Presbyterian College Alumni Magazine | Fall 2015

| | Presbyterian college|magazine HOMECOMING 2015

NEVILLE RENEWED KICKOFF

BE INSPIRED FOR LIFE

FALL 2015

ALUMNUS SEES HIS FUTURE IN TRUE 3-D KEVIN MALONEY ’99

ZVERSE CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER

#GIVINGTUESDAY December 1, 2015

FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK

Dear Friends, It has been an exciting fall at PC. With Thanksgiving and Christmas fast approaching, exams are right around the corner. Our students have been inspired by our talented and dedicated faculty, and now they get the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.

At homecoming, we celebrated the kickoff of the public phase of the “Neville Renewed” campaign. We have raised $8.3 million of the $11.8 million needed to start

construction. We expect to receive a grant for the last $1.0 million, leaving us at $2.5 million from our goal. Neville is an important academic building on our campus and

an integral part of our strategy of “Creating an Inspired Future for PC.” Every student

who has attended PC since 1907, has had classes in Neville. The planned construction will restore Neville to its original

beauty, including the opening of the rotunda and providing state of the art facilities for our students and faculty. I encourage each of you to be a part of helping us reach our goal so that we can start work on this important endeavor.

In describing PC to others, especially prospective students, we have begun using the phrase “Be Inspired for Life.” Presbyterian College is a place that offers a rigorous education, in a community built on excellence, personal honor, faith, and service for

the common good. We want our students to be adventurous and successful, competitive and compassionate. Through the relationships built around learning, friendships and faith, PC students will “Be Inspired for Life.” PC had this impact on

my life, and I suspect on many of your lives. I would encourage each of us to be bold in sharing the impact PC had on our lives within our communities and especially with prospective students. Sharing our stories may lead to helping high school students determine PC is the right choice for them.

As we approach Thanksgiving and Christmas, Phyllis and I are thankful for your support of PC and all you do on a daily

basis in your communities and churches. We are committed to working with the students, faculty, administration, coaches, board, and you to ensure a bright and inspired future for our Presbyterian College.

In your service,

Bob Staton President of Presbyterian College

Presbyterian college|magazine

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Presbyterian college|magazine

PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE | magazine Volume 67 Issue 1

TABLE of

Contents

FALL 2015

A D M I N I S T R AT I O N President Bob Staton Vice President of Advancement, Marketing, Public Relations, and Communications Grady Jones A L U M N I R E L AT I O N S O F F I C E Executive Director of Alumni Relations Leni Patterson ’83 Administrative Assistant Margaret Brown

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30 ALUMNUS SEES HIS FUTURE IN TRUE 3-D Kevin Maloney ’99 returns to campus to talk about his life since PC. NEVILLE RENEWED The campaign for Neville Hall is one for memories.

HOMECOMING 2015 Homecoming brings hundreds back to campus.

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HONORING NINE FOR COMMITMENT TO COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY The Alumni Board recognize nine at Homecoming for awards.

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P C S T U D E N T S W O R K T O G I V E H E A D S TA R T A “ H E A D S TA R T ” Sophomore Alyson Craig starts a student organization to aid a program for underprivileged children.

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P S Y C H O L O G Y S T U D E N T S P R E S E N T AT THE 2016 SPSP CONVENTION Seniors Sophie Cobb and Christy Darracott present at a national psychology convention.

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C H A M P S C E L E B R AT E S I T S 2 0 T H A N N I V E R S A R Y CHAMPS still maintains a strong impact on the Laurens County community after 20 years.

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BE INSPIRED FOR LIFE Professors Mark Anderson, Traci Bellas, Robert Stutts, and Evelyn Swain speak about what inspires them in and out of the classroom.

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BLUE & GARNET SISTERS Yesterday’s women’s social hall to today’s sororities

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ALUMNI Alumni update from the Alumni Board president Classnotes In Memory Of

A B B Y WA L D R O N : W H E R E A C A D E M I C S A N D AT H L E T I C S M E E T Senior cross country runner Abby Waldron succeeds both in and out of the classroom.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Director of Marketing Alyssa Ludwiczak Communication Specialist Ryan Barker Guest Writers Allison Cooke ’17 Erika Gotfredson ’16 Rebecca Rowell ’16 Monte Dutton C R E AT I V E Creative Director Jonathan Hooks

Presbyterian College is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

The College seeks to hire the most qualified candidate and does not discriminate against any legally protected class.

Barbara Fayad, Vice President of Human Resources and Title IX Coordinator, 503 South Broad Street, Clinton, South Carolina 29325 Phone 864.938.3722

C O N TA C T S ALUMNI 864.938.3757 MAGAZINE 864.833.8281 CLASSNOTES 864.938.3757 SUPPORT PC 864.833.8007 P C M A G A Z I N E @ P R E S B Y. E D U TWITTER @PRESBYCOLLEGE FA C EB O O K . C O M/ PRESBYTERI A NCO L L EG E

P R E S B Y. E D U

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Alumni Story

ALUMNUS SEES HIS FUTURE IN TRUE 3-D

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evin Maloney ’99 has always taken the “road less traveled,” from attending a small liberal arts college to starting his own company in the growing field of 3-D printing. In September, Maloney returned to PC to present his life’s journey since graduation.

Maloney’s PC experience “wasn’t all roses,” he said. As a student-athlete with a football scholarship, Maloney faced the challenges of adapting to different coaching staff members while meeting the challenges of rigorous academics.

“I walked into my first test in Western Civilizations and didn’t know I had a test until I saw everyone cramming [the] day of,” Maloney said. He added with a smile, “[I] made an 85.”

The characteristically small class sizes here at PC proved to be an advantage for Maloney’s learning style, and helped a great deal more than some friends he knew at the larger universities.

“PC demanded excellence from students,” he said.

“No slouching or you’d fail out.”

Realizing the benefit to having small yet rigorous academic classes, Maloney is grateful for his parents’ influence in choosing to attend PC. Maloney credits the school’s demand for its students to do more than just “get by” in both academia and athletics for establishing his sense of discipline today.

Yet PC did more than just that for Maloney during his time here. “PC athletics and the business department ensured that I had a mountain of humble confidence, not only confidence, but the skill set to lay out goals, create a road map to get there, and execute the plan,” he said.

Having attended PC is a badge of honor Maloney wears to this day. He cherishes the memories with his PC friends and family, including many ROTC friends

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he had here. Some memories that stand out took place in Maloney’s senior year: beating Newberry College 45-14 in football with a team that had been through some rough patches; after doing a capstone marketing project on Southwest Airlines and meeting the CEO Herb Kelleher in Buffalo Niagara International Airport.

However, Maloney’s favorite memory took place during graduation, when he entered the plaza to the sound of bagpipes playing, the moment reminding him of how he and the football team would enter the stadium for home games.

“I wouldn’t trade playing football at PC for playing at any other school,” Maloney said. “I mean that. I know what it’s like to be in a turnaround project and have big success. Our players and coaches accomplished that.”

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Maloney began his journey on the “road less traveled” by straying away from the traditional career paths of real estate or banking. Instead, he began working for a young startup company called FineLine Technologies. There, he spent two years in Toronto, Canada, working in the sales office.

Four years after FineLine, Maloney started work for the Boston Scientific Corporation selling cardiac pacemakers and implantable defibrillators to be used in the operating room. He worked there for 11 years.

In 2013, he started ZVerse, a company specializing in 2-D to 3-D printing, with a friend. Today, Maloney is co-founder and chief revenue officer of the company.

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Maloney’s presentation in September focused on his path to becoming co-founder of ZVerse. In his talk, he mentioned a saying that his PC football coaches taught him and which he continues to live by everyday. He quotes Daryl Dickey for saying, “You play for and make your own breaks,” meaning that one makes their own luck through hard work and determination.

“No one gives you anything; you have to earn it,” Maloney said. “Once you’ve laid out your plan, execute it with everything you have. Good things happen to those who make them happen.”

When Maloney first heard those words from his coach, he did not quite know yet the impact they would have on his life. But when he heard them before every practice and game, he began to see how the meaning of that motto was key to becoming consistent with setting goals and following through with them.

This motto has inspired Maloney to continue pursuing his goals despite any obstacles. “Where I am today is not as important as where I want to go,” Maloney said. Despite the challenges and potential footfalls, he is confident in giving 110 percent of himself into his goals.

“Most people don’t start their own company and take the risks I’ve taken,” Maloney said. “I have always had a lot of faith in myself and my abilities. I attribute that to how I was raised, the environment at PC, and playing small college athletics.”

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Maloney’s presentation also explained the process and importance of 3-D printing, showing how it is a growing presence in everyday products. He introduced his company’s novel idea of taking 2-D images and making them 3-D through a content creation software product called LAYR. ZVerse often creates 3-D versions of branded products that are given as corporate gifts, such as the miniature model of the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business given to donors of the construction project.

Returning to campus to describe his journey of entrepreneurial success, Maloney told the attending students that “it was a bigger deal for me to be there than for them having me there.”

Norman Scarborough, William Henry Scott III Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Maloney’s academic adviser during his time at PC, introduced Maloney, who felt both humbled and flattered.

Scarborough also had a great deal of influence on Maloney’s personal and academic goals while Maloney was a PC student.

Indeed, it was Scarborough’s small business management class that first sparked “the entrepreneurial bug” in Maloney. Despite the 15 years it took to launch his company ZVerse, Maloney had dreamed of starting up his own business ever since taking that class.

Maloney characterizes Scarborough as a good man who always had “sage advice” whenever Maloney

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struggled in academics or with something personal.

Scarborough often suggested, “it’s okay to seek achievement, but remember to stick to your values.”

According to Maloney, PC’s motto “While we live, we serve,” is at the core of what makes a Blue Hose.

This motto has greatly influenced him. The importance of service for Maloney stems from the fact that he has experienced such kind acts of service from his parents, coaches, and educators throughout his lifetime. In return for what he has received, he wants to have that same influence on others.

Maloney cites the recent flooding in the South Carolina midlands, especially Columbia, where many PC graduates were up and ready at the first moment in the relief effort to help their neighbors.

The presentation Maloney gave in September was a way for him to participate in the influential power of providing service for others. “Looking at the young men and women in the audience was great, seeing them intently listening,” he said. “It gave me a sense of paying it forward.”

Maloney enjoyed seeing and catching up with his professors and mentors. Dr. Suzie Smith, Robert Vance Professor of Economics and Business Administration,

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was one professor whose classes Maloney enjoyed. “She was always the constant professional and kind spirit,” he said.

Maloney also caught up with Dr. Jody Lipford, professor of economics and business administration, who constantly challenged Maloney in class. But Lipford always offered time outside of class to help his students be successful, something which Maloney sees as a great example of serving others.

Sam Howell, professor of business administration emeritus, was another kind, outstanding professor and mentor to Maloney, even though Maloney never took a class with Howell. All of the professors in the business department demonstrated a great love for PC in their teachings and their students. These professors gave Maloney not just an excellent business education, but also a road map on how to conduct himself in life.

With his cherished experiences at PC giving him a foundational background, Maloney continues to walk the “road less traveled” and pursue even higher professional and personal goals.

Written by Allison Cooke, a junior English major, media studies, journalism track minor from Winnsboro, S.C.

Neville Renewed Presbyterian College launched the public phase of its Neville Renewed campaign with a campus-wide celebration October 16 on the Neville Hall Loggia as part of the College’s homecoming celebration.

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Neville Renewed

“Every living alumni had classes and experiences in the building; students and alumni alike identify this building with Presbyterian College. Central on our campus, Neville Hall is the iconic symbol of the heart and core of Presbyterian College – the liberal arts.”

“Now let us stand together committed to strengthening the very core of Presbyterian College.” — E. G. Lassiter ’69 The College officially opened Homecoming weekend with a campus-wide celebration on October 16. The event, at the foot of the Neville Hall steps, was held to demonstrate PC’s tangible commitment to the humanities, and by extension, the liberal arts.

It was to celebrate and kick-off a nearly $12 million campaign to renovate and expand Neville Hall.

“This campaign for the renewal of Neville Hall is all about memories, both past and future,” said Dr. Neal Prater, the Charles A. Dana Professor of English emeritus.

Built on the highest ground of the campus in 1907, Neville stands as the focal point of the West Plaza. Its colonial-styled Georgian architecture set the pattern for all future buildings on campus. Today, Neville Hall plays a crucial role in PC students’ educational experiences, serving as one of the main classroom facilities on campus.

For Prater, this architecture was one of his first memories associated with PC. “I walked through the front doors of Neville for the first time and was immediately blown away by the magnificent, majestic Georgian rotunda,” he said. “I looked up and saw the eight-sided opening into the second floor, surrounded by a banister. I saw students leaning on the banister, moving around from one end of the second floor to the other. Then I looked up and I could see into the interior of the great dome that crowns this building.”

“When I think about the rotunda, I remember several conversations with my long-time colleague, Dr. Jim Skinner,” Prater continued. “By the time Jim came to teach at PC, the 1965 restoration project was underway, and the rotunda was already closed off. But Jim had visited the college earlier when his brother Wirt was a student, and he had vivid memories of the rotunda. We often spoke about how wonderful it would be if the rotunda could be restored.”

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Remaining true to the original Georgian design, a team of architects from Craig Gaulden Davis–along with renowned historical preservation architect Martin Meek–have laid plans to renovate and expand Neville Hall. Much-needed classroom and office space will be added as an addition to the back of the historic building. Other planned additions include state-of-the-art technology, federally-mandated ADA accessibility, a language lab, auditorium, and appropriate space for the writing center, and 21st-century classroom spaces.

Noting that one-quarter of the faculty have offices and one-third of the classes offered are taught in Neville, Campaign Chair E. G. Lassiter ’69 stated, “Every living alumni had classes and experiences in the building; students and alumni alike identify this building with Presbyterian College.”

“Central on our campus, Neville Hall is the iconic symbol of the heart and core of Presbyterian College– the liberal arts,” said Lassiter.

“Here we are at the heart of the PC campus–the steps of Neville Hall,” said Dr. Anita Gustafson, professor of history. As we have heard, Neville Hall has a proud history, and it is an important building to students and alumni who have all taken classes here.”

“The renewal of Neville will assure future generations of Blue Hose that they, too, have a place here and can start to build their own memories,” she added.

Gustafson explained that a renewed Neville is a statement that the humanities–and by extension, the liberal arts–continue to be a core part of PC’s mission.

“A renewed Neville will say to our current and future students that we place a high value on our educational programs, and that we want them to have access to excellent educational facilities to support that program,” she said. “In other words, a renewed

“Neville Hall, indeed, this is holy ground – hallowed by the love between church and college, teacher and student, colleague and friend, husband and wife, and by generations of those filled with the PC spirit who know when we see this place we are home.”

--The Rev. Dr. Jeri Parris Perkins ’81

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“Neville Hall is not only iconic to both the history and future of Presbyterian, but it also brands our College. These classroom walls speak of lessons learned, tests taken, decisions made, and futures planned.” ­— Elizabeth Parker ’87, co-chair of the major gifts committee for the campaign

Neville will allow PC to take the values that have historically made this place strong, and bring them into the future. A renewed Neville is a vote of support for the humanities, the liberal arts, and most importantly, for the very heart–and soul and mind–of Presbyterian College.”

At the time of the celebration, nearly eight million dollars of the $11.8 million campaign goal had already been reached.

“Neville Hall is not only iconic to both the history and future of Presbyterian, but it also brands our College,” said Elizabeth Parker ’87, who serves as co-chair of the major gifts committee for the campaign with her husband David ’86. “These classroom walls speak of lessons learned, tests taken, decisions made, and futures planned.”

“This is not just a façade for passersby, but it’s the framework for critical learning,” she added. “We have an obligation to faculty, staff, current and future students to bring this structure back to the dignity it deserves.”

The entire structure will be renovated, and a 14,000 square foot addition will be built. Given the need for more gathering spaces for students, there will be student lounges incorporated in the building project to allow students to gather in groups for study and conversation. Faculty offices will be aligned by departmental suites and easily accessible to students.

The addition to the rear of the existing structure will be indented so as not to change the historic view of Neville from the West Plaza.

“I am moved and invigorated by all that we have heard today,” said President Bob Staton ’68. “I am

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sure William Plumer Jacobs, President Neville, and the many others who followed them would be proud to see all of you here today and how our PC family is rallying around this important and historic project that will benefit students for many years to come.”

“Please prayerfully consider joining me, David, and other donors in making a campaign gift of any size,” added Parker, calling fellow alumni to action and explaining that there are now naming opportunities for the building.

“The campaign is important to me in two ways—ways related to memory,” said Prater. “First of all, the success of this campaign will ensure that what for 50 years has been for me and many others just a memory—a memory of that original majestic rotunda—will become a reality again.”

“And second, the success of this campaign will ensure that Neville Hall will continue to be a major center of learning on this campus; and that future generations of teachers will continue to teach in Neville Hall; and future generations of students will continue to learn in Neville Hall; and just as important, it will ensure that future generations of teachers and students will create their own memories in Neville Hall.”

The celebration concluded with a hopeful toast from Lassiter that with continued support, that construction could begin in earnest in the spring of 2016. “As we note in the words of our ‘Alma Mater’ Thou art built on faith; we have faith in thee,” he said. “So, here is to a successful conclusion, the work to be done in fundraising and construction, and to a ribbon to cut in the fall of 2017.”

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Homecoming 2015

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omecoming weekend was one in which old memories and new were made and celebrated as the campus community of students, faculty, staff, and alumni gathered to enjoy all the events the weekend offered.

The weekend officially began at 4 p.m. on Friday with the Neville Renewed Campaign Kick Off. The event was meant to remind alumni of the importance of Neville as a part of the PC experience. It included a toast from Campaign Chair E. G. Lassiter ’69 to “those who came before, to those who have committed two-thirds of the cost of the Neville project, and to those who will do so over the coming months.”

President Bob and Phyllis Staton hosted the Ben Hay Hammet Society at the President’s home. Attendees included members and guests of the class of 1965 and earlier. Special guests were members of the class of 1965 who were officially welcomed in the Ben Hay Hammet Society.

Friday ended with members of the PC family coming together at Bailey Stadium for the first annual Homecoming Celebration Party and Food Truck Bash. The event provided a variety of food from the food trucks present and live music to keep people on their feet.

The festivities recommenced Saturday morning with the Alumni Awards Ceremony in which various members of the PC family were honored for their commitment to PC and their communities. This event was followed by the Frankie “Porkchop” Ginn Tree and Picnic Dedication at Old Bailey Lacrosse Field, an event to recognize “Porkchop”—a beloved member of the PC family who worked with PC Campus Services for years.

That afternoon, the celebration moved back to Bailey Memorial Stadium, as students, faculty, staff, and alumni gathered to tailgate and watch the Blue Hose take on the Charleston Southern Buccaneers. After leading into the fourth quarter, the Blue Hose fell in a tough battle to 23rdranked Charleston Southern. Nevertheless, the 10 points allowed by the Blue Hose was the fewest allowed in a loss since PC transitioned to Division I. Senior Shelby Britt was named Homecoming Queen during halftime of the football game.

That evening, Doug Warner ’87 and Truman Smith hosted the LGBT Alumni Drop-In at the home of Dr. Ann Stidham, and alumni “dined with their decade” in various locations around Clinton. Young alumni were invited to the “Night Under the Lights” at Bailey Stadium, an event that included dancing and good company. The class of 1965 celebrated their 50th class reunion at a reception at the Hampton Inn.

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HONORING NINE FOR COMMITMENT TO COLLEGE & COMMUNITY

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he Presbyterian College Alumni Association recognized a group of nine individuals for their dedication to the College and community at its annual awards ceremony on October 17 during Homecoming.

Dr. William “Billy” Ogden

The highest alumni honor – the Alumni Gold P Award – was presented to Dr. William “Billy” Ogden of Montreat, N.C. Dr. Ogden, a 1961 magna cum laude graduate was honored for his outstanding accomplishments in the field of medicine, which reflect honor upon the College.

Dr. Ogden also received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from PC in 1975, and an honorary doctorate as a Doctor of Public Service in 2007.

Since 2002, Dr. Ogden has been listed annually

“I’ve never forgotten, ‘It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how much you achieve, you will be worth little unless you give back.’”

in the “Best Doctors in America, Inc.” He is also a Shands Circle member of the Orthopedic Research and Education Foundation. In appreciation for his lifetime of service to the Duke Orthopedic residency, the chief residents selected him for the Frank Bassett III, MD, Faculty Teaching Award in 2004.

“What an honor to receive the Gold P from Presbyterian College,” said Dr. Ogden. “I well remember arriving on campus in 1958 as a cocky 18-year-old football player from Macon, Ga. It was not long into the year until my distinguished professors, Dr. James Gray and Dr. Neil Whitelaw, reined me in and said to me something I’ve never forgotten, ‘It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how much you achieve, you will be worth little unless you give back.’”

Dr. Ogden added, “Hundreds of years before that another teacher reminded His disciples when they sought greatness that to be great, you must serve. Through the years, I have taught my Duke residents, my daughter, my sons-in-law and now four of my grandchildren, ‘When you choose a career in medicine, you are choosing a life of service.’ Among the good things PC gave to me, the

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very best is Lou, my wife of 53 years. We were blessed with a fine son for 19 years. We have six accomplished daughters and 13 amazing grandchildren. For me to receive the Gold P for spending over 45 years doing what I love is a generous compliment indeed and one I greatly appreciate.”

Rev. Beth Lindsay Templeton

The Rev. Beth Lindsay Templeton received the Dum Vivimus Servimus Award for exemplifying the College motto, “While we live, we serve.” Rev. Templeton is a 1969 graduate from Greenville, S.C. Since 2007, Rev. Templeton has served as the director of Our Eyes Were Opened, an outreach of United Ministries that strives to generate a greater understanding about poverty so that people might respond with compassion and wisdom.

“I greatly appreciate the value of a liberal arts education,” said Rev. Templeton. “Even though I can no

“The motto, Dum Vivimus Servimus, became ingrained in me in ways that I am still discovering in my life’s journey.”

longer remember any of the math from my mathematics degree, the opportunity to also study voice, perform in the Black Magic Theater, engage in Christian education, as well as obtain my teaching certificate meant that I was able to walk through the various doors that opened for me with courage and focus.

Rev. Templeton added, “Through my work with Our Eyes Were Opened, Inc., I am able to help people understand more about poverty so they can decrease judgment and increase compassion. The motto, Dum Vivimus Servimus, became ingrained in me in ways that I am still discovering in my life’s journey. I am so honored to receive this award from my alma mater.”

David Parker From Elgin, S.C. and a member of the class of 1986, David Parker received the Mary F. Lehman Alumni Service Award. The award honors longtime Alumni Relations Administrative Assistant Mrs. Mary F. Lehman and recognizes an alumnus or alumna with outstanding meritorious service rendered to Presbyterian College and the Alumni Association.

Parker has served on the College’s Board of Trustees since 2010 and currently serves as the secretary for the Board. In addition, he has served on the Administrative Committee, the Educational Programs Committee, the Resource Management Committee, and as the chair of the Audit Committee on the Board of Trustees.

“I am both humbled and energized by receiving the Mary F. Lehman Service Award.”

Parker is currently the senior vice president for Growth Operations for Colonial Life, a role in which he is responsible for product development, underwriting, new business, sales compensation, incentives and awards, and business information and analysis services. He joined the company in 1991 as a financial analyst after working in manufacturing management and quality improvement with Miliken & Co. “I am both humbled and energized by receiving the Mary F. Lehman Service Award,” said Parker. “Not only did I graduate from PC with a strong academic basis, but also with a developed sense of leadership and confidence in my ability to enter the corporate and civic world. It is an honor to give back a small portion of all that I received from my four years at PC. I look forward to continuing to serve the College.”

David Lominack

David Lominack, a 1997 graduate of the College, was recognized with the 2015 Outstanding Young Alumnus Award. The award recognizes his display of early competence within his chosen field of endeavor and his exceptional promise of future achievement.

Lominack works as the market president of South Carolina for TD Bank, a role in which he is responsible

for commercial banking throughout the state. He joined the former Carolina First Bank in 1997 as a management associate and has since held numerous roles within the company, including branch manager, commercial loan officer, manager of Private Banking, and regional Retail Banking executive.

“It is such an honor to be recognized by the PC Alumni Association, and I’m humbled to be included in a category with many impressive, well-accomplished graduates that have been recognized in years past,” said Lominack. “It is very special to me to be recognized by the very institution that helped shape me personally and helped build the foundation on which I stand today.”

Jim Newsome

The Thomas Aurelius Stallworth ’55 Alumni Award honors longtime beloved faculty member Tom Stallworth and recognizes a PC alumnus or alumna who embodies the best characteristics of Thomas Aurelius Stallworth’s Christian leadership, strong bold character, integrity, moral courage and values, and who knows and demonstrates the true meaning of neighbor and friend. This year’s recipient was Jim Newsome, a 1958 graduate from Atlanta, Ga. Newsome was born and raised in Decatur, Ga. After

“Receiving the Thomas Stallworth award, will be forever a cherished memory from my PC family and my ‘band of brothers.’”

graduating from PC and marrying Margaret Hersh the same year, he served as an officer with the 2nd Battle Group, 14th Infantry at Fort Benning, Ga. Newsome has been a member of Decatur Presbyterian Church for 70 years and has served as a deacon within the congregation. He has also acted as the president of Decatur Civitan Club and has been on the PC Board of Visitors.

Newsome has three children and eight grandchildren. His daughter, Cynthia Newsome Peterson, graduated from PC in 1985, and his son-in-law played football for PC. “Receiving the Thomas Stallworth award, will be forever a cherished memory from my PC family and my ‘band of brothers,’” said Newsome.

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The Alumni Association recognized three individuals as Honorary Alumni. PC’s Director of Athletics Brian Reese and Dick and Catherine Swetenburg of Clinton, S.C., joined the ranks of individuals who did not attend the College, but treated it like their alma mater and brought honor to it by doing so.

Brian Reese

As the Executive Director of Athletics, Reese is responsible for PC’s 15 NCAA Division I athletic teams as well as the academic success of student-athletes. In this position, Reese also reports directly to the President of the College and serves as a

“Presbyterian College is such a great institution and being associated with the College is an honor itself.”

member of the President’s Senior Leadership Team. Throughout his time at PC, Reese has supervised the athletic program’s successful transition from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I, increased the overall athletic budget by 30 percent, and worked to upgrade numerous athletic facilities on campus. His dedication to PC is evident in his desire to promote Blue Pride and enhance the overall student experience on campus for athletes and non-athletes alike.

“It is an honor to be selected by the alumni association,” said Reese. “Presbyterian College is such a great institution and being associated with the College is an honor itself.”

J.R. “Dick” and Catherine Swetenburg

The Swetenburgs raised their family and recently retired in the Clinton community, and in doing so, they have immersed themselves in the PC family and the First Presbyterian Church community alike. They have both been on the PC Board of Visitors, and they continue to support PC through gifts to the

“The quality of life in Clinton has truly been enhanced by the presence of Presbyterian College and support from many on campus...”

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Scotsman Club, the PC Fund, the CHAMPS Program, the Cally Gault Scholarship Fund, the Griffith Presidential Fellowship, and the President’s House Renovation Fund.

“We are honored in being named as recipients of the Honorary Alumnus Award for 2015,” the Swetenburgs said. “We have been privileged to work alongside so many dedicated PC folks in various community activities over the years. The quality of life in Clinton has truly been enhanced by the presence of Presbyterian College and support from many on campus, as well as alumni within our community. For this, we are grateful.”

Stan Reid

The Mike Turner Scotsman Club Award recognizes an individual or couple who best mirrors the dedication and commitment that Mike Turner ’48 has given to the Scotsman Club, as an alumnus, former president, and faithful member. Stan Reid, a member of the class of 1974 from Greenville, S.C., is this year’s recipient.

While at PC, Reid lettered for three years in football and track. He was a member of the Sigma Kappa Alpha Academic Honor Society and the Blue Key National Honorary Leadership Fraternity, as well as a Joseph Graham Miller AcademicAthletic Achievement Award recipient.

“I am greatly honored to receive this award and to join a group of leaders who have received this award in the past. I am really honored to be recognized as a part of the PC family.”

Reid was also nominated as Who’s Who Among American Colleges & Universities while serving as the Battalion Commander with PC ROTC, Student Government Association, and the Judicial Council during his time at PC. Reid and his wife, Tricia, are Bell Tower Society members of the William Plumer Jacobs Society and are yearly Walter Johnson Champion Level members in the Scotsman Club.

Written by Erika Gotfredson, a senior English major from Duluth, Ga.

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You received the benefits of a small, private liberal arts institution at the cost of a flagship public school. You had small classes, face-to-face interactions with your professors, and developed a lifelong network of friends.

What if you shared that experience with a potential student?

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PC STUDENTS WORK TO GIVE HEAD START A “HEAD START”

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ngaging in service is a defining trait for Presbyterian College students.

It begins their freshmen year during participation in Service Day and continues through every service project they have thereafter and on into their lives after PC. For sophomore pre-medical major Alyson Craig, the call to serve is no different.

During her freshmen year, Craig took a trip to the Head Start facility of Laurens County as a part of the American Chemical Society (ACS) on campus. She explained that the student organization sometimes uses the facility to conduct simple experiments for the children. As a part of the experiment, Craig brought a box of crayons with her. After the PC students finished their experiment, Craig decided to let the children have the crayons.

GLEAMNS Head Start is a comprehensive program, which serves underprivileged children from three-to five-years-old. It is a child-focused program that consists of 20 centers in South Carolina spread across a 10-county area. The overarching goal of the program is to increase the school readiness and social competence of children in low-income families. In an effort to accomplish this goal, Head Start provides a range of individualized services in the areas of education and early childhood development.

These services include medical, dental, mental health, nutrition, parent involvement, and family services.

Bessie Collins, the coordinator for the Laurens center explained to Craig that because the children come from low-income families, many of them don’t have luxuries like crayons at home. In addition, she explained that despite being funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, the center often needs extra supplies for the children. The center infrequently receives donations.

As a result, the center relies exclusively on its annual budget to achieve its goals. For Craig, who also serves as an arts and crafts teacher at Child’s Haven, a similar institution in Greenville, S.C., this struck a nerve.

“Head Start is only 15 minutes from campus,” Craig said. It shocked her that an institution that prides itself in serving its community did not already have an established relationship with Head Start.

“Everybody wants to help,” Craig said. “There just had to be someone to step in and make that first connection.”

Craig felt the need to finish her freshman year first, but at the beginning of her sophomore year, she sat down with Rachel Parsons-Wells, director of religious life and services on campus and began planning a student organization to help support Head Start.

“I get asked a lot why I didn’t work through the ACS with this project,” Craig said. “I wanted it to be more than a project. I wanted to create a foundation for something that would last.”

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At first Craig was unsure how to proceed. She had been a part of similar organizations in high school but had never started one on her own. She printed 700 flyers and woke up at 5 a.m. one morning to distribute them across campus. The flyers advertised the club’s first meeting, explaining the purpose of both the Head Start program and the student organization with a clear message, “A small investment in the lives of these children can leave an everlasting impact.”

Craig’s plan for the organization outlined two donation drives a year and two interactive activities with the Head Start children per year. In order to keep the organization from becoming too overwhelming for members and losing momentum, Craig kept the organization’s mission and membership requirements simple. Each member has to pay a $2 annual fee to help cover the first donation drive of the year, attend all meetings, and promote the donation drives by telling other students and assisting in them.

“I didn’t want to force anyone to do something they were uncomfortable with,” Craig said. “Most of us spend time with the children, but it’s not a requirement. Some of us help fundraise, some help organize.”

Boasting 33 members, the organization completed its first donation drive on Oct. 1, having raised $425 in school supplies for Head Start. Craig explained that she chose school supplies for the first drive because it was something the organization could collect quickly and would have an immediate impact on the students. The supplies were divided among the center’s six classrooms.

“I want each drive and activity to be different,” Craig said. “We collected school supplies for them this time, and I want to do something different next semester. I want each time to be different as long as I am here. I want to show them that we care and not by doing the same thing over and over.”

Craig’s plans for the spring drive include having the group organize 112 hygiene packs, one for each Head Start student. Ideally, each pack would include items like soap, washcloths, tooth brushes, and tooth paste.

“I’ve focused on a lot of details I didn’t necessarily have to,” Craig said. “I want to create a foundation. I want to come back 30 years from now and still see it as an active organization helping the Head Start children.”

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PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS PRESENT AT THE 2016 SPSP CONVENTION

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resbyterian College students Sophie Cobb and Christy Darracott had their Summer Fellows research project “Can Your Cognitive Style Influence Your Faith?: Religiosity’s Association with Cognitive Flexibility and Action Identification” accepted for presentation at the 2016 Society for Personality and Social Psychology Convention.

The SPSP, founded in 1974, is one of the largest organizations in the country of social psychologists and personality psychologists. Its annual convention regularly attracts over 3,000 attendees from various universities and colleges to present and discuss the latest research findings, as well as develop professional networks through which SPSP members can collaborate on other projects.

Cobb’s and Darracott’s research project was selected from a pool of nearly 2,000 poster submissions. Many of these poster submissions included the researchers whose studies and reviews Cobb and Darracott had consulted in their own summer research. For both of them, the competitiveness and the lack of undergraduate research at the convention led to some worries.

However, Dr. Jay Michaels, assistant professor of psychology and Summer Fellows mentor to the two students, was certain that their project had a chance of acceptance.

Michaels was thrilled to hear of their selection into the SPSP Convention. “I’ve been attending this convention since 2009 and have rarely seen undergraduate presenters, even as co-authors. Sophie and Christy are the lead authors on the poster they will present—an impressive feat and testament to the high quality research they’ve performed,” he said.

Interest in the project began when Cobb and Darracott heard about the Summer Fellows Program and of Michaels’s current study on cognitive processes and religiosity. Both Cobb and Darracott have religious backgrounds and interests in pursuing careers in public health. Interested in exploring the reason for a connection among religion, health and cognition, Darracott and Cobb “hopped on board” with Michaels as his research partners for the summer.

“We found this topic to be especially interesting because of the mystery behind the link of certain health benefits to religiosity,” said Cobb and Darracott. “This topic is also one that has little past research, so the idea of working with a new area of study was fascinating to us as well.”

During the summer, Cobb and Darracott read

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multiple literary reviews on the subject and analyzed data collected from quasi-experimental methods and from PC students who had taken surveys before the summer program. Michaels assisted the two with data analysis and research design, while Cobb and Darracott developed their own research questions and determined the meaning behind the project’s results.

“This study examined the relationship between religiosity and two cognitive processes, cognitive flexibility and action identification. Cognitive flexibility is the ability to think fluidly in changing situations. Action identification is the way people understand their actions.

Religion is the organized and institutional part of faith traditions; whereas, spirituality is the way a person seeks and expresses meaning about life and existence.

Religiosity is religion and spirituality combined,” Cobb and Darracott explained.

Their hypotheses stated that the lower levels of these cognitive processes in individuals correlates to an individual’s preference for more institutionalized religion, as opposed to higher levels correlating to a preference for more abstract spirituality.

The originality of the study and the understanding of the results led to Michaels, Cobb and Darracott deciding to submit the research for presentation at the annual SPSP convention. Being one of the only research projects to look at the psychology of religion helped Darracott and Cobb’s project stand out in the selection process. When Michaels heard the news of their acceptance, he had been talking with the two students in the hall outside his office.

“Sophie checked her email and saw the notification,” said Michaels. “I remember her shouting ‘I can’t believe it, we’re going to San Diego!’”

Before they fly out to San Diego, Darracott and Cobb are continuing their research in an honors project this fall. They had expected the result of high cognitive flexibility leading to individuals’ greater openness to new experiences, whereas low cognitive flexibility in individuals showed a greater preference for institutionalized religion. However, with action identification, Cobb and Darracott discovered a weaker connection between

that cognitive process and an individual’s religion or spirituality.

In their fall honors project, Cobb and Darracott are looking specifically at this weaker link. Because their summer research produced findings that combined religion and spirituality together with action identification, their research is focused on separating that combination and identifying the relationship in a potentially stronger way.

Darracott and Cobb conduct experiments for five to 10 hours each week and will soon start data collection and review. In their experiments, participants are manipulated to think in either high or low action identification levels. Before and after the manipulation takes place, participants take a survey.

Darracott explained that the purpose of the experiment is to try to have participants “think on a higher level [and] cause a higher action.” Cobb further elaborated that “when people answer why, they think at higher levels, and that leads to a higher level of action.”

The two students made a clear distinction between the levels of high and low action identification regarding the way they phrase the survey questions after manipulation.

By asking questions of how one shows their faith, an

individual tends to think in the lower levels of action identification, in the sense of institutionalized religious practices. When an individual is asked why they have faith, the action identification process is activated at a higher level because the question makes an individual consider their spirituality rather than their religion.

For now, both Cobb and Darracott are excitedly anticipating their presentation at the SPSP Convention, which will be held on January 28-30, 2016. They will present on Friday for about an hour and a half. During the days that the students aren’t presenting, they plan to attend some of the other presentations being given.

They also plan to explore California, a place where Cobb has never been to and Darracott cannot remember experiencing. “We’re in California, so why not?”

Darracott said.

Both Cobb and Darracott are senior psychology majors with minors in biology. They also both play soccer for Presbyterian College. Cobb is from Columbia, S.C., and Darracott is from Augusta, Ga. Written by Allison Cooke, a junior English major, media studies, journalism track minor from Winnsboro, S.C.

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CHAMPS CELEBRATES ITS 20TH ANNIVERSARY The 20th anniversary of Presbyterian College’s CHAMPS (Communities Helping, Assisting, and Motivating Promising Students) program took place on October 31 at Bailey Memorial Stadium. The CHAMPS program is an initiative supported by the PC family and the Laurens County community that strives to motivate and challenge students who may not otherwise have the opportunities to fulfill their highest educational potential.

“CHAMPS provides promising students with a vision of their future and stimulates them to strive toward post-secondary education,” said President Bob Staton. “CHAMPS is where it is today thanks to numerous staff and volunteers who have selflessly contributed their time and passions to the program.”

During the celebration, the CHAMPS Scholarship, a full scholarship given annually to a CHAMPS student who attends PC, was renamed the Jerman Disasa CHAMPS Scholarship. Disasa served as the program director for 17 years.

“No one has brought the PC motto – While we live, we serve – into the spirit of CHAMPS more than Jerman Disasa,” said Staton. “He was a positive member and influence to the individual students of the

CHAMPS program, and he cared deeply for those students.”

“I am grateful for all who labored hard to put together such a meaningful celebration,” Disasa said.

“The first letter in CHAMPS is a ‘C,’ it truly signifies the community--the Laurens County community and the Presbyterian College community. Both of these communities were well represented at the celebration. To me, the celebration was principally a reminder of not just where we have been in this program, but more importantly where, together, we are headed.”

Staton added, “Recipients of the scholarship will be reminded of a man with a passion for helping those who are less fortunate to succeed.”

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“...to use an African saying, ‘When one mountain is climbed, another is seen.’”

- Jerman Disasa The program was instituted in July of 1995 and hosted 30 rising seventh-graders selected from the county schools for an intensive two-week residential program that included both academic and academic-support activities. Each year, the program added an additional 30 students until 1998, when it reached a total of 120. The program worked with and followed these students for four years in a combined effort to maximize the students’ academic potential.

“It is to reenergize us more for the task ahead and to the mission we were given in the name of Christ,” added Disasa “After all, to use an

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African saying, ‘When one mountain is climbed, another is seen.’ The call to celebrate is always a reminder that the journey continues. The opportunity to be meaningful to the needs of the Laurens County community through CHAMPS requires an enduring collaboration and commitment.”

The program succeeds in this channel by creating a county-wide community that involves the College, CHAMPS students, and their parents.

For the two-week summer program, CHAMPS students stay on campus and are tutored and mentored by PC students, who then follow up with them through regular activities and programs.

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Art Professor Mark Anderson

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BE INSPIRED FOR LIFE

n August, Presbyterian College announced plans for new branding. In an effort to reflect more accurately the College’s mission and the campus culture, the College has adopted a new tagline. “Be inspired for life” reflects not only the institution’s desire to prepare students for their future careers, but also the goal of preparing well-rounded individuals who take their passions and use them to give back to the community.

We interviewed four PC professors to see how they were first inspired to become the people they are today, how they inspire their students to embrace the liberal arts and make a positive impact in the PC community and beyond, and how, in the end, the students and PC community inspire them.

Below is the story of the professors’ journeys of inspiration.

Inspired beginnings For Mark Anderson, the Marianne and E. G. Lassiter Professor of Art, guiding a student through the process of creating art is about more than the finished piece. It is about guiding his students to become a whole person - to understand where they came from, to reconcile with who they are, and to become the person they are meant to be. And when Anderson sees that moment of understanding in his students’ eyes, he says it’s a magical moment.

“Students inspire me,” said Anderson. “The ones who amaze me are the ones who come in and struggle and then I watch them get through it and grow. I am watching them catch fire.”

It was that same ember - quite accidentally - that ignited Anderson’s journey as an artist, professor, and most importantly, as a human being at peace with his past and with passion and purpose in his life. Anderson was born in California as the oldest of three children in a strict pentecostal family. At 19-years-old, he was married and teaching music classes while attending a conservative religious college, and

was an outsider and utterly confused about his place in this world. In an attempt to get his rebelliousness under control, the college administration sent him to meet with, of all people, an art professor.

“He put clay in front of me and told me to mess with it while we talked,” said Anderson. “I came to my passion by accident...by way of being in trouble.”

Assistant Professor of Education Dr. Traci Bellas started out wanting to be an attorney for abused children. She enrolled at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., and majored in political science - thinking that would be a good pre-cursor to law school. During her studies, Bellas worked in crimes against children quickly finding that the field was not going to lead to a life of helping children - rather only sleepless nights for Bellas.

“In most cases, the children were sent back to the abuse,” said Bellas. “I was frustrated that there were not other forms of advocacy for children.”

When Bellas expressed her concern, she was told to walk over to the education department.

There she met professor Bobby Jones. “Meeting him changed my life,” said Bellas. “He oozed advocacy out of every pore. I saw this light and fire, and I thought ‘That’s what I want to do for others.’ So I went into special education.”

Associate Professor of English Robert Stutts has always been interested in the arts, including painting, sculpture, dance, and film. “I have been doing this my entire life,” said Stutts. “I always wanted to be an artist.”

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“There is a sense of community, where they don’t have to be afraid. If we’re not laughing we aren’t doing something right.” - Professor Stutts Of all the arts, Stutts was and is especially fascinated with literature and writing short stories and poems. He particularly enjoys the fantastic genre. “My mom had a copy of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. I read it over and over,” said Stutts. “I also used to make comic books with my friends.”

And for Assistant Professor of Chemistry Dr. Evelyn Swain, “[It’s] the love of the question.” She continued, “I like the chemistry of life and the interface between the two disciplines [of biology and chemistry]. When I took my first physiology class, I thought ‘This is cool and research is fun.’ I like to think hard.

When I open a biochemistry book, I think ‘I love this stuff.’”

Inspiring students everyday Through art, Anderson found a creative outlet to express every frustration, hurt, confusion, dream - any emotion that he was never able to say outloud or even acknowledge within himself before. He sees this same process of self-awareness take shape in his students every day.

“I don’t think you can express yourself in any way without bringing something out,” explained Anderson. “Art is a great example of this - it’s a thumbprint. You can see people’s strengths and weaknesses in a heartbeat.”

Which is why when Anderson is interacting with a student, he reflects to the student what he sees them saying through their art - a therapy session of sorts. Not only does this help the students with their own self-awareness, it helps the student to connect with others through their art.

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Anderson explained, “It can be exciting when you can be honest with your own growth, and gratifying that other people respond and that it means something to them.”

For Stutts, the arts provided a way to express himself, and he strives for the students in his creative writing courses to feel secure in using the classroom time for catharsis as well.

The courses are workshop based, and he sets up clear rules and makes it clear that students must respect each other.

“One reason students like to write is because it’s a creative outlet. I like them to try new approaches and techniques. When it comes to creative writing, I want students to find their own voice. I am conscious of not imposing on them my idea of how their writing should be.

I try to create a safe place - an environment where all of them can flourish.”

Stutts continued, “I want students to have a sense of community where they don’t have to be afraid. If we’re not laughing we aren’t doing something right. We enjoy being in workshop together. They like to help each other. In that kind of workshop, students can thrive and find their way.”

It’s when students start to find their way that Stutts gets really excited. “When things start to click or they find their groove - I find that inspiring. When students graduate, they go on to do so many interesting things, and that inspires me, too.”

Liberal Arts - The art of breathing The liberal arts has the ability to transform the mind and soul. The liberal arts have the power to open up new worlds. Anderson spoke

Associate Professor of English Robert Stutts 33

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Chemistry Assistant Professor Evelyn Swain

“When I open a biochemistry book, I think ‘I love this stuff.’” - Dr. Swain of better understanding his religious upbringing through reading Victorian literature and that liberal arts can help us better understand ourselves and the world around us by reinforcing and/or eliminating pre-conceived ideas and allowing us to accept new ones.

Anderson explained it this way: “In order to breathe in, you have to breathe out. Part of being alive is emptying out and allowing new things to come in. Liberal arts is the notion that it is okay to breathe both ways.” Anderson continued, “Liberal arts education creates meaning in our lives and in the students’ lives. It’s how we establish what we care about.”

The instructors are especially moved by the cross-fertilization of different subjects in the liberal arts. “Creative writing is the epitome of liberal arts,” said Stutts. “[The students] have to read a lot and experience a lot – from psychology to history to foreign languages to biology to theatre to economics to art to sociology-- all of that informs their writing.”

Swain said it simply. “Students have to be taught the love of the question.” She gave the example of two students who could not come up with their research topic. They told her they wanted her to give them the topic. She said, “I know,” and then walked away.

For Bellas and Anderson, they find joy not only in watching their students grow as learners and individuals, but also by being surrounded by people whose passion it is to be lifelong learners.

“I am inspired by people who not only love to teach, but also love to learn,” said Bellas. “I love learning. I consider myself a lifelong learner. At PC, we help students to think differently. They are able to consider a more alternative perspective. It makes for more well-rounded people and better teachers. As long as that is happening, I will be

inspired to do what I’m doing until the day I die.”

Anderson said, “I am thankful for the liberal arts school, because at the core, there is no one teaching who isn’t also interested in other disciplines and learning from others.” Anderson continued, “There is magic when disciplines come together. The exchange of ideas inspires me.

People and relationships inspire me - watching my friends do their things and seeing connections between what they do and art. I believe in the liberal arts with all my heart.”

Giving Back After teaching special education, Bellas decided that she wanted to spark that same desire in pre-service teachers that her professor did for her - so she decided to go into higher education.

Bellas regularly incorporates academics and service-learning into her curriculum. “I wanted to be able to light that fire or keep that fire burning in my students,” said Bellas. She continued, “I see teachers as change agents. The more we can do as learners and teachers, the better off we are. I don’t see teaching as a job - I see it as an identity - and I don’t think you have to be in a school to do it.”

So, she takes her students out of the walls of PC and out into the Clinton and Laurens communities. Bellas and her students are currently collaborating with teachers from the Laurens 55 School District to try to meet the needs of English-language learners in the district.

The cause is close to Bellas’s heart because she grew up in South Florida during a period of large Cuban and Hispanic immigration. The hope is to offer professional development resources to the District’s teachers to assist them in teaching Latino students.

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“He oozed advocacy out of every pore.

I saw this light and fire, and I thought ‘That’s what I want to do for others.’

So I went into special education.” - Dr. Bellas Bellas and her students would also like to provide culturally-diverse books for the Latino communities around the College. Hopefully, through help from a grant, they can build a “Little Library” - a free book exchange with locations popping up around the county. This would be the first one in the areas around PC. Bellas and PC students are also working with Laurens 56 School District by partnering PC biology students and faculty with middle and high school students, with the goal of getting science resources and tools into the hands of students who don’t have access - possibly creating a new culture and community of science lovers. They also want to work with elementary school students by exposing them to natural resources we may have on campus and the study of herpetology - the study of reptiles and amphibians.

“I am very excited,” said Bellas. “It is a great opportunity for the community and PC to meet each other’s needs.”

Swain also believes in tying your passion to what you give back to other people and society. She encourages her students to use their education to bring science to the forefront and teach individuals about the importance of health and science issues. “Not everyone goes to college, or are students of science or health,” said Swain.

“Scientists need to be the messengers.”

Like Bellas, Swain’s students also participate in service-learning in the Laurens County

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community through GLEAMNS Head Start - a comprehensive program, which serves underprivileged children from three- to five-years-old. It is a child-focused program that consists of 20 centers in South Carolina spread across a 10-county area.

The overarching goal of the program is to increase the school readiness and social competence of children in low-income families. In an effort to accomplish this goal, Head Start provides a range of individualized services in the areas of education and early childhood development.

These services include medical, dental, mental health, nutrition, parent involvement, and family services. Her students once helped the children make white lab coats, in an effort to get the children excited about science.

All four professors believe strongly that no individual should ever stop looking for opportunities to learn and to give back to others.

They are grateful to work for an institution that not only allows, but also expects and encourages, members of the campus to look for ways to give back AND to be open to different cultures, ideas, and perspectives.

Bellas may have said it best: “The greatest value I have gotten out of PC is my relationships with my students,” said Bellas. “There is an opportunity here for me to learn and teach in a community that values relationships and giving back. As long as there is that culture, it will be inspiring to me.”

Assistant Professor of Education Traci Bellas37

Blue & Garnet

Sisters

Yesterday’s Women’s Social Hall to Today’s Sororities

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Greek life celebrated a big anniversary on Presbyterian College’s campus this year. It has been 25 years since national sororities have been established at PC. However, women’s voices in the social, volunteer, and club world on campus began long before sororities were founded in 1990.

Before the national sororities were founded, Presbyterian College had a local sorority here on campus.

Alpha Psi Delta functioned in student life in the same manner that the national sororities do today. In the 1930s and 1940s, members of Alpha Psi Delta hosted events, fundraisers, and other social functions.

The local sorority at PC was well-known because their annual “Girl-Break Dance” at the American Legion Armory here in Clinton had almost 200 in attendance. The attendees also expanded beyond PC and Clinton to include young women from Lander, Coker, Gardner-Webb, Converse, and Winthrop. The largest difference between these functions versus functions on campus today was the “Girl-Break Dance” had chaperones for students attending, including parents.

Prior to 1990, there was also a Women’s Social Hall on campus. This club functioned the same as a sorority through hosting annual mixers with the fraternities and volunteering in service. The WSH even had one of the smaller campus houses, deemed “The Green House” in honor of then Dean of Women Martha Anne Green ’69.

The WSH was eventually disbanded after national Greek sororities were established.

When national Greek sororities did emerge, PC women found a chance to expand their voice in student life. They had the same privilege as the PC men to form organizations that strived to add to the service, social, and other aspects of PC’s campus. Within these sororities, PC women began forming relational and personal experiences that molded them during their time at PC and the years following graduation.

Tammy Gardner ’93, who now lives in Lancaster, S.C., was a member of the charter class of Sigma Sigma Sigma at PC­—a position of responsibility she held with pride.

“I was invited to the Tri-Sigma Open Rush,” Gardner said, “This was much less intimidating to me [than formal rush]. I decided to pledge Tri-Sigma because I really liked the girls I met and could see myself building relationships with them. Because I joined during this time period,

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before the first initiation, I was included as a charter member, which was also appealing to me. I liked the idea of being part of the beginning of something that would carry on into the future.”

As a charter class, there was also the challenge for the newest members of the sororities to increase the numbers of their members in that first year. With the sorority not as well known in South Carolina, the women had to work harder at promoting their sisterhood.

“The first years were a little rough because Tri-Sigma wasn’t as well known in South Carolina; it was hard to attract new members,” Gardner said. “We would work really hard on rush and maybe only have a few pledges on bid day. One year there was only one. But we never gave up, and I think that the early struggles made us depend on each other even more. Something about being in the trenches makes your bond even tighter.”

These types of challenges and other obstacles of college life, when tackled with close friends and sisters, are what Gardner describes as one of the advantages of Greek life.

“It is hard to describe how important it can be. You really have to experience it.” Gardner said. “Greek life teaches you to work together for common purposes, learn to listen to others opinions and ideas, how to agree to disagree, and how to depend on people outside your family.”

Greek bonds continued as campus entered its second decade with sororities. Katy Duncan Lentz ’04, now a financial aid counselor at her alma mater, was an Alpha Delta Pi during her undergraduate years on campus. Her experience with Greek life echoes Gardner’s experience.

“PC Greek life does not pigeon hole you into one group,” Lentz said. “That was the advantage to having sorority recruitment later. Truly [sorority] is an extra-curricular activity and not your life. It was what you made it.”

Sorority life also provided a place of sanctuary for Lentz during her time on campus. It was an outlet for her, as she described it.

“In a way for myself and for people in my class, it was

Tammy Gardner ’93

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our safe place. It was our escape from what was going on [in other areas of college life]. We could be ourselves,” Lentz said.

The memories of her years on campus brought back tears as Lentz recalled her favorite day of sorority life, Bid Day. It is a day she could remember every moment and detail of with pristine clarity. Every year Lentz said, hands down, it was her favorite day. As Lentz summarized it, it was the overall outlet that sorority life provided that was so priceless.

“Personally [it is important] because it gives females that outlet,” Lentz said. “Women feel a part of something bigger than ourselves because it stretches that PC bubble nationally. Philanthropy is also important in tying it to the PC motto. With ADPi, we were constantly rushing off to Greenville to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald house or raise awareness about it, constantly living out that PC motto. Women need that outlet because we seek that out by nature. It is a fun outlet and time without being tied to a man.”

Present day sorority women also stand by characteristics and actions that go beyond the social aspect often associated with Greek life. Alpha Delta Pi, Sigma Sigma Sigma, and Zeta Tau Alpha all promote chances for the PC collegiate women to delve into leadership opportunities; earn scholarships through their national sororities’ office; participate in service projects either locally in the Clinton/PC community or with their philanthropy; and develop relationships in sisterhood.

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For students to be in sororities, they must uphold a certain academic standing, fostering the commitment to produce studious, responsible individuals. To join and remain a member of a sorority, a student must carry at least a 2.5 GPA. Women in these sororities uphold and exceed this standard by currently averaging a cumulative sorority GPA of 3.21.

The history of sorority life at PC stretches prior the 25th anniversary or even 1990 founding year of national sorority Greek life on campus. Women’s voices have been heard prior where the PC women have taken agency to develop their own organizations. These same organizations that promote the same standard of excellence in service that PC preaches in the motto, “While we live, we serve.”

They created leadership opportunities for the women who formed relationships with men’s fraternities on campus through events. Leadership that also expanded beyond the PC campus in the earlier half of the 20th-century, when the local sorority hosted events that were successful enough to attract young women from surrounding colleges or universities. All prime examples that speak to the depth of celebration found in the 25th anniversary of sorority life at PC, as women’s voices have long been present and loudly heard on campus.

Written by Rebecca Rowell, a senior English major, double minor in media studies and women and gender studies from Lugoff, S.C.

Katy Duncan Lentz ’04

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ABBY WALDRON: WHERE ACADEMICS AND ATHLETICS MEET Keep pounding. It’s a familiar cliché, most notable for its use as a slogan by the Carolina Panthers, and it conjures up the images of a battering ram.

It’s not the only context, though. Presbyterian College senior Abby Waldron keeps pounding, not with some battering ram, but with rigorous physical exertion and dogged intellectual curiosity.

Pounding. With the dull thud of feet hitting pavement and crafting the rhythm of the road. Pounding.

With exhaustive analysis of numbers and graphs. Pounding. With the relentless reliability of a strenuous and disciplined life.

“Abby is one of the most dedicated runners I have on either (women’s and men’s) team and also one of the hardest working,” PC cross country coach Thad Palmer says. “As a senior, she sets a good example. Does all the little things right.”

“She balances her time very well. Abby has been able to balance what it takes to be a Division I athlete, and she has a 3.99 [grade-point average]. It takes a special person to balance that and do it for her entire career. It’s even more impressive.”

Over the summer, Waldron, who majors in both mathematics and chemistry at Presbyterian, was one of 10

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students chosen nationwide (out of 180 applicants) to participate in an REU (research experience for undergraduates) sponsored by the Rochester Institute of Technology. She spent eight weeks in upstate New York, working on her academic specialty, graph theory.

“Our project was working on leverage centrality, which is the measure of comparing the degree of a node to its neighbors,” she says. “The best way to describe it is kind of like a Facebook node, like, for example, if one person has 10 friends, and those 10 friends don’t get their news from anyone else, there are no more friends. Like, their only friend is that one guy. All their news comes from him, so he has a lot of influence over them.

And leverage.”

“But, if each of his friends has another 10 friends, then he no longer has as much influence because they can get their news from everywhere else. What we were doing was taking those graphs and seeing which nodes had the most influence of the graph over the nodes around them over the entire graph. So it’s really [direct] stuff the first half.”

For the latter half of the program, Waldron and her colleagues turned to “more of an applied focus.”

“We got functional MRI data from the University of Rochester,” she says. “We used MRIs that just compared the blood oxygen levels of different parts of the brain, so we got data from an experiment they were doing. They had subjects view an image, and they had to pantomime using the image (a hammer, for instance). We got to use a lot of graph theory and leverage centrality and see which area of the brain was under the most use. Which regions of the brain were acting the most similar?”

“The great thing about graph theory is that it can be used for a bunch of different things. It can be just as useful with the brain stuff as it can with who has the most influence on Facebook.”

“Abby has a great deal of curiosity,” said Dr. Kara Shavo, associate professor of mathematics, who teaches graph theory.

“Where she excels is by combining that curiosity with a great deal of discipline. She takes a lot on. She is a varsity athlete.

She is an exceptional student, and she does a lot (honors research) outside her coursework.”

“She is an example of the positive virtues of being a student-athlete. It all comes together in Abby.”

Waldron is a Clinton native who plans to do pharmaceutical research. She has applied to graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Some of her interest stems from the fact that her younger brother, Tucker, is autistic.

“A lot of [PC students] have a hard time because there’s nothing to do,” She said. “From growing up in Clinton, I know there are plenty of things to do. You just have to go find them.”

“My self-motivation comes a lot from the way I was raised. My brother’s autistic, so, of course, he took a lot of my parents’ time because of the extra attention he needed. A lot of my schoolwork and getting it done fell on me. From a very young age, I was self-driven, and that’s one of the things I like about math. It made sense to me. The numbers all fall into place. Everything fit. I had to motivate myself to practice and do well in it. It just kind of fit my personality.”

“I’m definitely a mama’s girl. She understands, if I don’t come home for a while, that I’m just trying to get my studies done. She also knows if I need someone to talk to, I’ll be home in about five seconds.”

Abby is the daughter of Glenn and Jackie Waldron.

Tucker is a senior at Clinton High School.

“I am the older sibling, but in many ways, I act like an only child,” Abby says. “Yes, Tucker’s my brother, but we don’t have the same sibling interactions that many other people do. We get along, but, because of his autism, he can’t really express anything so it’s hard to interact with him. As far as family, it gave me a lot more responsibility and a lot more free time because, in the afternoons, my mom would be working with my brother and his tutors, and getting him through his schoolwork and teaching what another child

would pick up normally. So, afternoons were kind of on my own. I knew where my mom was, but it was more, ‘behave, but you can do what you want.’”

“Especially since Tucker has reached higher-up education, I would help read whatever book he was reading at the time, and when he got to math problems that my mom doesn’t understand, I would help with it. He’s taking chemistry now, and I still get calls asking me about a certain problem, so I’ve definitely helped with the education part of it. It’s definitely a brother-sister relationship in that, it’s more of a younger relationship, kind of, I annoy him to get his attention, and he says hi to me. We do things together, but at the same time, younger brother doesn’t want older sister around. In many ways, it’s the same but it’s got different touches to it.”

“I want to do pharmaceutical research because I do want to work on autism, maybe not to cure it but to help the symptoms of it. In my life, it does play a role in what I want to do.”

The solitude of the long distance runner comes naturally to Waldron and meshes with her academic interests. “I’ve always been self-driven,” Waldron says. “I’m definitely introverted. It’s a little daunting,” Waldron said.“Running is a lot of self-motivation. You have to continuously push yourself, and that’s kind of the same way [with my studies].

At times, it can get really, really boring, and you’ve just got to push through it to get to the fun stuff.”

“PC’s given me a lot of good relationships with my professors. I love my adviser, Dr. (Brian D.) Beasley, [whom] I’ve known since middle school, so I’m really close to him.

I’m really close to all my professors in the math department.

The classes are so small that everyone knows us individually.

Plus, I’m close to several of my chemistry professors. Having those good advisers and good people to look up to has made my college path a lot smoother because I know whom I can turn to with questions about things.”

Graph theory, Waldron says, “is such a different way of looking at things. It’s fun to take something everybody knows and turn it into something abstract that isn’t quite recognizable, but you can do a lot of stuff with it.”

“It’s just a more picture-like way of doing it instead of with numbers, so it’s pretty fun. … One of my teachers’ favorite sayings is that math is a participation class. You have to do the work. You can’t take a day off because it continuously builds up. You have to continuously participate and practice what you’re doing.”

“There are times when we are talking about something in class, and it will be confusing to me, but I’ll go back afterwards and be working on a proof, or trying to figure my way through something, and all of a sudden, I’ll have a moment of clarity and see how the proof falls into place.

Those are really good moments.”

Much more clarity lies ahead.

Written by Monte Dutton.

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ALUMNI UPDATE

FROM ALUMNI BOARD PRESIDENT Greetings!

As president of your Alumni Board of Directors, I want to introduce myself and share some thoughts and ideas I have related to engaging our alumni. It is an honor for me to serve in this role for our alma mater. I am married to Mary Irwin Spearman ’84, and our daughter, Taylor, also finished PC in 2012 and is pursuing a doctor of physical therapy (DPT) degree from MUSC. We are proud to be a Blue Hose family.

Connections and Communications: We need to hear from our alumni about how you want to be involved in making PC stronger and how our alumni relations office can assist you, as well. I hope you’ll see our board, in addition to our staff, as a group you can reach out to with questions and ideas.

Brad Spearman ’85

Alumni Admissions Program: It’s important that alumni encourage high school students to consider PC as a college choice. Earlier this fall a mailing was sent to you with “Alumni Scholarship coupons” to provide to prospective students to apply to PC. Increasing enrollment is a top priority of the College.

Annual Giving and Alumni Participation: Many groups and foundations look at a college’s alumni giving percentage when considering making grants that support teaching and learning. In the past, PC has boasted a fairly good participation rate of alumni giving; however, in recent years, that percentage has decreased and is under 20%. I encourage you to consider making a gift this year (the Annual Fund operates on a fiscal year basis—July 1 through June 30). The Annual Fund dollars are part of the yearly budget and impact students and faculty directly. We all benefitted from the generosity of others when we were students—it’s our turn to give back so that today’s students can have a meaningful educational experience at our alma mater. (If you’ve been giving, consider increasing your gift this year.) You can give online at http://my.presby.edu or by mail or by phone (864-833-8211). Thank you in advance for your consideration of contributing to the Annual Fund (PC Fund of Academics; Scotsman Club for Athletics; Pharmacy Fund). And encourage your classmates to give, too.

Update Contact Information: To assure that you are getting the latest news from PC, please update your contact information when needed (moves, marriages, new jobs, etc.) Contact Leni Patterson ’83, executive director of alumni relations, (lpatters@presby.edu, 864.833.8284) or Margaret Brown (mhbrown@presby.edu, 864.938.3757) Follow PC on Social Media—Keep up with current PC news on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Again, I am honored to be serving you as president of the Alumni Board. We all know PC is a very special place, and we are proud to be alumni. Get some PC gear and wear it proudly. Put a PC sticker on your car window. Tell people about this great place. Together, we can help keep PC great and make it even greater for future generations.

Go Blue Hose!

Brad Spearman ’85

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Classnotes 1959

1971

Sonny King ’59 was inducted into the TL Hanna Athletic Hall of Fame on September 4, 2015, in Anderson, S.C. Sonny was a multi-sport athlete at Boys High from 1948 to 1952, earning 11 varsity letters in four sports. In football, he was a varsity player for five years as a lineman. His senior year, he was team captain, All-State, and All-American.

He had opportunities to play in postseason all-star games but was unable to participate.

Sonny earned a scholarship to Clemson in football where he played for three years. He transferred to Presbyterian College his senior year. He played football and baseball as a scholarship player.

At Boys High, Sonny lettered four years in baseball as a catcher, three years in basketball, and a year in track. After college, he entered into the high school coaching profession where he had an outstanding career.

Jake Moore ’73 of Moore Taylor Law Firm was recently named Greater West Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year for his commitment to West Columbia’s Beautification Foundation and improving many areas of the city. Jake was given the award at the chamber’s 2015 annual awards dinner in September 2015.

Jake practices civil litigation, criminal litigation, local government law, administrative law, education law and commercial litigation. He is a founding partner of Moore Taylor Law Firm and a member of the South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association and the American Board of Trial Advocates. He has taught at the USC School of Law and has served as counsel to the Legislative Audit Counsel for the South Carolina General Assembly.

In addition to his work with West Columbia’s Beautification Foundation, he is a founding member of the Irmo Arbor Day Committee and works with other environment and beautification groups. He has also served as chairman of the USC Board of Visitors.

1965 Rut Galloway ’65 was recently inducted into the Easley High School Hall of Fame in Easley, S.C.. A 1961 graduate of Easley High School, Rut played football and track. During his senior year, he was recognized by the football team as an award winner and finished third in the low hurdles at the state track meet. Rut received an athletic scholarship to Presbyterian College, where he also was a member of the football and track teams. In college he played running back, cornerback and safety on the football team and ran the hurdles, the 440, and some relay events.

After college he coached at Ware Shoals High School for three years and Wren High School for three years. He then went into business for himself and is still associated with Galloway-Bell Inc. He is married to the former Dianne Holland and they have three sons and four grandchildren.

1969 William A dePrater, D. Min. ’69 recently published a book under Wolf and Stock imprint titled, God Hovered Over The Waters: The Emergence Of The Protestant Reformation. It is a comprehensive overview of the Protestant Reformation movement as a part of the transition from the Middle Ages to Early Modern Europe. Bill and his wife, Mickey Rogers dePrater, are retired and living near Chapel Hill, N.C.

1971 Marty Harvey ’71 earned his J.D. degree at Wake Forest University in 1973. In 1974, he moved to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and worked in claim management for Travelers and St. Paul Insurance Companies for 13 years before going into private practice of trial law in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties for 26 years, achieving an AV preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbel. Marty recently celebrated his 36th year of marriage to his wife, Sandra Lea Olson, in August 2015, and they are enjoying retirement in South Florida. Marty hopes now to have time to attend an occasional PC football or basketball game and spend more time in the Carolinas while re-establishing old friendships at PC and WFU.

1982 William O. (Bill) Higgins ’82 recently joined with Gray, Lansche & Vinzani, LLC and their commercial real estate and business transactional law practice. Bill, a graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law with an LL.M in Taxation from New York University School of Law, will be strengthening and expanding the firm’s capabilities throughout the South Carolina and the Mid-Atlantic region. Practicing for more than 30 years, Bill focuses his legal practice on several areas, including commercial real estate transactions, tax aspects of real estate transactions, and legal ethics and lawyer misconduct.

Bill has represented a wide variety of companies and individuals in numerous acquisitions, sales, and business transactions. Among other highlights, his practice has included representing clients in commercial real estate matters, tax-deferred exchanges, income tax planning for closely held businesses, and corporate transactions, including entity formations and the acquisition and disposition of entities and assets.

He is an active member of the South Carolina Bar, having served in a number of leadership positions.

1987 Kimberly Hyatt ’87 was named a “Woman of Influence for 2015” by the Jacksonville, Fla., Business Journal for her work the past 13 years as president & CEO of the Cathedral Arts Project.

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1989 Dr. Tommy Murph ’89 organized and led a group of 30 dentists on a Dental Mission Trip to Guatemala the first week of July 2015.

The group treated over 800 people, removed over 1,800 teeth, and gave away over 2,000 toothbrushes to some of the poorest people.

Dr. Murph is in private practice in Conway, S.C., and welcomes all his friends to stop by and visit him when they go to Myrtle Beach.

Mary Mac Ogden ’89 will publish a new book, Wil Lou Gray: The Making of a Southern Progressive from New South to New Deal, in December of this year.

In Wil Lou Gray: The Making of a Southern Progressive from New South to New Deal, Mary Macdonald Ogden examines the first 50 years of the life and work of South Carolina’s Wil Lou Gray (1883–1984), an uncompromising advocate of public and private programs to improve education, health, citizen participation, and culture in the Palmetto State.

Motivated by the educational reform crusade of the early 20th century, her own excellent education, and the rampant illiteracy she observed in South Carolina, Gray capitalized on the emergent field of adult education to battle the racism, illiteracy, sexism, and political lethargy commonplace in her native state.

Mary Macdonald Ogden is a guardian ad litem and a freelance writer in Asheville, N.C. She has a B.S. degree in history from Presbyterian College and a Ph.D in history from the University of South Carolina.

1990 Former PC roommates got together on August 7-9, 2015, at Lake Lure, N.C. for a weekend of fun. Photo (Left to Right) - Sherilynn Nagel Watts ’90, Kimberly Moore Medlin ’90, and Jennifer Woodward ’90

1991 John Gentry ’91 was promoted to the rank of Colonel in the Georgia Army National Guard. His wife, Katherine Pope Gentry ’91, and daughters, Anna and Caroline, participated in the pinning ceremony held at Oconee Veterans Park in Watkinsville, Ga. John is the commander of the 648th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade headquartered at Fort Benning, Ga., and also serves as the Director of Parks and Recreation for Oconee County in Watkinsville, Ga. John is in his 24th year of service in the Army National Guard.

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1990 Alumnus Assumes Command of the 812th Transportation Battalion

LTC David L. Padgett ’90 assumed command of the 812th Transportation Battalion on the 11th of July 2015, during a Change of Command ceremony at the University of North Carolina – Charlotte in North Carolina. Renee Padgett ’92, and their children, James and Carlina, participated in the ceremony as well. LTC Padgett will be commanding a transportation battalion consisting of 1,200 soldiers who are assigned to 10 units located in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. This is LTC Padgett’s second Battalion command. He successfully completed his two year tenure as the Battalion Command for the 1188th Distribution and Deployment Support Battalion on June 25, 2015. Due to his leadership and hard work, the 1188th DDSB placed first in readiness metrics for six consecutive months out of 13 DDSBs within the Deployment Support Command. LTC Padgett was board selected for the 812th Transportation Battalion. He is extremely pleased to be coming back to the 812th Transportation Battalion, as he has a history with the battalion having deployed with them for Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003 – 2004), and served as the Battalion Maintenance Officer, S-4 (Logistics Officer), S-3 (Support Operations Officers) and the Executive Officer.

The mission of the 812th Transportation Battalion is to provide administrative, logistical and maintenance support to assigned and attached units. Direct transportation support operations for units in the assigned area of operations are to get critical supplies to the War Fighter on the front lines. LTC Padgett is in his 28th year of service in the military reserves with a majority of that time being with the United States Army Reserves.

1995

2000 Katherine Bonner Branch ’95 was named Houston County’s Teacher of the Year for 2015-2016 at the Opening Convocation on July 27, 2015. She was chosen out of 38 system-wide teachers for this honor. Mrs. Branch has taught English at Northside High School in Warner Robins, Ga., for 20 years and currently teaches Senior British Literature, Honors World Literature, and Advanced Placement English Literature.

She also serves as the senior class sponsor, debate coach, and co-chair of the English Department. She will go on to compete at the state level in December of this year.

Lori Gwinn ’95 has been named the new director of secondary education by the Pickens County School District. Prior to becoming an administrator, she served as an instructional coach and as a school administrator. Lori began her career at Liberty High School in 1995 as an English teacher, before being promoted to assistant principal and eventually principal. She holds a B.A. in English from Presbyterian College, M.A. in educational administration from Furman University, Ed.S. degree in education administration from the University of South Carolina, and is currently working toward earning an Ed.D. degree in curriculum and instruction from USC.

1996 Ernest Holiday ’96 has been named assistant superintendent of human resources/public relations in Orangeburg Consolidated School District Four. The OCSD 4 board approved Holiday’s appointment to the post in May 2015. He took over the duties of Dr. Tim Newman, who assumed the district superintendent’s role on July 1, 2015. Holiday has been the principal at Hunter-Kinard-Tyler High School since July 2012. His 18-year career path has taken him from the classroom, to middle school and high school assistant principal and to principal. Holiday has a B.S. in special education from Presbyterian College and a M.Ed from Winthrop University, and he is currently working on his Ed.D. in educational leadership. He and his wife and their 7-year-old daughter currently reside in the Columbia area.

Jennifer Tomkins Jones ’00 has been promoted to executive vice president of Citizens Building & Loan in Greer, SC. Jones, a native of Greer, has more than 15 years of local banking experience. She received her degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting, from Presbyterian College. She is the chairman of the South Carolina Bankers Association’s Financial Literacy Division, first vice chairman on the board of directors for the Young Banker’s Division of the SCBA, serves on the board of trustees for Greer’s Partnership for Tomorrow, chairman for the School Improvement Council at Chandler Creek Elementary, Meals on Wheels volunteer, and is a member of the Budget and Finance Committee for First Presbyterian Church.

Jennifer Tibbitts Shook ’00 has been named the new executive director of Lafayette Society for Performing Arts in LaGrange, Ga. She assumed her duties June 1, 2015, at LSPA, the umbrella organization for Lafayette Dance Academy, Lafayette Theater Company, Lafayette Ballet Company and the Azalea Storytelling Festival. As executive director, she will oversee mission, strategy, fundraising and general administration for the organization.

A native of Marietta, Jennifer has lived in LaGrange for the past three years. She earned a B.S. degree in political science from Presbyterian College and graduated with honors from Troy University with a MPA with an emphasis in nonprofit management. She also holds a certificate in nonprofit management from the University of Texas at Austin.

She is a dance instructor at Lafayette Dance Academy and previously worked at Southern Living magazine, the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and the Atlanta Thrashers Hockey Club.

Jennifer previously served on the board of directors for the Children’s Dance Foundation of Birmingham, Ala., as well as in several notable fundraising positions in her work for the Junior League in Birmingham, Austin and Atlanta.

Jennifer is married to Marc H. Shook, associate provost and dean of students at LaGrange College. They have three children.

Jim Kent ’96 has been promoted to director, site projects at Brown’s Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN). BFN is a three-unit site and the largest of three nuclear sites run by the Tennessee Valley Authority. BFN currently supplies enough power to feed over two million homes. The Projects Department is responsible for the project management of large capital projects, the modifications group, turbine services, reactor Services, and dry cask storage.

Catherine Martin Latiff ’96 recently became the secondary coordinator of special services for the School District of Pickens County. She and Todd ’96, along with their two children Ashley (16) and Andrew (13), live in Clemson.

These guys from the class of 2000 enjoy a PC reunion each summer in Columbia, S.C. Pictured (left to right) Brian Richie, Tripp Taylor, Troy Gamble, Allen Wright, Michael Brooks, Brad Teal, and Mac Harper

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Tripp Taylor ’00 and Jennifer Boaz were married on June 25, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn. They have four children (Noah, Drew, Bella, & Max) and two dogs ( Jack and Thor). The family now lives in Ringgold, Ga.

2001 Nicholas Horton ’01 recently accepted the position of clinical specialist with Orthofix Inc. in the extremity fixation division. In his new role, Nicholas will be responsible for managing and leading the extremity fixation sales training and educational activities in the West region, under the direction of the extremity fixation regional vice president (RVP). As directed by the RVP, he will help ensure maximum field sales effectiveness and implement the educational process to provide the best possible support to the sales organization. Additionally, in this new position he will help directly promote the on-label use of the business unit portfolio to physicians and health care providers. He will play a vital role in the transition of orthopedic surgeons to use Orthofix Extremity Fixation products for the benefit of their patients. Nicholas currently lives in Richardson, Texas, with his wife Lindsey and their two children, Finley (8) and Mac (5).

Andrew and Anne Pearce Worrell ’01 joyfully announce the birth of another son, Eugene Pearce Worrell, on July 16, 2015. Pearce joins older brother, Drew, 17 months. The Worrells live in Atlanta, Ga., where Andrew has started his 16th year with the Atlanta Braves as the Field Manager. Anne is enjoying her work as a civic volunteer and staying at home with her boys.

2003 Amy Riddle ’03 recently served on the Judges Panel representing the field of Performing Arts for the Miss South Carolina Pageant. It was held this past June in Columbia, S.C., and was live on Watchfox TV.

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2004 Laurie Brown ’04 was recently selected as the visual art specialist for secondary grades for the Duval County public school district. In this role, Laurie will work with the district visual and performing arts team to oversee arts instruction, programming, curriculum, and professional development. After earning her M.S. degree in art therapy from Florida State University, Laurie moved to Jacksonville, Fla., where she taught therapeutic visual arts to students with varying special needs.

She is currently in her second year of doctoral studies at the University of North Florida working towards an Ed.D degree in educational leadership.

Kelly Bumgardner ’04 was named teacher of the year for Cabarrus County.

For as long as Kelly Bumgardner can remember, she has wanted to be a school teacher, and now she has been named the Teacher of the Year for Cabarrus County in North Carolina.

She explained that she had played teacher when she had friends over and there was never any question as to what she wanted to be as an adult. Bumgardner holds bachelors from PC in elementary education and a masters in middle grades education from the University of Georgia in Jefferson City, Ga.

The relationships with students are the most attractive parts of teaching for Bumgardner, who is a seventh grade reading and English and Language Arts (ELA) teacher at Northwest Cabarrus.

Bumgardner advances to regional teacher of the year competition, but what matters most to her is her kids and teaching them the love of reading.

In November 2014, Travis Fitzwater ’04 was elected to the Missouri State House of Representatives for his first term in elected office. He became one of 163 House members in the state, elected to govern on behalf of about 37,000 Missouri residents in his district, which includes parts of two counties in mid-Missouri. In the first year of his first term, he passed legislation to create a “Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week” in March and another bill to provide a local county courthouse with an appointed Court Marshall for security. Also, he spent time on legislation to improve veterans’ services, entitlement reform, social services reforms, online Telehealth, state infrastructure changes and more. Travis and his wife Amy have two children, Sadie and Eliza, and reside in Holts Summit, Mo. Jacob Henry Helsley ’04 and Sarah Elizabeth Allen were married June 20, 2015, at First Baptist Church of Charleston in South Carolina.

The bride graduated from Clemson University with a B.A. degree in special education and from the University of South Carolina with a M.Ed degree in educational administration. She joined the faculty of Catawba Trail Elementary School in the fall of 2015.

The groom graduated from Presbyterian College with a B.A. degree in religion and received his M.Div. degree from Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala. The groom is the senior pastor at Blaney Baptist Church in Elgin, S.C.

2006 David McCuen was named assistant city manager in Anderson, S.C. David McCuen ’06 has been named assistant city manager in Anderson, S.C., after serving five years as city manager in Abbeville. He began his new job in November.

McCuen, a Greenville native who worked as a firefighter and EMT for the city of Greer prior to coming to Abbeville, has been city manager since 2013, after serving as assistant city manager from 2010 until his promotion.

McCuen graduated from Presbyterian College and has a M.P.A degree from Clemson University.

“I’ve been a part of the leadership of the city of Abbeville in the capacity of both assistant city manager and city manager for over five years. I’m very proud of what’s been accomplished over that tenure with the support of the mayor and City Council and the leadership of our department heads,” McCuen said.

McCuen has been instrumental in a number of projects for Abbeville, including the continuing efforts to transfer the city’s electrical power from older, outlying substations to a new, higher-capacity substation located off Vienna Street.

In addition to the substation, McCuen has worked to secure funds and grants to revitalize Abbeville’s downtown, including restoration efforts for the Opera House, improving downtown’s streetscapes and installing new wayfinding signage for the city.

McCuen also was assistant city manager when the city secured the service contract for the city’s public utilities at Piedmont Technical College’s Abbeville campus by annexing the more than 40 acres where the 9,570-square-foot facility is on Highway 72.

The city recently drafted a strategic business plan for 2016-20, highlighted by improvements to downtown and municipal facilities, including a new fire department and renovations to the police department and municipal court building.

2005 Suzanne Meehan ’05 and Dan Hawks were married June 13, 2015, in Winston Salem, N.C. Blue Hose in the wedding party included Lauren Edmonds Tolcher ’05, Stephanie Powell ’05, and Dr. Jessica Parker Floyd ’05. The couple reside in Greensboro, N.C.

2006 Erin Gaston Morgan ’06 graduated with a M.Div. degree in May 2014 from Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Ga. She was ordained and installed as a teaching elder of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on December 14, 2014, at South Aiken Presbyterian Church (USA). She currently serves as associate pastor for youth and outreach. Erin married Jeff Morgan of Newman, Ga., on April 18, 2015, in Greer, S.C. Kelly Overstreet Gregory ’06 served as matron of honor and Elizabeth Rouse ’06 served as maid of honor in the ceremony. The couple now resides in Aiken, S.C. Reeves Skeen ’06 has been named Southern coastal area executive for First Citizens Bank. He is based in Charleston. Previously, he was the bank’s Savannah market executive.

Rebecca Wessinger ’06 graduated from MUSC in 2012. She just finished her three-year residency in emergency medicine at Orlando Regional Medical Center in Florida and was awarded the Leadership Award for being chosen as one of three chief residents, Medical Knowledge Award for exam scores, and the Jon Mayo, M.D. Memorial Emergency Physician Award, for making the workplace a more enjoyable work environment.

Dr. Wessinger has accepted a position as an emergency room physician at Health Central Hospital in Ocoee, and lives in Orlando, Fla. Kylene Kieffer VanHeiningen ’06 and her husband, Wally, are thrilled to announce the addition of Parker Thomas VanHeiningen, born on March 18, 2015.

Parker joins three-year-old big brother, Preston.

2008 Charles DeMarcus Boyd ’08 and Brittany Victoria Madden were united in marriage on July 18, 2015, at Reedy Fork Baptist Church in Simpsonville, S.C. The bride is a graduate of the University of South Carolina Upstate and is an employee with Swift Transportation Company in Greer. She is currently pursuing a M.A. degree in Human Resources Management at Webster University. The groom is a graduate of Presbyterian College and is a manager with Spartan Financial Partners in Spartanburg. The couple will reside in Moore, S.C. Meredith Sawyer Walker ’08 and Stevens Walker ’10 welcomed their first child on July 15, 2015, named Hutton Ruth Walker.

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Ladies from the Class of 2006 spent a PC vacation weekend together in Charleston.

2009 Brittany Danielle Johnson ’09 and John Austin Goodson, both of Charleston, S.C., were married October 10, 2015, in Hartsville, S.C. The bride-elect earned her M.A. degree in clinical counseling from The Citadel. She is a clinical counselor at Charleston Center. The groom-elect is a graduate of the College of Charleston with a B.S. degree in business administration and earned his M.S. degree in accounting from College of Charleston Graduate School.

2011 Katie Anderson ’11 was recently announced as the new head softball coach for Fox Creek High School in North Augusta, S.C. She previously served as assistant coach at Augusta High School. Katie played softball for four years in the Blue Hose program after playing for North Augusta in high school. She takes over a softball program at Fox Creek that is a perennial playoff team that lost only one senior this past year.

Anna Wade Sumner ’11 joined Clawson and Staubes in 2015. Her practice focuses on insurance defense in the Columbia office. Anna graduated magna cum laude from Presbyterian College in 2011 where she received a B.S. degree in political science. She went on to earn her J.D. degree from Charleston School of Law in 2014. During law school, she was the associate editor in chief of the Federal Courts Law Review where she was published, and chair of the Honor Council. Prior to joining Clawson and Staubes, she served as law clerk to the Honorable William P. Keesley of South Carolina’s 11th judicial circuit. Anna was born and raised in Edgefield, S.C., and currently resides in Columbia with her husband, Grayson ’11. In her free time, she enjoys visiting Edisto, singing with choral and opera groups, and cheering on the Presbyterian College Blue Hose.

Shelley Whitehead ’11 graduated in 2013 from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, La., with a M.S. in public health. After working for a year in the Wesson Lab at the J. Bennett Johnston Health and Environmental Research Center

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in New Orleans, she began her doctoral studies in January 2015 at The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Entomology. Shelley is focused on medical entomology and the role that vectors play in transmitting tropical infectious diseases; her current project investigates diurnal temperature effects on Anopheles mosquito life history traits and how these changes may influence the transmission of malaria parasites.

2012 Anne Lamb Crosby ’12 was “Teacher of the Year” for the 2014-2015 school year for Hickory Tavern School in Laurens County District 55.

She currently teaches 4K.

Mary Ellis Glymph ’13 and Paul Rice ’15 were married on July 11 in Greenville S.C. In attendance were Dianne Tyler Glymph ’80, Joe Glymph ’77, Alan Teague ’78, Anita Teague, Greg Briscoe ’77, Cheryl Briscoe, Bob Link ’77, Amy Link.

In Memory of Evelyn Virginia Milam ’42 (matriculate) of Laurens, S.C., died October 14, 2015, at the age of 94.

Dr. Ronald Wayne Hampton ’63 of Pawleys Island, S.C., died July 10, 2015, at the age of 74.

Rev. Dr. R. Hollis Gause ’45 of Cleveland, Tenn., died September 6, 2015, at the age of 90.

George Thomas Braswell ’64 of Marietta, Ga., died June 2015, at the age of 73.

Rev. Dr. Thomas W. Horton, Jr. ’45 of Rock Hill, S.C., died October 3, 2015, at the age of 89.

The Rev. Dr. Arthur J. DeYoung ’64 of Versailles, Ky., died May 12, 2015, at the age of 72.

Carolyn Hollingsworth Tomlinson ’46 of Stone Mountain, Ga., died September 7, 2015, at the age of 89.

Ruth Pate Tiller Coleman ’65 of Clinton, S.C., died August 11, 2015, at the age of 73.

Francis Brown Garner ’48 of Big Canoe, Ga., died September 16, 2015, at the age of 87.

The Rev. Jackie E. Nix ’65 of Sherman, Texas, died August 8, 2014, at the age of 70.

Madison (Mac) F. Bond, Jr. ’49 of Greenwood, S.C., died May 10, 2015, at the age of 88.

Dr. William (Bill) R. Parks ’65 of Newport News, Va., died May 21, 2015, at the age of 71.

Ferris E. Hobeika ’50 of Dillon, S.C., died June 22, 2015, at the age of 90.

Christie Lamar Patterson ’67 of Athens, Ga., died October 7, 2015, at the age of 70.

William Robert (Bob) Owens, Sr. ’51 of Walhalla, S.C., died August 5, 2015, at the age of 87.

Edward L. Mann ’52 of Scottsboro, Ala., died October 1, 2015, at the age of 86.

Homer McKey Kirkman, Jr. ’53 of Fort Mill, S.C., died August 31, 2015, at the age of 84.

John W. Griggs ’70 of North Myrtle Beach, S.C., died August 15, 2015, at the age of 67.

James Thornwell Neely III ’71 of Rock Hill, S.C., died June 2, 2015, at the age of 66.

Harold Keith Jernigan ’54 of Greenwood, S.C., died March 29, 2015, at the age of 84.

Jane Clardy Hughes ’74 of Whitsett, N.C., died August 31, 2014, at the age of 72.

William (Bill) L. Mullen, Jr. ’76 of Spartanburg, S.C., died June 8, 2015, at the age of 62.

The Rev. Gene C. Gee ’56 of Ruther Glen, Va., died July 21, 2015, at the age of 81.

Steven H. Coker ’81 of Snellville, Ga., died August 31, 2015, at the age of 56.

William (Lefty) Johnson ’56 of Whitmire, S.C., died July 23, 2015, at the age of 80.

Paul H. Abernathy ’86 of Charlotte, N.C., and Portsmouth, Va., died June 5, 2015, at the age of 51.

Robert Wesley Young ’56 of Norway, S.C., died May 25, 2015, at the age of 80.

Christopher Todd Johnson ’95 of Boiling Springs, S.C., died September 24, 2015, at the age of 42.

Lawrence C. Ashmore ’58 of Greenville, S.C., died October 9, 2015, at the age of 81.

William Augustus Barnette, Jr., former member of the Board of Trustees, died July 23, 2015.

Malcolm (Mac) L. McKeithan ’59 of Greenville, S.C., died September 3, 2015, at the age of 85.

Grant Young Vosburgh, former Director of Public Relations, died September 18, 2015.

Thomas Roy Wise ’60 of McDonough, Ga., died October 6, 2015, at the age of 77.

Fred Davis Clark ’61 of Islamorado, Fla., died June 6, 2015, at the age of 79.

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1965 Ruth Pate Tiller Coleman ’65 A life of service to her community, Church and College The Presbyterian College community lost a beloved member of the PC family in August–Ruth Pate Tiller Coleman. Coleman was an alumna of PC who graduated cum laude in 1965.

Colemen served at the Laurens County Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Thornwell Home for Children, and Laurens County School District 56. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Clinton where she served as an elder, served on the Board of Deacons and former Moderator, and was Sunday school teacher.

In recognition for her devotion and work for the church, Coleman was awarded an Honorary Life Membership of Presbyterian Women.

After graduation, Coleman remained active on campus, serving on the Alumni Board and serving as its president in 1998.

The alumni association recognized her commitment by awarding her the Mary F. Lehman Service Award in 1999. In addition, at Opening Convocation this August, she was posthumously awarded the Martha Anne Green Service to Church and College Award where her sons William and John accepted the award in her honor.

In 1999, the church and PC established the Martha Anne Green Service to Church and College Award to honor individuals whose service to both institutions met her own high standards.

Martha Anne was fittingly the award’s first recipient.

December 31 is coming up fast.

Did you know that there are benefits to making end-of-year gifts to the Annual Fund? Perhaps you would consider a stock gift or a portion of your IRA mandatory distribution this year. For more information on stock gifts, you may get information at:

http://my.presby.edu/giving-to-PC

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The PC Spirit...is alive and well.

It’s hard to put your finger on it or describe it in words. But we all know what it is. And we all know how it enriched our lives. And now the next generation of Blue Hose are here...walking in our footsteps, as we walked in the footsteps of others who went before us. Sustaining the PC Spirit rests on our shoulders now.

Will you be part of giving back this year through the Annual Fund? These dollars go directly to impact our students’ experiences on campus THIS YEAR! Whether you’ve been giving for 50 years...or 15...or 5...or never...this is the year for you to make a difference.

Enhance this PC Spirit we all cherish. Give to one of the Annual Funds: PC Fund for Academics; Scotsman Club for Athletics; and/or Pharmacy Fund.

Ways to give: Online at http://my.presby.edu/giving

By phone with credit card: Call 864.833.8211

By mail: Advancement, Presbyterian College, 503 S. Broad Street, Clinton, SC 29325

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Consider a

For information on

$10/month; $15/month, etc.

It adds up.

http://my.presby.edu/giving-societies

recurring gift this year...

Leadership Level giving, go to

Thank you in advance

for supporting our PC and keeping the PC Spirit alive and well.

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Office of Alumni Relations Presbyterian College 503 South Broad St. Clinton, SC 29325

Christmas at Presbyterian College A Celtic Christmas

Friday, December 4 at 7 p.m.

Saturday, December 5 at 7 p.m.

Sunday, December 6 at 3 p.m. www.presby.edu/christmas

Order tickets online, call 864.833.8470 or visit the music department’s office at the front of Belk Auditorium