dailygamecock.com UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
VOL. 116, NO. 37 • SINCE 1908
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2014
Omani alumni create club
Courtesy of Tyler Macchio
Just under 50 alumni, prospective USC students, representatives from the Omani Embassy and guests attended an alumni reception Oman in September.
USC graduates develop first fully formed alumni club abroad in their home country Natalie Pita
@NATALIEPITA
Going to a noon football game may seem difficult, but alumni in Oman are excited to wake up at 3 a.m. to watch the Gamecocks play. “It’s just cool to see the sense of community they still have and how much they talked about coming to USC and how much they loved living here,” Sponsored Student Coordinator Tyler Macchio said. “They really feel a sense of communit y even though they’re so far away and a completely different culture. They’re definitely doing the Carolina community proud over there.” The USC Alumni Club in Oman, which was formed in April, is the fi rst fully formed alumni club in a foreign country. Director for International Student Services Jody Pritt said Oman was an ideal place to begin comprehensive efforts for an alumni club abroad because of the strong presence of alumni there. “A real theme that I saw there was that they felt that Columbia, South Carolina was a second home now, and always will be,” Pritt said. “I feel like it’s really brought a real attention to Oman in the Middle East and these students who are so active and engaged and remarkable at the university.” There are currently 54 students from Oman at USC, and 30 more are already planning to come next year. When these Omani students graduate, they are very likely to advocate for their experience at USC when they return to their home country. “We have an active group there already. We have
students who made life-long friends when they were studying here and they’re maintaining these relationships,” Pritt said. “They’re going into the workplace and celebrating being Gamecocks for life.” Current, non-international USC students will also be able to benefit from this new organization. The first ever study abroad in Oman for USC students will be held this year, and USC students w ill have t he oppor t u n it y to i nteract w it h international alumni. “One major component of that program will be that the students from USC that are on the study abroad program will have ample opportunities to interact with the alumni there,” Pritt said. “The idea is that after the day of planned programming, they’ll go live the Omani life with those students.” The main event of the USC Alumni Club in Oman so far has been an alumni reception held on Sept. 25. Almost 50 alumni, prospective USC students, representatives from the Omani Embassy and guests attended the event, which was held in Oman’s capital city, Muscat. Two USC alumni currently living in Oman spoke at the event, which also included networking and dinner. The former students were united at the rooftop garden of the Muscat Grand Mall, the workplace of a USC alumnus. Salima Al Masrouri, a marketing and branding intern for International Student Services and a student from Oman, was largely responsible for planning the event. According to Al Masrouri, the most difficult parts were dealing with time differences and dealing with cultural differences. OMAN • 3
Jessica Wood / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
USC sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma competed against other student organizations and won the inaugural Stroll Off, a 2014 homecoming event, on Monday at 6:30 on the Russell House patio.
40 years, still coming back for Moore Business school celebrates milestone for International Business Brandon Waltz
@BRANDONDWALTZ
The International Business (IB) program at the Darla Moore School of Business is celebrating its 40th anniversary this Thursday through Saturday by inviting its alumni to “Come back for Moore.” The school is celebrating by looking toward the future. Keynote speeches will be made on Friday by Devin Fidler, Research Director at Technology Horizons; Donna Fenn, author of “Upstarts! How GenY Entrepreneurs are Rocking the World of Business” and contributing editor at Inc.com; and David T. Seaton, CEO of Fluor Corporation. These panels will highlight research from the Moore School, and will be moderated by former Moore School Dean and current IB professor Hildy Teegen. “I would like to see more of our students engaged in internships with S.C. firms as they work to expand their international reach,” Teegen said when asked about changes she’d like to see in the Moore School IB program. “Our underlying principle is that we give all of our IB students the tools to be successful IB leaders regardless of the location or industry where they find themselves through deep, rich experience, leading-edge curriculum and support from a devoted, successful network of alumni practitioners and corporate partners throughout the world who bring relevant insights into our education.” The undergraduate IB program at the Darla Moore School of Business has been ranked first in the nation for sixteen consecutive years by U.S. News and World Report. The graduate IB program also received the top ranking from U.S. News this year. “I’d also be delighted to see us expanding the areas of country/regional areas of specialization and language training, particularly given the increased importance of many emerging markets for global business,” Teegen said. The Moore School of Business IB program already has formal connections with multiple international universities, and the program’s strategic plan includes a goal to expand the school to 50 partnerships by 2015. More than 4,000 alumni of the graduate IB program now hold business leadership positions around the world in almost every industry. The IB program has given over 600 undergraduate degrees and enrolls 250 undergraduate students. The celebration of the 40th anniversary will conclude on Saturday with a special MyCarolina Homecoming Tailgate, the USC football game against Furman and reunion dinners for the IB alumni. DG
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