Emily Gunzburger Makas oral history interview, 2020 June 5

Description

Emily Makas, Associate Director, Director of Urban design, and Associate Professor of Urban and Architectural History in the College of Arts and Architecture at UNC Charlotte, shares her account of April 30th 2019 and her contributions to the Niner Nation Remembrance Commission as the chair of the sub committee on a permanent physical memorial. Ms. Makas was at home when she received the Niner active shooter alert and remembers checking on her colleagues and students, knowing there were around 100 students still in the Fabrication lab in her building. She recalls her visceral reaction to the shooting and the need she felt to stand in front of the Kennedy building days after the incident. She attended the March for our Lives rally organized by students three days after the shootings and speaks to how she addressed her classes on the first day of the fall 2019 semester. She was asked to be part of the Chancellor's Remembrance Commission because her research focuses on conflict and memory in the built environment. She speaks about the work done by the Commission and the different groups engaged in the planning for a physical memorial. Ms. Makas concludes by discussing how she and her colleagues noticed that the community turns to the arts during times of tragedy and how impactful that is.