USCTIMES
DECEMBER 2014 / VOL. 25, NO.11
IT’S INTERNATIONAL Experiential Living Maxcy residents talk fun, food and world travel, page 10
Cotton Road Filmmaker Laura Kissel’s new documentary unfolds the fabric of the global supply chain, page 6
IMBA at 40 The Moore School’s top graduate programs celebrate four decades, page 14
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 & Marketing. Managing editor Craig Brandhorst Designers Philip Caoile Michelle Hindle Riley Illustrator Kimberley Massey Contributors Glenn Hare Thom Harman Chris Horn Page Ivey Liz McCarthy Steven Powell Photographer Ambyr Goff Circulation Carolyn Parks Printer USC Printing Services Campus correspondents Patti McGrath, Aiken Candace Brasseur, 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 photos, stories or ideas for future issues of USC Times? Share your story by emailing or calling Craig Brandhorst at craigb1@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-3681.
A FAITHFUL INDEX
If you’ve ever stopped to look at the historical marker on Sumter Street, right outside the Horseshoe gates, you’ve read the description of the University of South Carolina as “a faithful index to the ambitions and fortunes of the state.” Attributed to the Columbia Sesquicentennial Commission of 1938, that fanciful phrase contains an irrefutable truth, that our efforts here on campus are directly linked to the wellbeing and success of South Carolina. That’s a pretty good way to think about the role of the state’s flagship institution of higher education, even 76 years later. But that’s also not enough, not anymore. These days, our faculty travel far and wide, our students come from six of the seven continents and our research, in many cases, affects the entire planet. Our efforts on campus are now directly linked to the world at large, which is why we put together this special international issue of USC Times. This month’s cover story, for example, is about filmmaker and media arts professor Laura Kissel’s provocative new documentary “Cotton Road.” Kissel lived in Shanghai for seven months and shot more than 150 hours of film as she traced the production of the world’s most popular textile from the farmlands of South Carolina to China and then back, and you can pick up the stitch on page 6. We also asked several student residents of the International House at Maxcy College to share their thoughts on food, friendship and travel in the lighthearted roundtable discussion “Experiential Living,” which starts on page 10. Elsewhere we offer a photo essay of International Education Week shot by Office of Communications photo intern Ambyr Goff (page 2), a chance to eavesdrop on Carolina’s conversation partners program (page 13), a tribute to the Moore School’s IMBA program on the 40th anniversary of its inception (page 14) and a profile of USC Spanish professor and Freedom University volunteer Raul Diego Rivera Hernandez (page 16) . Sounds like we covered a lot of ground, doesn’t it. Well, what else would you expect? Un indicateur fiable des aspirations et succès de l’État…um índice fiel às ambições e fortunas do estado…một biện pháp thực sự của tham vọng và sự thành công của nhà nước — we’re still a faithful index, alright; we’ve just greatly expanded our horizons. Stamp the passport,
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. 25, NO.11 1
TIMES FIVE
HOLIDAY MAIL Outgoing mail will not be accepted during winter break. There will be one mail delivery/pick up between 8:30 and 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 22. For departments that may be open during the holiday break, the campus postal service will be open 9-10 a.m. on Dec. 23, 29 and 30. Departments can pick up their mail during this time. Mail will be distributed in whole-department bundles to staff presenting a valid university ID.
TWO WHEELS, FIVE RULES Mopeds and other motorized two-wheeled vehicles are becoming increasingly popular on campus as a way to avoid traffic, find better parking or save on gas. But there are some rules of the road you need to know before you bring your scooter to campus. Here are five: 1. S cooters have engines greater than 50 CC and must be identified with a motorcycle license plate while mopeds have engines less than 50 CC and are identified with a moped tag. 2. A ll mopeds and scooters must be registered with Parking Services and can only be parked in designated spaces. Do not lock your moped or scooter to bike racks, buildings, gates or trashcans. 3. Moped and scooter riders must obey the same traffic laws as cars. Vehicles are not allowed on sidewalks or inside any university building. 4. M opeds are meant to carry just one person and should not exceed a speed of 25 mph by state law. 5. R iders younger than 21 must wear a helmet.
For the colleague who has everything. Nothing says “Happy Holidays” like a gift subscription to USC Times!
Departments needing to send special or large mailings Dec. 9-22 should call the campus postal service at 777-2158 or 777-3168. Outgoing mail will be accepted until 2 p.m. on Dec. 22
MARK YOUR CALENDARS December calendars tend to fill up quickly. Here are some key dates for the Carolina community: The last day of classes is Dec. 5, with exam week running Dec. 8-15. Commencement is Dec. 15 and the university is closed Dec. 23-Jan. 1. Spring classes begin Jan. 12.
WOUND UP? WIND DOWN The holidays can be a stressful time, with year-end deadlines, travel and visiting relatives, not to mention all that together time with the kids. Deer Oaks EAP administers the university’s employee assistance program with a wide range of free counseling services, plus legal and financial planning advice. Call 866-EAP-2400; for TTY/TDD access: 800-735-2989. Visit DeerOaks.com for additional resources, user ID and password: USC. If it’s work that gets you wound up, check out Wind Down Wednesdays when you return to campus after the holidays. No reservations or experience needed, just drop by Russell House room 309 on designated Wednesdays at 12:15 p.m. Visit the Campus Wellness website at http:// www.sa.sc.edu/shs/cw/meditation/ for details.
To:__________________________________________________________ Bldg:________________________________________________________ Dept:________________________________________________________ From:________________________________________________________ Dept:________________________________________________________ Message (optional):____________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________
Fill out this card, send it via campus mail to Carolyn Parks at the War
____________________________________________________________
Memorial and we’ll include it with the recipient’s first issue. Subscribe
____________________________________________________________
as many colleagues as you like. It’s easy, it’s fun…and it’s free!
____________________________________________________________
2 USCTIMES / DECEMBER 2014
POINT&CLICK
VOL. 25, NO.11 3
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION WEEK USC’s International Student Services hosted International Education Week Nov. 17 – 21. Festivities included a Friday morning parade through campus and a lunchtime cultural bazaar on Davis Field. USC Times was there to capture the global spirit in pictures.
4 USCTIMES / DECEMBER 2014
VOL. 25, NO.11 5
6 USCTIMES / DECEMBER 2014
COTTON Li Zhen and Laura Kissel at Yangshan Deepwater Port
VOL. 25, NO.11 7
N ROAD BY GLENN HARE
FILMMAKER AND USC MEDIA ARTS PROFESSOR LAURA KISSEL’S NEW DOCUMENTARY, “COTTON ROAD,” FOLLOWS THE JOURNEY OF SOUTH CAROLINA COTTON TO TEXTILE FACTORIES IN CHINA AND THEN BACK TO THE U.S. AS CLOTHING. Along the way, Kissel weaves the personal narratives of farmers, truck drivers, gin operators, commodities brokers and Chinese factory and warehouse workers into a feature-length documentary that’s now generating buzz on the independent film festival circuit. “It’s a global phenomenon that I feel hadn’t been fully explored in film,” Kissel explains. The idea started in rural Georgia while Kissel was working on another film about
8 USCTIMES / DECEMBER 2014
a cotton farmer. Fascinated by the industry, she learned that the majority of all cotton grown in America — 75 percent, in fact — is shipped to China. She also began to learn how many pitfalls the industry presents for the people who depend on cotton for their livelihoods. “It’s a worrisome crop,” South Carolina grower Carl Brown tells the camera at one point. “You worry about it from the time you plant it. You worry about it when you’re getting ready to pick it. You worry about it when you get it picked. The blasted thing will teach you something every year. And most of the time it teaches you something you didn’t want to know.” Those lessons continue overseas, where workers like 19-year-old Liu Chengfeng work long hours for low wages in garment factories to help their families make ends meet. “My mother said we must repair the roof right away, otherwise the house will flood when it rains,” Chengfeng says. “When I saw they repaired our house, I realized my schooling was over.” Chengfeng’s story isn’t unusual. Rather, she and other young women who leave China’s rural provinces for work in the cities are part of the largest migration of people in human history. An estimated 160 to 230 million people in China now live and work away from their homes. But the film also tells us something about ourselves as consumers. Indeed, the complicated supply chain story follows the finished products of Chinese labor back to the U.S., where they are sold to us at prices that belie the long and troublesome odyssey. “I wanted to implicate the consumer in some way, to bring the consumer into the story,” Kissel says. “The best way to really do that was to think of the life cycle of the clothing we buy, which we are so quick to discard. It’s the consumer’s responsibility to be aware that our consumption habits have negative impacts on the environment and human condition.”
VOL. 25, NO.11 9
CAMPUS THREADS Filmmaker Laura Kissel shot over 150 hours of footage while making “Cotton Road”— it is clearly her vision — but filmmaking is a highly collaborative process and USC is an equally collaborative place. In addition to the assistance of her producer in China, Kissel received help and advice from nearly a dozen members of the Carolina community. “I talked with a number of faculty about the project as I was working on it, sought advice, feedback on content and also some translation help,” says Kissel. “Fang Man, a composer in the School of Music, composed the score, and it is stunning. It adds a vital, emotional resonance to the story.” Kissel also worked with faculty in USC’s Darla Moore School of Business, the Asian studies program and the anthropology program. USC Times reached out to a couple of Kissel’s campus collaborators who assisted with subtitle translations for their responses following their first viewings of the finished film.
JIE GUO ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE LITERATURES AND CULTURES What are the interdependencies between a cotton farmer in South Carolina and a woman working in the Chinese textile and clothing industry? How is it possible that their lives are intertwined even though they have never met? Does the farmer ever wonder how many hands will handle the cotton from his farm before it reaches the east coast of China and how many more will work on it until it morphs into clothes? Has the Chinese clothing worker wondered which countries the clothes she makes will travel to and who will wear them? Has it ever occurred to her that some of the clothing she spends hours making and cannot afford herself will eventually end up in a recycling bin or even in dumpsters? In “Cotton Road,” Laura Kissel answers these questions, showing how two apparently different worlds at either end of the cotton road are intimately linked, how, along the route, seemingly disparate lives are interwoven, and how, different as they appear, these worlds bear similarities and the people along the route share similar anxieties and aspirations. Without using a voiceover, the film lets workers along the cotton road tell their stories. As limited as each speaker’s perspective may seem,
when brought together, their words paint a powerful picture that captures the effects of globalization through the personal, the intimate, the seemingly trivial. With her stunningly beautiful shots — be they close-ups of bundles of cotton and fabrics, long shots of cotton fields under the piercing summer sun of rural South Carolina or containers waiting to be unloaded in smoggy Shanghai — Kissel also comments on the material aspects and effects of globalization and on the human striving and suffering that result from globalization.
MICHAEL HILL DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR ASIAN STUDIES AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF CHINESE I first learned about “Cotton Road” from colleagues in Asian Studies who were excited about the project when I moved to USC in 2007. About a year and a half ago, I had the good fortune to get a chance to play a tiny role in its making when I spent part of a morning with the director, Laura Kissel, going over some of the Chinese subtitles. The effort professor Kissel put into the project — and the final version of “Cotton Road” — is nothing short of inspiring. The scenes filmed in the cotton fields of South Carolina were the most striking to me, maybe because they stand apart from the images of smoke-belching factories that many people associate with China today. “Cotton Road” shows that the rural South is still a place of large-scale production: in this case, the finely calibrated, thoroughly industrialized production of cotton plants. With only a handful of people (and plenty of equipment and chemicals), farmers can produce tons of the cotton that “Cotton Road” follows across the Pacific Ocean. Although the disappearance of manufacturing from the American South has gained more attention, this transformation in agriculture is equally important for life in rural areas across the United States. By linking this set of circumstances with the lives of factory owners in China — people who had been pushed out of state-owned enterprises and into private manufacturing — “Cotton Road” brings the consequences of worldwide economic transformations into sharp focus. Viewers from all backgrounds will benefit from watching the film, and I look forward to showing it to my students soon.
10 USCTIMES / DECEMBER 2014
EXPERIENTIAL LIVING BY CHRIS HORN
RESIDENTS OF MAXCY COLLEGE HAIL FROM AS FAR AWAY AS HONG KONG, AUSTRALIA AND SPAIN, AND AS NEAR AS, WELL, COLUMBIA, S.C. Other than its tropical summer heat, Columbia might not seem, at first glance, to have much of a cosmopolitan flavor. But USC does its part to leaven the loaf, welcoming students from as many as 100 countries, many of whom call the International House at Maxcy College their home away from home. Formerly the Honors College freshman residence hall, Maxcy houses 150 students, half of them internationals, and has become the place to be for students interested in different cultures. “This year many of our internationals are from Australia and Hong Kong, but we have students from all over,” says Meg Southern, assistant to the faculty principal at Maxcy. “And there’s always something going on here.”
A study abroad office in Maxcy offers workshops to encourage American students to travel, and every Friday the Columbia Council for Internationals serves a free lunch to dorm residents and other students who want to rub elbows. A demonstration kitchen allows students to show off their native cuisines. “Chilean students cooked up some of their specialty dishes as part of the celebration of Chile’s independence back in September, and we have a Native American chef coming in for a cooking demonstration this semester,” Southern says. Five Maxcy residents, four from abroad and one American, chatted with USC Times about the international flavor at Carolina.
VOL. 25, NO.11 11
YOLANDA COOPER
Northwest London Major: English literature Roommate from: South Carolina
YOLANDA
The community feel has been the most surprising thing here at USC. Back in England everyone comes together at the pub, whereas here we have to find other things to do, which I find very refreshing.
MARIA VITTORIA BIANCHINI Rome, Italy Major: management Roommate from: Spain
MIGUEL
Yeah, that’s basically what college students do in Europe — we drink. Here, most people are not allowed [because of age], but back in Spain, when you’re 18 years old, you go to the pub, the club or a bar, and drink. You have to find other stuff to do here. YOLANDA
So they have bowling nights and karaoke, and we get together and do different things like that, and it helps us to communicate more, I think.
MIGUEL ALBERTOS
Madrid, Spain Major: economics Roommate from: South Carolina
MARIA
In Italy, we don’t really have anything like a college life. Basically, I go to class, and then I go back home. I live on my own [in Italy] so the idea of sharing a bedroom here — at first, I was a little bit worried about that. Not worried, but you don’t know who your roommate is going to be, and I was always used to living by myself in an apartment. Going from that to sharing a bedroom [with a roommate] and sharing a kitchen with 150 people, it was like, ‘Oh my God, are we going to be able to do that?’ And I have to say we are actually doing a pretty good job. I’m really enjoying my time here, and it’s working out. You get to interact with people from all over the world, people who are like you but from different cultures, so you can learn a lot from them. JACLYN
OLLIE JOHNSON
Northwest London Major: History, literature and culture of the Americas Roommate from: Australia
This is my second year at Maxcy, and it’s so fun living with all these internationals — you get to hang out with them and have a relationship. The worst part is when they all leave. It stinks. But then you have an excuse to travel and go see all of them because they all say you can come stay with them. I’m planning on going next year and visiting everyone in Europe. I was really nervous last year because I didn’t realize I was going to be living in an international dorm until I got here. I just figured the internationals would all want to stay together, but they really branched out and wanted to experience the American culture.
JACLYN KUHN
Northern Virginia Major: Risk and insurance management & finance Roommate from: Virginia
12 USCTIMES / DECEMBER 2014
OLLIE
This is my third time in the U.S. The first time was with family, then I was here on a school trip and now this time by myself: three very different experiences. Living in South Carolina has introduced me to the spectacle that is college football. Back home in the U.K., college sport is very much a low-key affair, so it is refreshing to experience how students grant such excitement and dedication to a team whom many would not have held any sort of sentiment towards before their university years. MIGUEL
Yes, tailgating and the football games have been really different from anything I’ve ever known. Back in Spain, college culture is totally different. You don’t really care where you go; you live with your parents and go to the university that’s closest to home. Your friends in college are going to be your friends in class, which is different here because here you don’t make friends in class — you make friends around the university, around the dorm. Right now, the only thing I’m hating is the food. It’s not bad, but it’s not what I’m used to. The food, the recipes are so different. We eat a lot of fruit, a lot of vegetables back home. There are a lot of fried things here: fried chicken every day, a lot of fries.
not supposed to be white when you buy them at the farm. I’m missing the food back home. OLLIE
A biscuit here is completely different from what a biscuit is back in the U.K. I don’t really understand what a biscuit is here. MARIA
Yeah, is it supposed to be sweet or savory? YOLANDA
The biscuits here are a lot like scones. OLLIE
But the traveling has been great. A lot of us went to Miami for fall break and that was good. I’ve been to Asheville, Atlanta, Charleston. I have a different perspective on distance because back in the U.K., I’ve been on a two-hour drive to Birmingham, and I considered that long, but when I come here and take trips, I think, “Wow, that [trip to Birmingham] was such a short trip!” YOLANDA
I did a 13-hour coach journey to New York last weekend! MARIA
MARIA
A lot of what they call organic food here is ordinary food for us. But it’s a lot more expensive. We have a diet [back home] that is really healthy. Like you might have pasta for lunch, but when I say pasta, it’s a really simple sauce, not a lot of butter; we just use extra virgin olive oil and really fresh food. The food here is over-processed, in my opinion. And the eggs are white. Most of us found it, like, shocking because the eggs are
Going to Miami, the road trip a bunch of us took, we saw cotton fields, and that was nice. But then it was 10 hours of the same landscape. In Italy, to go from the deep south to up north, the landscape changes completely. I’m going to spend Thanksgiving with Jaclyn, she’s one of my suitemates, and she said, ‘I’m from Virginia,’ and I said, “Oh, Virginia is four hours from here, right?’ She said, ‘No, I’m from northern Virginia, it’s an eight-hour drive.’ But it’ll be good!
VOL. 25, NO.11 13
IT’S ALL BY PAGE IVEY
ENGLISH
Let’s be serious, learning English as a second language — especially Southern American English — is no piece of cake, especially when folks say things like “piece of cake” and call someone the “apple of my eye” and that they’d “walk through fire” for a friend. It’s enough to make an international student yell, “It’s all Greek to me!” — if only he knew what that meant. Making sense of these turns of phrase, these clichés and idioms that pepper much of our speech, is the role of the conversation partner in the University of South Carolina’s English Programs for Internationals. The partners, typically Carolina students, but sometimes faculty and staff, help international students learn the lay of the land and get a handle on college life. “It’s important because our students are strangers in a strange land and they really don’t understand our culture,” says Alexandra Rowe, director of EPI at Carolina. “Often when a bond is established, when they get to know each other well, then the EPI student is comfortable asking questions they might not be comfortable asking a teacher.” Common questions might involve how Americans use eating utensils, if a sign advertising a “Garage Sale” means someone is selling his garage or why signs prohibit “standing” in certain locations. “There are little things that are all around us out in the community that we wouldn’t necessarily teach in class because we wouldn’t think of it,” Rowe says. “But if they are just walking along, they might see something and ask about it.” Rowe says the Conversation Partners Program is almost as old at EPI, which is more than 40 years old, and is essential to helping EPI students become more familiar with the language as well as the culture.
TO ME “Our students need to have English language input targeted at them, all around them as much as possible,” Rowe says. “It accelerates their learning.” Although there are tales of conversation partners and EPI students who formed such a bond that they later got married, that sort of interaction is discouraged, says Ann Janosik, a co-coordinator of the Conversation Partners Program. “A lot of our students really enjoy having someone their own age to talk to,” Janosik says. “USC students are such a wonderful source of information about college life, not just daily life in America, but negotiating life on a campus. It’s a big change.” The USC students get a chance to meet someone from a part of the world they may never visit. Some University 101 students volunteer to satisfy their global experience component. “This can give some of our USC students a cross-cultural experience. It can open doors of interest and even of opportunity,” Janosik says. “Some very good friendships have been formed over the years.” The only downside to relying heavily on students for conversation partners, she says, occurs during the summer session when enrollment is significantly lower. That’s when the program needs faculty and staff to step in and fill the void. “There’s no prep involved, no work. You just agree to meet for an hour a week,” Janoski says. “It’s just talking.”
Join the conversation There are about 250 students in the EPI program at any one time. Most of the students are Middle Eastern men and native Arabic speakers; the next largest group is from Asian countries and speaks a variety of languages. Students are assigned conversation partners when they have reached an intermediate proficiency in English. About 180-190 English speakers are needed for each of the five nine-week terms: two terms during USC’s fall semester, two terms during the spring and one term over the summer. Many conversation partners repeat over multiple sessions. To learn more about participating in the program, visit www.epi.sc.edu and click on Conversation Partners.
14 USCTIMES / DECEMBER 2014
MASTERING INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS USC’S IMBA PROGRAM CELEBRATES 40 YEARS
BY PAGE IVEY
VOL. 25, NO.11 15
As
the University of South Carolina’s international business programs celebrate their 40th anniversary this fall, a recent redesign of the graduate program guarantees that Carolina will stay on the leading edge of the field. But the initial idea for a master’s program in international business came about organically, as the university sought to help South Carolina companies compete overseas. In 1971, several members of the Business Partnership Foundation had begun new activities overseas but were encountering issues with personnel and managerial effectiveness. Jim Kane, who was dean of USC’s business school at the time, had a series of conversations with representatives from these companies, notably Springs Industries and Sonoco. “At the same time, we were receiving a lot of direct foreign investment into South Carolina,” says Randy Folks, a junior faculty member at the time but now executive director for the Center for International Research and Development and international business professor emeritus. “The dean felt like South Carolina was going to have some kind of role in the global economy in the future, and it would be a good idea for us to be preparing people for it.” That good idea led to the creation of a graduate program in international business, with a curriculum that emphasized the strong understanding of at least one region of the world, economically, historically and culturally. “We believed that everybody should have a really strong capability in a second language when they exited the program,” Folks says. “Then we believed everybody should have the opportunity to utilize the skills that they learned in the classroom by spending a lengthy period of time overseas in an internship.” Considering that most students in the program in the mid-1970s had been out in the workforce for some time before returning for the international graduate degree, the internship component was a key distinguishing feature, according to Folks. Over the next four decades, that language component remained a constant while the internship component was expanded and improved. The IMBA also now boasts a cohort program through which students are sent to live for a year to 18 months in a foreign country. When they return to campus, these students take additional classes here, which helps internationalize the Moore School experience. “We’ve always been interested in having our students learn about context and what that means about the models they use and the places they work,” says Andrew Spicer, professor and faculty director of the full-time MBA programs in the Sonoco International Business Department. “We try to keep that historical vision of contextualized intelligence.”
“The IMBA program has given me an amazing network of classmates and alumni around the world in many different fields. Because it is such a small and unique program, the connection we share is very strong and I have no doubt that this network will help me in my career.”
— Caroline Osborne (IMBA 2013),
business leadership associate, Coca-Cola North America Group
Success is contagious USC’s International MBA program has been ranked in the top three by U.S. News & World Report for 25 consecutive years. In the survey of “America’s Best Graduate Schools 2015,” released in March 2014, the program was ranked No. 1. That expertise has spread to the undergraduate international business program, which was ranked No. 1 in September 2014 in U.S. News’ “America’s Best Colleges Guide” – the 16th year in a row the Moore School has received the distinction.
Photo by Laura Emiko Soltis
16 USCTIMES / DECEMBER 2014
BY CRAIG BRANDHORST
IDENTIFYING WITH EDUCATION I
magine attending a public elementary school in the United States, graduating from a public high school in the United States, applying to a public university in the United States, then being denied entrance — because you’re not from the United States. Immigration policy is one of the stickiest political issues of our time. But for USC assistant professor of Mexican literature Raul Diego Rivera Hernandez, who was born in Mexico and went to college in Mexico before coming to the U.S. to pursue his Ph.D. at Ohio State University, education is a basic human right. That’s why, back in August, Hernandez volunteered with Freedom University. Started in 2011 by a group of University of Georgia professors, Freedom University provides free college-level courses for undocumented youth in Georgia who have been denied entry at the state’s top five public universities and denied in-state tuition at all public state universities by the Georgia Board of Regents. The school’s name is inspired by the Southern Freedom Schools of the 1960s, which offered classes on social justice to African-Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. “Freedom University is a place where students can continue to develop their skills, attend classes and receive a high-quality college education but without receiving credit,” says Hernandez, who first learned about the program in 2013 when a group of the small school’s students and volunteers were invited by USC’s Latin American Studies Program to give a talk on campus. “We were celebrating the 50th anniversary of desegregation at the university, and we wanted to show that there are still issues — in this
case, where undocumented students in the state of Georgia could not attend school with in-state tuition rates,” says Hernandez. After speaking to several students, Hernandez offered to come to Georgia as a guest speaker. The director of Freedom University told him they would be happy to have him but what they really needed was someone to come teach and mentor. “Listening to their stories, it was like a matter of common sense. They are not asking for a free education, they are asking for a very clear right: ‘We want to go to college and we want to go to college as in-state tuition students,’” Hernandez says. “For me, it was a mandatory issue to really do something. I found out that I could have at least some small impact, at least with this small class that I teach every Sunday.” Hernandez, who teaches Latin American crime fiction at Carolina, now drives to Atlanta each weekend to teach contemporary Mexican history and politics. His research interest in Mexican “narco-literatura” and grassroots journalism inspired by the recent drug war provides a context for discussing the ongoing violence in Mexico with his students, many of whom were born there but have little knowledge of their birth nation’s recent history. “They are building their own personal history, their own personal memory, and connecting to things they have heard about but never really experienced,” says Hernandez. “My goal is to help them understand what has been happening in their country for the last 15 years that they have been absent.”
VOL. 25, NO.11 17
SYSTEMWIDE
Q&A
Brigitte Neary USC Upstate sociology professor Brigitte Neary researches the experiences of women displaced during armed conflict. In December, she will speak on German women’s experiences of sexual violence and expulsion from East-Central Europe following WWII at a conference in Berlin. Neary’s work has received national and international recognition, including the 2010 USC Upstate Annual Award for Scholarly and/or Creative Pursuits. How did you get interested in studying displaced persons? My parents were among the approximately 14.5 million East-Central European Germans expelled from their homeland, 1944-1950. This was the largest forced migration in modern history. An estimated 2.1 million died. My work combines personal and professional interests.
Is this a neglected part of European history? Yes, it has been a largely neglected part of European history because Germans have been stigmatized solely as perpetrators with the attribution of collective guilt. History courses tend to reinforce this stigma, which is why it so stubbornly persists. I want to set the record straight, which includes telling her-story instead of his-story, and to permit Germans to speak of their traumata and validate their voices. Based on United Nations Resolution 2106, adopted at the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1965, I contend Germans still experience racial discrimination. The recognition of their human rights and fundamental freedoms is impaired. My research contributes to a growing body of literature that challenges the German’s unequal footing.
Your methodology: Did you interview displaced persons? Yes, in 1998 a USC research grant helped fund collecting the first testimonies of women who fled the advancing Red Army front, were shipped to Russian labor camps for years of forced labor and/or were subsequently expelled. They were children or young adults at the time. Many of them referred to the sexual violence perpetrated upon them, regardless of their age. This ethnographic fieldwork required travel, including to Germany. It has been a difficult journey. On a personal level, the testimonies haunted me. On a professional level, I faced a combination of indifference, ignorance and sporadic ugly backlash. Nevertheless, some encouraged and supported further relevant intellectual engagement. For that I am grateful.
AROUND THE SYSTEM USC Aiken ranked in the top 100 in Military Times “Best for Vets: Colleges 2015.” USC Beaufort chancellor Jane T. Upshaw has announced that she will retire in August 2015. The search for a new chancellor is underway. USC Lancaster professors Chris Bundrick (English) and Jason Holt (math) completed the Wilmington, N.C., Ironman Triathlon in October. USC Salkehatchie welcomes area high school teacher cadet students to campus this month to hear an address by S.C. Teacher of the Year Jennifer Ainsworth and to participate in related workshops. USC Sumter will recognize outstanding achievement in athletics at the first Fire Ants Athletic Banquet on Saturday, Dec. 13. USC Union has launched its new mobile app for Apple and Android devices. It will send push notifications out to the campus about inclement weather or any canceled classes and will offer a direct dial-in to staff/faculty, updated news and a way for students to share pictures. USC Upstate professor Desireé Rowe was awarded $4,860 by the Waterhouse Family Institute of Communication and Society at Villanova University for “Performing GenderBased Activism in Eastern Germany.” School of Medicine Greenville has received provisional accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education assuring that the charter class will be eligible for graduation with receipt of their M.D. degrees in spring 2016.
To learn more about the USC system, visit sc.edu/about/system_and_campuses.
USCTIMES
USCTIMES
DIG IN!
Sailing, Cycling, Etc.
Presenting our first-ever food issue, complete with chef profiles, helpful hints and great conversation.
USC Times marks its 25th year by honoring 25 members of the Carolina community, one year at a time. » PAGE 4 WHAT’S INSIDE On Display
Are We Dead Yet?
Mapping the Ultimate Network
McMaster Gallery hosts Margaret Curtis exhibition, page 2
An alumnus, a professor and a student journalist discuss the future of print media, page 10
John Richards and Jane Roberts use MRI to peer into the human brain, page 12
Fall into Culture
Catch FYRE!
Poet Delivers “Punch.”
Sneak a peek at upcoming performances, exhibits and events, page 2
First-Year Reading Experience celebrates 21st year, page 4
USC Sumter English professor discusses new book of poetry, page 13
Classes and opportunities under the sun, page 4
Garden Poetry Topiary artist and USC poet unite to commemorate desegregation page 10
WHAT’S INSIDE Flavor Profiles
Foodography
An 11-Course Meal
USC alumni spice up local dining scene, page 4
Three professors discuss food scholarship — plus pictures to prove it, page 8
HRSM’s Culinary & Wine Institute turns out master chefs, page 11
14
USCTIMES
OVERHEARD IN USC TIMES 2014 WE’VE GOT IT COVERED
NOVEMBER 2014 / VOL. 25, NO.10
APRIL 2014 / VOL. 25, NO.4
What’s Outside
USC faculty reflect on their formative experiences as teachers. » PAGE 6
ARRIVE
USCTIMES
FEBRUARY 2014 / VOL. 25, NO.2
AUG. 13, 2014 / VOL. 25, NO.7
JANUARY 2014 / VOL. 25, NO.1
Night Skies Alumni astrophotographers capture the cosmos, page 12
USCTIMES
MAY 2014 / VOL. 25, NO.5
ACADEMIC YEAR IN REVIEW Reflecting on the year that was, anticipating what comes next.
THE SPORTING LIFE
WHAT’S INSIDE
Playing Smart
The Point After
The Writing Game
Fall ‘13
This Summer
Spring ‘14
Student-athletes score big in the classroom and on the field, page 4
Faculty recall their glory days playing college sports, page 8
Spurrier biographer Ran Henry takes to the classroom, page 14
Desegregation at 50: Remembering the struggle, honoring the pioneers, page 9
Exclusive Darla Moore School of Business building preview, page 2
New women’s sport takes the court, page 11
USCTIMES
USCTIMES
USCTIMES
USCTIMES
MARCH 2014 / VOL. 25, NO.3
SEPTEMBER 2014 / VOL. 25, NO.8
JUNE-JULY 2014 / VOL. 25, NO.6
OCTOBER 2014 / VOL. 25, NO.9
Greetings from SCIENCE FAIRS!
ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE
THE WORK ISSUE Office Space
The American Dream
Unfinished Business
Sneak a peak at some of the most interesting offices on campus, page 2
Enjoy a provocative conversation about hope, freedom and economic security in the 21st century, page 10
Five emeritus professors discuss academic life after the academy, page 14
WHAT’S INSIDE?
EARTHQUAKES!
WEIRD SCIENCE!
ALCHEMY!
USC seismologists explore S.C.’s faults, page 12
Eight professors recount their personal science fair experiences, page 8
New book turns history into gold, page 12
Eat, Play, Lunch
Art & the City
Truth behind Fiction
Meet & Three takes to the stage, page 6
USC alumni make Main Street happen, page 10
Faculty and alumni discuss their new books, page 14
WHAT’S INSIDE Southeastern Piano Festival
Dear Colleagues
Get Smarter
Legendary pianist Leon Fleisher comes to campus, page 2
Globetrotting faulty and staff send postcards from around the world, page 4
Summer @ Carolina heats up, on campus and off, page 10