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Economist optimistic for state’s outlook BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com
Her third experience was being assigned as a nursing student in the 1960s to the state mental institution in Columbia. “We were locked into a ward with our patients in 100 degree weather and no air conditioning back then,” she said. One of the patients she was taking care of asked to take her to the canteen to buy a candy bar. Houser said she couldn’t do that because the patient was a diabetic and could get sick from doing so. “From that experience, I learned that we don’t always have all of the answers; and sometimes your answers may not
Slow growth in the national economy should not have a major effect on South Carolina’s economy unless it persists through the summer, said Joey Von Nessen, a research economist for Darla Moore School of Business at University of South Carolina. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by only 160,000 nationally in April, less than the recent average of 200,000 per month, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The national unemployment rate remained steady at 5 percent, and the number of unemployed was little changed at 7.9 million, the bureau reported. Both measures have shown little movement since August. Von Nessen said he remains optimistic about the South Carolina economy despite mixed signals on a national level. Employment growth in South Carolina has attained its highest level in the last six years, he said, and has even topped the highest level during the expansion before the Great Recession. “The fact that we have seen continued employment gains over the last several years means that we have reached a tipping point,” he said. “We have seen enough increase in employment and employment demand that its beginning to put upward pressure on wages overall.” Von Nessen said that has occurred over a wide range of industries. “Broad-based wage growth means people have more disposable income,” he said. “They have more household net wealth, and that is translating into additional consumer activity.” A lot of that spending is going into housing and construction, he said. “Construction has been the leading industry in South Carolina over the past year, and that’s continued to be true in the first part of 2016,” he added. Von Nessen said it is important to keep an eye on overall economic growth, not just in the U.S. but in the world economy and especially in Europe. South Carolina exports more to European countries than most other states, he said, so
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Jimmy Griffin congratulates a fellow graduate as he waits in line to receive his associate’s degree in computer technology at Central Carolina Technical College, while sporting a check list of his goals on his mortar board. Griffin was also selected to give the invocation at Friday’s graduation ceremonies at Sumter County Civic Center. RICK CARPENTER / THE SUMTER ITEM
Central Carolina Technical College graduates 482 BY KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY konstantin@theitem.com Central Carolina Technical College awarded associate degrees to 482 students at two separate graduation ceremonies on Friday at Sumter County Civic Center. Two ceremonies had to be held because of the large number of graduates, according to Tim Hardee, president of the college. Connie Houser, instructor in the college’s nursing department, gave the commencement address. Houser encouraged students to reflect on the past, celebrate the present and plan for the future. “I know as students you have been told how important critical thinking is
in life,” she said. “Part of critical thinking is reflection, and today is a great day to do that.” Houser shared a few of the experiences she went through as a nursing student that had an effect on her career and life. The first experience was in the delivery room of a hospital witnessing her first birth, what she described as a joyous time. Her second experience as a nursing student was seeing a mother die. “I was there when she took her last breath with her children near her,” she said. “I learned that nursing had to deal with all types of emotions, from joy to the saddest part of a person’s life.”
Clemson talks diversity, inclusion after making improvements BY NATHANIEL CARY ncary@greenvillenews.com GREENVILLE — At Clemson’s year-end faculty meeting, university President Jim Clements called diversity and inclusion issues a priority for the university to address while he cited improving diversity among the student body and faculty since he became university president in 2013.
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cent of the population is black and 5 percent is Hispanic. Clements said the events that led to and the discussions had during and following a nine-day sit-in at Sikes Hall in April, show there are clearly diversity and inclusion issues that need to be addressed at Clemson — and colleges across the country. Diversity
its faculty and staff to be minorities by 2025. Since 2013, Clemson has seen an improvement of nearly 13 percent in black undergraduate enrollment and nearly 31 percent in Hispanic undergraduate enrollment, Clements said. “Those are pretty significant jumps forward,” Clements said while speaking to faculty at the Brooks Center for the Perform-
ing Arts on Friday morning. Still, Clemson lags similar institutions across the state in diversity enrollment. Seven percent of Clemson undergraduate students were black in the fall of 2015. That’s the lowest percentage among the state’s 13 public four-year colleges. Three percent of undergrads were Hispanic. In South Carolina, 28 per-
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Graduate enrollment saw similar increases with a 7 percent growth of black students and 36 percent growth of Hispanics. Minority faculty members have increased from 15.1 percent to CLEMENTS 18.8 percent since 2013, he said. Clemson has set a goal for a quarter of
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