Industry professionals speak on experience, tricks of trade The Midlands Center for Expressive Arts is hosting a series of workshops aimed at providing tricks of the trade to aspiring artists of all ages and skill levels in the local area. The MCEA Artist Roundtable Workshop Series highlights individuals in such fields as writing, theater and music, and the gatherings feature speakers at the professional level.
USC’s Student Ticketing has announced the sale of tickets for away games of the 2011 football season. According to Adrienne White, the coordinator of Student Ticketing, students may purchase tickets to any or all of the five away games on Friday, Aug. 26, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the box office of the Colonial Life Arena.
New members plan to strengthen network of graduated students The Young Alumni Council (YAC) welcomes John C. Boykin, Thomas Crawford, Jaime Cuellar, Becca Floyd and Kevin White as the five newest executive board members. The Carolina Alumni Association's YAC is a 16-member board comprised of USC graduates under the age of 35.
DinoBrite Productions sets eyes on national attention The founders of DinoBrite Productions are once again grabbing the attention of “Tosh.0” fans, this time through the show’s competition among colleges nationwide.
AudioVault improves student radio station’s programming This fall USC professor Lara Lomicka Anderson will be knighted by the French government for her work with social media and the French language. “What I wanted to do is establish a personal experience between my students and the students in France,” said Anderson of her project that has been in existence for five years in her French Communication and Culture class.
AudioVault improves student radio station’s programming. WUSC is installing new software aimed at streamlining its electronic libraries. On Monday, WUSC began the installation of the new AudioVault system, AV Flex.
Texan-based retailer Whole Foods will anchor a 74,326-square-foot shopping destination set to open in October 2012. Developer Edens & Avant announced Friday that in January 2012 it would begin construction on Cross Hill Market to be anchored by Columbia’s first Whole Foods Market. The natural and organic food chain will occupy about 37,876-square-feet, over half, of the retail space in the new district. The $23 million project will renovate the now defunct Kroger building as well as the space around it near the intersection of Devine Street and Fort Jackson Boulevard. In addition to Whole Foods, the developers plan to add 12 to 15 retail spaces, some of which will be national shops, brought by leveraging on the part of Whole Foods, and others that will be local and regional shops. During the construction phase, which is slated to last from January until October, the project is expected to bring 100 temporary construction jobs. In addition, 180 full-time and 120 part-time jobs are expected to be brought to the area. Whole Foods will provide direct competition to other organic food stores like EarthFare, but aims to form relationships with local organic farmers.
Action would honor USC baseball coach Ray Tanner After two consecutive national baseball titles, lawmakers have proposed a stadium field name change. State Sens. Courson, Lourie, Land, Setzler, Leventis, Knotts, Malloy, Cromer and Gregory all collaborated on a resolution to name the field of the baseball stadium after USC’s head coach Ray Tanner. The resulting name, Tanner Field at Carolina Stadium, would be aimed at honoring Tanner for his work with the team in his past 15 seasons. Since Tanner’s arrival, the team has won two national championships (making it the first sport at the university to do so), three SEC Championships, five SEC Eastern Division titles and one SEC Tournament title. He also has a 689-296 win-to-loss record in the 15 seasons he has been at USC, giving the team a .699 winning percentage. The percentage is the second highest all-time among SEC coaches. The team also has won 16 consecutive NCAA tournament games and 11 consecutive College World Series games, which makes the Gamecocks record holders for both.
A parted sea of garnet and black lined the sides of Main Street Friday afternoon as a parade honoring USC’s baseball team marched south toward the Statehouse grounds.
Lemuel W. Watson, Anna Scheyett and Steven Lynn are three new deans appointed by the University of South Carolina to lead the colleges of Education, Social Work and the South Carolina Honors College, respectively. “We are fortunate that we were able to recruit an outstanding group of leaders for all three colleges,” said Michael Amiridis, USC’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, in a press release. “We had excellent pools of candidates, and I’m confident we made the right choices in all three cases. I believe each new dean brings the expertise needed to move his/her college forward and, at the same time, collectively contribute to the improvement of the entire university.” Lynn, the senior associate dean of USC’s College of Arts and Sciences, has been a member of USC’s faculty since 1982. He described a few of the ways USC sets itself apart from other universities. “Many things distinguish USC: the quality of its faculty, as we’ve recruited superbly in many fields; the vision of its leadership, as we have aggressively pursued excellence; the passion and generosity of its supporters, whether you’re talking baseball or scholarship donors; the beauty of its historic campus; its importance to the economic, cultural and academic well-being and heritage of the state and the region,” Lynn said. Lynn was a student in USC’s honors program in the 1970s, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in English with a biology cognate. “I had amazing professors,” Lynn said. “My classmates were bright, sometimes brilliant. I was in a bluegrass band, and I worked at the Statehouse as a page. What could be better? It was a wonderful experience.” Lynn, 59, earned his master’s in English from USC, and he holds a doctorate in English from the University of Texas. Lynn not only recognizes the importance of the South Carolina Honors College in his own life but also to the community. “The Honors College has a significant role to play in the University, in our region and beyond,” he said. “Its alumni have become leaders in business, medicine, government, the military, engineering, architecture, academics and other fields. So becoming the new dean is pretty exciting.” Lynn said the Honors College is already in great shape, and his goal is to maintain the quality of the college. “My first job is to maintain the small classes, rich curriculum and excellent teaching that characterize the college,” he said. “I hope to increase our scholarship funding, which will help us continue to draw the most accomplished students and expand our diversity.” He also said he would like to raise the funds needed to complete the original design of the Honors Residence Hall, which includes another wing. “I’m especially looking forward to working with our students. They bring energy and creativity to USC,” Lynn said.Lynn will replace interim dean Tayloe Harding, dean of the School of Music, beginning July 1. Watson, a South Carolina native, has been selected to lead USC’s College of Education. Watson, executive director of the Center for P-20 Engagement and former dean of the College of Education at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., earned his undergraduate degree from the Darla Moore School of Business at USC. “My time as a student at USC was totally awesome. I had wonderful faculty and professionals who readily shared their experiences with students. My in-class experiences challenged me to be the best academically that I could be, and my out-of-class experiences helped shape my professional and life skills set,” Watson said. “USC helped me to dream a little bigger and to push myself a little harder in order to accomplish the unbelievable.” Watson said the deanship at USC offered several opportunities and challenges that encouraged him to leave NIU and take the position. “The deanship at USC is unique in that the dean has the opportunity to partner and collaborate with a wide variety of constituents in order to have a positive impact on the community,” he said. “The opportunity to participate and engage in interdisciplinary work to improve P-20 systemic educational challenges is also attractive to me.” Watson also said that the challenge of making the College of Education an educational leader in the region, nation and world appealed to him. “USC has outstanding faculty in the College of Education and a great reputation in teaching, scholarship and partnership. Dr. (Les) Sternberg has been a great dean and leaves a very strong foundation for which to build upon,” he said. “Finally, the interaction with the provost, president and leadership team convinced me that the University is strategically prepared to do great things.”
University of South Carolina Board of Trustee members approved a $1.2 billion operating budget last Friday. The budget will go before the full board June 30. The Board of Trustees unanimously recommended a 3.9 percent hike in tuition for undergraduate students. A 3.9 percent increase raises tuition $191 for in-state students to $5,084 per semester and $495 for out-of-state students to $13,176 per semester. The tuition for the School of Medicine will increase by 6.25 percent, and the College of Pharmacy tuition will go up by 5 percent. This hike is expected to add $9.75 million to the budget, and expected enrollment increases are expected to add another $8 million. Funds garnered from tuition and fees make up 44.1 percent of the annual budget while state appropriations for FY 2011-12 make up 9.7 percent. This year the state budget cut funding by 6 percent. State funding has dropped by 50 percent in the last three years. In addition to the budget cut, the school will lose $32 million in stimulus money that it had been receiving. The General Assembly has allocated $11 million to pay for some of USC’s deferred maintenance needs across the system of USC campuses. A considerable amount of time was spent in the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee meeting during the morning. Kevin O’Connell, the executive associate athletics director, explained the plans and projects for the upcoming years including a new tennis complex, renovations to be completed on the softball fields and the status of the football practice fields. Officials voted unanimously to approve a $6.5 million video board, and a proposal for an indoor practice field with weight, equipment and training rooms, which would cost about $21 million, was introduced. The video board goes to the Buildings and Ground Committee for approval on June 30. O’Connell will phase one of the indoor practice facility for approval in September.
USC’s School of Music hosted the Southeastern Piano Festival, from June 12 to 18, which showcased the talents of select young students and highly distinguished artists, and honored a South Carolina teenager as the first-place winner of its international competition. The week-long event began in 2003 as a summer camp for students in grades eight through 12. Eight years later, the festival has become an internationally renowned event bringing in guest artists and highly renowned instructors from all over. The focus has remained on educating and exhibiting young talent with daily lessons given by USC and guest piano faculty. The day ends with a performance by one of the students, a faculty member or a guest artist. An international piano competition was held at the end of the festival. Zachary Hughes, of Traveler’s Rest, S.C., was the first-place winner of the Arthur Fraser International Concerto Competition held Saturday. He was awarded a prize of $3,000 and the opportunity to perform with the South Carolina Philharmonic. Hughes is a home-schooled high school senior who has studied piano for nine years. Second- and third-place awards were attained by Vanessa Meiling Haynes, an eighth grader from Ohio, and Bolton Ellenberg, a senior from Florida. They will also have the opportunity to perform with the Philharmonic and the South Carolina Youth Orchestra. Some distinguished guests at this year’s event included Dmitri Levkovich, first-place winner of the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, and Nelita True, professor of piano at Eastman School of Music. True was a guest lecturer for the Marian Stanley Tucker Lecture Series, which serves as an outreach program for professional piano teachers and connoisseurs. Tucker has taught piano for 57 years and contributed greatly to the life of music in Columbia. The Marian Stanley Tucker Fund was created in her honor in 2004, and it has given the festival the ability to provide free educational workshops with the elite of pianists. “Each year I try to highlight a different aspect of piano or piano history,” said Marina Lomazov, founder and artistic director of the festival. “One year in 2005, we dedicated to Vladimir Horowitz and actually had his piano flown in from New York for participants to play on.” The highlights of this year’s festival were the piano duos featuring Anderson/Roe Piano Duo of the Julliard School and Angela Cheng and Alvin Chow Piano Duo of Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. Lomazov, along with her husband, makes up the Lomazov/Rackers duo who, in 2005, won second prize in the Sixth Biennial Ellis Competition. “While a piano duo is hardly a new concept, piano duo teams have blossomed over the last decade,” Lomazov said.Lomazov was appointed the assistant piano professor at the School of Music in 2003 and has brought a strong history in piano. Ukrainian-American, she studied at the Kiev Conservatory and became the first-prize winner of the all-Kiev Piano Competition. She holds degrees from the Julliard School and Eastman School of Music, where she was awarded the Artist’s Certificate, an award that had not been bestowed upon anyone for nearly 20 years. Lomazov has performed in many places in the United States, South America, England, France and Germany, just to name a few. “The Southeastern Piano Festival has traditionally fostered new and unusual programming alongside the traditional core of the piano repertoire and has encouraged the same adventurous spirit in its participants,” said Lomazov. The event is held every year in the month of June.
Second-year English student Brogan Goodrich rescued a 6-year-old boy Saturday at the Bridges of Summerville community pool. Goodrich said she was exiting the pool when she heard screams from the opposite side. She turned around and saw a boy floating face down in the pool. During the time it took Goodrich to make her way to the other side of the pool, the child had been helped out of the water. Goodrich, who currently works at Whirlin’ Waters Adventure Park within Wannamaker County Park and has to watch over the safety of children frequently, immediately began to put her four years of lifeguard experience into action. She moved everyone away from the area and checked for a pulse as well as breathing, but since neither was present she proceeded to conduct CPR. After 30 chest compressions, the child threw up water and began to breathe. Though the boy’s mother could not speak English, but Goodrich was able to speak with her through the help of a bystander who translated. Since the child could speak English, Goodrich spoke with him to ensure that he was alright and stayed with him until the paramedics arrived. “At one point, even though there was a language barrier, his mom reached over and grabbed my leg and managed to say thank you,” Goodrich said. Goodrich went on to explain that she rescues people daily but this was her first time putting her CPR training to work. “I’ve been swimming my entire life and being a life guard is just a natural thing,” she said.
Both teams looked jittery. Both took deep breaths. And then both proceeded to put a great deal of zeros on the TD Ameritrade Park scoreboard – that is, until Scott Wingo walked his Gamecocks off once again.
Freshmen, upperclassmen,
Current executive director
1.5 percent raise for eligible faculty, staff on agenda for board meeting USC’s administration will propose a 3.9 percent tuition increase for undergraduate students at its Columbia campus and some salary increases for faculty and staff members at a board of trustees meeting Friday. The proposal includes a 1.5 percent salary raise for the lowest paid 75 percent of USC employees who “meet or exceed expectations” for their respective jobs. The raise must be approved by the board. The proposal comes less than two months after a report in The Daily Gamecock revealed USC gave $2.7 million extra in “supplements” to its highest earning employees in 2010.