Twelve years ago, the first issue of Exchange was published. With this magazine, we want to connect to our alumni and friends, not just to send a one-way missive, but to invite a response back from you: to exchange. In this issue, we particularly celebrate the exchange that occurs in the student research experience.

In the context of our deeply divided and polarized country, we asked faculty members in UNC Charlotte’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences to meditate on the state of their disciplines and look toward the future for the Fall/Winter 2017 issue of Exchange magazine.

This Spring 2017 issue of the UNC Charlotte College of Liberal Arts & Science's Exchange magazine illustrates the theme of mentorship. Stories in this issue confirm that bonds between students and faculty mentors are crucial to the college's mission of educating students to be critical and imaginative thinkers and engaged citizens in a rapidly changing world.