AHA_Fall_2008

AHA! | South Carolina Honors College | University of South Carolina | Volume XIV No. 1

Fall 2008

Enlarging Visions and Financial Packages “Helping students articulate their future personal and professional hopes and dreams through national fellowship competition work is extremely clarifying for the students and gratifying for the faculty and staff who support them. They receive much more than a scholarship by engaging in this process.”

—Novella Beskid, Director, Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs

from the dean | 2

I write this as we are finishing orientation for the entering freshman class of 2008. But you will be reading this after these students have arrived and moved in on campus. By now they Davis Baird will be settling into their classes and moving quickly to become seasoned University students. Many of the students I am seeing during June orientation are more than a little anxious. Will Honors College courses be very hard? Will living in a campus residence away from home be okay? The anxiety is understandable; university is a big change from high school. But these are such good students, they are so well prepared, that I can say with confidence when I talk to them at orientation that by two weeks into the fall semester, anxiety will have surrendered to excitement, studying, and playing.

In this issue of AHA! you will read about some of the amazing things that once anxious new freshmen have gone on to accomplish. I was privileged to hear a performance of the medieval polyphonic song that Elizabeth Nyikos recovered and brought to live musical reality after hundreds of years. You’ll also read about Asma Jaber, a 2008 graduate and a 2007 Truman Scholar. She will be pursuing work either as a lawyer or an academic. Asma started as a pre-pharmacy major, but found her way to a very different double major, anthropology/international studies, and a passion to help immigrants.

should be the better hitter overall. But no! It is perhaps not so hard to see why looking at my example below. Both Barry and Larry have better hitting averages during home games than during away games. Yet of Barry’s 110 total combined at-bats, 100 of them were during away games, while 10 were during home games. It is the reverse with Larry: 100 of his at-bats were during home games and 10 during away games. Barry’s combined average is more heavily weighted with away games— when hitting was hard for both of them. Larry’s combined average weights home games more when hitting was easier for both of them.

Were I to choose, I’d go for Barry as the overall better hitter, despite the—misleading in my view—combined average.

This is interesting as a baseball puzzle, but it is a profound conundrum when we imagine such statistics in other contexts.

Replace “hits” with “survived,” Barry” with “old drug,” “Larry” with “new drug, and “home” and “away” with “male” and “female.” A test of a new cure for some disease might show a better cure rate in a combined population of men and of women while the old cure worked better for both men and women. This result shows the need to balance the test comparing old and

College is an amazing time of growth and self-discovery from anxious rising freshmen to accomplished graduates. Four short but indelible years. Watching and marveling at this transition is what keeps me coming to work fresh and excited in the Honors College every day.

Dean’s puzzle Last issue’s puzzle involving the home and away batting averages of two baseball players, Barry and Larry, was popular. Many AHA! readers wrote with correct answers, and we will be sending prizes shortly to all who sent a correct answer.

It is indeed possible for Barry to have a better batting average than Larry during both home and away games while Larry has the better overall average.

Let me single out Jack Berry’s response to the puzzle for a complete algebraic analysis of when and how this is possible. Good job there.

I won’t repeat it here, but I am happy to share it—with Jack’s permission.

This puzzle, known in the statistical literature as Simpson’s paradox, does seem to violate logic. If Barry is the better hitter at home and away games, then surely Barry

Home

Away

Combined

Barry

Larry

Barry

Larry

Barry

Larry

Hits

5

40

35

3

40

43

Misses

5

60

65

7

70

67

At-bats

10

100

100

10

110

110

Average

0.500

0.400

0.350

0.300

0.364

0.391

new drugs among sub-populations (men and women in this case) where one sub-population is differentially more susceptible to cure than another. But—and this is the rub—we don’t always know which sub-populations matter, so we don’t always know when or how to balance such tests.

Here is the next puzzle: The new puzzle is more a party trick than a puzzle, but since we’ve had a counter-intuitive case of statistics, it is hard to resist this new puzzle. Suppose one hosted a dinner party with 25 guests. Is it more or less likely that two of the dinner party guests share a birthday than it would be to get a double-six on two throws of a pair of fair dice—and why? We assume that each birthday throughout the year is equally likely for each party guest, 1/365 for each (giving Feb. 29 a significant advantage; but never mind).

As in the past we will award a prize of Honors College merchandise to those who send us a correct solution. Send your solution electronically to puzzle@schc.sc.edu or by regular mail to Dean Davis Baird at the address listed on the back page of this issue.

Due to changes within the college staff, your advisor may have changed. See the updated advisor list below.

Davis Baird interdisciplinary studies (honors), mathematics, philosophy, statistics

Jim Burns African American studies, criminal justice, dance, early childhood education, elementary education, music, retailing, sport and entertainment management, undeclared—liberal arts

Jim Clark accounting, business—general, business and technology education, business economics, finance, insurance and risk management, international business, real estate

Molly Gilbride economics, European studies, history, international studies, management, marketing, political science, psychology, sociology

Laura Mewbourne advertising, biomedical engineering, broadcast journalism, chemical engineering,

civil engineering, computer engineering, computer information systems, computer science, electrical engineering, engineering— general, mechanical engineering, nursing, pharmacy, print journalism, public relations, visual communications

Christian Price art education, art history, art studio, classics, film studies, media arts, theatre/speech

Ed Munn Sanchez anthropology, chemistry, French, German, Italian, Latin American studies, physics, Russian, Spanish

Mark Sibley-Jones biological sciences, cardiovascular technology, comparative literature, English, exercise science, geography, geology, geophysics, interdisciplinary studies (arts and sciences), marine science, physical education, religious studies, undeclared—science and mathematics

Brianna Timmerman All premeds

Meet our new staff

Associate Dean Jim Burns talks with student Philip Stonecypher about his senior thesis.

Molly K. Gilbride

Molly K. Gilbride joins the Honors College as an academic advisor and the director of service learning. In this role she will advise political science and international studies majors in the Honors College each semester and work with faculty, students, and community partners to create new and grow existing service-learning opportunities for the Honors College. Please visit the Honors College service-learning Web site for more information about how you can become involved: http://schc.sc.edu/Initiatives/ServiceLearning.php.

news | 3

Who is my advisor?

Student unlocks the mysteries surrounding a piece of medieval music undergraduate research | 4

By Elizabeth Nyikos (2009)

It is said of Mozart that he worked late into the night, that some of his most inspired melodies were crafted in the dark, quiet hours before dawn. Thus the overture of the memorable opera Don Giovanni, which took Prague by storm when it opened, was said to have been written between one sunset and sunrise.

It was a night of accomplishment.

On such a night, in late August 2007, I settled myself for an evening of study after a full day of classes and rehearsals. Around midnight, I finished my homework and brought out volumes of Italian and French sacred medieval polyphony (music with more than one independent voice) that had just arrived through interlibrary loan. Professor Margaret Bent of Oxford, a specialist on medieval polyphony, had suggested an Italian origin for the newly discovered fragment that I was researching.

I knew from the Latin text that it was a setting of the Gloria from the Catholic Mass, so I looked through those Glorias included in the Italian anthologies, yet found no similarity. I little expected to find a concordance, for of all the music written during that period, few leaves have survived. Yet as I turned the pages of one volume of French music, I noticed that the tenor line of a Gloria corresponded. In my excitement, I burst out of the room, announcing my discovery. Needless to say, no one was very appreciative. But for me, it was a night of accomplishment.

The document that caused my late-night disturbance belongs to Columbia College, South Carolina. While compiling a catalogue of manuscripts in South Carolina libraries in 2007, University of South Carolina English Professor Scott Gwara identified the unusual notation as a rare example of medieval polyphony. Written on parchment the size of a 5-by-

7-inch photograph, the fragment was once part of a larger leaf that was cut and folded for use in the binding of a 14th-century book. On the front (recto), the text is an excerpt from the Sanctus, while the back (verso) contains the two incomplete voices of a Gloria, notated on red five-lined staves, as was typical of the period. There are many surviving sources of medieval monophonic chant, sung in unison, but medieval polyphony is exceptionally rare.

No other polyphonic fragment exists in the southern United States, and in the last century only six fragments have come on the market worldwide. Thus, the Columbia College manuscript is very valuable.

Columbia College’s manuscript is a fragment of ars nova, or “new art,” a notational system that arose in the early 14th century.

The ars nova period is considered highly significant in the development of rhythm in Western music. Among its more important innovations are the use of duple divisions of the beat, and of smaller note values called minims, equivalent to the modern eighthnote. Previously, the shortest note value was the semibreve (the modern quarter-note) and the subdivision of the beat was always into three, a number considered perfect because of its association with the Holy Trinity. The use of a larger variety of note values and divisions allowed for increased rhythmic flexibility and syncopation.

Unlike modern choral scores, 14th-century polyphony is divided so that each voice part is written on a different section of the page. This arrangement of music has the effect that surviving fragments of a medieval composition may have the complete music to one voice part, yet be missing others. This is the case with two manuscripts, one held in Siena, Italy, and the

Elizabeth Nyikos

other in Madrid, Spain, which contain music from the same Gloria as the Columbia College fragment. The Madrid manuscript, transcribed into modern notation in the French anthology I consulted, contains only the lower voice parts, known as the contratenor and tenor. The fragment in Siena was transcribed in early 2007, shortly before Gwara’s discovery. It contains only the top voice part, the superius. Since both the Madrid and the Siena manuscripts are lacking each other’s parts, they were not recognized as the same Gloria until the Columbia fragment provided the missing link. With the high and low sections of the Columbia fragment, we can now see that the two chants are the same and reconstruct the complete three-voice composition for the first time in 600 years.

But this is not the only significant discovery involving the newly discovered Gloria. On a recent trip to the Archivo Historico Nacionale in Madrid, I noticed a previously undetected feature in the Madrid version. On careful inspection, it is clear that one of the notes has been erased; this is significant because it is precisely the erased

First “meet the dean” reception held in Greenville, S.C.

By Susan Ward (1990)

Some 40 alumni, parents, high-school guidance counselors, and prospective Honors College students gathered April 8 in Greenville for a first-of-its-kind dean’s reception.

Dean Davis Baird was keynote speaker at the event, organized locally by Tracy Hardaway, mother of alumnus Todd Hardaway (1997). “We had a great turnout with all of these people,” Tracy Hardaway said, “and we all had a chance to visit and hear the dean give an update on the Honors College.”

The idea for the reception came from a meeting of the Davis Baird talks with an alumnus and a prospective student.

Honors College Partnership Board, of which Hardaway is a member.

Several families with an Honors College affiliation— Mack and Jennifer Whittle, Charles and Tracy Hardaway, Sherri (1976) and Chuck Timmons, Reid Sherard (2000), Mary and Ellis Johnston, William and Susan Ward (1990), Ted and Anne Ellefson (1976), and Todd (1997) and Misty Hardaway— were hosts for the event.

Chuck and Sherri Timmons offered the venue for the reception: the dining room of Canal Insurance Company Sherri Timmons talks with on East Stone Avenue. Tracy Hardaway provided upcountry prospective students. barbecue from Henry’s Smokehouse, Duke’s sandwiches, fruit, and sweet treats, including lemon cookies from the Yellow Oven Bakery.

In addition to the dean, Honors College staff members Associate Dean Ed Munn Sanchez and Mark Sibley-Jones, director of alumni affairs (along with his wife, Julia), attended the reception. The event was a success, and Honors College staff members talked of organizing similar events in other parts of the state.

Hardaway explained that once the hosts had agreed to help, invitations were mailed to alumni and their parents in the Greenville area, as well as local high-school guidance counselors and interested students. She said personal follow-up was instrumental to boosting attendance at the Greenville event.

“Sherri Timmons did a great job with Ashley Pruitt, the guidance counselor at Christ Church Episcopal School, getting students interested in attending,” Hardaway said. “A key [for other receptions being planned] would be for the hosts and hostesses to make personal calls to the high-school guidance counselors to reach interested ‘future’ students and parents,” she said.

Dean Baird said of the event: “I enjoy spending time with our alumni. As I told someone recently, I see students every day, but our alumni are a very important part of the SCHC family, and I see them less frequently. I love hearing their stories of their time in the Honors College and where they have gone since. The opportunity to meet and spend time with them is one of the real joys of my work.”

connecting with alumni and friends | 5

semibreve that changes the meter from groups of two and four beats to three beats. One might think that it was a mistake made by the scribe, who later corrected it. However, the note is not erased in the Columbia fragment, indicating that the semibreve in both Columbia and Madrid sources was a deliberate change to triple meter, a musical effect consciously created, and later altered in the Madrid fragment by a different scribe, who wished to keep the meter consistent.

Due to such irregularities, transcribing the Gloria has been no easy task. Drawn from three different sources, the voices are editorialized differently and contain various solutions to avoiding certain undesirable harmonies.

But it is certainly exciting to hear the music come together. In 2007, a medieval vocal ensemble directed by Dr. Carol Krueger performed the superius and tenor parts of the Gloria in South Carolina’s University Chorus’ fall concert, and later the opening of the exhibition, Pages from the Past at the Thomas Cooper Library. It was the first time in 600 years that the chant was heard.

Next fall, this ensemble will appear again at Medieval Voices, an exhibition of medieval manuscripts opening Sept. 18, 2008, at the USC School of Music. On display will be medieval music manuscripts from University library collections, including leaves from the Royal Abbey of Poissy, France, and a large Spanish gradual, with plainchant from the Catholic Mass.

It is both a considerable honor and a significant responsibility for me to participate in such research. Though a music major, I came upon the field of medieval polyphony though the back door, as it was my interest in early manuscripts and not my love of music that initially led me to undertake research on the University’s manuscript collection. As a sophomore, I was fortunate to enroll in an honors seminar, The History of the Book, taught by Professor Patrick Scott. It is to this honors elective that I owe my introduction to the University’s impressive rare books resources, and my connection with Gwara, who mentored my research. As I become familiar with manuscript research, I still recall how little I knew of these resources only a few years ago. At such times, I never fail to wonder at how that single elective opened the door to unlocking the mysteries of the past.

On Track SCHC students balance academics and athletics

scholar-athletes | 6

By Greg Goetz (2011)

while getting an absolute first-rate education catered to my interests and goals in life. I feel like I am making the most of my time here at Carolina as a college student.”

In addition to their motivations, the student-athletes weighed in on their favorite benefits of being in the Honors College and on the team. Callie Rabun, a fourth-year exercise science/psychology double major, said, “I love getting the chance to travel and see new places for free with the team. Even more, I love being able to live on the Horseshoe. It’s a blast!” Similarly, Langdon said, “I love living in an Honors Living and Learning Community. I get to meet amazing people who live right next door or down the hall.

I also like the social events, like the free icecream socials on the Horseshoe sponsored by the honors council.”

There is also a strong affection for the Honors College professors and their classes.

“Although the balance of sports and school is difficult, the professors and classes in the SCHC make it all worthwhile. One of my favorite classes I’ve taken here at Carolina has been African American Literature with Professor Jim Burns. The class was crazy and fun, but very intriguing and educational at the same time,” said second-year journalism student Cassity Brewer.

“I have enjoyed all of my honors professors, especially my biology teachers, Dr. Thomas Hilbish and Dr. Richard Showman. They were both ready in a heartbeat to help us out with any questions we had about anything,” said Evens.

“I loved the fact that my philosophy professor, Dr. Jim Stivers, insisted we call him Dr. J. He was so fun and intelligent, and I learned so much from him,” said Rabun.

So what is on the horizon for the crosscountry team? The group discussed their 2008 hopes.

“We definitely want to place higher in the SEC championships. The competition we face in this race is of some of the highest quality, running against nationally ranked teams such as Arkansas, Florida, and Georgia.

We just missed the top 10 last season, and we don’t want this to be the case next year. It will be a goal we have on our minds all summer,” said Brewer.

McKinney said, “I’m really excited for the 2008 season. We had a really young team last season, so this year will be exciting to see us develop even more cohesively as a group.

We are all really motivated to achieve what we said we would accomplish in our goalsetting sessions.”

In addition to this, the future looks bright for Gamecock cross-country. All 12 officially recruited runners in this year’s freshman class are cross-country athletes. “I can’t wait to see how the new runners can contribute to the team. I am looking forward to a very promising season from both the new and seasoned teammates,” said Langdon.

In a final thought, Langdon added, “Being on the team and in SCHC has forced me to learn how to manage a lot of different facets of my life at one time, be it through academics, running, social life, and everything else.”

This is a credit not only to the SCHC and

Front, left to right: Tara Tae, Sarah Langdon Back, left to right: Callie Rabon, Lisa McKinney, Ashley Evens

Gamecock athletics, but also the University as a whole. The environment presented to students in academics and sports or other organizations is truly one of living and learning, with a great degree of intellectual and self-growth taking place both inside and outside of the classroom.

As I packed up my gear after taking a photo of the women for this article, I saw them start their stretches before hitting the road. As a former runner, I know the dedication it takes to run religiously every day, with the same energy being required to excel in the classroom. These girls no doubt had papers due, projects due, and exams to study for, but that would come later in their carefully balanced schedule. The next 45 minutes would be devoted to the pavement and their sport.

All six are model student-athletes, rightly representing their team, the SCHC, and themselves.

scholar-athletes | 7

Among the number of amazing students in the South Carolina Honors College are many involved with outstanding organizations around campus, many who have studied and done research abroad, many pursuing double and even triple majors, and many who have an impact on the University of South Carolina community outside of the classroom. For six particular women in the SCHC, however, the opportunity to claim positions on the Gamecock cross-country team complements their outstanding academic achievements, as both endeavors provide ample learning opportunities.

“Being on the team and in SCHC has taught me the importance of self-motivation and time-management skills,” said Sarah Langdon, a second-year visual communications student. “The tight-knit atmospheres of both have helped me to make more friends here at Carolina than I would have without them.”

The challenge to balance the course work of honors classes with up to three hours of practice each day gives the term “studentathlete” a whole new classification for these students.

“Honors classes are a welcome challenge to me, but it is critical that you manage your time wisely. The biggest challenge for me is reserving adequate time to study, run, and rest,” said second-year biology student Ashley Evens.

“They [classes and practice] are both very time consuming. It’s hard to stay up late studying when you have practice at 6:30 the next morning,” commented Langdon.

To voluntarily keep yourself in constant, NCAA competition–level physical condition while sacrificing time out of every day to go to team meetings and taking some of the most demanding courses at the University—all the while flirting with sleep deprivation—is not something practiced by every college student.

So what keeps these women motivated?

“Running is a passion of mine. Even if I weren’t on the team, I would be doing it daily.

Plus, the Honors College is great because of the variety of classes to choose from and the small class size. The excellent courses and engaging faculty have taught me so much about academics, myself, and life,” said Lisa McKinney, a third-year biology/premed student.

Second-year premed student Tara Tae said, “I’ve always liked to challenge myself, and the opportunity to run at the college level

feature | 8

Fulbright Fellows Sierra Carter, Matt Enright, Crystal Byrd

Shelley Price and Ashley Tjader, Critical Languages Scholars

Goldwater Scholars Joey Montoya (left) and Oliver Gothe (right) and Honorable Mention Bill Kay (center)

Ashley Rhoderick, Rotary Scholar

Jeremy VanderKnyff, NSF Fellow

Jamie Shutta, NOAA Hollings Scholar

Sarah Chakales, Rotary Scholar

Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs enlarges students’ visions as well as financial packages

By Mark Sibley-Jones

Each year the University of South Carolina draws greater numbers of applicants with increasingly strong academic records. Average SAT scores for incoming classes have risen 76 points since 2001, a trend that attests to both the excellence of our students and the competitive arena in which they perform. And for this year’s incoming Honors College freshmen, the average SAT score exceeds 1400.

Don’t expect these exceptional students to rest on their laurels once they arrive at the University. Many of them embrace the rigors of scholastic work with an enthusiasm that parlays into some of the most impressive academic awards that college students anywhere can claim. The students themselves deserve much credit for their accomplishments. Yet integral to their success are the faculty, staff, peers, and especially the Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs (OFSP) who have bolstered their efforts.

Since OFSP was established in 1994, University students have won more than 396 national awards totaling more than $11.5 million for advanced academic study.

During the 2008–09 academic year, 44 awards and more than $1.4 million for advanced study have been won. OFSP, whose slogan is “helping students apply themselves for national fellowships and scholarships,” brings together students, faculty, staff, and its own resources to provide individual guidance and support to national scholarship applicants.

Although OFSP serves the entire University, Honors College students particularly have sought their help and consequently have reaped enormous benefits. It’s not surprising, therefore, that 70 percent of University students who have won national awards since 1994 are SCHC alumni or current students.

Among the SCHC award winners 2000–2008 are the following: 1 Rhodes Scholar 1 Marshall Scholar 4 Truman Scholars 19 Goldwater Scholars 15 Fulbright Fellows 1 Glamour Top-Ten College Woman 2 Javits Fellows 4 Knowles Teaching Fellows 3 James Madison Fellows 21 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellows 1 National Physical Science Consortium Fellow 2 NOAA Hollings Scholars.

In the 2007–08 academic year alone, 22 Honors College students and alumni won national awards, including 4 Fulbright Grants, 2 Goldwater Scholarships, and 2 Knowles Science Teaching Fellows.

Three SCHC students were featured in the May 2 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education for their achievements: physics and chemistry major Oliver Gothe and chemical engineering major Joey Montoya for their 2008 Goldwater Scholarships and Asma Jaber, a 2007 Truman Scholar and a member of the 2008 USA Today All-USA Academic Team for her academic record and her advocacy on behalf of victims of Middle East violence.

Additionally, rising senior and mathematics/ statistics major William Kay was a Goldwater Honorable Mention.

Much can be said to applaud these students for their hard work and remarkable success. Yet while time and space do not permit accolades for each one, perhaps the diligence and character of SCHC scholars are

Asma Jaber

feature | 9

properly summed up in a statement made by history professor Kenneth Perkins after working closely with Jaber during her undergraduate career: “From her efforts to make quality health care available to the members of migrant communities in South Carolina to her deeply felt concern for the victims of injustice and violence in the Middle East, Asma has embodied the true spirit of the advice that if we think globally and act locally, we can, as individuals, make a difference.”

Thanks in large part to OFSP, SCHC students are encouraged throughout their academic careers to think and to act in ways that expand their global visions and enhance their abilities for service in both their local and international communities. “Helping students articulate their future personal and professional hopes and dreams through national fellowship Tyler Ray competition work is extremely clarifying for the students and gratifying for the faculty and staff who support them,” said OFSP director Novella Beskid. “They receive much more than a scholarship by engaging in this process.”

And the local and global communities these young scholars serve receive much in return. As they bring to bear on the world a mature understanding of its challenges and needs, along with a capacity to respond to those needs with intellectual and physical rigor, we all may hope to share in the benefits of their accomplishments.

A 2007 Truman Scholar, Jaber is also the seventh University of South Carolina student (the only one this year) to be named a member of USA Today ’s All-USA College Academic Team. The award honors full-time undergraduates who not only excel in schol scholarship but also extend their intellectual abilities beyond the classroom to benefit society.

Her passions for helping immigrants and refugees continue to grow as she volunteers at advocacy centers for immigrants to facilitate their health needs. She has worked with local Somali refugees and last fall chaired the S.C. Fast-a-Thon, which encouraged the community to make a pledge, fast for a day, and then share a meal in order to underscore the plight of Iraqi children war victims.

As an undergraduate, Jaber served in leadership positions with the Muslim Student Association, Professional Society of International Studies, International Students Association, and Alpha Phi Omega co-ed service fraternity. She plans to pursue a graduate degree in Middle Eastern studies with an anthropological/historical focus, and she maintains a keen interest in international education development.

Jaber currently has taken on a job with the Oxford International Review (OIR).

“I want to get some journalism/interna journalism/international experience before grad school,” she said. “I’ll be working on a project on Iraq that will include conducting interviews in Kurdistan and Basra and preparing edito editorial and commentary on them. We will then prepare innovative policy recommendations about the way ahead.”

In her work with OIR, Jaber has helped to write a proposal to have OIR facilitate an Iraqi Education Initiative project that would bring thousands of qualified Iraqi students to the United States each year to continue their college educations here. “This is a great project,” she said, “and helping out with it in any way possible would be wonderful. As Americans, I think we should feel a moral responsibility to do everything possible to help rectify the setback to education in Iraq.”

Meet Betsy Shrader, a member of the University’s equestrian team s tu d ent li fe | 10

By Mark Sibley-Jones

Betsy Shrader might best be described as an equestrian fanatic. She loves horses. That she recently competed in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association’s (IHSA) National Competition in Los Angeles is no surprise to those who know her. Her dedication to her sport, coupled with her devotion to horses, paid impressive dividends with an invitation to participate in the prestigious tournament.

A member of the University’s IHSA team, Shrader has been a rider since her youth. She bought her first horse when she was in seventh grade. Jamie was a 13-year-old bay quarter horse measuring 15.1 hands. (A ‘hand’ is four inches; thus, a 15.1-hand horse measures 61 inches from ground to ‘withers,’ which is the highest point on the horse’s shoulder). Shrader describes Jamie as “basically a babysitter who carried me around to improve my confidence and overall riding ability. He was a little ornery at times but loved to jump.”

When Shrader’s riding skills surpassed Jamie’s performance abilities, she sold him to be a school horse in North Carolina. Later she was delighted to learn that a young girl bought Jamie from the farm. She knows that the horse “is quite content there.”

Her second horse, a registered thoroughbred named Huey, is a large 16.3-hand chestnut that Shrader got when she was a high-school freshman. “His head is the size of my upper body,” says Shrader.

Although Shrader describes Huey as “generally laid back and easygoing,” she admits that he “hates being tacked up. He will pin his ears, kick out and grind his teeth as soon as I start to brush him. However, he is too sweet to actually bite or kick a person. When he isn’t being brushed, Huey loves to cuddle up and have his massive face rubbed or scratched.”

Because Huey was young—7 years old— and “green,” or untrained, when Shrader bought him, they had to learn together.

And learn they did. They rode the circuits, performing initially in the children’s division where they jumped fences set at two feet, nine inches. When Shrader turned 18, she and Huey graduated to the adult division.

Last summer Huey went lame. Shrader took him to a vet who diagnosed a stone bruise on his foot and said the injury would take only a week or two to heal. But the ailment persisted, forcing Shrader to “retire” Huey to a barnyard where he now enjoys romping with a pony and “just being a horse while, we hope, he gets better.”

Currently Shrader rides a 6-year-old Belgian Warmblood named Catalina, whom she has owned for only a few months. “We are still getting to know each other,” says Shrader.

“She has four white socks and is a chestnut. So far she has been quiet and shy on the ground, but loves her job when I’m riding her. She can be a little lazy sometimes, but I prefer that to a quick horse. We have only been to one show together, and she was excellent there.”

Whereas most athletes enjoy an off-season when regular practice schedules are replaced with personal fitness routines, Shrader has no such luxury. She rides and trains her horse five to six days a week throughout the year and also takes one or two lessons each week from her trainer, Adrian Mack, at Trueheart Farm.

Most of her spare time is spent hanging out at the barn getting ready for shows and grooming Catalina.

One would think that all the time and energy a rider expends on training her horse and competing in local and regional events would work to her advantage at the IHSA

Shrader with Catalina

National Competition. Not necessarily. Once riders accumulate enough points at regional and “zone” competitions to advance to the finals, they are not allowed to ride horses they have trained. IHSA rules stipulate, “The use of personal tack is not allowed and schooling is not permitted. The theory behind this structure is to equalize variables of the competition and test the horsemanship of the contestants.”

SCHC Associate Dean Briana Timmerman, herself a lifelong competitive rider, explains the challenge of competing on a horse you’ve never ridden: “Imagine two ice skaters who have never skated together and only one knows the routine. That’s what it’s like to compete at nationals on a horse you’ve never seen, much less trained.”

Shrader says, “There is no time for practice, and you do not get to use your own tack [i.e., you’re not only unaccustomed to the horse but to the riding accoutrements as well]. You can watch other people warm the horses up in the morning, but that is the only clue you get as to what type of horse you have.”

But Shrader’s years of experience on other horses served her well at nationals, May 8–11.

She competed in individual novice fences at a height of two feet, six inches, and placed fifth in that category, quite an achievement for

someone in her first ride at nationals. She is especially grateful to Angela MacFawn, her IHSA coach, and Three Fox Farm. MacFawn competed in IHSA shows when she was in college. Shrader says of her coach, “She really understood how the system worked and how to prepare the team for any kind of horse we might end up riding.”

Shrader is back home now, training Catalina daily at True Heart Farm in Blythewood. When asked about the upcoming season with the South Carolina IHSA team, Shrader said, “I’m very excited.

Our first show is Sept. 21 at the University of Georgia. We will be riding against UGA, of course, Clemson, Berry College, Augusta State, Emory, and Georgia Tech.

The team is going to be much larger this year (around 12), and most of the riders are going to be totally new to IHSA. It will be fun seeing them figure out how the shows work and getting addicted to riding so many different horses just as I did.”

Shrader hopes that with a larger team, the University will see more women make it to nationals. “I would be just as proud to see one of my teammates go as I was to be there myself. Riding on the IHSA team is unique in the horse world and is something I can’t imagine not being a part of my college experience.”

Shrader aspires to national competition.

In the spirit of Jim Stiver’s boundless generosity and devotion to learning, a group of admirers and former students established an Honors College scholarship in his name. The group surprised Stiver with a luncheon in his honor on Nov. 9, 2007, at which time they announced the creation of the scholarship.

Best Rast (SCHC 1979) provided the initial gift and the leadership for establishing the scholarship. Rast and the Honors College wish to thank the following people for their contributions to this new fund:

Jim and Marta Stiver and friends

Laurie (SCHC 1992) and Doug (USC 1994) Addy Adam Humphreys (SCHC 2001) Ben Rex (SCHC 2003) Florence Gailey (SCHC 1984) Don Hottel (SCHC 1982) Kelly McClanahan (SCHC 1997) Evelyn and Park Bailey (parents of SCHC grad) Donald Rex (parent of SCHC grad) Through his roles as professor of philosophy, associate dean of the South Carolina Honors College, and now principal of Preston College, Stiver has touched the lives of innumerable students during his more than 25 years at the University. His energy and enthusiasm for teaching make him an ever-popular professor for Honors College students. He continues to teach Logic and American Curmudgeons and Misanthropes. Additionally, his recent induction to the South Carolina Honors College Partnership Board ensures that he will continue to represent and support the students he has dedicated his life to serving.

Jim and Marta listen to Davis Baird

The South Carolina Honors College Scholarship Committee will annually award the Jim Stiver Scholarship to a worthy student who demonstrates intellectual curiosity and exemplary academic success.

SCHC invites you to take part in this opportunity not only to honor Jim Stiver’s lifetime of service, but also to perpetuate the generosity and academic enrichment that mean so much to him. To contribute, please fill out and return the enclosed envelope and form. By joining the ambitious effort of your fellow alumni, you can express your gratitude for Jim’s legacy and help another young person benefit from his teaching, his beloved college, and the wonderful community of scholars, students, and friends he helped to create at the University of South Carolina.

t e a c h i n g i n p e r p e t u i t y | 11

Jim Stiver Scholarship established by friends and former students

Remembering Dr. Matthew Bruccoli f a c u l t y e x t r a o r d i n a i r e | 12

By Jennifer Brackett (2008)

As the Parisian bus driver pulled away with half of our class in tow—including Judith Baughman, secretary, scholar, and itinerary-keeper extraordinaire—I stood on the corner with the other half of the class and an angry Fitzgerald expert who didn’t speak a lick of French. I wondered what I’d gotten myself into. Dr. Matthew Bruccoli, one of the greatest literary scholars and bibliographers in the world, didn’t know where we were going, so he took us out to eat. We’d been in Paris all of an hour and a half, and the expensive meal was Bruccoli’s way of smoothing over the rough start to our fall break. We were to spend five days in Paris, perusing the houses and hangouts of the great expatriate writers. Between the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, strange break breakfast items on the complimentary buffet and Bruccoli’s say-it-louder-so-they-understand solution to the language barrier, he brought us over to his side. If you were in his class and you weren’t in love with Fitzgerald, you were either stupid or distracted.

Bruccoli didn’t have to convince me that his field was worthy of my interest; I’d gone to his office as a freshman and groveled for a spot in his class. I didn’t know about the trip to Paris, or that Bruccoli had written almost everything worth reading about Fitzgerald. He let me in the class and opened the door to the world of scholarship.

This was more than reading and pet authors— this was detail, the hotel the author frequented on the French Riviera, the wife’s affair, the letters to and from editors, the manuscripts and typescripts and galley proofs, misspellings and poor punctuation. This was a whole life read in the sentences that curved around the margins, the words marked out and replaced and marked out again. When we were timid, hung over, or slow to respond because we hadn’t read the assignment, he would threaten us: “You don’t deserve

a masterpiece!” He taught us how to deserve great literature, to devour it.

A few of us committed ourselves to Bruccoli, became his disciples and took all of his classes, living for the occasional “Good girl!” or “Yes, by God!” He loved to argue with us. He expected us to go out into the world equipped to salvage the literary industry—to correct the tainted editions of masterpieces and give the money-grubbing publisher bastards a good what-for. For the rest of our lives, we followers will argue for Fitzgerald’s reputation, will renounce the publishers for their shoddy, error-ridden editions. “Does every word count?” we will hear Bruccoli asking us.

“Yes,” we will respond.

A year later I would grovel again, this time asking Dr. Bruccoli to direct my undergraduate research on Hemingway’s The Garden of Eden.

“It’ll be a hell of a thesis,” he said. I received a Magellan Grant to fund my research and flew to Boston to read the handwritten manuscripts at the John F. Kennedy library. I typed from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, then called Bruccoli to marvel and rage over the changes made from manuscript to published novel. He would agree, cursing the publisher and editor, then sagely steer me back to the bibliographical aspects of import. He humored my emotional responses and interpretations of the text: “God, you’ll be a critic yet,” he said. Bruccoli was proof that geniuses can teach well. He taught by example.

In constructing my thesis, I read his articles over and over, marveling at his ability to state the complex simply.

A year and a half and several exhaust exhausting drafts later, I put my 140-page thesis on Bruccoli’s desk, being certain to slam it down loudly. As befitted his personality, he was never overly impressed. “This is good, even publish-

able. I want you to make a full book out of it.”

The Hemingway Society had denied me permission to publish, but Bruccoli was prepared for that as well. “You’re 20, Patrick Hemingway is 80. You’ve got time on your side.” At the time, I laughed. Bruccoli was no young man either, but I expected that eventually we would publish together. I imagined writing the book with Bruccoli, working with the Fitzgerald and Hemingway scholar.

This exchange took place in Bruccoli’s last Fitzgerald seminar. There were only six of us in the class, and we’d had to interview for the positions since the class was being filmed. We all thought, in the back of our minds, that this video was for posterity. Bruccoli was recording these lessons so that students after his time could hear what he had to say. We were aware of the film crew, and of Bruccoli’s age and occasional ailments, but none of us really believed he was mortal. He was our gruff, grandfatherly, Scotch-loving, cursing, brilliant old man. We knew all his suits and could predict when he would want coffee. We knew his favorite inscriptions, the sayings he would quote over and over. His work was humbling and his example was empowering. He was more than a professor—he represented a type of aspiration, an expectation of ourselves in regard to our passions.

After the semester ended, Bruccoli was diagnosed with cancer of the brain stem. I visited him twice before he died, and not knowing how to express my admiration of him, I asked him what he wanted me to do for Fitzgerald. I assured him that he had inspired his students, that we would continue his work.

He could only come up with two things. “I have no regrets,” he said.

Continued on page 15

Thank you to the 327 alumni, couples, businesses, and friends listed here. Your contributions provided more than $100,000 in support that was used to provide scholarships, research stipends, travel abroad grants, and course enhancements. Your generosity allowed us to do what we are known for—going above and beyond in providing exceptional experiences for our students inside and outside the classroom. These opportunities are what make an honors education unique and exciting.

Thank you for supporting our mission and our students. $10,000+ The Canal Charitable Foundation

$1,000–$9,999 Dr. and Mrs. Douglas Michael Addy Mr. and Mrs. Eldon A. Bailey Dr. Davis W. Baird Mr. Mark E. Brown Mr. Francis J. Dutton Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Kent L. Hayes Mr. John K. Hoey Dr. Anita S. Hood and Dr. Charles G. Hood Dr. and Mrs. James C. Karegeannes Mr. and Mrs. Gary Ralph McLaren Ms. Jodie W. McLean Morgan Stanley Dr. Dennis A. Pruitt Sr. Mr. Ben A. Rast Mr. Benjamin H. Rex Dr. Peter C. Sederberg Mr. T. Daniel Silvester Mr. Edward M. Simmons Jr. SunTrust Bank Atlanta Foundation Witt/Hoey Foundation

$500–$999 Dr. James R. Banks Dr. William S. Buice Mr. James William Cooper The Duke Energy Foundation Mr. Richard L. Farley Ms. Sarah Gluek and Mr. Gregory R. Smith Mr. Thomas J. Horan Mr. Adam Joseph Humphreys Colonel and Mrs. D. Mark Husband Dr. Sheryl Kline Mr. Gordon K. Mantler Mr. Neil McCaskill Jr. Mr. R. Scott Moore Mrs. Patricia Lockhart Morrissey Dr. William M. Rambo Jr. Mr. Benjamin B. Reed Mr. Donald H. Rex Jr. Dr. John Mark Sibley-Jones

Ms. Alicia Sikes Dr. Frank K. Sloan Jr. Mr. Harry Elwood Turner Mr. Jerry F. Wells Jr. Wiley Rein LLP

$250–$499 Mr. James L. Atkinson Dr. Kelly S. Bobo Mr. Mark M. Bolembach Comcast Corporation Deloitte & Touche Foundation Dr. James B. Dewar Mr. J. Martin Harvey Mrs. Sharon D. Hundley Dr. James P. Jamison Ms. Julye Matthews Johns Ms. Shirley D. Lohman Dr. Robert A. Lordo Dr. G. Michael Niggel Ms. Lindsay Walker Ormsby Ms. Karen Petit Mr. Stephen M. Rawson Ms. Marie-Louise Ramsdale and Mr. Charles Thomson Ross Mr. Timothy D. Sinclair Ms. Linda H. Stephens Mr. and Mrs. John J. Vanderwood Mr. Chris Vlahoplus Jr. Mrs. Susan N. Ward Mrs. Mary K.B. Zanin

$100–$249 Accenture Foundation, Incorporated Dr. William Major Anderson Mr. John William Arnold Mr. Larry D. Aull Ms. A. Lorraine Aun Mrs. Catherine D. Baker Bank of America Mr. and Mrs. Sotirios Dimitrios Basilakos Mrs. Allyn P. Bedenbaugh Dr. Harikrashna B. Bhatt Mr. G. James Burns Mr. James P. Byrd Dr. Suzette Surratt Caudle Dr. Dana Lynn Caulder Ms. Elizabeth S. Chapman Mr. Timothy A. Clardy Mr. Edward Michael Clark Ms. Lori F. Copeland Mr. and Mrs. William Swaffield Cowan DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund Mr. Frank Deloache Dr. James Edward Estes Mrs. Hilda W. Flamholtz Dr. Harold W. French Ms. Frances F. Goldman Mrs. Debra L. Gordon Ms. Rebecca S. Gramling Mrs. Tracy W. Gunn Mr. George V. Hanna IV Mrs. Lynne Hansen The Hartford Insurance Group Ms. Anna Maria Hatfield Ms. Catherine Edwards Heigel Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey A. Hill Ms. Susan Lee Hitchcock Mrs. Maura Kurtz Hodge Mrs. Donna Rice Hughes

Mr. Andrew Rupert Humer Dr. Laura Barnette Jackson Mr. Dale C. Johannesmeyer Mr. Wayne D. Johnson Jr. Ms. Sarah P. Jones Ms. Mary Anne Joyal Mr. G.L. Kalinauskas Mr. and Mrs. Charles William Kay Jr. Mr. Joseph W. Kern KPMG Foundation Mr. John G. Krah Mrs. Kimberly Buckner Land Mr. Boyce Mendenhall Lawton III Dr. and Mrs. Richard M. Learner Ms. Sharon M. Lemasters Mr. and Mrs. Jason Wendell Lockhart Ms. Janis E. Lutz Mr. Jim Manning Mr. Benjamin Skipper Martin, Esquire Mrs. Leslie K. Martin Mr. John B. McArthur Mr. Gerald M. Meggs Mr. Marty R. Millender Dr. Ronald E. Miller Jr. Mr. Steven T. Moon Mr. and Mrs. Vincent P. Mooney Mr. Clifford Owen Morgan III Mrs. Jennifer L. Musgrave Dr. Kathryn A. Neeley Mr. Eugene G. Nelson The New York Times Company Foundation Mr. Andrew R.H. Newton Mr. Edward F. Nolan Jr. Mrs. Rosa B. Otero-Creech Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Richard Peach Ms. Gwendolyn L. Pearson Dr. Frederick B. Piellusch Mr. Patrick Eugene Pope Mr. James Thomas Price Ms. Jennifer A. Rainman Mr. Scott S. Reeves Ms. Judy M. Rehberg Dr. James F. Riddle Mr. John D. Rinehart Jr. Mrs. Cindy M. Robertson Ms. Virginia H. Rogers Dr. Anna Mashburn Rouse Ms. Amy M. Royalty Mr. Barry L. Saunders SCANA Services, Inc. Dr. Suzanne Grace Schulte Mrs. Dale A. Shadden Dr. Harry F. Sharp III Mr. and Mrs. Larry A. Slovensky Mr. and Mrs. Dean S. Smith Mr. and Mrs. Jason K. Smith Mr. Joseph P. Smith Dr. Sally Wilson Smith Dr. Thomas E. Smith Sonoco Foundation Mr. William Charles Storch Jr. Mr. John G. Taylor Mr. and Mrs. Ernest T. Thompson III Ms. Nicole L. Thorpe Mr. Allen Tibshrany Mr. Michael Patrick Turner Wachovia Foundation Mr. Wesley M. Walker III Dr. Mary Catherine Watzin Mrs. Lavann Weaver Landrum Mr. James Greg Welborn Major John W. Welker Ms. Katherine D. Whitt Mrs. Danielle F. Williams Ms. Kathleen Williams

Up to $99 Anonymous Mr. William J. Arvay Jr. Ms. Sara K. Bates Dr. Martha and Mr. Ray Bell Mrs. Stephanie F. Bell Ms. Deborah T. Bennett Dr. Carl T. Bergren Mr. Robert W. Bierman Mr. Fred C. Blackstone Mr. Robert T. Bockman Ms. Heidi Brooks Dr. Elizabeth S. Buchanan Ms. Christine S. Carroll Mrs. Lynn B. Chandler Mr. Kevin L. Chapman Mr. James A. Clements Ms. Sandra A. Coggins Mr. David M. Cohn Mr. T. Charles Conrad III Ms. Heather C. Cooper Mr. Glenn M. Cornwell Mrs. Michelle O. Cranford Mr. Chad E. Crumbaker Dr. and Mrs. James D. Dailey Jr. Mrs. Diane Tilly Davidson Dr. Michael D. Dukes Thomas J. Dwork, DMD Mr. Noel Vaughan Eaton Mr. and Mrs. Michael A. Emrick Ms. Linda Lineberger Ensor Dr. Katherine Trexler Etheridge Ms. Sheila S. Fitts Mrs. Sarah T. Fletcher Ms. Patricia Tarrer Flora Mrs. Teresa Wilson Florence Dr. Gweneth Bratton Lazenby and Mr. Nicholas Stuart Fogelson Mr. and Mrs. Brandon Fornwalt Mrs. Shari L. Freed Mrs. Laura Doyle Gates GE Foundation Ms. Marie C. Gilbert Mrs. Rita L. Gladstone Dr. Heather R. Gleaton The Reverend Terrell Lyles Glenn Jr. Mrs. Angela K. Gorman Mr. M. Ryan Graham Ms. Moisette Intonya Green Ms. Linda M. Gremillion Mr. Thomas L. Guerard Mrs. Jean P. Hall Mr. Samuel F. Hamilton-Poore Mr. Michael D. Hamrick Mr. and Mrs. Flint Harding III Mr. Sean R. Hardwick Mr. Carl Brown Harper Jr. Dr. Reenea R. Harrison Ms. Emily Carol Henderson Ms. Bev Hicks Mrs. Shannon M. Holley Mr. John Hollis Mr. Bradley W. Holt Mrs. Judith S. Horry The Reverend James C. Howell Ms. Suzanne A. Hyman Ms. Autumn Ford Jennings Mrs. Susan Render Johnson Mrs. Colleen Parry Jones Mrs. Amy Gray Jordan Ms. Donna Presing Kakarala Dr. Prashanth J. Kamath Ms. Meredith A. Kane Mrs. Julie S. Kanes Ms. Tamara Racheal Killian Mr. Wade S. Kolb III Mr. John Edward Kouns Ms. Elizabeth Laffitte Ms. Priscilla Grace Larkin Mrs. Robin L. Latchford Mr. Daniel Justin Layfield

Mrs. G. Caroline Leonard Mr. R. Ryan Lindsay Mrs. Nancy L. Madden Mr. Peter Lewis Marxsen Ms. Elizabeth Stran McCurley Mrs. Jane A. McKinney J. Allen Meadows, MD Ms. Margaret A. Mitchell Mrs. Shoshana R. Mostoller Motorola Foundation Ms. Lucille P. Mould Ms. Theresa T. Nelsen Ms. Lucy A. Nolan Mr. Richard A. Oakley Dr. Ronald Paolini Mr. Laurence W. Pearce Mrs. Patricia G. Pegram Ms. Patricia M. Petty Mr. and Mrs. Thomas D. Pietras Mr. Harry Pratt Jr. Mrs. Ann A. Prohoniak Ms. Sarah Quick Ms. Marie Lovelace Rasmussen Mr. Douglas L. Reames Mr. Gerald C. Reeves Ms. Elena Roberts Mrs. Deborah F. Rogers Mr. Steven C. Rohan Mr. L. Greg Rollins Ms. Deborah C. Salzberg Dr. Patrick Scott Mr. Robert Travis Scott Mr. Billy W. Self III Ms. Sharon Elise Sengelaub and Mr. Phillip Russell Croom Mrs. Judy A. Shackelford Mr. and Mrs. K. Trent Shealy Mr. Michael S. Sheely Mr. Reid Thomas Sherard Mrs. Vandy J. Shrader Mr. Dell Eugene Simmons Jr. Mrs. Sarah A. Slaughter Mrs. Cynthia S. Smith Mr. Jeffery Dean Smith Ms. Julie Ann Smith Mr. Michael Justin Smith Mr. Adam R. Snyder Mrs. Virginia A. Spallek Mrs. Susan G. Stewart Mr. James R. Stickle Dr. Randall W. Stowe Dr. Glenda Einetta Suber Mrs. Sheima Salam Sumer Ms. Zeynep N. Tanyel Mr. Thomas J. Taylor Mrs. Vivian A. Taylor Mr. Jeffrey Reid Thompson Ms. Jill Suzanne Timms Ms. Celeste Toole Ms. Julia O. Turlington The Vanguard Group Foundation Ms. Elizabeth Hadden Verant Mr. and Mrs. Gregory L. Webb Mr. Mark E. Wenger Mr. Robert Allan Wertz Mrs. Megan Blythe Westmeyer Ms. Grace J. Wigal Mrs. Katherine Zaner Williams Mrs. Chappell Suber Wilson Mrs. Julia H. Wilson

Care has been taken in the preparation of the report to assure complete and accurate recording. However, if omissions or errors have occurred, we express our sincere regret and request that you bring such errors to our attention.

d o n o r s | 13

South Carolina Honors College wishes to thank all donors who made gifts in 2007.

c l a s s n ote s | 14

Class notes

70s

19

Diane T. Davidson (1975) has joined St. Mary’s Duluth Clinic Health System as senior vice president of human resources.

Anne Ellefson (1976) was recognized last April at the University of S.C. School of Law’s annual Compleat Lawyer Awards dinner as one of six S.C. lawyers who have made significant contributions to the legal profession and high standards of professional competence, ethics, and integrity.

Ellefson is heralded as one of the best real estate lawyers in South Carolina.

A shareholder and managing director of Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A. in Greenville, she practices in real estate, representing owners and developers in commercial real estate transactions.

Ellefson is former chair of the Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerce and recently chaired the chamber’s Higher Education Committee. She is past president of the South Carolina Bar Foundation, served as campaign chair of the United Way of Greenville in the first campaign that exceeded $10 million in funds raised, and was recently elected trustee of the ETV Endowment of South Carolina.

19

80s

Richard C. Litwin (1984), an Atlanta attorney, has been named to Georgia Super Lawyers, a Law & Politics publication that identifies the top five percent of attorneys in each state, as chosen by their peers. Law & Politics employs a multistep

selection process that also includes a blue-ribbon panel review comprising specialists and independent research of the candidates. The selected lawyers are featured in the March 2008 issue of Georgia Super Lawyers, which is sent to more than 23,500 Georgia attorneys.

The list of attorneys also appears in the March 2008 issue of Atlanta Magazine.

Litwin, a 1987 graduate of Emory University School of Law, specializes in state and local taxation, representing businesses and individuals before taxing agencies and in court in Georgia and throughout the country. He has extensive experience in handling complex state tax matters and draws from experience representing the Georgia Department of Revenue as an assistant attorney general from 1990 to 1995.

Robert Burton Scearce (1987) retired from the U.S. Navy with more than 20 years of service effective Jan. 1, 2008. His retirement ceremony was held Oct. 12, 2007, at EWTGLANT, Norfolk, Va.

90s

19

Representative Laurie Slade Funderburk (1997) and her husband, Bill, celebrated the first birthday of their son, Slade, this past November.

Elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in June 2004 to fill the unexpired term of Vincent A. Sheheen, Funderburk was reelected to full terms in November 2004 and November

2006. She serves on the House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee.

In 2006, Funderburk was selected to be among 20 members of the Liberty Fellowship Class of 2008, a statewide values-based leadership initiative.

In 2007, she traveled to Australia as a delegate of the American Council of Young Political Leaders. Funderburk and her family were recognized in 2005 as the Kershaw County Agribusiness Family of the Year, and in 2005, the Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County presented her with the Harriett Phelps Service Award for outstanding service and commitment to the arts.

00s

20

Jennifer Baker (2002) and Craig Nix (1993) are members of the “20 under 40” class featured in The State on Jan. 7, 2008. They were recognized for their professional accomplishments and for their contributions to the quality of life in the Midlands.

Nix is an executive vice president and chief financial officer for First Citizens. He began his professional career with what now is PriceWaterhouseCoopers as an auditor and business advisor. He joined First Citizens as a senior vice president and less than two years later became the CFO. Nix spearheaded First Citizens’ move to become a privately held company. In addition to overseeing the bank’s acquisitions and development of a new downtown tower, he is chair and president of Wateree Life Insurance, a First Citizens subsidiary.

Baker is the director of professional affairs for the S.C. Pharmacy Association. A year after graduating with her Pharm.D. degree, she walked away from a potentially more lucrative career as a pharmacist to join the state agency where she started several programs, including one to bolster the number of pharmacists in rural areas. She also assisted in capturing an “America’s Most Wanted” suspect in 2006 while

overseeing a program that detects fraud at pharmacies. She was named the association’s Distinguished Young Pharmacist of the Year in 2003 and worked as a page for the S.C. House Judiciary Committee while in college.

Left to right: Brantley Busbee, Monica Kim, Rachel Rosansky, and Laura Mesa LaBoone

Brantley Busbee, Monica Kim, Laura Mesa LaBoone, and Rachel Rosansky (all 2002) graduated from Crayton Middle School, A.C. Flora High School, South Carolina Honors College, and MUSC together. They are finally going their separate ways.

Brantley will attend the University of Illinois for an emergency medicine residency, Monica will attend Wake Forest University in North Carolina for an ophthalmology residency, Laura will attend Wake Forest for an internal medicine residency, and Rachel will attend Albert Einstein-Montefiore Hospital in New York for an internal medicine residency.

Carrie England (2000) participated in the first First Jackson Spalding International Business Exchange, spending one month in a work-study program with Van Luyken Communicatie Adviseurs, a Netherlands-based public relations agency.

“We wanted a meaningful way to recognize our team members who have made significant, long-term contributions to our clients and firm,” said Bo Spalding, co-founder of Atlanta-based Jackson Spalding. “This exchange is a great way to not only show our appreciation of outstanding people, but also to strengthen our relationships with affiliated firms around the world.

Pass us a note ... a class note!

Please send us your professional or personal news. (Remember, we love photos, and we’ll send them back to you after publication.)

Class notes and photos may be submitted online. Visit http://schc.sc.edu and click on “Alumni,” or use the enclosed donor envelope to send us your class notes and photos, or e-mail to alumni@schc.sc.edu.

Tali Engoltz (2000) is overseeing the completion of a 45-mile public walkway in North New Jersey on the banks of the Hudson River. Engoltz works in the coastal management program for

the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. With a bachelor’s degree in marine science from the University of South Carolina, Engoltz says, “I’m pretty much doing exactly what I went to school for. I’m really lucky.”

N. Allison Skipper (2004) has been elected vice president of the Public Relations Society of America’s South Carolina Chapter. She currently serves as public relations associate for the South Carolina State Ports Authority in Charleston, S.C.

New seminars offered The following honors courses are offered for the first time during the fall 2008 semester: Beyond the Page: An Introduction to the Digital Humanities An Introduction to the History of Medicine Tocqueville: Democracy in America Post-Colonial Literature Studies in Hawthorne, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner, and Updike Graphic Novel Modernist Women as Public Intellectuals

Mark your calendar October Advisement begins in early October. Check the SCHC Web site for specific dates 9–10 Fall break—no classes

November 4 8–9 8

General Election Day—no classes Homecoming Association of Honors Alumni Homecoming Brunch, Carolina Room, Inn at USC, 10 a.m.–noon (contact Mark Sibley-Jones at alumni@schc.sc.edu for information) 26–30 Thanksgiving recess—no classes

December 5 6 8–15 15 15

Last day of classes Reading day Final examinations Commencement in Columbia Honors College revocation ceremony (for graduating seniors; contact Laura Mewbourn at laura@schc.sc.edu for information)

The 21st Century Student and Honors Education Spanish for Health Care Professionals The Visual Dimension of the Performing Arts: Examining Theatrical Spectacle Imagining Human Rights Sustainable Development Planning Religion and Politics Media and Information Literacy Violence and Manhood in American Literature

Continued from page 12

The New York Times remembered Matthew Bruccoli as an incredible bibliographer and scholar. Administrators at Carolina probably remember him as a troublemaker. I know I speak for his students in saying that we will remember him as the most challenging and inspiring professor we could have had. He chased his passions even in death. The last time I saw him, Bruccoli said, “When I meet Fitzgerald in that great Ritz bar in the sky, I’ll finally get the Tender is the Night chronology straightened out.”

Then he smiled.

Note from the editor: Jennifer Brackett graduated summa cum laude from the Honors College last May. She and her husband, Will Grover, also a summa cum laude Honors College graduate, now reside in Memphis, Tenn., where Will is in medical school and Jennifer teaches ninth-grade English at a charter school.

c o u r s e s a n d d a t e s | 15

Carrie is very deserving of this honor.”

A consumer PR strategist who has supported brands like Hershey’s Kisses, Spanx, and Orkin Pest Control, England has worked for Jackson Spalding since 2002.

She has contributed to the firm’s multiple industry awards and has led client training for the firm’s JS cultivation division.

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Permit #766 Columbia, SC

Association of Honors Alumni South Carolina Honors College University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Revisit academic year 1978–79 To mark our 30th anniversary this year, we’ve compiled the list of Honors College classes as they were listed in the Master Schedule of Classes during the 1978–79 academic year. Do you recognize any of the classes and professors? Remember where you sat? Beside whom?

How many early morning classes you slept through?

AHA! is the official newsletter of the South Carolina Honors College and is published twice yearly for alumni, students, parents, and other members of the South Carolina Honors College community.

Managing Editor: Mark Sibley-Jones Copy Editor: Susan Nesbitt Ward (1990) To reach us: 803-777-8102 or alumni@schc.sc.edu Alumni Correspondents:

Susan Nesbitt Ward (1990) Student Correspondents: Jennifer Brackett (2008) Greg Goetz (2011) Elizabeth Nyikos (2009)

The University of South Carolina is an equal opportunity institution.

08483 University Publications 9/08

Fall 1978

Spring 1979

Principles of Biology

Dawson

Principles of Biology

Hancock

Principles of Chemistry

Bonner

Principles of Chemistry

Bonner

Principles of Geology

Carpenter

Principles of Geology

Lawrence

Principles of Physics

Knight

Principles of Physics

Knight

Calculus

Wahab

Calculus

Wahab

Logic

Descriptive Astronomy

Childers

Descriptive Astronomy

Childers

American History

Beardsley

American History

Beardsley

American History

Rogers

American History

Rogers

European History

Bargar

European History

Bargar

European History

Augustinos

European History

Dolan

European History

Mandell

European History

Mandell

Intro to Psychology

Cafferty

European History

Augustinos

Intro to Pol Analysis

Sabia

Intro to Psychology

Engle

Principles of Econ

Martin

Intro to Sociology

Webster

Poetry

Ower

Intro to Intl Religions

Blachman

Poetry

Scott

Principles of Econ

Martin

The Novel

Brown

American Literature

Feldman

The Novel

Castles

American Literature

Butterworth

The Novel

Lechner

American Literature

Myerson

The Novel

Kimmey

English Literature

Brown

Drama

MacNicholas

English Literature

Siebert

Drama

Hark

English Literature

Kimmey

Rhetoric

McCauley