Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. and JSNN Dean Sherine Obare have been named Triad Business Journal’s 2021 Power Players.
Each year, the Triad Business Journal identifies key leaders who have put impactful ideas into action to lead the region forward.
The Triad Business Journal recognized Chancellor Gilliam’s leadership in guiding the school’s Millennial Campus initiative, his efforts in enhancing research opportunities through the new Nursing and Instructional Building, and his part in launching the University’s largest comprehensive campaign to date.
The Millennial Campus will create opportunities for growth, development of innovative academic experiences, and the creation of unique public-private partnerships for the University. Two areas of campus will be recognized as new districts for future development: one primarily along Gate City Boulevard, which will focus on health and wellness, and the other along Tate Street, which will focus on visual and performing arts.
Chancellor Gilliam helped secure $105 million in funding for the NIB, a new nursing and STEM building on campus which opened this year, whose students and faculty have guided the school’s and community’s response to the pandemic.
Light the Way: The Campaign for Earned Achievement will raise $100 million to address one of the biggest challenges facing those who wish to pursue higher education: student and family debt. With its $200 million goal, the campaign will fund more scholarships to provide gifted students with access to high-quality, low-cost education. In addition to growing need-based support, the campaign places a strategic focus on merit scholarships and scholarships for students from middle-income families.
“For 130 years, UNCG has been teaching students to look forward, innovate, and break down society’s barriers – big and small,” said Chancellor Gilliam. “To continue on this path we need to be bold, imaginative, and courageous. Our pursuit to transform students, knowledge, and the region is relentless. This campaign will light the way forward.”
Since being elected the 11th Chancellor of UNCG in 2015, Chancellor Gilliam has propelled UNCG forward as an institution with a unique place in our community, our state, and beyond. Over the past six years, he has grown the University’s enrollment and increased research and educational opportunities.
The Triad Business Journal recognized Obare for overseeing the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (JSNN), an innovative partnership between UNCG and N.C. A&T. Under her leadership as dean, enrollment at the Joint School has increased by 35% in the last three years, as Obare directed efforts to recruit more women into the field of nanotechnology. In the last year, JSNN has established nine graduate certificates and received its largest grant in five years, $7.5 million from the National Science Foundation that it will share with Georgia Tech, its partner in the Southeastern Nanotechnology Infrastructure Corridor. Obare also oversees industry and academic partnerships.
Dr. Obare, who joined JSNN as dean in 2019, has established an internationally recognized and externally funded research program that has fostered successful collaborations in chemistry and environmental engineering globally.
She has received many awards and accomplishments including the National Science Foundation CAREER award, the Mary McLeod Bethune Award for Science and Technology, and the American Competitiveness and Innovation Fellowship of the National Science Foundation. She has also been named one of the top 25 women professors in the state of Michigan by Online Schools Michigan.
Her research work lies in the area of designing nanoscale materials for drug delivery, environmental remediation, improved healthcare, alternative energy, and in developing strategies to improve STEM education. In addition to her work as associate vice president for research, Obare serves as a research leader fellow at the American Public and Land-Grant University Council on Research.
Read more at bizjournals.com.
