UNC Asheville’s 2022 Homecoming brings the magic back to this annual celebration, Feb. 21-26, 2022, with a week of student events, Friday evening award ceremonies, and a weekend of Bulldog Basketball and Baseball.
Student events start Monday, Feb. 21, with a Once Upon a Time theme and a Bulldog Spirit Day. On Wednesday, Feb. 23, the Key Center will lead a service project for the campus community, and supporters are invited to cheer on the Bulldogs in a Men’s Basketball Watch Party from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Highland Brewing Downtown Taproom at the S&W Market.
Friday, Feb. 25 showcases both the National Alumni Awards and the Athletics Hall of Fame, with ceremonies from 6 to 8 p.m. Tickets are required for each ceremony.
The 2022 National Alumni Awards will honor Chris Mathis ’79 with the Roy A. Taylor Distinguished Alumnus Award; Steve Elliott ’80 with the Thomas D. Reynolds Alumni Award for Service to the University; Mary B. Nesbitt ’84 with the Francine M. Delany Alumni Award for Service to the Community; Shoshana Fried Barton ’08 and Jethro Waters ’13 with The Order of Pisgah Award for Alumni Achievement; and Agya Boakye-Boaten, professor of Africana and interdisciplinary studies and interim dean of social sciences, with the Alumni Distinguished Faculty Award. In addition, the first Mullen-James Social Justice & Equity Impact Award will be named and awarded to Professors Emeriti of Political Science Dolly Jenkins-Mullen and Dwight Mullen, Chemistry Professor Emeritus Charles James ‘73 and English Professor Emeritus Deborah (Dee) Grier-James ‘73.
For more information, visit homecoming.unca.edu/home/alumni-events/.
The 2022 Athletics Hall of Fame class includes Matt Dickey (Men’s Basketball ’12); Natalie Pearson (Women’s Track & Field ’11); J.P. Primm (Men’s Basketball ’12); and Barney Gradman (Contributor). Read more at uncabulldogs.com/news/2021/12/22/athletics-news-unc-asheville-athletics-announces-2022-hall-of-fame-class.aspx.
Weekend events are open to the public and kick-off with a Bulldog Block Party outside Kimmel Arena at noon on Saturday, February 26th, followed by a men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader with games at 2:00 (women) and 4:30 p.m. (men). Admission to all basketball games in February is just $5!
Close out the celebration at The Village Porch with alumni and friends, or stay through Sunday, Feb. 27th to catch Bulldog Baseball at Greenwood Field at noon. Admission to baseball games is free all season long, courtesy of our title sponsor Ingles!
Alumni and friends who want to celebrate from afar can purchase Homecoming-in-a-Box for $25, which includes a gift of $15 to the Alumni Referral Scholarship. The box includes a notebook and pen for Back to Class Sessions via Zoom, a UNC Asheville pint glass, a ‘Support Local, Support Alumni’ reusable grocery bag, a small bag of Poppy Popcorn ‘Asheville Mix’ and a UNC Asheville Homecoming sticker.
For more information and to purchase tickets or a Homecoming-in-a-Box, visit homecoming.unca.edu/.
UNC Asheville 2022 National Alumni Awards
Chris Mathis ’79 – Roy A. Taylor Distinguished Alumnus of the Year
Christopher “Chris” Mathis has spent the past 40 years focusing on how buildings and building products perform – from energy efficiency and code compliance to long-term durability and sustainability. Today, as president of Mathis Consulting Company (MC2), he works with strategically-aligned clients, leveraging that knowledge and understanding to improve buildings, building products and the codes and standards that govern them.
Mathis earned his undergraduate degrees in 1979 from the University of North Carolina Asheville where he double majored in physics and theatre. He received a Master of Science in Architecture Studies from MIT in 1982, where his graduate work focused on energy use in buildings. He began his career as a scientist in the Insulation Technology Laboratory at the Owens-Corning Fiberglas Technical Center in Granville, Ohio. From there, he became the director of the Thermal Testing Laboratory for the National Association of Home Builders Research Center in Rockville, Maryland. While with the Research Center, he began investigating the need for quantifying and certifying the energy performance of windows and he has become an expert with issues of window performance since 1986. He is a leader in standards and codes development nationally and internationally, and he is a member of ASHRAE (formerly the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers. Author of numerous technical papers and conference presentations, Mathis has presented his hallmark lecture – Why Buildings Matter – in over 26 countries and across the U.S.
Steve Elliott ’80 – Thomas D. Reynolds Alumni Award for Service to the University
Steve Elliott retired from UNC Asheville in 2020 after more than four-decades dedicated to the University, first as a student and later as an employee. He also served in the Army, helping patients in a 500-bed hospital and army field unit.
As a student at UNC Asheville, he was a member of student government and the recipient of the A.C. Reynolds Award for student service. He earned B.A. and B.S. degrees, followed by an M.S. in business education. In 1990 he returned to campus as a member of the Campus Operations team for 30 years, working in warehousing, inventory control, department IT support, and software administrator, as well as serving on numerous committees and advisory councils. Now retired, he has a goal to travel to all 50 states, with Hawaii as the last destination on his list.
Mary B. Nesbitt ’84 – Francine M. Delany Alumni Award for Service to the Community
Mary B. Nesbitt is the chief development officer for MANNA FoodBank in Asheville, North Carolina, providing enthusiastic leadership and direction for fundraising, volunteerism, and marketing and communication. In this role, she works to expand the base of support and grow MANNA’s efforts to provide food to those in need across a 16-county service area. She began her nonprofit career with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of WNC, later moving on to serving at Helpmate and then to serving in numerous leadership roles for the American Cancer Society for nearly two decades.
Nesbitt earned a B.A. in sociology from UNC Asheville and continues to find ways to engage in leadership roles, finding it extremely rewarding to serve as a speaker, trainer and advocate at a number of regional, nationwide and international conferences to motivate and inspire others to further our collective efforts.
Shoshana Fried Barton ’08 – The Order of Pisgah Award for Alumni Achievement
Shoshana Fried Barton is a staff attorney at Pisgah Legal Services, a nonprofit in Western North Carolina that provides legal services to low-income families. From 2016 until 2021, she served as the director of the Immigration Program at Pisgah Legal Services, and she managed a team of attorneys that helped hundreds of low-income immigrants obtain lawful permanent residency, work authorization, asylum, and other immigration law remedies. In 2019, Barton was named Distinguished Young Lawyer of the Year by the Buncombe County Bar. This year, Barton pivoted into a new role at Pisgah Legal, helping families across western North Carolina access Medicaid and other healthcare-related benefits.
Barton earned a degree in economics and Spanish at UNC Asheville.
Jethro Waters ’13 – The Order of Pisgah Award for Alumni Achievement
Jethro Waters is an Emmy Award-winning director, writer, producer, cinematographer and editor of films, television and music videos. His films have been featured in many prestigious international film festivals, international art museums, and featured in publications including The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Billboard, NPR, The Guardian, and L.A. Weekly. Waters has directed films and music videos for Angel Olsen, Natalie Prass, Eric Slick, Valient Thorr, Matthew E. White, River Whyless, among a host of other artists. His documentary feature-length film, F11 and Be There, a film about iconic photographer Burk Uzzle, was a New York Times Critics’ Pick and won an Emmy Award for Best Documentary in the Cultural Category at the 2021 Nashville Midsouth Emmy Awards.
Waters earned a B.A. in international studies from UNC Asheville, worked as a documentary filmmaker and multimedia designer in academic publishing, and founded Waters Film LTD, a production company specializing in narrative and documentary films and television. Between 2018 and 2021 he was commissioned to direct multiple documentaries on architecture, design, and sustainability in California, Japan, Singapore, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic, featuring architects, designers, and luminaries. Waters is currently in production on his first feature-length narrative film, which will be released in 2022.
See more in UNC Asheville’s Original Minds video.
Agya Boakye-Boaten – The Alumni Distinguished Faculty Award
Agya Boakye-Boaten earned a Ph.D. in educational studies, with an emphasis in cultural studies in education, an M.A. in political science (international relations), and an M.A. in international affairs (African Studies) all from Ohio University. He also earned his B.A. (Hons) in social work/administration and political science from the University of Ghana, Legon. He has served in several leadership positions in different universities since 2007. Currently, he is a Professor of Africana & Interdisciplinary Studies and Interim Dean of Social Sciences at UNC Asheville.
Baokye-Boaten is a U.S .Fulbright Scholar (Ghana 2019-2020) and Fellow-Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship (2017). He is also an international scholar as a lifelong member of Phi Beta Delta Honor Society. His research interests include alternative education for street children, building intellectual and creative capacities of students using alternative education strategies, and the use of education as a medium for the promotion of democracy. He has taught various interdisciplinary, international, and Africana studies courses. Additionally, he is interested in decolonial options, construction of African philosophical thought, effects of colonialism on African aesthetics, and the transformation of indigenous cultures through global engagement.
See more in UNC Asheville’s Original Minds video.
Deborah (Dee) Grier-James, Charles James, Dolly Jenkins-Mullen and Dwight Mullen – The James-Mullen Social Justice & Equity Impact Award
Established in 2021, The James-Mullen Social Justice & Equity Impact award will honor and be named for Professors Emeriti of Political Science Dolly Jenkins-Mullen and Dwight Mullen, Chemistry Professor Emeritus Charles James and English Professor Emeritus Deborah (Dee) Grier-James. All four retired in May 2018, having served as UNC Asheville faculty since 1984.
They were among the university’s first African-American faculty members, recruited as part of an effort to diversify the faculty.
The Mullen & James Humanities Hall is also named in their honor. To read more, visit https://www.unca.edu/events-and-news/stories/unc-asheville-mullen-james-humanities-hall-naming-october-2018/.
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