USCTIMES
DECEMBER 2016 / VOL. 27, NO.10
BY THE LETTERS
A to H
I to P
Q to Z
A coach, a playwright and a handful of deans arrive on campus, pages 3 - 7
What do a Rhodes Scholar, a principal and the student body president all have in common? pages 8 - 11
Record research, X marks the spot, but what do we do about the letter Z? pages 12 - 19
USC TIMES / STAFF
FROM THE EDITOR USC Times is published 10 times a year for the faculty and staff of the University of South Carolina by the Office of Communications & Public Affairs, Wes Hickman, director. Managing Editor Craig Brandhorst Creative Director Bob Wertz Designer Brinnan Wimberly Illustrator Justin Carrier Contributors Dan Cook Chris Horn Page Ivey Thom Harman Photographers Kim Truett Ambyr Goff Adrienne Cooper Printer USC Printing Services Campus correspondents James Raby, Aiken Kerry Jarvis, Beaufort Cortney Easterling, Greenville Shana Dry, Lancaster Jane Brewer, Salkehatchie Misty Hatfield, Sumter Annie Smith, Union Tammy Whaley, Upstate Jay Darby, Palmetto College Submissions Did you know you can submit ideas for future issues of USC Times? Share your story by emailing or calling Craig Brandhorst at craigb1@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-3681.
EDITOR'S LETTERS A is for all we’ve accomplished. B is for our best. C is for Carolina, obviously, and D is for — did you know we welcomed two new deans to campus this year? And the School of Library and Information Science has a new director? And Lacy Ford is now dean at the College of Arts & Sciences? Of course you did. Because you’ve been paying attention. And reading USC Times. But nobody catches everything and none of us has a perfect memory, which is why the writers here at the Office of Communications dug out the back issues of Times and Carolinian, combed through a year’s worth of web stories on @UofSC Today and otherwise racked our brains to remind ourselves why 2016 was better than we might think. And guess what? It was. Particularly at Carolina. Welcome to “Twenty-Sixteen: By the Letters,” our alphabetical look back at the year that was. Obviously, we can’t cover everything. With more than 32,00 students on the Columbia campus, more than 5,600 FTE and 47 nationally ranked programs (page 11), how could we? With just 26 letters at our disposal, and a mere 20 pages, including the front cover, the back cover and this very editor’s letter, we had to pick and choose, and then choose again. Heck, we could have come up with a few dozen entries just for the letter A. We ultimately went with “Advice," but that initial A on the opposite page? That could have stood for almost anything, given the proper article. And the same is true for every letter here. But since we’re talking advice, here’s a little more: No matter your intent, you really can’t be everything for everyone all the time. You do your research, hash it out, make a list, check it twice, accept that you’ll probably get something wrong or omit something important, and then turn the page and — Boom! Is that head football coach Will Muschamp? (page 4). Yes, it is. And yes, those are the new deans (page 5), that’s the First Folio (page 6), there’s the Garnet Apple (page 6) — you get the idea. Oh, there's also an error on our cover, but remember what we said about admitting your mistakes? Check out this month’s EndNotes, which in the interest of owning ours, we’ve temporarily renamed Errata. Mostly, though, we got it right — we think. We hope. We pray. We’d rather go out with a bang than a bust, and the last thing we want to do is start 2017 with another apology. That’s right, we’ll be back after the break with more great stories about faculty, staff, students and alumni. Until then, enjoy this breezy look back at the last year and what’s left of 2016.
Thanks for reading,
CRAIG BRANDHORST MANAGING EDITOR The University of South Carolina does not discriminate in educational or employment opportunities or decisions for qualified persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetics, sexual orientation or veteran status.
VOL. 27, NO.10 3
A
ccording to the National Center for Education Statistics, 80 percent of college students change majors at least once — and the average student changes three times. Given that reality, it’s more important than ever to help students be thoughtful and informed as they navigate from one major to the next. In 2016, the university took a major step in that effort by opening the Advising Center in the Close-Hipp Building. The Advising Center itself has a special focus on first-year students, at-risk students, major changers and transfers, but it is part of a university-wide effort to overhaul the advising process. The ultimate goal is to improve retention and on-time graduation rates. To achieve that, the university has hired new advisers, lowered adviser-to-student ratios and introduced new technology to help advisers make sense of students’ records. The idea is that students who understand the resources available to them — whether through the Advising Center or the Career Center — will be better positioned to make informed choices about their majors and future career options. “We know the direct link between good academic advising and retention, student satisfaction, and of course helping students with their pathway toward their degree completion,” said Claire Robinson, director of the Advising Center. — D.C.
A IS FOR
ADVICE
4 USCTIMES / DECEMBER 2016
BOOM! BOOM! B is also for Bentley, Jake. The gamecocks freshman quarterback — and son of South Carolina assistant coach Bobby Bentley — Jake hasn’t been here long but is already making headlines with his arm, his head and his grace under pressure.
We could’ve chosen W for Will, or M for Muschamp or F for football. But if you’ve seen the video clips of his sometimes-fierce sideline demeanor, you understand why we chose “B” for “Boom.” The “Boom” nickname came from an exclamation Muschamp made during a game when he was Auburn’s defensive coordinator. And though his gameday antics have been pretty sedate lately — especially compared to some of those aforementioned videos — Muschamp’s passion for the game is always apparent. His mantra for the Gamecocks is “effort, toughness and discipline,” which not only gives us three more letter options but also does a great job explaining briefly what he expects out of his players, his fellow coaches — and himself. When Muschamp accepted the USC job in December 2015, he hit the ground running and brought in a Top 25 recruiting class just two months later. During the offseason, he worked to instill the traits he’s come to be known for in every aspect of the program. Even early on, you could see his work paying off. Since the spring, players have been quoted saying “things are a lot different now,” “every little detail is accounted for” and “even workouts and meetings are more intense.” And while nobody was expecting perfection quite yet, the Gamecocks rebounded from a 2-4 start to win four of their next five games and become bowl eligible in Muschamp's first season. Even the toughest critic has to admit that would be a resounding success. And considering the Gamecocks have started seven freshmen so far — more than any other team in the nation — it looks like a solid foundation for the future has already been laid. And to that, we say, “Boom!" — T.H.
catching up with
Carolinian Quickly now, what do these three things have in common? A superhero in a red cape who fights illiteracy, Carolina students teaming up against the devastation of a flood and a 21st-century archaeologist looking for an 18th-century Revolutionary War guerilla fighter. Stories about those and many other successful USC grads appeared this year in Carolinian, the university’s alumni magazine. Don’t receive Carolinian but want to see the stories? Inside Carolina, a new monthly digital publication for alumni and friends of the university, is getting ready to launch early in 2017 with top stories from across the university along with a rundown of events for each upcoming month. — C.H.
VOL. 27, NO.10 5
D is for
DEANS
Our records aren’t clear as to who got to campus first this July — Stephen J. Cutler, the new dean of the College of Pharmacy, or Jon Pederson, the new dean of the College of Education —so in the alphabetical spirit we’ll approach their deanships accordingly. Previously a professor of medical chemistry, pharmacology and pharmacognosy, and chair of the Department of BioMolecular Sciences at the University of Mississippi, Cutler arrived at Carolina at a critical juncture — as the college re-established its independence following a decade-long partnership with the Medical University of South Carolina. “Leading the college through the transition from a joint program to our legacy program affords me the opportunity to call upon a wealth of experiences I’ve had over the past 10 years,” Cutler told USC Times in September. Pederson, formerly an associate dean of research and science director at the Center for Science, Math and Computer Education at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, brings a similar wealth of experience to the top job at the College of Education. The product of a rural, one-room elementary school and a large, urban public high school — and a veteran public school teacher before he entered higher education — he is particularly keen on beyond-theclassroom learning. “Certainly experiential learning had an effect on me,” he says. “Being in the countryside, we had so many things to explore.” Finally, one of the more familiar faces on campus switched gigs this year as Lacy Ford moved from the dual role of vice provost and dean of the graduate school to dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. Hats off to all three! — C.B.
D is also for David — as in David Lankes, new director of USC’s School of Library and Information Science and associate dean of the College of Information and Communications. And after 28 years at Syracuse University, Lankes is ready to start the next chapter. “Part of the reason I came down here is to be part of a team that truly wants to set an agenda and not simply sit back and see where we are going to be tomorrow,” he told USC Times in September.
E IS FOR ERRATA To err is human, to forgive divine, but to laugh at your own foibles and take ownership of a year’s worth of editorial mistakes by reprinting them on the back page of your publication, along with apologies where necessary? That’s just the right thing to do. See EndNotes.
6 USCTIMES / DECEMBER 2016
First Folio! In April, Elizabethan drama took center stage at USC — literally, figuratively, even videographically* — in honor of Shakespeare’s First Folio, which began a two-week stand at the Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library April 14. Originally titled “Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies,” the Folio comprises 36 of the Bard’s plays in a single volume and represents the first comprehensive collection of his work. The centerpiece of the traveling exhibit “First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare,” it appeared at USC courtesy of the Folger Shakespeare Library. A companion exhibit, “Much Ado About Shakespeare,” featured additional items drawn from University Libraries collections. Productions of Shakespeare’s final play, “The Tempest,” and of “The Gravedigger’s Tale,” a one-man play based on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” by associate professor of theatre Robert Richmond, added additional drama. Not to be outdone, @UofSC Today produced a cheeky video about Shakespeare’s many contributions to the English language starring USC theater students and faculty from different disciplines. Didn’t see it the first time? Check it out now: sc.edu/uofsc/ posts/2016/04/shakespeare_folio.php. — C.B. *No, you won’t find “videographically” in Merriam-Webster’s, but if Shakespeare can introduce more than 1,700 words to the English language, surely we can introduce at least this one.
GIMME THAT GARNET APPLE! Great teaching is the cornerstone of a great university, and USC has long put its best teaching profs on a pedestal with the Mungo Teaching Awards. The Garnet Apple, a new award created this year by the university’s Center for Teaching Excellence, recognizes innovative pedagogy, the kind of game-changing strategies that make course content come alive and ignite the flame of learning. This year’s inaugural class of Garnet Apple recipients includes Tena Crews, hospitality, retail and sport management; Lara Ducate, literature, languages and cultures; Brie Dunn, pharmacy; Judith Kalb, literature, languages and cultures; Allison Marsh, history; Caryn Outten, chemistry; and Terry Wolfer, social work. — C.H.
VOL. 27, NO.10 7
h is for
HOOPS The women’s basketball team has gotten better every year
under head coach Dawn Staley, but 2016 may be hard to top. The Gamecocks finished 16-0 in Southeastern Conference play for the first time in school history and just the second time in SEC history. “It's something our seniors wanted to do,” Staley said of the perfect league record for the 2015-16 season. “It’s a tribute to what they mean to the program, and this accomplishment caps it off. It is something to be very proud of, and I’m glad it was them to do it.” For the regular season, the Gamecocks suffered only one loss, against No. 1 Connecticut. The Gamecocks ran through the SEC tournament, claiming their second consecutive title and becoming just the third SEC team to win the regular-season and tournament titles in back-to-back years (Tennessee, 1999-2000 and 2010-11, and Georgia 1983-84). The Gamecocks followed up that impressive performance with their third-straight No. 1 seeding in the NCAA women’s tournament and their fifth-consecutive trip to the NCAA, a record streak for the team. In 2016, the Gamecocks were eliminated in the quarterfinals, after reaching the Final Four for the first time in 2015. In 2014 and 2012, the Gamecocks reached the Sweet 16.
Coach Staley was recognized again as the SEC coach of the year and was a finalist for the third year in a row for the Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year award. Also, in 2016, four-year standout Tiffany Mitchell was taken No. 9 in the WNBA draft and became a key player for the Indiana Fever, making the WNBA All-Rookie Team with 8.6 points per game and 30 steals for the season. The Charlotte, N.C., native credited her time at Carolina with helping make her childhood dreams a reality. “Growing up, watching Coach Staley play, watching the WNBA, having that luxury of having a team in the city where I grew up, it was always a dream,” Mitchell said soon after the draft. “I think Coach Staley, my teammates and the whole coaching staff really helped me prepare myself to get to be a professional.” — P.I.
H is also for higher and higher. The 2016-17 season is underway, with the Gamecocks picking up right where they left off. The SEC coaches picked them to win the league again this year, and the USA Today Coaches Preseason Poll ranked them No. 3 in the country. As of this writing, the Gamecocks have not lost an SEC game since March 1, 2015.
8 USCTIMES / DECEMBER 2016
IBM + INNOVATION T
he university established its Cen-
(IoT), a burgeoning network of devices
partnerships to advance our educa-
ter for Applied Innovation and
ranging from thermostats to cars that
tional mission and significantly raise
Advanced Analytics, a partnership
collect and transmit data to optimize
our research profile,” said President
with IBM, in 2014. This year, the center
their performance.
Harris Pastides.
moved into its new home, the IBM Inno-
Building on expertise in IoT, research-
vation Center on the corner of Blossom
ers at the university’s Center for Predic-
and Assembly streets.
tive Maintenance and McNAIR Center
Inside the center, university and
It’s the type of partnership that should reap rewards for years to come. “In South Carolina, we win because
are working to create new applications
all of us work together, and this Center
industry researchers are working on
for health care equipment and supply
for Applied Innovation is a terrific
two of the hottest areas in technology:
chain management. Another focus is
example of the collaborative approach
cognitive systems, which use data
using analytics to create personalized
that has made us so successful,”
mining, machine learning and language
learning tools for higher education.
said S.C. Commerce Secretary
processing to mimic functions of the human brain, and the Internet of Things
The Innovation Center “represents the potential for strong public-private
Bobby Hitt. — D.C.
VOL. 27, NO.10 9
k is for
Kicks
Women’s soccer has been on the rise at Carolina for the past decade
J IS FOR JORY Folks around campus recognize Jory Fleming almost immediately because he travels with his service dog, Daisy. “I have autism, and the classic hallmark of autism is that social interaction is difficult,” Fleming says. But Fleming is also recognized by his classmates as one of USC’s most decorated students. A Capstone Fellow, Fleming has won the Goldwater, Hollings and Truman scholarships, and in November received the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, which allows winners to spend two years at Oxford University in England. “I believe that Cecil Rhodes had a student just like Jory Fleming in mind when he envisioned the Rhodes scholar,” President Harris Pastides said. “He certainly anticipated academic brilliance, but more than that he expected these future leaders to have courage, sympathy, unselfishness, fellowship, kindliness, a moral force of character and more.” A senior geography and marine sciences major, Fleming interned with NOAA this summer as a Hollings Scholar. “One of my big passions is data and what you can glean from that,” he says. “And I like the idea of taking that data and research and fixing a problem.” After graduation, Fleming plans to get a master’s degree in marine or environmental policy then a Ph.D. in GIS (geographic information system), focusing on marine and coastal areas. — P.I.
— the team has gone to the NCAA tournament nine times in the past 10 years. But 2016 brought a couple of firsts for the Gamecocks on the pitch, including their first undefeated regular season and their first No. 1 seeding in the NCAA tournament. The team’s 17-0-1 record also set a new standard for wins in a single season. “Obviously we’re thrilled to be No. 1, it’s an amazing feeling,” coach Shelley Smith said after the NCAA brackets came out in early November. “I am glad we were rewarded for the work we did all season.” The Gamecocks won their second SEC regular season title this year. They previously won the regular season title in 2011 and won the SEC tournament in 2009. The team’s 17 consecutive wins was the longest winning streak in school history before it came to an end in the semifinals of the SEC tournament in a loss to Florida, which also was a No. 1 seed for the tournament. The conference sent a total of six teams to the field of 64 for the national title. “The SEC has shown how strong the conference is, and I’m glad we can put our best foot forward in the NCAAs,” Smith said. The Gamecocks won the first three games of the tournament and as of this writing were preparing to host the round of eight on Nov. 25 against North Carolina. It is the team’s second time in the quarterfinals, the first came in 2014. “We’re just excited to be able to give our seniors another game at home,” says Savannah McCaskill, a junior forward from Chapin, S.C., who scored 16 goals through the regular season and first round of the SEC tournament. — P.I.
10 USCTIMES / DECEMBER 2016
LARA? LINGUISTICS? NO... LIVING-LEARNING! Lara Lomicka Anderson, a professor of French and applied linguistics, took the reins this fall at Preston College, USC’s only residential college and one of four living-learning communities on campus led by faculty principals. Living in Preston has its advantages for Anderson and her husband, Andy. They now have
more than 190 potential babysitters for their two elementary-age daughters. Of course, Anderson has something bigger in mind for Preston residents. “I want to see everyone at Preston involved in some way, whether it’s serving in hall government or working at a homeless shelter,” she says. “I want them to make an impact and be transformed in the process — to become someone different than who they were when they arrived.” — C.H.
M IS FOR MICHAEL After taking office this summer, new student body
Government,” Parks said at the beginning of his term. “So
president Michael Parks started working immediately
we made a very diverse, big cabinet that my staff and I
to make this school year better than the last.
manage. We created a couple of new positions, secretary
“I’m excited to see the impact that our programs and our initiatives this year can make in the USC students’ daily life on this campus, but I’m also excited to see how we can invest in younger leaders on our campus and pass the torch to them when the year’s over,” says the senior finance major from Lexington, S.C. One goal was to get more students involved in Student
of veteran affairs being one of them, and we have two secretaries of athletics.” Parks also wants his fellow students to take to heart the “It’s on Us” campaign against sexual assault. “Sexual assault is an issue on this campus and just about every campus in the country,” Parks said. “So that’s something that we're making a priority this year.” — P.I.
Government and to see how participating can help them develop leadership skills. “It’s borderline embarrassing how few students are involved, engaged or aware of what we do in Student
M is also for men’s basketball, which set a school record with 24 regular-season wins in 2015-16. An additional first-round win in the NIT tied the 1969-70 Gamecocks’ season win record of 25.
VOL. 27, NO.10 11
NUMBERS DON'T LIE FROM FEDERAL GRANTS TO NATIONAL RANKINGS, CAROLINA HAD A GREAT YEAR. HERE ARE JUST A FEW STATS THAT HELP TELL THE STORY.
$250.1 million
For the third straight year, USC set a
record for research and sponsored-award funding. The 2016 total includes a new
No. 1
high of $160.8 million in federal awards and represents a 3 percent increase over last year. Bottom line: USC’s faculty members are more competitive than ever in attracting outside funding.
The international business program at the Darla Moore School of Business can’t be beat: Both the graduate and undergraduate programs are ranked No. 1 in the country by U.S. News & World Report. The school’s international MBA has been ranked among the top three programs nationally for 27 straight years.
49
#
1% USC is in the top 1 percent of
patent-producing universities in the world, according to the National Academy of Inventors.
3%
“Best Colleges” list. Carolina moved
forty-seven
up three slots to No. 49 among public
USC has 47 nationally ranked academic
universities; the Columbia campus
programs, more than any other
of universities by Diverse magazine for
ranks 27th among flagship universities.
university in the state.
graduating African-American students.
USC reached its highest ranking ever on U.S. News & World Report’s
USC is ranked in the top 3 percent
12 USCTIMES / DECEMBER 2016
O
OPEN BOOK
For literary types, it doesn’t get much better than The Open Book reading and lecture series, which celebrated its five-year anniversary in the spring with another round of renowned visiting writers, each of whom gave a free talk about his or her work. Sponsored by the College of Arts & Sciences, the 2016 Open Book series brought Jenny Offill, Anthony Doerr, Celeste Ng, Nuruddin Farah and Paul Auster to campus. And with a registration list that topped 900 this year, it’s proving more popular than ever. “I couldn’t be more pleased with the community’s enthusiasm for The Open Book,” says creative writing professor and series host Elise Blackwell. “Last year saw our highest attendance numbers yet, and I’m incredibly excited about the authors coming in the spring. I feel lucky to be a part of one of the best literary series in the country, one of several local initiatives that put Columbia on the national literary map.” The series continues in 2017 with another star-studded literary lineup including Colm Toibin, Lily King, Rita Dove, Arthur Phillips and Jonathan Franzen. — C.B.
PEACE CORPS PREP Back in March, USC Times ran a tribute to students and faculty who have served in the Peace Corps. The profiles were both inspiring and heartwarming, and they helped us understand just a little bit better what makes these particular men and women tick. Now, USC is actively preparing the next generation of Peace Corps volunteers through the new Peace Corps Prep program, which combines coursework, hands-on experience, professional development and leadership opportunities plus foreign language and intercultural competence education. According to the Study Abroad webpage, Peace Corps Prep is designed for students from any major. After fulfilling all program requirements, students receive a certificate of completion from the Peace Corps. They will also have a leg up when applying for Peace Corps service. —C.B.
P is also for Pulitzer, as in the Pulitzer Prize for journalism. Alumnus and Tampa Bay Times reporter Michael LaForgia won his second Pulitzer for local reporting this
For more information or to register for the free course, visit artsandsciences.sc.edu/theopenbook.
fall for a series on the neglect of schools in black neighborhoods in Pinellas County, Fla. LaForgia won his first Pulitzer in 2014.
QUICK Well, That Was
Last fall’s floodwaters from Hurricane Joaquin had barely receded when USC’s Office of the Vice President for Research asked the faculty to submit research proposals to study various aspects of the flood. A quick turnaround was critical for gathering important data while the ground was still wet, and dozens of proposals poured in. A week later, 34 research projects received seed funding to study such topics as social media communication during the floods, dam breachment, economic impact of the disaster, river erosion and more. A distilled presentation of that research — the S.C. Floods Conference — was scheduled on campus for this past October, the one-year anniversary of 2015’s 1,000-yearflood, but Hurricane Matthew forced a postponement with yet more massive flooding on the S.C. coast and heavy rains in the Midlands. When it rains, it pours. — C.H.
VOL. 27, NO.10 13
RECORD RESEARCH In 2016, USC pushed past the $250 million mark for research funding and sponsored awards for the first time. “I am so impressed that, year after year, despite a highly competitive funding climate, our faculty reliably develop high-quality, successful proposals that keep our research and sponsored award numbers climbing,” says Prakash Nagarkatti, vice president for research at USC. The federal award total of $160.8 million was the third record-breaking federal funding level in as many years. Dozens of faculty members from across the university contributed to this year’s success, including Jane Roberts, a psychology professor who garnered three major grants totaling more than $6 million from the National Institute of Mental Health to study developmental trajectories of disorders such as autism and Fragile X Syndrome. Her goal is to target early identification of those disorders to provide optimal treatment for children. A $4 million grant from the National Science Foundation is focused on developing catalysts to recycle agricultural waste into valuable fuels and chemicals. J.R. Regalbuto, a chemical engineering professor, and director of USC’s Center of Catalysis and Renewable Fuels, will collaborate with scientists at the University of Kansas’ Center for Environmentally Benign Catalysts. Part of USC’s research funding success can be traced to its internal funding opportunities for faculty, including the ASPIRE program. Faculty members who’ve received ASPIRE seed funding report that those projects laid the groundwork for 91 successfully funded proposals from external agencies, totaling $51 million. — C.H.
s is for
STROKE Being part of the so-called “Stroke Belt” is nothing to brag about, but our research to help address the growing health crisis certainly is. In February, we learned about a new medication called pioglitazone, which is designed to prevent stroke and related cardiovascular problems. Souvik Sen, neurology chair at the USC School of Medicine, was one of the co-authors the study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Beginning with the idea that insulin resistance is associated with a higher risk of stroke and heart attack, the research team conducted a five-year, double-blind trial of pioglitazone versus a placebo. The result? Patients receiving the drug had 24 percent fewer incidences of either stroke or heart attack. “Before, we had blood thinners, statins, and blood pressure medications,” Sen told @UofSC Today. “Now we can top it off with this new drug, with an additional 24 percent of risk reduction.” In other stroke research news, USC’s Center for the Study of Aphasia Recovery was established with an $11.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Aphasia affects approximately 1 million people in the United States, according to the National Institute on Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and incidence is even higher in South Carolina. “My main project here at USC is focused on chronic patients who had a stroke a year ago, or even longer,” says Julius Fridriksson, a communications sciences and disorders professor and the director of the center. “We do a very intensive work up, look at all aspects of their brain structure and function, and use both behavioral data and brain imaging data to predict outcome.” Other members of Fridriksson’s team include Sen, SmartState Endowed Chair of neuroimaging Chris Rorden and MUSC neurologist Leo Bonilha. — C.B.
14 USCTIMES / DECEMBER 2016
TOM
FOR PRES
UNDER
CONSTRUCTION
May 2016 GOOOOOAL!!!
HARDHATS AND JACKHAMMERS WERE SEEMINGLY EVERYWHERE IN 2016, WITH NEW BUILDING AND RENOVATION PROJECTS UNDERWAY ACROSS CAMPUS — AND THAT MEANT EVEN MORE WORK THAN YOU MIGHT REALIZE. “YOU TRY TO BALANCE A FUNCTIONAL DEMAND WITH A VARIETY OF OTHER CONSIDERATIONS,” UNIVERSITY ARCHITECT DEREK GRUNER EXPLAINED DURING A USC TIMES “MEET & THREE” ROUNDTABLE IN AUGUST. “WHEN WE RENOVATE A BUILDING IT USUALLY HASN’T BEEN RENOVATED IN 20 OR 30 YEARS.”
The new soccer building, adjacent to the Stone Soccer Stadium, has men’s and women’s locker rooms, lounges and state-of-the art hydrotherapy rooms. It also features a weight room, film room, training room and rear porch with views of the soccer field.
VOL. 27, NO.10 15
MMY
SIDENT!
T
ommy Preston was elected student body president back in 2006, and now has returned 10 years later to serve as president of the My Carolina Alumni Association. If you know Preston, you can’t really say it’s surprising. Preston could have gone just about anywhere for college. He originally had his heart set on getting close to the political action in Washington, D.C., but a trip to Columbia with a friend who had enrolled at the University of South Carolina opened his eyes to the possibilities in his home state. “I had never spent much time here in Columbia,” said Preston, who grew up in Clemson. “I was walking around the campus and seeing how close it was to the state Capitol. I realized I could have the same experience here in my own state.” Preston, the first person in his family to go to college, launched the Cocky’s Reading literacy initiative as an undergraduate. After graduating with a degree in political science, he worked a year for President Andrew Sorensen and then attended the USC School of Law. He has since worked for Nexsen Pruet and now The Boeing Company, where he is director of national strategy and engagement for South Carolina. But his work at Carolina isn’t done. On July 1, he became the alumni association’s youngest and first African-American president, assuming the position as the organization settles into the new Alumni Center in the heart of Columbia’s Vista district. “It’s great to have an Alumni Center — a home for alumni to come back to,” Preston said. “But what’s most important is what we do inside that building — what we do to better connect our alumni to the university, what we do to connect students to alumni. And the center gives us that opportunity. That’s what’s so exciting about being in this role at this time in history.” — D.C.
T is also for Top of Carolina. Notice something different about Capstone lately? This fall, USC began lighting the top of the 18-story residence hall garnet some nights in recognition of significant achievements by the Carolina community. Follow USC on social media to learn about each new success.
>>
July 2016
August 2016
SUITE LAYOUT
OUR TURF
Originally built in 1848, Legare-Pinckney College underwent
Williams-Brice Stadium renovations include new drainage and
renovations that included brand new suite layouts, fixtures, finish
irrigation systems. Asphalt along the east sideline was replaced with
replacements and an upgraded fire protection system. The college
new sod and a concrete sidewalk. The west sideline asphalt was also
houses about 40 students.
replaced with concrete.
16 USCTIMES / DECEMBER 2016
CONTINUED ... August 2016
December 2016
HAVE A SEAT
RIGHT ON TRACK
Coker, Wardlaw, the Coliseum, Flinn Hall, McMaster, 300 Main — in
The new outdoor track includes mondo track surfacing, a brick-
2016, 17 classrooms and two auditoriums got updates including new
paver walkway, a restroom building and a new brick entrance to the
carpeting, furniture and audio-visual equipment.
Athletics Village along Rosewood Drive.
2017 A FIRM FOUNDATION Foundation Square, a planned public park near the Colonial Life Arena, is designed to make the Vista area of campus a more attractive place to live, work, learn and play and should improve quality of life for the whole community.
LAW SCHOOL
The law school will be a state-of-the-art learning and support
THOMSON STUDENT HEALTH CENTER
A new 68,000-square-foot health center is going up adjacent the
facility facing Gervais Street on the northern edge of campus and
Thomson Student Health Center. Clinical, radiological and eye care
will include a 300-seat ceremonial courtroom as well as teaching
services will be offered alongside wellness programming. The building
courtrooms, classrooms, event spaces and an open-air courtyard.
will also house a laboratory, a pharmacy and physical therapy space.
VOL. 27, NO.10 17
V IS FOR VOLUNTEER When it comes to volunteering, there’s simply no way to identify one or two standout programs or people. The numbers are simply too large and too impressive — and anyway, it was a group effort. For the fiscal year ending June 30, more than 28,000 students, faculty and staff participated in volunteer activities, according to the Office of Student Affairs and Academic Support. Total service hours amounted to 527,651.73. Monetary donations, meanwhile, totaled $1,634,406.34. — C.B.
w is for ...
Washington
Tired of politics? We get it. But here’s the thing — who we send to Washington matters and always has. That’s why every spring and fall semester we send a dozen or so of the brightest, most ambitious students South Carolina has to offer to the nation’s capital to intern in congressional offices, government agencies and anywhere else where they can learn the about the mechanisms of democracy. The Washington Semester, which is operated through the South Carolina Honors College but open to college students throughout the state, celebrated its 25th anniversary in October. As a tribute, USC Times spoke to several program alumni and a couple of current participants that month. If you missed their stories, look for them on @UofSC Today or check out the PDF of the October issue on issuu.com. — C.B.
X 18 USCTIMES / DECEMBER 2016
MARKS THE SPOT
The Spanish settlement of Santa Elena — situated on Parris Island in Beaufort County and named a National Historic Landmark in 2001 — was established in 1566. Until 1957, however, it was widely believed to be French. Even now, its secrets have yet to be fully revealed. “It’s an important Spanish colonial site,” said Chester DePratter, a research professor at the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, noting that it was founded just Chester DePratter (left) and Victor Thompson (right) running ground one year after St. Augustine and became the capital of Spanish penetrating radar across the land grid. Credit: Amanda Roberts Thompson, University of Georgia. Florida in 1571. “It was the northernmost Spanish settlement. It was holding the frontier, essentially.” DePratter has been working since 1979 to tell Santa Elena’s secrets — collecting 800 to 900 cubic feet of materials in the process — and this year he made a lot of progress. Working with University of Georgia archaeologist Victor Thompson, the pair are mapping the town of Santa Elena using remote sensing. This summer, they discovered the long-lost fort San Marcos. Pedro Menéndez Márquez, the governor of Spanish La Florida, built it in 1577 to repel Native American attacks. “I have been looking for San Marcos since 1993, and new techniques and technologies allowed for a fresh search,” said DePratter. “Pedro Menendez didn’t leave us with a map of Santa Elena, so remote sensing is allowing us to create a town plan that will be important to interpreting what happened here 450 years ago and for planning future research.” — D.C.
Y is for the Year Ahead 2017 KICKS OFF WITH ANNUAL ECONOMIC OUTLOOK CONFERENCE
Which industries in South Carolina are generating jobs? What’s next for home sales? Are interest rates finally on the rise? Will Brexit affect South Carolina’s exports? Each December, businesspeople, economic development officials and journalists from throughout the state gather to hear what University of South Carolina economists have to say about the year ahead. They do so with good reason: For 36 years, the university’s research economists have been tackling the big questions and offering unbiased assessments that help both business and government plan for the year to come. USC research economists Doug Woodward and Joey Von Nessen do a stellar job of breaking it all down, looking at trends in various sectors of the economy and accounting for regional variations. In a state where 579,300 jobs are tied to trade, Woodward and Von Nessen offer not only a statewide perspective on economic trends, but also take into account national and global shifts. This year, they’ll lay out their findings at Capstone on Dec. 8. — D.C.
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ZERO ISSUES LEFT Over the past 12 months USC Times has given you stories about war and peace, artificial intelligence and real intelligence, risk and reward, failure and success, community engagement and how to be a good neighbor. We’ve sought quality advice, discussed the ins and outs of decision-making and ventured down the road not taken with our faculty and staff. We’ve given you research stories and classroom stories, student stories and alumni stories, and everything in between. And now here we are, the final issue, the final page — of 2016. But that doesn’t mean we’re finished. We’re only going on like this because we didn’t know how else to end the issue — Z is a tricky letter. So rest assured, we’ll be back in your campus mailbox in February, and we promise even more stories about the great things happening at USC and the great people who make them possible. Until then, happy holidays. — C.B.
ERRATA
Want to draw attention to your own mistakes? Make one on purpose — and then put it on your cover. That was our thinking this month and the reason we jammed that wonky numeral 1 in there amongst all those cool, vintage letterpress blocks. But we also made plenty of genuine mistakes this year, and we bet you did, too. It’s with that in mind that we give you this shortlist of our biggest blunders from 2016. Nobody’s perfect, after all, not even USC Times. Don’t laugh at us, laugh with us.
PROSTRATE PROBLEMS We started 2016 lying down. For the February story “Death Defying Acts,” we spoke with James Hebert, director of the Arnold School of Public Health’s Cancer Prevention and Control Program, about the Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) cancer screening program. Unfortunately, an extra “r” weaseled its way into “prostate,” rendering it “prostrate.” We got the spelling right in the very next paragraph, but the damage was done. AT LEAST WE DIDN’T ADD AN E No, the Marine Corps has not been privatized. Neither has the Peace Corps. You wouldn’t know that reading the March issue of USC Times, though. In back to back stories that month we screwed up the headlines by leaving the “s” off of “Corps.” We got the spelling right in the stories themselves, which just goes to show that the most glaring errors are often too big to miss — which is precisely why you miss them. FROM HOT TO NOT Our June-July issue was a hot one, but our explanation of heat enhanced transfer? Not so much. In trying to explain a process called two-phase cooling for the feature “From Hot to Not,” we fell back on a poor analogy involving an overheating automobile engine and guess what? It boiled over. We don’t have room here to explain how we got the science wrong, but we can promise you we fixed it in the PDF online. That’s right: You can always find back issues of USC Times online at issuu.com — and we can always correct them! A CASE OF TWO BEVERLEYS The School of Medicine’s director of FoodShare South Carolina Beverly Wilson and her friends do a great job delivering fresh produce to lower income residents of the 29203 zip code. Beverly Watson is somebody else entirely — we’re just not sure who. We’re also not sure how Watson made her way into the November System Effect or why she was speaking on Wilson’s behalf. Maybe our eyesight is failing us. Carrots help, don’t they? ADDITIONAL OVERSIGHTS From poor punctuation to erroneous attributions to breaches of A.P. style and general typographical mishaps, we’re sure we got a few other things wrong in 2016 — and given a few hours and a magnifying glass, we could probably spot most of them. But after a point, what’s the point in pointing them out? To err is human, to forget divine. We’ll shoot for perfection in 2017.