and the UNCW Summer Jazz Workshop.