UNC Charlotte’s Department of Psychological Science ranks as the best public undergraduate program in the Carolinas and is among the highest ranked nationwide, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 Best College rankings.

Two new colleges have formed from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, creating new pathways for student and research success — the College of Science and the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences. The colleges’ names are pending approval from the Board of Trustees at its next meeting. Bernadette T. Donovan-Merkert has been named interim dean of the College of Science; John Smail will continue as interim dean of the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences.

Following two years of study, including extensive faculty and staff input, UNC Charlotte’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences will begin pursuing the path of creating two distinct colleges: one will include the departments of biological sciences, chemistry, physics and optical science, and mathematics and statistics. Additional departments that may join this college, and the constitution of the second college, will be determined soon.

Charlotte’s Master of Public Administration program has surged to its best national ranking ever, reaching No. 46 in the U.S. News & World Report rankings for 2023-24, up from No. 60 just four years ago. With the latest rankings, the nationally accredited program is the #2 ranked public affairs program at a public North Carolina university and the #3 ranked public affairs program in North Carolina.

Beth Whitaker, a professor of political science, is interim divisional dean for the humanities and social and behavioral sciences within the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. In fall 2021, the University announced it would launch a review of the structure of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

Heather Smith, professor of geography, interim chair of the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences and Levine Scholars faculty fellow, has been appointed faculty director of the Levine Scholars Program, effective July 1, 2023. She succeeds Diane Zablotsky, who will return as a faculty member to the Department of Sociology.

A new academic division of four STEM departments will form within CLAS in January 2023, led by Interim Divisional Dean Bernadette Donovan-Merkert. The division’s creation will address needs the Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Mathematics and Statistics, and Physics and Optical Science have expressed for identity, advocacy and research support. Meanwhile, study of the college’s structure will continue over the next 10 months.

Pinku Mukherjee, who currently is the Irwin Belk Distinguished Professor for Cancer Research and associate dean for research and graduate education in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, will serve as the interim associate provost and dean of the Graduate School effective Jan. 3, 2023, succeeding Tom Reynolds, who will retire after 40 years of service to the institution.