AHA!
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA / SOUTH CAROLINA HONORS COLLEGE / FALL 2019
IMAGINING A DIFFERENT WORLD Alumna Blakeley Payne explores the relationship between ethics and artificial intelligence.
THE FIFTIETH AND THE TWENTY-FIFTH It’s the 50th anniversary of the Carolina Scholars award, which, like our top-ranked Honors College itself, was launched to attract strong students to the University of South Carolina. It’s also the 25th anniversary of National Fellowships and Scholar Programs, which has been directed by Novella Beskid from Day One, and which helps all our students compete for major awards. More than 960 national awards have been won, but that’s only part of the story. By engaging in the process of applying for the Rhodes, Truman, Goldwater, Hollings and the like, students make life-changing discoveries about themselves. Novella and her team help students present themselves to maximize their chances, to understand who they are and who they want to be, and to refine and achieve their dreams. National Fellowships and Scholar Programs also provides enhanced programming for those students who win the university’s most prestigious scholarships, including the Carolina Scholar award, the McNair, Stamps, 1801 and Horseshoe Scholar awards. When we are recruiting students who are desired by every university, National Fellowships and Scholar Programs gives us a competitive edge. We offer not only the nation’s best honors college, but we can also offer these students a place within the Top Scholars community.
DEAN STEVEN LYNN
In this issue we profile five Carolina Scholars from different time periods. While our idea was to give some sense of who Carolina Scholars are, what we have actually done is give you a glimpse of five interesting and accomplished people. We have 800-plus Carolina Scholars and counting, and they are about as varied as any group of exceptionally talented people. They are doctors, lawyers, scientists, professors, entrepreneurs, administrators, philanthropists, moms, dads, soccer fans, marathon runners, diplomats, politicians, and at least one mediocre fiddle player. I suspect and I hope that the Carolina Scholars, like our other top scholars – indeed, like our Honors College students as a whole – have something like this in common: a remarkable undergraduate experience.
Steven Lynn Dean, Louise Fry Scudder Professor South Carolina Honors College
2
A H A ! • S O U T H C ARO LI NA H O N O R S CO L L EG E
CONTENTS FALL 2019 Steven Lynn / Dean AÏda Rogers / Managing Editor / Writer Ryan Dawkins / Communications Coordinator Honors College Partnership Board Marshall Winn Chairman
Catherine Heigel Vice Chairwoman
Roger Barnette Jay Cain Dan D’Alberto Bill Duncan Lori Clos Fisher Kevin Hall Steve Hibbard
Anita Hood, M.D. Eddie Jones Ben Rex Thomas Scott Jacob Shuford Sherri Timmons Jeff Vinzani
pg. 10
IN THIS ISSUE
Stay Connected University Home Page: sc.edu SCHC Home Page: sc.edu/HonorsCollege
4 / IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Facebook: facebook.com/SCHonorsCollege Twitter: twitter.com/SCHonorsCollege LinkedIn: South Carolina Honors College Alumni Instagram: schonorscollege
7 / CAROLINA SCHOLARS TIMELINE
About the cover: Blakeley H. Payne, computer
From 1969 to now, five Carolina Scholars share how the program made a difference in their lives.
Milestones: More than 800 students have been named Carolina Scholars since the program’s inception in 1969.
science and math '17, is educating the public about ethical AI.
10 / IMAGINING A DIFFERENT WORLD
Communications and Public Affairs
According to alumna Blakeley Payne, AI is invisibly threaded throughout society and we need to know its power.
The University of South Carolina is an equal opportunity institution. 19-11369 11/19
13 / THANKS TO A PROFESSOR Honors College Associate Dean Jim Stiver taught countless students about the importance of free speech. And now it’s time to say goodbye.
19 / HONORS COLLEGE WELCOMES NEW FACES Say hello to Director of Development Marcus Fogle and Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement and Stewardship Amanda Compton.
U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H C ARO LI NA
3
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT
IN THEIR OWN WORDS More than 800 University of South Carolina students have been named Carolina Scholars since the program’s inception in 1969. It is fair to say that the scholarship was life-changing for every single one of them — affecting their families profoundly in some cases, opening doors and possibilities that might not otherwise have been imagined. Here’s how five scholars — one for each decade of the program — describe their scholarship’s transformative effect.
AN URGENCY TO LEARN AND TO QUESTION
William Hubbard, ’74 history, ’77 law
2014-15 president, American Bar Association Former director, ABA Young Lawyers Division UofSC Board of Trustees Carolina Scholar donor
4
A H A ! • S O U T H C ARO LI NA H O N O R S CO L L EG E
“As a Carolina Scholar in 1970, I was in classes with the likes of Dean Lynn and Marshall Winn and was being challenged by professors like Dr. Patterson in honors history. I quickly saw that I had to up my game and be more serious about scholarship. The deeper I dove, the more I learned how much I did not know. I had to work harder and sharpen my critical thinking and writing skills. These experiences inculcated in me an urgency to learn and to question and to expand my horizons that remains with me today. I continue to be grateful for the transformative experience of being a Carolina Scholar.”
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT
IT WAS THE PIVOTAL PERIOD IN MY LIFE “The Carolina scholarship is why I came to USC and my experiences at USC have shaped my entire life. Today, 40 years later, my best friend and business partner, George Bravante, is a friend I met my freshman year. The Carolina scholarship and USC allowed me to grow and develop both academically and socially — it was the pivotal period in my life and personal development.
Larry Kellner, ’81 accounting
First Carolina Scholar elected student government president, 1981 Former CEO, Continental Airlines 2008 recipient of the Tony Jannus Award for distinguished achievement in commercial air transportation President of Emerald Creek Group LLC — a Houston-based private equity firm
"The Carolina scholarship gave me the resources to learn, explore and grow in a way that would not have been possible without it. Thanks to the Carolina scholarship, I was able to engage in student government and other extracurricular activities that have had a significant impact on my life and career.”
CARING FOR SOUTH CAROLINA’S CHILDREN
Dr. Elizabeth Mack, ’99 biology, ‘03 medicine
Former family relations chair, UofSC Dance Marathon Director, Division of Pediatric Critical Care at the Medical University of South Carolina School of Medicine alumni award recipient Liberty Fellow
“I would not have stayed in South Carolina if it weren’t for Carolina Scholars. I was able to save some of the scholarship and pay for part of medical school, which allowed me the freedom to select any residency and fellowship in the country [Cincinnati Children’s Hospital] and return to South Carolina after my fellowship training to care for this state’s children as a pediatric critical care physician. "Since graduation, I’ve stayed in touch with Dr. Tim Mousseau, my Howard Hughes mentor in high school and then my honors thesis mentor. He has had a significant impact on my life.”
U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H C ARO LI NA
5
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT
UNPARALLELED LEVELS OF ADVISORY SUPPORT “The Carolina scholarship’s meaning to me has changed over time as the scholarship has shaped who I’ve become. As an entering freshman, I felt the award was an acknowledgment of my high school accomplishments and a recognition of my promise (I was 18, after all). Over the course of my time in the Honors College though, the Carolina scholarship proved to be more than an accolade. It was instead a source of support. Financial support, sure, but also unparalleled levels of advisory support.
Thomas Scott, '06 BARSC 2004 Rotary Scholar 2006 Truman Scholar Honors College Partnership Board member Joint degree, law and public affairs from Stanford and Princeton, 2011 White House intern in Native American Affairs, 2010 Lead legal counsel at Cruise, a self-driving car service in San Francisco
"The Carolina scholarship connected me to peers, mentors and opportunities — inside and outside the university — that pushed me, expanded my worldview and helped toward achieving my goals. While the Honors College offers many of these to all its students, the Carolina scholarship surpassed even that high bar. I’m thinking of the one-on-one sessions scholar advisor Jan Smoak hosted with me, pretty much weekly, to brainstorm. I’m also thinking of the Hubbard family, who sponsored the Carolina scholarship that I was trusted with and who directed me toward my career in law. "Most people would say that there’s an intelligible narrative connecting who they were as a young person to who they are today. But, as with books, some chapters carry the story more than others. Some explain more than others. If I look at who I am now, in my mid-30s, the Carolina scholarship explains an awful lot.”
HOPE FOR A STUDENT AND A FAMILY “Something is eating at his bone. Following an MRI, my brother’s doctor called my mom, uttering those terrifying words. My brother could no longer walk, and after seeing an oncologist, we learned he had osteosarcoma. It was the first week of my senior year of high school and the start of a very difficult journey for my family. Sorrow.
Elizabeth Wilson, ’12 finance, international business, management science, marketing, real estate 2011 UofSC Outstanding Woman of the Year M.P.P. in Social and Urban Policy, Harvard University Master’s and doctorate in management and organizations, Northwestern University Director of research, Children’s Defense Fund, Washington, D.C.
6
A H A ! • S O U T H C ARO LI NA H O N O R S CO L L EG E
"Six months later, President Harris Pastides called on a Saturday morning. My mom answered the phone, but this time we received news that changed our lives in a different, yet still profound, way. I was a Carolina Scholar. My parents would not have to worry about paying for my education at the same time they were confronted with countless medical bills. Joy. "While it is difficult to describe all the scholarship meant and still means to me and my family, when I received it 10 years ago, in one word, the Carolina scholarship meant hope. I thank God and am forever grateful for the Carolina Scholars program."
TIMELINE
Carolina Scholars Anniversary History
th
50
History runs deep for the Carolina Scholars program, with more than 800 recipients since its inception 50 years ago. Join us as we take a look back.
rritt teven Bu
S lms and John Pa g Dinner rin 1996 Sp
Tom Kno x with Ch and Shirley Kno ase Boulw x 1996 Sp ring Don are or Dinne r
Kyle Sox Fall 1998 Ropes Course and Retreat
1969 1972 1973 1974 1981 1985 The in-state, meritbased Carolina Scholars program is established and the inaugural class of 10 scholars enters UofSC.
Betty Anne Williams is the first Carolina Scholar to graduate, completing her degree in three years.
The inaugural class of Carolina Scholars graduates. Linda Harvey Stephens receives the first Algernon Sydney Sullivan award.
Marshall Winn graduates and begins working for the Office of Admissions, serving as the first recruiter for honors students before entering Harvard Law School.
Larry Kellner is the first Carolina Scholar elected student government president. Subsequent presidents are Michael Hogue, 1988; Marie-Louise Ramsdale, 1990; and Brian Comer, 1995.
The number of Carolina Scholar awards given annually increases to 20.
U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H C ARO LI NA
7
TIMELINE
Marie-Louise Ramsdale is elected student government president and creates Freshman Council. In 1990 she is named Omicron Delta Kappa National Leader of the Year, sharing the honor with alumni Michael Hogue named in 1988.
lass o Scott, C s a m o h T
f 2006 Thomas Scott is one of six students to help Eddie B. Lloyd establish the Waverly Center After School Program. In 2006, Scott is named a Truman Scholar, and the Carolina scholarship welcomes its largest freshman class of 25 students.
With the addition of the McNair Scholar award, Scholar Programs is formally established with Jan Phillips Smoak as its coordinator.
1986 1989 1994 1998 2001 2003 2007 The first Carolina Scholars reunion is held for alumni entering 19691981, current scholars and donors.
and lla Beskid e v o N , k Ali Coo k a Jan Smo all 2006 F , r e p Ha r
8
A H A ! • S O U T H C ARO LI NA H O N O R S CO L L EG E
Office of Summer Programs and Scholarships director Novella Fortner Beskid develops a comprehensive Carolina Scholars program including a leadership retreat, events and formal dinners.
Carolina Scholar Nicholas Miller is named UofSC’s first Marshall Scholar.
Amanda G
alloway, Cla
ss of 1998
Carolina Scholars Sonam Shah and Chuck Redmond are named homecoming king and queen. Other Carolina Scholar “royalty” include Jackie Parnell, 2010, and Christina Galardi, 2011.
TIMELINE
Gita Chakraba rti, Class of 19 98
The Honors College and the Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs hold the 40th anniversary celebration of the Carolina Scholars program with private events for the inaugural class and a formal dinner with current scholars and donors.
Michael Hood begins Communities in Harmony, a student service organization that brings music to afterschool programs. He is the son of Carolina Scholar alumni Charles Hood and Anita Shah Hood.
Sara Saylo r, Brady, An Katie Rawson, Don na Stewar G t and Brit reiner, Jenni at a Caroli t N na Scholar e Dinner in wman. 2004. A record eight Carolina Scholars win first place at Discovery Day.
2008 2009 2012 2012 2013 2013 2019 Jeet Guram and Jessica Steele begin a UofSC chapter of the Roosevelt Institution, a nonprofit, nonpartisan national network of campusbased student think tanks. In 2009 they are named Truman Scholar finalists.
Christina Galardi is named Outstanding UofSC Woman of the Year and a Fulbright Scholar to South Korea for an English teaching assistantship.
Carolina Scholar finalists are renamed Hamilton Scholars to accurately reflect their scholar status. In 2018, this name is changed again to 1801 Scholars.
UofSC welcomes 20 Carolina Scholars, bringing the total to more than 800 Carolina Scholar awards given throughout the scholarship’s history.
Greg Ferra nte, Class of 1998 U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H C ARO LI NA
9
ALUMNI FEATURE
imagining a
DIFFERENT WORLD Meet Blakeley Hoffman Payne. Her mission? Educate everyone to be 'conscientious consumers' of AI. Or if you’re an AI designer, to make it ethical.
• S O U T H C ARO LI NA H O N O R S CO L L EG E 10 A HI NA ! FO C US CO LLE GE OF ARTS & SCIENCES 10 /
ALUMNI FEATURE
“We just have to imagine a different world. At the end of the day, my life will be measured by how I helped others. I’ve been tested on that here.”
F
lashback: In October 2015, computer science majors and best friends Blakeley Payne (then, Hoffman) and Maribeth Bottorff are hanging out at Bottorff’s apartment. Payne watches Bottorff submit her resume to Twitter. Less than 24 hours later, Bottorff gets an email from Twitter telling her she isn’t a good fit. Flummoxed, the friends start investigating. How could Bottorff, at the top of her class and with proven leadership experience, be rejected so quickly, or at all? Their hunch — that Twitter’s algorithm for potential employees didn’t recognize certain words in Bottorff’s resume — proved valid. Finding a cache of information about how algorithms could be biased and cause inequity, Payne became angry and disillusioned about her field of study. But she also found her next step. After graduating from the Honors College with degrees in computer science and math in 2017, she moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to study ethics in artificial intelligence at the MIT Media Lab.
“Fairness and social justice topics have always been closest to my heart,” says Payne, an Irmo native. “I became interested in how technology could help everyone and not just a small group of people. I wanted a broad education about how social systems work and to understand how people interact with technology and to talk about it to figure out how to build the most helpful thing.” It didn’t take long for her to find her focus group. Disturbed when her colleagues’ research found that many children believe their devices are smarter than they are, Payne zeroed in on
– Blakeley H. Payne middle schoolers to begin challenging that mindset. Old enough to make nuanced moral decisions and young enough to be excited about their first smartphones, tweens were ideal for the curriculum and workshop Payne designed. She taught “AI & Ethics” to more than 200 middle-schoolers during a three-day period in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and to 28 more during a weeklong workshop in Boston. Learning that age group eschews Facebook, teacher and students studied YouTube. Payne was pleased to learn her students recognized YouTube as a monopoly that wants to make money through advertising as much or more than presenting entertaining and educational videos. Together, the students devised ways to make YouTube better and more accountable for its users and stakeholders, including their own age group. As Payne puts it, she’s teaching children to be “conscientious consumers and designers of AI.” It’s vital work in the 21st century, she says. “There are people who can’t get jobs, can’t get loans, people whose whole livelihoods are on the line because of this technology,” she says. “My colleague at the Media Lab, Joy Boulamwini, showed that facial recognition technology — the kind that unlocks your iPhone but also is used in customs at airports or by the police — is nearly perfect in identifying lighter faces, but is 35 percent less accurate in identifying darker, female faces. This disparity has led to issues of false arrest in the United States.”
LEFT: Blakeley H. Payne discusses her research at the 2019 Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything Festival. Photo courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.
U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H C ARO LI NA
11
ALUMNI FEATURE
“Your first step is recognizing how it’s been in the past and recognizing how you want it to be better in the future.”
Payne’s work brought her to the attention of the Wall Street Journal, which invited her to speak at its Future of Everything Festival in New York in May. In her talk, Payne detailed her experiences with Bottorff and her students. She emphasized that algorithms are opinions, not facts. And she quoted her mentor, Ethan Zuckerman, who said, “Once you stop seeing technology as neutral, you can easily wade into the valley of depression around the consequences of technology.” “I’ve been there,” Payne says. “And I know for sure that I don’t want my students to be there.” Her Wall Street Journal talk, for which she wrote 10 to 15 drafts and practiced a lot, affirmed the importance of her research. “It was a good feeling to get off the stage and have people say, ‘You really changed the way I think about AI.’ It was good to know I could have this input on people’s lives if I put this work into it,” she says. But her greatest reward may be realizing she can have a difficult conversation with all kinds of people. “It’s really important to me to stand up and advocate for what I believe in and to advocate for people who haven’t had the same opportunities and privileges that I have had,” she says.
“People of different backgrounds will push back and say, ‘This is the business model, this is the way things are, I can’t imagine a different world.’ We just have to imagine a different world. At the end of the day, my life will be measured by how I helped others. I’ve been tested on that here.” Payne says the University of South Carolina, the Carolinian Creed and the Honors College prepared her well. Ed Munn Sanchez’ philosophy course on authenticity is with her still. “There was a moment when he said, ‘The only thing I care about and can never get back is my time. That’s my most precious and valuable asset.’ I’ve done a lot of soul searching since taking that class,” she says. “Am I making sure I’m happy and satisfied with my life and making sure my time serves more than me?” Payne will earn her master’s degree in media arts and sciences this semester. That’s a little more than two years after she moved to Boston, a jolt for someone who grew up in a town “where there were cows everywhere.” Now she’s ready to focus on science communication around AI. “The benefit of technology is you can make it the way you want it to be,” she says. “Your first step is recognizing how it’s been in the past and recognizing how you want it to be better in the future.”
Maribeth Bottorff, ’16 computer science, gave her resume by hand to a human recruiter for Google at a computer science job fair. Google hired her several months later; she works for that company as a software engineer in San Francisco. Other Honors College alumni who studied at MIT are Cole Franks, ’13; Kayla Gardner, ’18; Daniel Grier, ’13; Mandy Young, '06; and India Wells, ’12.
12
A H A ! • S O U T H C ARO LI NA H O N O R S CO L L EG E
FACULTY HIGHLIGHT
JIM STIVER "It consumes me," Jim Stiver says about preparing for class. "I cannot do something lightly. I would read until the moment I had to leave to get to my parking spot. I'm my own worst enemy on that."
THANKS TO A PROFESSOR and an associate dean and our own Honors College curmudgeon
If you believe in fate — and Jim Stiver doesn’t — you might think he was destined to teach philosophy. The clues came early. Cobleskill, New York, 1946. Six-year-old Jimmy is studying an ant hill. Running to his mother, he asks, “Who has the better life — ants or men?” This from an unimpeachable source: one of his mother’s published poems. Three years later, Jimmy is kicked out of his Sunday school class. His crime? “Being impertinent.” Jimmy was asking questions his teacher couldn’t answer to his satisfaction. And those questions persisted, as Jimmy became Jim, entered Yale and exited with a philosophy degree in 1962.
Ever since landing at the University of South Carolina in 1965, Jim Stiver has lobbed challenging (arguably bordering at times on impertinent) questions at students and advisees for 52 years, breaking for two years to get his doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Last spring, he got the answer to a question he’d been pondering for several years. Was it time to retire? Yes. And so Stiver, who served the Honors College as associate dean for 14 years and for another 14 years taught The American Curmudgeons, a popular honors seminar he developed, is hanging it up. Factoring into his decision was the steadily growing corrosiveness of political correctness, to which all curmudgeons are allergic. Stiver’s early students loved author H.L Mencken for his unabashed opinion-mongering. Many of his later students virtually held him in contempt. Three years ago, Stiver redid the Mencken segment, confining the Mencken readings to four classes and devoting the other four — the last four classes of the course — to the state of free speech in the Academy. “I thought Mencken would grudgingly approve,” Stiver says. “After all, he devoted his life to the defense of free speech.”
U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H C ARO LI NA
13
FACULTY HIGHLIGHT
“Offensive speech should be answered by more speech, not less. And besides, what’s offensive?”
Stiver’s friend Keith Kenney, a retired UofSC visual communications professor, created this branding portrait of him with American curmudgeons Mark Twain and H.L. Mencken. It is part of a portfolio Kenney presents to his prospective clients.
14
On a more personal level, teaching the class the way he wanted was taking too much time and, at age 79, it was not getting any easier. Marta, his wife of 27 years, helped Stiver plan The American Curmudgeons and was with him when he happened upon the book that inspired the course — Jon Winokur’s The Portable Curmudgeon. She advised him and critiqued his material as the course continued to evolve. Finally, the time had come for them to spend more time on other things.
“I would always tell my students, ‘Know that I intend to offend you, and if I do, offend me right back,’” Stiver says. “Offensive speech should be answered by more speech, not less. And besides, what’s offensive? And we’d get into a discussion about that. Thoughtful speech is better than hateful silence.”
But what a loss for the college. The American Curmudgeons was a course like no other. As its description exhorted, only two, but “essential,” prerequisites were needed: “a skeptical and inquisitive nature and a delight in fine writing, especially your own.” Stiver reveres Ambrose Bierce, Mencken and Mark Twain and their brilliant, often bitter, biting prose. They said unpopular things, uncomfortable things, things that nevertheless made people think. And because they were American, they had the freedom to say and write what they wanted. Stiver believes that freedom of speech is critical to a good and just society. He cultivated that atmosphere in his classroom.
Stiver based his course on Winokur’s modern characterization of the curmudgeon: “anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner.” Discussions centered on big topics such as racism, war and economic justice.
A H A ! • S O U T H C ARO LI NA H O N O R S CO L L EG E
FACULTY HIGHLIGHT
A high point came just before final exams with a weekend field trip to the Mencken Room at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore. After the first visit, curator Vince Fitzpatrick told Stiver his students were the best who’d ever visited the library — sharper than those from the Ivy League schools, Duke, Virginia or Stanford. “Does that mean you’d like us back?” Stiver asked Fitzpatrick. He responded, “I insist on it.” It became an annual pilgrimage until 2016. For Stiver, Fitzpatrick’s reaction was thrilling. Fitzpatrick hadn’t heard of the South Carolina Honors College before Stiver arranged the visit. Stiver assured him he hadn’t heard the last of it. “We’re on the way up,” Stiver said. “In 10 years, everybody who matters will know who we are. Consider our visit advance notice.” There’s no doubt the opportunity to teach The American Curmudgeons seminar to the brightest students in sight was a highlight of Stiver’s career at UofSC. But it doesn’t cap his most challenging and rewarding opportunity. That was “trying to be the best associate dean for the Honors College I could be.” And from 1988 to 2002, that’s exactly what he did. “I owed no less to the two legendary deans — Bill Mould and Peter Sederberg — who allowed me to hang around such a wonderful and exciting place,” Stiver says.
HE’S ALL IN
Ben Rex, ’03 economics, will never forget riding to Congaree National Park in Jim Stiver’s new minivan. “Jim is the only person I know who bought a car based on the fact that the angle of the windshield would not kill butterflies,” says Rex, a Greenville native who met Stiver as a high schooler at an Honors College summer camp. “I think when Jim becomes invested in something, whether it’s butterflies or the Honors College, he’s all in.” Stiver, a butterfly collector and pianist as well as logician and curmudgeon, chooses his interests carefully, then applies himself fully. “I think you could find a hundred narratives like mine where Jim is the reason I went to the Honors College and the Honors College is why I landed in Columbia,” says Rex, who started the website design company Cyberwoven in Columbia as an undergraduate. Lynne Bolt Hansen, ’92 BARSC, describes Stiver as “warm, unpretentious, funny and fascinating.” Hansen, a Walhalla, South Carolina, native and now faculty administrator of the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of South Florida, admires Stiver’s “ability to set you at ease right away.” During her freshman summer advisement meeting, she and Stiver argued about whether she was ready for organic chemistry. “I thought, ‘This guy gets me,’ and ‘I’m going to be okay here.’” While Hansen never had him as a professor, she got to know Stiver as her advisor and later as a colleague when she worked as an Honors College advisor and alumni affairs director. “I gained a lot of confidence working with Jim,” Hansen says. “He really listened to me and always seemed to believe I actually could do the crazy things I said I was going to do. I have been so very fortunate to have him as a mentor.”
U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H C ARO LI NA
15
DONOR HONOR ROLL
DONOR HONOR ROLL Thank you to the alumni, businesses and friends who contributed to the Honors College and to the Carolina Scholars program. Your faithful generosity is vitally important in providing the scholarships, research stipends, course enhancements and personal attention that give our students an exceptional educational experience. $25,000 AND ABOVE Estate of William B. Douglas Jack and Susan Graybill Tracy Hardaway Jodie McLean Mary Louise Mims and James Tipton Bill and Connie Timmons Foundation Marshall and Jeannette Winn
$10,000 TO $24,999 James Atkinson Gus and Kimberly Dixon Aaron and Candice Hark Charles Timmons Foundation Charles and Sherri Timmons Chi Omega Bank of America KPMG Community Giving Campaign
$1,801 TO $9,999 Paul and Allison Aitchison Christopher Bardi Steven Beckham and Gretchen Van Der Veer Randi Berry Central Carolina Community Foundation Christanne Coffey Cyberwoven LLC
16
Elizabeth Endler Thomas and Lisa Engoren Lori Clos Fisher and Edmond Fisher Thomas and Patricia Fortson Robert and Alana Griffin Jamie Hall Ellen Hammill Catherine Heigel Wesley and Meghan Hickman John and Holly Hoey Thomas and Judith Hoffman Flora Hopkins James Jamison Alvaro Lopez James and Lynn Karegeannes Aaron Knowlton John and Carol Kososki Courtney Mann John and Laura McElwaine Lauren and Matt McGinley Lincoln and Rhonda McGinnis Brian McMinn John and Annette Nikolich Frederick and Helen Piellusch Dorothy Poston Benjamin and Sidney Rex The David W. & Susan G. Robinson Foundation Shell Oil Company Foundation Jerre and Andrew Sumter
A H A ! • S O U T H C ARO LI NA H O N O R S CO L L EG E
Jacob Shuford William and Katherine Tangney Charles Tatum Jeffrey and Victoria Vinzani Thadeous and Christine Westbrook Rory Whelehan
$1,000 TO $1,800 James and Clara Addison Sarah Albrecht The American Endowment Foundation Sushan and Sona Shah Arora Todd Bailey Joyce and Jill Boggs Stephen Brown Michael and Kelly Burkett William and Carolyn Burns Wayne Hedrick and Elizabeth Caveny Jeffrey and Melissa Coale Cabarrus County Community Foundation The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, Inc. Christopher and Stacy Field George Guldan Matthew and Maura Hodge James and Lisa Howell Brad Hutto and Tracy MacPherson Baron and Amy Jordan Stephen and Liliana Jutting George Lay
Robert and Lisa Lisson Steven and Annette Lynn Bridget Martin Bernard and Kimberly Masters Michael Gadd and Susan McBurney Ian and Carolyn Merrill Lucille Mould Michael and Mariah Parsons Timothy and Caroline Perrin Corwin and Daisy Robison Brian Kahin and Julia Royall Lee Royall Daniel and Joye Sansbury Barry and Lea Saunders Amanda Seals Keri Shull Daniel Silvester M. Alicia Sikes Jonathan and Misty Skvoretz Larry and Lynette Slovensky John and Carolyn Taylor Wells Fargo & Company Andrew and Lois Whitaker
$500 TO $999 The Aetna Foundation The Ayco Charitable Foundation Elizabeth Bailey James Banks James and Novella Beskid John Campanelli
Glen and Carol Caulk Marcella Fedalei Fifth Third Foundation Michael Gadd Sally Gilchrist Phil Goodman Robert and Christy Hancock Richard Hardin Thomas Horan Joanne Johnson Theresa Knoepp Megan Kobal Janis Leaphart Susan McBurney John McGovern Rob McGregor Kathy McKinless Javad Monzavifar Anthony and Terry Ng William and Susan Nimmer Office of Greek Life Pat Conroy Literary Center Robert and Kimberly Powell William Rambo Raytheon Company O. Adetola and France Roberts Brian Smith James Stickle James and Marta Stiver Milton Stombler Kathy Tranter Christopher Vlahoplus Wesley and Dorothy Walker Sharon Webb Brian Whisler Melissa Wuthier
DONOR HONOR ROLL
$100 TO $499 Jenn Aiosa Brant and Emily Bahnmuller Mary Baker Kay Banks Martha Bell Amy Bennett Lauren Bingham Katherine Bird Jeffrey and Claire Birdsong Georgeanna Bishop Robert Black The Boeing Company Martha Boseski Andrew and Kimberly Bowden Elizabeth Boyer Tara Bradshaw Joel and Stacy Brandon Kristin Briggs Jeanne Brooks Richard and Sara Brown Johnathan Bryan Steven Burritt Julia and Mark Buyck James and Bonnie Byrd Ryan and Megan Campbell Robin Carey Patrick Carr John and Ann Catalano David Cohn Sean and Kathryn Coleman Glenn Cornwell Harold Cousar Hanson Cowen James Davis Jeff Davis Matthew DeAntonio Deloitte Foundation Helen Doerpinghaus Heather Ducat James Duckett
The Duke Energy Foundation Meredith Dukes Michael and Lonnie Dumiak Gregory Eaves Ann Edwards Timur and Erica Engin ExxonMobil Foundation Fair Isaac Corporation Qing Fan Bennett Feld Audrey Fisher Ryan Floyd Janet Fogler Alison Franklin Mark Godfriaux Paul Goldsmith Mallory Goodrich Google, Inc. Sara Lynn Greer Ryan and Bethany Griffin Jeanmarie Grimsley Erin Galloway Jennifer Hallworth Michael and Margaret Handleton Amanda Harding Sherre Harrington Charles Harrison Douglas and Laura Henderson Geoffrey and Laura Hendrick Steven and Terri Hendrickson Yolanda Henninger Jeffrey Henry Carol Hill Edwin Hinds Susan Hitchcock Shannon Holley William and Elke Hood Lisa Hoover
Jenny Horne Karen Hudgens Debra Jackson Kenneth Jackson Henry Jibaja Alan and Shannon Jolles Norman Jones Jennifer Kahn G.L. and Susan Kalinauskas Wayne Kannaday Kenneth Keefer Robyn Kelly Afsar Khan Fred Kingsmore Carrie Lanier Kathleen Layden Ronald Legaspi Timothy Lewis Eric Liebetrau Barbara Lindberg Frederick List Jason and Catherine Lockhart Howard Lundy Cailin Lutz John and Jean Madigan Sara Mareno Jill Marshall Lance McAlister Thomas McAlister Elizabeth McCurley Mary McElaney Clyde McFadden Robery McKinney W.E. Mills Christine Mobley Vincent and Linda Mooney Kelly Moran Catherine Moring Richard and Helen Morschauser Samuel Moses Daniel and Tara Moynihan
Robert and Cathryn Murphy Brian Naylor Michele Naylor Carter O'Brien Maja Osterman Liam Palmer Diane Parham Hudnall Paschal James and Emily Peyton Pfizer Foundation Sharon Pichai Carl Pierce Thomas and Barbara Pietras Thomas Pietras Leslie Poinsette Jennifer Poon Lynn Pruitt-Timko Thomas and Denise Pulte Brooks Raiford Stephen Rawson Anna Redwine Robert Regal Judy Rehberg William Richardson W.A. and Melody Richey Lynn Ringley Scott and Sandra Robinson Eric Rogers Frank Romanowicz Sarah Russell Julie Schexnayder James and Diane Schneider Tara Sconzo Harry Sharp Faith Shaw-Holmes Reid Sherard Amy Sikes Michele Silva Richard and Rachel Silver Tracy Skipper Melanie Slade Emerson Smith Phillip and Cynthia Smith
Kathleen Smith Adam Snyder Sarah Springer Tara Stamper Stephanie Stinn Randall Stowe Robert Swingle Michelle Sylves Andrea Tanner John Teal Alexandra Thompson Joseph Timko Christy Tinnes Tokyo Grill Franchise Office, LLC University of South Carolina Press Lawrence and Elizabeth Vranka John and Laura Wagner Roger Ward Pamela Warren Rachel Waterhouse Mary Watzin Krystal Webber Katie Wechsler Jo Wessinger Megan Westmeyer Russell White Bradley Willbanks Julie Williams Alex and Alex Willis Julia Wilson Jonathan and Jill Wireman Lorraine Wood Clifton Woodard Katherine Wuchenich Ebrahim Yazdani-Zonoz Virginia Youngblood Mary Zanin Paul and Dawn Zimmermann Gunnar Zorn
This list includes donors of $100 or more for the 2019 fiscal year (July 1, 2018 - June 30, 2019.) Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy. Bold indicates Dean’s Circle members. A special thank you to the Robert and Janice McNair Foundation and the Stamps Family Charitable Foundation for their substantial support of scholarships at UofSC.
U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H C ARO LI NA
17
HONORS NEWS
Taylor Wright, Marcus Fogle
Steven Kanczewski, Jan Smoak
Jim Stiver, Cathy Shuford, Jacob Shuford
2019 SCHC Distinguished Young Alumni Award winner Blakeley Payne and family
Brothers Matthew Ferrante and Greg Ferrante, 2019 SCHC Distinguished Alumni Award winner.
HOMECOMING 2019 18
A H A ! • S O U T H C ARO LI NA H O N O R S CO L L EG E
David Wolfer, David Leggett
Jason Mohn, Marcus Fogle, Amanda Compton
HONORS NEWS
HONORS COLLEGE
WELCOMES NEW FACES
AMANDA COMPTON
Amanda Compton recently joined the Honors College as assistant director of alumni engagement and stewardship. Originally from Simpsonville, South Carolina, she earned a bachelor’s degree in communication from Clemson University. As a member of Clemson’s Rally Cats dance team, she led its fundraising committee. As a student, she received the Duke of Edinburgh and Presidential Service awards for completing more than 1,000 hours of community service in one year. Compton is a dance teacher in her free time.
For Marcus Fogle, the value of a college scholarship can’t be overstated. As the recipient of a named scholarship during his undergraduate years, he says it allowed him to enter and stay in school. It also helped him understand philanthropy. “At its core, philanthropy means you care about people,” says Fogle, the new director of development at the Honors College. “It’s a rewarding experience for the donor and the student.” A Columbia native with a bachelor’s degree in business management and a Master of Business Administration from Claflin University, Fogle achieved the highest alumni giving percentage (45%) among all Historically Black Colleges and Universities nationally for three consecutive years. He joins the Honors College from Augusta University, where he was assistant director of annual giving. Fogle’s main goals for the Honors College are to increase scholarship support for students and make sure they have funds to study abroad.
MARCUS FOGLE
ALUMNI NEWS WE WOULD LIKE TO INCLUDE YOU in alumni news in future editions of AHA! and ensure you receive the college's monthly alumni e-newsletter. Please send us your news or update your contact information at sc.edu/honors. Search "Keep In Touch."
U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H C ARO LI NA
19
Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Permit #766 Columbia, SC
South Carolina Honors College Columbia, SC 29208
I AM SOUTH CAROLINA. KWAME KENNEDY
Sophomore chemistry major, creative writing minor Carolina Scholar South Carolina Honors College
I am made of lifelong commitment. When he’s not using his SURF Grant to research how peptoids elevate the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, Kwame Kennedy is volunteering with the Pan-African Students Association or performing his poetry to a captivated audience at an open mic night. Through his research and service to the University of South Carolina community, Kennedy is leading the way for those still searching for where they belong.