University of South Carolina
September 20, 2012
uscTIMES
A publication for faculty, staff and friends of the university
USC Times
Stories, snippets & scenes from the
University of South Carolina. Aiken
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month of milestones
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the inside
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‘we owe it to children’ Working with the early childhood program Jumpstart began as a college work-study experience for Josh GuptaKagan. That changed when one of the children he took to a nearby park bumped into the child’s brother whom he had been separated from through the foster care system.
ugust marks two major milestones in my academic life. On Aug. 1, 1998 I joined the university as the dean of the Arnold School of Public Health. Exactly 10 years later, I became Carolina’s 28th president. Today, Patricia and I continue our unique experience of living on the Horseshoe among friendly student neighbors who cheerfully high-five me as I walk the 185 steps to Osborne. The past five years have been a whirlwind of activity and gratification. Only
45 days into the 2008 fall semester, the nation’s economy teetered on the brink
of disaster. As Time magazine reported that November, “the bad times had begun.” State budget cuts began immediately and four years later cumulative state appropriation cuts to USC totaled more than $112 million. Where state budget appropriations were once 20 percent of our budget, they had dropped to less than 10 percent. But Carolina’s story, one that I will revisit in the months ahead, illustrates how, together, as faculty,
staff, alumni and university friends, we created Focus Carolina, a comprehensive strategic plan that provided direction during turbulent times. It is the story of our remarkable tenacity: how we continued to attract the nation’s best students while recruiting the highest caliber faculty. Our story is the essence of the no limits story — a Carolina that emerged confident, ambitious and transformed into a world-class research university, recognizing that there are no limits to our future. Stay tuned. President Harris Pastides
Celebrate our university #UofSCsotu
Save the date for the State of the University Address Wednesday, Sept. 18 10 a.m. on the Historic Horseshoe
All the world’s a stage USC’s Robert Richmond is known for his imaginative and energetic revamping of Shakespeare’s work, and his take on “Twelfth Night” at the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C., this summer was no less sensational. The production and the cast welcomed rave reviews from critics. And that talented cast was comW
prised of two theater students — senior theater major William
il
Vaughan, cast in the role of Sebastian, and MFA acting candidate
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Amanda Forstrom, who understudied the role of Viola. gh
an
“I am committed to professionalizing my students,” says Richmond, an associate professor in the theatre and dance department. “I believe that an apprentice system is the very best way to learn any craft, and
“I’ll never forget it. It was a vivid example of a legal issue that affected that child,” says Gupta-Kagan, who will join the School of Law this fall as a clinical faculty member specializing in legal issues affecting children and families. That experience, coupled with the influence of having parents who are child psychologists who work on child welfare issues, has helped shape GuptaKagan whose career path has taken him from Yale to New York University for law school and Washington, D.C., where he represented children in the district’s family courts. Gupta-Kagan is among 10 new faculty members who are changing the face of law education at USC. He says he was drawn to academia and law clinical education because it’s the perfect balance of writing and teaching. Not only does he write about aspects of children and family not addressed in legal literature, but he trains students to work in the legal system and be advocates for all sides of children’s and family issues. “As a society we owe it to children to figure out legal systems that can intervene as effectively as possible while respecting the rights of children as individuals and as members of their families,” Gupta-Kagan says.
the best way to learn how to be an actor, on and off-stage, is be to around experienced professionals. This brings the classroom to the profession and the profession back into the classroom.”
– Peggy Binette