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For the first time since their creations in 2008, incoming Watson and Odyssey Scholars took part this week in a specially designed orientation program that introduces the academically talented students with financial need, or no family history of college, to resources available to them as ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ students.

From researching new chemical methods of detecting explosives, to the mathematical modeling on synapses related to epileptic seizures, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ students taking part in a summer research program shared their work July 22 in a series of morning presentations that showcased a variety of academic disciplines from across campus.

Issues in Political Economy, the undergraduate research journal published jointly by the economics departments at ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ and the University of Mary Washington, recently published its 20th anniversary volume.

ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ is one of four institutions in North Carolina awarded funding this summer from the North Carolina Preservation Consortium to help preserve library materials, manuscripts and other special collections – which, for the university, includes dozens of scrapbooks compiled by students and other campus organizations over the past century.

It’s no longer enough to teach reading, writing and arithmetic. Teachers must also emphasize “the four Cs” - critical thinking, creative problem solving, collaboration and communication, said Michelle Shearer, the 2011-12 National Teacher of the Year who addressed hundreds of North Carolina Teaching Fellows visiting ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ for a weekend conference for college seniors throughout the state studying to be educators.

The youngest scholars spoke on the habits of highly effective teenagers, while those a year older focused on how the ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Academy has changed their lives. The eldest of the ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Academy students who presented to classmates, parents and educators on Friday evening? They read from the first drafts of admissions essays that will be used this fall to apply for college educations many once thought were out of reach.