Two undergraduates in the College of Arts and Sciences search for salamanders in western North Carolina — and find so much more.

Karla Slocum has worked for UNC-Chapel Hill for 27 years in a variety of roles, most recently as senior associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) for the UNC College of Arts and Sciences. She is also a professor of anthropology and the Thomas Willis Lambeth Distinguished Chair in Public Policy.

Southern Futures Townsend Fellow Cayla Colclasure is studying the prison labor that built the Western North Carolina Railroad, which weaves through Old Fort in McDowell County, North Carolina.

UNC-Chapel Hill folklorist Glenn Hinson and playwright Jacqueline Lawton are working with community members to examine difficult topics in Warren County’s history and to help forge a new future.

Following graduation, Ph.D. student Lucia Stavig plans to continue advocacy work and to uplift the efforts of Indigenous women and communities so they can heal. At Carolina, her adviser was Florence Babb in the department of anthropology in the College of Arts & Sciences. 

Students in a hands-on anthropology course piece together ancient ceramics, learn to fire pottery and cook with pots over a fire to study the history of pottery.

Senior Juan Castro wasn’t sure that he’d find his place at Carolina. But through the Carolina Covenant, the Latinx Center and volunteer opportunities, the Tar Heel found a sense of belonging in Chapel Hill.

Yesenia Pedro Vicente came to Carolina for her undergrad as a “first-generation everything.” Now, she has returned to the University to help underrepresented graduate students navigate obstacles.

Sixty-two new faculty members joined departments in the College of Arts & Sciences this summer. Meet six of them.

UNC folklorist Glenn Hinson and students provided research that informed the re-enactment this summer of a 1921 Warren County court trial where 16 Black men were unfairly accused after being threatened by a white mob.