University of South Carolina
April 11, 2013
A publication for faculty, staff and friends of the university
Aiken
Beaufort
Columbia
USC Times
Lancaster
Salkehatchie
Sumter
Union
Upstate
Going first class By: Frenche Brewer
selling better health By Jeff Stensland
It started with a tomato. Darcy Freedman, then a graduate student in Nashville, Tenn., was reviewing photos with parents of preschoolers as a part of a research project. When Freedman flipped to a picture of bright red tomato, one mother’s face lit up. “She said that picture was like that dress she sees in the window, something she’d always wanted to buy but just couldn’t get,” Freedman said. The idea that the mom did not have access to a basic healthy food item, one most people take for granted, seemed wrong. That led Freedman, now a professor at USC’s College of Social Work, to begin studying the connections between healthy foods, strong communities, and economic and social justice. It’s more than an academic exercise, and Freedman has helped launch several farmers markets with the mission to bring healthy food to underserved communities. The latest opened nearly two years ago in Orangeburg, S.C., and is located outside of a community health center. The Right Choice, Fresh Start Farmers Market not only attracts residents with an array of tantalizing food choices, but also gives a boost to the local economy by providing small-scale farmers with a space to sell their produce. I find that communities, no matter where they are, are often brought together around food. And if healthy food is available, people will take advantage of it,” she said. Freedman, along with James Hebert from the Arnold School of Public Health, is finding ways to build on the market’s success by finding ways for low-income families to buy even more produce. She piloted a program that provided more than 300 customers with federal food assistance a $5 match on the first $5 of produce they purchased. It contrasts with recent proposals in South Carolina to curb obesity by limiting what people can buy with federal food assistance. “We decided it was much better to go with a carrot rather than the stick approach,” she said. Freedman believes the debate over various proposals to address obesity could lead to broader policy discussions about access to the right kinds of foods. “It’s really hard to buy healthy foods when they’re not available,” she said.
All through school Katelyn Jones looked up to her teachers, and now she’s the object of adoring eyes in her second grade class at Lake Carolina Elementary School. “There were so many teachers who impacted me and my life. My mom was a teacher and I would go to her room and play teacher after school,” says Jones. When Jones gets in front of a class these days, it’s not pretend. As a senior elementary education major, she’s getting plenty of practice and experience for her future profession at one of the premier schools in Richland School District Two.
Jones will launch her teaching career from a platform designed to show her how to go beyond the traditional student-teaching experience and get the most out of her students through a professional development program offered in the College of Education. “I think the partnership between the university and the elementary schools is key,” she says. “Not all elementary schools are professional development schools, but I feel the ones that are, truly grasp the idea of collaboration and working together to give us the best experience, as well as putting us in a place where we’ll get the most out of it.” Professional development is all about preparing the next generation of educators, showing them how to be innovative in the classroom, introducing them to diverse classroom environments and shoring them up for success in the early years when teaching can be the most challenging. When education majors are assigned to a professional development school, the interns get to work with veteran teachers. “We see a benefit for teachers exposed to new strategies and practices that the students have learned in their classroom work at the university,” Margo Jackson, the USC/ Lake Carolina liaison says. Since arriving at Lake Carolina in the fall, Jones has been able to put those strategies to work. “My cooperating teacher has been great with giving me opportunities,” says Jones. “We do a lot of co-teaching instead of me sitting there and observing. I’ve gotten the chance to step in the classroom and handle it like it’s my own.” “I love that we’re a professional development school,” Berry says. “We have phenomenal interns that come through here and we take it seriously that we’re here to come alongside the university and prepare them because they’re going to be affecting the children of our future.”
University of South Carolina
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Beyond the job Name: Annie Lambert Day job: Communications and development coordinator for the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies
Do you have a part-time passion? Share your interesting hobby with us for upcoming issues of USC Times: lizmccarthy@sc.edu
Part-time passion: Roller derby Derby name: Pink Slam-Pain
il Lackey Photo by Ph
Lambert, ’08 visual communications, first jumped into the derby game about a year ago. She’d never played sports or been very athletic. It seemed the exact opposite kind of action for an introvert and certainly shocked some of her co-workers. “This is just a different side of me,” she says. “I don’t hesitate to throw my shoulder in.” Lambert practices about four or five hours a week and spends some Saturdays at bouts across the region for the Columbia QuadSquad. She skates on the Belles on Wheels home team. Lambert says she has found roller derby to be more mental than physical. In fact, she says roller derby isn’t as violent as it seems. “It has become a therapy session,” she says. Her biggest fear when approaching the rink was of falling but she learned how to control the falling and to be safe, she says. “I’m not afraid of anything anymore,” she says.
BOOK CORNER “On Geopolitics: Space, Place, and International Relations” By Harvey Starr, Dag Hammarskjöld Professor in International Affairs This book shows how the “new geopolitics” links to the way in which geography and international relations have intertwined in the past. Using recent developments in geographic information system technology as well as traditional theories and methods, Harvey Starr explores themes of spatiality and territoriality as they connect to international affairs. He also examines geopolitical dynamics beyond borders in a world now buffeted by non-state actors and subject to intergovernmental institutions and norms.
“Judicialization of Politics: The Interplay of Institutional Structure, Legal Doctrine, and Politics on the High Court of Australia”
“Anonymity”
By Kirk Randazzo, associate professor of political science
In Janna McMahan’s fourth novel, “Anonymity,” she tells the gritty, harrowing account of young people who live life on the edge when all they really want is a safe place to call home. The Myrtle Beach Sun News said the novel “pulls at your emotions without preaching while also bearing the facts . . . characters flow in and out of the story, but each one serves a purpose, and McMahan does a masterful job of tying everyone’s stories together at the end.”
This book examines the judicialization of politics in the High Court of Australia. The authors argue it is the interplay of institutional structures, a growing concern for individual rights and the willingness of the justices to engage in purposive policymaking that lead the court to engage in judicial politics. The findings suggest that justices can be constrained by institutional structures and the acceptance of restrictive legal doctrines. Changes in those conditions are necessary for judicialization of politics to occur in a court.
By Janna McMahan, marketing manager with South Carolina Small Business Development Centers
Do you have a book hitting bookshelves soon? Share yours with us for the next Book Corner: lizmccarthy@sc.edu
“The Multi-Talented Mr. Erskine: Shaping Mass Culture through Great Books and Fine Music” By Katherine Elise Chaddock, professor in the College of Education Best-selling novelist, popular concert pianist, Hollywood script writer, radio personality, celebrity professor, society figure in New York and Paris, and magnet for women from Anas Nin to Helen Gahagan - John Erskine, early 20th century bon vivant, was a true American original. Beyond the headlines, however, he also left a lasting influence on American intellectual and artistic culture as the father of the Great Books curriculum, the founder of a university in France, the first president of The Juilliard School of Music and a profoundly skilled teacher of English literature at Columbia University. His balancing act among multiple identities, underscored by his commitment to create access for the middle class to highbrow culture, is the subject of this, the first biography of an influential, unforgettable educator and public intellectual.
Q&A USC Times
April 11, 2013
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with CHARLES BLOOM
You were very involved with the United Way while at the SEC in Birmingham. Why did you become involved?
What made you decide to return to Carolina after 17 years with the SEC?
The SEC is really owned by its 14 schools so there’s a lot of traveling. I was looking for a way to help out in the Birmingham community – there isn’t an SEC school in Birmingham – so I volunteered with the United Way. I wanted to establish roots in the community. It was a great experience and I was able to see firsthand the work of the agencies of the United Way.
It is my alma mater and it’s a great job. Having Coach Tanner as the athletic director – well, it was an easy sell for him and an easy buy for me.
Will you continue this involvement here in Columbia? I hope so. From my work with the organization, I’ve become a big fan of the United Way and its work in the community. The people are gracious. The work is honorable. It doesn’t take a lot for each person if they gave for the United Way to be successful. The number of agencies the United Way helps represents a large swath of the community. A successful United Way program, to me, really shows the heart of the community. Charles Bloom joined the Athletics Department this year as senior associate athletics director of external affairs, returning to Columbia from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in Birmingham, Ala. He brought with him his love for the Gamecocks (he’s an alumnus) and his passion for helping the United Way.
What is exciting about being at Carolina now? It’s a great time to be here. We’ve had success in our athletics program. You can feel the momentum with football, men and women’s basketball, baseball and the Olympic sports. For me, personally, my background has been mostly in the media and public relations realm and it gave me an opportunity to come here and expand my horizons in the university setting.
Sometimes athletics seems separated from the university. Do you think that’s true? I’ve talked to Coach Tanner about that. I really feel like one of the neat things that we do with our student athletes is that after each contest we stand for the alma mater and raise the toast. To me that signifies a greater bond with our university than most any school.
Faculty and staff are invited to donate to the United Way as a part of the university’s annual campaign. The campaign runs through April 12 and donations can be made at uway.org/usc through a payroll deduction. “Working together we can make a positive difference — we can fight homelessness, boost school success and help people in our community get access to affordable health care.” – President Harris Pastides
Back to nature
By Misty Hatfield
Austin Jenkins grew up in the piney woods of Kershaw County, where he played as a child and learned to love the forest where he spent time hunting, fishing and exploring. Through teaching, he hopes to help others love it, too. Jenkins, a biology instructor at USC Sumter, began taking students to local parks to explore Sumter’s flora and fauna as a way to highlight the rarity of Sumter’s natural forests. “Students are always amazed by the diversity that exists in their own backyard,” Jenkins said. “Many never knew it was this accessible or this amazing.” Then Jenkins realized USC Sumter could bring this local biodiversity to its own manicured landscapes. With the help of one of his classes, Jenkins began restoring some of the biodiversity that was once present on the campus by installing native plans, which will in turn bring back native animals.
“Students are always amazed by the diversity that exists in their own backyard. Many never knew it was this accessible or this amazing.” And in the process his students are learning to write habitat restoration plans and how to propagate native plants. “I think students get more from this hands-on experience than from simply reading a textbook,” said Jenkins. “It makes a great way of teaching that leaves us with some lasting, physical products.” The project will make campus more beautiful, too, he said. “Our method will take time, but it is well worth it and a great service activity,” he said. “Native plants add tremendous beauty while supporting our native animal species.” One day students may be able to take a field trip right on the USC Sumter campus. “That would indicate a great success,” Jenkins said. “I think we’re off to a fantastic start.”
I am extremely proud to be part of a university community with heart. Our students, faculty and staff participate in many service projects and raise money for lots of important causes. We know that a rich life involves finding ways to give back and that becoming a leader means recognizing our community’s needs and creating opportunities to make a difference. I’m happy to co-chair One Columbia CityServe with Mayor Steve Benjamin and Paul Fant of SCANA. Mayor Benjamin is serving to inspire all groups in the city to work together, which he does so well. Paul is working to rally business and industry, while I represent the University of South Carolina and all not-for-profits who contribute to the rich fabric of Columbia. Approximately 1,000 of our students, faculty and staff have plans to be engaged in several projects during the week of One Columbia CityServe (April 20-27). I ask everyone in the USC community and beyond to think about your gifts and talents and come out and serve on whatever day you can, in whatever way you can. I promise you will discover rewards beyond the time you commit. Remember, it is in giving that we receive — I’ll be planting a garden for a school in Richland One. What will you do? ~ Patricia Moore-Pastides
USC Times
april 11, 2013
A conversation with Chef Brian Hay,
director of Culinary and Wine Institute at Carolina, McCutchen House
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Did you always want to be a chef? Yeah. Actually it started in seventh grade. But I wasn’t definitely sure that it was the route I wanted to go at that time. It was either cooking or pharmacology. My first class at the University of Guelph convinced me that this is what I wanted to do.
What’s your favorite dish to cook? It really depends on the mood. I’m doing a lot of Asian and Spanish, because that’s the kick I’m on now. German and French chefs trained me classically, and I love cooking that cuisine. I’ve been trying Thai and Indian food lately, as well. I still love grilling, which is something I picked up from my dad. It depends on the mood of the day, really. It also depends on what we’re cooking here. If we’re serving it here, I usually don’t want it at home.
Do you have days when you don’t want to cook and would rather have take out? Oh yeah, oh yeah, especially after a big holiday. At Valentine’s Day we served a six or seven course meal. So at the end of the day, I didn’t want to see any of the dishes we served that day. I think afterwards, I went home and had two frozen waffles and some bacon. I have many days that I don’t cook.
How has being chef changed since cooking has become entertainment? Is it more difficult or easier? It’s a little of both. We have TV, all kinds of books and magazines and everything else, and it’s absolutely amazing that people have such a greater interest in cooking. But it makes our jobs harder, because we have to match up to the standards that people see on TV. That being said, it’s also easier. Nowadays, people are willing to try new dishes. They are more open and this allows us to do new things.
Do you have advice for hosting your next dinner party? Cooking shouldn’t be stressful. The moment you get stressed, then you’ve lost focus of why you’re having the meal in the first place. Cooking is not about the food. It’s about the people at the table. It’s sharing time with people you care about. Relax, have a glass of wine and turn on some music. If the recipe doesn’t quite work out, at least you’ve had a glass of wine.
For more from Chef Hay, check out the full interview in Day Times.
USC TIMES Vol. 24, No. 7 | april 11, 2013
SCIENCE CORNER
USC Times is published 20 times a year for the faculty and staff of the University of South Carolina by the Division of Communications. Managing editor: Liz McCarthy Designer: Linda Dodge Contributors: Peggy Binette, Craig Brandhorst, Frenché Brewer, Glenn
Making waves, from aerospace to biomedicine
Hare, Thom Harman, Chris Horn, Page Ivey, Steven Powell, Megan Sexton, Jeff Stensland and Marshall Swanson Photographers: Kim Truett To reach us: 803-777-2848 or lizmccarthy@sc.edu Campus correspondents: Patti McGrath, Aiken Candace Brasseur, Beaufort Shana Dry, Lancaster Jane Brewer, Salkehatchie Misty Hatfield, Sumter Tammy Whaley, Upstate
Airplanes and bones don’t have much in common – or do they? Jinku “J.K.” Yang is showing how a sensor he developed to measure the integrity of a wing or fuselage can help surgeons better match implants with bone structure. “Nowadays, joint replacement or spinal surgeries are very common,” Yang said. “But there is actually no way that surgeons can really know the local mechanical properties of the bone they’re operating on.” Yang uses a stack of granular crystals, which look a bit like a stack of ball bearings, to send highly nonlinear acoustic waves into a structure. Those waves provide detailed mechanical information, and Yang is showing that it doesn’t matter whether it’s an airfoil or a femur – he can use the information to map its integrity.
Annie Houston, Union
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