South Carolina in the News

The Office of Media Relations compiles news stories about the University of South Carolina; its students, faculty, and administration; and alumni. For more information, call our office at 803-777-5400.

University news

Encouraging change for Innovista [opinion]
THE GREATEST value of Innovista, the thing that is exciting and worth pursuing, has always been the idea of the state's flagship university using its academic weight and vision, much as leading research universities long have done, to develop marketable products and attract entrepreneurs and transform one of the nation's most struggling economies - not the buildings in which that work will be done.
-- The (Columbia) State

Frederick: Bond bill would put people to work, serve public [opinion]
. . . Our universities and public agencies have put new construction on hold and deferred maintenance for far too long. There has not been a capital bond bill passed since 2001. We cannot afford to go another year without one.
-- The (Columbia) State

Doritos ad takes Cocky Award
For the first time, an ad created by a regular guy has won a USC advertising class's Cocky Award for best Super Bowl commercial.
-- The (Columbia) State

--> Additional coverage at the following news link:

-- WACH-TV (Columbia)
-- Midlands Biz

The miracle of birth: simulated
. . . Noelle is actually a $30,000 human birthing simulator USCB was borrowing from the Medical University of South Carolina for a couple of weeks so nursing students could practice on her as part of their Women's Health studies. And late last month the school invited faculty, staff, students and the media to witness the demonstration.
-- The (Hilton Head) Island Packet

USC Upstate honored by Arbor Day Foundation
The Arbor Day Foundation today honored the University of South Carolina Upstate as a 2009 Tree Campus USA University for its dedication to campus forestry management and environmental stewardship.
-- The (Spartanburg) Herald-Journal

Faculty/Staff/Student notes and quotes

'Economic Disassembling': Firms Mount Mass Attack on Toyota
. . . Similar claims haven't held up well in court tests involving defective products, said David Owen, law professor and director of tort studies at the University of South Carolina School of Law.
-- Law.com

USC researcher recommends ban on texting while driving, not cell phones
. . . University of South Carolina psychology researcher Amit Almor has completed two studies that examine how texting and cell phone usage puts demands on the brain’s resources.
-- South Carolina Radio Network

Exclusive: Columbia police inquiry likely fair
. . . USC criminal justice professor Geoffrey Alpert says Columbia authorites are treating their investigation with standard operating procedure.
-- WACH-TV (Columbia)

Segregation spurred S.C. school building spree
. . . "Those in charge knew they weren't doing what they should be doing (before 1951)," said Val Littlefield, an associate professor of history at USC. In the early 1950s, "money was being spent on public schools at a rate much higher than ever before. It may have been for the wrong reasons, but the unintended consequence" was improvement in the education of African-American and poor white children.
-- The (Columbia) State

 

• Forbes, and elsewhere, via PRNewswire, Jan. 26, 2009
  University of South Carolina's Moore School Ranks as Top Business School for 'International...
  ". . . The University of South Carolina's Darla Moore School of Business ranks as the best business school in the world for 'international experience' in the newly-published Global MBA Rankings by the Financial Times. In the report, released annually by the FT, Moore's MBA program also ranks second in the 'International Business' subject area category."
• The (Raleigh) News & Observer, Jan. 25, 2009
  Searching for the unseen
  ". . . 'Right now, we are as a society finding a lot of new technological applications for these things [nanoparticles], and that's great, exciting stuff,' said John Ferry, an environmental chemist from the University of South Carolina who is not involved in the study. 'While we do that, we have to ask ourselves if there are unintended consequences of their use. Of course, there always are.'"
• Science Daily, Jan. 21, 2009
  How Categories and Environment Create Satisfied and Well-Informed Consumers
  ". . . 'How can retailers help consumers become more informed about the products they use while also making them happy?' write authors Cait Poynor, Pitt assistant professor of business administration in the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, and Stacy Wood, University of South Carolina professor of marketing."
• The San Antonio Express-News, Jan. 18, 2009
  Teen's death during chase drawing fire
  ". . . Geoffrey Alpert, a criminologist at the University of South Carolina, said the issue becomes muddied because the younger sibling fired the shotgun."
• The Philadelphia Inquirer, and elsewhere, via AP, Jan. 14, 2009
  Many factors behind Haiti's disaster record
  ". . . The University of South Carolina's Susan Cutter, who maps out social vulnerability to disaster by county in the United States, said Haiti's poverty made smaller disasters there worse."
• The New York Times, Jan. 13, 2009
  When the Gym Isn’t Enough
  ". . . OVER the course of a year, Alex Feintuch, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of South Carolina, spent more than $1,000 on fitness supplements."
• Financial Planning magazine, and elsewhere, via American Banker, Jan. 11, 2009
  Huffington Post Campaign Resonated for a Reason
  ". . . 'Banking for many people is a pretty low-involvement kind of purchase,' said David Crockett, an associate professor of marketing at the University of South Carolina's Moore School of Business who studies the sociological aspects of consumer behavior. 'There's a lot of esoterica that they cannot understand, but for what they do understand, banks tend to provide fairly standard offerings with subtle variations.'"
• The Los Angeles Times, Jan. 11, 2009
  Justice Department seeks police reform in Inglewood
  ". . . 'If the rules are wrong, it opens officers up to doing the wrong thing," said [Geoff] Alpert, a professor at the University of South Carolina who has helped police agencies draft policies.'"
• The Birmingham News, Jan. 10, 2009
  Marina Lomazov's UAB recital ranges from witty to humorous to serious
  ". . . The bold seriousness that engulfed four of Schubert's "Moments Musicaux" at the beginning of Marina Lomazov's recital Sunday could not have foretold the spirit-lifting program that would unfurl in the ensuing 90 minutes."
• The Indianapolis Star, Jan. 9, 2009
  12 companies interested in running convention center, stadium
  ". . . Matt Brown, an associate professor in sports and entertainment management at the University of South Carolina who studies stadium financing, said it's increasingly common for cities to privatize operations of sports facilities and convention centers."
• The (Riverside, Calif.) Press-Enterprise, Jan. 8, 2009
  Stun gun policies under review by Inland agencies following court ruling
  ". . . Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, called it an important opinion. Alpert, who recently completed a study on Tasers funded by the National Institute of Justice, said courts are beginning to address the relatively new technology of Tasers."
• The Economist, Jan. 7, 2009
  Advantage Dixie
  ". . . 'This further tightens the noose around the neck of blue-collar unionised labour in America,' reckons Douglas Woodward, an economics professor at the University of South Carolina’s Moore School of Business. 'It’s not particularly about lowering wages,' he adds. 'It’s about having flexibility and predictability and stability in their supply chain.'"
• The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 7, 2009
  Feynman and the Futurists
  ". . . The most prominent scientists involved in this mainstream version of nanotechnology have admitted that Feynman's 'Plenty of Room' talk had no influence on their work. Christopher Toumey, a University of South Carolina cultural anthropologist, interviewed several of nanotech's biggest names, including Nobel laureates; they uniformly told him that Feynman's lecture had no bearing on their research, and several said they had never even read it."
• The New York Times, Dec. 31, 2009
  Federal Court Limits the Use of Tasers
  ". . . Geoffrey P. Alpert, a professor of criminal justice at the University of South Carolina who recently completed a four-year study of Tasers for the Department of Justice, said that Tasers and other 'conducted electrical devices' were used by more than 17,000 law enforcement agencies and that some departments had already upgraded their rules to allow their use only in the case of an 'active or immediate threat.'"
• UPI, Nov. 19, 2009
  Study: Sea stars bulk up to beat the heat
  ". . . The study that included co-author Brian Helmuth, an associate professor at the University of South Carolina, appears in the journal The American Naturalist."
• The Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 19, 2009
  A Web site developing new ways of storytelling
  ". . . So far LiveHopeLove has been a landmark project for the company. It began with [Kwame] Dawes, a professor at the University of South Carolina, who was working on a long article about AIDS in Jamaica for the Virginia Quarterly Review."
• Inside Higher Ed, Nov. 18, 2009
  Flexible Fund Raising
  ". . . It was in this era of uncertainty that South Carolina development officers began considering different options. How could a university ask donors for money when their portfolios had been ravaged and there was no clear path to recovery?"
• PoliceOnline, via the Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 16, 2009
  Lawsuit shines spotlight on Philly police foot pursuits
  ". . . While nearly every police department has a policy for car chases, no one knows how many departments have adopted guidelines for foot pursuits, said Robert Kaminski, an associate professor in the department of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina."
• PBS, Nov. 16, 2009
  Weekly Poem: 'Storm' [by Kwame Dawes]
• The New York Times, Nov. 15, 2009
  In Search of a Father in Search of the Blues
  ". . . Debra Rae Cohen, an assistant professor of English at the University of South Carolina and former journalist who was his third wife, describes an out-of-control drug problem and a violent outburst that left her with shards of glass from a picture frame in her hair."
• The Washington Post, Nov. 15, 2009
  Politics with a little politesse
  ". . . In Wilson's home state, University of South Carolina President Harris Pastides has made civility a focal point of the institution's goals." [Kathleen Parker’s column appeared in hundreds of newspapers throughout the U.S., including the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit News, the Baltimore Sun, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the (Fort Worth) Star-Telegram and the Burlington (Vt.) Free Press]
• The Associated Press, Nov. 11, 2009
  CNN finding that prime-time success is elusive
  ". . . 'We sometimes scratch our heads and wonder, "Why can't they figure this out?"' said former CNN correspondent Charles Bierbauer, dean of the College of Mass Communication and Information Studies at the University of South Carolina, describing his talks with another old CNN hand on his faculty."
• History News Network, Nov. 9, 2009
  Why 1808 Marked a Pivotal Moment in US History [by Lacy Ford, chairman of department of history]
  ". . . Instead, the signal event of the year was the end of the African slave trade. Over the subsequent decades, this ban on the importation of slaves from overseas dramatically reshaped the institution of slavery in the United States."
• The (Bend, Ore) Tribune, via The New York Times News Service, Nov. 8, 2009
  Jeremy Morris, 99 1/2, helped prove exercise is heart-healthy
  ". . . 'You can go back to ancient physicians and philosophers like Hippocrates and Siddhartha who said exercise is good for you, but they didn’t have any data,' Steven Blair, a professor of exercise science and epidemiology at the University of South Carolina, said in an interview Thursday. 'Jerry was the guy who did the systematic research that invented the whole field of physical activity epidemiology.'"
• Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Nov. 8, 2009
  Getting new kidney may be better option than being on dialysis
  ". . . Patients "get stuck" on their way to receiving transplant information for a lot of reasons, said Teri Browne, a researcher at the University of South Carolina who participated in a CMS technical expert panel on the topic."
• The (Macon) Telegraph, via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nov. 7, 2009
  Atlanta mayor vote broke largely along race lines
  ". . . Todd Shaw, a political science professor at the University of South Carolina who has studied racial voting patterns across the country, said Atlanta could be the first of several cities with black mayors that see whites flexing voting muscle. He said Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., could follow."
[AP version of story appeared in other news outlets throughout Georgia.]
• Reuters, Nov. 3, 2009
  University of South Carolina's Moore School of Business Launches Global Classroom of the Future Using Cisco TelePresence
  "The University of South Carolina's Darla Moore School of Business, ranked consistently as one of the top schools in the country for international business, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Cisco to utilize the company's revolutionary Cisco TelePresence technology to deliver a range of global Executive Education and Graduate-level business and management courses."
• USA TODAY, via AP, Nov. 1, 2009
  S.C. governor signs incentive package for Boeing
  " . . . 'This is a major company everybody knows. It will help attract other attention,' said University of South Carolina economics professor Doug Woodward. 'This is tremendous news, historic.'"
• The Seattle Times, Oct. 29, 2009
  Soul-searching ahead for Boeing's machinists
  " . . . Doug Woodward, University of South Carolina's research director and an economics professor, noted that plenty of other states have low union membership."
• The Advocate, Oct. 28, 2009
  A Little Goes a Long Way
  " . . . Even walking briskly for half an hour and doing push-ups a few times a week can change your life, believe it or not, according to Gregory A. Hand, Ph.D., MPH, the associate dean of academic affairs for the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina and an expert on the importance of exercise for HIVers."
• U.S. News & World Report, via HealthDay, Oct. 28, 2009
  Gene Variants Behind Vulnerability to Yeast Infections
  " . . . Although the people studied here had extreme conditions, 'you could potentially move to other mutations in the [same] gene or in this pathway to give more subtle phenotypes that we might see in everyday medicine,' said Dr. Anthony Gregg, director of maternal and fetal medicine and medical director of genetics at the University of South Carolina in Columbia." --> HealthDay report also appeared in Business Week
• Bloomberg, Oct. 28, 2009
  Governments Never in Default Pay More Interest Than Companies
  " . . . 'The municipal bond market is the last bastion of hidden information,' said Timothy Koch, chairman of the finance department at the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina in Columbia."
• The Philadelphia Inquirer, via AP, Oct. 27, 2009
  Number crunchers reject global cooling
  " . . . 'If you look at the data and sort of cherry-pick a micro-trend within a bigger trend, that technique is particularly suspect,' said John Grego, a professor of statistics at the University of South Carolina." --> [AP report appeared in numerous news outlets nationally]
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, via HealthDay News, Oct. 27, 2009
  Antipsychotic Drugs Spur Dramatic Weight Gain in Kids
  " . . . Jeanette M. Jerrell, a professor of neuropsychiatry at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia, is the co-author of a similar study published last year in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine." --> [HealthDay report also appeared in Forbes and U.S.News & World Report, among other news outlets nationally]
• The Lansing (Mich.) State Journal, Oct. 26, 2009
  Economy hurting donations to charity
  " . . . Michelle Dodenhoff, interim vice president for University Advancement, said the university faced a difficult challenge. State funding was cut by more than 20 percent and the school was coming off a record year in which more than $100 million in private giving was raised."
• The Los Angeles Times, Oct. 23, 2009
  It's a backwater, on the front lines of U.S. politics
  " . . . Walter Edgar, head of the University of South Carolina's Institute for Southern Studies, doesn't minimize the Sanford affair, calling it 'a weeping sore on the body politic.'."
• Reuters, Oct. 21, 2009
  Exposed: Groundbreaking Report Details Climate Change Hotspots in US Southeast
  " . . . The study was conducted using the Social Vulnerability Index and overlaying it with data of climate change-related hazards. The tool was developed by Dr. Susan Cutter and Dr. Christopher Emrich at the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute at the University of South Carolina." --- [Reuters report also appeared on Fox Business]
• U.S.News & World Report, Oct. 20, 2009
  Under Armour Suits Up for Wounded Warrior Project
  " . . . The Wounded Warrior Project, which works to help injured soldiers, is picking up a major partner today from the sports world: Baltimore's Under Armour. The sports clothing outfitter tells Whispers that it is designing special football uniforms to be worn by the University of Maryland and University of South Carolina at games in November that are expected to draw celebrities and politicians, possibly as high as the vice president."
• Reuters, Oct. 20, 2009
  KAI Reports Positive Preclinical Results in Pain Therapeutic Program Targeting Gamma Protein Kinase C (PKC) Pathway
  " . . . Preclinical data, generated in studies undertaken with Dr. Sarah Sweitzer at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, demonstrate that a selective, intracellular peptide-based gamma PKC inhibitor is effective in reversing allodynia, a primary component of neuropathic pain. The joint research team also determined that the gamma PKC inhibitor acts specifically on a part of the central nervous system (the dorsal horn of the spinal cord) that is involved in how individuals process pain."
• The New York Times, via AP, Oct. 20, 2009
  W.N.B.A. Franchise Moving From Detroit to Tulsa
  " . . . If the Tulsa franchise can translate the enthusiasm for women's basketball in Oklahoma from the winter to the summer -- when the WNBA plays -- that could also bode well, said Mark Nagel, a professor who teaches sports management at the University of South Carolina and a former assistant women's basketball college coach." [AP report appeared in numerous other news outlets, including Business Week.]

 

--> AP report in numerous news outlets nationally, including the Boston Globe, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Seattle Times, (Minneapolis-St. Paul) Star-Tribune, WBAL-TV (Baltimore), KGTV-TV (San Diego) and WNEM-TV (Saginaw, Mich.).

 

• WTOP-TV, Oct. 19, 2009
  Youngest likely to take biggest risks with money
  " . . . According to a study done at The Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina, researchers found was that first-born siblings are generally less willing to take risks with their money and more patient in making monetary decisions."
• Science Daily, Oct. 18, 2009
  Confronting Bad Behavior: Is There A Social Payoff?
  " . . . Brent Simpson, associate professor of sociology at the University of South Carolina, praised Horne’s work on norms enforcement. 'Sociologists and other social scientists have long considered (norms enforcement) extremely important,' he said, 'but have struggled to address it a coherent, systematic way.'"
• The Toronto Star, Oct. 17, 2009
  Part 1: Life returns to an eerie Chernobyl
  " . . . A starkly different view is put forth by the likes of Timothy Mousseau, a Canadian-trained biologist at the University of South Carolina. He has called Chernobyl a 'sink,' where animals migrate because there are so few humans around but then struggle to build new populations, rapidly dying off."
• The Miami Herald, Oct. 15, 2009
  Wilson-Miller race sets S.C. money record
  " . . . Robert Oldendick, a political science professor at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, said the two rivals' fund-raising haul so early in their rematch astounded him."

 

--> McClatchy Newspapers report also appeared in the (Fort Worth) Star-Telegram and the Sacramento Bee, among other national news outlets.

 

• New York Times magazine, Oct. 14, 2009
  Stanley McChrystal’s Long War
  " . . . One day in August, I tagged along with a group of Marines to the monthly meeting of Garmsir’s district council. Our leader was Capt. Micah Caskey, a civil-affairs officer from Irmo, S.C. At 28, Caskey had already done two tours in the hardest years of the Iraq war. In 2007, he left the Marines to begin a dual graduate degree in law and business at the University of South Carolina. He spent the summer of 2008 studying law abroad. But he stayed in the Marine Reserve, and a few months ago they called him back."
• The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, via McClatchy Newspapers, Oct. 14, 2009
  Radio host Tom Joyner gets pardon for great uncles executed by South Carolina in 1915
  " . . . But Todd Shaw, a political science and African American studies professor at the University of South Carolina, said it is no coincidence South Carolina is at the center of this story."
• MSNBC, Oct. 13, 2009
  Protect your breasts — get your heart pumping
  "'Regular physical activity may be beneficial through several biological mechanisms,' says Steven N. Blair, lead study author and professor of exercise science at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. That includes reduction in hormone levels, improvements in insulin, less fat and better immunity."
• USA TODAY, via the Indianapolis Star, Oct. 13, 2009
  Fundraisers weather extreme highs and lows
  "The University of South Carolina recently wrapped up a record-setting annual fund drive, surpassing aggressive goals that brought in more than $100 million in donations and pledges."
• The (London) Independent, Oct. 13, 2009
  Now’s the time to invest in profitable, long-term, high-return and low-risk assets: brands
  " . . . According to a survey by Harvard Business School and the University of South Carolina, they also provide higher than average returns on investment in those stocks that own them, and at a lower risk rate."
• The New York Times, Oct. 12, 2009
  Building a Bridge of (and to) the Future
  " . . . 'No. 1 is the upfront cost issue,' said Paul Ziehl, an associate professor of engineering at the University of South Carolina. 'That’s a tough one to get around.'"
• The (Las Vegas) Review-Journal, Oct. 12, 2009
  Mental health experts disagree on responses
  " . . . Still, police are trained to react when they encounter armed suspects, even those with mental disorders, said Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of criminology at the University of South Carolina, Columbia."
• The Baltimore Sun, Oct. 9, 2009
  Study disputes comfort food theory
  " . . . Stacy Wood's paper, "The Comfort Food Fallacy: Avoiding Old Favorites in Times of Change," was published in the Journal of Consumer Research."
• U.S.News & World Report, Oct. 7, 2009
  Study Upends Comfort-Food Theory
  " . . . 'I am personally a creature of habit. That's why I am so interested in how people adapt to change,' said lead researcher Stacy Wood, Moore Research Fellow and associate professor of marketing at the University of South Carolina. 'While comfort foods do have a soothing function and really do make us feel good, we don't turn to them as readily as we think we do.'"
• The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 6, 2009
  The Fleeting Benefits of Marathons
  " . . . 'If the marathon movement really got people at large to exercise, we wouldn't have the problems we do' as a too-sedentary nation, says Steven Blair, a veteran marathoner and professor of public health at University of South Carolina."
• The Philadelphia Inquirer, and elsewhere, via AP, Oct. 5, 2009
  SC site of bloody labor strike violence crumbles
  " . . . Thomas Terrill, a history professor emeritus at the University of South Carolina, said the shootings were a reflection of the anger of the time."
• NBC Nightly News, Oct. 4, 2009
  Swine flu vaccines starting to be distributed
  " . . . Her symptoms were present during her delivery, and she deteriorated really shortly after that." -- Anthony Gregg, School of Medicine
• The Washington Post, and elsewhere, via AP, Oct. 3, 2009
  Large universities changing freshman experience
  " . . . South Carolina gets credit for launching the idea, creating its University 101 course for new students 36 years ago."
• The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sept. 30, 2009
  Spa aims to enhance personal touch
  " . . . A graduate of Aurora High School, DiCello got a bachelor of science degree in exercise physiology and anatomy from the University of South Carolina. Then she headed to New York City where she modeled for a year, having signed with the well-known Ford Models."

 

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