http://uscb.edu/uploads/2008_Spring_USCB_Magazine

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA BEAUFORT CONNECTING WITH ALUMNI AND FRIENDS SPRING 2008

A CATALYST FOR DIVERSIFYING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Office of the Chancellor

Challenge

The of Building a Knowledge-Based Economy USCB Magazine Building Connections. Serving USCB. Spring 2008 • Volume VI, Number I

Dear USCB Alumni, Friends and Supporters:

This magazine’s mission is to strengthen the connection between USCB’s friends and supporters and the university.

Welcome to the Spring 2008 issue of USCB Magazine.

“A Catalyst for Diversifying Economic Development” is this issue’s theme. We reflect on the role the community asked the University of South Carolina Beaufort to assume nearly a decade ago when the need for diversifying and strengthening the economy of the Lowcountry became apparent.

Then as now, the economy of the Lowcountry was supported largely by retirement and tourism-based businesses and bolstered by a substantial military presence. Community leaders recognized that future economic growth would require developing a knowledge-based economic segment. These technologically advanced industries would succeed only if they were staffed by educated, highly skilled employees with leadership potential.

The magazine seeks to present thoughtful, in-depth articles on teaching, research, student life and community outreach. It also shares insights into the extended community of alumni, friends and supporters of USCB.

Lynn W. McGee, Ph.D. Vice Chancellor for University Advancement

Colleen Callahan

To prepare the next generation of employees – fully skilled and ready to assume responsible positions in this knowledge-based economy – USCB would have to expand from a two-year institution to a four-year baccalaureate degree-granting institution. Further, we would have to expand our academic programs and tailor them to meet the specific needs of the region.

Our first feature story reflects on this growth process.

Director of Development

A second need of the region was to develop workers with the skills and commitment to aid individuals of all ages. Under the able direction of Dr. Lynn Mulkey, Human Services is a liberal arts, behavioral sciences field that prepares our graduates to work with those within our society who require the most help. USCB Human Services graduates, however, have ventured beyond the traditional social services field to influence education, law, business and health care.

CONTRIBUTORS Lynn McGee Deborah Reynolds

The third feature story explores the unseen essence of university life. Many of you have visited the beautiful facilities on our two campuses. It’s not possible for each of you to experience the sharing of knowledge, research and fellowship that links students and faculty to the broader community at large. And so this story suggests some of the varied elements that support teaching, research initiatives and community service at USCB. I hope you enjoy USCB Magazine. Your support and friendship are important to us.

Signature

Jane T. Upshaw, Ph.D. Chancellor University of South Carolina Beaufort

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WRITER/EDITOR Richard Gorman

ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHY Kaufman Photography ART DIRECTION/DESIGN JOY A semiannual publication produced by the USCB Office of University Advancement.

University of South Carolina Beaufort One University Boulevard Bluffton, SC 29909 magazine@uscb.edu www.uscb.edu COVER: Tom Zinn of Zinn Asset Management, developer of upscale residential and commercial properties, works with Dominique Sansotta, a marketing major at USCB.

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SPRING 2008

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In the same way that you had Berkeley and Stanford in Silicon Valley, you have the University of South Carolina Beaufort, you have Georgia Tech and you have activity at SCAD. Each university is positioned to take over areas of strength... With Hilton Head located right here, the interplay between USCB and the private sector presents a great opportunity.

Tom Zinn CEO of Zinn Asset Management Developer of Buckwalter Place

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FEATURES Knowledge-Based Economy Creating a knowledge-based business sector will enhance our economic strength

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The Human Services Program A unique baccalaureate program that represents an asset approach to care

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Defining a University People and programs, not bricks and mortar, define a university

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PROFILES Alumni | From USCB to the South Carolina State House

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Faculty | Gordon K. Haist: A Faculty Statesman and Student Coach

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Student | Jeremiah Glenn: SGA President With Compassion and Commitment

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MASCOT USCB and the Community Adopt a Mascot

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GENEROSITY Sea Island Rotary Club Maintains its 20-year Scholarship Commitment

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A CATALYST FOR DIVERSIFYING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT A core of knowledge-based businesses is emerging in the Lowcountry. Who are they and why are they coming?

Professor Alan Warren, left, an environmental researcher at USCB; Dominique Sansotta, a marketing major; Tom Zinn, CEO of Zinn Asset Management, and Dean Moss, general manager of the Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority, on campus at USCB. The university is working actively with business, government and community leaders to develop a knowledge-based segment of the economy in the Lowcountry.

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Integrating knowledge-based businesses with the retirement and tourism-based economic infrastructure prevalent in the Lowcountry requires foresight, iron-willed determination and financial resources. It also requires a strong university partner to serve as the catalyst for change.

For more than a dozen years, the University of South Carolina Beaufort has worked with community leaders and academic and government officials to become a baccalaureate degree-granting institution and to enhance its academic programs. Now it is building a solid base of educated, well-qualified graduates who could launch or support knowledge-based companies in the Lowcountry.

The technology-based library at USCB

The same dynamics that turned fruit orchards into California’s Silicon Valley and a pine forest into North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park are at work today in the coastal region of South Carolina. Community, business and education leaders are laying the groundwork for the Lowcountry’s emergence as a center of business, academic and economic growth.

“Nine years ago, this was primarily a retirement and second home-focused community,” says Tom Zinn, founder and CEO of Zinn Asset Management, the driving force behind Buckwalter Place, Buckwalter Commons and other upscale residential and commercial properties. “The economy was geared toward real estate construction and hospitality with the defense sector north of the Broad (River). There was a huge need for economic development and for diversifying the economy.”

USCB has long recognized its obligation to break the downward cycle of an inadequately prepared workforce and a resulting inability to attract high-tech, highwage firms to the region. Fewer economic opportunities produce an erosion of the quality of life coupled with a net decline in per-capita income. The final stage is a brain drain, a general exodus of Lowcountry students who leave the area to go to college and never return.

The need is great in the region USCB serves.

Nationally, 24 percent of Americans over the age of 25 have a bachelor’s degree or

higher. In Jasper County, an important key to the development of our region, only 8.7 percent of the population have a bachelor’s degree. Of the 46 counties in South Carolina, Jasper ranks next to last in this category.

Launching the Economic/Academic Initiative As the new millennium dawned, a group of community leaders with the vision and determination to effect economic change recognized that developing a diverse, knowledge-based economy in the Lowcountry would require a foundation of well-educated, knowledgeable citizens. To produce this talent, USCB would have to expand its role and change its mission, becoming a different institution.

“We had USC Beaufort, then a two-year college with its main campus in Beaufort,” says Dean Moss, general manager of the Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority.

“But if you looked across the state, there was no four-year institution in this corner of South Carolina.”

Don Ryan, CEO of CareCore National, at its Buckwalter Place location in Bluffton.

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Local political, civic and business leaders had long advocated establishing a four-year university in the southeastern corner of the state to help spur economic growth. Developer Dick Stewart, the first chair of the Greater Beaufort-Hilton Head Economic Partnership, Inc., and Moss’s colleague on the board of the Chamber of Commerce in Beaufort, worked to organize a community forum in support of a baccalaureate institution. Dr. Jane Upshaw, then dean of the University of South Carolina Beaufort, stepped forward to campaign for baccalaureate status for USCB with county and state government officials and the USC system.

The timing was fortuitous. The drive to initiate a knowledge-based economy in 2000 occurred just as a series of fortunate events converged. The need for economic development was well documented, especially in Beaufort and Jasper counties. Community support for USCB was gaining momentum rapidly. Union Camp, which would be acquired

by International Paper, had donated 80 acres of prime land in Bluffton for use by the university to develop a second campus. An option for an additional 120 acres would expire in 2005 if construction had not begun by then. And finally, the compelling case was made for the move to baccalaureate status; Lowcountry students who sought a baccalaureate education had to drive two and a half hours to reach the nearest campus.

Before they could approach the state with their proposal, however, Beaufort County officials had to demonstrate viable community financial support for the USCB initiative. That’s when Thomas C. Taylor, former chairman of the Beaufort County Council, and W.R. “Skeet” Von Harten, the vice chairman, interceded. Beaufort County Administrator John Kachmar recommended using tax-increment financing to support the construction of physical facilities on what would become USCB’s new campus at the Gateway to Hilton Head in Bluffton. Taylor, Von Harten and other members of the council agreed and the council allocated the funds. USCB continues to grow through financial support from Beaufort and Jasper counties to this day.

Simultaneously, Stewart joined with his colleagues, Dr. Upshaw and Wes Jones, a partner in the law firm of Jones, Patterson, Simpson & Newton, to bring their shared vision to government officials, business people, educators, students, retirees and virtually the entire citizenry of Lowcountry residents.

The initiative was fortified by the donation of land, by significant financial support from Beaufort and Jasper counties and from Hargray Communications and other business and private donors. Bolstered by a groundswell of community support for the proposal, and a clearly demonstrable, compelling need, the initiative was endorsed or approved by the county and state governments, education officials and the USC Board of Trustees.

Dean Moss, general manager of the Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority.

In 2002, USCB became a senior campus of the state university system with full baccalaureate status.

In the ensuing years, USCB has carved out a modern, 200-acre campus from a pine forest, constructed many two-story academic and residential buildings, expanded and targeted academic programs on the university’s two campuses, and added more than a score of notable scholars to its faculty.

For example, the work of Professor Alan Warren exemplifies how USCB’s faculty impacts economic development through research and public service. An environmental researcher who specializes in water-quality sustainability and environmental protection, Warren has led numerous studies that deepen our understanding of the fragile environment our region seeks to protect.

His data on water-quality sustainability enable developers, governmental officials and environmental agencies to make decisions that will protect the environment of the Lowcountry.

The Knowledge-Based Economy Emerges One of those in a position to benefit from a successful economic/academic initiative is Dean Moss at the Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority. “We’re probably the most technologically advanced public agency in the region,” Moss says. “I can run this entire utility from my laptop – turning everything on, turning it off, monitoring everything that’s going on with the system.

We need people who can operate in that environment.”

That means water engineers, environmental engineers and process engineers, most of

whom are chemical and sanitary engineers.

Accountants are also in high demand to work with the utility’s sophisticated accounting process.

“Entrepreneurship, which we’ve preached for a long time, is a mechanism from which to be able to plant seeds in the ground for people to develop successful businesses.

It’s not a singular type of a situation, it’s a wholeness where each of the different pieces comes together and moves an economy forward in a manner that becomes diversified.”

Another beneficiary of USCB’s growth is CareCore National, a specialty benefitmanagement company that provides utilization and quality-management services to regional and national health care organizations. Founded just 14 years ago by Donald R. Ryan, its CEO and chairman of the board, CareCore National is the leading diagnostic imaging-management company in the world.

The next logical step is the development of clusters – the association of companies sharing similar interests, customer bases and functions.

CareCore National has four significant areas of need at its local offices on Buckwalter Place Boulevard in Bluffton. “We are very dependent on nurses,” Ryan adds, “so the school of nursing is important to us. We also have significant information-technology needs, so database administrators and software developers are important. System operations people who maintain the systems – they’re critical. Our financial operations are significant, so we need accountants and financial analysts. And finally, we need employees with excellent generalmanagement skills.”

“A medical cluster would be perfect for this area,” Zinn says. “It combines the hospitals that are already here with potential patients who are moving to the area and require good health care. If we combine the talents of USCB with the Technical College of the Lowcountry, each one specializing in different areas and each one contributing to the service needs of the region, then they can bring in companies like the CareCores of the world. CareCore National could have located anywhere in the U.S., but it selected the Lowcountry because we have the talent coming out of our universities and the surrounding area to support and enable it to be successful. More potential entrepreneurs would come here if we had the arrows in the quiver to give them. They would have to feel comfortable that they would be successful in the region. That’s what Jane understood, and Dick understood and Wes Jones understood.”

Fostering Academic-Technological Synergies “If you look at the region, we have a number of universities – Clemson, Georgia Tech extension, SCAD and USCB,” Dean Moss adds. “Presumably, those institutions will be able to provide some synergy for each other and work together to build a really strong intellectual hub here. From a technology standpoint, from a qualityof-life standpoint and from an economicdevelopment standpoint, that is very, very important.”

“In the same way that you had Berkeley and Stanford in Silicon Valley, you have the University of South Carolina Beaufort, you have Georgia Tech and you have activity at SCAD,” says Tom Zinn, the developer of Buckwalter Place. “Each university is positioned to take over areas of strength.

Hospitality, tourism – the University of South Carolina Beaufort is the obvious choice to tie into that. With Hilton Head located right here, the interplay between the university and the private sector presents a great opportunity.

CareCore National’s offices in Bluffton.

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USCB’S HUMAN SERVICES DEGREE:

An ‘Asset’ Approach to Care

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One of the fastest-growing academic disciplines today is the field of Human Services. The Human Services Program is a liberal arts and behavioral science curriculum that cultivates a philosophy of care and knowledge, skills and abilities, and practical field experience regarding both individual and social aspects of behavior. Graduates contribute their newly honed skills to the fields of education, law, health care, business and a full range of social services.

The University of South Carolina Beaufort offers the only baccalaureate program in Human Services available in a public college or university in South Carolina. The program is led by a nationally recognized scholar and teacher, Dr. Lynn Mulkey, professor of sociology and chair of the Department of Social Sciences. Dr. Mulkey created the Human Services curriculum that was approved by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education in 2003.

“Human Services is a field that only recently emerged,” Dr. Mulkey explains. “It really is a hybrid of social work that responds to the growing needs of a global service economy. It’s a degree program that instills in its graduates an interdisciplinary theoretical background emphasizing the human services, psychology and sociology.”

“The cornerstone of the program is its ‘asset’ approach to care,” says Jim Glasson, USCB’s Human Services Program specialist. “Students develop a philosophy that encourages an appreciation of the gifts and intrinsic value of others. As a result, they are fully prepared to meet the needs of others in a vast array of work settings.”

Gaining Practical Experience The Human Services Program stresses critical thinking, a factor that distinguishes it from training or technical programs. Students are taught to apply a variety of theoretical perspectives to experiential learning. The program’s focus is sharpened through collaboration with more than 100 individual agencies in Beaufort County alone. Students enrolled in the Human Services Program participate in three internships with these agencies, a symbiotic arrangement that strengthens the community-service agencies while allowing the students to gain practical experience working in real-life situations. Each internship requires 120 hours of service. The program hosted nearly 30 interns throughout the county this semester.

Student’s Perspective One student intern is Corrie Frohnapfel, a Human Services major at USCB who expects to graduate in May. A return-to-college student, Corrie served nine years with the U.S. Marine Corps, including a seven-month stint in Afghanistan as an electronic-intelligence analyst and another stint as a drill instructor at Parris Island. She separated from the corps as a Marine Staff Sergeant and enrolled at USCB intending to major in biology.

“I was talking with Dr. Mulkey in the computer lab one day and she asked, ‘Why do all of my greatest sociology students always have another major?’” Subsequent conversations and a positive experience with Dr. Mulkey’s sociology class prompted her to change her major.

Since then, Corrie has served two internships, one with Rep. Joseph Wilson, who represents the second congressional district in South Carolina, and the second with the Beaufort County Department of Juvenile Justice.

The first internship provided real-world experience with state governmental, political and community functions. The second gave Corrie her career direction. “When I graduate,”

Corrie says, “I think I’d like to start out in the Department of Juvenile Justice, the social services, perhaps working with foster children. I’d like to get into teaching as well. I really care about what’s going on in my community and I want to have an effect on that.”

Twenty-seven students will earn a B.S. in Human Services this year. Another indication of the program’s success is the interest that two-year colleges in South Carolina have shown in affiliating with it.

USCB has signed agreements with five technical colleges to enable their students to transfer into the Human Services Program at USCB with advanced standing.

“The program is a community-based model with training and competencies that reflect the input of practicing experts from the communities we serve,” Dr. Mulkey explains.

Tracking community priorities is the responsibility of the program’s 23-member advisory board, composed of government officials, doctors, lawyers, social services professionals and community leaders.”

Dr. Mulkey brings impeccable credentials to the university. She earned a Ph.D. at Columbia University and went on to earn a postdoctoral certification at the University of California at Los Angeles, becoming a Fellow of the National Institute of Mental Health.

She is widely published and the recipient of numerous grants. Most recently, the National Institutes of Health granted $600,000 in support to continue Dr. Mulkey’s cuttingedge research on social inequality and ability grouping in America’s schools. She serves frequently as a consultant, an expert witness on federal and civil trials, and as an editorial reviewer for leading journals in the field of sociology.

“The care and love Dr. Mulkey feels comes across in her teaching,” Corrie Frohnapfel says. “I love to just sit with her and listen to everything she has to say. She’s just amazing.”

Dr. Lynn Mulkey, standing center, chair of the Department of Social Sciences at USCB, interacts with students on the North Campus of USCB. Student intern Corrie Frohnapfel, seated right, expects to graduate with a B.S. in Human Services in May. USCB Magazine | SPRING 2008 | 09

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DEFINING A UNIVERSITY People and programs, not bricks and mortar, define a university

Ever notice how buildings serve different purposes? A bustling diner, an aluminumclad high rise, a smoky bar, a place of worship – each building exerts a singular influence on our behavior and guides our interaction with other people through its design, shape and purpose. Each building induces in us a distinct set of thought patterns, each one appropriate to the structure and its intended purpose.

And so it is with a university.

D. Martin Goodman of the Small Business Development Center at USCB, shares business insights with Deborah DeLong, a Human Services major. The SBDC has helped to create or save 70 jobs in the region in one year alone.

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Brick and mortar structures are the single most easily recognizable symbol of a university. Equally significant elements that are far more difficult to visualize are the faculty, staff and students and their intangible teaching, research and publicservice initiatives.

Today, USCB offers 12 baccalaureate-degree programs -- in hospitality management, education, business, human services and more – all keenly attuned to support the university’s oft-stated mission to “respond to regional needs, draw upon regional strengths, and prepare graduates to participate successfully in communities here and around the globe.” At the same time, more than 20 graduate degree programs are accessible through the university. USCB’s faculty and staff number more than 120, and its 1,500 students enjoy a 12:1 faculty-student ratio.

Unseen Elements Support Academic Programs At the University of South Carolina Beaufort, both tangible and intangible elements are in a state of simultaneous and complementary growth. The university’s Gateway to Hilton Head Campus has completed the first phase of an ambitious multi-phase master plan. At the same time, the academic, administrative, social and collaborative forces that support the physical structure of the university are emerging as well.

Once a small, two-year college with a single campus in Beaufort, S.C., the University of South Carolina Beaufort has taken a leading role in a community initiative to redirect the economy of the Lowcountry, shifting its emphasis from retirement communities and military installations to clusters of high-tech enterprises supporting a knowledge-based economy.

The academic classrooms, the library, faculty offices and the student apartments on USCB’s two campuses denote the presence of the University of South Carolina Beaufort, but they do not fully define the unseen elements that support its academic programs.

In 2007, for example, the university broadened its range of academic programs. It attracted 17 academic scholars to its growing faculty. The faculty developed an organizational structure commensurate with baccalaureate status, including eight academic departments, each positioned for additional growth. It established new governance procedures. And it welcomed the largest freshman class in its history.

At the same time, the university encouraged the development of student leadership by assisting the Student Government Association in writing its first constitution. It supported the USCB SGA when its leaders joined with other SGA leaders throughout South Carolina to share information, objectives and potential initiatives. And it sponsored debates and created many opportunities for students to emerge as leaders both inside and outside the classroom.

Dynamic growth in academic, cultural and community programs was one of the prime factors that attracted Michael D. Parsons to the university. Parsons joined USCB as Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs in January after a national search.

To fulfill its new role and mission as a baccalaureate institution, USCB expanded beyond its original campus in Beaufort. The Hargray Building, named in honor of a generous corporate donor, was the first to be completed on the university’s Gateway to Hilton Head Campus, a 200-acre tract of land on Route 278 in Bluffton. The Hargray Building houses classrooms plus faculty, staff and administrative offices. The Science & Technology Building soon followed, as did the high-tech library.

To accommodate the students who wanted to live on campus, the university, through the Beaufort-Jasper Higher Education Commission built Palmetto Village, a multi-structure housing complex of attractive apartments.

Amazingly, the second campus – classrooms, laboratories, offices, support services and the quad that connects these essential elements – emerged from a pine forest in just two years. By 2004, the University of South Carolina Beaufort was a four-year university with two campuses, affordable academic programs targeted to meet specific regional needs, and a growing student body.

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“What attracted me was that USCB seemed to be a place of dreamers,” Parsons says.

“People imagined there was going to be a campus here and a few years later, there was a campus here. It seemed to be a place of great opportunity. All universities have opportunities, of course, but there are very few in America today that have the opportunities that USCB has – literally to create itself. ” As the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Parsons provides leadership for the university’s academic development. He carries admirable credentials, having been recruited from Minnesota State University Morehead, where he served as Dean of the College of Education and Human Services.

“There seems to be a desire here to have a hometown university,” Parsons says. “And this is the hometown university for this region. From everything I can determine, from reading and talking with the faculty, the community has embraced the university. I saw an opportunity for a great university-community partnership and an opportunity for both of us to develop together.”

Community Partnerships Foster Growth Instances of a university-community partnership abound. The Center of Excellence in Collaborative Learning at USCB hosted nearly 40 teachers from throughout South Carolina at the university’s first Teacher Institute on Character Education last summer.

Five distinguished scholars from Boston University led a series of sessions and activities for teachers, all focused on sharing a broad range of research findings on character education. The program was sponsored by the Center of Excellence and the State Department of Education.

Funded by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, the center of Excellence in Collaborative Learning studies pre-service and in-service education. It maintains partnerships and alliances with a wide range of community and social service agencies in an effort to engage them in the work and development of the center.

Yet another active university-community partnership involves the extensive internship element of USCB’s Human Services Degree Program, led by Dr. Lynn Mulkey, professor of USCB Magazine | SPRING 2008 | 12

sociology and chair of the Department of Social Sciences.

“We have a very extensive, elaborate collaboration with local counties,” Dr. Mulkey says. “There are more than 100 agencies that work with us in Beaufort County alone. They provide fieldexperience internships and benefit from the enthusiasm and professionalism of our students.”

Another partnership is the USCB Teacher Cadet Program, which encourages local high school students with exemplary leadership and interpersonal skills to consider entering the teaching profession. Last year, the university honored four top high school students with Sullivan-Graham Dynamic Teacher Cadet Scholarships for outstanding achievement. Now in its 23rd year, the program is part of a national parternership that reaches 2,500 academically gifted high school upperclassmen across the nation.

Academic Partnerships Offer Students Opportunities Besides community partnerships, USCB also engages in academic partnerships. The University of South Carolina Beaufort and Georgia Tech Savannah signed an articulation agreement last year that enables USCB students to gain direct admission to

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the Georgia Tech Regional Engineering Program in Savannah.

OLLI Initiative Garners National Attention

In their junior and senior years, USCB students will pursue Bachelor of Science degrees in civil engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, environmental engineering and mechanical engineering.

Another strong model of a universitycommunity alliance is USCB’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, which provides nearly 300 educational courses to more than 1,000 members throughout the region.

The largest program in the USCB Office of Community Outreach, OLLI received a $1 million endowment last year from the Bernard Osher Foundation to expand the scope of its non-credit courses, attract top-tier faculty to teach them and broaden the program’s reach in the community.

In another academic partnership, students at Midlands, Greenville, Horry-Georgetown and Florence-Darlington technical colleges may complete the requirements for an associate’s degree in Human Services at their school and then enroll in USCB’s B.S. in Human Services.

“It’s a great partnership,” Dr. Mulkey says. “We enjoy the opportunity to work with students around the state to prepare them for the changing needs of their communities.”

Assisting Local Entrepreneurs One program that provides a direct economic benefit to the Lowcountry is conducted by USCB’s Small Business Development Center. From offices on both USCB campuses, the Small Business Development Center helped to create or save 70 jobs in one year alone by assisting clients to secure $4.76 million in business loans.

The SBDC is a consulting service for those seeking to start a business or expand an existing business in Beaufort or Jasper counties. The service is confidential and free of charge. By partnering with local banks, economic development boards and partnerships, local government, local chambers of commerce and Main Street businesses, the community-outreach program strives to create a climate that will nurture startup businesses and expand existing businesses, thus creating greater economic prosperity for residents throughout the Lowcountry.

“We’re very happy with the results of our efforts…and the benefit to our community,” says D. Martin Goodman, the SBDC’s interim regional director and area manager. “Our hope is that even more clients will achieve their dreams of owning their own business and thereby spur even more economic development in the Lowcountry…”

The $1 million endowment was the third significant financial contribution made by the Bernard Osher Foundation over the past three years. Based on its enviable record of conducting a lifelong learning program for 16 years, USCB was invited by the foundation in 2005 to join more than 100 select colleges and universities nationwide in hosting an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. The foundation bestowed $100,000 grants on the university to support the program that year and again in 2006.

Strengthening Community Ties The Robert Smalls Symposium, a two-day seminar hosted by USCB last year to celebrate the legacy of the former slave turned Civil War hero and statesman, served to strengthen the university’s cultural ties to the community. Southern artist Jonathan Green, internationally acclaimed for his work depicting the traditions of family, community and life in the Lowcountry, was the featured panelist.

The symposium coincided with the 145th anniversary of Smalls’s daring act of absconding with a Confederate steamship and turning it over to Union forces.

The heroic act led Smalls to embark upon a Naval career and later to serve five terms in Congress.

Academic growth, the new organizational structure, partnerships with academia, government, industry and the community – these unseen elements help to define USCB and prepare it to serve as a catalyst for the educational, economic and cultural enrichment of the Lowcountry.

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Alumni Profiles

From USCB to the

South Carolina State House The instruction Shannon S. Erickson received in the Early Childhood Education Program at the University of South Carolina Beaufort proved to be a steppingstone not only to her own business, but also to prominence in her field and to a seat in the South Carolina Legislature.

It all began more than a decade ago when Shannon Smith left Francis Marion University in Florence, S.C., to marry Kendall Erickson. Four years later, Kendall, Shannon and their children, Mariah and Josh, were happily ensconced in Beaufort. Shannon was teaching at Honey Tree Preschool.

“I realized I was not going to be able to continue doing what I knew I was called to do without obtaining my degree,” she says. And so, in 1995, she enrolled as a return-to-college student in a University of South Carolina Aiken degree program delivered on USCB’s Historic Beaufort Campus. Although her diploma says “USC Aiken,” Shannon identifies with USCB. In the spring of 1998, while completing her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, Shannon purchased Hobbit Hill Preschool in Shell Point and set about revising the school’s curriculum and operating procedures. She taught in the classroom, increased the staff, trained the teachers, introduced new educational programs and lowered the student-teacher ratio. In two years, the school was filled to capacity.

Today, Hobbit Hill Preschool in Shell Point is one of three schools in the system. Hobbit Hill, Too, on Lady’s Island, is the largest, and Hobbit Hill Cottage, near Beaufort Memorial Hospital, is the smallest. In total, 56 staff members provide preschool instruction and before and after-school care for 350 children ranging in age from six weeks to 12 years of age.

The South Carolina Child Care Association, private child-care and early-education providers who monitor regulatory issues for the industry, recognized Shannon’s talents and experience.

Its members elected her first to a two-year term on their board of directors and then to three consecutive one-year terms as their president.

Last fall, Shannon was elected to fill an unexpired term in the South Carolina House of Representatives from District 124 in Beaufort.

Now, as a state legislator, she advocates better educational funding, stiffer penalties for child predators and improved economic development for her district.

Rep. Shannon S. Erickson, R-Dist. 124, on the portico of the old Beaufort College Building of USCB. After completing a B.S. in education through a USC Aiken/Beaufort Partnership Program, Ms. Erickson went on to open a business and win a seat in the South Carolina Legislature. She is a Beaufort County legislative representative.

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“I could not be where I am today without the University of South Carolina system,” Shannon acknowledges. “The faculty members at USCB do not just have you in a class, they follow who you are personally. When we were named the Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year in 2003, I got phone calls from the university congratulating me. That shows they’re proud of what the students and the university accomplish together. They put me, one of their graduates, in a position to be successful.”

Faculty Profiles

GORDON K. HAIST: A Faculty Statesman and Student Coach

Gordon Haist sits pensively, pondering the question. His response comes slowly, in carefully measured sentences delivered in hushed tones.

“The study of philosophy enables students to think – to ask fresh questions. It enables them to address things from what they discover to be a different perspective in relationship to what others are thinking. It gives them a greater resource in terms of their own ability to wonder.”

Gordon K. Haist, Ph.D., professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, has made a career of helping students develop critical thinking abilities and examine philosophical perspectives, issues and concepts. Using well-honed coaching skills, he encourages students to address issues in a rich, multifaceted way.

Thirty-four years of teaching and scholarship at USCB have earned him the title of faculty statesman and student coach.

One of the weighty issues he has been pondering lately is the future direction of the university four years after it attained baccalaureate status.

Having invested 34 years in teaching and scholarship at USCB, Gordon K. Haist, Ph.D., professor of philosophy, is considered a faculty statesman and dedicated student coach.

Designed primarily for transfer and non-traditional students, the Liberal Studies Program enables students to tailor a unique academic curriculum that will support their vocational goals.

“We are having to struggle with our own identity,” he says. “Are we going to become a primarily humanities or science-oriented institution? I would like to see USCB remain a diverse rather than a specialized institution. That has to do with the fact that I’m in humanities, but it also has to do with the need for an intellectual understanding of our modern world and what kids are going into.”

“Dr. Haist was the ideal choice for this program for several reasons,” says Dr. Babet Villena-Alvarez, chair of the Department of Humanities and Fine Arts, which encompasses the Liberal Studies Program. “As a philosophy professor, he understands what the students are trying to achieve. Because he has been at USCB for more than 30 years, he understands our entire curriculum, not just philosophy. This fundamental knowledge of our curriculum enables him to assist students in determining what courses will support their lifetime goals.”

Haist entered the world of philosophy almost by accident. A music major at Indiana University, he discovered that his interest in music outweighed his proficiency. Professor Henry Veatch, Jr., a Harvardeducated Aristotelian scholar in the Philosophy Department there, encouraged him to consider philosophy. Haist was enthralled by its intricacies.

Haist and his wife, Lillian, a middle school librarian, live in Beaufort.

Their son, Gordon B., earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at St. Andrews College in Scotland. He is a bond analyst with Morgan Keegan & Company in Memphis. Their daughter, Jennifer, a counselor at Battery Creek Elementary School, is about to pursue her doctorate.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in philosophy at Indiana and a doctorate at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1974, Haist accepted a position as an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina’s regional campus at Beaufort, the forerunner of USCB. He has been influencing the direction of the university ever since, first as Chairman of the Curriculum Committee, later as Director of the Liberal Studies Program. Today, he serves as chairman Emeritus of the Curriculum Committee and Chairman of the Faculty Development Committee. He teaches four courses in philosophy and is preparing a grant application for a twosemester course in intellectual history. He and a co-author recently completed a collection of essays entitled “Revisiting Mysticism,” now awaiting publication.

If it is funded, Haist’s two-semester course in intellectual history will explore the role of the university in today’s academic and secular environments.

“We need a real comprehension of what a university is,” Haist says. “We need to initiate interactive exchanges and exposures to develop new ideas and perspectives. Our campus community needs to develop a deeper life of the mind, which comes from testing our ideas against those of others, and enables us to deepen our understanding of our own perspective and those of others.”

USCB Magazine | SPRING 2008 | 15

Student Profiles

A frightening combat experience proved to be a major turning point in the life of Jeremiah Glenn, a U.S. Navy medical corpsman assigned to the Second Marine Division as a combat medic in war-torn Afghanistan.

As a senior security patrol corpsmen, Glenn was providing medical care for the troops assigned to secure a forward operating base near Khandahar in 1995.

“We were on patrol one night when we got shot at by insurgents with RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades),” he recalls. “It was pretty intense.

I couldn’t think of anything but my wife, Akelah, and my daughter, Taraya. When I got back to the states, I vowed never to leave my family to do something that dangerous. I decided to pursue my education, and that brought me to the University of South Carolina Beaufort.”

Now, three years later, Jeremiah Glenn is applying that same gritty determination to his new role as a return-to-college student at USCB. He is pursuing a double major – psychology and business – maintaining a 3.95 grade point average, and consistently earning a place on the national dean’s list, the USC President’s List and the Chancellor’s List at USCB. At the same time, Glenn is actively involved in a host of campus activities. He is President of the Student Government Association at USCB and a member of the Board of Presidents of the South Carolina Student Government Association as well. One of Glenn’s initiatives, the Think Globally Campaign, encourages USCB students to weigh carefully the global impact of such pressing issues as immigration and social inequality.

Jeremiah is supporting his family financially while he and his wife attend college full time. He works as an associate sales representative for Hewlett-Packard and relies on stipends for his service as student government president and as a student ambassador at USCB. He earned several scholarships, thanks to his scholastic achievements.

Glenn is on track to complete his course work and graduate in May of 2009. And then it’s on to law school. “I’m looking at JD-MBA programs now,” he explains.

Born and raised in Alexander City, Ala., Jeremiah graduated from Benjamin Russell High School in 2000, then devoted the next five years to his military career. All of that seems so long ago now.

JEREMIAH GLENN: SGA President With Compassion and Commitment

The soft-spoken senior credits Prof. Roy Darby, associate professor of psychology, with influencing two decisions: to pursue a psychology degree and to continue his education beyond the undergraduate level.

“Roy Darby is a mentor,” Glenn says. “When I came here, I was going into hospital administration, then I took Psychology 101 with Dr. Darby. He was such a great professor that I fell in love with the field of psychology. Because of him, I switched my major to psychology.

“Dr. Darby and Dr. J. Herman Blake, my second mentor, challenged me to look at education beyond the undergraduate level. I wasn’t as confident then. But now I feel like the sky’s the limit.”

A combat experience in Afghanistan convinced Jeremiah Glenn to pursue a college education. Today, he’s President of the Student Government Association at USCB and is considering law school.

USCB Magazine | SPRING 2008 | 16

USCB AND THE COMMUNITY ADOPT A MASCOT It’s not easy to adopt a mascot.

Following a comprehensive, ten-month selection process that involved students, faculty, the administration and staff, and a major contribution by the community it serves, USCB has officially adopted the Sand Shark as its mascot, the colors of Navy blue, sand and garnet as its official athletic colors, and a logo that will represent the institution and the region to which it is so closely tied.

Why does the University of South Carolina Beaufort even need its own mascot? After all, USCB is a senior institution in the University of South Carolina system. And USC is widely known as the “Gamecocks,” a nickname it has borne proudly for nearly a century.

While USCB is very much a part of the University of South Carolina system, it felt a strong need to establish its own athletic identity, one that represents its unique strengths and the distinctive aspects of the Lowcountry. Other USC senior campuses have adopted their own mascots and their own athletic colors – USC Aiken, for instance, is the Pacers, attired in blue and garnet. USC Upstate is the Spartans, attired in green and black.

Two major factors drove the search for a mascot. One was USCB’s dramatic expansion in 2004 from a regional campus of the USC system to a fully accredited baccalaureate degree-granting institution of the University of South Carolina system. The second was the decision to sanction intercollegiate athletics at USCB last fall by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Work on selecting a mascot began in earnest last April. USCB surveyed faculty, staff, students, alumni and the community to gather suggestions for a suitable choice.

In May 2007, Dr. Lynn W. McGee, vice chancellor of Advancement, and Kim Abbott, the athletics director, formed a 14-person mascot steering committee to evaluate the suggestions. The committee narrowed the list to 10 alternatives and consulted with trademark and design professionals on the feasibility of supporting the final choice both graphically and legally. The committee then presented its findings to the chancellor and administrative council.

In July, the committee announced its selection of a mascot and athletic colors. A professional design firm began developing mascot logos and word mark options. The firm returned with six images, which the committee narrowed to two, and sent back to be refined as semi-final selections.

Kim Abbott, director of athletics, introduces the new mascot at a formal unveiling ceremony.

In September, six focus groups representing students, faculty, staff, athletics leadership, alumni and the community weighed in on mascot choices. In October, the mascot steering committee recommended a final design, which the chancellor approved.

Now it was time for the official adoption celebration to begin. On Tuesday morning, January 22, Chancellor Jane T. Upshaw, members of the faculty, staff, students and dignitaries gathered in Beaufort for the North Campus unveiling ceremony. To a chorus of cheers and applause, celebrants unveiled the new university mascot painted on the wall of the newly redecorated student lounge.

At noon, the group reassembled in Bluffton for the South Campus ceremony. As the crowd cheered, an image of the new Sand Shark mascot was unfurled from the top of the Hargray Building, the central administration and classroom facility on campus.

The twin unveilings marked the official start of USCB Sand Shark Week. The days were filled with shark-themed games, entertainment, picnics, a bonfire, a shark movie, a concert, a trivia contest, a sidewalk art exhibit – even a 28-foot water slide shaped like a shark -- all in celebration of the official USCB mascot.

Having been involved in the selection process from the beginning, the university community has come together to embrace its new mascot and the athletic teams it will represent with pride.

USCB Magazine | SPRING 2008 | 17

Mascot

Photo by Stephen Berend of Bluffton Today

Generosity

Sea Island Rotary Club Maintains its

When he was 17, Darwin Bashaw walked out of the mountains of western Virginia and made his way down to Goshen Pass, a tiny holler perched 1,300 feet above the Shenandoah Valley. He caught the first railroad train west, got off at Knoxville, enlisted in the U.S. Army and went off to fight in World War II. He was assigned to the United States Army Air Corps, which eventually became the U.S. Air Force. He earned a college degree while serving in the military, then enrolled in a master’s program at Virginia Tech after completing his military service.

In 1965, Bashaw arrived at what was then the regional campus of the University of South Carolina at Beaufort. He began by teaching business courses but, before long, he was appointed director of the college. He chose Larry Rowland, then a young history professor, to serve as his assistant director. For the next 13 years, they worked side by side.

“He was a fabulous character,” Rowland says.

“He was a child of the depression. He grew up in a place where they didn’t always have a lot of food, so when he was appointed director, he became one of the most parsimonious managers of public money I’ve ever known. He was extremely conscientious and forthright and honest. Everybody in the university who ever worked with Darwin loved the guy.”

An interest in community service led Bashaw to join the Beaufort Rotary Club. When the Sea Island Rotary Club spun off to form its own chapter in 1980, Bashaw became one of 35 charter members. “Darwin was always interested in children, in helping them to realize their educational potential,” says former President John Perrill, senior vice president of the Ameris Bank.

John Perrill, Rotary Foundation chairman and former president, congratulates Jennifer Taylor, a third-year student at USCB, on her selection as a recipient of a $2,500 annual scholarship in his name. The Sea Island Rotary Club honors two of its members, former USCB Dean Darwin Bashaw and John Perrill, by awarding scholarships to deserving students each year.

20-year

“He was very active. He served on the education committee. He did so much for the Sea Island Rotary Club and the children of this region that in 1986, we got a group of people together and started the Darwin Bashaw scholarship.”

Today, thanks to a generous endowment by the Sea Island Rotary Club, the Darwin B. Bashaw Scholarship awards $2,500 annually to the outstanding USCB student of the year. The current scholarship recipient is Brantley Wilson, a business major who graduated from the university in December.

Scholarship funds come mostly from fundraisers the chapter conducts each year.

In 1972, the university named Bashaw as its Dean and appointed Rowland Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. “It was a welldeserved honor,” Rowland says. “He got academic rank in the university system.”

Over time, Bashaw devoted his considerable talents to expanding the campus. He built the classroom building behind the Beaufort College building, and he built the library wing attached to it. “We didn’t have a proper library, so we had to build that,” Rowland says. “And I think he acquired the Beaufort Elementary School, which is now the Performing Arts Center building. He renovated it later.”

The 1970s was a period of sustained growth for the campus. “We must have tripled our enrollment during that time,” Rowland recalls.

Today, the Sea Island Rotary Club pays homage to two of its members, one posthumously, by awarding two scholarships annually, each valued at $2,500, and each granted on the basis of academic merit, excellence and potential. The Sea Island Rotary Club authorized the second scholarship in 1989 to honor John Perrill, the Rotary Foundation chairman and former president.

“We look for several requirements,” Perrill says. “Financial need is first. Then, the

Scholarship Commitment

student must attend USCB. It has to be someone local, someone involved in the community. And then we consider grades, SAT scores and extracurricular activities.”

The current recipient of the John Perrill Scholarship is Jennifer Taylor, a third-year student enrolled in the Human Services Program. She is expected to earn a bachelor’s degree next year.

“Years ago, the candidates we selected would come to our meetings and Darwin would introduce them to our Rotary Club at least twice a year,” Perrill says. “He would ask them to talk about what the scholarship meant to them. He was so very proud of them.”

Over the last 20 years, beginning with the Darwin B. Bashaw Scholarship and extending through the John Perrill Scholarship, the Sea Island Rotary Club has helped to support the academic achievements of more than 25 students at USCB. In 1983, Bashaw retired from USCB. Three years later, the Sea Island Rotary Club established the Darwin B. Bashaw Scholarship in his honor. Rowland gave up the position of associate dean to concentrate on being a history professor. In 1999, the university bestowed upon him the title Distinguished Professor Emeritus.

“Larry and Darwin were the best of friends,” Perrill recalls. “They were just like brothers.”

“We didn’t have much money and yet we educated a lot of kids and got them going,” Rowland adds. “Anybody who was either a student of Darwin’s or was in the school when he was the dean remembers him fondly.”

Bashaw died about four years ago in a place not far from his beloved Appalachian Mountains. Over the course of his long journey, Darwin Bashaw touched the lives of many people. And now, thanks to an endowed scholarship from the Sea Island Rotary Club, he continues to do so today.

USCB Magazine | SPRING 2008 | 19

USCB News Highlights

Arthur M. Blank to be Awarded Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at USCB Commencement The University of South Carolina Beaufort will honor Arthur M. Blank at its annual commencement ceremony May 2. Blank, co-founder of The Home Depot and owner and CEO of the Atlanta Falcons and the Georgia Force, was selected to receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of South Carolina for his outstanding achievements as an entrepreneur and philanthropist and for his remarkable leadership in business, professional sports, and nonprofit organizations.

Blank personifies the model of giving back to the community.

Through the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and through personal donations, he has bestowed more than $259 million on nonprofit organizations supporting children, education, the arts, parks and green space.

USCB Hosts World Musical Premiere of a Commissioned Piece by Composer Kenji Bunch USCB had the distinct honor of hosting the world premiere of an original piece of music commissioned by donations to the USCB Festival Series and dedicated to Professor Mary Whisonant, the festival series founder. The premiere took place at the Performing Arts Center on the Historic Beaufort Campus in March.

Considered one of the most prominent American composers of his generation, Kenji Bunch created the first piece of original work for the festival series. Hailed as “a composer to watch,” by The New York Times, Bunch composed the piece for the piano, violin, cello and viola. A violist, Bunch joined American classical pianist Erika Nickrenz, Grammy-nominated violinist Jesse Mills and cellist Edward Arron on the PAC stage for the world’s first performance.

Hilton Head Monthly Profiles USCB Head Baseball Coach Rick Sofield Former Major Leaguer Rick Sofield took time out from the formidable task of organizing USCB’s first baseball program to be interviewed for a profile in Hilton Head Monthly magazine.

A former first-round draft pick for the Minnesota Twins in 1975, Sofield broke into the big leagues in April 1979 as an outfielder for the Twins. Over a three-year career with the team, he appeared in 207 games, scoring 69 runs in 612 at-bats as an outfielder and designated hitter. In all, his major league experience spanned eight years.

Sofield has participated in America’s pastime at every level. After playing for the Twins, he coached minor league teams. Now he serves as USCB’s first head baseball coach. “I am very blessed for all of the things I have done, seen and accomplished in my life,” Sofield told the magazine. “The Lord has permitted me to do all of these things. I have just worked extremely hard and polished what I was given.”

Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program Gains Accreditation from the S.C. Board of Nursing USCB’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program earned accreditation from the South Carolina Board of Nursing in January.

This is the final requirement in an extensive state-level approval process. Facility plans are under approval and applications are being accepted. Junior- and senior-level courses will be offered in the spring of 2009.

“It has been a long journey, but this marks a major step forward for the BSN program at USCB,” says Dr. Susan Williams, Ph.D., R.N. “This nursing program will really open doors for our students and meet a critical regional need for BSN qualified nurses.”

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