2016 Archive

Year end review

Twenty-Sixteen: By the Letters

December 15, 2016, USC Times

A is for alphabet, at least according to USC Times. To help close out 2016, the University of South Carolina’s monthly magazine for faculty and staff devoted its entire December issue to the ABCs of 2016 — with each letter representing a different accomplishment, announcement or notable arrival from the past year.

sc encyclopedia

SC Encyclopedia off the shelf and on the web

December 14, 2016, Page Ivey

If you’re of a certain age, you might remember the row of dusty encyclopedias in your parents’ den — books that were the Google of their day but limited in what they could convey. Now you can open the “South Carolina Encyclopedia” and hear Dizzy Gillespie talk about be-bop or watch qualifying for a 1970s Southern 500 stock car race. That’s because the encyclopedia has gone digital.

katie schwichtenberg

DC at 25: Katie Schwichtenberg, senior

December 12, 2016, Craig Brandhorst

The Washington Semester Program celebrates its 25th anniversary of providing full-time, semester-long internships at congressional offices, federal agencies, nonprofits and other D.C.-based organizations. In our series of stories talking to alumni and current participants in the program, we talk to Katie Schwichtenberg, a senior political science and history major.

talbot brewer

Understanding the humanities and happiness with Talbot Brewer

December 07, 2016, Peggy Binette

What are the keys to happiness? What is the meaning of life? Philosopher and University of Virginia professor Talbot Brewer will discuss how to find these answers in the humanities in a public talk Dec. 14. The event is offered as part of a $2.1 million funded grant project titled, “Virtue, Happiness and the Meaning of Life,” which is co-directed by Carolina philosopher Jennifer Frey.

Greg Ferrante

DC at 25: Greg Ferrante, alumnus

November 29, 2016, Craig Brandhorst

The Washington Semester Program celebrates its 25th anniversary of providing full-time, semester-long internships at congressional offices, federal agencies, nonprofits and other D.C.-based organizations. In the second of our series of stories talking to alumni and current participants in the program, we talk to program alumnus Greg Ferrante, Chief financial officer, Global Policy and Advocacy Division, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; chair of the audit and finance committee of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Old, new friendships bring acclaimed illustrator's works to UofSC

November 04, 2016, Dan Cook

Anita Lobel, the acclaimed author and illustrator of children’s books, will be honored with the Thomas Cooper Society Medal in recognition of her contribution to the arts on Nov. 17. The award comes as part of Lobel's burgeoning ties to the university — and her longstanding friendship with two alumnae.

Kari Croft

It's all about the kids

October 25, 2016, Dan Cook

Some teachers run from struggling students, but 2009 alumna Kari Croft has staked her career on trying to help them. Now she has a $10 million grant to establish RISE High, a charter school in Los Angeles aimed at serving students who are homeless, in foster care or facing other challenges that make it difficult for them to attend traditional schools.

Sara Schwebel has edited and published a critical edition of

English professor, students shed new light on 1960 children's classic

October 19, 2016, Lynn Schutte

Scott O’Dell’s 1960 book “Island of the Blue Dolphins” has been a classroom favorite, despite some potentially controversial elements. The University of South Carolina’s Sara Schwebel, associate professor of English, is working to help explain that controversy. With the help of students, Schwebel has edited and published a critical edition of the book, complete with an introduction and essays to help place the narrative in its correct historical and cultural context.

michael dowdy

Expanding the literary canon

October 09, 2016, Chris Horn

For Michael Dowdy, there’s a familiar ring to this year’s political rhetoric about border walls and deportation of Latinos. “Latinos have a different story than most in coming to the United States and a unique perspective on the American dream,” says Dowdy, a recently appointed associate professor whose specialty is Latino literature and poetry.

Andrew Pingitore and Julia Pribyl

Losing green up the stack

September 01, 2016, Steven Powell

With as much as $175,000 in potential annual savings for just one building on campus, a group of graduate students kicked off an energy conservation initiative in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry last week. It draws attention to how much energy is literally blown out of ventilation stacks every year by a common laboratory fixture: the fume hood.

swamp fox

21st century fox hunt

August 23, 2016, Craig Brandhorst

Archaeologist Steve Smith is continuing to pursue his lifelong fascination with one of South Carolina’s most famous Revolutionaries, Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox. Smith and colleagues are investigating Fort Motte, the Colonial plantation where Marion and “Light Horse” Harry Lee won a major victory against the British.

Andrew Greytak

Nanotechnology you can see

August 22, 2016, Steven Powell

Consumers are getting a dose of something new with quantum dots, a nanomaterial that is rendering particularly rich colors on some recently released TVs, computer displays and e-readers. The department of chemistry and biochemistry’s Andrew Greytak, an innovator in the field, is working to push the nanotechnology’s reach even further.

Tommy Preston

Leading again

August 12, 2016, Dan Cook

Tommy Preston could have gone just about anywhere for college, but a trip to Carolina more than a decade ago opened his eyes to the possibilities in his home state. Now, 10 years after serving as student body president, Preston is taking on a new leadership role as president of the My Carolina Alumni Association.

Greg Carbone

Delving into drought

August 01, 2016, Dan Cook

With South Carolina still recovering from last October’s historic floods, it might seem incongruous to study drought. But this state has faced serious drought in the past — and it will again. Enter the the Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessment team, which works to improve our understanding of drought over time and space.

Two UofSC professors named American Chemical Society Fellows

July 28, 2016, Augusta Bauknight

The American Chemical Society (ACS) has named University of South Carolina professors Scott R. Goode and Susan D. Richardson 2016 ACS Fellows. Goode and Richardson, faculty in the department of chemistry and biochemistry, are among 57 national fellows chosen for their exceptional accomplishments in chemistry and service to the ACS community.

faye jeffcoat

Remembering Big Abb, Little Abb

July 27, 2016, Page Ivey

Faye Jeffcoat is a Gamecock by marriage and motherhood, but there is no doubt her blood runs garnet. A native of Newberry, S.C., who was an English major at Newberry College, Jeffcoat says her family was evenly split between University of South Carolina and Clemson grads — that is until she met and married Abb Jeffcoat Jr. After that, it was all Carolina, all the time.

Maksymilian Chruszcz

2016 Breakthrough Star Maksymilian Chruszcz

June 30, 2016, Steven Powell

As a structural biologist, Maksymilian Chruszcz is uniquely positioned to collaborate widely across the academy, and he’s made the most of that potential at Carolina. Since his arrival in 2012, the associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has used his expertise in protein crystallography to develop collaborations with colleagues in chemistry and biochemistry, medicine, public health, biology and chemical engineering.

costa rica

Carolina Core abroad

June 15, 2016, Adena Rice

Carolina Core classes traditionally stay within four walls at University of South Carolina. However a Maymester study abroad trip to Costa Rica not only taught the students about environmental science 101, but also expanded their knowledge beyond the textbook and into a personal understanding of the culture around them.

Sharon DeWitte (right) and Samantha Yaussy

A skeletal marker of physiological stress might indicate good, rather than poor, health

May 02, 2016, Steven Powell

Biological anthropologist Sharon DeWitte (right) studies ancient skeletons that can open a window onto the human history she hopes to illuminate. But as she and graduate student Samantha Yaussy show in a recently published study, some of the markers on the skeletons that scientists use to decipher the past might need to be looked at in a new light.

greener statue

Deconstructing Reconstruction

April 14, 2016, Peggy Binette

Reconstruction was the first chapter in America’s civil rights movement. And its influence on race relations continues across the country and on college campuses, although few may realize its connection. Now 150 years later, the University of South Carolina’s History Center and Historic Columbia hopes to deepen public understanding of Reconstruction’s history and racial legacy with a symposium April 21–22.

William Shakespeare

The Folio's the Thing

April 07, 2016, Craig Brandhorst

William Shakespeare’s First Folio, an anthology of 36 plays compiled by the playwright’s friends seven years after his death, is considered one of the most important books in the English language and is widely credited for preserving Shakespeare’s for the future. From April 14 to April 30, one of the few remaining copies will be on display at University of South Carolina’s Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library courtesy of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.

Riley Brady

Senior marine science major earns four-year graduate fellowship from DOE

April 05, 2016, Steven Powell

Senior marine science major Riley Brady earned a DOE fellowship in computational studies that will cover all tuition and fees plus provide a $36,000 stipend for four years in graduate school. He says UofSC provided conditions for a perfect storm that is giving him a head start as an independent researcher in his field of climate science.

Chester DePratter

Still searching

March 31, 2016, Dan Cook

Nearly 450 years after it was established, the Spanish settlement of Santa Elena — situated on Parris Island in Beaufort County — has yet to fully reveal its secrets. Scholars know when it was founded and have unearthed thousands of artifacts at the site. But public awareness of the site remains limited, and relatively little is known about the actual layout of the settlement.

Caroline Westberg

Helping women teach each other to lead

March 30, 2016, Page Ivey

Helping her peers, especially other young women, find their leadership voice is Caroline Westberg’s passion. She has spent the past year – her senior year at the University of South Carolina – creating Women LEAD. On Wednesday, Westberg was named the 2016 Outstanding Woman of the Year.

blogging

Academic bloggers share research with broader audience

March 28, 2016, Page Ivey

For researchers, little else is more gratifying than studying something that helps someone else — whether it’s finding a sustainable healthy diet, a better way to motivate workers 
or a way to make coursework more engaging. For some professors and researchers that means taking their scholarly work into the blogosphere, where they can reach not just others in their profession, but those who might learn from their work.

Marjorie Spruill

Divided we stand

March 17, 2016, Peggy Binette

History professor Marjorie Spruill will give a public talk about how the events that divided American women in the 1970s are connected to the polarized politics that has gripped America since 1980. Her talk, which will take place at 6 p.m. March 22 in Capstone House, is based on forthcoming book with Bloomsbury Press, titled “Divided We Stand: Women’s Rights, Family Values & the Polarization of American Politics.”

Alexandria Caputo

Student gains global perspective from study abroad

March 07, 2016, Ore Oluwole

Alexandria Caputo was the first student from the University of South Carolina to travel to Oman. The senior political science major with a minor in Islamic studies and a concentration in Arabic also has traveled to lso to Morocco and Israel. “All of the places that I’ve traveled have provided the best learning experiences for me,” she says.

Anita Singleton-Prather

Sacred music and Gullah culture showcased this weekend

February 22, 2016, Glenn Hare

Noted Gullah storyteller and singer Anita Singleton-Prather, along with the Gullah Kinfolk, will share stories and songs at “Shared Traditions: Sacred Music in the South,” a two-day symposium featuring shape-note singing, African-American spirituals and other music traditions unique to the South. The symposium starts with a meet-and-greet with Singleton-Prather at 3:30 p.m. Friday (Feb. 26) in the McKissick Museum on the historic Horseshoe.

Stranded boat after Hurricane Katrina

Earth, wind and fire

February 15, 2016, Chris Horn

If it's a disaster, whether natural or manmade, the Hazards and Vulnerabilities Research Lab at the University of South Carolina has probably considered the ramifications of it from every angle. It's what they do — studying vulnerability to potential disasters across the U.S. while also interpreting data from past disasters.

helping paw

Man's best friend helps those in need

February 10, 2016, Glenn Hare

Fred is the ideal companion. He’s always eager to help out. He’s entertaining and he’s great with people. Fred and his human partner Becky Sullivan are featured in “A Helping Paw, ” a short film directed and edited by University of South Carolina media arts student Faith Cox. The documentary is the inaugural winner of the Walt Hanclosky Social Issue Production Award for Media Arts in the School of Visual Art and Design.

children's book

Just a chicken!

January 25, 2016, Brad Muller

Former Gamecock football defensive linemen Langston Moore and Preston Thorne knew all about reading an opposing offensive line. Now they want families to spend more time reading together. To that end, Moore, ’02, and Thorne, ’04, teamed up with fellow USC alumnus Kev Roche, a freelance illustrator, to hatch the Gamecock-themed children’s book “#JustaChicken.”

Carolina Day

Improving South Carolina lives

January 22, 2016, Peggy Binette

Ada B. Thomas, for whom the university’s top undergraduate adviser award is named, believed in Carolina and believed in preparing students who would make a difference as leaders in communities across South Carolina. To Dr. Lisa Bishara (’88, ’93) Thomas was more than an adviser. She was her grandmother.

Alysha baratta

A passion for social justice

January 19, 2016, Peggy Binette

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.” Four individuals, emboldened by King to ensure social, political and economic equality for all people, were honored by the University of South Carolina for their community service and social justice work at the annual MLK commemoration breakfast.

McCloud troop

Superhero-in-progress

January 04, 2016, Glenn Hare

Somewhere in the city, a courageous band of supercharged do-gooders is on a mission: to promote storytelling and put an end to its arch nemesis, illiteracy. Story Squad is the brainchild of media arts alumnus Darion McCloud ('88), aka the Captain.