When George Fetner isn’t strumming his guitar, hyping up a crowd or being an all-around rockstar, he’s recruiting graduate students for the College of Information and Communications. 

Fetner has been involved in graduate recruiting since 2008, and in music — since, well, forever. He graduated from the University of South Carolina with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music composition and is currently working toward a Master of Mass Communication. 

Fetner joined the CIC team in 2019 after working in graduate recruiting for the School of Music and the Darla Moore School of Business. “There are a lot of different areas over here,” he says. “I like it because I get to know all of the different career paths and interests that are under this big CIC umbrella.”  

Regardless of where he works at the university, he makes time for music. His current focus is his nine-piece band, George Fetner and the Strays. With an impressive lineup of educators, a lawyer and even an emergency room nurse, he says the members are anything but strays. Recently, the band released a Grateful Dead tribute album and an original album, Longer Like This. 

Along with performing, Fetner is excited to recruit in person this year and continue his journey in the CIC.  “Everybody here is interested in what we can do to make things better,” he says. “If you’re a part of the group that is always interested in how we can make what we have better, I want to be a part of that — whether it’s music or whether it’s a full-time job.”