From These Stones - Spring 2008 by Mars Hill University

Magazine Staff EDITOR :: Mike Thornhill ’88 CONTRIBUTORS :: Teresa Buckner Bud Christman Brian Danforth ’06 Ophelia DeGroot ’58 Student staff of the Hilltop newspaper; Janet and Sam Bingham, faculty advisors & Journalists in Residence

Mars Hill College Administration PRESIDENT :: Dr. Dan G. Lunsford ’69 VP OF ADMINISTRATION :: Bob McLendon VP OF INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT :: Alex Miller ’75 VP OF ACADEMIC & STUDENT AFFAIRS :: Dr. Nina Pollard STRATEGIC PLANNING & INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH :: Dr. Grainger Caudle CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER :: Neil Tilley SPECIAL ASST. TO THE PRESIDENT/ALUMNI RELATIONS :: Ophelia DeGroot ’58

From These Stones: The Mars Hill College Magazine is published regularly by the Office of Communications. It is distributed, without charge, to alumni, donors, and friends of the college. Notices of changes of address and class notes should be addressed to the Alumni Office, Mars Hill College, P.O. Box 370, Mars Hill, NC 28754. Phone 828.689.1102. Fax 828.689.1292. E-mail alumni@mhc.edu. Letters to the editor and all other correspondence regarding the magazine should be addressed to the Office of Communications, Mars Hill College, P.O. Box 6765, Mars Hill, NC 28754. Phone 828.689.1298. Fax 828.689.1105. E-mail mthornhill@mhc.edu. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Alumni Office, Mars Hill College, P.O. Box 6665, Mars Hill, NC 28754. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

From These Stones – The Mars Hill College Magazine

In This Issue

Fall 2008 Volume 10, Number 2

From the President

Values & Vision

Alumni of the Year

Life Lessons from a Pulitzer Winner

Advancing the Cause

Class Notes & More

Student Honored for Environmental Work

“Green” initiatives on campus

The campaign for MHC’s future

Recognizing four outstanding grads

Gene Roberts ’52 returns to MHC to deliver commencement address

Scholarships, on the road with the alumni caravan, and more

Alumni of the Month, plus information about your schoolmates, the National Alumni Board, and the fall football schedule (including Homecoming)

Caring Award winner puts green issues in the spotlight

On the cover: the Mars Hill College campus is abloom in the spring 2008 semester. Photo by Teresa Buckner, MHC Media Relations Coordinator

From These Stones – Fall 2007

From the President

As our campus continues to grow and our world continues to change, we must continue to adapt the way we do some things in order to be better stewards of what has been entrusted to us. More than just the latest buzz words, concepts such as “sustainability” and “green” have to become a part of our automatic thought processes. While we’re by no means fully there, I think we can be proud of the steps we have taken and are taking. From new construction, to building renovations, to things as simple as turning off unused lights and equipment, the steps we take—both large and small—add up quickly. The new Ferguson Math and Science Center will utilize an innovative geothermal heating and cooling system. A closed-loop system will circulate liquid through pipes in the building, underneath Highway 213 and Park Street, and through a series of deep wells beneath a parking lot to raise or lower the temperature of the liquid before returning it to the building. Renovations to Wall Science Building will greatly improve its energy efficiency. The new Day Hall, currently in the planning stages, will be MHC’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building. That designation reflects design and construction that has a lesser impact on the environment and is healthier for people who work in the building, and encompasses such areas as water efficiency, indoor air quality, sustainability, and materials choice. This summer will bring long overdue upgrades to the heating and cooling systems for Moore Fine Arts Building. Along with an energy efficient new boiler system, we’ll also swap many of the old windows for new, better insulated ones. With ongoing water shortages in our region, MHC was one of the early adopters of a trend that’s taking hold at colleges all across the country: eliminating the use of trays in the dining hall. Food services manager Kenny Barefoot estimates that move alone saves, conservatively, about 20,000 gallons of water each year which previously was being used to wash the trays. We have long encouraged faculty and staff to recycle their waste paper and other recyclables. Now, through the efforts of students like senior Matt Kupstas, founder of the Green Students United organization (and student winner of this year’s G. McLeod Bryan Caring Award for his efforts; see page 23), those efforts are being pushed more heavily among students and other campus constituencies. As Matt told the Hilltop student newspaper last spring, “a big part of my intention is to focus on positive things already happening on campus—like Kenny Barefoot buying local foods, which saves gas, and the new science building using geothermal power, which will help with energy costs. I want people to know we are not just here to protest the bad things.” Thanks to the efforts of Matt and other members of the Mars Hill College family, we’re working hard to make sure MHC stays true to its mission of “…responsible citizenship in the community, the region, and the world.”

From These Stones – The Mars Hill College Magazine

January 1, 2008, was the fourth anniversary of this historic campaign. As we go to press I’m pleased to report we have raised $30,828,145 or 86.8% of our $35.5 million goal. We still have slightly more than 13% or $4.6 million to raise—a considerable sum of money by anyone’s standards. So we come to you, the alumni and friends of the college, to ask for your help. Alex Miller ’75, VP for Institutional Advancement

From These Stones – Fall 2007

(Above) Brenda and Tom Nash, with President Lunsford looking on, at the November 2004 dedication of the Brenda G. Nash Education Hall (right).

What has been accomplished so far? A lot of dreams have come true in the past four years. Renovations to Nash Hall were completed at the end of our first year, providing a permanent home to the education department and many other administrative offices. The first new residence hall in thirty years was built just behind Moore Auditorium. Bailey Mountain Residential Apartments opened to 103 students in the fall of 2006, just over two years after the start of the campaign. Another significant milestone came as we raised $2 million in matching funds for the Bonner Scholars Program. This brought $4.5 million from the Bonner Foundation, for a total of $6.5 million to our endowment that will ensure the continuation of this program in perpetuity. This and other gifts have increased our endowment to $43.5 million as of February 29, 2008. The Scott W. Merrill Press Box, Jud and JoEllen Ammons Family Athletic Center and Irwin Belk Soccer Field have been completed. These additions to campus have increased the beauty and accessibility of our outdoor venues for football, soccer, and lacrosse. And the Carolyn and Jack Ferguson Math and Science Center, scheduled to be dedicated on June 7, is nearing completion. As soon as the move into Ferguson is accomplished work crews will begin a complete renovation of Wall Science Building. When completed in approximately 18 months we will have doubled our teaching space for the sciences and added the first new teaching space since the mid-1970s.

Bailey Mountain Residential Apartments (left) with Gibson Residence Hall visible on the hill above. (Above) The living room of one of the apartments in Bailey Mountain.

From These Stones â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The Mars Hill College Magazine

(Left) Wayne Meisel, president of the Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation, at the September 2006 kickoff of the public phase of the Values & Vision Capital Campaign. The Bonner Foundation selected Mars Hill College 17 years ago as one of the first colleges to participate in the Bonner Scholars Program, which emphasizes a strong level of community service among the students it supports.

(Above) The Ferguson Math & Science Center rises behind Wall Science Building. (Below) With fall semester’s opening just a couple of months away, laboratories are beginning to take shape.

(Above) The MHC football, lacrosse, and soccer teams have just completed their first full seasons playing in the Ammons Athletic Center, which features a fully renovated stadium, artificial turf playing surface, new visitor seating, and the Merrill Press Box. (Right) Belk Field, formerly known as “the Quarry,” provides practice space for soccer and lacrosse.

From These Stones – Fall 2007

A change in plans… Day Hall, named in honor of long-time trustee and benefactor, Troy Day ’48 and his wife, Pauline, of Kannapolis, NC, was originally sited on the upper quad. As plans for this new building developed it became clear that by adding one floor and changing the location we could accomplish three significant campus priorities: have new academic space for the business department, provide space for theatre arts and SART, and build a new bookstore. Day Hall will now be built on the corner of Main and College streets. And by adding a third floor we can provide space for a black box theatre; ticket booth; and lobby, bathroom facilities, and office space for SART. Day Hall will connect to Owen Theatre and thereby also provide handicap accessibility to guests from street level. The front of the building will face Mars Hill’s Main Street and house our new college bookstore.

Architects’ renderings of what Day Hall might look like. Above is an overhead view showing the relationship with Owen Theatre; below is a ground level view from College Street, near the main level entrance to Cornwell Hall.

Help us “finish strong”…. If we are to have a strong finish to our campaign it will require significant participation by our alumni and friends. To date the $30.8 million given to the Values & Vision Campaign has been given by less than 5% of our constituency. This is not unusual. Those closest to the institution should be most willing to support goals set by the leadership of the college. Indeed, we have received gifts and pledges from 100% of our trustees. We are now challenging our alumni and friends to help us complete the campaign by making their gifts, regardless of size. Our campaign is complete when we reach our goal.

Are you willing to help? Enclosed is a response card. We’re asking that you help us “finish strong” by writing your check and mailing it in the envelope provided. If you are alumni, please provide your class year. The class with the highest level of participation will be recognized in a future edition of From These Stones and at our public campaign celebration when we reach our goal.

From These Stones – The Mars Hill College Magazine

Alumni of the Year 2007 Mars Hill College recognized four graduates last October during homecoming festivities as Alumni of the Year. The four honorees, two from the college’s years as a junior college and two from its senior college years, were selected because of their significant contributions in work and service following their graduation from Mars Hill. This year’s honorees are Emmett Sams of Mars Hill, class of 1939; Dr. Roberta McBride Damon of Richmond, Virginia, class of 1954; Margaret Hyatt of Charleston, South Carolina, class of 1974; and Mark Cabaniss of Nashville, Tennessee, class of 1982.

(Dr. Moore was also his college algebra teacher), and worked at an on-campus job to pay the $75 tuition for the semester; he returned as a faculty member under the presidency of Dr. Hoyt Blackwell and remained on faculty through most of Dr. Fred Bentley’s tenure. Through the years he received numerous honors, including the first Gibbs Distinguished Teacher Award presented at the college in 1980, the N.C. Council of Teachers of Mathematics Rankin Award for Excellence in Math Education, an award from the University of Kentucky for Outstanding Teaching in Appalachia by the Faculty Scholar Program, and an award from the college’s Alpha Chi chapter “in recognition of exemplary efforts to promote academic excellence at Mars Hill College.”

Dr. Roberta McBride Damon’s career has been a diverse Margaret Hyatt is a 1974 Mars Hill graduate who went on to one. After receiving her AA from Mars Hill in 1954 and her earn her master’s degree at Western Carolina University and bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma Baptist University, she has continued her formal education through special programs taught and wrote curriculum for state Baptist conventions and at WCU and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A the Baptist Sunday School Board, then went overseas to do career educator who retired in July with 33 years in the public similar work, teaching and writing for a seminary and Baptist schools of Buncombe County, she was named the North Caroconvention in Brazil. Upon returning to the U.S. in the early lina Principal of the Year in 2005 while principal of Avery’s 1980’s she earned her masters and Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and worked in private practice as Creek Elementary School. Besides her work in elementary school classrooms and administration, she has been an adjunct a marriage and family therapist before going back into church professor work as the at UNC Minister of Asheville Counselsince 1994 ing at First and at MHC Baptist since 2006. Church of She married Richmond, a 1975 MHC Virginia, alum, Dennis for 12 years Hyatt, and the and then as couple has a counselor one daughter. for the In retirement, InterMargaret lives national in CharlesMission ton, South Board of Carolina. the Southern Baptist Mark ConvenCabaniss is tion. She’s a native of written five (Left to right) Emmett Sams, Roberta McBride Damon, Dr. Dan Lunsford, Margaret Hyatt, Mark Cabaniss. Shelby, North books and Carolina, who articles for took piano, several periplayed in the school band, sang in the church and school choirs odicals, leads retreats and seminars, and has assisted in crisis and performed in or conducted the pit orchestra for musicals. intervention. She and her husband, Bill, have two sons and live All that led to a degree in music education at Mars Hill in 1982, in Richmond, where she continues to counsel part time for followed by a master’s degree in communications from the First Baptist and the IMB. University of Tennessee. Currently, he puts his background to work as president of Shawnee Press, Inc., one of the world’s After graduating from Mars Hill College in 1939 and Western largest music publishing and recording firms producing choral Carolina University in 1941, Emmett Sams began a career in and instrumental music, piano and vocal books, musicals, education that spanned more than 50 years. The first six years cantatas, music textbooks and video DVDs. Cabaniss is a of that career were spent at the high school teaching level multiple recipient of ASCAP’s Popular Music Award. As a and in 1947 he joined the MHC mathematics faculty, where producer, he has produced numerous choral and instrumental he stayed until his retirement in 1992. Even then, though, he studio recordings and is the recipient of an Angel Award for wasn’t done; he taught for another year to help the MHC math the children’s recording “Once Upon an Orchestra.” Mark lives faculty with a heavy teaching load. He had arrived at Mars in Nashville, Tennessee. Hill as a freshman in 1937 while Dr. R.L. Moore was president From These Stones – Fall 2007

Life Lessons from a Pulitzer Prize Winner Gene Roberts ’52 is a professor at the University of Maryland’s Merrill College of Journalism. He and co-author Hank Klibanoff won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for History for their book The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation. The Race Beat examines how the nation’s press, after decades of ignoring the problem, came to recognize the importance of the civil rights struggle and turn it into the most significant domestic news event of the 20th Century. Gene Roberts, MHC’s 1970 Alumnus of the Year and its 1994 commencement speaker, returned to the campus last December to receive an honorary doctorate and to deliver the commencement address to our most recent graduates. Following is the text of his remarks. If you are graduating from Mars Hill with some degree of anxiety, it is understandable. The nation is at war in Iraq. Political tensions are rising as the nation prepares to elect a new president. The Middle East seems to be a quagmire. Our problems with fundamentalist Islam are intensifying. Some are saying that ours is a mature economy and we can’t expect the same rate of growth in the future. Perhaps I can offer a little comfort. I graduated from Mars Hill 55 years ago. And I and my classmates left with anxiety. The nation was at war in Korea. Political tensions were rising as the nation prepared to elect a new president. Asia seemed to be a quagmire. The Cold War with Russia was getting increasingly frigid. And there was talk that the boom that followed World War II was over and we couldn’t expect the same rate of growth in the future. So here we are 55 years later. Everything is different and yet everything is the same. Problems are everywhere. But

so is opportunity. What do you do? You plunge in. I have been a professor of journalism at the University of Maryland for a dozen years, and at the end of every semester some of my students graduate, and their worries are almost identical with those of the previous graduating classes. How do I get a job in a tight job market? How can I speed my way to a top reporting position at The New York Times or The Washington Post? What are the short cuts? Every semester, my answers are the same. Start on a small daily newspaper. There you can see the newspaper industry in microcosm. If you aren’t getting answers when you mail out your resumes, stop writing and start showing up in person.

From These Stones – The Mars Hill College Magazine

Managers at small companies are usually too busy to answer a lot of mail. Some don’t have secretaries. So you show up at their offices at eight or nine in the morning and tell them you are prepared to stay in town all day if necessary. You’ll wait until they have a coffee break or have lunch or until the end of the work day. Most prospective bosses will be impressed with your

initiative. Often, if they don’t have a job to offer, they’ll call around in your behalf. I tell my students to pick out ten papers in the same state and call on them, one a day for two weeks. I have never had a student who didn’t find a job if he or she called on as many as ten prospective employers. Once, a promising young prospect told me she couldn’t follow my advice because she didn’t have a car. She couldn’t she said, go from town to town. I suggested she buy one of those thirty day bus tickets that will let you go anywhere in the United States for a month at a fixed price. On the third day she called. And she said, “What do I do now, coach? I got a job on my third stop. And now I have 27 days left on my ticket.” The principle is the same whatever your career path—high technology or advertising or banking. Be willing to go where there’s a job. Start small. Learn the

basics before you move on. Don’t think about short cuts until you are well grounded in the fundamentals of your profession. My first job in journalism was with my hometown newspaper, the Goldsboro News-Argus, which then had a circulation of 9,000. I started as farm reporter, writing a daily column called “Ramblin’ in Rural Wayne.” I talked to farmers and their families every day. I wrote about the first cotton blossom of the season, the first tobacco harvest, farm wives who cooked banana pudding to die for, and family reunions and church socials. My city slicker friends in Goldsboro, population 25,000, laughed at my writing a column called Ramblin’ in Rural Wayne. “How was the ramblin’ today,” they would ask. But I stuck with it. I learned journalism from the ground up. More than a decade later I was a New York Times correspondent in Vietnam during the Tet offensive. I heard vague reports of trouble in Hue and made my way there by truck and helicopter. I found that the marines were surrounded and held on to only two blocks of the city. The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces held onto the rest. Each day, after marines were reinforced by fresh units, they re-took two or three blocks of the city, only to lose most of it again during the night to enemy troops who re-infiltrated into houses during the darkness. It took about ten days for the marines to get ten blocks or so from their headquarters compound. When they did, they found several American advisors who had been hiding under a house since the night the enemy overran the city. They had little water, even

less food, and were hanging on by their nerve ends when the marines broke through. The marines took the survivors to the headquarters compound and, to give them a sense of security, put them in the safest place they could find - a bunker dug deep into the center of the compound. I heard about the survivors and went to interview them. I snaked over some sandbags and entered a tunnel. I crawled a bit, rounded a bend and dimly made out some human forms. “My name is Gene Roberts,” I said. “I’m with The New York Times,” I said. “I’ve come to get your story.”

a better basic education than the one you have received at Mars Hill. If you are not going on to graduate school, look on your first job as a continuation of your education. Worry more about what

We have survived recessions and depressions, wars and assassinations, terrorism and domestic upheavals. Our nation will remain resilient, I am convinced, so long

“Everything is different and yet

everything is the same. Problems are everywhere. But so is opportunity. What do you do? You plunge in.…And have confidence in the future of our country. It is an astoundingly resilient nation. ”

Out of the darkness came a voice, and it said “Hey, did you ever write the ‘Ramblin’ in Rural Wayne’ column for the Goldsboro News-Argus?”

you are learning your first year or two than what you are receiving in pay or status. Those will come if you master the basics.

You have every reason to be optimistic as you set out in the world. I cannot imagine

And have confidence in the future of our country. It is an astoundingly resilient nation.

Gene Roberts is “hooded” by former Board of Trustees Chairman Wayne Higgins (center) and President Lunsford (right) as he receives an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree during December 2007 commencement exercises.

as we are faithful to the basic principles of democracy. Our democracy is more than majority rule. It is respect for minorities. You may lose an election, but you have the right to try and try again. You have the right to speak even if what you say runs counter to the popular wisdom. True democracy is the right to practice your religion, but it is also the right of everyone else to practice theirs, even to the point of having no religion if that is what they choose. Democracy thus far has not worked in the Middle East, other than in Israel, because the focus has been on majority rule, not on minority rights in politics and religion. True democracy is built on tolerance. There is no more stark contrast in societal values than between India and Pakistan. They received their independence at the same time; but Pakistan was founded upon a single religion, Islam, while India was founded upon religious and political diversity and is open to Hinduism and Christianity and Islam and to those who choose none of From These Stones – Fall 2007

these. India is a tolerant, diverse and functioning democracy while Pakistan struggles with autocracy and religious intolerance.

Germany and seeking an accommodation. And to make sure it didn’t offend Germany in any way it began censoring the press.

In our book, The Race Beat, Hank Klibanoff and I dug into the life of Gunnar Myrdal, the Swedish scholar who was commissioned by the Carnegie Foundation in 1937 to do the most comprehensive study ever of race in America, especially of white supremacy. He had more than a hundred other scholars helping him. He did three years of field work and was horrified by the depth of poverty and fear that white supremacy had generated in black Americans. When World War II began he was drowning in more than 15,000 pages of research and groping for a way to synthesize this into a book.

Myrdal and his wife were outraged. This simply would not happen in America, they knew. For all its problems with race, America had an outspoken black press with scores of papers operating both north and south without censorship of any kind. He thought Sweden could learn from America, and he and his wife wrote a book, Contact with America, to acquaint Swedes with American values. Almost all American citizens, the Myrdals wrote, believed in free speech and a free press. Americans respected other viewpoints even when they strongly disagreed. As a result diverse ethnic groups were living at peace in America while Europe was tearing itself apart.

Then Germany invaded Denmark and Norway. Believing that Sweden was next, he put the research aside and arranged to return home with his family on a ship that was laden with dynamite and traveling through U-boat infested waters. It was his duty, he felt, to fight for his country. But to his amazement, he found when he arrived in Sweden that his country was not preparing for an invasion; it was openly courting Nazi

Writing the book in Sweden gave him the insight he needed to return to America and finish his book on race. He would call it An American Dilemma. And in it he would include his belief that Americans were bound together in a common set of beliefs that he called the American Creed—a sense of fair play and respect for different voices,

different religions, and different ethnic backgrounds. He would conclude that white supremacy existed at least in part because the mainstream press in America was not covering it, only the black press saw race as news. If Americans across the nation really understood what was happening, Myrdal believed, they would be shocked and shaken and demand change—because the realities of white supremacy differed so sharply from the ideals of the American Creed. It would take years for the white-run press to start covering race, and when it did, Myrdal’s insights were proven right. America was shocked and shaken and it did demand change. We have a long history in America of correcting our course when we stray from our beliefs. We did it on women’s rights, on the rights of black Americans, on worker’s rights and on economic freedoms. Previous generations have put us back on course and protected diversity, dissent and religious freedom. Now it is your turn. There is much to contemplate as you embark on a new life. Mars Hill has prepared you. And now the future is yours to shape. I wish you well. Thank you for inviting me to speak.

Veteran Editor Reflects on Growth and Career Gene Roberts talked to a group of Hilltop reporters by speaker phone on December 3. Here are his answers to their questions. Tell us about your early life.

The MHC student newspaper, the Hilltop, put together several stories about Gene Roberts, in conjunction with his return to campus. Hilltop reporters Cody Bryson, Tyler Coates, Josh Coburn, Jenny Hoyt, Matt Kupstas, Tandra Landers, Ashley Poulter, Samantha Rybicki, and Erika Whicker contributed to the coverage, which included this article. (You may see all the articles online at http://hilltop.mhc.edu /121007/index121407.asp) 12

I grew up in Wayne County and Goldsboro—actually Wayne and Wilson Counties. My father owned a weekly newspaper in Goldsboro. That was in the 1930s and during World War II. He was a principal in a little town called Black Creek in Wilson County. When he was running the weekly newspaper, I sort of grew up in the business, and my early memories are—he printed his paper on a flat bed press. You had to push each sheet in by hand. I remember him holding me up and letting me push the paper into the press. And then the paper came out on Thursdays, and on Fridays -- that would have been before I started to school -- he would go out to sell subscriptions to the paper, and I would go with him. This was during the Depression, and none of the farmers had what they call cash money, and we traded the paper -- a year’s subscription to the paper -- for whatever we could get from farmers. Sometimes it would be two live guinea hens with their legs tied together, lots of chickens, eggs, honey, potatoes. And

From These Stones – The Mars Hill College Magazine

so we didn’t have a lot of money during the Depression, but we ate well. We read about the experience you had when you were 12 at the swimming hole by your uncle’s house. (Yes!) And we wondered what effect that had on your life at that young age. I don’t know exactly. It certainly made me think more about racial discrimination and segregation and what was, in effect, white supremacy in the South. I started looking at things differently, I think, after that. Was it a young boy, or a man that drowned? It was a boy. Probably a teenager. I wonder if you could share some of the highs and lows of your career in journalism. I certainly thought covering the Civil Rights story was probably the most interesting and absorbing thing I did over a period of time. But I covered the Kennedy assassination - its aftermath - and that was an important story. I covered the War in Vietnam, particularly the battle of Hue, which was the longest-running battle of the war. The beat I had the most fun on was the Waterfront beat on The NorfolkVirginian Pilot. Norfolk, being a major seaport, was very lively. I covered all sorts of stories on that beat, including the story of two roustabout mechanics from Virginia who managed to salvage a wrecked oil tanker off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland, and bring it into port. For kind of complicated reasons I ended up being the only reporter allowed aboard. And there was a story that made the news all over the country and the world for that matter for about a week, because a hurricane was coming up, and there was some question about whether they could get the ship to shore before the hurricane hit. As it turned out, the hurricane veered out to sea, and they were able to get this oil tanker into Norfolk. Matt: What do you think your most emotionally difficult story was during this time period?

Probably the most difficult story at times was the Race Beat story in the South. And again, when riots developed all over the country, particularly in northern urban centers. When I was in the South, I frequently had to go into racially polarized small towns in the South. They weren’t happy about having outside reporters coming in covering their problems. And you would have, in period of tension, you would have to go into the black neighborhoods to use the phones and stay out of trouble. You were always welcome in black neighborhoods in the South. They were delighted the press was there. But in the North, covering riots, the situation was reversed. You would be covering black mobs at times, that weren’t happy to have reporters covering what they did, and particularly unhappy about having photographers shoot their pictures during riots. So then you would be running from black neighborhoods into white neighborhoods for safety. And I was covering both. I would be called from the South to the North to cover riots, and then be sent back down to the South to cover the Civil Rights story in the South. You had to change your perspective and your whole method of operation, depending on whether you were working in a small southern town or in a northern black ghetto. Matt: So did you feel in danger sometimes when you were covering these mob scenes? Sometimes, yes. We all became very practiced -- those of us who covered Civil Rights. There were basically, in the South, when you were covering a mob, two ways to go. To dress in blue jeans and T-shirts, and try to blend in with the mob, or go 180 percent the other way and try to look like a FBI agent. I usually opted for looking like an FBI agent. We got pretty sophisticated at it. You would wear a suit, of course, and a tie, and then if you put two long slim special notebooks in your right hand coat pocket, the vest pocket, it would look like you were packing a holster and carrying a gun, and you would be more likely to be

perceived as an FBI agent. There were a lot of FBI agents observing Civil Rights activity, and most of the mob didn’t want to take on the FBI. What was it like going from a small hometown newspaper to one of the most prestigious papers in the country. Was that a shock? Well, I sort of did it in stages. My second paper was The Norfolk- Virginian Pilot, which was about 120,000-130,000 circulation. Then I moved to the Raleigh paper, which had roughly the same circulation, a little over 100,000 circulation. Then I moved to The Detroit Free Press, which --- it’s been a lot of years -- but I think it had 400,000 or 500,000 circulation, around in there. Then from Detroit to The New York Times. By the time I got to the Times, I’d worked on a variety of papers, and on some stories I’d competed against the Times, so it wasn’t just an overnight experience going on to the Times. How did you meet your wife? Well, we went to the same high school, but I didn’t know her there. She was two years behind me in school, and our families had summer cottages near Bath, North Carolina, at a place called Bayview. When I was a senior in college, and she was, I guess, a sophomore in college, we met at a little dance pavilion they had -- a sort of outdoor dance pavilion in Bayview. Then I went in the Army and only saw her now and then, and it was only after I got out of the Army and went to work for the Goldsboro News-Argus, my hometown paper, that we started dating again on a regular basis. What is some advice you’d give to student journalists today? Start on a small daily newspaper and don’t bother writing letters to the editors of the small papers. They usually don’t have secretaries and they’re too busy to carry on a lot of correspondence. Just show up at a newspaper in the morning, and tell them you’ll be in town all day and will make yourself available to the editor whenever he has a few spare moments at lunch or after work or whatever.

From These Stones – Fall 2007

And if you pick out the state you want to work in, spend a couple of weeks going from paper to paper. No matter what sort of economy you’re in, you’re likely to be offered a job. And they will like the idea that you just sort of showed up in the newsroom, because it shows enterprise, which most editors expect out of reporters. And I would spend one to two years on a small paper. It will get you used to working under daily pressure. And if you make a mistake, which you will on a small paper, they don’t have much choice but to send you right back out again the next day. If you’re working on a big newspaper, they might sort of bench you for a while or put you on routine stories. You can get much more experience much faster on a small daily than on a big daily. Tyler: What are the big stories today that journalists should be covering? They should be doing more about Race than we’re doing. And newspapers don’t devote as much manpower to covering State Legislatures as they used to. State Legislatures are getting more and more authority ever since the Reagan era. More and more regulatory business has moved out of Washington on to state government. The number of lobbyists at the 50 state capitols is sort of amazing. There are something like 49,000 lobbyists registered to cover state governments.

In Georgia there are more than 1,000. In New York State there are something like 4,400, which is something like 20 to every single state legislator. So there is a lot going on at the state government level.

One newspaper. And the staff needed to be completely rebuilt. The paper needed a new look. It was just every single department needed some kind of overhaul on the paper. There was no end of things to do.

What challenged you most about being the executive editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer?

What qualities did you look for when you hired journalists?

There were lots and lots of things. One of the things that attracted me there was that it was a paper with a lot of problems. It had the lead on Sunday circulation, but it was way behind on daily circulation and was, in effect, the Number Two paper in town. When I was in the Army I had friends in Philadelphia and liked the city and thought it was a place you could have a great newspaper. And one of the things I had noticed was, if you are an editor of a “sick” newspaper, or a newspaper that is regarded as having lots of problems, you have a much freer hand to do what you want to than if you are working at a “successful” newspaper. Because if everything is coming up roses, everyone figures, well why plant petunias? And you have a kind of built-in resistance to change. There aren’t that many competitive cities left anymore, but back in 1972 when I took that job, you had a freedom with the Number Two newspaper that you wouldn’t have had on the Number

From These Stones – The Mars Hill College Magazine

Well, you want to satisfy yourself that the journalist can write, that the journalist has enterprise and is not “passive” when going about collecting the news. In Philadelphia and at The New York Times I preferred to hire reporters who had four or five years experience at least and a track record you could judge them by. On the Times and the Inquirer, both papers had the Guild reporters unions, and if a reporter didn’t work out, it was very difficult to get them off the staff. So you had to be doubly careful about who you hired. On a small paper, I just looked for --- I was not in a hiring position actually on a small paper -- but I would have looked for an aggressive student who had enough clips, or even student papers, to show me that he or she could write. Why do you think journalists are important? Well, I don’t think democracy would work in the absence of a free press and reporters who are digging into the issues of the day.

One of the things that troubles me right now about the press is that a democratic society is getting more complex, but there are less and less reporters that are covering it and less and less journalists period. This is because of a decline in revenues of newspapers and increased competition from both the Internet and 24-hour cable news, among other things. But newspapers are still highly profitable. They still make -- this is a very bad year, yet publicly-held newspapers are making in excess of 15 percent profit, which is about double the average American company. But newspapers are cutting back. And basically all of our news comes from newspapers. Virtually no Internet Web sites do all of their own reporting. They get it off of wires or a newspaper they’re connected with. If newspapers keep cutting back on the staffs, you kind of wonder where the news is going to come from. A paper like the The Raleigh News and Observer or The Charlotte Observer would have a staff as big as CNN, for example. CNN basically moves on to the big stories. They don’t attempt to cover things on a systematic basis. For better or for worse, at this stage of our development as a democracy, newspaper reporters are pretty much “It,” And the fact that there are less and less of them is bad news for our society, I think.

Dr. Jolley & the CCC Retired history professor Harley Jolley is getting a lot of attention for his new book about the Civilian Conservation Corps. Dr. Jolley, who was part of the CCC, will be honored this summer by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation for his scholarship and personal contributions as a noted Parkway historian, author, and MHC professor. The celebration of the CCC and Dr. Jolley will be held June 19 from 6:00 until 10:00 p.m. at historic Claxton Farm near Weaverville, NC. It will feature an actor portraying President Franklin Roosevelt and the farm will be transformed to represent an authentic CCC camp. Tickets for the event are $60. For more information, contact the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation at 336.721.0260 or by e-mail at lfletcher@brpfoundation.org. Dr. Jolley’s book, That Magnificent Army of Youth and Peace: The Civilian Conservation Corps in North Carolina 1933-1942, is available through the Parkway Foundation at

www.blueridgeparkwaystore.com and through its pub-

lisher, the North Carolina Office of Archives and History, at

MHC Professor is “America’s Next Great Crime Writer” by Alexandra Turner '09 from an article originally published in the Hilltop, February 4, 2008

Mars Hill College English Professor Hal McDonald doesn’t watch a lot of television, so he never saw the advertisement on Court T.V. (now TruTV) for “America’s Next Great Crime Writer.” He stumbled across a flyer promoting the contest one day when he was cleaning out his mailbox. The contest deadline was less than a week away, and McDonald was about to go on Thanksgiving break. He had just five days to write a 5,000-word sample chapter and a 2,000-word synopsis, but he had an idea, so he entered. One month later McDonald was surprised to learn that he had won. The book, which he went on to complete under a tight six-week deadline, is called The Anatomists. His story, set in London in 1825, tells the tale of two young medical school students who are studying anatomy and must dig up graves to find cadavers. One day while doing this, they make a chilling discovery. The gravestone reads that the person who died was a woman. But the body turns out to be that of a man. They soon discover that he has been murdered. The story centers on their efforts to solve the crime. Before entering the contest, McDonald had been reading historical books on anatomy study. His daughter asked him what would happen if the medical students ever found someone who had been murdered. McDonald expanded on that idea when he entered the contest.

About 900 people sent in submissions. On a snowy day in December, while McDonald was home with his three children, he got a call from Court T.V. telling him that he was one of the top five contestants and the winner would be chosen through open online voting. The voting went for one month, and McDonald’s story was the winning story.

www.ncpublications.com.

The grand prize was getting his sample chapter read by HarperCollins Publishing Company. There was no guarantee that his story would get published. But HarperCollins liked what they saw and called to ask for the rest of the book. McDonald told them that he only had about eighteen pages of the story actually completed. HarperCollins gave him a deadline of six weeks to complete the entire novel. Being a full-time college professor and father of three didn’t leave McDonald a lot of spare time to write his book, so he had to carefully plan when he would be able to work on it. Every day he had written out on his calendar how many words he would write that day. On days he was teaching he would write 1,000 words a day, and on days that he did not have to teach he would write 2,000 words a day. Using this method, McDonald was able to complete his novel by his six week deadline. Now McDonald is working on a sequel. He said his work as an English professor at Mars Hill College definitely gave him a leg up on some of the competition. However, three of the five finalists were also English professors. McDonald also said that having written three prior novels gave him the confidence to know he could finish the book. He said that his favorite part of the experience was that the contest gave him a reason to write. It was a good feeling while he was writing to know that someone was definitely going to read it.

From These Stones – Fall 2007

Advancing the Cause

News from the Office of Institutional Advancement The Nuts and Bolts of Developing Named Scholarships by Bud Christman, Executive Director of Institutional Advancement

Wondering what to do with that tax refund or rebate? Or perhaps you are updating your estate plan and wish to leave a legacy to Mars Hill College. Creating a named scholarship, whether it be in your name, a loved one, or an esteemed MHC professor, is a tangible way to equip students with the resources needed to claim an education.

The Skip Liles Golf Scholarship was established in honor of Skip Liles ’69 by his wife, Susan Liles ’71. The recipient of this scholarship will be a Mars Hill College golfer.

Endowed Scholarships ΕΕ Are perpetual

ΕΕ Corpus (principal) is preserved ΕΕ Require minimum $ 20,000 investment, which can be funded over a five-year period.

There are two primary options to fund named scholarships. Through both options, donors can participate both naming the scholarship along with helping to develop scholarship criteria.

ΕΕ Awards will be made as a percentage of investment income, based on the corpus amount, as set by the Board of Trustees. This amount is currently 5%.

“Pass Through” Scholarships

ΕΕ To fund an endowment to provide a full tuition scholarship: $400,000

ΕΕ Funded on an annual basis. Requires minimum of $2,500 ΕΕ Award is based on the specific amount donated. Award is typically made in the year following gift, though donor can request award be made when given provided the gift is made early in the academic year. ΕΕ To fund a full tuition pass through scholarship: $20,000 a year ΕΕ To fund a full tuition, room, and board scholarship: $28,000 a year

Recently funded “Pass Through Scholarships” include: The Beulah Hill Tinsley Scholarship, Mary E. Crook Jones Scholarship, Roswell Cunningham Wilson Scholarship, and the Miriam Hardee Wilson

Scholarship have all been funded by Thomas L. Wilson ’47, Rock Hill, South Carolina. The students who receive these scholarships must be from North Carolina, South Carolina, or China.

ΕΕ To fund an endowment to provide a full-tuition, room, and board scholarship: $560,000 Established scholarships recently achieving endowed status include: The Joe T. Moore Scholarship, named for alumnus Joe T. Moore ’50 of Gaffney, South Carolina, is established to assist Mars Hill College students from North Carolina and South Carolina majoring in Business. The Mamie, Bryan and Sadie Wallin Scholarship was established in 1991 by Bryan and Sadie Wallin ’44. The purpose of the scholarship is to assist a student from Madison County.

From These Stones – The Mars Hill College Magazine

The Wilhide Biology Scholarship was established by Tom Moore Davis ’42 in memory of his classmates, Robert and Wallace Wilhide,. Both brothers served as Marine Aviators and were killed during World War II. The scholarship assists students majoring in biology. The James M. and Gwyn Pierce Fish Endowed Scholarship Fund, was established by friends of the Fish family. Both Jim and Gwyn were graduates of Mars Hill College, class of 1943. Preference in making awards is given to Spanish majors. Newly Established Endowed Scholarships: The George Nial Stroupe Scholarship, established through the estate of George N. Stroupe ’31 of Morganton, North Carolina assists students exhibiting financial need with preference given to veterans of U.S. Military Service. The Helen Cole Krause Music Scholarship has been established to provide financial assistance to freshmen or transfer students who have declared music as their major at Mars Hill College. The scholarship has been established and funded by Mark G. Cabaniss ’82 in honor of his beloved Shelby High School choral director, Helen Cole Krause. The Virginia Hart Endowed Tennis Scholarship was funded by Dr. Hart’s friends and former students. This endowed scholarship fund was established in honor of Dr. Virginia Hart ’43, professor emeritus of physical education. The student that is eligible to receive this scholarship must be a member in good standing of either the

New Planned Giving Web Site Launched

women’s or men’s tennis program at Mars Hill College. The Herbert, John, and Luther Vann Endowed Scholarship has been funded through the Carolyn Vann Irvin ’22 Charitable Remainder Unitrust. The recipient of the scholarship is required to maintain a 3.2 grade point average and should demonstrate traits of good citizenship. The James H. Montgomery Regional Studies Endowed Scholarship was established to motivate Mars Hill College students to broaden their understanding and appreciation of the history, culture, and environment of the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains Region. For more information about establishing scholarships, contact: Bud Christman (828-689-1194), Executive Director of Institutional Advancement, or Lauren Carson (828-689-1295), Director of Major Gifts.

You can create a legacy with Mars Hill College that will endure forever. It is easy and hassle free: 1. Just go to www.mhc.edu and click on the Alumni link near the top of the page. 2. Click on Planned Giving. 3. Find valuable information about your planned giving options. Our Web site is completed and updated monthly. By accessing it you can: ΕΕ Learn how charitable giving can provide payments for yourself and loved ones. ΕΕ Calculate your benefits with our online gift calculator. ΕΕ Determine how tax laws dictate how your IRA pays you and your beneficiaries.

The Annual Fund and You by Brian Danforth ’06, Director of the Annual Fund

Thank you for supporting Mars Hill College! Your gifts are impacting the lives of current students where they need it the most: scholarships! Here’s how the 2007-08 Annual Fund campaign stacks up (as of February): Goal: $1,065,000 Total gifts: $633,904 (cash only; does not include pledges) Percentage of goal: 59.5% Number of donors: 2,546 (goal 4,000) Make the difference—give today. One hundred percent of gifts donated to the annual fund help fund student scholarships. We need 1,454 more donors to make it to our goal of 4,000. No matter the size of your gift, at least one student will benefit. There are two quick and easy payment options available, in addition : ΕΕ Give online to the Planned Giving Web site and click on the E-Giving graphic to the right of the screen. ΕΕ Call Karen Hedrick, Gift Services Associate, and provide your credit card information. (828.689.1584) If you’d prefer to mail a check, send it to: Mars Hill College c/o Institutional Advancement PO Box 370 Mars Hill, NC 28754

*Please write “Annual Fund” in the memo line of your check

From These Stones – Fall 2007

On the Road Again by Ophelia DeGroot ’58, Special Assistant to the President, Alumni Relations

The “alumni caravan” was on the move again in the spring, February 4–8, with President and Mrs. Lunsford. Alex Miller, Vice President of Institutional Advancement; and Ophelia DeGroot, Special Assistant to the President, Alumni Relations, traveled with them on a swing through Georgia and Florida. At each meeting Dr. Lunsford told of recent happenings on the campus. The first gathering on the tour was a luncheon at the Capital Grille in Atlanta, hosted by Don and Carole Guffey ’57, and attended by 32 people. Ned Barrett ’61 of Birmingham, Alabama, National Alumni Board president, joined the group and gave a brief update on the Mars Hill College National Alumni Board activities and encouraged participation from the alumni. From Atlanta the MHC entourage next visited with alumni at the Carlyle Place in Macon, Georgia. George ’40 and Alice Culpepper hosted the luncheon in the Season Room. Life Trustee Dr. Henry Crouch ’47 was among the attendees. Others in attendance were James Sides ’65, Blanche Westmoreland

’47, Betty ’49 and Milton Snyder, and Cecil ’58 and Darrell Robertson. Trustee Bill Mason and his wife Julia invited the group to lunch at the San Jose Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida. Attending were Amy Lawrence Rosoff ’86, Carrie McLean ’01, Bill ’69 and Alma ’70 Jones, Anna Jean Davis ’49, Virginia Cox Owens ’49, and Ruth Swartz ’96. The last gathering of the trip was at the Steak and Ale Restaurant in Orlando, Florida. Tammie French ’79 and her daughter Victoria handled the arrangements for the meeting and lunch there. Joining Life Trustee Jim Pittman ’51 and his wife Ganell were John Mitchell ’77, Fields Young ’69, Gladys and Marshall Wilson ’54, and Eleanor Boyd Wright ’58. Dan and Beverly Lunsford hosted two alumni luncheons in Scottsdale, Arizone, February 19 and 20, while attending the annual meeting of the American Association of Presidents of Independent Colleges and Universities. In attendance were alumni Gina Minyard Handy ’97, James Ratliff ’50, Dexter Connor ’54, Gaynelle Aldridge ’52, and John Marshall ’80, as well as guests Marleen Ratliff and Pat Buckles.

(Left to Right) Jacksonville gathering, Macon gathering, National Alumni Board President Ned Barrett, Opehelia DeGroot

(Left to Right) Dr. Lunsford with Shault Coker ’60 and his aunt in Naples, FL; Phoenix gathering; Orlando gathering

From These Stones – The Mars Hill College Magazine

Valentine’s Day Card Appeal by Brian Danforth ’06, Director of the Annual Fund

Mr. and Mrs. Robert & Sandra White – “MHC nice marketing!” Mr. and Mrs. Paul & Judy Rood – “Clever promo” Mr. and Mrs. Roy & Lynda O’Bryan – “Married 45 years in 2008. Many thanks to Mars Hill College.”

W D HER M ID Y E EE OU CA T M ON P ? US

AM M AT AD C M EA H A T HI RS LL

Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy & Linda Warfford – “Great job with the Valentine Card. So many of us met our match there! Mr. and Mrs. Hal & Mary Kay Hill – “Good memories and relationships; so many life lessons and…each other!” Thank you to everyone who has responded and for all of the wonderful notes on your time at MHC. The Valentine’s Day card was mailed to all of our alumni that married another MHC grad. If you received a Valentine’s Day card there is still plenty of time to send in your gift. Postmark by May 31, 2008. Mail to: Mars Hill College c/o Institutional Advancement PO Box 370 Mars Hill, NC 28754 There is still time to take part in the Alumni Class Challenge. Help your class be the winning class that will be featured in the fall edition of From These Stones magazine. Each alum from that class who contributed to the challenge will be listed as well. The challenge has twin goals: to raise $60,000 in new or increased gifts, and to increase the number of alumni who give to the college to 20% (4,000 alumni donors) by fiscal year-end 2007-08. Alumni participation is crucial to MHC. Foundations and corporations see each alumni contribution as a “vote of confidence.” A gift to the Annual Fund is the equivalent of shouting from the rooftops “MHC’s mission is worth supporting! Also, when USNews and World Report ranks MHC each year, our alumni participation weighs heavily on where MHC is ranked for the coming year. Take the challenge and help support MHC students by contributing to the Annual Fund. Will you help us reach our goals?

Want To Go Cruising? Longtime MHC faculty member Bob Kramer is trying to gauge interest in a cruise next spring. Bob and wife Connie have led two previous Spring Break Cruises for Faculty/Staff/Alumni and Friends of Mars Hill College. The trip they’re looking into this time around is on the Norwegian Majesty out of Charleston, South Carolina. Bob says Norwegian’s new itinerary for the ship has some great ports of call, including Grand Bahamas, Nassau, Port Canaveral, and Great Stirrup Cay. This MHC cruise would be March 14–21, 2009, and cost $683 or $783 per person, depending on room. To get more information, call Bob at 828.689.1114 or e-mail him at bkramer@mhc.edu.

From These Stones – Fall 2007

Class Notes Editor’s Note: In the printed version of this issue, we incorrectly included Wade Brown, class of 1928, in the list of deceased alumni. In fact, Mr. Brown, the former mayor of Boone, NC, state senator, and state representative, is alive and well at age 100. We apologize for the error.

Class notes information is compiled from alumni submissions, news media reports, and other announcements. The Alumni Office welcomes pictures and/or news of weddings, babies and events (advanced degrees, career changes, church or community honors, etc.) from our alumni. You may e-mail fdegroot@mhc.edu or mail to Fifi DeGroot, Alumni Office, P.O. Box 370, Mars Hill, NC 28754.

1930s Class of 1936 The Glenville (NC) Community Development Club has created a four-year scholarship in honor of Viola Bryson . She taught in the Jackson and Transylvania school systems for 36 years and has been a long-time active member and leader of the club.

1950s Class of 1955

Class of 1957

arie Atwell Walkup retired M in 2006 from the Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, following more than 37 years in government work. She is now serving as organist at Christ United Methodist Church in Fayetteville.

oris Jones Vance marD ried David Leo Pawson on January 1. She retired five years ago following a career as an educational consultant and school teacher. Following her retirement, she became a research collaborator at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, specializing in marine biology research. The couple lives in McLean, Virginia.

Class of 1956 J erry Crowe married Joyce Bates in February. The couple lives in Purvis, Mississippi. A humanitarian response to the African HIV/AIDS pandemic by Indiana University School of Medicine and its education partner in Kenya, Moi University School of Medicine, again has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. The program, AMPATH (Academic Model for

Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS) was only a concept seven years ago. Through the efforts of its field director, Joseph Mamlin, M.D. , professor emeritus of medicine at the IU School of Medicine, and faculty involved in the IU-Kenya Partnership, AMPATH now treats 42,000 HIV-positive Kenyan patients at 19 clinical sites throughout western Kenya. It also provides food assistance to 20,000 people, and job and agricultural training to thousands more.

Class of 1958 J im Jerome Williams retired as music director at First United Methodist Church in Hickory, North Carolina, in August of 2007 after 31 years service to the church. A “Great Day of Singing” marked his last Sunday. The church gave him and his wife

From These Stones – The Mars Hill College Magazine

a cruise as a parting gift. Jim had previously retired from teaching music in the Burke County Schools in 1994. He was the 1982-83 North Carolina Teacher of the Year. In recent years he has taught a music class at MHC and helps coordinate the annual choral festival. He enjoys composing and a number of his choral compositions have been published. Jim and his wife, Susan, live in Valdese, North Carolina, and love to travel.

1960s Class of 1965 harles Lewis retired from C the US Foreign Service at the end of February 2007 after 18 years of overseas service with the Voice of America, initially as a radio engineer and later as a Transmitting Station Manager. His postings were to Botswana for three years, the Island of São Tomé for five years, Northeastern Greece for five years, and back to São Tomé Island for the final five years before mandatory retirement at age 65. He now resides with his wife, Lesley, in the mountains near West Jefferson in Ashe County, NC. enneth Murray retired from K Wingate University in August following 32 years of service as professor of music education.

1980s Class of 1982 ebecca Adams Roesch , a R social worker at Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center, received the 2008 Social Worker of the Year Award from the South Carolina chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

Class of 1985 harles Holland is the C administrator of the new Robin R. Farquhar YouTheatre Education Center at Flat Rock Playhouse in Flat Rock, North Carolina.

Class of 1988 ellie Shirley received her K Master of Arts in communication studies from Regent University.

1990s Class of 1993 pril Phillips Boone received A her PhD in English from the University of Tennessee on December 14, 2007. April earned her master’s degree at Western Carolina University in 1998. endy Greer Campbell and W her husband, Scott, announce the birth of Bailey Greer Campbell on September 19. They live in Greer, South Carolina.

Class of 1997 athy Ennis Alexander and K her husband, Chad, announce the birth of their son, Parker

Class Notes

Alexander, on March 2, 2007. The couple also has a fouryear old son named Chase. They live in Lexington, North Carolina.

2000s Class of 2003 lizabeth A. Nebel married E J. Clayton Vassey ’02 in June 2006. Elizabeth received her MA in clinical psychology from Midwestern University in May 2007 and is now a doctoral graduate student in clinical psychology at Midwestern. Clay is an industrial sales account executive for W.E. Carlson in Chicago.

Class of 2005 arson Byrd is serving as the C personal research assistant

for the vice president of multicultural affairs at Virginia Tech. He is part of a team (and the only student on the team) representing the university at a summer diversity conference and workshop held by the Association of American Colleges and Universities. He is also helping form a new minor and certificate program for undergraduates that revolves around diversity and social justice.

In Memoriam Since our last publication we have received word of the passing of the following members of the Mars Hill College family.

1930s Lou Emma Humphries ’32 Janet Limer Peek ’32 Dorothy Dowd Crutchfield Russell ’33

Ruamie Carroll Squires ’33 Bertie Marie Hutchins Roberts ’35 James “Footsie” Cowan ’37 Edward W. Pipes’38 Nancy Winston Crews ’39 James Y. Griggs ’39 Alice Humphries West ’39

1940s John C. Gill ’40 Roy E. Crews ’41 Jack D. Bounds ’43 George Thomas Gaines ’43 Robert L. Harris ’43 Ruby Thompson Hooper ’43 Hamilton Harris Woltz ’43 Evelyn McLeod Thomas ’44 Johnnie Davis Barker ’45 Jane McGinnis Sutton ’47 John Earl Todd ’48 Joyce Fite Yandle ’48 Marjorie Perkins Cross ’49 Walter F. “Jack” Martin ’49

Walter Martin ’51 Dorothy Manly Tripp ’52 James Neil Mathews ’53 Norma Jean Dixon Hughes ’55 William Edward Davis ’58

1960s William Thomas Culver ’60 George Wayne Kale ’60 Allen Franklin Cantrell ’61 Carl F. Traub ’62 Mack Edward Smith III ’67 Carolyn Hodge Magee ’69

1970s Marilyn Reid Farrell ’74 Richard Benjamin Cole ’75 Tim E. Haden ’75 Elizabeth Gregg Taylor ’78

Friends Howard Charles, life trustee George Clayton, former trustee Roy Wood, retired faculty

1950s Doris Scott Greer ’51

New Online Feature Honors Alumni of the Month Mars Hill College has long had a tradition of honoring distinguished alumni through the prestigious Alumni of the Year Awards. You can read about our most recent recipients on page 9. To build on the success of that program and to help recognize, in a smaller way, the accomplishments of more of MHC’s outstanding graduates, we’ve begun the Alum of the Month recognitions on the college Web site. Criteria for the Alum of the Month are: 1. MHC graduate 2. Inspires others through professional and/or personal life 3. Commitment to the community The inaugural recipient, in January 2008, was Selena Hilemon, of the class of 2001. February’s Alum of the Month was Caty Carpenter ’06; March’s award went to Travis Durham ’01; and April’s to Carson Byrd ’05. To read what these MHC grads are doing, log on to the Alumni section of www.mhc.edu and click on the Alum of the Month link.

From These Stones – Fall 2007

NATIONAL ALUMNI BOARD 2008

Ned Barrett ’61 Cheryl Pappas ’70 Willa Wyatt ’68 Greg Googer ’89

Ex Officio Members Dr. Larry Atwell ’69 Past President Wayne Morris ’08 Senior Class President Ophelia DeGroot ’58 Alumni Relations Director

Term Expires in 2009

President First Vice President Second Vice President Third Vice President

Term Expires in 2010

Joanna Huggins Atwell ’71 Jim Alexander ’66 Scott Conner ’64 Ned Barrett ’61 Tammie Lewis French ’79 Janis Elam Blackwell ’68 Brian Graves ’96 Greg Googer ’89 Polly Yandell Miller ’48 Mickey Hoyle ’65 Malcolm Privette ’67 Austin Lee ’03 Clarence F. Stirewalt ’45 Brian Matlock ’98 Cheryl Buchanan Pappas ’70 Sara Ramirez-Cross ’98 Kim Waddell Wilson ’97 Willa Plemmons Wyatt ’68

Term Expires in 2011 Ann McKay Bennett ’81 Tracy Bracken ’95 Betty Boyd Bullard ’71 Gretchen DeGroot Green ’96 Kate O’Neil Herring ’01 Gerry Hutchinson ’76 Amy Harris Peacock ’97 Ben Peacock ’97 Charlie Smith ’67 Adam Turem ’99 Davey Ward ’49 Jo Pittard Ward ’50

Homecoming 2008 Mark your calendars—Homecoming 2008 will be the weekend of October 10 & 11. This year’s football opponent is Newberry College. Watch your mailbox and the MHC Web site for more information about this year’s festivities. So you can plan your fall weekends, here are some other opportunities to show your Lion pride: the fall 2008 football schedule.

August 30

Furman University

Away

TBA

September 6

Univ. of the Cumberlands

HOME

1:30 p.m.

September 13

St. Augustine’s College

Away

1:30 p.m.

September 20

West Liberty State College

AWAY

1:00 p.m.

September 27

CATAWBA COLLEGE

HOME

1:30 p.m.

October 4

CARSON-NEWMAN COLLEGE

Away

1:00 p.m.

October 11

NEWBERRY COLLEGE

HOME

2:30 p.m.

October 18

BREVARD COLLEGE

HOME

1:30 p.m.

October 25

LENOIR-RHYNE COLLEGE

Away

7:00 p.m.

November 1

TUSCULUM COLLEGE

HOME

1:30 p.m.

November 8

WINGATE UNIVERSITY

Away

1:30 p.m.

From These Stones – The Mars Hill College Magazine

MHC Senior Honored for Environmental Work by Sally Carswell From an article in the Hilltop, April 21, 2008

Mars Hill College senior Matt Kupstas, founder of Green Students United, has been awarded the annual G. McLeod Bryan Caring Award for his volunteer work in helping raise environmental awareness on campus. The award was presented to Matt on April 1 at Crossroads. Matt, a sociology major and environmental studies minor, compiled The Green Student Guide, which gives students simple, practical tips now how to live a more environmentally friendly life. The guide has been printed as a brochure and is also published in the Hilltop (http://hilltop.mhc.edu/042108/GreenGuide/Green%20 Students%20Guide2.htm).

From left to right, Matt Kupstas is pictured with Mac Bryan and faculty/staff Caring Award recipients Sam and Janet Bingham

Matt felt called last spring to start Green Students United. He and other members of the student group have set up recycling programs in Fox dorm and the Dickson-Palmer Apartments. They hope to expand the program to other dorms. They have spent weekends pulling trash out of a local river, have showed environmental documentaries, and have planned the first “Green Week” on campus for the week of April 21-25.

Green Students United has also set up “Free Stores” in Fox Dorm and in the Dickson-Palmer Apartments. The “Free Store” allows students to donate items they would normally throw away at the end of the year. Other students can then “shop” for items they might want. Nearby Warren Wilson College has a free store that is run year- round by students; in the future Matt would like Mars Hill to follow in Warren Wilson’s footsteps. His hope is that Resident Assistants will continue to manage free stores in the future. “It eliminates waste, promotes simplicity, and helps save students money,” he says. At Crossroads, Matt said he was “overwhelmed, and filled with an abundance of ideas and passion that were overshadowed by fear of failure.” He had never started a club before, but through much encouragement and hard work, Green Students United has become an active part of Mars Hill College. Matt reminded the audience that “environmental problems are not just polar bears’ problems, or Al Gore’s problems, they are our problems. They are my problem, and they are your problem.” Matt spoke at SLAM (the Student Liberal Arts Mosaic) this year and passed around a petition to let the college administration know that students want to make Mars Hill more environmentally friendly. Mark Norwood, grounds supervisor, is very proud of Matt’s achievements. He believes that Matt has been called to make others aware of environmental issues and that he is “doing what his heart tells him.” Norwood says that “it’s such a hard thing to change people’s views,” but Matt is doing an amazing job educating his peers and the Mars Hill College administration. When asked if he believed that one student could make a difference, Norwood responded, “I know one student can make a difference. Just look at what Matt has done.” The G. McLeod Bryan Caring Award is given each year in honor of G. McLeod Bryan, MHC class of ’39. Bryan has spent his life working to change the harmful effects of racism and to work for peace, justice, and the dream of equality and liberty for all. He owns land in North Carolina where he does small-scale farming. His is one of the few farms in the area left. In his keynote address Matt stated, “Dr. Bryan understands that social justice doesn’t mean serving one cause while ignoring another.” While Matt’s main area of concern is environmentalism, he, like Dr. Bryan, knows that “the ethical values related to environmentalism cannot be separated from the ethical values related to any other social problem.” Matt said in his acceptance speech that “it feels good to win this award, but part of me feels that I don’t deserve it. I am bad with deadlines. I have trouble focusing for long periods of time. I start many projects, and do not complete them. I believe God gave me a big heart, and a strong conscience, but little tools to work with. I am nothing exceptional, but I feel a deep commitment to social justice.” From These Stones – Fall 2007