CSU magazine vol 26 no 1

VOL. 2 6 •

NO. 1

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THE BATTLE FOR BALANCE

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On the cover: Dr. Kate Hendricks Thomas of the College of Health Sciences Photo by Richard Esposito

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

features

10 22 36 44

Computer science students competing in national competitions and partnering with USC in robot research Military experience, health research and faith underscore the message in Dr. Kate Thomas’s new book Dean of Students is on hand as Operation Christmas Child boxes make their way around the world Alumni Association news, Homecoming pictures and alumni profiles highlight the School Ties section

Reflection Pond. Photo by Richard Esposito

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from the president

Dear Friends, We are already at the halfway mark for spring semester, and we will celebrate another graduating class on May 7.

We are enjoying success on a national scale this year with our football team making it to the quarterfinals and many of our academic programs gaining recognition.

In this issue of CSU Magazine, we are pleased to share Dr. Kate Thomas’s story. Thomas has recently released Brave, Strong, True, a book addressing the unique challenges facing today’s members of the military. Thomas is a professor in our health promotion program and is working with others on campus to ensure the transition to the classroom is an easy one for our veteran students.

Our dean of students, Clark Carter, recently returned from the Dominican Republic where he was invited to help distribute shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. Each year, CSU students participate in a packing party, and they filled 1,600 boxes in one night in November.

Our computer science program is highlighted beginning on page 10 for successful showings in cyber security and Association of Computing Machinery competitions. Currently, our BSN nursing students’ NCLEX-RN pass rate for first-time testers is at 94.97 percent over the last nine years, the highest nine-year rate in the state. One hundred percent of the 2015 graduating class of our athletic training program passed the National Board of Certification exam.

Our undergraduate online program was recently ranked in the Top 20 by U.S. News and World Report. The online program continues to move up in the rankings nationally and provides a convenient alternative for working adults.

This issue also includes pictures from Homecoming 2015, information about the 2015 athletic Hall of Fame inductees and more about what is happening in the classroom.

On behalf of the Charleston Southern family, I thank you for your continued prayers and financial support for our university. Our growth and success would not be possible without the encouragement of our friends and alumni.

Sincerely,

Jairy C. Hunter, Jr.

President

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CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

CSU

magazine

A PUBLICATION OF CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

volume 26 number 1 Spring 2016

contents

EDITORIAL STAFF: Jan Joslin ’82, Editor, Director of Publications John Strubel ’11, ’14, Director of Integrated Marketing Jon Merkling, Graphic Designer Rick Esposito, Multimedia Coordinator

INTERNS: Danielle Hensley ’18 Morgan Layton ’16

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: CSU Sports Information

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Pat Black ’14 Clark Carter ’87 Stan Foxworthy Marvin Gentry Roosevelt Lofton

CSU Magazine is published three times a year by the university relations office for alumni and friends of Charleston Southern University.

Address changes should be sent to advancement@csuniv.edu CSU Magazine on the web: csumagazine.com Email: magazine@csuniv.edu charlestonsouthern.edu

Design and layout by:

bobduranddesign@gmail.com • www.facebook.com/bobduranddesign

Printed by:

LEARNING

4 School of Ed in national news 5 5 Qs with Ed Speyers 6 Athletic Training has 100% pass rate 6 Grants received 6 Nominate alumni for awards 7 Collaborating with Chinese university 7 McMaster wins fiction award 7 Karges-Bone publishes book 7 CAPS in top 20 online programs 9 Behind the Scenes with musical theatre 15 Meet ELI LEADING

16 Inductees into Hall of Fame 18 Football’s awesome year 20 Believe EG21 book published 21 Kelly family donation for weight room 21 Spencer speaks in Chapel SERVING

30 Res Life reading program 34 Track team serves Food Bank 35 Bryan Loritts talks race relations SCHOOL TIES

38 Class Notes 39 Memorials 40 On the road with Pat Black 41 Baby Bucs 42 Keifer receives game ball 42 Scholarship news 44 Homecoming 2015 46 Meet the Alumni Association 47 New Alumni Board 47 Alumni events 48 Transform Campaign: Why I Give

© 2016 Charleston Southern University

Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

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SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ENJOYING NATIONAL ATTENTION

By Jan Joslin

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ean of the School of Education, Dr. George Metz, can’t help but get excited when he talks about all that is going on in the School of Education.

Even though teacher education preparation is a professional program, Charleston Southern’s liberal arts foundation gives CSU trained educators an advantage.

“The combination of teacher preparation and the liberal arts allows our teachers to be trained in more than a single, specific discipline,” Metz said. “Our students come to us with a passion for teaching, and we get to develop them into classroom ready prepared teachers.”

SOE Reaccredited The School of Education has received notification that the Selected Improvement Commission of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation has continued the School of Education’s national accreditation.

Christopher Koch, president of CAEP, said, “Special congratulations are in order because the Commission cited no areas for improvement relative to any of the standards.”

“For a school of education our size to have no areas of improvement is significant,” said Metz.

He said the SOE enjoys a good relationship with local school districts, and the CAEP noted these successful partnerships in their review to be at target, or exemplary, in the standard for field and clinical experiences.

The next accreditation visit for the SOE will be in spring 2022. CAEP is replacing NCATE as the accrediting body nationwide.

Middle Grades Major Added The South Carolina Department of Education has approved the addition of a middle grades major for CSU’s SOE. The first students were admitted into the program in January.

Middle grades licensure covers grades 5-8.

Metz said, “We are responding to market demands. There are middle grade positions in the Lowcountry going unfilled by trained middle grades educators. Nationally, middle grade educators are in high demand.”

In addition, CSU has gained approval for endorsements in: middle grades (undergraduate and graduate), literacy instruction (middle/secondary and administrators) and gifted/talented (graduate).

Metz Chosen for National Position Metz was selected this fall to represent South Carolina as the private university representative on the Network for Transforming Educator Preparation. The five-member team from South Carolina joins teams from California, Massachusetts, Georgia, Tennessee, Connecticut, Kentucky, Washington, Delaware, Louisiana and Missouri, in this national initiative of the Council of Chief State School Officers which is seeking to transform educator preparation.

“This liaison opportunity puts South Carolina on a national spectrum, and it is significant for Charleston Southern to be involved,” said Metz. “It positions Charleston Southern on a state and national level as a major player in teacher preparation. The Network will look at the best practices in each state.”

The NTEP also serves as a networking opportunity and will allow Metz to represent private colleges and universities in South Carolina as well as for CSU.

OUR STUDENTS COME TO US WITH A PASSION FOR TEACHING, AND WE GET TO DEVELOP THEM INTO CLASSROOM READY PREPARED TEACHERS. – DR. GEORGE METZ

The School of Education is housed in Wingo Hall.

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5

Questions with:

Ed Speyers

by Jan Joslin

E

d Speyers, associate professor of graphic design, has found a unique way to get his students involved in designing websites for real clients.

In addition to his duties at Charleston Southern, Speyers runs a part-time business creating websites, logos and more for small business owners and nonprofits. As the business grew, he found a way to include design students in the production. Students are adding real projects to their portfolios and picking up a check in the process. Speyers calls the project a win for all involved.

Q. How did students get involved with your madesimply.com business?

It started when I was teaching a web design course with my sophomores. I had to turn down a freelancing opportunity during the school year I would normally tackle during the summer. As I continued to teach the course I started asking myself why I couldn’t pass these freelancing projects on to my students. My company had to change its business model slightly, adjusting the scope and size of some projects, but our clients have been very happy!

Q. How does student collaboration with madesimply.com support experiential learning?

MadeSimply.com has connected students with small business owners and demonstrated the demands of real-world web design projects. It changes students’ perspective of their skillsets when an employer tasks them with design objectives needed to grow their business. This isn’t just a grade, but a goal of giving the company a professional web presence that will generate calls.

MadeSimply.com provides professional project management software that helps keep the business owner, student and me all on the same page. This is essential so I can assess the student’s design progress while making sure he or she is responding to the business owner’s requests.

Q. What are the most important lessons you hope students learn through their work with madesimply.com?

There are so many, but one that continually rises to the top is effective communication.

Graphic Design is a highly collaborative field. Constant contact is needed to gain the necessary feedback for a great finished product. Students learn that it is their responsibility to ask the right questions and effectively communicate their design goals. Business owners may not know the creative side of web design, but they tend to know their companies very well. It is up to the student to learn how to communicate skilled design qualities while implementing a business owner’s overarching vision for how they want their company portrayed. It’s a tricky balance creatives must learn to master.

To that end, completing real-world projects has given students insight to the business world that I can’t replicate through classroom projects.

Q. How do you help your students understand the business aspects of a career in design?

Punctuality and reliability are paramount.

All students committing to freelance work must sign a contract outlining what they will be paid and what they need to do to earn that payment. They can see their design

work is just one expense of many to finish a small business website. At that point they understand how all parts have to work together to bring a project to completion.

If even one party doesn’t keep up their end of the deal, everything falls apart. I tell my students often, “If you aren’t reliable in the classroom you won’t magically develop that discipline in the real world.” When students see a business owner counting on them to perform, it helps reinforce the need to be reliable.

Q. What has the response from clients been to the student work for madesimply.com?

The first project made me a bit nervous as I had never involved students to this extent.

I told the small business owner up-front that students would be doing most of the design work, but I would supervise the process. The project might take a bit longer, but we would offer exceptional value and they would still get an excellent finished product. The owner was hesitant at first, but decided to go for it.

I’m happy to report we finished the project 6 weeks later and the owner was extremely happy with the results and was already getting calls the first week! He’s even recommended us to other companies. By now students have completed over a dozen different projects that represent thousands of dollars in student wages. Even more important, students have developed some great brands for their portfolios. This process has been a win-win, and we hope to continue offering this service for the benefit of both students and small companies throughout the Lowcountry.

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100% OF 2015 ATHLETIC TRAINING

GRADUATES PASS CERTIFICATION EXAM

NOMINATE A CSU ALUMNUS

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he CSU Association has carried on the tradition of honoring distinguished alumni with outstanding professional and/or personal achievements and those who have loyally dedicated their time and service to their community.

• • • • • •

Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Outstanding Young Alumnus of the Year Alumnus Community Service Award University Mission Award Alumnus Service Award Outstanding Alumnus of the Year

To nominate an alumnus, visit charlestonsouthern.edu/alumni/recognition.html or contact the alumni office at alumni@csuniv. edu.

O

ne hundred percent of the 2015 graduating class of CSU’s Athletic Training Program has passed the National Board of Certification exam. This puts the ATP’s first-time and overall three year (2013-2015) aggregate pass rate at 88 percent and 100 percent respectively.

Brian J. Smith, director of the Athletic Training Program, said, “Our program’s firsttime pass rate was 86 percent for this year, and the overall program’s pass rate is 100 percent. Currently, based on the three-year (2012-2014) aggregate data from the Board of Certification and the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education, the first-time pass rate nationally is 78 percent, and the overall pass rate nationally is 89 percent.”

Dr. Brian Seiler explains results to students in the athletic training lab. photo by Richard Esposito

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The national certification enables graduates to seek employment and state certification throughout the U.S. A new 2,000-square-foot athletic training program lab opened this spring. The athletic training program is in the process of transitioning from an undergraduate degree program to a master’s degree program.

The last undergraduate class has been accepted, and plans are set to begin the master’s degree in summer 2017 pending Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges approval. Nationally, the employment entry point for all athletic trainers is transitioning to a master’s degree by 2022.

MORE THAN $150,000 IN GRANTS RECEIVED

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r. Scott Pearson, School of Business, received a $9,800 grant from the Charles Koch Foundation for student engagement through a reading group, student travel and a speaker series.

CSU received a $141,071 grant from the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education for the Improving Teacher Quality project for 2015-2016. The School of Education and College of Science and Mathematics partner with Dorchester School District Four to improve science content and pedagogy of teachers and increase science skills and ability of students.

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CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

CSU to collaborate with Chinese university

C

harleston Southern and Jiangsu Normal University in China have signed a Memo of Understanding for Academic Cooperation.

The agreement promotes cooperation in teaching, research and consultation and is the result of CSU’s enhancement of global education opportunities for students.

Dr. Jackie Fish, vice president for academic affairs, said Charleston Southern is looking forward to exploring ways students can go to China to learn about the Chinese culture and education methodologies. “We also are very enthusiastic about the opportunity of hosting Jiangsu Normal University students on our campus,” she said.

McMaster Wins National Contest

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r. Celeste McMaster, associate professor of English, won the 2016 Great American Fiction Contest sponsored

by The Saturday Evening Post.

McMaster’s fiction piece, “Zelda, Burning,” is published in the magazine and online, and she was awarded a cash prize. Read the story at saturdayeveningpost.com/2015/12/28/postfiction/contemporary-fiction-artentertainment/zelda-burning. html.

Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

CSU RANKED AMONG TOP 20 ONLINE PROGRAMS

BY U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT

Bone Publishes New Brain Book

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he U.S. News and World Report recognized Charleston Southern as one of its Top 20 online programs in the country.

The 2016 U.S. News report ranked Charleston Southern No. 17, tied with Regent University and University of Nebraska – Omaha. CSU has jumped from No. 56 (2014) to No. 34 (2015) to No. 17 (2016) over the past three years.

“The U.S. News rankings are a reflection of the university’s efforts to identify relevant, flexible, affordable college education options for adult students,” said Dr. Marc Embler, dean of the Center for Academic Excellence.

“Online students are learning skills they can apply to the workplace.”

The U.S. News states, the rankings “… provide prospective students with data on more than 1,200 distance education degree programs.”

The bachelor of science in organizational management program at CSU provides a wide range of working professionals the ability to fit a degree program into their schedule and budget. All courses are offered entirely online.

Concentrations in healthcare management, hospitality and tourism, project management and human resource management are available. In addition, the College of Adult and Professional Studies offers an online master of science in organizational management and offers certifications in Supply Chain Management and Operations Management to prepare students for leadership in the manufacturing and industrial sectors.

r. Linda Karges-Bone’s latest book asks a provocative question: “Should a child’s zip code define his or her opportunities for success in school and in life?” In reality, rich schools = rich brains and poor schools = poor brains unless school and community leaders make choices that change the equation.

Bone proposes accessible ways to bring equity to schools and schooling. Bone, professor of education, is the author of 34 books for educators and parents. The book is published

by Lorenz Educational Press.

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BEHIND THE SCENES:

THE MAKING OF ‘YOU’VE GOT TO BE CAREFULLY TAUGHT’

By John Strubel

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his past fall, CSU’s theatre and music programs collaborated on an original production called You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught, based on a song from the stage classic, South Pacific, that focuses on the subjects of race and racism.

“We thought maybe we can bring something to the table that will impact people in a different way than just entertainment,” said theatre professor Thomas Keating. “When we reflected on the song, it addresses how we are taught hatred and prejudice,” said Keating.

“We assembled a group of actors, and we wrote dialogue that linked it all together.”

The inspiration for the collaboration came after the Walter Scott shooting and the fatal shooting of nine church members at Emmanuel AME last summer in Charleston. The tragedies begged for a response.

“How do people pull out a gun and shoot nine other human beings?” asked Cassidy

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Galloway, a theatre student. “Regardless of the color of their skin, how can you do that?”

Casting, coming up with a story arc, selecting songs, determining a set and the length of the show are just some of the logistics music professor Dr. Jennifer Luiken and Keating had to maneuver on their way to a finished production.

Honest Conversations Become Dialogue After a cast was selected, Keating and Luiken facilitated an open discussion with the cast to discuss race and prejudice. It wasn’t easy. Keating remembers feeling a sense of “tension” among students and “hesitancy to fully say what they were feeling.”

“It started out, we were all nervous about hurting each other’s feelings, but we began to open up to each other,” said Galloway.

“We had some disagreements that escalated into using the N word, and we all agreed in

the end it needed to be there. So it ended up making it into the play, and I think that is one of the most powerful moments for the audience, not just for the cast. The way we handled the message in the play, it was delicate, but at the same time it was very truthful, raw, authentic and powerful.”

“You could sense tension in the room,” said Luiken. “Students were firing thoughts around the room, and you could sense the tension. They worked very hard to understand each other through that process and to treat their fellow colleagues with the same grace with which they would want to be treated.”

“It’s a volatile – or potentially volatile – place to be,” added Keating. “We discovered a lot about stereotypes and each other. We were trying to get people to open up and think a new way.”

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CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

TO WATCH OUR BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO OF THE MAKING OF YOU’VE GOT TO BE CAREFULLY TAUGHT, VISIT CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL AT

YOUTUBE.COM/CHARLESTONSOUTHERN. “We gave the students take-home assignments,” said Luiken. “They came back with heart-wrenching – and humorous – stories.”

Those conversations became the dialogue for the performance.

“Students brought a lot to the table,” Keating continued. “The dialogue of the performance, with the exception of snippets of a song and a handful of Bible verses, is from the students’ perspective. They told stories about themselves; interactions they’d had in their family – real occurrences made it to the stage.”

The idea of an unscripted production made Luiken uncomfortable. She prefers a tight, scripted production.

“It was a hard line to draw,” she said. “We wanted to make sure that we were guiding our students and the discussion, but we also wanted the dialog to be theirs, so that these thoughts would be transparent in a way that students would hear their own voice coming from the stage. Most of the dialog was verbatim conversations that we had in preparation for the production.”

The title song You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught represented a guidepost for the production. Keating said it anchored the cast as they tested the material in rehearsals.

“As you are working on a production like this, everything around you becomes something that could go in the show,” said Luiken.

“Things you hear in a conversation; a bit of news you might have seen; an article that you read; something on the Internet; a song that you heard. You start to think how could that fit and then you really just kind of push those pieces of the puzzle around until you get the picture they are looking for.”

Taking it to the Stage Finally, in late October the production came to life on stage. The performance was an eye-opener for everyone involved.

“It opened my eyes,” said student Joshua Kerr. “I didn’t even realize I was being prejudiced to people; I immediately felt convicted.”

“The amazing thing was everyone was open to talking about it,” said Kelli Manigo, a senior. “We all have experiences; we all have stories we could tell. We shared stories and saw the other person’s point of view. As a result, this beautiful thing of reconciliation came about and understanding it, becoming more of a family.”

“A big word that was being tossed around was transformation,” added Galloway. “I can be racist towards white people and white people can be racist towards me; it is a two-way street, and if we both continue to participate in it, then it is never going to get any better. It is about being intentional in your relationships.”

Theatre at CSU The university offers a minor in theatre, and the theatre and music departments often collaborate on shows.

Recent productions include West Side Story, Showboat, Into the Woods, Shakespeare’s King Lear, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet.

“Faith integration is certainly part of what we do,” said Keating. “We produce theater with a Christian worldview as the foundation.”

“You get to interact with students and learn skills such as subtext and the underlying message behind your lines, which I thought was really cool,” said Kerr. “It’s really handson. Last semester I was in the SNL skit show which was fun. It’s just cool to get those opportunities to work on stage, even if it’s a small production.”

“What you’re learning in the classroom is directly transferrable onto the community theater stage or onto the professional stage,” said Keating. “Depending on what your desire is as a theater person, whether it’s as a performer or as a technician or if you want to be a stage manager or if you know you want to teach eventually; theater prepares you for many avenues. If you want to be an actor, if you want to go to Broadway or if you want to pursue a career in film and television on camera, we can give you the tools to get started in the field.”

“No college is perfect, but CSU is pretty close,” said Galloway. “If you are ready to learn and grow spiritually and emotionally, this is definitely the place to come.”

For more information on our academic degree options, visit CharlestonSouthern.edu/ academics.

You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught premiered in the CSU Black Box Theatre. Photo by Richard Esposito

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Dr. Paul West works with Computer Science majors. Photo by Richard Esposito

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CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

Computer Science Competing at High Level >> In addition to classroom work and computer

By Jan Joslin

lab time, CSU computer science students are competing in local and national competitions and working with the University of South Carolina on computer research.

Competition experience and research projects increase the marketability of CSU computer science graduates and add some fun to academic life. >>

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Cyber Security Team Receives Grant from Palmetto Roost >> The Cyber Security team competed against 30 other college teams from around the country at the University of Connecticut’s CyberSEED 2015 competition, thanks to travel funds donated by Palmetto Roost, the local chapter of the Association of Old Crows.

Palmetto Roost recently supplied a grant to support the CSU computer science department and the cyber security team.

Richard F. Nelson, president of Palmetto Roost, said, “Our members are proud to support CSU’s cyber security team as a part of our STEM activities. The CSU team has impressed us with their progress and dedication to improve. It is the drive and dedication to the improvement of the science, engineering and application of technologies that impressed us, and we wanted to try and encourage some of our next scientists and engineers to continue to pursue excellence in STEM fields of study.”

Dr. Valerie Sessions, chair of the computer science department, is excited that CSU

students have the opportunity to work with Palmetto Roost. Students will be able to attend Roost meetings, mentor Cyber Patriot teams and interact with professionals in the field.

“The Palmetto Roost worked with SPAWAR and other partners to create the Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition,” said Sessions.

“This competition was one of the first that CSU participated in, and it led to a desire to grow our cyber security skills and compete nationally in competitions.” The CSU cyber security team has steadily improved since they started participating and finished second in last year’s Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition.

Shea Rogers, a computer and information sciences major, is president of the Cyber Security Club. Rogers said, “The Palmetto Roost grant is a huge help to us! We are currently setting up a cyber security lab and need some equipment to finish it off, so there could be no better timing for us to receive it.”

Rogers is interested in a career in cyber security. He said, “It is a quickly expanding field with many advances being made every day. Couple that with the fact that it is one of the most looked for professions in the nation, and it becomes very interesting to me.”

Cyber security has increasingly become a national priority. Nelson said, “Computers are embedded into our everyday lives and have become ubiquitous core components that enable our modern society. Our country’s political, military and technical leaders have dedicated many resources to addressing this issue and all agree that cyber security is a priority for our nation and its citizens.”

The AOC is an international not-for-profit professional organization promoting the advancement of strategy, policy and programs for cyber warfare and electromagnetic spectrum operations in support of national security. To learn more, visit palmettoroost.org.

CYBER SECURITY IS A QUICKLY EXPANDING FIELD WITH MANY ADVANCES BEING MADE EVERY DAY. – SHEA ROGERS Classroom instruction includes hands-on projects. Photo by Richard Esposito

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CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

Solid Showing at ACM Regional >> Competing in Division I, CSU’s two teams made a solid showing in their first appearance at the Association of Computing Machinery’s Southeast USA Region competition.

Students enter the programming competitions to sharpen skills and learn where they need to improve. They also gain experience in what interviewing with large companies such as Google and Microsoft entails.

“In class students go through learning new concepts and skills to be a better programmer,” said Dr. Paul West, assistant professor of computer science and coach of both CSU

teams. “At these ACM competitions they are able to apply these concepts and skills in a reallife fast pace environment.

“The main highlight was simply being able to compete in Division I. Most students have never been in this environment, yet we were able to complete enough Division I problems to beat out Florida State University and University of North Florida,” said West.

CSU teams competed at the College of Charleston and were the only teams at that venue competing at the more difficult Division I level.

Competing for Charleston Southern were: • Team Aardvark: Jackson Crist, senior computer science; Don Howe, senior technology with computer science cognate; Joshua Satterfield, senior computer science; Dr. Paul West, coach • Team Brute Force: William Conroy, senior computer science; Chase Freshwater, senior computer science; David Griggs, senior math education; Dr. Paul West, coach The winning team for each region advanced to the World Finals.

Dr. Paul West, assistant professor of computer science. Photo by Richard Esposito.

Brute Force team members Chase Freshwater, William Conroy and David Griggs with the head judge at the ACM regional competition. Photo provided

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CSU + USC = robot research >> A National Science Foundation grant awarded to the University of South Carolina is impacting Charleston Southern students and faculty as well.

CSU is partnering with Dr. Ioannis Rekleitis, an assistant professor in the computer science and engineering department at USC, to investigate the usage of robots for coastal missions, targeting the coastal waters of South Carolina.

Rekleitis said, “The last few years, robots have moved from the pages of science fiction books into our everyday reality.� He said research being performed today focuses on the computational aspects of robotics.

It is anticipated that the partnership between USC and CSU will be assisted by a robot team of 2 underwater vehicles (AUVs), 3 surface vehicles (ASVs), unmanned aerial vehicles

(UAVs), 2 fixed-wing vehicles (UAVs) and 2 quadrocopters, which can land on and take off from water. Some of the anticipated areas that this fleet of robots could impact would be environmental monitoring, homeland security, resource utilization and more.

CSU students meet with Dr. Ioannis Rekleitis of USC and chair of the CSU computer science department, Dr. Valerie Sessions. Photo by Richard Esposito

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CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

MEET ELI, CSU’S NEW EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING INITIATIVE

By John Strubel

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he university has launched ELI, the Experiential Learning Initiative. The new program is designed to provide enriched educational opportunities for undergraduate students in the following areas: practical and applied learning, enhanced learning and skill enrichment.

“Studies have shown that benefits of experiential learning for students include higher job placement rates after graduation, better understanding of course material and the development of professional skills for the postgraduate environment,” said Dr. Nathan Martin, associate professor of history and Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) coordinator.

According to research published in current educational literature, experiential learning opportunities have substantial potential benefits for undergraduate students including stronger student satisfaction of their overall university experience, the development of transferable skills beyond the classroom and improved career placements.

The goals of ELI include enhancing the understanding of discipline-specific theory through application in real-world environments and developing reflection and communication skills.

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The program incorporates a multifaceted approach to experiential opportunities including: • Internships • Practicums • Clinical courses • Field experiences • Applied learning • Service projects • Skill development The ELI program will create new internships, clinicals, service learning courses and other applied learning opportunities.

According to CSU’s accrediting organization, the Southern Association of Colleges

and Schools Commission on Colleges, “The concept of quality enhancement is at the heart of the Commission’s philosophy of accreditation. Each institution seeking reaffirmation of Accreditation is required to develop a Quality Enhancement Plan. Engaging the wider academic community and addressing one or more issues that contribute to institutional improvement, the plan should be focused, succinct, and limited in length.

The QEP describes a carefully designed and focused course of action that addresses a welldefined topic or issue(s) related to enhancing student learning.”

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FIVE INDUCTED INTO ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME

By CSU Sports Information

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ive former Charleston Southern student-athletes were inducted into the CSU Athletic Hall of Fame during Homecoming weekend. The class features three Big South Conference champions in track & field, as well as former All-Big South performers in women’s tennis and women’s soccer.

“I was fortunate to see each one compete and remember being impressed by the caliber of their accomplishments,” said athletic director Hank Small. “They distinguished themselves not only at the Big South Conference level but also at the national level.”

The inductees in the 2015 CSU Athletic Hall of Fame Class were: Levi Brooks ’10 (Men’s Track and Field, 2006-10) Brooks earned Big South Track and Field Performer of the Year honors in 2009 and was a six-time Big South Champion and a six-time All-Conference selection in both the 200m and 400m. He was a three-time Big South Indoor Track & Field champion in the 400m dash from 2008-10, posting the Big South’s best mark in the race in both 2009 and 2010.

He also holds the Big South’s record in the 300m dash, posted in 2009 with a time of 34.47. Brooks is the second member of the 4x400 relay that set the Big South record in 2008. He also won the 400m at the Big South Outdoor Track & Field Championships in both 2009 and 2010, while winning the 200m in 2009.

Former CSU Men’s Track & Field head coach Tim Langford on Brooks: “Levi Brooks was a direct product of Rhue’s success and legacy,” said Langford. “Levi came into the program full of energy and talent and he never saw an event that he couldn’t do. He qualified for the NCAA national championships his

16 CSU magazine

sophomore year, and he carried a dependable, willing and able character about himself throughout his career.”

Katie Crona ’07 (Women’s Soccer, 2003-05) Crona was a three-time Big South selection for the Buccaneers at forward and was named the Big South Scholar-Athlete of the Year in the 2004 season. Crona led the Big South in goals (15) and points (34) in 2004 in earning Big South First Team honors during the season. At the time of her graduation, she was fifth all-time in CSU history in goals scored and 10th in career points. Her 2004 season ranks among the highest scoring in CSU history behind current CSU Hall of Fame member Wendy Ennis. She started in 58 of her 59 games with the Bucs. Off the field, Crona was named the Metro Sports Council Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2004 and was an NSCAA Scholar All-Region selection in 2005.

CSU Women’s Soccer head coach and Crona’s coach Eric Terrill: “Katie transferred in and was one of those players we kept an open mind about where she would play.” She came in as a defensive midfielder, but had a brilliant career up top for us at forward. Her mentality and dedication to the program was evident as she single-handedly almost got us to the finals of the Big South in 2004 with a strong performance in the tournament. She had a knack for putting the ball into the back of the net in clutch situations for us and had a great career with the Buccaneers.”

Dionne Gibson ’08 (Women’s Track and Field, 2005-09) A two-time All-American, Gibson had a highly decorated career at Charleston Southern including being a five-time Big South Champion and six-time All-Conference selection in the 100m, 200m and 400m. She

was a two-time Big South Outdoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year, earning the accolades in both 2007 and 2008. She was also the 2008 Big South Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year. Her career highlights include being a part of the CSU 4x100m relay team that set the Big South record with a time of 44.35 seconds at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship. She had the Big South Outdoor best times in three events in 2007 (100m, 200m, 4x400m), 2008 (200m, 4x100m, 4x400m) and 2009 (200m, 400m, 4x400m).

CSU head women’s track coach and Gibson’s coach Tosha Ansley on Gibson: “Dionne was a great ambassador for our program and conference. Even as a freshman, she was a natural leader, and she continued to lead her teammates throughout her career, from guiding them through warmups and encouraging them at meets, to even being a big sister to them in their times of need. She was the type of athlete that most coaches would love to have in their program. Not only was she great on the track by being a two-time All-American but also she was great in the classroom; earning Academic All-American accolades.

Always hard working and so giving of her time to others, Dionne was a tireless worker that took on every workout with the idea that if it made her better she’d push through it. There were times I pushed her to the point of falling out, but she would get up, gather herself and come back to me and say, ‘I’m ready to go again.’ Her determination and grit were amazing... I’m honored to have coached her, and she is deserving of joining CSU’s Athletic Hall of Fame because she was an outstanding athlete, student, and, best of all, an outstanding woman that I’m proud to call a Buccaneer.”

Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY Meryam Tazi, Michael Rhue, Dionne Gibson, Katie Crona, Levi Brooks and Hank Small

Michael Rhue ’09 (Men’s Track and Field, 2004-08) Rhue was named the 2007 Big South Conference Outdoor Track and Field Performer of the Year and his accolades include being a seven-time Big South Champion and six-time All-Conference selection in the 100m and 200m. He won the 400m at the Big South Outdoor Track & Field Championships all four years and added titles in the 200m in 2005 and 2007. He was also a member of the CSU 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams from 2005-08. Among the records set during his time at CSU include setting the Big South 4x400m record in 2008 (3:09.89). He also posted the best times in the 200m and 400m in the Big South from 2006-08.

Former CSU Men’s Track & Field head coach Tim Langford on Rhue: “Michael Rhue was an amazing versatile sprinter that had a tremendous work ethic. His leadership helped to shape the team in its rebuilding phase, and he anchored many successful Buccaneer relay teams. Rhue helped make recruiting easier with each passing year, and he was the rock of the program until his graduation.”

Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

Meryam Tazi ’07 (Women’s Tennis, 2004-07) Tazi was a three-time All-Big South singles selection for the Buccaneers during her playing career and was a two-time Big South doubles selection. Playing at both No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles during her time with the Bucs, she finished with a career record of 3416 in singles play, including an 11-2 record in Big South play over her final two seasons.

As a senior, she went 16-5 overall in singles, posting a 5-1 record in Big South action. In her sophomore season, she went 8-1 at No. 1 singles to lead the Buccaneers. Over her final three years at CSU, Tazi posted winning records in Big South doubles play.

CSU Women’s Tennis head coach and Tazi’s coach Mike Baker: “Mimi was one of the great players that have played tennis for CSU. She was a great leader on a team that helped build the foundation of the program today. When she played for CSU, she was one of the toughest players I have ever watched play tennis. She fought so hard for the school, the program and her teammates! I am very proud of her on and off court accomplishments, and I am excited about her induction into the Hall of Fame.”

Photo by Richard Esposito

I WAS FORTUNATE TO SEE EACH ONE COMPETE AND REMEMBER BEING IMPRESSED

BY THE CALIBER OF THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENTS,” SAID ATHLETIC DIRECTOR HANK SMALL. “THEY DISTINGUISHED THEMSELVES NOT ONLY AT THE BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE LEVEL BUT ALSO AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL. – HANK SMALL

ATHLETIC DIRECTOR

CSU magazine 17

LEARNING

LEADING

SERVING

BUCS ACHIEVE HIGHEST RANKING IN PROGRAM’S HISTORY

By CSU Sports Information

T

he football team was ranked No. 6 in the final STATS FCS Top-25 Poll and finished 7th in the FCS Coaches Poll. The rankings came after CSU advanced to the quarterfinals in its first FCS Playoff appearance.

CSU won the first outright Big South Conference title in program history and was one of three teams to complete the regular season undefeated against FCS competition.

The Bucs earned the No. 8 national seed and downed The Citadel for the fourth straight time and second time this year in the second round.

The playoff win put CSU in the national spotlight and gave the Bucs a chance to play on ESPN2 – the first true nationally televised game in school history – against No. 1 Jacksonville State. Wins over No. 1 Coastal Carolina, 33-25, on Halloween night and a 31-24 win over Liberty in the conference finale on Senior Day helped the Bucs to a perfect 6-0 record at home in 2015.

CSU head coach Jamey Chadwell picked up Big South Coach of the Year accolades for the second time in three years. The program has been ranked for 18 weeks during Chadwell’s tenure after spending just one week in the polls in its first 22 years.

Twelve Bucs were named to the Big South All-Conference Teams, highlighted by linebacker Solomon Brown’s selection as Big South Freshman of the Year. Erik Austell, Aaron Brown and Joseph Smith earned STATS FCS All-American honors. CSU led the country in total defense for much of the year and finished top-10 nationally in passing yards allowed (4th), total defense (9th), punt returns (9th) and kickoff returns (10th).

18 CSU magazine

Quarterfinals game against Jacksonville State The Buccaneers best season in school history came to an end in the FCS Playoff quarterfinals at Burgess-Snow Field. Jacksonville State scored 45 second half points and tallied 597 yards of offense to pull away from CSU, 58-38, in front of a crowd of 22,714.

CSU (10-3) suffered its first FCS loss of the year, a defeat that snapped a streak of 12 straight wins dating back to last year. Head coach Jamey Chadwell, who has won 28 games in his first three seasons and a school record 10 games twice, was quick to point out what the No. 7 Bucs had accomplished, despite the loss.

“It’s a special group,” Chadwell said.

“They’re really good football players, but even better people. They forever changed the perception of what Charleston Southern is, and that’s pretty special. What these players have done for this university and putting Charleston Southern on the national map, not a lot of people knew about us, and I’m thankful for the journey they took us on. I didn’t want it to end this way, but I’m proud of our team and the way we represented our school and the Big South Conference.”

CSU trailed only 13-10 at halftime, was behind by three midway through the third quarter, and had the football down 10 late in the fourth, but could not find an answer for JSU’s rushing attack. The Gamecocks totaled 506 yards on the ground and had four touchdown runs of 44 yards or more. Troymaine Pope tallied 250 yards and three scores, while quarterback Eli Jenkins recorded 195 yards and two touchdowns.

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CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

Darius Hammond set a Big South record 258 kickoff return yards in the game against Jacksonville State. Photo by Marvin Gentry

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continued from page 18

LEARNING

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Alum Mike McCann Publishes First Book

By John Strubel The journey, not the destination, is the foundation of a great story.

Mike McCann ’07, MBA ’11 has captured Charleston Southern’s journey to its first Big South title in 2005 in his new book, BelieveEG21: Play Like There’s No Tomorrow.

The book takes you behind-the-scenes and chronicles the sometimes humorous, sometimes inspiring and heartbreaking journey of the season. The latter is rooted in the life and death of Eddie Gadson, who came to CSU as a walk-on and eventually earned a scholarship and became a leader of the team’s early success.

On and off the field the Stockbridge, Ga., native led the Buccaneers and the Big South Conference in receptions, touchdown receptions and receiving yards. Gadson, an elementary education major, had aspirations of teaching and becoming a coach.

In June 2005, Gadson’s life was tragically cut short in a car accident near his home in Georgia. He would have been a sophomore at CSU. In the book, BelieveEG21, McCann wrote that Gadson’s death helped the program heal – and believe “… in each other; to believe that a football team can provide healing; to believe in something bigger than ourselves.”

Gadson plays a central role in CSU’s first Big South Conference title run, which ended with a dramatic come-from-behind win over Coastal Carolina on the final day of the season.

“That experience helped shape me, and some of those relationships helped shape me,” said Darius Jackson, a member of the 2005 team. “I had a lot of fun at CSU, and I’d do some things differently, but I’d never change my decision to go to school there.”

Following Gadson’s death, his parents, Paula and Edward Gadson, created the Edward A. Gadson Memorial Scholarship. The goal was to provide a lasting memory of their son. Today, the scholarship is awarded to walk-on football players during the annual CSU Spring Game and is presented to players who exemplify Eddie’s attitude and spirit of competition.

McCann’s 241-page book is a highly recommended piece of Charleston Southern University history. BelieveEG21 is now available in paperback and as an e-book. You can order the book by visiting BelieveEG21.com. The book is also available in the CSU Bookstore.

20 CSU magazine

Photo of Mike McCann by Richard Esposito

Kyle Copeland hands the ball off to Mike Holloway. Holloway rushed for 92 yards in the game. Photo by Marvin Gentry

“Congratulations to Jacksonville State,” Chadwell added. “They’ve got a heck of a team. I’m proud of my football team for the fight that they showed. They kept striking, kept swinging, until the very end, but we dug us a hole we couldn’t get out of. That’s a credit to JSU. I told (Coach Grass) to go win the whole thing. They’re the most talented team we’ve played all year in FCS.” Jacksonville State eventually lost to North Dakota State in the FCS finals.

The Buccaneers got a Big South record 285 kickoff return yards from junior Darius Hammond to stay in the game. He had returns of 84 and 60 yards to set up short CSU touchdown drives in the second half and averaged 36.9 yards on eight returns.

Hammond and backfield mate Mike Holloway both pushed the 100-yard mark in the game. Hammond had 91 rushing yards, and Holloway added 92 to go with a rushing touchdown apiece.

Quarterback Kyle Copeland, who jumpstarted the offense in the second quarter, added a third rushing TD for CSU. He was 8-of-10 through the air for 125 yards and two touchdowns. Both TD passes were 21-yard strikes, one to Nathan Perera and the other to Kenny Dinkins as the Bucs cut the lead to 10 twice in the early minutes of the fourth quarter.

Pope and Jenkins proved to be too much for CSU. Pope ripped off a 76-yard run on the opening possession of the third quarter to extend the lead to 20-10. An 83-yard touchdown run and two more long TD dashes from Pope ended CSU hopes during a second half that featured 73 points.

Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

KELLYS FUNDING NEW EQUIPMENT, ENLARGED SPACE FOR WEIGHT ROOM

By Jan Joslin

A

surprise announcement during Homecoming Weekend earned a standing ovation from the Buccaneer football team.

Presentation of the Angie & Sam Kelly Strength and Conditioning Center: Hank Small, athletic director; Dr. Jairy C. Hunter Jr., president; Sam Kelly, Angie Kelly, Jamey Chadwell, head football coach.

Sam and Angie Kelly of Greenville announced they were donating funding to establish the Angie & Sam Kelly Strength and Conditioning Center in the field house. The Kelly’s donation, combined with university funding, will enhance and enlarge the current weight room to 5,000 square feet to benefit all the athletic teams.

The room will be upgraded to state-ofthe-art equipment. Sam Kelly said, “Strength conditioning is probably the most important thing from an athletic standpoint. I want to give you the best.”

Kelly told the football team, “Sell yourself out to God if you want to see how things will change in your life.” He said when his children were small he got caught up in busi-

ness and has been highly successful. But he’s learned to really win you have to do something for someone else.

Sophomore defensive lineman, Anthony Ellis, said, “The new weight room will be very beneficial for football, and for CSU athletics as a whole.”

The Kellys met Jamey Chadwell when Chadwell was the football coach at North Greenville University and have followed his career ever since. Kelly told the football team, “Every chance you get, listen to what Jamey Chadwell says. Always have a mentor, and to be successful, get some work experience.”

President Jairy C. Hunter Jr. said the weight room enhancement will be fabulous for all CSU athletes.

Photo by Richard Esposito

Spencer Speaks at Chapel

C

harleston Southern University alumnus and ABC News 4 anchor, Tessa Spencer, delivered the Veterans Day chapel message. Spencer, a 1990 graduate, shared her testimony. She is a veteran of the first Gulf War and served in the U.S. Army Reserves.

Spencer is the co-anchor of Good Morning Charleston. Her broadcasting career spans 22 years with stops in Greenville, S.C., Nashville, Tenn., where she also earned a spot as a cheerleader for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, and Providence, R.I. To listen to the Podcast of her Chapel message, charlestonsouthern.edu/chapel/ chapel_fall_2015.html.

Tessa Spencer, third from right, meets with students after Chapel.

Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

CSU magazine 21

LEARNING

LEADING

SERVING

“MENTAL FITNESS CAN BE TRAINED AND CULTIVATED IN EACH OF US.” – DR. KATE THOMAS

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

KATE THOMAS

ADDRESSING THE BATTLE FOR BALANCE

By Jan Joslin photos by Richard Esposito

r. Kate Hendricks Thomas was due to leave Iraq about the time her little brother came into the country.

But, her brother beat her home. His vehicle ran over an IED after being in Iraq a month.

Thomas spent her time off back in the states on his hospital ward. “I was surrounded by the most intense levels of people dealing with the consequences of our nation’s choice to go to war. The corpsman who saved my brother’s life was 19, probably a 110 pounds, little Filipino guy. And he had a fiancé, 18. He lost limbs and would have a colostomy bag the rest of his life,

and I was watching this young couple process this. And the reason my brother was even alive was that kid.”

It was during that dark time sitting with her baby brother, in a ward of severely wounded service members that U.S. Marine Captain Thomas came to the end of herself.

The cocky MP was sitting with her brother on a particularly bad day when his wounds had been cleaned, and he was in a great deal of pain. When he fell asleep, she thought she would help him rest by repeatedly hitting his morphine. He woke gasping for breath and telling her, “Something is wrong.”

After she summoned a nurse for help and her brother was safely back to sleep, Thomas, the always-in-control warrior, realized she wasn’t in control of anything.

“Alone in a dark hospital room, that was where I returned to faith, and I just felt like the presence of Jesus happened to me at that moment and broke my heart open. My son broke it the rest of the way. And it changed things for me,” said Thomas, assistant professor of health promotion in the College of Health Sciences.

FOCUSING ON SELF-CARE, SOCIAL SUPPORT AND FAITH PRACTICES CAN MAKE ANYONE MORE RESILIENT, AND IT IS PARTICULARLY USEFUL TO THE MILITARY.

– DR. KATE THOMAS

Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

CSU magazine 23

LEARNING

LEADING

SERVING

THE MARINE Thomas, the oldest child of four, grew up in a military family. Her dad was in the Marine Corps, and her mom was a civil servant. She said, “I joke the 11th commandment in our family was thy shall join the Marine Corps.”

Being called a civilian in her family was a

derogatory term and was used as a motivator for Thomas and her siblings. She said, “I like to tell my parents they were Chinese tiger parents before it was a thing.”

One Christmas they went running as a family. It was hailing, and her father was calling cadence for all of them. “We had neighbors later tell us, we thought you guys were strange, but to us it was normal.”

BRAVE,STRONG, TRUE These days Thomas is using that intensity to draw attention to an alarming fact: the U.S. is currently losing more veterans to suicide than to combat.

She released a new book on Veterans Day. Brave, Strong and True, The Modern Warrior’s Battle for Balance outlines some startling facts: • “It really isn’t that services aren’t available to veterans and military personnel when things become difficult; we just won’t use them.” (page 24) • “Our current deployment rates, un conventional hidden injuries, and the increased survivability of wounds that would have killed service members decades ago call for cutting-edge treatment, care and prepar tion in the training environment.” (page 28) • “The significant majority of American men aged 75 and older are veterans, compared with no more than 12 percent of those younger than age 35.” (page 33)

According to Thomas, facing combat doesn’t seem to be the predictor of a vet committing suicide. Rather, among younger vets of Iraq and Afghanistan, deployment is not the greatest predictor of suicide: a recent separation from service is.

She explains, “The veteran population in America is shrinking, and society’s sense of purpose and connection to our wars of the last two decades is extremely limited. This all contributes powerfully to the higher rates of stress injury and depression we are seeing in young veterans. The issue seems to be one of alienation and isolation.”

Thomas wants to see Resiliency Theory incorporated into military training. Resiliency Theory consists of three areas: social support, self-care endeavors and faith practices. “We need to learn and regularly employ resiliency techniques,” she said.

Driven and athletic, Thomas went to college on an Air Force scholarship. But she missed the Marine Corps. It felt like home. Her father had pushed the Air Force because female officers make up just four percent of the Marine Corps, and he was hesitant about sending his daughter into that atmosphere. “I wanted the physical challenge; I wanted to sleep in the dirt. I was a little bit intense. Now I have all kinds of crazy injuries as a result of my over intensity.”

She said we don’t need to look at social support and spirituality as fluffy, something nice to have. Instead, we need to look at them as vital components to wholehearted living.

“It’s bringing your best self forward, and that is the reframing that I’m advocating. It’s about how do you prepare yourself to be a warrior?”

One indicator of resiliency is an individual’s ability to downshift the nervous system, and perhaps more importantly, being able to downshift at will. Thomas advocates that the time to teach resiliency is not when service men and women are getting out of service, but during their military training.

In order to work, Thomas said, resiliency training has to be a performance metric. “Mental fitness must become like physical fitness,” she said. The military already teaches breath work on the rifle range. Similar techniques can be taught to control stress. “Resiliency not only maximizes you as a warrior but also in all aspects of life,” said Thomas.

“If I had learned to navigate stress better,” she said, “a decade of my life would have been very different.”

IT REALLY ISN’T THAT SERVICES AREN’T AVAILABLE TO VETERANS AND MILITARY PERSONNEL WHEN THINGS BECOME DIFFICULT; WE JUST WON’T USE THEM.

– DR. KATE THOMAS

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Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

BE STILL

& KNOW

That decade included getting out of the Marines, missing the lifestyle and enlisting in the Reserves. “I missed the people and the intensity and the camaraderie, and I missed feeling like what I did mattered.”

Although she had grown up in church, Thomas said during this period she was a lapsed Christian. Another thing greatly influencing her was her tribe. “My tribe was full of deeply unbalanced people.”

She married a fellow Marine officer against the advice of loved ones and friends. “It was kind of a dark period for me because our relationship was incredibly volatile. We truly were a statistic.”

Thomas shares her story of divorce, domestic violence and abusing alcohol because stories connect, and it helps her connect with fellow vets. “The shame of my very first public fail-

ure, my divorce, almost leveled me,” she said.

“When I started talking to other veterans I realized than not only statistically is it not a special story but experientially it’s not a special story.”

After the divorce she was angry. “I was moving fast and not thinking as much as possible,” she said.

God used the experience of almost overdosing her brother, her divorce and the experiences she had in the military to get her attention and begin building her faith. Thomas said, “I believe we are naturally wired for faith.

Psalm 46:10 says, ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ Getting quiet is part of resilient training and connecting to God. “Faith gave me the ability to forgive myself,” she said. “I was actively seeking as a Christian.

I felt valueless for a long time, but now I feel I have value despite my mistakes.”

Student Veterans of America CSU has established a chapter of Student Veterans of America. The mission of CSUSVA is to help meet the spiritual, educational, professional and vocational needs of student military veterans and their families.

The group is in the process of electing officers. Dr. David Phillips, CSUSVA advisor, said, “We’ll certainly focus on community outreach, specifically in relation to veterans’ concerns. These could include homelessness, addiction, psychological needs and challenges faced in transiting from a military to a civilian environment.”

Phillips, a professor of English, took leave from CSU from 2011 to 2013 to teach in a Chinese university. When he returned to CSU in 2013, he noticed there were more veter-

She married and became part of a faith community. She and her husband joined a couple’s small group at the church, and then she joined a women’s small group. “I saw faith done in community really, really well,” she said. For the first time, she considered the role of faith in mental health and resilience building and realized that faith was essential in wellness.

The birth of her son, Matthew, named after her brother, sealed her faith journey. “Having my son rocked my world in every way,” Thomas said. “You can’t hold your little baby and not see him as a blessing.” She laughs as she says, “Babies force you to get quiet. My faith is deeper because of that forced quiet time, that time in the middle of the night.

“Faith has made me more resilient. It makes me a much better wife and a more patient mother.” And hauntingly, she said, “If only I had known Him earlier.”

The CSUSVA goals include: ans in the classroom going to school on the Yellow Ribbon Program.

As a Navy vet who attended college on the GI Bill, Phillips experienced firsthand the difference between a college which provided a reentry program for vets and ones that didn’t. After encountering several vets in his classroom who were dealing with posttraumatic stress disorder, he knew he wanted to help vets more easily transition to CSU. Phillips began working to establish an SVA chapter on campus. Groups such as SVA create a sense of unity familiar to military personnel, give vets a voice on campus and provide opportunities for veterans to network with other vets at a national level, sharing information on scholarships, potential employment opportunities and resources available through the Veterans Administration and veteran’s related nonprofits.

• Promoting communication and interaction among veterans, their families and supporters to encourage veterans helping veterans • Promoting the spiritual well-being of veterans and their families • Educating the surrounding communities about the special experiences, strengths and needs of military veterans and their families • Promoting social and networking opportunities at the local and national level for veterans, their families and supporters • Engaging in service projects to help veterans and their families become active, contributing members of the local civilian communities • Sponsoring veteran events on campus for military/veteran students, faculty, staff and community supporters

Dr. David Phillips

Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

CSU magazine 25

LEARNING

LEADING

SERVING

INTO THE CLASSROOM After the military, Thomas enrolled in graduate school to study health promotion, and she was also working in the fitness industry.

Eventually she was hired as an adjunct professor at the school where she received her master’s degree. The experience sparked a fire in her to go into research and teaching.

When she accepted a teaching position at Charleston Southern, she said she was seeking a place where she could talk about faith in the way she experienced it. “Faith is at the core,”

she said. “It’s the center of the wellness wheel.”

Her experiences drive her as a teacher and writer. “I feel like it is worth it to have touched the stove and made the mistakes I’ve made and dealt with the things I’ve dealt with if it helps someone else. Telling stories helps military social workers and family members understand,” she said.

Thomas said her experiences have shaped her as an educator. “I noticed when I went to graduate school that the professors who had

DR. THOMAS HAS BEEN MY GO-TO FOR MOST OF MY COLLEGE EXPERIENCE. I FEEL AS THOUGH SHE TAKES THE VETERAN STUDENTS UNDER HER WING. – CASSANDRA ALLEN

the greatest influence on me were those who could come back after a lesson and tell me ‘I went through this.’ When they shared how it actually played out in life and in business, they had a greater impact on me than someone saying the textbook says this.”

Cassandra Allen, a Navy veteran majoring in health promotion, said, “I have always loved health and wellness and had a desire to stay relevant with the best ways to stay holistically healthy. I think that longevity should be accompanied with always feeling our best emotionally, mentally and physically. Health promotion aligns perfectly with how I want to live my life.”

Allen said, “Dr. Thomas has been my goto for most of my college experience. I feel as though she takes the veteran students under her wing. Coming to college is very awkward when you are older. It is not hard to feel completely out of place. But in her classroom it is not that way because there is an unspoken respect and mutual connection there.”

AFROTC Cadets Earning Recognition Two Air Force ROTC students, Cadet Jeremy Huggins and Cadet Francisco Cancel-Carlo, have been selected to attend Field Training this summer.

Field training offers selected cadets the opportunity to develop their skills as both a leader and team member. Selection to attend is very competitive. In addition to meeting general Air Force ROTC program requirements, selection for Field Training is also based on the cadet’s grades, physical fitness test scores, standardized test scores and overall performance in Air Force ROTC.

26 CSU magazine

Huggins also recently received an Air Force ROTC scholarship. He was awarded a twoyear scholarship that pays college tuition and most fees up to $18,000 per year.

Huggins is a political science major scheduled to earn a commission into the United States Air Force as a Second Lieutenant in May 2017 and aspires to be a pilot or lawyer once on active duty. While completing his degree, he currently serves as the Air Force ROTC Detachment 772 Cadet Wing Historian charged with capturing and documenting the history of the cadet wing. Cancel-Carlos is a criminal justice major scheduled to earn a

commission into the United States Air Force as a Second Lieutenant in December 2016 and aspires to be a logistics readiness officer once on active duty. He currently serves as the Air Force ROTC Detachment 772 Cadet Wing Physical Fitness Officer charged with developing and implementing a rigorous fitness program of the cadet wing.

Lt. Col. Alexandria Watson, AFROTC Det. 772 commander, said, “We are proud of Cadets Huggins and Cancel-Carlo and wish them much success at Field Training this summer as part of their path to becoming an officer in the United States Air Force.”

Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

CSU’s Health Promotion Program

PROMOTING HEALTH As a veteran teaching at a Yellow Ribbon program university that has been tagged military friendly, Thomas brings personal experience and professional knowledge to the topic of wellness for veterans.

“It is important to create programs aimed at postservice quality of life improvement and healing, but the biggest impacts can be made from a prevention angle,” she said.

“By establishing mental fitness as another component of optimal combat readiness, we establish resiliency training as a crucial component of mission preparedness and remove the stigma of such practices of postdeployment troops who may be struggling with stress illnesses of varying degrees.”

In Brave, Strong, True, Thomas writes that “studies have shown that military personnel in possession of known resilient traits rarely suffer problems after deployment.”

Thomas is turning her research toward the use of biofeedback tools in testing resiliency in active members of the military. “My future work will involve standardizing a theoretically based, validated training curriculum and using an individual’s ability to deescalate their nervous system response as a performance metric,” she said.

Both Thomas and Allen are active in the Charleston chapter of Team Red, White & Blue, which according to Team RWB, “connects veterans to one another and their local communities through fitness.” Team RWB has sponsored a couple of runs at CSU to connect with student veterans. Allen said, “RWB is a beautiful organization that empowers all members, including veterans and civilians.

Everyone involved desires connection with other members. This approach is accomplished by focusing on enriching each other’s lives through social and physical activities.”

Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

The health promotion field specializes in preventative care and community outreach, aiming to improve the health and well-being and quality of life among individuals, groups and communities.

The health promotion major, housed in the College of Health Sciences, teaches students to manage and evaluate health promotion strategies that proactively address community health challenges, prevent illness and disease, and increase quality of life across the community.

The major prepares students to sit for the Certified Health Education Specialist exam offered by the National Commission of Health Education Credentialing.

Cassandra Allen, a senior in the health promotion program, said, “I would enjoy doing something in the health-coaching realm. I have a strong pull to work with other veterans.

I feel they transition out of the military and lose themselves in the midst of their huge identity change. I desire to be that professional who is able to educate and empower them to identify their best path to holistic health so they can live their lives to the fullest quality.”

Possible careers available to health promotion majors: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Community Health Educator Community Outreach Coordinator Environmental Educator/ Inspector Health Advocate and Policy Analyst Health Coach/ Telephonic Health Coach Health Marketing Coordinator Health Promotion Programmer/ Specialist Health Resource Specialist Women’s Health Program Coordinator/ Specialist Medical Supply or Pharmaceutical Sales Rep Patient Educator/ Education Coordinator Prevention Specialist Senior Services Coordinator Social Services Coordinator Teen Outreach Coordinator Family Planning Educator Worksite Safety Educator Worksite Wellness Coordinator Youth Educator/ Outreach Coordinator

A health promotion degree provides individuals with a strong academic foundation to pursue graduate education in areas such as public health, social work, global and international health and education in specialty fields such as occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy, nursing, chiropractic care and physician assistant.

The College of Health Sciences recently sponsored a panel on veterans health. Pictured are: Dr. Kate Thomas, CSU health promotion program; Jermaine Husser, Palmetto Warrior Connection; Dr. David Phillips, advisor, CSU Student Veterans of America; Charles West, VA VITAL coordinator, and Cassandra Allen, Team Red, White & Blue

CSU magazine 27

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Dr. Kate Thomas chats with health promotion students.

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CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

Health promotion faculty and students promote self-care. “Different things work for different people,” said Thomas. “You have to enjoy what you’re doing. For me, I like trail running with my dog. You are looking for that feeling of downshifting from nervousness, whatever gets you to that point.”

Thomas is also a believer in what author Peter Haas calls inconveniently godly friends – those friends who are there for each other in a loving way and set a high bar for each other.

She said, “It is saying, ‘I see you struggling, do you want to pray about it.’?”

In working with vets Thomas uses her experience as a cautionary tale. “I feel I failed; I wasn’t balanced enough at the time,” she said.

Thomas said being authentic is an important part of any wellness program. One way the health promotion program is doing this is partnering with a local nonprofit to offer retreats to vets. Plans are in the works for retreats in the Whitfield Center for Christian Leadership.

Another project that is already under way is conducting a needs assessment survey with CSU student veterans. Health promotion students will be checking student vets’ levels of social support. Student vets are asked questions to indicate undiagnosed symptoms, questions about stigma against resource seeking and basic information about programming at CSU. The results of the survey will help drive programs going forward.

To learn more, connect with Dr. Thomas on social media: - Twitter: twitter.com/precisionwell - Linked In: linkedin.com/in/bravestrongtrue - Website: katehendricksthomas.com Brave, Strong and True, the Modern Warrior’s Battle for Balance is available at bravestrongtrue.com and at Amazon.com.

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CSU magazine 29

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SERVING

RESIDENCE LIFE’S READING PROJECT I

n recent years the residence life department has refined its mission and vision of creating a community that honors God and enables students to thrive by loving Jesus and their neighbors, in turn creating a community that will produce disciples. They have provided resident advisors with Christ-centered reading material in an effort to help further their walk with Jesus as well as help them develop a biblical worldview.

Recent reading has included: • Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer • Reflections of Christian Leadership by Henri Nouwen • Your Mind’s Mission by Greg Jao • Thinking Like a Christian, by David Noebel with Chuck Edwards

We hope that the material provided not only further develops our Resident Advisors’ leadership skills in a Christcentered way but also they will gain a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.

We hope to see these students use the provided material to tell others about Jesus and encourage others to form a personal relationship with Him. Tyler Davis ’11 MBA Assistant Dean of Campus Life

photos by Richard Esposito

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The book that has been the most impactful for me would be Thinking Like a Christian. This book has been great in the fact that I have been able to talk to my residents about this book and the things that they might be struggling with since they are doing this book as well. It has also allowed me to view the world through the lens of a Christian worldview.

Jay Hartley Senior from Gilbert, S.C. student ministry major

Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

CSU magazine 31

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Reading Life Together has helped reiterate to me what it means to really love people.

When we love people in a spiritual sense and when we love with the same kind of love Christ showed to us, his fruit grows much more abundantly, and living life with other people takes on a completely new meaning. I think a quote by Dolly Parton fits what Life Together was trying to say, “Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.” We shouldn’t get so busy trying to make ends meet with finances, or forget to take that extra few minutes off studying to say hello to a friend who seems to be struggling with something but is too shy or hurt to say it. My heart is now even fuller with what I have always felt to be true, people and lives first. The Lord will help us take care of the rest.

Caitlin Cottingham Senior from Walterboro, S.C., psychology major

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The book Life Together has impacted me by showing me the way the Lord calls us to live in community.

Lauren Davis Senior from Goose Creek, S.C., elementary education major

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SERVING

TRACK TEAMS IMPACTING FOOD BANK

By Jan Joslin

T

he women’s track and field team has been volunteering at the Lowcountry Food Bank for the last year.

The last few visits they have been joined by

Danielle Burnett photo by Richard Esposito

the men’s track and field team. On a recent visit they packed 500 boxes of food for senior citizens in an hour and a half. Women’s head coach Tosha Ansley ’99 said, “It’s been a lot of fun, and the athletes get to see things from a different perspective.”

Danielle Burnett, a junior from Kennesaw, Ga., enjoys making a hands-on impact on the community when she volunteers. She said, “We often donate canned goods or give a dollar to two to a charity, but volunteering is far more satisfying. The experience as a whole gives charity a face and an entirely new meaning. Working alongside of the hardworking employees of the Food Bank with my teammates, made the time we spent at the

Lowcountry Food Bank that much more fun and memorable.”

Burnett is passionate about volunteering as a team. “We as student-athletes are a direct result of the communities from which we come,” said Burnett. “None of us got to where we are as Division 1 athletes without the assistance of others.” That help may have been a financial donation for team uniforms or volunteers at meets.

“Volunteering as a team is a way to pay respect back to the community, while building our character as individuals,” said Burnett.

Burnett competes in the 4x400 relay, 4x100 relay and in the 200, 300 and 400 meter.

Food Bank photos provided by Men’s Head Coach Roosevelt Lofton

VOLUNTEERING AS A TEAM IS A WAY TO PAY RESPECT BACK TO THE COMMUNITY, WHILE BUILDING OUR CHARACTER AS INDIVIDUALS.

– DANIELLE BURNETT

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Values & Ethics Focuses on Racial Reconciliation

By Jan Joslin

T

he annual Values & Ethics Series centered on racial reconciliation and the role of Christians in creating multiethnic churches.

Bryan Loritts, preaching and mission pastor at Trinity Grace Church and president of the Kainos Movement, has been named one of 30 emerging influencers by Outreach Magazine.

He has authored several books, including Right Color, Wrong Culture and A Cross-Shaped Gospel: Reconciling Heaven and Earth.

Loritts quoted Cornell West as saying, “The purpose of a university is to challenge our thinking.” Loritts said his grandmother used to tell him, “Put shoe leather on the truth you are learning.”

He told students to open their eyes and realize they bring to the text of the Bible a set of lenses which have been influenced by the culture in which they were raised.

Using Ephesians 2 as his text, Loritts said verses 1-10 show vertical reconciliation, and verses 11-22 show horizontal reconciliation.

Vertical reconciliation, our relationship with Christ, is always first. “Right on its heels is horizontal reconciliation, our relationship with others,” said Loritts. “Those things must go together.”

He explained that to be truly multiethnic, a church must adhere to the 80/20 rule: no more than 80 percent of the church can be a majority. Twenty percent is the threshold at which minorities in churches feel heard and valued, he said. Currently, only 10 percent of the churches in the U.S. qualify as multiethnic.

Loritts said people primarily come to churches out of relationships. “Congregations reflect our dinner tables,” he said.

In answer to the question how do we work on integrating churches, Loritts said we must work on revitalizing existing churches and plant churches with multiethnicity wired into their DNA.

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In his last lecture, Loritts used Acts 6 and the conflict between the Hellenistic Jews and the Hebraic Jews to illustrate culture conflicts in the church.

“Within every culture there are three cultures,” he said.

• C1, assimilated culture, one culture or ethnicity is assimilated with another culture • C3, culturally inflexible people Loritts said C2s are made, not born.

For example, Paul was a C3 prior to

coming to Christ, and a C2 afterward.

• C2, adaptable, one ethnicity has the ability to float out of various cultural contexts and not lose themselves in the process

“We are all on a journey together into our C2ness,” said Loritts. How do you become a C2? You enter into another person’s world and experience and feel what they feel. Loritts said, Martin Luther King Jr. called this enjoying the community of the beloved.

He challenged everyone to answer the question: Who is your ethnically different friend?

Dr. Bryan Loritts. photo by Richard Esposito

CSU magazine 35

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WHEN A SHOEBOX CONTAINS

ETERNITY

A PASTOR IN A SECRET CHURCH IZABELLA MCMILLON ATTENDED IN COMMUNIST ROMANIA TOLD HER ONE DAY GOD WAS GOING TO DO SOMETHING BIG WITH HER, BUT FOR THE MOMENT SHE NEEDED TO BE QUIET.

By Jan Joslin

Today McMillon lives in the U.S. and works for Operation Christmas Child, which provides gifts to needy children around the world in the name of Jesus. She no longer keeps quiet about Jesus and what He has done for her.

McMillon said receiving an OCC box as a child changed her life. She said 100 percent of the children who receive a shoebox will be happy about it. “What goes in the box is fun,” she said, “but what comes out is eternal.”

Growing up, McMillon and her brother were left alone while their parents worked in a factory. At 3 and 6 years old, they got up at 5:30 a.m., ate, and got themselves to school.

They learned to be independent because they had to. After school they had three rules: eat lunch, do homework and behave.

Izabella McMillon speaks at Chapel with the snowglobe she received 20 years ago in an OCC shoebox beside her.

Photo by Richard Esposito

36 CSU magazine

One afternoon they noticed something amiss with the area rug and began pulling up floor tiles only to discover a book hidden in the floor. Thrilled to have a new book to read, they started at the beginning. When their parents came home, they were aghast to find them reading a Bible, an offense resulting in death in Romania. The children were told to hide it again and never get it out.

As often happens, the children were drawn to the forbidden. “We could hardly wait to get home and learn what the next story was,” said McMillon. Holding up her Bible, she said, “Now we have this book at our fingertips and take it for granted. When was the last time you were thrilled to open it? We need to pray for God’s Word to fall on us fresh.”

Finding the hidden Bible was the first in a chain of events where God revealed Himself to McMillon. A classmate invited her to a secret church where she was amazed to learn the pastor read from the same storybook she and her brother had. She was the persistent pupil who always had her hand raised. The pastor asked her to wait until the end when everyone was gone to ask her questions. McMillon had made it her quest to soak up everything the secret book offered. One night she told the

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CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

Dean Carter Distributes Shoeboxes

By Jan Joslin

RECEIVING AN OCC BOX AS A CHILD CHANGED HER LIFE. SHE SAID 100 PERCENT OF THE CHILDREN WHO RECEIVE A SHOEBOX WILL BE HAPPY ABOUT IT. “WHAT GOES IN THE BOX IS FUN,” SHE SAID, “BUT WHAT COMES OUT IS ETERNAL.” pastor he needed to teach her how to pray, because the book said she needed to.

She prayed for snow so she could go out and play and stay up late. Night after night there was no snow. She told the pastor, this prayer thing doesn’t work, but he assured her God always answers, sometimes in ways we can’t imagine. Three weeks later the dictator was overthrown, and Romania was free.

Then came a day when McMillon ran through the streets because everyone else did.

Under Communism, you automatically joined a running crowd because it meant there was something to buy at the store. Instead, they found trucks, filled with beautifully colored boxes full of gifts. More colors than McMillon had ever seen.

McMillon held up her 20-year-old globe and said, “This is what I got in my box.” She didn’t know what it was until a little boy running by told her to shake it up. Snow. “In that moment I understood what the pastor told me. God knew He had to step in and show me He is listening, and He is real.

“I had nothing to offer,” she said. “But He can take what’s broken and make something beautiful out of it. And He can take what comes out of a shoebox and make it eternal.”

CSU students packed more than 1600 boxes at their annual packing party in November. A ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, OCC delivered more than 11 million boxes around the world this Christmas.

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Dean of Students, the Rev. Clark Carter ’87, recently traveled to the Dominican Republic to help with distribution of Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes and to assist with discipleship.

The team in the Dominican Republic worked with local churches and pastors to distribute boxes. While some of the children attend church, most were from surrounding communities and do not attend church. The team also assisted with the first discipleship class at one of the churches.

How were you selected to go on the trip?

Operation Christmas Child tries to pick partners who have supported them in the past. The trip really had a dual purpose: 1. To let us enjoy and participate in the final journey of the shoe box distribution (to see the beginning and end of the process) 2. To encourage us to continue our support and maybe even to increase it.

After packing so many boxes at CSU and promoting OCC over the years, what was it like to be on the opening end?

It was everything I thought it would be and more. To see the joy that a shoebox gives to these children was truly a gift in and of itself.

What was your biggest take-away from the trip?

Several big take-aways: 1.

2.

3.

Operation Christmas Child/Samaritan’s Purse really supports the local churches and their pastors. Our team never went in touting the greatness of OCC or the Westerners who brought the goods. Instead, the pastors were seen as the heroes, and the local churches did the distribution. We just went there to support them! Before we left every church, we gathered around each pastor and prayed for him and left him with a bag of gifts to support his ministry.

OCC is not simply about giving away toys to kids. They really seek to give Jesus to these kids. They follow up with the Gospel presentation (which is made before ANY shoeboxes are given out) with a 12 week discipleship class called, The Greatest Journey.

God is using this ministry to reach so many children and families all over the world. God is at work! It is amazing that in 2015, 11,213,010 boxes were assembled to give to children!

above: Clark Carter Photo by Richard Esposito left: Children receiving shoebox gifts in the Dominican Republic.

Photos by Clark Carter

CSU magazine 37

SCHOOL TIES

Class notes 1976

1997

2003

Lorraine Gaede is a 4-K teacher at Beech Hill Elementary School in Summerville. She has been a PTA Teacher of the Year and is married with three grown sons and three grandchildren.

Ronda Hall Fernandez married Juan Fernandez in August 2013.

They have a son, Javier, born June 9, 2014. Ronda is currently a teacher assistant for a kindergarten class at The Oakwood School in Greenville, North Carolina.

Natalie Hayes MEd has been named principal of Reeves Elementary School in Summerville for the 2016-2017 year. She currently serves as assistant principal at Reeves.

1983

Annette Roper ’12 MEd will be the assistant principal at the new Sand Hill Elementary in Summerville for the 2016-2017 year. She is currently an assistant principal at Knightsville Elementary.

John Stamp released his debut novel, Brother’s Keeper, described as a fast-paced, gritty crime thriller, in November. Set in Charleston, the novel details to what length a man will go to save the life of a friend and also illustrates the dark often hidden reality that is human Mark Nash MBA has opened a trafficking. John has been a patrol State Farm Insurance in Conway. officer, narcotics investigator and He was formerly the president and hostage negotiator for the City of CEO of Nash Oil Co. Inc. He and Charleston Police Department. his wife, Kelly, have four children He has also been a special and live in Georgetown. agent of the FBI, where he was assigned to violent crimes and Dan Farmer, currently serving counterintelligence units at the as assistant principal at Fort Buffalo Field Office. He then went Dorchester Elementary School on to serve as a special agent of in Summerville, will be assistant the Naval Criminal Investigative principal of the new Sires Service. Brother’s Keeper is Elementary in Summerville for the available in ebook and hardcopy 2016-2017 year. via Amazon.com.

The Rev. Tim Shull has been named director of missions for Edgefield Baptist Association.

He also continues to serve as the founding pastor of River Springs Church. He is married to the former Gloria Saxon ’84, and they have two grown children. Gloria works in the office of chaplain services at Lexington Medical Center.

1999

1990

1996 Wally Baird has been named principal of the new Sand Hill Elementary in Summerville, scheduled to open for the 2016-2017 year. He is currently the principal of Knightsville Elementary.

38 CSU magazine

2002 Lili Gresham Hiser, and her husband, Greg Hiser ’00, welcomed their second son, Rhett Joseph Hiser, on June 12, 2015.

Greg is a staff/clinical pharmacist at Colleton Medical Center in Walterboro. They reside in Summerville.

Rachel Mahaffey MEd will be the assistant principal at Fort Dorchester Elementary School next year. She currently is assistant principal at Flowertown Elementary in Summerville.

2004 Jade Sheri Howard MEd is an English teacher at Summerville High School. She also runs a teaching and consulting firm, Jade Howard & Associates.

W. Ashley Thiem MBA has been named a Top 10 Public Accounting Professional Rising Stars in South Carolina by The National Academy of Public Accounting Professionals. He is copresident of Thiem & McCutcheon and is a certified public accountant.

2006 Derrick Apple is the audit manager at Jarrard Nowell & Russell LLC. He is a certified public accountant.

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CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

COMPILED BY JAN JOSLIN ’82

Claire Seiber MEd will be the principal of Knightsville Elementary in Summerville for the 2016-2017 year. She currently serves as assistant principal at Knightsville.

2007 Krystin Nicole Orcutt and Trenton Griffith Drafts ’05, MBA ’10 were married Sept. 6, 2015, in Charleston. She is a teacher at Hanahan Elementary School, and he is a commercial lender at South State Bank. They live in Charleston.

2008

2014 Elizabeth Michele Floyd MBA and Preston Weeks Stroman were married Dec. 12, 2015, in St. Matthews. She is a program manager for the state of South Carolina. They live in Columbia.

Vanessa Sorto Mijango is a teacher at Joseph R. Pye Elementary School. She and her husband, José, live in Summerville.

2015 Marielena Santos MBA is an experience coordinator for Coldwell Banker in Greenville.

Abigail Timmons and Terry “Trey” Lamar Phillips Jr. were married Aug. 29, 2015, in Manning. She works for Clemson University as a program coordinator. They live in Fort Mill.

2011 Elizabeth Menges Cantrell, and her husband, Andrew Cantrell, announce the birth of a daughter, Savannah, born Jan. 29, 2015.

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Class Notes: Email your news to magazine@csuniv.edu.

Send news about family additions, job changes and memories of your time at CSU. To include a photo, email a high resolution jpg. (If you send a professional photograph, please include permission to print from the photographer.)

Address Change: Email advancement@csuniv.edu Name Change: Email register@csuniv.edu

Follow the Alumni Association on Social Media:

alumni_csu

Memorials Mary Lynn Batson ’77, age 60, died Nov. 2, 2015, in Marion.

She retired from Francis Marion University where she worked in human resources. Earlier in her career she was an assistant to two congressmen and to four South Carolina governors.

2010 Paula Watson MEd is the interim principal at Bishopville Primary School. Formerly, she was the early childhood coordinator for Lee County School District.

STAY CONNECTED!

Ishmael Turner is video coordinator for the College of Charleston men’s basketball program. He has worked as a personal trainer for Summerville Family YMCA at The Ponds and been a summer camp counselor for Barclay Radebaugh and Earl Grant basketball camps.

Gregory Lynden Elam ’71, age 67, died Oct. 6, 2015, in Summerville. He and his wife built and ran Flowertown Bed and Breakfast and gardens. He was a U.S. Air Force veteran.

alumni_csu

Neil Andrew Jacobs, age 72, died Dec. 12, 2015. He was a retired AFROTC commander at CSU and a professor in the business department. He was a former F-4 fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force.

Donald William “Mac” McClure Jr. ’89, age 68, died Sept. 30, 2015, in Spartanburg. He was a U.S. Navy veteran.

John Henry Odom Jr. ’85, age 73, died Nov. 28, 2015, in Charleston.

He was a purchasing manager for Great Dane and was a U.S. Air Force veteran.

Virginia Olgiati Russell, age 88, died Jan. 7 in Spartanburg. She was Ralph E. Hulbert ’76, age 66, died a school teacher and was a former Dec. 14, 2015, in Columbia. member of the CSU Board of He was the owner of Central Trustees and the Women’s Council.

Software, Inc. He was a U.S. Navy veteran.

Elizabeth “Libby” Tant Thrailkill ’68, age 69, died Nov. 10, 2015, in Charlotte, N.C. She was a public school administrator.

CSU magazine 39

SCHOOL TIES

C AT C H I N G U P W I T H

PAT BLACK A

ctually it isn’t easy to catch Pat Black ’14 these days.

Black runs Pat Black Visual Studios and is usually running out the door for his next photography or videography adventure.

In the last year, he has chased storms in the Midwest with internationally known photographers Benjamin Von Wong and Kelly

DeLay, filmed a project for a nonprofit in Guatemala, photographed Charleston from the air, and weddings and portraits.

His work has appeared on such sites as: ESPN, The Big South Network, SEC Network, Army Wives, Good Morning America, CNN, NBC Nightly News, Canon USA and Profoto Buzzfeed.

Black said, “I have worked with a number of industry photographers over the past year including Aaron Nace of Phlean, Patrick Hall and Lee Morris of Fstoppers, celebrity photographer Michael Grecco, headshot master Peter Hurley, LA architectural photographer Mike Kelley and Nikon Ambassador Dixie Dixon.”

He also writes and teaches online for Resource Magazine and Fstoppers.

TOP: photo by Pat Black ABOVE: photos provided

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CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

Baby Bucs

TO SUBMIT YOUR BABY BUCS PHOTO: Email a picture of your Baby Buc wearing the shirt to alumni@csuniv.edu. Pictures should be 1 MB in size or larger, in jpg format.

1

2

3

4 1. Juliette Claire Marie Poisson, daughter of Jean-Pierre Poisson ’10 and Rebecca Poisson ’09 2. Rhett Joseph Hiser, son of Dr. Greg Hiser ’00 and Lili Gresham Hiser ’02 and second grandchild of Faye Breland Gresham ’73 3. Reed Muir, son of Crystal Godfrey Muir ’08 and Louis Muir ’06, MBA ’08 4. Javier Fernandez, son of Ronda Hall Fernandez ’97 and Juan Fernandez 5. Savannah Cantrell, daughter of Elizabeth Menges Cantrell ’11 and Andrew Cantrell

Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

5

TO ORDER A SHIRT CSU graduates – if you have a child under the age of 2, let us know at alumni@csuniv.edu, and we will send a CSU creeper for your Baby Buc. The shirt is free – all we ask in return is a photo of your Baby Buc for the magazine.

CSU magazine 41

SCHOOL TIES

Soccer Alum Receives Football Game Ball

H

ead football coach, Jamey Chadwell, presented a game ball to alumnus Doug Kifer in November.

Kifer graduated in 1989 and was captain of the men’s soccer team. Currently he is the executive director of the Summerville Soccer Club and recovering from a heart attack that almost took his life.

Friend and fellow CSU alum, Jamie Drolet ’89, wanted to do something for Kifer as a testament to his will to survive. Drolet said, “Doug is such a grinder, and the CSU football team is also.” Drolet reached out to the football team about giving a ball to Kifer.

Chadwell told Kifer, “We’re glad you’re a Buc. As a football team, we say the way we play is our testimony. Some people may know

Jesus by the way we play, and some people may know Jesus because of your story.”

In late September Kifer was at the soccer club when he suffered a sudden heart attack.

Dr. Jairy C. Hunter III, a local physician, was at the field to attend his daughter’s soccer game and immediately began offering care to Kifer. Kifer went on to spend 25 days in ICU and is still on the road to recovery.

Kifer’s wife, Bridgette, told Charleston Southern President, Dr. Jairy C. Hunter Jr., “Your son gave Doug a chance at life.” She said doctors in the hospital credited Hunter III’s quick action with keeping Kifer alive.

Kifer and his family are giving thanks for a second chance at life.

Pictured: Jamie Drolet ’89, Bridgette Kifer, Hunter Kifer (in front), Christopher Kifer, Doug Kifer, Coach Jamey Chadwell Photo by Richard Esposito

SCHOLARSHIPS Dorchester County Medical Society presented $2,000 scholarships to two nursing students from Summerville.

DCMS has provided scholarships for 24 CSU students since 2002.

Pictured are: CSU President Jairy C. Hunter Jr., Gregory A. Kiser, senior nursing student; Lauren S. Weston, senior nursing student; Yolanda J. Brown, Lauren’s mother and a 1989 CSU graduate; Dr. Eric Stem, representing Dorchester County Medical Society, and Dr. Andreea Meier, dean of the CSU College of Nursing.

Photo by Richard Esposito

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Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

KERMIT HUDSON REMEMBERED WITH ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP

F

aculty, staff and friends at Colleton County High School have raised funds to establish The Kermit Trevor Hudson Memorial Endowed Scholarship at CSU. The first endowed scholarship award will be made in the 2016-2017 year.

Hudson was a rising junior majoring in choral music education at CSU when he tragically died in a car accident in August 2014. Widely respected at CSU and in his hometown, the CCHS family went into action raising funds for a scholarship that would honor him and keep his memory alive.

Beth Frank, director of technology for Colleton County School District, said, “Kermit was a special young man. He was mature beyond his years. Kermit planned

The East Cooper Outboard Motorclub recently donated $3,000 to CSU for two $1,500 scholarships for 2016. Pictured are: Jared Dobbels, a biology with wildlife emphasis major, and a 2014-2015 ECOM scholarship recipient; Chris Momeier, chairman of the East Cooper Outboard Beneficent Group, and Cady Nell West, CSU executive director of external relations. (photo provided)

Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

to come back to CCHS and work when he finished college. He was involved in everything from assisting the chorus, running the electronics in the Performing Arts Center, working in the front office and guidance office, videoing school board meetings and football games and helping at the district office. He once told me he wanted to learn every job in the district, and he was on his way to do that.”

Cliff Warren, CCHS principal; Stephanie Drawdy, CCHS chorus director, and Judith Vincent, CCHS school secretary, formed a fundraising committee and did everything from sponsoring the Miss Cougar Pageant to selling BBQ and chicken dinners to raise the money to endow a scholarship.

Hudson sang with the CSU Concert Singers and Singing Buccaneers and was also a member of the Charleston Men’s Chorus.

A full-time CSU freshman who graduated from CCHS and completed at least one semester in high school chorus will be given first consideration for the scholarship, which is renewable if scholarship criteria are met.

A complete list of criteria can be obtained from the CSU financial aid office for students interested in applying for the scholarship.

Donations are still being accepted.

For more information, email KermitTrevorHudsonMemorialFund@gmail. com.

RIL Administrators (Guernsey), Ltd. is providing scholarships for five School of Nursing students this year. RIL Administrators is an administrative service company located in St. Peter Port, Guernsey. As a part of its services, RIL donates to charitable causes and is pleased to be able to offer CSU several nursing scholarships as well as helping furnish the nursing program’s facilities. photo by Richard Esposito

CSU magazine 43

SCHOOL TIES

HOMECOMING 2015 photos by Stan Foxworthy

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CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

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CSU magazine 45

SCHOOL TIES

Meet your Alumni Association Secretary RON JAICKS ’93 General Manager, Wingate

by Wyndham on the CSU campus; Buc Club Board of Directors INVOLVED: I graduated from CSU in 1993. I went to school in the evenings and worked two jobs so I never really got involved with school activities. I felt that I should give back, and I have that opportunity by being involved with the Alumni Association. I have seen our school grow to great things since I have graduated, and I want to be part of that growth within CSU. LASTING IMPACT One of my passions in life is history, and Dr. Linda Gooding was the perfect professor for me. She was simply amazing not needing a single note to teach class, just her passion for the subject and her pure knowledge. She inspired me even more so that I made history my minor and have considered teaching the subject in the future.

ONE WORD DESCRIBING CSU: Growth SURPRISING FACT: I was born in Tripoli, Africa.

(Air Force brat)

Photo by Stan Foxworthy

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVE COUNCIL & ALUMNI BOARD Newly elected Officers:

Newly elected Board Members:

Continuing Board Members:

President: Lecius Moorer ’00 Vice President: David Weiss ’03 Secretary: Ron Jaicks ’93 Treasurer: Andre Dukes ’02, ’06 MEd Past President: Rex Divine ’85

Jordan Pace ’11 Denise Deveaux ’96 Lauren Young ’11 Wayne Dasher ’81

Amanda Davis ’97 Gary Swanger ’70 Daniel Cross ’90 Mahaliah Campbell ’82

Subcommittees: Subcommittees are a great way for Charleston Southern alumni to network, get involved and give back. All alumni are welcome to get involved with the Alumni Association subcommittees at any commitment level. Contact the alumni office at alumni@csuniv. edu if you are interested in serving on any of the following subcommittees:

• Events • Fundraising • Scholarship • Development

Seated: Jordan Pace, Amanda Davis, Lecius Moorer, Denise Deveaux, Lauren Young, Standing: Gary Swanger, Ron Jaicks, Andre Dukes, Daniel Cross, Wayne Dasher

Photo by Stan Foxworthy

UPCOMING ALUMNI EVENTS Through April 22 - Annual Alumni Phonathon April 7 - 5:30-7 p.m., CSU Alumni Networking Series, Wingate by Wyndham Ballroom, CSU April 1 - Deadline for Nominations for CSU Alumni Awards May 3 - Lowcountry Giving Day May 6 - Presentation of Alumni Awards at Graduation Luncheon

Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

CSU magazine 47

Transform Campaign The $40 million Transform Campaign is designed to provide for new facilities, scholarships and resources devoted to academic program expansion, improvement and enrichment. Thus far, $31 million has been committed.

Meet several alumni who shared why they give to CSU: Patrick ’96 and Caroline ’95 Brown support student scholarships through the Board of Visitors program “We met and fell in love while playing tennis for CSU. We are typical college sweethearts. Over the years we have come to recognize our alma mater as a wonderful place to return with our family for various athletic events and other functions. Our most recent visit was to the CSU vs. Citadel football game in early December. While sitting in the stands watching the exciting game, we could hear the CSU Band playing and the student section was packed, where 20 years ago while we were students, it had neither.

It meant a lot to see how far our school has come. We know that CSU has been able to grow and thrive because of donors like ourselves putting back into the school they love and attended. It doesn’t matter how much you give, but it does matter that CSU will be there for future generations.

Zeni Freeman ’12 supports student scholarships through the Alumni Phonathon.

“I support student scholarships because everyone deserves to have the opportunity to further their education. Without scholarships, I would not have been able to attend college myself. By attending a Christian college, CSU taught me to become a better person in life, personally and professionally. I want to use what I have learned at CSU to lead and serve others in the community and around the world. Philippians 4:13 says, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

Rod Weader ’71 supports the university through the Buy a Brick Program “As a young kid coming south to the Baptist College at Charleston, I knew very little about the school. Once I got here it became evident that this school and Charleston were my home. I met so many great people, and it all started with The Knights of Achilles fraternity group. Not knowing anyone in Charleston, they took me in as if I’d known them all my life. What a blessing. I feel our TKA group should help carry the legacy of our school forever. We strived to help build this school as a group back then, and we are still acting with belief and encouragement as a group today to help make our school the BEST. For this reason, I am firmly committed to the Brick Program, and I think it is most important for all of our graduates to participate.”

Q u e s t i o n s a b o u t t h e Tr a n s f o r m a t i o n C a m p a i g n – c a l l A d v a n c e m e n t a t 8 4 3 . 8 6 3 . 7 5 1 3

48 CSU magazine

Spring 2016, vol.26 no.1

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

MAY 3 CSU GIVING DAY

All money donated on May 3 to CSU Giving Day will support scholarships for Charleston Southern students. Join CSU friends and alumni in making the 2016 Lowcountry Giving Day a huge success!

ALUMNI – you should have received your FREE access to rightnow media by now. If you haven’t received the login email, or if you need to update your email with the alumni office, contact alumni@csuniv.edu.

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage

PAID

Charleston SC Permit #1202

Charleston Southern University 9200 University Blvd.

P.O. Box 118087 Charleston, SC 29423-8087

INTEGRATING FAITH IN LEARNING, LEADING AND SERVING

THERE ARE THOSE WHO PAVED A WAY FOR YOUR FUTURE pay it forward by paving someone else’s way.

I purchased a senior brick because I wanted to leave my mark on the path that many have walked before me. For me, it shows my perseverance, and hopefully it will motivate other students to remain s t e a d f a s t . R e m e m b e r, w h a t e v e r i t i s , i t c a n be done!”

- E l i z a b e t h R i c h a r d s o n ’ 1 4 B a c h e l o r o f S c i e n c e i n O r g a n i z a t i o n a l M a n a g e m e n t

The cost of $100 per brick includes engraving as well as a donation to our Charleston Southern University fund to provide scholarships for students.

charlestonsouthern.edu/buyabrick