The New Guy
 Geoffrey Hardee joined our college development staff in mid-January
as assistant director of development and alumni relations coordinator.
If you have already heard from Geoffrey, it would not surprise
me. He's an early riser and a zephyr of energy.
With Elizabeth Quackenbush, the college's senior director of development,
joining us in the fall and Annie Lambert, our development coordinator,
joining us last spring, we've had a nearly complete turnover in
the front office. My long-time administrative assistant Nancy Twohey
and I are still here, though. And the whole team is energized,
a bit like the early budding and blooming that occurs as South
Carolina eagerly anticipates its early spring.
Geoffrey's primary development role is in building relations with
our alumni, working with the college's own Alumni Society and managing
the Dean's Circle Giving Society. He comes to us from a successful
stint as director of a hospital foundation in his home town of
Roanoke Rapids, N.C. His previous experience in broadcast journalism
and public relations means he speaks our language. Geoffrey's reachable
at hardeeg@mailbox.sc.edu and you can learn more about him at http://sc.edu/cmcis/admin/hardee.html.
As senior development director, Elizabeth is responsible for seeking
major gifts for both schools. Her efforts are concentrated on naming
opportunities in the new building for the School of Journalism
and Mass Communications, expansion of funding for the literacy
initiative in the School of Library and Information Science and,
as always, providing greater scholarship and fellowship resources
for our students.
Annie, a visual communications alumna, has taken on responsibility
of the production aspects for InterCom, our twice-yearly alumni
magazine. She also produces this monthly electronic newsletter,
leads our effort to improve our use of social media and coordinates
events for the college.
Annie is also the collector of your news information, whether
it's a change of address, new job or a Twitter handle. Let her
know. Or me. Or the new guy.
Charles Bierbauer
College News
Public relations student helps classmates gain internships
 Senior public relations student Kim Barrett spent her summer as
an advertising sales intern with NBCUniversal in New York City
for the summer Olympics. While there, she discovered the importance
of networking and connections between students, alumni and their
schools.
Barrett returned to the J-school in the fall as an ambassador
for NBCUniversal's internship program. As such, she helps fellow
classmates apply for NBC internships and write resumes, hosts information
sessions, talks with classes and meets with student organizations
across campus.
Read
more about Barrett and her work
Cocky's Super Ad Poll to critique, judge Super Bowl commercials
While the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers battle
it out on the field Feb. 3, 100 J-school students and faculty will
critique the famously creative ads and cast their ballots for the
best Super Bowl XLVII commercial, evaluating them on likeability,
persuasiveness and brand identity. Others not attending the screening
can vote online
Each year the advertising team that creates the winning commercial
is invited to campus to receive the coveted Cocky Award and share
behind-the-scenes stories in the making of the commercial.
Students display photo exhibit at Tapps Arts Center
Visual
communications students Jeremy Aaron and Lee Walker have displayed
their photography exhibit, "A Portrait of South
Carolina," at Tapps Arts Center on Main Street. It will be
available for viewing through the end of February. Funded through
the Magellan Scholars Program at USC, the exhibit highlights 12
photo subjects from all walks of life in the state of South Carolina.
Aaron and Walker were mentored throughout the project by assistant
professor Denise McGill. "I think it was most rewarding to
see how Jeremy and Lee reacted to seeing their work on the wall.
I hope it gives them confidence in their work, and encouragement
for whatever their next projects might be," said McGill.
Faculty News
 Martin to receive lifetime achievement award
Dr. Michelle Martin, Augusta Baker Chair in Childhood Literacy
for the School of Library and Information Science, will receive
a lifetime achievement award from the Clemmie Gill School of Science
and Conservation (SCICON) in Tulare County, Calif. Martin worked
for the outdoor education school from 1988-90. While there, she
wrote music that is still well known among students and staff.
J-school professors lead seminar on teamwork in the classroom
 Associate professor Karen Mallia and assistant professor Dr. Brooke
McKeever led a seminar through the Center for Teaching Excellence
at USC on Jan. 23 discussing teams in the classroom and the disparity
between professors' and students' interest in group work.
"It was great to get to meet other faculty from across the
university and to hear about their experiences working with student
teams in different disciplines. When Karen (Mallia) asked me to
do this presentation with her, I wasn't sure I'd have much to contribute,
but in the end, I think we learned almost as much from the attendees
and participants as they did from us," said McKeever.
Albright and Gavigan receive research grant award
 Drs. Kendra Albright and Karen Gavigan received the 2013 Research
Grant Award at the annual Association for Library and Information
Science Education (ALISE) conference in Seattle on Jan. 24 for
their project, "Information Vaccine: Using Graphic Novels
as an AIDS Prevention Tool for Young Adults."
The award of
$5,000 was made to support research broadly related to education
for library and information science.
Feature
Buchheit Family Lecture with Dan Balz
Review by Ashley Honea
Dan Balz, chief political correspondent for The Washington Post,
has more than three decades of political wisdom, eight presidential
campaigns and numerous stops in this notoriously Republican and
controversial state to draw on. Still, as he humorously told an
audience at the University of South Carolina, "Your politics never
cease to be interesting. South Carolina is the gift that keeps
on giving."
A timely presentation, Balz's speech titled "The Political Landscape
after 2012," came just three days after President Obama's
second term inauguration. After acknowledging some of the most
recent events — Sandy Hook and the fiscal cliff — making
up a "remarkable year," Balz laid out the heart of his speech for
his audience: "There's no way to ignore the fact that this is still
a deeply divided country."
While recounting the president's "handsome victory," he attributed
much of its success to Obama's campaign team and its ability to
raise millions of dollars and operate at such finite levels of
detail. Balz also discussed Mitt Romney's loss in the election
and the "historic clash of visions" between the two candidates.
As for the future of the country, Balz spoke of glimpses of confidence
in the president's "very robust" inaugural speech and noted that
he seems to be "staking out positions that he avoided in his first
term."
"This was not a speech that said let us reason together,
this is a speech that said, 'follow me'," said Balz.
Balz acknowledged that the country is in a time of transition
with government officials figuring out where they want to be and
how to get there. Looking ahead to the 2016 presidential primary,
he suggested that the successful candidate will be one who defines
the party in a "new and fresh way."
"As I've talked to people since the election," Balz concluded,
"there is one thing that comes through and that is people are looking
for leadership. They're looking for leadership in Washington. Obviously
that falls most heavily on President Obama, it falls also on the
Republicans and it falls, in a sense, on us to try and do better."
Balz's appearance at Gambrell Hall on Jan. 23 was part of an annual
lecture series funded by the Buchheit Family Endowment in honor
of Phil Buchheit, former publisher of the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.
Besides recruiting prominent and influential people to speak to
students, faculty and the community, the Buchheit Family Endowment
also provides scholarships to students of the School of Journalism
and Mass Communications.
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