The installation ceremony for Dr. Nancy Cable as UNC Asheville chancellor takes place this Friday April 26 on the Quad on campus. Cable began her tenure as the school's 8th chancellor began last August, and her first school year at UNC Asheville has seen challenges. In the first days of her tenure, the school's new residence halls had to be closed to students over fire safety concerns. Asheville firefighters lived at the dorms for weeks after. Then in the spring, Eblen Charities CEO Bill Murdock returned his honorary degree that he was awarded from the school just the year before after renewed concerns over his guilty plea to a sex crime charge in 1988 surfaced after reporting from CNN and the Asheville Citizen-Times. Dr. Cable sat down with BPR's Matt Bush to discuss how she felt the school responded to those circumstances, as well as all the events taking place during her installation ceremony this week (which can be read below).
Thursday, April 25, in the Blue Ridge Room, Highsmith Student Union
9:00–10:30 a.m. Celebrate UNC Asheville! Liberal Arts and Sciences Education’s Vital Role for the Future of our Democracy, led by Mr. Jon Peede, Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Dr. Lynn Pasquerella, President of AAC&U and Dr. Lawrence T. Potter, Chief Academic Officer and Provost at the University of the District of Columbia.
2:30 p.m. Celebrate UNC Asheville! An Essential Right: Health and Wellness Trends & Research, led by Dr. Rita Charon, Founder of Narrative Medicine; Dr. Wesley Burks, CEO of UNC Healthcare; and Dr. Jeff Heck, MAHEC.
4:00 p.m. Celebrate UNC Asheville! Inclusive Excellence and Equity: The Power of a University Partnership, led by Mr. Al Whitesides, Buncombe County Commissioner; Ms. Debra Campbell, City Manager, City of Asheville; Ms. Kimberlee Archie, Equity & Inclusion Manager, City of Asheville; Dr. Darin Waters, Associate Professor of History and Executive Director of Community Engagement, UNC Asheville; and Mr. Frank Goldsmith, board member for Carolina Jews for Justice West.
7:00 p.m. Bryan Stevenson, the attorney, activist and best-selling author who led the team that created the first national memorial to victims of lynching, will speak at UNC Asheville’s Kimmel Arena at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 25. Doors will open at 6 p.m. The talk is free and open to everyone, with support from The David and Lin Brown Visionary Lecture Series and The Van Winkle Law Firm Public Policy Lectures. Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). Stevenson recently won a historic ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court banning mandatory life-without-parole sentences for all children 17 or younger. He also is the author of award-winning New York Times best-selling book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.
Friday, April 26 in the Ingles Mountain View Room, Sherrill Center
9:00 a.m. Celebrate UNC Asheville! The American Dream: Interfaith Leadership in a Religious Democracy, led by Dr. Eboo Patel, Author, Founder and President, Interfaith Youth Core, and Rhodes Scholar whose most recent text is Interfaith Leaders.
10:30 a.m. Celebrate UNC Asheville! The Thawing of the Arctic Permafrost: Climate Implications, led by Dr. Robert Max Holmes, Deputy Director and Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center.
3:00 p.m. The Installation of Chancellor Nancy J. Cable, UNC Asheville Quadrangle with an invocation by author, educator and interfaith leader Eboo Patel, Installation Address by Dr. John J. DeGioia, President of Georgetown University, and benediction by Dr. John Kuykendall, President Emeritus of Davidson College.
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