Presbyterian College Spring Magazine 2021

magazine SPRING 2021

PC Honors President Emeritus Bob Staton ’68

A NEW HOME FOR PC’S OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY PROGRAM Belk Auditorium Gets a Facelift

GETTING TO KNOW PC’S 19TH PRESIDENT DR. MATTHEW VANDENBERG ANSWERS THE CALL TO SERVE

PLUS A Special Section on Service during the Pandemic

“

SERVING THE COLLEGE WAS BASED ON MY LOVE AND APPRECIATION OF THE PLACE, THE VALUE OF THE PLACE, AND THE IMPACT THAT IT HAS HAD, AND WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE, ON THE LIVES OF MANY PEOPLE.” Bob Staton ’68

PRESIDENT EMERITUS PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE

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PC HONORS PRESIDENT EMERITUS BOB STATON ’68

magazine

PRESIDENT Dr. Matthew vandenBerg VP OF ADVANCEMENT Jacki Berkshire VP OF MARKETING AND ENROLLMENT Suzanne Petrusch MAGAZINE STAFF Kendall Givens-Little Stacy Dyer ’96 Andrew Roberts Christina Miller ’17 ALUMNI RELATIONS Leni Patterson ’83 Erin Murphy ’09 GUEST WRITERS Olivia Aldrige ’17 Carolyn Baughman ’00 Laura Smith Conrad ’93 Dr. Ed Gouge Hal Milam Zoe Montague ’20 Dr. Dean Thompson CONTACT Alumni 864.938.3757 Magazine 864.833.8259 Classnotes 864.938.3757 Support PC 864.833.8228

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DR. MATTHEW VANDENBERG ANSWERS THE CALL TO SERVE

THE PROMISE OF PC

AROUND THE PLAZA

2 Belk Auditorium Gets a Facelift

26 PC’s One Hundred Thirty-Seventh Commencement

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PC’s Occupational Therapy Program Occupies a Repurposed and Renovated Bailey Hall

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Like Father, Like Daughter: Del ’87 and Jada Barksdale

30 Professor Norman Scarborough Retires

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Philip T. Bell ’19 Endowed Scholarship Created to Pave the Way for Minority and First-Generation Students

SERVICE DURING THE PANDEMIC

29 VP Emerita of Human Resources and Title IX Retires after 19 Years

32 Flori Pate’s ’92 Mission to Serve the Hungry

10 Jada Suber ’15: More Than a Scientist

35 Dr. Rachael Parks ’15 Conducts COVID-19 Antibody Research

PC GRADUATE PROGRAMS

36 The Weight of the Mission: Matt Cogdill ’07 Discusses Challenges during the Pandemic

22 PCSP Receives Longest Accreditation Term in School History 24 Pharmacy School to Administer COVID Vaccinations 25 Husband and Wife Navigate the PA Studies Program Together

37 Reflections on the Pandemic with MUSC’s Lisa Montgomery ’82, MHA

PC FAMILY 39 Letter from the Alumni Association President Kathryn Owen Hix ’00 40 Class Notes 48 In Memoriam PRESBY.EDU

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UPDATE

Belk Auditorium Stage to be Named in Honor of Whitney Harrison ’07

“W

ith our eyes locked on Neville Hall as we first turn on to the West Plaza,” says Whitney B. Harrison ’07, “Belk Auditorium is perhaps overlooked in its unassuming placement at the Plaza’s entrance.”

Instead, Harrison, an attorney with McGowan Hood & Felder LLC, in Columbia, S.C., contends that “Belk Auditorium is where any PC story must begin.”

“Belk Auditorium provides the bookends to our time on campus—cementing PC’s rich history and tradition,” she said.

“Although the PC spirit is embodied in all of us lucky enough to attend, we found it first housed in the Georgian architecture of the West Plaza.”

According to Harrison, PC students first experience Belk Auditorium before they even officially begin their life at PC: on Accepted Students Day. “Belk Auditorium warmly ushers us and our families into the next chapter of our lives,” she said.

From that point, Opening Convocation in Belk serves as a way of marking their progression on campus.

“As freshmen, we establish our commitment to each other and PC’s tradition of honor and later on Convocation signals our progression to a new academic year,” Harrison said.

“Seemingly overnight, we find ourselves lining up wearing caps and gowns to attend our final Opening Convocation filled with excitement and chatter for our year ahead. With the victory bell ringing through campus

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and the sound of bagpipes filling the air, each September our beloved traditions bring us back to Belk.

“Eventually, our time on campus ends where it begins, with Belk Auditorium bringing us to our final chapter on campus for baccalaureate. A time for rejoicing in all that we achieved and looking forward to all the adventures and possibilities that await.”

This year, Harrison gave $100,000 to help fund the renovation of Belk Auditorium. The stage, where she received PC’s American Legion Award and now speaks annually to Palmetto Girls State with the Honorable Aphrodite K. Konduros, will be named in her honor.

“Being part of the Belk Auditorium renovation project, and in turn the preservation of our college’s traditions, is an honor,” says Harrison.

“PC showed me a world of possibilities and empowered me to use my voice to advocate for others. As our professors invested their time and talents to sharpen my skills, I was equally learning PC’s greatest lesson of showing up for one another.

“Those gifts of time and care made this gift possible.”

For Harrison, she sees her gift as one that ties PC’s traditions and future generations.

“It will forever warm my heart to know that I have the honor of playing a small part in ensuring that our PC spirit and traditions continue,” she said.

“I look forward to cheering on our next generation of Blue Hose and celebrating their unique and extraordinary achievements on the stage.”

PROMISE OF PC

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UPDATES UPDATE

PC’s Occupational Therapy Program Occupies a Repurposed and Renovated Bailey Hall

I

t is not unusual for Presbyterian College alumni to return to campus and give family members or friends tours of their old haunts. Those who called one particular residence hall home during their college years, however, are in for a great surprise.

The College’s newest venture into the health sciences—the new occupational therapy doctoral program—occupies the newly renovated and vastly repurposed Bailey Hall thanks to funding from a U.S. Department of Agriculture loan that also allowed PC to build three new residence halls and renovate Springs Campus Center and Laurens Hall.

Facing PC’s historic West Plaza, Bailey Hall was built in 1955 to house nearly 100 students. Outside, aside from a new main entrance, the building maintains its traditional Georgian architecture. Inside is another story. Bailey was entirely gutted, and new walls were constructed to accommodate the OT program’s needs.

The first floor houses offices for faculty and staff and the program’s environmental simulation center. An adapted bathroom, a driving simulator, and a simulated apartment, grocery store, and ATM that allows students to not only learn techniques necessary for future treatment but also is expected to be used by local occupational therapists for treatment of their own patients.

“The environmental simulation center is unique in the sense of having a mock grocery store sponsored by KJ’s and the ATM Sponsored by TD Bank allowing us to expand on both Activities of Daily Living and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living,” said Dr. Ben Herz, program director and associate professor of occupational therapy. “That, coupled with the driving simulator, makes the center unique to our needs and

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allows for students to gain experience in places they may not have until they get to a specific clinic.”

Four classrooms are housed on the second floor—each equipped with 85-inch monitors and the ability to record lectures. The top floor has three laboratories—an orthopedic lab, a technology lab, and a neurology/pediatric lab. Each lab is equipped with a variety of teaching and learning tools specific to each area. For example, there are treadmills and examination plinths in the orthopedic lab; equipment for teaching splintmaking and bandaging in the technology lab; and mat tables and sensory integration treatment in the neurology and pediatrics lab.

“Our program is to train the best occupational therapists we can to go out and treat the public,” said Herz. “The more experience we give the students with specialized equipment, the better they can handle the daily treatment and expound on their experience through their own creativity.”

The newly renovated Bailey Hall, while impressive, features personal instruction on what it really means to be an effective occupational therapist, according to Herz.

“A building is a structure that allows the student to engage in what might be called a utopian environment in many cases,” he said. “What our building allows us as educators to do is give students, and eventually graduates, the flexibility to understand and create the various aspects of Occupation and Occupational Therapy that can assist a client in becoming independent. …

Teddy Roosevelt stated that a person does not care how much an individual knows until they know how much they care.

That is where we differ as a profession and how we achieve our success—through education, creativity, and valuing what a client values to assist them in being independent.”

PROMISE PRIDE OF PC

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UPDATE UPDATES

Like Father, Like Daughter

J

ada Barksdale is following in the footsteps of her father, Del Barksdale ’87, by becoming a Blue Hose. But, while Del earned a bachelor’s degree in 1987, Jada is in the inaugural class of PC students pursuing a Doctor of Occupational Therapy degree.

Jada is seeking to earn her doctorate in December of 2023.

Top to bottom: Environmental Simulation Center: This is the centerpiece of the OT Program, which houses a driving simulator, a modified bathroom, an apartment with a kitchen, a washer and dryer, and a small grocery store with an ATM; The Orthopedic Lab: The lab is used for orthopedics, physical agent modalities, neurology, kinesiology, and assistive technology. This space will also be used for treatment, evaluations, wound care, hot and cold therapy, and electrical modalities; Neurology and Pediatric Lab: This lab includes a place for floor mat work, swings, a ball pit, seating and positioning, ambulation, transfers, and wheelchair mobility; The new Bailey Hall houses three large classrooms and one smaller class space. All classrooms are equipped with the ability to record lectures and have modular tables and chairs.

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Nobody knows more than you that going to PC is a life-changing experience. Share your PC story with a high school student whom you think would make an extraordinary Blue Hose. If the student applies to PC, you can support their journey with a $1,000-a-year Alumni Referral Scholarship!

Get more info at: www.presby.edu/alumni/referral-scholarship

UPDATES UPDATE

Louise Slater and Philip Bell. Bell ’19 will be attending Babson College’s Entrepreneurial MBA program this fall.

Mother-Son Duo Pave the Way for First-Generation and Minority Students

P

hilip Bell ’19 noticed a startling trend during his years at Presbyterian College.

“I witnessed really smart kids who fit well into PC have to take time off due to the gravity of expenses incurred while attending PC,” Bell explained.

These students, he observed, tended to be minority or firstgeneration college students.

This was the inspiration for the newest scholarship at PC, the Philip T. Bell ’19 Endowed Scholarship.

Bell, along with his mother Louise Slater, wanted to help curb this problem. Slater is currently serving on the PC Board of Trustees as secretary of the Board.

“It is long past due for PC to have a scholarship dedicated to first-gen and minority students,” Slater said. “Honestly, we couldn’t believe there wasn’t one already. It was important to both of us. Diversity and inclusion make all of us better people and are consistent with PC’s mission and vision.”

Bell and Slater first met when Bell was in middle school.

According to Slater, “Philip and I became close when his grandmother came to my office when he was in middle school. He was one of the brightest, most inquisitive kids I had ever worked with as an educational consultant!”

The two became closer as the years went by, eventually forming the mother-son relationship they have now. “We are mother and son now in our hearts,” Slater explained.

When Bell was looking at colleges, Slater immediately suggested he look at PC. Slater’s father was friends with former PC President Bob Staton. Staton and Slater had also worked together in creating a nonprofit organization, Friends of Juvenile Justice.

“PC’s liberal arts education, its emphasis on critical thinking, and its emphasis on personalized attention seemed perfect for him [Bell],” Slater said.

While attending PC, Bell was able to witness the school’s growth due to the work of the Statons.

“Bob and Phyllis joined during the same period I joined PC,” he said. “I got the unique opportunity to watch so many initiatives

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be implemented and so much growth.”

Although she did not attend college at PC, the school still holds a special place in her heart.

“I have many close friends who attended PC,” she said. “Two of my administrative managers at our company, The Price Group, graduated from PC and so did my business partner’s brother and sister.”

The Philip T. Bell ’19 Endowed Scholarship is an extension of Bell and Slater’s goals for the future of the school.

“I am hoping this scholarship creates more opportunities for first-generation students and minority students to enjoy PC for all that it has to offer,” Bell said. “I’m also hoping that includes Maymesters and semester abroad, as well as tuition.”

Slater echoed these sentiments. “I hope others will see what we have done and will double, triple, and quadruple the scholarships for first-gen and minority students!” she said. “It is who PC is at its very heart.”

The scholarship’s memorandum of understanding reflects this concept, reading, “The purpose of the Scholarship is to provide needbased financial support to students who identify as first-generation and/or minority and are enrolled full-time at Presbyterian College.

Funds from the Scholarship may be used for tuition, room and board, books, travel, internships, and any other opportunities that provide first-generation and/or minority students educational opportunities both inside and outside the traditional classroom.”

Slater and Bell decided to dedicate the scholarship in honor of the Statons because of the work they did while at PC. “Bob has been an incredible leader as President, and both he and Phyllis have been tireless in growing staff, faculty, students, and facilities; making PC secure for the future,” Slater said.

“When I think about the motto, Dum Vivimus Servimus, I can’t think of a better way to honor the Statons and Philip than by giving others the same opportunity.”

The two hope to see the first recipients of the Philip T. Bell ’19 Endowed Scholarship awarded in the upcoming 2021–22 school year.

PROMISE OF PC

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UPDATE

More Than a Scientist

J

ada Suber ’15 held medical aspirations from a young age. As a kid, she wanted to be a doctor—specifically, an allergist, due to her experience with severe food allergies.

Suber’s education at PC redirected her path toward scientific research. A chemistry major, Suber was encouraged by her professors to apply for a minority mentoring program at the Medical University of South Carolina. The program led to the opportunity to conduct research at MUSC during the summers.

Suber also attended a post-baccalaureate research program at MUSC before pursuing a PhD in microbiology and immunology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, which conducts cutting-edge food allergy research.

“It was weird for me to think that maybe I didn’t want to go to medical school anymore,” Suber said. “But the goal had always been to do research specifically on food allergens, so I entertained [the idea of a PhD].”

At UNC, Suber has researched her own peanut allergy and alpha-gal allergy, an allergy to sugar found in red meat. During her studies, she has also had the opportunity to be an example for young, aspiring scientists who are underrepresented in the field.

Last year, Suber was a panelist at Black in Immuno Week, an event that amplifies and celebrates Black immunologists. She was also named “Scientist of the Month” by the Society for Black Biomedical Scientists in December 2020.

“A lot of people shy away from the idea of being a scientist because they don’t see themselves in the stuff that they usually learn about,” she said. “The field of Black scientists is definitely growing, but we still have so much work to do.”

Suber is considering going in several directions as she nears the end of her PhD program. She is interested in continuing allergy research at a lab or teaching at a small institution like PC. 10

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“A lot of people shy away from the idea of being a scientist because they don’t see themselves in the stuff that they usually learn about.” — Jada Suber ’15 Either way, Suber plans to give kids in her hometown—Clinton, S.C.—a chance to see what a career in science could look like.

“One of my goals, whatever it is that I choose to do, is to try to create a science dinner somewhere back home to spark interest in little kids who wouldn’t otherwise have certain opportunities,” she said.

Suber’s interests extend beyond science, however. At PC, Suber minored in creative writing, and was the Outstanding Senior in Creative Writing in 2015.

“In order to thrive and be excited and continue to be excited about what it is that I’m doing, I need other things, too,” she said. “I love being able to use the other side of my brain.”

In addition to writing, she merges her creative and scientific interests with an Etsy shop that sells clothing and accessories with science-related logos—including a t-shirt that reads, “Pretty girls love science.” It’s one more way Suber tries to make science more relatable.

“Yes, science can be difficult and hard and nerdy,” she said.

“But there’s a fun and cute side to science, and if nobody believes it, I’m going to make it.”

Student Housing Named in Honor of th

PC’s 18

President PRESBY.EDU

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T

he words “Staton Hall” are easy to see when you’re looking at PC’s newest student housing. The eye is drawn toward the large white letters that provide a clear contrast against the brick building that’s now on the site of Johnson Field at the old Bailey Stadium.

In November, PC Board of Trustees Chairman E.G. Lassiter ’69 announced the middle building of the residential complex would be named in honor of Bob Staton ’68 for his service to the College as PC’s 18th president.

The announcement brought Staton to tears.

“It was a surprise,” Staton said about the announcement.

“And, quite honestly, it was something I don’t think was deserved.

“I didn’t do it. The people at PC did it. We did it together.

“It was the students and their families, the faculty, the staff, the coaches, the alumni, the board, the community, everybody. It took everybody to do it. So I don’t take any credit for doing it. We did it together. And I accepted it on behalf of everybody.”

While the humble Staton insists the naming of the building is an honor he doesn’t deserve, he did provide exceptional and dedicated leadership to the College over the last five years.

The new student housing that bears his name is only one of the many structural improvements that have taken place since 2015. Renovations to Neville Hall, Springs Student Center and Bailey Hall are only three of the many projects during Staton’s tenure.

The student body grew larger and more diverse while Staton served as president. Plus, two graduate programs, the Physician Assistant Studies program and the Doctor of Occupational Therapy program, highlight the additional course offerings that are now part of a PC education.

“Aspiring to become the president of PC was never what I had in mind,” Staton said. “It was never a job to me. It was more of a calling.

“Serving the College was based on my love and appreciation of the place, and the value of the place, and the impact that it has had, and will continue to have, on the lives of many people.

“It’s an impact that can make a difference in our communities, our state and our country.”

Mrs. Phyllis, as the former First Lady is known to PC students, shared Bob’s surprise and humility about the naming of Staton Hall.

“I was completely surprised and very emotional about it,” she said. “Being at PC while Bob served as president was a wonderful, incredible experience. It’s one that I never expected, dreamed of, or could have imagined.”

While he remains modest about the naming of Staton Hall, Bob does admit the residential complex itself was “much-needed.”

“It took an area of campus that could have used some freshening up and made it an attractive environment, a vibrant environment, and a real asset to the College.”

At left: The Statons are surprised with a farewell parade; Inset: President Bob Stanton at his swearing in, Fall Convocation, 2015.

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DR. MATTHEW VANDENBERG PC’S 19TH PRESIDENT READY TO LEAD THE COLLEGE

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Dr. Matthew vandenBerg planned to go to school to become a doctor.

“I wanted to help people,” he said.

“And I went through about one and a half semesters before I ran headlong into organic chemistry.”

During the same semester as a freshman at Alma College, vandenBerg had another reason to reconsider going into medicine after dissecting fetal pigs in biology lab. He decided to seek advice from his academic adviser and chair of the biology department.

“I told her, ‘I don’t think this is for me; I don’t think I can do this,” he said. “I was absolutely devastated because my whole life, I thought, ‘I’m going to be a doctor.’ It just wasn’t really even a question for me.

“But one of the things I learned from the experience is that at a nurturing place like an Alma College or a Presbyterian College, I had a faculty member who was there to pick me up when I fell down. And I needed to hear that there were other ways for me to be 16

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able to use my career to help people.” vandenBerg majored in political science and became involved in student government, eventually being elected student body president during his senior year. He grew more and more interested in higher education after serving on several committees. Alma’s first-year president at the time heard about vandenBerg’s interest in higher education.

“As is so often the case at Alma or Presbyterianl, not only did I find a mentor, a mentor found me,” vandenBerg said.

“She took me under her wing and fed me opportunities to become involved in important college work like thanking donors and stewarding gifts and serving on her inauguration committee.

“My transformation as an undergraduate was truly remarkable. I arrived believing I would be a doctor, and after falling flat on my face, I had mentors —angels, really—who picked me back up, helped me find my real calling, and enabled me to launch toward the future with great confidence. I have worked diligently for this opportunity for years. Coming to PC represents a dream come true.”

PC’s Board of Trustees brought vandenBerg here, to PC, last October when they unanimously selected him as

the College’s 19th president. The national search saw more than 100 applicants vying for the position, including sitting presidents.

PC wanted vandenBerg, and he wanted to serve the College too: Although he received an offer from another college to become its next president, vandenBerg felt called to PC. “I wanted to serve an institution where there are tremendously committed individuals, not only within campus, but in the base of alumni, parents and friends,” he said. “And I saw tremendous passion among the College’s internal and external constituents.”

The “tremendous passion” was evident to vandenBerg as he learned more about PC during the search, and he’s seen more evidence of it as he’s met with alumni and students during his first days as president.

“My very first day on campus, students told me that the reason they are here, the reason they have stayed, the reason that they envision such a bright future for themselves is that the faculty and staff here have gotten to know them, have taken an interest in them, and are actively propelling them to succeed in their personal lives and careers,” vandenBerg said.

“I’ve also had a number of alumni tell me very compelling stories about their love

for PC, and the central theme of those conversations is a total and unwavering commitment to their prosperity and wellbeing.”

One of vandenBerg’s favorite stories so far is one that an alumnus told him about the late Dr. Nolon Carter, the Charles A. Dana Professor Emeritus of Chemistry.

“Dr. Nolon Carter dressed head to toe in protective gear and went to the infirmary to tutor his student through organic chemistry while his student had the flu,” vandenBerg said. “That uniquely special touch is still alive and well today.

Current students continue to tell me stories that showcase the PC difference.

“I am immediately impressed by the passion and commitment our alumni, our parents and families, and our friends have for PC.” When considering which college to lead, vandenBerg was also looking for a place where he could use his high energy, penchant for creativity and bold ideas.

“And I hoped to serve an institution that wanted a collaborative style, a strong goal orientation and a sense of urgency from its next president,” he said.

In his six years at Alma College, vandenBerg’s goal-oriented approach to fundraising helped the school set records for annual giving and for overall philanthropic support. During his tenure as his alma mater’s vice president for advancement and external relations, vandenBerg led the five most productive fundraising years in the school’s history. Alma College averaged raising $17 million a year since vandenBerg arrived in 2015, compared with a $6 million average before his tenure.

One of vandenBerg’s bold ideas at Alma College included overseeing the design and launch of a trendsetting constituent engagement initiative known as the Alma Ambassador Program.

The program recruits volunteers (i.e.

“Ambassadors”) to assist the school in numerous areas, including admission, student retention, and career services

LIKE SO MANY TIMES IS THE CASE AT A SMALL SCHOOL, NOT ONLY DID I FIND A MENTOR, A MENTOR FOUND ME.” activities. Before the initiative, fewer than 50 prospective students per year were referred to Alma College by alumni or other individuals. The number of referrals increased to 978 during the first year of the initiative in 2016 and steadily increased every year after that. The program and its related initiatives received 14 engagement and fundraising awards. vandenBerg says implementing a similar program at PC is a possibility.

“There are ample opportunities to further leverage the unique talents and abilities of our alumni and friends in ways that serve students and advance PC,” he said.

“There is an opportunity to think about what a community-wide effort around student recruitment, student success and job and internship support might look like at PC.” While considering where to serve as a college president, vandenBerg focused on institutions with values-based educational and operational models. The lifelong Presbyterian was particularly interested in PC’s Presbyterian ideals of service, diversity and inclusion, cultural pluralism, hospitality, justice, and grace.

“The 54 Presbyterian colleges and universities are all different, but we all believe that we are partners in God’s work in helping students to discover and vigorously pursue their vocations, their callings,” vandenBerg said.

“And that is exactly what we do. We believe that everyone has a calling and that our students’ undergraduate years are key to self-discovery.” vandenBerg says PC’s approach to service as a way to solve a problem, not only meeting a need, is one of the College’s strengths.

“That is what we do really well at PC,” he said. “And those are principles and values that resonate particularly well with this generation of prospective students.

That’s what they care about. And those are things that we’ve been talking about as core values of ours for 140 years.

“So how do we give those values and principles new life, new purpose, new direction, in the 21st century?”

That is one of the questions vandenBerg is considering as he settles into his office in the Smith Administration Building. Other priorities include navigating PC through the changing landscape of higher education; positioning the College so that it becomes the top choice of undergraduates and students who want to pursue advanced degrees in pharmacy, PA studies, and occupational therapy; and collaborating with the City of Clinton and Laurens County to capitalize on the sprawl from Greenville, S.C., southward. vandenBerg is up to the challenge.

“I was looking for an opportunity to have a big impact somewhere,” he said.

“I wanted to go to an institution that’s looking to grow and expand its reach and make itself even more distinctive in the vast higher education landscape.”

In some ways, vandenBerg has been preparing to be PC’s 19th president ever since he decided becoming a doctor was not his calling.

“The world is a better place with PC because we do what is right for our students and society,” he said. “It will be a joy for us to help more people understand the truly transformative power of a PC education.”

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THERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO THINK ABOUT WHAT A COMMUNITY-WIDE EFFORT AROUND STUDENT RECRUITMENT, STUDENT SUCCESS, JOB AND INTERNSHIP SUPPORT MIGHT LOOK LIKE AT PC.”

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MELISSA, JACKSON, SYLVIA, HONEY, AND I ALMOST INSTANTLY FELT AT HOME UPON ARRIVING ON CAMPUS. WE ARE EAGER TO BEGIN THIS EXCITING NEW CALLING AND TO EMBRACE THE PC COMMUNITY.”

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UPDATE

PCSP Receives Longest Accreditation Term in School History

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he Presbyterian College School of Pharmacy received continued accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). Now accredited through 2028, the eight-year term is the longest in the School’s history.

“I am very proud of the faculty and staff of the PC School of Pharmacy for their hard work during this process,” said Dr. Kurt Wargo, dean of the PC School of Pharmacy.

“Eight years is the longest term a school may be granted before having to go through the process of accreditation again.

The hard work from our faculty and staff has paid off and has allowed us to achieve the longest accreditation period in the history of the school.”

The time frame that a pharmacy school must undergo the accreditation process varies, according to Wargo. The ACPE’s 22

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GRADUATE PROGRAMS

The continued accreditation of our Doctor of Pharmacy program through the 2027–2028 academic year is an outstanding outcome for PC.” ­— Dr. Don Raber, PC provost

board of directors determines the time based on its findings.

The PC School of Pharmacy faculty and staff were involved in a year-long selfstudy process to assess the program using standards set forth by the ACPE. School administrators submitted a comprehensive report to the ACPE once the self-study was complete.

“The continued accreditation of our Doctor of Pharmacy program through the 2027–2028 academic year is an outstanding outcome for PC,” said Dr. Don Raber, PC provost.

“It reflects the intense efforts and dedication of all our faculty and staff, led by Dean Kurt Wargo, to provide and maintain a rigorous experience for our students. In doing so, it supports them throughout their education to prepare them for success as servant leaders in their communities and in their chosen pharmacy professions.

“As we build on and maintain our accreditation by ACPE as well as strong results from our students on board exams after graduation, we are excited to see the School of Pharmacy thrive on campus for many years to come.”

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UPDATE

Pharmacy School to Administer COVID Vaccinations

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t is anticipated that PC will receive the vaccine and administer it to PC students and employees and members of the surrounding community who want it,” said Dr. Tiffaney Threatt, associate professor at the PC School of Pharmacy and director of the PCSP Wellness Center.

Already a flu vaccine provider, the Pharmacy School met the CDC’s requirements to become a COVID Vaccination Program Provider. The requirements included the ability to store and administer the vaccine by qualified healthcare professionals.

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Threatt and others at the PC School of Pharmacy are preparing to administer the vaccinations while waiting for the supply of the vaccine itself from SCDHEC. “Currently, we have a pool of 75 volunteers from the School of Pharmacy who are willing to help administer the vaccine,” Threatt said.

This pool includes pharmacist faculty, pharmacist alumni, and current pharmacy students. Only licensed, immunization-certified pharmacists and pharmacy interns will administer the vaccine.

GRADUATE PROGRAMS

Husband and Wife Navigate the PA Studies Program Together

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than Casey ’17 knew he was stepping into uncharted territory when he joined the inaugural class of the PC Physician Assistant Studies Program, but he had no idea just how unprecedented his experience would be. He and his classmates have earned their medical education while navigating a real-world medical crisis—the coronavirus pandemic.

“There are challenges in that, but we’re learning and we’re making up for those,” Casey said. “I feel like if a telemedicine job came up, our class would be experts.”

As an alumnus of PC’s biology and chemistry departments, Casey felt comfortable joining the College’s new graduate program.

“I knew that we were going to be trained well because the faculty are all highly intelligent. They push us to our limits,” he said.

Casey enrolled in the PA Studies Program with his wife, Hunter Casey. The couple, high school sweethearts from Woodruff, S.C., became interested in pursuing medical careers after Ethan’s mother passed away from a medical condition shortly before he began his undergraduate education.

After Ethan and Hunter graduated from PC and the Citadel, respectively, they had the opportunity to work alongside each other as product development chemists at a Mauldin, S.C.-based pharmaceutical company. When considering graduate school options during that time, both found the flexibility PAs enjoy appealing, as they are not tied to a single specialty.

After graduating this year, Ethan said he and Hunter will welcome future opportunities to work side-by-side, now as fellow Blue Hose. They plan to seek opportunities to serve in rural Upstate S.C. after taking board exams this fall.

“One day, we could potentially maybe open a clinic somewhere,” Ethan said. “We are just ready right now to get to that graduation point, and from there, I think the sky’s the limit.”

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UPDATE

Presbyterian College Holds its One Hundred Thirty-Seventh Commencement in October

BY LAURA SMITH CONRAD ’93

“P

resbyterians honor the life of the mind and insist that only a life of love exceeds it as a means of praise to God,” I shared with the Class of 2020.

In a pandemic year, when all life was interrupted in an effort to protect one another from the coronavirus, COVID-19, the school year at Presbyterian College sputtered to a close. Graduates were mailed a degree, and families like ours celebrated on the back porch with a photo to honor the completion of a degree. We tried to mark the milestone by making up announcements and like many, made a yard sign to share the good news with our neighbors.

The closure that a Commencement Ceremony and Baccalaureate Service brings to college graduates each year was noticeably missing.

On October 3, on the grassy plaza facing the historic Neville Hall, hundreds of masked faculty, graduates, and families gathered to hear inspiring and comforting words and to hear their names called, honoring this significant step. As many of our celebrations have been of late, the mood was subdued, poignant, and, even more reverent, due to the gravity of the state of our world. In a matter of days our lives changed drastically.

Among those graduates was our son, Avery Conrad, and his friends, who still posed for the typical photo at the front sign, but noticeably missing were the parties and celebrations. Some students watched the live stream from other parts of the world as they served in the military abroad or returned to their home country.

True to our College motto, “While we live, we serve,” the commencement was a celebration of service. Allen McSween, a member of Foothills Presbytery, was honored with an Honorary Doctor of Public Service Degree for his many years of service to Presbyterian College. Allen, a Clinton native, and grandson of the 11th President of PC, served on the Board of Trustees from 2007– 2016. He served on numerous committees of the College, Board of Visitors and the Board of Church Advisors.

David Taylor ’81, received the Dum Vivmus Servimus Award for his work with Momentum Bike Club. Established in 2010, Momentum Bike Club has grown to 16 bike clubs that serve 225 students. It has received state and national recognition as an innovative intervention that provides mentoring support to under-

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resourced students in Greenville and Pickens Counties of South Carolina.

I had the privilege of speaking to our son’s class at the baccalaureate service on the theme “Rebuilding the Uncommon Good.” Our text was Nehemiah 2:1–5, 17–18, calling upon the class to be living stones who are built into a community that serves the greater good. Having a college degree places them among the top 5% of our global society. I reminded them that with great privilege comes responsibility. Jesus said, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more, will be demanded.” (Luke 12:48b). Recalling the destruction of Nehemiah’s world, we noted the brokenness in our world concerning the pandemic, racial justice, division, and economic challenges. Instead of building walls as Nehemiah called for, we are called to build connections. In closing, I charged the class with these words and concluded with the hymn, “Here I am, Lord,” calling us to service and praying that God would take our hearts of stone and make them hearts for love alone.

So, I challenge you tonight, commit yourselves to the common good.

Actually, in a time when the idea of the common good seems like a lost value, I challenge you to rebuild the uncommon good.

And rather than rebuild a temple like Nehemiah and the people of God did, I challenge you to rebuild with the stones that are most needed in God’s world today: Like honesty, integrity, compassion and empathy, which have been part of your holistic education at Presbyterian College. God does not live in a Temple but is Sovereign over the whole world.

This world is God’s sanctuary without walls. We have been given the gift of life. How will we return the favor and give back to God? How will we serve the world?

I pray you become living stones, sharing the most desperately needed gifts of the Holy Spirit; faith, hope, but above all, love. Christ doesn’t change minds as much as he changes hearts. And through the undying love of God, we have been created, redeemed, and sustained.

I pray that your heart will be the most important gift or living stone, you give in return.

May it be so.

AROUND THE PLAZA

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WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF PC STUDENTS?

BE AN ALUMNI VOLUNTEER! There are many ways to be engaged as an alumni volunteer.

– Be a Class Agent – Refer prospective students – Get engaged with your local Alumni Chapter – Help Organize an Alumni Chapter in your area – Write to accepted and deposited students – Host a PC event in your area – Give annually or set up a recurring monthly gift – Share internship and job opportunities for our students – Conduct informational interviews or mock interviews for students

There are these and many other ways you can support PC and our students by being an alumni volunteer.

Let us know how you'd like to be involved. Visit www.presby.edu/ alumni/volunteer to identify the specific ways you are willing to serve.

GO BLUE HOSE! Contact Leni Patterson '83 for more information at lpatters@presby.edu

AROUND THE PLAZA

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VP Emerita of Human Resources and Title IX Retires after 19 Years

arbara Fayad did more than establish policies, recruit and retain faculty and staff, and oversee payroll and benefits as Presbyterian College’s first human resources director. As former college president Bob Staton pointed out in his announcement last fall regarding Fayad’s retirement at the end of 2020, she “supported, nurtured, and guided thousands of PC employees with a mix of grace, steel, flexibility, caring, love, and compassion …”

The Vice President Emerita of Human Resources and Title IX stepped down in December after 19 years of service—helping PC’s most important assets navigate myriad professional challenges and triumphs and the College navigate a variety of regulations and policies.

“In HR, you see and hear all kinds of issues and problems, some work-related and some personal,” Fayad said. “The joys of HR are when you actually get to assist employees through their issues with outcomes that are good for both the employee and PC. Also, in HR, you get to meet such great people—from those who are interviewed to the ones who are hired.”

Being in the people business takes a person who understands balancing the needs of both employer and employed, a trait Fayad displayed regularly. In his statement to the College community, Staton—who also retired at the end of last semester—called her “an invaluable friend, confidant, and guide.”

“She has provided me wise counsel, clear-eyed judgment, and a friendly and supportive ear when it is most needed,” he stated. “She has displayed an unmatched love and compassion for PC and its employees, and we have benefitted from her dedication, guidance and support.”

Fayad pointed at two career milestones she is most proud of— when the College’s Board of Trustees established the human relations executive as a cabinet-level vice president position and establishing the College’s Title IX office.

It also goes without saying, that a human resources professional greatly valued the humans she worked with closely over the years— former vice president for finance Morris Galloway and her office mates—Jerry Bron, Sandy Dowdle, and Jean Copeland.

“We functioned as a team, and I always felt I had their support,” she said. “I have great respect for what the faculty and staff do for the students, especially in these very challenging times.”

Now, the people Fayad will focus much of her attention on are the people she will spend more time with—tennis partners and family, including daughter Jennifer, son-in-law David, and grandchildren Mackenzie, Jackson, and Naya.

She leaves PC with only one real regret.

“I do regret when I retired I was not able, due to COVID, to shake each employee’s hand or give them a hug,” she said.

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The With All His Heart

Norman Scarborough, Professor Aplenty

BY DR. DEAN THOMPSON

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Norman Scarborough

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ome of our international students will stop by my office early in the fall after having been whisked off to The Beacon or The Varsity by campus friends eager to inculcate them into Southern foodways. They’re puzzled by a menu term that neither their dictionaries nor Google can explain: “Please, what is meant by ‘aplenty’?”

It’s a concept, I tell them. It means extra, more than you ever expected, served with gusto and generosity until you sit in a happy stupor, thinking Oh wow. That was good. And, once your blood sugar has stabilized: More.

But the truth is they could best comprehend that term by shadowing Norman Scarborough for a day. In life and vocation alike, Norman makes aplenty chime like a finely cast bell.

Let’s begin with his hobbies as we peer through the 7:00 a.m. mists rising off the Linville River, where Norman stands in his Orvis waders amongst the currents, happily fly casting, 10–2, 10–2, ready to match wits with the perfect rainbow trout. Or we might catch the morning sun warming the marshes of the low country, where Norman crouches amidst the reeds, eyes alert for the perfect ringneck or wigeon. Norman on these jaunts is still like a kid on Christmas morning, eager and responsive, bouncing as he walks.

We now make our way to his and Cindy’s home on the wonderfully named Mr. Jim Lane. You may not know that Norman is one of the best cooks in Laurens County. Just the memory of his twice-baked sweet potatoes makes me well up, and as for his famous bacon-wrapped scallops, ohh: one bite will assure you that this scallop did not die in vain. Thereafter he will serve old-fashioned pound cake, taken from his grandmother’s recipe. He beams as he hands it forth, though not as much as the recipient does. We take our coffee in their back yard and admire the pond, replete with waterfall, that he had built for his and Cindy’s pleasure as they watch their koi, again wonderfully named: Gino Vannelli, Mr. Peabody, Dot, Pyrne, and Hugh.

We might move up the street to First Baptist Church. Norman’s adult Sunday School class, like everything else, was nearly derailed by the pandemic last year. But speak not of fear: he immediately led his Israelites to the safe harbor of Google Meet. He has stayed with this class for thirty years, and with Presbyterian College for forty-two, taking as inspiration a favorite passage from Colossians 3: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart.”

Pillar

by Dr. Dean Thompson

At last we shift our view to Jacobs Hall at dawn on any weekday morning, long before most people reach for their first cuppa. There before his computer sits Norman in perfectly pressed sartorial splendor (for decades he has kept the stockholders of Jos. A. Bank feeling fat and happy), updating his magisterial textbook, Essentials of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management, which has gone through nine (and counting) editions and been translated into Chinese, Spanish, and Indonesian along the way.

Think of it: business owners around the globe have had their dreams of entrepreneurship bloom into glowing life because of Norman’s guidance. So have his students, for Norman has always been quick to turn the noun network into a transitive active verb.

Evans Duren ’05, founder and CEO of Care 2 Succeed, remembers that ”During my Junior year, Mr. Scarborough was asked by the PC Baseball office if a student would be willing to run a concession stand for the season. He offered me an opportunity to interview with the coach, and I got the job. I signed a contract with Pepsi and ran concessions for the home games that season as my own little business.

My senior year, Mr. Scarborough asked if I would be interested in an internship with a company in Greenville for the spring semester. I took the internship, and towards the end, the CEO offered to write me a recommendation letter for any company to which I wanted to apply.”

But back to Norman’s office, for students are dropping by aplenty.

Linzie Steele Batchelor ’03, owner of Outflare Marketing, sums up the reason: “From our first meeting, Mr. Scarborough’s warm personality and encouraging attitude were comforting as we sat down to discuss course selections and my future goals. I knew from our first meeting that he believed in me. And as we all know, sometimes having someone in your corner, cheering loudly, breeds a level of confidence that outshines any obstacle presented.”

Steele continues, “Mr. Scarborough was not only my advisor and professor—he paid attention to me (and to his other students) and sought out opportunities for me to use my skills. Because he noticed my skill in creating Power Point presentations, he shared my name with another department and suggested they hire me to help develop their presentations. He recommended me to a colleague who needed help designing graphics for a publication. He also helped me land a marketing internship with the City of Clinton that involved developing marketing materials and visiting businesses to gain support. When he saw that I ‘got it’ in his statistics class, he gave my name to other students who needed tutoring.”

It’s the top of the hour. A quick glance at his watch, and Norman is off to class in Jacobs 208. Speak not of weary resignation; speak instead of boundless energy, not to mention humor about how his vocation has stretched across the decades. Duren recalls, “As Mr.

Scarborough called the roll that first day in Business Law, he said my name and then took off his glasses to ask if I had a relative who attended PC. I told him my father was a student there years ago, and he chuckled, saying, ‘It’s finally happened. You are my first second generation student.’”

On this morning Norman looks around: “Are you ready to do the quiz thing?” One impossible quiz later, Norman takes chalk in hand, and it’s a case of Students, start your engines. Within minutes he’s covered all three rolling blackboards with formulas and equations.

He circulates around the classroom as he lectures, extrapolates, segues, drives a point home, posts questions, and vaults to pinnacles of inspiration. One is reminded of a whirling dervish. (One is also reminded how wisely he was chosen South Carolina Professor of the Year.) Perhaps best of all, as students sweat bullets, labor, and reach for answers, he cheers them on as he bounces: “Look at you! You made another business decision using Statistics! How about that?”

He heads back to the office, for there are recommendation letters to write, more networking to be done, more conferences, more calls from grateful alumni. Steele explains: “Mr. Scarborough was the first one I called when I was offered a job at Sonoco Products right after graduation. He was the first one I called when I landed my first adjunct teaching position at Midlands Technical College and then Winthrop University. (You can probably guess who inspired me to teach at the college level!) I called him when I changed career paths and became a marketing director at a large pharmacy. And you better believe I called him when I launched my own business as a marketing consultant and strategist.”

Now Broad Street is whizzing with cars as people head home.

Norman, however, is still in his office, and we had better tiptoe away so he can concentrate.

There’s one other question I often field about ‘aplenty’: “Why is it first on the menu?” That’s simple enough: it’s put there as a mark of pride, the finest that can be brought forth. As bagpipes have sounded at Opening Convocation and then Graduation for some years now, Norman has led in both faculty and officers as Faculty Marshal, carrying the College mace and embodying the best this venerable institution can hope to offer. It’s where he belongs, pure and simple.

This May, however, he will stand as President vandenBerg utters the dreaded word retirement. The audacity, the sheer audacity, that he dare take his leave just as we lift a wistful plea: More. But he has writing to do, civic and church work, fish to catch, travels with Cindy.

We forgive, albeit grudgingly, and we reflect, remembering that aplenty is followed by a sense of wonder: Oh wow. That was good.

For Norman, though, we might sharpen the modifier to exactitude: That was magnificent.

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FEEDING OF

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THE 300,000 Flori Pate’s ’92 Mission to Serve Neighbors in Need

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SERVICE DURING THE PANDEMIC They began scheduling regular pickups, and then partnered with food recipients like homeless shelters, veteran’s groups, and afterschool programs to share the abundance. Flori and her volunteers would bring prepared food in hotel pans, and recipients could take whatever they need to heat and serve for their families.

Often parents would tell her, “We’ve never had butternut squash and my kids love it!”

Food Connection began to expand into remote areas outside of Asheville. “Going straight into neighborhoods was a game changer. These single mothers were cleaning hotel rooms for $7.25/hour and they have four kids. So many Americans are living one paycheck away from homelessness.”

The Pandemic’s Impact

When the pandemic hit, “Everything locked down fast and our food supply just stopped,” Flori recalls.

She quickly created a “Purchase Chef Meals” program through the Food Connection website. This program not only served people in need, but it got local Asheville chefs back in the kitchen. Since March of last year, more than 50,000 meals were purchased through this program.

Additionally, they’ve seen their donor base increase by over 80%, including an anonymous donor who gave them $200,000 to purchase Chef Meals. “It was such a blessing,” Flori said.

S

ometimes it takes losing everything to see the path before you.

Six years ago, Flori Pate ’92 and her husband both lost their jobs within 24 hours. The two creative directors had to quickly think out of the box.

They pivoted to creating “Dig Local,” an app that shows you where to go and what to do in their Asheville, N.C., community. It was during a meeting with one of Dig Local’s restaurant partners, Pack’s Tavern, when their marketing director shared they’d have an abundance of food after a catered event. She turned to Flori and her husband and asked, “What can Dig Local do about it?”

“I couldn’t unhear what she said.” Flori recalls. “That she was throwing away all of this food.”

Flori continues, “I know from living [here] that there’s the glamorous, food-topia side of Asheville, and then in the shadows…one in four people don’t have enough to eat.”

With help from her local church and a taxi service, Flori Pate started Food Connection.

“It was the most simple of things!” she laughs.

Flori focused on local universities, hotels and retirement communities, where buffet-style food would be left over at the end each day.

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While We Live, We Serve

Looking back on her time at Presbyterian College, Flori notes, “I loved my time at PC so much. There were so many opportunities to get involved. It stirred an awareness that, You can’t be a whole person if you’re just focusing on yourself.”

Food Connection and the Community

Over the past six years, Food Connection has provided over 300,000 meals.

As an added bonus, they’ve reduced environmental food waste by keeping an estimated 130 metric tons of fresh food out of landfills.

“We’ve seen that a delicious chef-prepared meal offers not just sustenance, but hope. It lets our neighbors know that they are not forgotten.”

For Flori and her husband, life is about, “being open to possibilities, and leading with your imagination.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT FOOD CONNECTION, PLEASE VISIT FOOD-CONNECTION.ORG.

SERVICE DURING THE PANDEMIC

Dr. Rachael Parks ’15 Conducts COVID-19 Antibody Research

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rom her youth, Dr. Rachael Parks ’15 knew she loved the sciences. Growing up in Athens, Ga., Parks would tag along with her veterinarian dad as he worked. Naturally curious, one question always crept up in Parks’ mind: “I always wanted to know why something was happening,” she reflects.

In high school, Parks had her first research lab experience through a science program called “UGA Young Dawgs.”

“It opened my eyes,” she said.

Staying Curious

Parks was a biology major when she arrived at PC. “I loved the small liberal arts experience. Having that access to professors and small classrooms helped me thrive as a student,” she said. “I feel like my skills at PC were tested beyond a book.”

While at PC, Parks continued thinking about opportunities in research. She considered how many people know doctors and nurses, but it dawned on her that, “a lot of us don’t really know scientists.” She landed a summer internship at Washington University in St. Louis. Following graduation from PC, Parks went on to grad school at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Parks quickly found scientific research feeding her natural curiosity.

“In research you have a lot more flexibility to ask questions,” she said.

Research at a Renowned Cancer Research Center

While a student at the University of Washington, her doctoral advisor was a faculty member at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. She was struck by the fact that 35 million people still live with HIV around the world, but she adds, “because we live in a privileged society, we don’t see it.”

Parks’ area of focus was HIV vaccines aiming to elicit an antibody response.

“If you have those antibodies circulating in your body, they can potentially protect you from infection,” she said.

Parks finished her Ph.D. in August of 2020, during the peak of the pandemic. Since the Fred Hutchinson lab that she had been working in already specialized in antibody research, it quickly pivoted to focusing on antibodies which target the virus that causes COVID-19, or SARS-CoV-2.

During those six months of working on COVID-19 research, she reflects, “It was a huge change. It felt like everything we did was important. We worked around the clock. My graduate lab was a team, and everyone had their piece. As soon as I finished my piece, I would hand it off to the next person so we could keep it moving.”

Looking Ahead

Now Parks’ role has shifted back to HIV research. As she looks ahead and considers the question about how she is serving others through her work, she says, “I feel like there’s so much potential to make people’s lives better with vaccines. I’m an optimist. I want to do science because it’s interesting, but I also want it to have an application—have some real-life importance, and that’s why I love working on vaccines and infectious disease.”

As she continues her postdoctoral research work at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Parks hopes that pandemic’s spotlight on the sciences may encourage other curious minds to serve people through research in the future.

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SERVICE DURING THE PANDEMIC

Pandemic Challenges

Enter: the pandemic.

When asked about COVID-19’s impact on day to day operations at Lexington Medical Center, Matt is quick to share, “I would be really mistaken if I did not give 100% of the credit to the clinicians. They’ve done a fantastic job.”

Early on in the pandemic, Matt reflects, “It’s walking alongside clinicians, especially our physicians, and saying “What do you need? Sometimes that meant getting on a conference call with China and trying to access masks.

Other times it meant making sure food was delivered to the hospital staff working around the clock.”

Matt continues, “It really was getting up every day and doing the work. It’s completely re-writing policies, it’s communicating [precautions] with a community that has 700,000 people in it. All that’s on the fly.”

Bright Spots

Matt Cogdill ’07 and “The Weight of the Mission”

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hen Matt Cogdill ’07 received the job as Lexington Medical Center’s VP of Physician Network, he knew it was a special opportunity.

“This was my hometown and I’m serving the people that I care the most about.”

Matt’s role at Lexington Medical Center is to create an environment where “our physicians, our nurses, our nonclinical staff are in the best position to do their job. Whether that’s from a supply, people, or protocol standpoint, I try to get resources to the frontline staff.”

Over the last few years, he’s witnessed the element of community trust. He notes, “When you’re building trust over those years, you’re banking that trust for a future event that you [may] have to go through.”

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Matt likens this challenging time to a theme from one of his favorite movies: Band of Brothers and the soldiers’ “weight of the mission.”

He compares this idea to how Lexington Medical Center received some of their highest patient satisfaction scores to date, sharing, “When you can identify to the weight of the mission on a daily basis, I think it really pushes a huge piece of empathy that patients can relate to.”

While We Live, We Serve

In reflecting on his time as a Business Administration major at Presbyterian College, “There is an appreciation for hard work and accountability that really translates well. Not only through your schoolwork and honor system, but also from a humanistic side.”

Since his time at PC, the “While We Live, We Serve” motto has meant even more to him over the years. “I think a big piece of who I am is driven out of that.”

As he walks down the halls of Lexington Medical Center, Matt makes a point to ask himself daily, “How am I serving people? Am I doing that well? Am I loving on people?”

He believes that for the hospital as a whole, “While We Live, We Serve [is] woven into everything we do. There’s some real weight to the mission with that [motto], and in what I get to do every day.”

SERVICE DURING THE PANDEMIC

“There’s No Greater Mission than Helping Others” Reflections on the Pandemic with MUSC’s Lisa Montgomery ’82

G

rowing up just north of Charleston, Lisa Montgomery ’82 was inspired by her father’s service to the community as a small-town dentist in Moncks Corner.

Perhaps it was that window into service, coupled with receiving her undergraduate degree from PC and master’s of health administration degree from MUSC, that inspired her career.

“It’s been a wonderful 30 years at MUSC,” Montgomery said.

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.”

Montgomery serves as executive vice president for finance and operations at MUSC, overseeing all of the non-clinical and nonacademic functions of the university. Reporting to the president, Montgomery serves as the university’s financial and administrative officer.

Add the onset of a global pandemic to her responsibilities, and one can imagine it’s been quite a year for Montgomery and her team at MUSC.

Safety First

“When the pandemic hit,” Montgomery recalls, “immediately we had to look at safety, that became paramount. MUSC focused on the safety of the patients, students, faculty and staff.”

Montgomery continues, “We had to re-work everything, [from] how we deliver mail, to our technology. We had to make sure that we were ahead of the curve with PPE, so we partnered with Boeing to fly overseas to get Personal Protective Equipment and bring it back to us.”

“It goes without saying,” Montgomery adds, “that we have so many front-line team members who have really been in the trenches. Their resilience, collaboration and teamwork has been amazing.”

Additionally, MUSC had to immediately pivot their students to online learning. “In 24–48 hours, we had all of our operations that support the university become remote. It really was a team effort.”

Community Care

“Our Mission at MUSC is focused on optimizing human life in South Carolina and beyond,” Montgomery said.

As part of that mission, MUSC created one of the nation’s first drive-through specimen collection sites for COVID testing. “It took a lot of people to pull that off,” Montgomery reflects, “imagine trying to collect specimens in the middle of August while wearing a hazmat suit!”

Additionally, MUSC was asked by the state government to get into the rural parts of SC to get people tested. “We worked very hard to set up locations in all of our counties, first for testing, and now with vaccinations.”

Montgomery reflects, “There are few missions more important than that of improving the health and lives of those in our community.”

While We Live, We Serve

As Montgomery looks back on her time at PC, she shares, “Being at Presbyterian College has served me well in my career, and my life. PC’s mission of service, the community projects, the life-long relationships, I appreciate that more than ever.”

When asked what PC’s motto, “While We, Live We Serve” has meant to her over the past year, Montgomery responds, “I think it has come full circle. I don’t think that there is anything more challenging than a pandemic to really call out your values, your commitment, and certainly leadership in these difficult times. You see what service is all about.”

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Anne Taylor Morgan ’81

Thomas Aurelius Stallworth ’55 Award

Jack Jenkins ’07

Outstanding Young Alumnus

David Taylor ’81

Dum Vivimus Servimus Award

Dr. George Powell ’63 Gold P Award

OUTSTANDING ALUMNI AWARD RECIPIENTS Frank King ’64

Mike Turner Scotsman Club Award

Dee Nichols

Honorary Alumna

Not Pictured: Jim Harrison ’80

Dum Vivimus Servimus Award

Scott Bunting

— 2020 —

Harold “BoBo” Beasley ’78

Mary F. Lehman Service Award

Honorary Alumnus

Ray Bunting

Honorary Alumnus

Whitney Harrison ’07

Outstanding Young Alumna

For more information on past alumni honorees, visit www.presby.edu

YOUR ALUMNI BOARD

CLASS NOTES

Kathryn Owen Hix ’00 President

Brian Barnwell ’06 President-Elect

Jessica Jetton ’99 Secretary

Harold “BoBo” Beasley ’78 Past-President

Brad Spearman ’85

Representative to the Board of Trustees

Floyd Michael Nicholson ’14 Representative to the Board of Trustees

Joe Wideman ’13

President, African-American Alumni Council

John Gentry ’91

Chair, ROTC Alumni Council

Trey Boyd ’09

President, Young Alumni Council

Leni Neal Patterson ’83

Ex-Officio, Executive Director of Alumni Relations

Kipper Edens Ackerman ’97 Jordan P. Archer ’14 Jon Baggett ’99 Del Barksdale ’87 Stephanie Barksdale ’13 Lindsay Bickerstaff ’90 Kathleen Brooks ’16 Sherman Burnett ’08 Danny Charles ’65 Rob Coleman ’11 Harry Croxton ’89 Ruddy Deas ’66 Roban Bangle Everett ’83 Philip Everhart ’73 Lane Jeselnik Goodwin ’00 Jeffrey Graham ’05 Whitney Harrison ’07 Mary Douglas Neal Hirsch ’01 Tanisha Jenkins ’01 Butch Kirven ’69 Grant Burnette LeFever ’13 Isaiah Lynn ’15 Margaret Ellen Pender ’97 Randy Randall ’75 Jeremy Ransom ’98 Richard Rhame ’66 Swan Sewell ’77 Felicia Hardin Stovall ’05 Amy Tinsley ’08 Fritz Whittemore ’03 Lilibet Vass Wilkerson ’70 Ashley Williams ’95 John Wofford ’90 Anne Pearce Worrell 01 Mike Wright ’05 EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS— CHAPTER PRESIDENTS

Jessica Jetton ’99 Haley Harper Kelly ’09 Joni Bratton Holmes ’09 Ivey Harrison ’03 Jim Black ’96

Greetings, Fellow Blue Hose!

P

lease join me in welcoming our new president, Dr. Matthew vandenBerg, to campus. It is wonderful to have him at the helm and to see his energy and enthusiasm for the role. I was honored to join PC faculty and staff as well as members of the Board of Trustees on the Presidential Search Committee and want to thank Dr. Holbrook Raynal for his adept leadership.

My thanks also go to all members of the committee for their service to our alma mater. We had an abundance of wonderful candidates and are thrilled that our process helped us discern so clearly that Matt is the best leader for PC at this time.

Certainly, it would be easier to celebrate this new chapter in the life of PC if we were able to gather together on campus and beyond. Our students, faculty, staff, and alumni all feel the disappointment of not being able to join together in person for events, networking, and social engagements. However, campus life is thriving, and everyone is making the best of what PC has to offer while remaining masked and safe. We look forward to welcoming alumni and friends back to campus when it is advisable.

As PC grows and experiences changes, it is important for our alumni to be an active part of our community. The Alumni Board participates in the life of PC by writing letters to prospective students, connecting with faculty and staff to offer encouragement and support, participating in the PC Mentor program, and supporting local alumni chapters. We would love to have your support in your communities throughout the Blue Hose Nation. This spring as high school seniors commit to their colleges of choice, please encourage students in your hometowns to consider PC and be sure to share with them what makes PC such a special part of your life—maybe it is the gorgeous green of the West Plaza or the nostalgia of Neville Hall or the glory days of your athletic team. All of us have favorite places on campus and special friendships that PC helped build and sustain. Be sure that others know what a wonderful place PC is so that more students can share in our traditions and be a part of the Blue Hose family.

It is also vital that alumni contribute financially to help provide support for our students, faculty, and staff. Giving Day 2020 was one for the record books: we raised well over $500,000 from 1,459 gifts in 24 hours. We look forward to improving on that success this year. Be on the lookout for more information and save the date for May 26, 2021.

The Alumni Board serves as a connection between the College and our alumni. Please contact me or other members of the board if you have questions or suggestions. We appreciate your input and support.

Kathryn Owen Hix Kathryn Owen Hix Class of 2000 President, Alumni Board

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Class Notes Class of 1961

Class of 1967

Class of 1976

Dr. James Monroe Jr. ’61 retired from higher education after 51 years of teaching. He is now serving as rector of Holy Cross Anglican Church in Cleveland, Texas. James earned a master’s degree in political science from Wayne State University, a master’s of divinity degree from the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Kentucky and a Ph.D. from the University of Miami.

Hugh ’Skip” Weldon, ’67 and Ann Harwell ’70 celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on May 30, 2020.

They were married on May 30, 1970 in Macon, Ga. PC President Marc Weersing performed the ceremony.

Classmate Carson Rhyne ’70 was the organist. Other PC classmates in the wedding party were Lilbet Vass Wilkerson ’70, Joy Glenn Shackelford ’70, David Wyatt ’67, and Allan Weldon ’71.

Kim Hellenga ’76 retired on April 3, 2020, after a 41-year career in the pharmaceutical industry in the midwest. For the last 25 of those years, Kim was employed at Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals in St. Louis, where he began in quality, then product and compliance, business support, research and development, and finally lifecycle management, retiring as senior principal biologist. Kim participated on and later chaired the examination development committee for the Specialist Microbiologist certification for the National Registry of Certified Microbiologists. He has since resumed a new career as a “professional grandpa.” His wife, Linda, is retired from her career in tax and accounting. They have two grown children. Their home is in Edwardsville, Ill.

Class of 1962 Henry Maxwell (Max) Clyburn ’62 was posthumously inducted into the S.C. Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in a ceremony in Greenville, S.C., on November 14, 2020. Max coached golf at Lancaster (S.C.) High School for 27 years, where his teams produced two undefeated seasons, 14 region championships, nine region runner-up finishes, and an overall record of 556–93–3.

He was named South Carolina Coach of the Year four times and was named Southeast District 3 Coach of the Year in 1984. Throughout his life, Max showed a life of service by being involved at church, heading local fundraising golf events, and volunteering with the Special Olympics, in adult education, and at MUSC-Lancaster.

Class of 1970 Candler G. Matthews Jr., ’70 and his wife, Renee, have been married since 1987.

Candler retired from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control in 2007 after 35 years of service. In 2009, Candler became the Water Program Manager for the USAF at Shaw Air Force Base near Sumter, S.C. Candler and Renee have two children, Candace and Candler.

Candace resides in Columbia, S.C., and is a second grade teacher. Dr. Candler G. Matthews III and his wife, Brooks, reside in Little Rock, Ark., where he is in his second year of residency.

Hugh “Skip” Weldon ’67 and Ann Harwell ’70

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Clay Dykes ’76 and Cindy Kimball Dykes ’77 are proud first-time grandparents of grandboy twins born on Thanksgiving Day 2019 to their daughter, Mary Kathryn Dykes Endicott ’10.

Dwight McInvaill ’76 had his book, “Alice: Alice Ravenel Huger Smith, Charleston Renaissance Artist,” released by Evening Post Books on March 1. The work is a coffee-table book enhanced by more than 200 illustrations of paintings, prints, sketches, and photographs. Many are shared for the first time. All net proceeds from the sales support the Middleton Place Foundation. Related art exhibits will soon thereafter occur in Charleston, S.C., at Middleton Place, the Edmondston-Alston House, and the Gibbes Museum of Art and additionally in Florence, S.C., at the Florence County Museum. Other virtual and in-person activities will

likewise be featured later throughout the state. To learn more about Alice, its images, upcoming events, and so forth, please visit the website https:// aliceravenelhugersmith.com.

Class of 1977

David Tribble ’77 was elected to Laurens County Council in November 2020. David and his wife, Dr. Leta Meole Tribble ’76, live in Clinton, S.C. Leta continues to serve as the director of education for the Greenwood Genetic Center.

Class of 1978 In the fall of 2019, PC Sigma Nu alumni and spouses got together for a fun reunion weekend at Litchfield Beach. Lex and Lib Reynolds hosted the event.

Pictured are Jeffrey ’78 and Becky Goforth Reynolds ’80, Marshall Vann ’80 and Anne Marie Vann, Lex Reynolds ’77 and Lib Reynolds, Andy ’77 and Maryellen Mulkey Horton ’78, Edmund ’79 Holmes ’79 and Carletta Holmes, and Mark ’79 and Susan Stevenson Kaltz ’78. Treasured friendships and longtime marriages! All were dating at PC in the late 70s!

Class of 1979 Grant Jaquith ’79 was approved by the Senate last summer to serve as a judge on the Veterans

CLASS NOTES

Sigma Nu alumni from classes of ’77, ’78, ’79, and ’80 gathered in the fall of 2019

Appellate Court in Washington, D.C. Grant served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps from 1982 to 2011, earning the rank of colonel. He began working as an assistant U.S. attorney in 1989. Grant has been head of the Northern District prosecutor’s office in Albany, N.Y. since July 2017. He’s been a federal prosecutor and served in active military service, for more than 30 years. He earned his law degree from the University of Florida College of Law.

Class of 1982 Dr. Audrey Allan ’82 has taken a position with Winthrop University to serve as the project director for a $3.8 million Teacher Quality Partnership grant funded by the Masters in Teaching Teacher Residency program.

community who have demonstrated noble character and acted as humble servants, placing service to others before self-interest.” Tom is incredibly humbled. His philosophy in working with students is to provide them with the same guidance and “tough love” that he received from his PC advisor, Dr. Fred Chapman.

Tom works with studentathletes who need to develop “academic maturity.”

Class of 1983 Eileen Abercrombie ’83 is happily married to Gregg Watson. Eileen retired and is the proud parent of a miniature schnauzer named Jed.

Class of 1984

Class of 1986

Chris McManus ’90 was named head of strategy and consulting for the South Market Unit of Accenture North America. He is responsible for helping bring the very best of Accenture talent and assets to assist Fortune 500 clients in their quest to digitally transform, use cloud technology and optimize for future growth.

Doug Hand ’86 closed the door on a 33-year career in printing to go back into the real estate business with his cousins in Newnan, Ga. Doug works with Lindsey’s Realtors and is focused on residential and commercial real estate. Doug reports that he continues to stay in touch with numerous PC alumni and looks forward to having homecoming again.

Doug lives in Fayetteville, Ga. with wife, Lisa,14-year old son, Noah, and dogs, Lulu and Rosie.

Class of 1987

Tom Steele ’82 was voted by the Ferrum College faculty as the 2020 recipient of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for staff and faculty members. The award recognizes “college students and members of the college

Becky Hunter ’84 has been named chief staff attorney for the South Carolina Supreme Court. Becky has been a staff attorney at the Court since her graduation from law school in 1987.

Class of 1990

Dr. Jon Dubose ’87 returned August 22, 2020, from 12 months of active duty. Jon served as the brigade surgeon for the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team in the North Carolina Army National Guard. Jon was awarded the Legion of Merit for service performed during the mission and was promoted to the North Carolina Army National Guard State Surgeon.

Class of 1992 On May 12, 2020, Stephanie McLaughlin-Rawlinson ’92 was appointed by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster to serve as the 7th Congressional District Commissioner to the S.C. Department of Disabilities and Special Needs Commission. The S.C. Senate Medical Affairs Committee and the full S.C. Senate unanimously confirmed the appointment. Stephanie had served on the Florence County Disabilities Board & Foundation board since 2018. Stephanie became an outspoken advocate for individuals who are “differently abled” in 2017 when her then 14-year old daughter, Mary Catherine, became a quadriplegic due to a head-on automobile collision.

Stephanie also serves on the advisory council for Shepherd Center rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta, Ga., where her daughter was hospitalized for five months.

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The Reverend Michael Erwin ’92 was named chaplain and gift coordinator for the Good Samaritan Home, a long-term care facility in Evansville, Ind. The organization is owned by the local United Church of Christ congregations. Michael also continues in his role as owner and director of Church Campaign Services, a full-service fundraising consulting firm specializing in churches and faith-related agencies.

Class of 1993

Gregory Brown ’93 is married to Anna K. Brown. The two have three children, Bo (12), Savannah (3), and Bella (9 months). Gregory received a graduate certificate in business management from Cornell University at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations in October of 2018.

Ann Jaskwhich ’93 is senior vice president and retail banking director at Coastal Carolina National Bank in Anderson, S.C. Ann provides leadership and sales direction to the bank’s retail branch network and assists in cultivating new account relationships. In addition, she develops and manages the execution of the retail banking team’s overall strategy and helps refine CCNB’s sales culture. “I am pleased to welcome Ann Jaskwhich to CCNB. Her exceptional knowledge of financial services, extensive experience in retail delivery, sales management and training, and customer experience, will continue to enhance our ability to provide innovative, best-in-class financial services to our retail banking customers,” said Laurence Bolchoz, president and CEO of the bank. Ann’s career spans more than 27 years in financial services, including retail branch banking, sales management, coaching, and training. Most recently, she

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served as a retail district manager with Wells Fargo, where she was responsible for overseeing eleven branches in the Upstate of South Carolina. Ann serves on the Board for AIM, and Imagine Anderson, and is a graduate of Leadership Metro Richmond, Leadership Anderson, and Furman University Women’s Leadership Institute. She is a native of Anderson, where she lives with her husband, Mike, and her 11-yearold daughter, Catherine.

Class of 1994

Class of 2003

Class of 2004

Matthew E. Warren ’03 was promoted to operations director for Lexington County School District One, after serving as the district’s operations program manager for five years. In his role as operations director, Warren oversees the maintenance and facilities department and continues his work with contractors, design firms and growth plans.

Christina (Rogers) Wouters ’04 was promoted to the assistant director of graduate services for the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music. Christina graduated with a bachelor of arts in music and further studied at the Boston Conservatory and the University of South Carolina. She lives in Chicago with her husband of 10 years, Jared.

B. J. Wertz ’94 was named the athletic director in Ninety Six High School in South Carolina in April of 2020. B. J. earned his master’s degree in sports management from the United States Sports Academy after graduating from PC. He brings 26 years of coaching experience to his AD role.

Class of 1996

Skye Earls Replogle ’03

Cassandra Paschal ’96 is married with three children. Her stepson, Chase, graduated from PC in 2020 and is enrolled in the PC School of Pharmacy. She was recently named the principal of the newest elementary school in School District Five of Lexington and Richland Counties, located in Chapin, S.C. She says the opportunity to build a school and create a positive climate with a strong instructional environment is incredible.

Skye Earls Replogle ’03 oversaw the marketing campaign for National Geographic Documentary Films (@natgeodocs) Academy Award-nominated “The Cave” for Best Documentary Feature. “The Cave” is a can’t-miss film covering an underground hospital during the Syrian war. It features Dr. Amani Ballour and her colleagues as they risk their lives to help civilians against incredible odds. Last year, Skye oversaw the marketing campaign for National Geographic Documentary Films Academy Award winner “Free Solo” for Best Documentary Feature, about rock climber Alex Honnold and his journey to climb El Capitan without ropes. Skye and her husband, Stephen ’02, live in the D.C. area with their two daughters.

CLASS NOTES

Allison Russell ’04 has been named president of Third River Partners in Tampa, Fla. Allison designs and delivers innovative development experiences that foster desired leadership behavior from the inside out. As an architect of the Serving Leader Development Experience and the Teaming Advantage, she teaches critical thinking and partnering skills that are foundational to achieving healthy relationships and desired results. Allison holds a master’s degree in criminal justice and applied behavior analysis from Saint Joseph’s University.

James Stetson ’04 has been married to Abi Brown since 2008. They have two children, Jonathan (10) and Hannah (8).

Woods LLP in Richmond, Va. Brad works in tax and employee benefits and helps taxpayers facing federal tax disputes.

Bradley guides taxpayers through the resolution process from administrative audit to trial, and he advises nonprofits and charities on federal tax issues.

Sarah Smith ’05 has been accepted in a familiarization placement program with the Church of Scotland. She has been assigned to work with a minister, who is her supervisor, at the congregation he is serving for a year. She will be assessed during the year, and the committee will vote at the second assessment.

If the committee votes to sustain her, she will be able to search for a congregation to serve in Scotland.

Class of 2006

Jane Harper (Hicklin) Dollason ’04 has joined Carriage Properties LLC, the premier firm in the Charleston S.C. luxury real estate market. Jane Harper’s focus is on residential real estate and in providing superior service to her clients.

She and her husband, Patrick, live on James Island with their two children, Henry (5) and Mary Helen (3).

Class of 2005

Bradley Riddlehoover ’05 was promoted to partner at McGuire-

After spending the six previous years at home with two small children, Heather Cardwell Myer ’06 has been part of the FAITH Catholic Communications and Publishing staff for the past year.

Initially the digital coordinator, Heather assumed the role as junior project manager in late 2020. She works with web developers to produce new, customized websites for Catholic clients all over the country. She enjoys her work and enjoys working for a great company.

Justin Mullner ’05 went from graduating from PC in 2005 to attending the University of South Carolina’s School of Medicine to earn his medical degree. He did his residency with Prisma Health in Columbia Justin Mullner ’05 before serving a Fellowship in Sports Medicine at Atlantic Health in New Jersey. He has thrived in the field of sports medicine, including having worked with the New York Jets and quarterback Mark Sanchez as he recovered from his shoulder injury in 2013. Justin has served as team physician for DC United and the Washington Spirit. He also served as physician for the Washington Ballet. Currently, Justin is a sports medicine physician at the Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute and is director of the Orlando Health Sports Medicine Fellowship program. He is also lead sports medicine physician for the Orlando City SC and the Orlando Pride.

Justin has always been passionate about serving others; however, he has certainly embodied our motto—“While we live, we serve”—and continues to value the importance of helping others.

Class of 2007 Ryan Harper ’07 joined a team of investigators at the University of South Carolina Upstate, in partnership with Spartanburg Community College and Spartanburg County schools this past year. The project seeks to address a need for highly qualified mathematics and science teachers through a new $1.2 million National Science Foundation (NSF) Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program grant. As a mathematics instructor and director of tutoring for mathematics and computer science at USC Upstate, Ryan joins others leaders on the project.

Principal investigator on the project is Dr. Stephen Bismarck,

associate professor of education at USC Upstate. Co-principal investigators on the project are USC Upstate faculty members Dr. Chris Bender, associate professor of chemistry; Dr. Kimberly Shorter, assistant professor of biology; and Jane Addison, adjunct instructor.

The Rev. Sara Anne Berger ’07 was installed as pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Little Rock, Ark., on November 1, 2020. Among the installation commission was the Rev. Lindy Vogado ’05, who preached a wonderful sermon on salt and light.

Class of 2008 Emily Wetzel ’08 was awarded the AICPA-sponsored Woman to Watch Emerging Leader by the North Carolina Association of CPAs for 2019. Emily works at CliftonLarsenAllen, LLP in Charlotte, N.C. Gwen Chretien ’08 accepted the director of admissions position at the University of South Florida Taneja College of Pharmacy. She and her husband now reside in Riverview, Fla.

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Amy Bolin Tinsley ’08 and Jennings Tinsley ’07

Amy Bolin Tinsley ’08 and Jennings Tinsley ’07 joyfully welcomed a daughter, Henrietta “Etta” Walker Tinsley, on August 5, 2020.

She joins a brother, James Bolin “Bo” Tinsley.

Justin Durant ’08 and Krysten Handy Durant ’11 welcomed their first child in September 2020, a happy, healthy baby girl named Elliott. They were married in April 2019 in St. Pete Beach, Fla. Several PC alumni were a part of both sides of the bridal party— Kayla Handy ’11, Stephanie Payne ’11, Sherman Burnett ’08, Marcus Boyd ’08, Antwan Thomas ’08, Anthony McKnight ’08, and Ryan McAlister ’07—with even more alumni in attendance. Justin and Krysten currently live in Tampa, where Justin is a lease sales manager for Penske Truck Leasing, and Krysten is a senior data analyst for Progressive Insurance.

Class of 2009

Blake Edward Whitney ’09 and Mary Auburn Shuler Whitney ’13 welcomed a baby girl, Lilly Shuler Whitney, in November 2020.

The couple is proud to announce the addition of another Blue Hose to their family.

Class of 2010 Dr. Kristan Price Mason ’10 has worked in higher education for 10 years in

various areas including admissions and enrollment management, higher education technology (account management), and now as a faculty member. She earned her MBA in 2014 from Shepherd University and her Ph.D.in organizational leadership, human resource development, at Regents University. Personally, while growing professionally and academically, she continues to spend time with family.

Kris married in 2016 in Jamaica to her best friend and gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Lydia, in 2018. As a family, they now live in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. She also serves on the African American Alumni Council at PC.

Katie Turpen ’10 was married to Michael Doyle on August 1, 2020 in Birmingham, Ala.

Class of 2011 Joseph McMillan ’11 welcomed a daughter, Kensley Grace McMillan, on July 3, 2019.

Justin Durant ’08 and Krysten Handy Durant ’11

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Dr. Shelley Whitehead ’11 is engaged to be married to Mr. Daniel McCombie, Jr. (Penn State ’04). Shelley and Dan met in Pennsylvania, where Shelley attended PSU for her doctoral studies, and Dan served as parts manager for The Bedford Auto Group of Bedford, Pa. They plan to make their home in Bradenton, Fla, where Shelley now serves as the senior entomologist for Manatee County Mosquito Control. She is the daughter of Danny ’68 and Ginger Whitehead.

Kat Leitner ’11 is the co-founder of Allora Solutions Group, an operations-centric outsourcing company in Charleston, S.C. Allora helps small- and mid-sized businesses optimize profitability through strategic improvements to productivity.

Their solutions center on three key areas: human resources, recruitment, and teambuilding; operations, workflow, and relocations; marketing, social media, and event planning. By introducing outsourcing efficiencies, Allora helps companies reduce overhead and administrative challenges so that they can focus on what matters most—growing their business.

Kat and her co-founder, Ashleigh Metherell, launched their Business Solutionaries Podcast (available wherever you listen) in late 2020 with new releases every Tuesday. Kat is an active community volunteer, serving in numerous leadership roles with

CLASS NOTES

After several years of being vacant, the Director of Church Relations office has been filled for the past year by Perrin Tribble ’11.

Under the umbrella of the Advancement Office, Perrin has brought her expertise and connections into the role in a very effective way.

Perrin Tribble ’11 She hosts a monthly Zoom gathering for alumni whose work involves the Church—pastors, Christian educators, youth leaders, church music directors, validated ministry leaders, etc. “The monthly Zoom gatherings were born from a need for connection and encouragement when the COVID-19 pandemic forced churches to move online.

I know the Blue Hose alumni who serve in ministry are some of the most creative and thoughtful leaders in the Church, so I wanted to create a space for them to share best practices, listen to new ideas, and help one another imagine all the possibilities of ministry in a new age.” By reconnecting with the PC(USA) and expanding our relationship with other denominations, Perrin hopes to attract prospective students with a heart for service, connect our current students to mentors in ministry, and continue to foster relationships with the alumni of PC.

the Junior League of Charleston, PC’s Young Alumni Council and the Charleston Alumni Chapter, Children’s Trust of South Carolina, Going Places, Inc. and more.

Heitman ’12 accepted a position as an associate attorney doing medical malpractice defense work at Davis and Snyder, P.A., in Greenville, S.C. Caroline McGill Hider ’12 and Christopher Robert Hider were married on November 7, 2020. Tyler Todd Kemarly ’12 served as the matron of honor.

Caroline works as a grants administrator at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Chris and his family own and operate a home remodeling company on Seabrook Island. The pandemic wedding was held at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Charleston, S.C., with an outdoor reception at James Island County Park. Fellow Blue Hose also pictured are Caroline’s parents, John ’85 and Angie Gardner McGill ’86, the bride’s brother, Caleb McGill ’17, and sister-inlaw, Martie Hiott McGill ’18, and friends, Michelle Griggs ’10 and

He is part of the education faculty for the Family Medicine residency program at Prisma.

Matthew teaches new family medicine doctors who are in training and inspiring medical students to pursue a career in primary care.

Class of 2013 Pressly Caldwell Brown ’13 is employed by Greenville (S.C.) County School District and is working on a master’s degree in educational leadership.

Susan Hayne Cobb ’13 and William Chitwood Furse, Jr. were married on January 9 at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Greenville, S.C. Among others, bridesmaids included fellow PC alumnae Chelsea Hathaway ’13, Larkin

Class of 2012 After four years as an assistant solicitor at the 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, Andrew

Susan Hayne Cobb ’13 and William Chitwood Furse, Jr.

Rachel Day ’10.

Lakia Johnson ’12 serves as motor carrier safety administrator at Savannah River Nuclear Solutions. Lakia has been working at SRS for over three years and very much enjoys her work.

Caroline McGill Hider ’12

Dr. Matthew Nodelman MD ’12 completed his family medicine residency in Cincinnati and started a full-time position at Prisma Health—Richland Campus in Columbia, S.C.

Blackwell Julian ’13 and Grant LeFever ’13. Additional beloved PC friends were in attendance, although wedding size was limited due to the pandemic, and the couple wishes they could have celebrated with more.

Susan Hayne and Will reside in Manning, S.C. Marlie Briggs ’13 is engaged to Dexter Smizer of Kansas.

The couple resides in Atlanta, Ga., with their golden

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retriever, Luke. They have plans for a spring 2022 wedding in Columbia, S.C.

Peri Imler ’17 graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law on May 8, 2020.

During her time at USC Law, Peri won a national championship as a competition team member of the Mock Trial Bar. She also served as vice president of Phi Delta Phi, communications editor of the South Carolina Journal of International Law and Business, and Student Bar Association class representative.

She began her legal career in Anderson, S.C., this past fall. Peri also serves on the PC Young Alumni Council.

Abby Scott ’13 was promoted to audit manager at BDO USA, LLP in Boston, Mass., in November of 2020.

Class of 2014

Nathan Crocker ’14 is general manager for Nolan Transportation in Chamblee, Ga. Nathan and his wife, Nicole Hammer, were married in November 2020.

Dr. Jeri Parris Perkins ’81 officiated the wedding ceremony.

Class of 2015 Peri Imler ’17

currently at PC loving every minute as a Blue Hose.

The Rev. Andrew Hane ’15 graduated from the Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, N.C., with an M.Div. in 2018, a Master of Arts in Christian Counseling in 2019. Andrew transitioned to organizing and serving as a professor at the La Ceiba Biblical Seminary in La Ceiba, Honduras in June 2020.

Lauren Bazemore ’15 was married last fall and has begun her fourth year as a school-based speechlanguage pathologist. Her little sister, Kate ’23, is

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Charles Clevenger ’15 welcomed his first child, Kelli-Louise, in November of 2019. Charles is a teacher and coach at Dorman High School in Spartanburg, S.C. Austin Ryan ’15 was accepted into the PT Solutions Orthopedic Residency and began in February. He earned his doctorate degree in physical therapy from the University of Saint Augustine for Health Sciences in 2018 and has been working as a physical therapist in Florida.

Dr. Kathryn Anderson ’15 graduated magna cum laude from Presbyterian College School of Pharmacy in

May 2019. She completed a PGY1 community-based pharmacy practice residency at the University of South Carolina at Medicine Mart.

She was awarded an incentive grant from the American Pharmacists Association Foundation to develop a naloxone education and dispensing service.

Class of 2016 Dr. Sydney Fontenot ’16 graduated from the doctor of physical therapy program at Texas Woman’s University and has relocated to St. Petersburg, Fla., with her significant other.

Natalie Cook ’16 completed a year-long internship with

Mount Zion Lutheran Church in Richfield, N.C., and St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in Gold Hill, N.C., as one of the few “2020 pandemic interns.” For the fall 2020 semester, Natalie was hired as the associate minister at the University of South Carolina’s Lutheran Campus Ministry.

Fun fact: USC’s Ukirk ministry shares their building with Lutheran Campus Ministry.

She completed her four-year M.Div. at Lenoir-Rhyne’s Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in December 2020, and was approved for ordination through the South Carolina Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on December 8, 2020. She is now eligible to interview with congregations for her first call to full-time parish ministry.

CLASS NOTES

Class of 2017

Travis Carn ’17 has attained his MAT in history from Ithaca College and has begun his teaching career at Finn Academy in Elmira, N.Y. He is engaged to Nicole Alleva ’17, with a wedding planned for July 2021 in Charleston S.C. The couple met in the fall of 2016 during their senior year at PC. The couple currently lives in Ithaca, N.Y., while Nicole attends the veterinary school at Cornell University.

Rebekah Smith McArthur ’18 and Justin Bailey McArthur ’17 were married in November 2020.

Rebekah is currently enrolled at the University of Saint Augustine in the master’s program in occupational therapy. Justin is the owner and operator of JBM Farms in Alcolu, S.C.

Class of 2018

Ellison Brown ’17 married Weston Jackson ’16 on June 13, 2020. The two were surrounded by friends and family, many of whom also attended PC.

Mursashi Briem ’17 is a Ph.D. candidate at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. Cade Crow ’19, an association adoption manager, received the Q4 MVP Award in the Strategic Analytics & Adoption Team at Cerner Corporation located in Kansas City, Mo.

live in Clinton, S.C., with their daughter, Anna Ruth. Tyler is currently serving the Newberry and Laurens areas as a member of the S.C. Highway Patrol. Tyler and Emily met as freshmen at PC. Dr. Stefan Wiecki, professor of history at PC, obtained his S.C. Public Notary license so that he could officiate their wedding ceremony in June of 2017.

Tyler Fagan ’17 and Emily Jacques Fagan ’17 currently

Elizabeth DiBona ’18 earned a master’s degree and began pursuing a Ph.D. in marine biology at Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, Texas in the fall of 2020.

satisfaction levels in the business. Outside the workplace, Brandon and Brooke Lee, from Furman/ FIDM/Liberty, were married in an October wedding in Carmel, Calif. His brother and sister-in-law, Grayson Mills ’14 and Dr. Lindsay Krause Mills ’13, celebrated their third year of marriage this past June.

Brandon serves on the PC Young Alumni Council.

Class of 2019 Kevin Yascur ’19 recently moved to Greenville, S.C., from Charleston, S.C., to begin work as a data analyst at Lima One Financial.

Mary Moore Driggers ’18 is in the ordination process for the PC(USA) through Foothills Presbytery, after obtaining her master’s of divinity at Union Presbyterian Seminary.

Brandon Mills ’18 started his wealth management career at Ameriprise Financial as a client service associate working with Lee Bugay and Mary Larkin Watson. The duo have modeled what a successful franchise office is capable of with some of the highest client Lindsey Odum ’19

Taylor Johnson ’18 is a third-year law student at Cumberland School of Law at Samford. Living out the PC motto, Taylor is volunteering as an advanced Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) intern with SaveFirst AL. Taylor assists low-income, working families with tax preparation. A similar role that Taylor had interning with the United Way of Laurens while she was a PC student led her to seek out this service opportunity.

Taylor Johnson ’18

Lindsey Odum ’19 is currently working full time as a director of youth and missions at Easley Presbyterian Church. She is also in seminary part time at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, N.C. to obtain her Master of Divinity and Master of Christian Education.

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Remembering Dr. Nolon Carter

BY DR. ED GOUGE, CHARLES E. DANIEL PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF CHEMISTRY

F

rankly, in 1976 when I arrived on campus to interview for a vacant position, I knew very little about PC and Dr. Nolon Carter, the chemistry department chairman. After our initial meeting, he and I walked to Smith Administration Building and into the office of the academic dean. After a lengthy interview, I distinctly remember the dean glancing at Nolon who responded in turn with a simple nod.

As my career developed at PC, I learned more and more about Nolon’s personality. He was devoted to his work as a chemistry professor and researcher,

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IN MEMORIAM

a loving and dutiful husband to his dear wife, Eugenia (Genie, as we knew her), father to his son, Kenneth, and a man with the reputation of making physicians of students who survived his organic chemistry class. Regional admission officers knew that anyone who performed well in Nolon’s classes were well prepared to undertake the volume of work presented in medical school. The common bumper proclamation, “Honk if you passed organic!” surely pointed toward Nolon.

Particularly impressive was Nolon’s interest in flying. To learn to fly, he had enrolled in the Army Air Corps Program as an undergraduate student at Erskine

College. The end of the war also ended his progress to become a pilot but not his aerial intentions as the photographs of him in a gyrocopter in his PC office attested. Not surprisingly, Nolon soon after retirement started the process of becoming a certified pilot. He once recruited me before his licensing exam to video his practice “short field” landings at the Laurens County airport. Without any lapses, he proudly passed the annual examinations for license renewal so he could continue to fly. And fly he did until the infirmities of old age forced him to land his craft for the last time.

Some people would describe Nolon as old-fashioned and conservative, but I would disagree with that assessment.

Part of his personality was substantially progressive. When personal computers were introduced to the public, Nolon, recognizing the devices’ utility in education, moved quickly to place and use Apple II computers in PC’s chemistry department. At least two scholarly articles concerning applications of personal computers in chemical education were published by department faculty.

No recollection of Nolon Carter would be complete for me without stating how he affected me professionally. His early mentoring resulted in the improvement of my grading technique. Nolon encouraged me to become involved with the regional section of the American Chemical Society. He supported my participation in professional seminars, short courses, and sabbatical leaves. Often, he and I would sit in his office on Monday mornings and discuss the Bible study lessons we had led in our respective churches on the past Sunday. Nolon demonstrated the PC value of service to community and profession.

No matter your experience and dealing with Dr. Nolon Carter, you, as I, will always remember him. For me, his presence in life was a genuine treasure for chemistry, education, church, and PC. PRESBY.EDU

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PC FAMILY

In Memoriam 1940s Almeda Jacks Rogers ’42 of Clinton, S.C., died August 19, 2020, at the age of 99.

William Beaty Boyd ’44 of Racine, Wis., died December 16, 2020, at the age 97.

Betty Hunter Brice ’44 of Chester, S.C., died September 30, 2019, at the age of 95.

Arthur (Art) Francis Jones II ’46 (matriculate) of Holly Hill, Fla., died June 2, 2020, at the age of 94.

John Crues Bell, Jr. ’47 of Bishopville, S.C., died April 18, 2020, at the age of 92.

James Eugene “Gene” Copeland ’47 of Abbeville, S.C., died November 11, 2020, at the age of 94.

Rev. Dr. John Calvin Chesnutt ’48 of Montreat, N.C., died January 2, 2021, at the age of 93.

Christine C. Koutsogeorgas ’48 of Charlotte, N.C., died January 24, 2020, at the age of 93.

Howard David Sloan ’49 of Dillion, SC, died January 31, 2021, at the age of 92.

Harry F. Williams ’49 of Hendersonville, N.C., died October 2, 2019, at the age of 94.

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Rev. Clifton Randolph Terrell ’50 of Hampstead, N.C., died December 26, 2003, at the age of 76.

Robert Hugh Sellers ’50 of Sunset Beach, N.C., died August 14, 2018, at the age of 91.

Rev. Edward Carlyle Langham, Jr. ’51 of Ringgold, Ga., died July 14, 2018, at the age of 89.

Dr. Thomas N. Massey, Jr. ’51 of Charlotte, N.C., died March 8, 2020, at the age of 89.

Joseph S. Dabbs ’55 of Fernandina Beach, Fla., died April 8, 2020, at the age of 87.

Richard (Dick) Parks Loveland ’55 of Vero Beach, Fla., died November 7, 2017, at the age of 84.

William (Billy) Butler Sprouse, Sr. ’55 of Ware Shoals, S.C., died May 2, 2018, at the age of 84.

Dr. Elmer Perry Mobley ’51 of Winston- Salem, N.C., died December 3, 2020, at the age 93

Rev. Frederic D. Thompson ’55 of Roebuck, S.C., died December 16, 2019, at the age of 87.

Rev. Carl James Sexton ’51 of Clemson, S.C., died February 6, 2019, at the age of 89.

Jasper Levon Tanner ’55 of Camden, S.C., died March 5, 2017, at the age of 83.

Joseph Alfred Weingartner, Jr. ’51 of Decatur, Ga., died February 9, 2021, at the age of 91.

Dr. Charles W. Johnson ’56 of Conway, S.C., died August 1, 2019, at the age of 85.

Rev. Alan B. Wells ’51 of Warsaw, N.C., died September 1, 2016, at the age of 93.

Robert (Bobby) Stuart Ogletree ’52 of Griffin, Ga., died November 7, 2016, at the age of 86.

Rev. Curtis F. Crowther ’53 of Troy, Ohio, died March 10, 2020, at the age of 88.

Dr. John W. Parler, Jr. ’53 of Batesburg-Leesville, S.C., died March 10, 2020, at the age of 88.

1950s

Henry Lewis Smith ’53 of Opelika, Ala., died February 5, 2021, at the age 88.

Grace Young Hamilton ’50 of Easley, S.C., died December 23, 2020, at the age of age 91.

Elwyn Morgan Watt ’53 of Sumter, S.C., died August 8, 2020, at the age of 89.

Doris F. Marsh ’50 of Columbia, S.C., died April 13, 2020, at the age of 91.

Rev. Tyson Lewis Hope ’54 of Culloden, W. Va., died October 16, 2019, at the age of 89.

PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE

Rev. Charles Davis Young ’54 of Wichita, Kan., died May 13, 2020, at the age of 87.

James C. (Jim) McLauchlin, Jr. ’58 of Tampa, Fla., died March 13, 2020, at the age of 85.

Robert (Bob) Russell Hafner, III ’59 of Clanton, Ala., died September 12, 2020, at the age of 84 LTC Ashley Ray Hodge, Sr., ’59 of Alcolu, S.C., died July 18, 2020, at the age 82

1960s James Linear Bennett ’60 of Heflin, Ala., died December 29, 2020, at the age 82.

Michael R. (Mickey) Long ’60 of Greenville, S.C., died April 11, 2020, at the age of 81.

Richard Jenkins Reid ’60 of Prosperity, S.C., died January 15, 2016, at the age of 78.

Rev. Robert (Bobby) S. Link, Sr. ’56 of Clinton, S.C., died July 17, 2020, at the age of 89.

Gordon L. Stanley, Jr. ’60 of Charlotte, N.C., died Monday, September 28, 2020, at the age of 82.

John Yates Smith ’56 of New Ellenton, S.C., died December 16, 2019, at the age of 86.

Victor G. Verdi ’60 of Decatur, Ga., died December 22, 2020, at the age of 82.

Frederick (Fred) R. Fowler ’56 of Mullins, S.C., died August 8, 2020, at the age of 88.

Courtney F. Henderlite ’61 of Rockville, Va., died June 19, 2020, at the age of 85.

James Delane Johnson ’57 of Spartanburg, S.C., died February 28, 2020, at the age of 84.

Julian Edward (Ed) Wells ’61 of Laurens, S.C., died February 24, 2020, at the age of 81.

Marshall Edward Tobias Jr. ’57 of Johns Creek, S.C., died January 10, 2021, at the age of 86.

Candler C. (Buddy) Harper ’61 of Lake Wylie, S.C., died August 6, 2020, at the age of 80.

Roy Manning Fowler ’58 of Inman, S.C., died May 25, 2020, at the age of 83.

George Randolph Johnson ’58 of Kinards, S.C., died Tuesday, September 15, 2020, at the age of 92.

John (Jack) E. Cornwell, III ’61 of Blackstock, S.C., died August 26, 2020, at the age of 81.

Jerry S. Chitty ’62 of West Columbia, S.C., died July 7, 2020, at the age of 79.

IN MEMORIAM

Harry Lawrence (Larry) Kirven ’62 of Sumter, S.C., died September 25, 2020, at the age of 81.

Robert (Bob) C. Williams ’62 of Anderson, S.C., died February 14, 2020, at the age of 79.

William R. (Bill) Hill ’63 of Clinton, S.C., died June 1, 2020, at the age of 84.

Michael Patrick Lay ’63 of Venice, Fla., died October 22, 2020, at the age of 80.

David Mitchell (Mike) Saunders ’63 of Douglasville, Ga., died August 3, 2018, at the age of 76.

Marion Copeland Whitmire Sr. ’64 of Clinton, S.C., died January 4, 2021, at the age of 80.

Allen Cleveland Jacobs, Jr. ’65 of Talladega, Ala., died December 21, 2019, at the age of 76.

George Allen Lokey ’65 of Augusta, Ga., died November 19, 2020, at the age of 77.

B. Ronald Morris ’65 of Pawleys Island, S.C., died December 22, 2020, at the age of 77.

David Crenshaw Worth, Jr. ’65 of Raleigh, N.C., died April 11, 2020, at the age of 77.

Robert (Bob) W. Warren ’67 of Montreat, N.C., died March 9, 2020, at the age of 75.

David Henley Wyatt ’67 of Athens, Ga., died February 7, 2020, at the age of 76.

Kathryn “Kit” Caldwell Weigel ’68 of Hopewell, Va., died March 25, 2020, at the age of 73.

1970s Darrell Keith Stewart ’71 of Clinton, S.C., died November 6, 2016, at the age of 73.

Richard Olen Hudgins ’75 of Salem, S.C., died September 28, 2019, at the age of 66.

Christian Eugene Thompson ’90 of Simpsonville, S.C., died February 7, 2020, at the age of 52.

Gregory Calhoun O’Connor ’91 (matriculate) of Augusta, Ga., died July 3, 2020, at the age of 52.

Jonathan Boyce Bankhead ’96 of Columbia, S.C., died January 12, 2020, at the age of 45.

John Michael (Mike) Stuart ’75 of Atlanta, Ga., died February 20, 2020, at the age of 67.

Ronald “Ronnie” Glenn Setzer ’99 of Nashville, Tenn., died July 6, 2020, at the age of 44.

Deborah “Debi” Hayes ’77 (matriculate) of Greer, S.C., died December 27, 2020, at the age 65.

2000s

Elizabeth Goodwin Hendricks ’76 of Charleston, S.C., died June 2, 2017, at the age of 62.

William Otto Junker III ’76 of Auburn, Ala., died July 12, 2020, at the age of 66.

Jeannine Karen Callahan ’79 of Columbia, S.C., died May 18, 2020, at the age of 63.

1980s Dianne Tyler Glymph ’80 of Clearwater, Fla., died July 3, 2020, at the age of 61.

Matthew Robb Walter ’00 of Matthew, Ky., died February 17, 2020, at the age of 41.

Honorary Alumni and Friends of the College Georgia Young Cannon of Clinton, S.C., died August 29, 2020, at the age of 79.

Dr. K. Nolon Carter of Kirksville, Mo., died December 5, 2020, at the age 95.

Jack Shelton Graybill of Columbia, S.C., died December 8, 2020, at the age 92.

The Reverend George Daniel (Dan) McCall, Sr. ’87 Honorary Alumnus, ’10 Board of Trustees of Augusta, Ga., died August 23, 2020, at the age of 88.

William (Bill) A. L. Sibley, Jr ’08 Board of Trustees Emeritus of Greenville, S.C., died August 4, 2020, at the age of 85.

Dr. Louis Moore Stephens Sr. of Clinton, S.C., died January 14, 2021, at the age 90.

Virginia Gray Vance ’99 Honorary Alumna of Clinton, S.C., died August 28, 2020, at the age of 92.

J. W. “Billy” Yonce, Jr ’05 Honorary Alumnus of Johnston, S.C., died November 1, 2020, at the age of 100.

Edward Lee Maxwell ’84 of Cross Lanes, W. Va., died August 7, 2020, at the age of 58.

Gregory Maurice Kinsey ’88 of Green Pond, S.C., died July 24, 2020, at the age of 54.

Dr. Richard (Rick) H. Carpenter ’67 of Simpsonville, S.C., died August 26, 2020, at the age of 75.

1990s

George Randel Caldwell ’68 of Pageland, S.C., died June 17, 2020, at the age of 73.

Hayne Glover Huguenin ’90 of Mauldin, S.C., died February 1, 2020, at the age of 51.

In Memoriam information and links to obituaries can be found at www.presby.edu/alumni

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PC FAMILY

A Faithful PC Benefactor Passes Away

PC

and Clinton communities lost a true friend and generous benefactor with the passing of Virginia Gray Vance on August 28.

“Our hearts are heavy with the loss of this most gracious lady who was committed to making her community and our College the best it could be,” said President Emeritus Bob Staton ’68. “Her legacy to PC will be long-remembered. Phyllis and I feel blessed to have been able to visit with her regularly, enjoying not only the famously delicious cheese biscuits she graciously served, but her infectious laugh, stories of Clinton and PC, and pictures of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

From the beginning Mrs. Vance believed that her call to service included playing an active role in the betterment of her community and the education of its children. She observed the need in our community and worked with others to make Clinton a better home for all.

In addition to serving on the boards of several community organizations, including Thornwell Home and School for Children, Mrs. Vance also served as the Chair of the Board of her alma mater, Queens College (now Queens University).

The Vances shared a love for Presbyterian College. While Mr. Robert Vance served as chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mrs. Vance was the gracious face of college hospitality to those who came from far and wide to study and teach here. She was the quintessential lady, warmly sincere, unfailingly kind, and possessed of a rare ability to put others at their ease, no matter the situation.

She walked the campus regularly, greeting those she met and reveling in the beauty of the Georgian architecture found just one block from her home, a beauty she shared eagerly with her children, and later with her grandchildren.

A faithful supporter of the PC Blue Hose, Mrs. Vance attended every College event she could, from arts to athletics. She made many homesick students recognize her as “that wonderful lady whose smile always makes us feel at home.”

The Vances generously supported PC and its students through several decades. Many alumni can remember events in the Vances’ garden, which they graciously opened for student-organized events and photos. The most recent philanthropic gift from the Vance family was to the Neville Renewed Campaign. In honor of their gift, the newly reopened rotunda area was named the Mary Bailey Vance Suitt Rotunda and Bailey Art Galleries, in memory of the Vances’ daughter who served on the PC Board of Trustees, and had a strong desire to

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share her appreciation of art with PC and the Clinton community.

Prior to its reopening, Mrs. Vance was able to tour Neville Hall and view the rotunda honoring her daughter.

PC and its faculty, staff and students have benefited greatly from the philanthropic spirit of Virginia and Robert Vance, and for their desire to pass that spirit down to their children and grandchildren.

Their grandchildren, Fleming Patterson, Mary Ellen Barnwell and Ben Suitt continue to play an integral role in the Bailey Galleries.

Mary Ellen is married to PC alumnus Brian Barnwell, who currently serves on the PC Alumni Board.

“We are deeply appreciative of the philanthropic spirit and affinity for PC that Robert and Virginia have passed on to their children and grandchildren,” said Staton. “PC has been, and continues to be, a better place because of the Vance family and their desire to make Clinton and Presbyterian College a great place to live, work and play.”

The College awarded an Honorary Doctor of Public Service degree in 1999 to Mrs. Vance in recognition of her remarkable contributions to the College and the community of Clinton. In addition to being a Guardian of PC and a Patron of PC, she was named a Distinguished Member of the William Plumer Jacobs Society in 2013.

She accepted both with characteristic modesty, once again refusing graciously to believe that her efforts on behalf of others were worthy of such recognition.

The College will certainly miss the presence of this good and faithful servant leader in our community. We know, however, that the legacy that will follow her life will impact the College community and our students for years to come.

NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE

503 South Broad Street Clinton, S.C. 29325

PAID HEDERMAN DIRECT

Presbyterian College is an equal educational opportunity institution. The College’s admission standards and practices are free from discrimination on the basis of age, sex, sexual orientation, race, creed, color, disability, ethnicity or national origin. As required by the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Crime Statistics Act, information regarding crime statistics, campus safety, Crime prevention, and victim’s assistance is available on the PS website at https://www.presby.edu/ campus-life/campus-police/crime-prevention/crime-statistics/. A paper copy of the report is available by request. In compliance with Title IX, Presbyterian College does not discriminate on the basis of sex in the education programs or activities it operates. Questions regarding Title IX may be referred to the Presbyterian College Title IX Officer or to the Office of Human Resources. More information is available at https://www.presby.edu/title-ix/.