University Advancement | Articles by: Amy Newland

UNC Greensboro

Poetry goes full circle at UNCG

This is a story of two Spartan MFA poets, born six decades apart. Sage Short ’26 MFA, a Myrtle Beach native with roots in West Virginia, grew up in post-9/11 America. After graduating from Coastal Carolina University, she got a master’s at Clemson, where she was assistant editor of the South Carolina Review. There, she was awarded the English department’s best thesis award and their award for excellence in teaching.

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” she says. And poetry is her calling, too. Inspired by a former professor of hers, Dan Albergotti ’02 MFA, she came for her MFA in Creative Writing at UNCG, where teaching is part of the process. A McAllister Scholarship helped make it possible. In her second year of the program, she was appointed poetry editor of The Greensboro Review.

Meet the inaugural class of UNCG Dance Pyatt Scholars

It was a transformative gift for scholarships, the largest UNC Greensboro’s School of Dance has ever received.

When the late Mary Jean Pyatt ’49 made a testamentary commitment of $1 million to create the Mary Jean Pyatt Scholarship in Dance, she knew what it would mean to aspiring dancers.

She had studied dance on the same campus in the 1940s, just as its dance program was blossoming, learning under legendary and beloved dance professor Virginia Moomaw. Afterward, she spent twenty years at Wellesley College, UC Berkeley, and UCLA and taught at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, Calif., where she was the choreographer for the resident theater company. She also performed professionally with dance companies in San Francisco and Los Angeles. She never forgot her alma mater, attending Moomaw’s 90th birthday party.

Giving is a home run at UNCG

Jeb Burns ’08 MEd and his wife, Molly, are committed to Spartan success. From philanthropic support of Spartan Athletics to University Libraries, their impact is wide.

One example is UNCG Softball’s Kaylyn Belfield ’26, whose .431 batting average in 2024 broke the University’s single-season record. This May, she earned her degree from the Bryan School of Business and Economics.

Molly Burns says Spartans like Belfield inspire her. “It is easy to cheer for positive kids who are eager to get a degree and make a difference in the world.”

Spartan donor Tia Wiggins’ circle of success

Tia Wiggins ’07 once thought philanthropy was only for those who could look back on decades-long careers. Yet, at just 33, she established the Tia S. Wiggins Endowed Scholarship Fund, which has supported 13 students in UNCG’s Bryan School of Business and Economics since 2019. Those students are known as “Tia’s Circle.”

She says, “Even if you’re not born into philanthropy, you can create a pathway to do it. I believe in seed-planting. You can intentionally change the trajectory of someone’s life with your own resources and make an impact – and you don’t have to be a millionaire or billionaire.”

Daniel Rust puts Bryan School skills to work at Lenovo

Daniel Rust’s enthusiasm for UNCG is palpable, and he happily promotes the University every chance he gets.

Rust found his way to the Bryan School of Business and Economics thanks to his determination to attend the best school possible and become the person he envisioned: an exceptional problem solver that businesses want and communities need.

Today, this 2020 graduate with a BS in economics and a minor in Spanish, and the MBA he received in 2022, praises UNCG for its supportive environment, outstanding faculty, innovative curriculum, and robust professional development opportunities.

Hodges Fellowship makes life-changing research possible

For Cecil Barlow ’26, the Hodges Research Fellowship in Special Collections and University Archives at UNCG opened up a new area of research, a new set of professional skills, and a new understanding of UNCG’s University Libraries.

“Research was a great passion of mine, and it still is,” says Barlow, the inaugural fellow. “When I received the notification, I was ecstatic because I knew it was going to change my life.”

This Spartan’s next stop? Dental school

Sometimes alumni connections can give an aspiring health care worker the perfect boost to propel them into their careers.

UNC Greensboro’s Health and Human Sciences Student Leadership Program prepares undergrads for success after graduation. It does this through a variety of leadership, professional development, and networking experiences, connecting students with alumni and community partners.

Jazz scholar’s jams reflect donor’s gifts

As the only child of East Carolina University music professors, Cal Richardson ’26 grew up in a life steeped in classical music theory and composition. He began violin lessons at age 3 and started playing the electric guitar at age 12. His mother, Dr. Amy Carr-Richardson, taught him a few basic chords, and she and his father, Dr. Mark Richardson, promised that if he consistently practiced, they would buy Richardson an amplifier. He did and quickly fell in love with the instrument.

Southern Guilford’s Natalia Fagundez ’25, Spartan inspirational educator

In her first year as an exceptional children’s teacher at Southern Guilford High School, Natalia Fagundez ’25 works to help students advance their math skills.

While at UNCG, Fagundez – who majored in special education with minors in American Sign Language and Spanish – was the recipient of multiple scholarships, including the Teacher Education Fellows (now Spartan Education Scholars).

Dual-degree Spartan funds education scholarship

School of Education scholar Shameeka M. Wilson ’18, ’20 MEd established an endowment at UNCG in 2019 as she was finishing her master’s program. Her first scholarship was awarded in 2020.

This eastern North Carolina native created the Shameeka Monay Wilson Legacy in Furthering Education (LIFE) Endowed Scholarship in Education to honor her mother and grandmother, and her own successful path to a career in education, teaching Deaf students and multilingual learners with disabilities.