Noble Fellowship
The Noble Fellowship is a named endowed fellowship program at Queens University of Charlotte, created by and made possible through the generosity of Drs. Jerry H. and Kathryn W. Greenhoot. The program is named for Noble Hines, their teacher at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California. It was largely due to his early personal encouragement that they became physicians and have achieved lives of fulfillment, service and commitment to the values he lived and taught.
In gratitude and in return for the gifts of Noble Hines, the Greenhoots have created this Fellowship to enable the continuance and furtherance of excellence in a specific area of growth for outstanding students and faculty.
Essential Characteristics of Noble Fellows
- Demonstrate commitment and capability in their chosen academic fields, such as art, science, education or history, for example. In addition, Demonstrate potential for leadership, intellectual aptitude, or scholarly achievement at Queens or to the greater community and shall have a desire to initiate and complete a specific academic project which requires funding.
- Persons of the highest character--of absolute integrity and intellectual honesty--who have a broad "worldview" extending beyond themselves. They are to be "Souls of Honor."
- Individuals with potential for future offerings to American society and to the Fellowship program.
- Willing to accept the lifetime commitment and obligations of the Fellowship, as well as its rewards.
The Noble Fellowship is entirely merit based and is awarded to promising Queens students and to faculty. The award is neither a reward nor recognition of past achievement, but is given in anticipation of work to come. The Fellowship is unique in several ways, principally in that it is an enabling stipend, to allow pursuit of a specific project, and the potential academic projects are numberless.
Noble Fellows at Queens University of Charlotte
Lauren Cassidy '19
Academic Project: Lauren has been conducting research with the Charlotte Symphony
Orchestra and will continue that project for this study. She will explore the effects
of classical music performances on older adults and will use this information to help
other symphonies program for this population. Lauren is majoring in music therapy
and plans to pursue her certification upon graduation.
Milan Tomin '20
Academic Project: Milan’s project will focus on aerospace engineering and what he
and future Queens students can learn from work in a wind tunnel as well as building
an RC model airplane. Milan is captain of the men’s triathlon team and majors in physics
and mathematics; he plans to pursue his engineering degree after graduation.
Taylor Leigh Robinson '20
Academic Project: Taylor's project will examine the intrinsic motivators that drive
people to turn to art even in the most desperate of situations. Specifically, she
will research the poetry, music and voluntary visual art created in the Terezin concentration
camp during World War II. Taylor is a triple major in Art History, Arts Leadership
& Administration and New Media Design.
Christopher Rolph '18
Academic Project: Chris’ project involves the pursuit of the Lean Six Sigma certification
from CPCC in order to help improve and streamline the services for U.S. Veterans at
Queens. In particular, his work will focus on the admission process, transfer credit
review, and mentorship. He will also apply his learning to the management and leadership
transition of the QU4 Troops organization. Rolph has aspirations of working in supply
chain management after graduation from Queens and future plans to pursue an MBA.
Scott Weir, Assistant Professor of Biology
Academic Project: Dr. Weir’s academic project will focus on studying the effects of
chemical pollution on amphibians and reptiles. His study will include a large scale
experiment with Queens undergraduate students. He will serve as an active Faculty
Noble Fellow from Spring 2017-Spring 2019, and in that capacity, he will also help
guide and mentor the Student Noble Fellows in their research projects.
Ava Marvin '17
Academic Project: Ava's project examined the effects of music therapy treatment on
traditional undergraduate freshmen students in their first semester at Queens. She
researched how music therapy did or did not help freshmen improve the transition to
university with skills of stress management, academic self-efficacy and social adjustment.
Ava is pursuing clinical research and hopes to obtain her doctorate in music therapy
one day.
Natalia Marino '16
Academic Project: To understand the impact free clinics have on the lives of uninsured
individuals and families. Even though the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
has sought to increase health coverage for Americans, there are still individuals
and families who are left uninsured. The main purpose of this project is to evaluate
if there have been any health, or perspective changes in these individuals since beginning
to frequent a free clinic.
Siu Challons-Lipton, Professor of Art History and Arts Leadership
Academic Project: Through the generosity of the Noble Fellowship, Siu Challons-Lipton
will explore creative literacy. Most institutions of higher education teach and assess
verbal, quantitative and information literacy, but little attention is devoted to
creative literacy. To address this dearth, she has introduced a class at Queens in
Creative Literacy that facilitates the development of skills to become creative thinkers
in a Conceptual World. Students are trained in creative literacy, a language that
connects cultures and ideas, helping them recognize, interpret and critically analyze
cultural references through the arts. Dr. Challons-Lipton will conduct archival research
on the subject, supplemented by interviews, observations and teaching. Her findings
will be presented at conferences, culminating in a publication on the subject, and
potentially the implementation of classes in creative literacy at institutions of
higher learning. Dr. Challons-Lipton’s active term as Faculty Noble Fellow is from
Spring 2015-Spring 2018.
"As a faculty Noble fellow, I will serve with honor and dedication, and look forward to fostering a fellowship of student and faculty scholars at Queens. I will mentor student fellows, seeking ways to present experiences that will challenge and prepare them for the future, in a manner reminiscent of how Noble Hines encouraged and inspired Drs. Jerry H. and Kathryn W. Greenhoot. I will commit myself to scholarship on creative literacy and its educational impact in crafting noble citizens for this world." - Professor Siu Challons-Lipton
William Yates '14
Academic Project: Four students from Queens University of Charlotte and four individuals
living at Moore Place connected and transcended the labels given to them by society.
The goal was to eradicate stereotypes and eliminate the walls, boundaries and fences
we put up that divide us as neighbors to one another. Through art, intentional time
spent together, and storytelling, four pairs of soul friends created four incredible
projects that told their shared and separate stories. At the end of the semester,
they found they were no longer homeless, no longer college students, but human beings
being just that: their beautiful, unique, not-so-different-from-you-or-me human selves.
Courtney Turner Keaton '13
Academic Project: Courtney explored the ways in which museums are shaped by the cultural
climate in which they are created. Before starting her research, she visited the United
States Holocaust Memorial museum to experience the exhibits firsthand. She then researched
and composed a paper outlining the external influences on the museum's creation and
philosophy.
Bob Whalen, Professor of History
Academic Project: As the Founding Faculty Noble Fellow, Bob Whalen has worked tirelessly
to further refine both the spirit and the letter of the Fellowship on behalf of future
student and faculty candidates. He leveraged the Noble Fellowship enabling funds
to write his book, Murder, Inc. & the Moral Life: Gangsters & Gangbusters in La Guardia's
New York. Dr. Whalen served as the Founding Faculty Fellow from 2012-2015.
"Becoming a Faculty Noble Fellow has been a personal honor and the financial stipend has certainly helped support my research. More importantly, the Noble Fellowship has both enabled me to work with splendid Student Fellows and to become a member of the Noble Fellowship itself, a fellowship of mutual encouragement, committed scholarship, and engaged citizenship which will, over the years, contribute significantly, I am sure, to the ethos of our university." - Professor Bob Whalen
Learn More
To inquire and learn more about the Noble Fellowship, please contact Leslie Marsicano, marsicanol@queens.edu.
Founding and Senior Fellows
Pamela Davies, Founding Fellow
Jerry & Kathryn Greenhoot, Founding Fellows
Hugh McColl, Founding Fellow
Rolfe Neill, Founding Fellow
Cynthia Haldenby Tyson, Senior Fellow