LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
USCTIMES STAFF Editor Craig Brandhorst Assistant editor Megan Sexton Designer Brandi Lariscy Avant Contributors Chris Horn, Page Ivey, Dana Woodward Photographer Kim Truett Campus correspondents Patti McGrath, Aiken Cortney Easterling, Greenville Shana Dry, Lancaster Jane Brewer, Salkehatchie Misty Hatfield, Sumter Annie Smith, Union Tammy Whaley, Upstate Jay Darby, Palmetto College Printer USC Printing Services USC Times is published twice per semester during the regular academic year by the Office of Communications and Public Aff airs, Wes Hickman, director. Questions, comments and story ideas can be submitted via email to Craig Brandhorst at craigb1@ mailbox.sc.edu or by phone at 803-777-3681.
HOOKED ON USC TIMES Yes, there’s a fish on our cover. There’s also a worm on a hook. Don’t ask us what it means. We just wanted to see if you’d take the bait. No, seriously. We’re not being snarky. The theme of this issue is “return on investment,” and what better way to illustrate such an idea, we thought, than to lure our readers with a little something extra? In the process, we also landed a pretty big fish of our own. His name? Marius Valdes. In case you’re unfamiliar with his charmingly quirky illustrations, Valdes is a local artist and graphic designer, a dedicated soccer dad and an associate professor in USC’s College of Visual Art and Design. He’s also one of three participants in the latest Meet & Three, which is, in fact, how we reeled him in. “Hey Marius, thanks for joining the conversation,” we ventured once we felt the tug on our line. “We can’t wait to hear your thoughts on higher education, student loan debt, creating a better society and the path to self-discovery. In the meantime, though, think you could also draw us a cartoon?” It was a big ask, and there was no guarantee he’d bite. Producing a piece of art takes time, even for a fast worker like Valdes, and we were hitting him up midsemester. But Valdes is nothing if not a pro, and he’s also a really good sport. He didn’t just give us one cartoon. He gave us a dozen — then invited our feedback before diving back in. He gave us a dog hoarding bones. He gave us a chicken in a mirror and a chicken with a crystal ball. He gave us an octopus and a polliwog and something we couldn’t readily identify because it doesn’t actually exist, at least not in the natural world. In short, he gave us a lot to think about and then gave us some more. In the end we chose the fish, and not just because it made us laugh the hardest. It’s also a pretty good metaphor for return on investment, if you think about it long enough. Just remember one thing, though, lest you wind up on the wrong end of the hook — you’re the fisherman, not the fish. Cast your line,
The University of South Carolina does not discriminate in educational or employment opportunities or decisions for qualified persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetics, sexual orientation or veteran status.
CRAIG BRANDHORST EDITOR
On the cover: “A Calculated Risk”, by Marius Valdes. See more of his work: mariusvaldes.com
FALL 2018 NO. 2 1
GALLERY
JOB WELL DONE! / 2 The state of the university is strong. Our people are even stronger. MEET & THREE
A WELL-BALANCED MEAL / 4 A teacher, an artist and a CFO sit down to lunch and stand up for higher education.
p. 2
FEATURES
INVESTED INTEREST / 10 Student success is a team effort, involving multiple offices across campus.
GOOD PARTNERS, GOOD BUSINESS / 14 The Business Partnership Foundation has been a pipeline to the workplace for going on 50 years.
p. 4
p. 10
FORWARD THINKING
KNOWLEDGE INVESTMENT / 16 TOUCHING THE PAST / FISHING FOR INFORMATION / THE ULTIMATE RECYCLE / GET A MOVE ON Q&A
THE NEXT BIG THING(S) / 20 p. 14
p. 16
The Internet of Things is here. We’ve got the lab and the showroom to prove it.
2 USCTIMES
PHOTO GALLERY
FALL 2018 NO. 2 3
JOB WELL DONE! CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: First Lady Patricia Moore-Pastides joins President Harris Pastides at his State of the University address as he announces his plans to retire in June 2019; Student Body President Taylor Wright cuts past the smokestack on his way to the Russell House; markers commemorating USC students and alumni who died in World War I are placed on the lawn of the War Memorial building prior to Armistice Day; poet and professor Nikky Finney talks to U101 students on the Horseshoe; fall colors brighten the walk across the Women’s Quad; Bobby Donaldson, director of the Center for Civil Rights History and Research, takes an Honors College oral history class on a bus tour of Columbia’s historically African-American neighborhoods, accompanied by guest speakers from those neighborhoods.
4 USCTIMES
MEET & THREE
A WELLBALANCED MEAL BY CRAIG BRANDHORST
If we think about college in nutritional terms — and really, why wouldn’t we? — we’d encourage a well-balanced diet. With the On Your Time initiative, that could mean a hearty five-course meal in the fall and the spring, or several smaller, equally nutritious meals spread out over the entire year. But it’s also important to try new things, as our guests this time explained, citing personal experience. We are what we eat, after all, and tasting something different can alter your life forever.
FALL 2018 NO. 2 5
LESLIE BRUNELLI
JENNIFER CLYBURN REED
MARIUS VALDES
Vice President for Finance, Chief Financial Officer
Director, Center for the Education and Equity of African American Students; Co-Director, Apple Core Inititative
Illustrator, Associate Professor of Graphic Design Department of Art & Design
Let’s start with a quote from President Harris Pastides’ State of the University address from just last week: “A decade from now our university must be more affordable, while not compromising great outcomes for our students…Ten years from now taking five and six years to get a college degree will be perceived as educational malpractice.” How do we guarantee a wellrounded education while also streamlining the path to graduation so our graduates don’t drown in debt?
MV: I have an interesting take on that, I think. The design
program when I came here was a five-year program. What we’ve seen since the recession is that students can’t see being in school for five years. So literally just last week we turned in curriculum revisions that shorten our program. The downside is that design is a very structured, sequential curriculum — courses build on each other. Now, classes will be more self-contained so that students can technically get it all done in four years. I think it’s a detriment to the overall quality of the program, but in fairness, I don’t disagree with it. Students want to get out and start working. That fifth year of college might just have to become their first year on the job. JCR: Graduating with a massive amount of debt is especially
detrimental in the teaching profession. With salaries the way they are, it can take 10-plus years of aggressive payment to eliminate that debt. The Apple Core Initiative offers a $3,000 scholarship to help offset costs for teacher candidates who may go into the areas where we need them the most, which are also the areas that pay the least. We’ve also created multiple paths to matriculate through the education major. We have all four years planned out — including study abroad — but we’ve made it flexible. Students who change their major or concentration need to be able to do that without slowing down.
Do we run the risk of students rushing through, and then they find themselves in the wrong career? If they have to come back, it takes even longer.
JCR: My sister figured that out second semester, senior
year — after student teaching. That’s why I think we need a restructuring of the entire program, so they’re getting teaching experience from the very beginning and can see if it’s something they really, truly want to do. Now, I went through four years as a political science major, thinking I wanted to go to law school. But my sorority started a tutoring center in Henley Homes, and a fourth grader told me after he passed his first multiplication test all year, “Didn’t you say you want to be a lawyer?” I said, “Yes! I’m going to law school in a couple months!” He said, “You shouldn’t do that. You’d be a better a teacher.” You took a path you didn’t expect. Really, all three of you did.
LB: I was a philosophy major. MV: I was originally psychology. I was almost a philosophy
major — that was my favorite class freshman year. Then my adviser told me I needed something “easy” on my schedule, so I took a drawing class. Studio art classes can be three times as long as other classes, but I never minded. I would sit for hours just drawing. I was terrible compared to my classmates, but I didn’t care. That was the moment when I thought, “Oh man, I’ve gotta tell my parents I’m gonna change majors to art!” My dad was an engineer, and I thought he was going to kill me, but he said, “Do what you like, and you’ll do well.” That was all I needed. It meant an extra year of school because all of my credits didn’t count, but then I did an internship and that sealed it.
6 USCTIMES
“Technical colleges are very important, especially in South Carolina, but when we focus only on today’s jobs we miss the opportunity to look for next year’s job, what the jobs will be in 10 years, 20 years. Ten years ago, we weren’t talking about social media. Now it’s a whole career path.” —Leslie Brunelli
None of you majored in the quote-unquote “lucrative” fields. Marius, you’ve heard the “starving artist” jokes. And Leslie, philosophy —
LB: I was actually an English major first, but only for a
couple of weeks. I came here to go to the Honors College, and my very first class was with Jim Stiver. It was a logic class, and I quickly realized that logic made sense to me. Logic and philosophy are the rules and parameters of what I do now. Math is the accounting side. EXCEL can do the math. Knowing the rules is what’s most important in finance, knowing how the balance sheet has to look, what has to tie, what has to foot. Sometimes I’ll get a funny look when
someone finds out I have a degree in a philosophy — “And you’re responsible for our billion-dollar budget?” [laughs] — but accounting is all about building a logical argument. That’s the skill. And I did get a master’s in business, too. MV: This may be the place to ask, “Is college the new high school?” I have students who want to go straight from undergrad to grad school, and I generally tell them, “Don’t do it. Go find out what you like, but also what you don’t like.” I think all of us are good examples of that — college was the start, but it led somewhere we didn’t expect. JCR: But then you run the risk of not being able to provide
for a family for a number of years. I do see what you mean
FALL 2018 NO. 2 7
“What do we mean by investment? Is it strictly financial? Is it happiness? My dad was an engineer, and I thought he was going to kill me when I told him I was going to be an art major. But he said, ‘Do what you like, and you’ll do well.’ That was all I needed to hear.” —Marius Valdes
in terms of how college is structured versus how high school is structured. Maybe, though, we need to rethink how high school is structured. If we start there, when they get here maybe they’ll be ready to start down a career path. LB: I have to agree. The state has chosen not to sufficiently fund higher education, and, unfortunately, I don’t see it changing. I don’t see our general assembly supporting the notion of college as the new high school. Their thought process is, “We paid once [for K-12], we’re not paying again.” They certainly don’t pay for it now. They do invest a little more aggressively in technical colleges — because their mindset right now is about job readiness.
They have their definition for return on investment.
LB: That’s right. But I think that particular definition is
shortsighted. Technical colleges are very important, especially in South Carolina, but when we focus only on today’s jobs we miss the opportunity to look for next year’s job, what the jobs will be in 10 years, 20 years. Ten years ago, we weren’t talking about social media. Now it’s a whole career path. And you can’t really build a major around the career that doesn’t exist yet. You have to build the student so that the student has flexible skills. MV: Going back to the recession, if that’s OK — that was when I really started to realize just how much the university
8 USCTIMES
is a business. If an art class is two hours long and you only have 20 students, you start to worry about the biology class that’s an hour long and has 400 students. They make a lot more money for the university than we do.
we work for clients. Parents and students recognize that it’s practical. When you graduate you understand how to work with someone else.
Leslie?
JCR: We’re the profession that makes all others. If a parent
LB: Well, it’s not just the recession that demands that. There’s
tells me they don’t want their child to go into teaching, I have to ask, “Why?” They give excuses about the money, about how hard teachers work, and it’s true, it’s not glamorous. But the benefits outweigh all the negatives. Seeing a student from 20 years ago tell you all the great things in their life — I spent 25 years in the classroom, elementary school and middle school, before transitioning to the College of Education at USC, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
a huge debate right now around the country about the value of higher education — is it worth it? Enrollment will start declining nationally, even if just because the birthrate won’t support it. Plus, if the legislature doesn’t support higher education, at some point in the next 10 years a public institution will close — not a flagship, but a public institution of some size will close. It’s going to happen. While certainly the recession exposed a lot of this, our world is changing. The current higher education business model won’t work in the future. You can’t raise tuition much more, the state won’t step up — now what? Meanwhile, how do you explain to students or their parents that, yes, you can major in art and get a job, you can become a teacher and not regret it?
MV: I’ve done that a lot. Fortunately, someone has written
a book! [laughter] So if a parent or a student asks me, “What can my child do with this degree?” I give them a breakdown. You could design environmental stuff, you could do logos, web design, etc., etc. My argument is always, “Design is the foundation of everything.” And I’m in a little bit different place than the people in studio arts. Ultimately, in design,
And teaching?
We’ve touched on the idea of experiential learning. Do we invest enough in extracurriculars, in beyond the classroom education?
JCR: Being able to experience what you think you want to
do as early as possible is critical. MV: I agree. The more experience we can offer, the better. We
have a visiting artists series in the School of Visual Arts. I tell my students, go to this event and write a one-page paper. I’m not grading it as a paper. I want them to go because sometimes one talk can change your life. You come out thinking, “Wow, I never thought about doing that.” Or, “That guy’s just like me, and look what he’s doing!” LB: That’s what makes the university community so unique. Working here, we see that every day — even as an adult I can still avail myself to those opportunities. That’s one thing for our students to understand, that it doesn’t end when you graduate. I think our value, too, is in general education. It’s so important to take the anthropology class, or the sociology class, the class that you know nothing about. We’ve mostly been talking about careers and finding personal happiness, but you can invest in something more than just self-enrichment. Do we place enough emphasis on that greater good, beyond the individual? I’m talking about society in general, not just at USC.
MV: This drives me nuts. There was a recent issue of TIME magazine with essays by teachers from all over the country, and all of them said basically the same thing — “I love what I do, but I have to spend my own money in the classroom,” and “I’m so busy doing this and that I can’t focus on what I’m there to do.” It just seems like a crime to me. Building a great society just isn’t something we value, it seems. Same thing with hospitals. I’ve spent a lot of time
FALL 2018 NO. 2 9
“Most of the high schoolers I meet are much more mature than I was when I was 17. The experiences they have to deal with are totally different from what I dealt with. Given that, let’s start to experiment with different internships and other experiences in the community where they can try things out.” —Jennifer Clyburn Reed
lately in the hospital with my mom, and I see these nurses — how hard they work, how tough their job is. If we’re talking about that kind of investment, I think we need to invest more. JCR: Compensation is helpful, but that is really not why
teachers go into the profession. We go into it to affect every other profession, and the people that go into those professions. These children are going to be society. They will eventually teach our grandchildren, they will take care of us in the hospital. So, I think of what I’m doing now as investing in my future. I want to retire comfortably, I want to die with dignity and in comfort, and all of these little people that I am impacting now will have a hand in that. And if not for me, for others. MV: But I don’t want to see teachers penalized. I feel like a
lot of time in order to do their job right, or to do their job well, they have to invest their own money. They’re told that it was their choice to become a teacher, so that’s just what they have to do. JCR: We hear that a lot — “You chose this profession.”
My question back is, “What if I hadn’t?” Considering everything we’ve discussed, do each of you feel that you’ve gotten sufficient return on your own investment in higher ed? And beyond that, how do you quantify or qualify that return?
JCR: If I hadn’t gone through four years of political science
and joined my sorority, which allowed me to become a tutor
in a housing project, I would not have this career. I don’t think I would have been happy as an attorney. I really don’t. And now, I enjoy everything about my career — and it is a career. I don’t think I would have had that with any other job. LB: I was fortunate. I was on a full scholarship, and then I
worked at Colonial Life, and they paid for my grad school, so I never incurred any debt. But aside from the monetary aspect, my life would have been so different had I not come to the university. I was a first-generation college student. My father was career military, and then he worked here at the university in facilities, so being a student here, everything was new to me. Everything. My mother didn’t know how to drive. My grandmother didn’t understand why I was going to college because where she came from, women just didn’t do that. If I hadn’t come to the university, my life would have been entirely different. MV: I will say I hate paying a student loan every month, but
I like what Jennifer said: I don’t feel like I have a job, I have a career. I’ve found a place in design where I never expected to be. I don’t think I would have found that if I hadn’t left home and gone to school. And when I went back to grad school a lot of my friends were like, “Why put yourself in debt?” But for me it’s paid for itself. It’s allowed me so many more opportunities than just bouncing around from design firm to design firm. So, yes. The answer is yes. T
10 USCTIMES
INVESTED INTEREST
An expanded school calendar to keep students on track. Tutors and peer leaders to help ensure classroom success. A new advising process for first-year students and an office dedicated to readying high-achieving students for opportunity. USC does a lot to prepare students for the next chapter. Whether that means they land a great job or a national fellowship, or they get accepted by a top graduate or professional school, our investment in student success yields big returns. BY MEGAN SEXTON
FALL 2018 NO. 2 11
I
n January 2018, while most students were enjoying winter break with their families, some Carolina students were spending 30 hours a week in online classes such as Sport and Entertainment in American Life and Introduction to Economics. The three-week winter session was part of the On Your Time initiative, which helps students graduate on time or early by offering supplemental courses and alternative solutions to progress toward graduation. A large number of seniors registered for the pilot winter session last January, and 70 percent of them graduated in May, says Shelley Dempsey, director of On Your Time. “Students who took it really appreciated the opportunity to go deeper into a topic — especially some of the topics that are a little harder for them,” Dempsey says. “What would normally be down time for them over the break, they are able to utilize toward getting three additional credit hours.” This January, the winter session will expand from seven to 11 course offerings. On Your Time also oversees the summer semester at Carolina, which allows students to take a full course load each summer and stay on track for graduation — or even get ahead. And the effort is paying off. From 2016 to 2017, USC saw an 11 percent increase in the number of undergrads taking 12 or more hours in the summer, while the increase jumped another 15 percent from 2017 to 2018. Also, over the past two summers there has been a 39 percent increase in the number of students taking online courses. “Students are telling us it allows them to take an online course while doing an internship or while they are doing research projects,” Dempsey says. “Students are able to do those things that are so valuable while also taking an online course as part of their summer experience.” Also offered are accelerated 8-week Fall II and Spring II classes. Beginning mid-semester and ending at the same time as a semester-long course, these provide students a chance to pick up a 3-credit class, perhaps after dropping a full semester class.
According to Dempsey, the reaction from students to the On Your Time investments has been overwhelmingly positive. “It’s eye-opening for students when they show up in our office, sometimes on the verge of tears, and we are able to offer them a variety of options,” she says. “They feel like they’ve changed their major and they’re behind, or they had to drop a class and now they’re behind. We’re able to offer them a portfolio of opportunities and say, ‘Here’s how you can catch up or stay on track or get ahead.’ The students are very happy with the opportunities.” THINK BIG, WIN BIGGER
At the start of the school year, hundreds of students who think they may have what it takes to be a Rhodes, Hollings or Goldwater scholar find their way to the Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs. There, students take part in what office director Novella Beskid calls “the ultimate integrated learning experience for high-ability students.” It’s a process that requires deep reflection, quick thinking and excellent written and verbal communications skills. Since the university established the Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs in 1994, Carolina students and recent alumni have won 895 national awards, earning more than $28.9 million for advanced academic study. In 2017-18, that added up to 49 national awards in these competitions, earning $2.38 million for advanced academic study. That success doesn’t just happen. It’s the result of an intense effort by staff and faculty, who spend hours working with students to help them prepare for the application process and understand their mission. This past year, more than 150 faculty and staff members partnered with the office, spending time on scholarship committees and providing guidance to national scholarship candidates. Peer mentors — current Carolina students who have won top scholarships — also are available to answer questions and offer advice.
12 USCTIMES
“It requires that holistic, soul searching questions be asked,” Beskid says. “Students have to defend questions such as, ‘Why does this matter?’ and ‘Why should we care?’ It pushes students to look at that next chapter of life — academically or professionally or both — to really defend what they want to do. The faculty that serve on our committees are ones the students may not have had in class. So, they’ve got these fabulous faculty members willing to take time to probe them and help them through the process.” And the process itself can benefit students, some of whom go all the way through before deciding not to apply for the award. According to Beskid, that’s OK. “Although our ultimate goal is to see USC students awarded prestigious scholarships and fellowships, the preparation process itself enhances their academic and personal skills,” she says. “We want them to win a national fellowship, but whether or not they do that, we want the process to be helpful and developmental in and of itself.” The office’s success is obvious. Before it was established, Carolina averaged 2.5 national scholarship winners per year; since then, it has averaged 37 a year, with an average of 55 a year over the past five years. “Last year, of the students we assessed, 100 percent found the process prompted them to reflect on their academic and or professional goals,” she says. “And 97 percent felt the process was worthwhile regardless of the outcome.” SUPPLEMENT AND SUPPORT
It’s not just the students receiving extra help who benefit from the Student Success Center. The supplemental instruction peer leaders and tutors are winners, too. Housed in the Thomas Cooper Library, the Student Success Center offers a one-stop shop for free academic support services. It also employs more than 200 students as peer leaders, tutors and supplemental instruction leaders. “Those students see a lot of benefits. They’re building mature relations with faculty and staff, building community,” says Dana Talbert, director of the Student Success Center. “They feel more invested in the university, they’re able to brush up on material for the GRE. They are more engaged than just a participant.” All of the center’s services are voluntary, Talbert says, with some students participating because they want to bring a B up to an A, focus more on time management or improve their test preparation skills. “Students know we’re not remedial. It’s the norm on campus here,” Talbert says. “Some students hear about us
from the SI leader who attends each class with students. And we encourage those SI leaders to sit next to different students and get them to come to sessions.” Assessment of the supplemental instruction program, which places other undergraduate students in courses to lead study sessions and encourage students, shows students who regularly attend the study sessions see their grades improve a half to a full letter grade. Using Pathfinder, the university’s advisement software, the center targets specific courses and asks faculty to provide feedback and progress reports on students who are at risk of not being successful in the class. “If so, we will follow up with the student to get them into our office, to see what’s going on, to see if they need help with study skills,” Talbert says. “They’ll get a phone call and we’ll schedule an appointment, but it’s still voluntary.” The program was started as a pilot in the business school and has been redesigned and offered in business, math and engineering classes. This year, the center is monitoring 50 separate courses. “We want to retain our students, we want them to graduate and give back to the community,” Talbert says. “Everything we do is directly related to curriculum. Everything is retention, retention, retention.” COORDINATE AND CONNECT
A few years ago, university leaders turned their attention to improving how new students are advised. The keys? A new advising center and a pool of dedicated first-year advisers. “The institution invested in first-year advisers to be sure there was consistent, professional staff advising in the first year,” says Stacey Bradley, senior associate vice president for student affairs and academic support. “That freed the faculty up for faculty mentoring and other places where they could have value rather than explaining grade forgiveness or keeping up with nuances of the Carolina Core.” First-year advisers have a caseload of approximately 300 undergraduates within a certain set of majors. They meet with students to discuss transition to college, build a course schedule, map curricular requirements, track a student’s progress toward a degree and evaluate transfer, AP or IB credit. “We couldn’t have advisers on an island,” Bradley says. “We have a lot of campus resources that are high-performing and proven to be effective, so how do we connect advisers to resources? The idea of this coordinated care network emerged, and Pathfinder helped us with that.”
FALL 2018 NO. 2 13
Sophomore political science major Olivia Falk (left) touches base with Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs director Novella Beskid.
Pathfinder prioritizes outreach to students based on risk levels and success marker flags. It is able to identify students who need help and connects advisers to career coaches, financial aid, the Student Success Center and other resources around campus. “This ensured that we had a network to connect students and resources without saying, ‘Hey, student, why don’t you walk across campus and find somebody to help you?’ Maybe they do walk across campus, and maybe they don’t. But this way there’s actually someone reaching out to them with a coordinated plan for how they’re going to support that student.” For example: An adviser meets with a student who is unsure about a major or a career path. The adviser can issue
an alert to the Career Center and a coach will be assigned to manage a case. That coach can then reach out to the student, who is asked to come in to have a conversation with an adviser. “There’s that coordination and connection. It’s the same with the Student Success Center,” Bradley says. “Maybe a student really needs to be supported in a particular class, but that student’s schedule is such that all supplemental classes are offered at a time when the student has another class. We can say, ‘Hey, we recognize our schedule doesn’t work for you, but we have a tutor who can help you with that class.’ It’s about connecting students to the resources and then making sure the loop is closed.” T
14 USCTIMES
GOOD PARTNERS GOOD BUSINESS COMPANIES COLLABORATE WITH THE UNIVERSITY TO PREPARE STUDENTS FOR THE JOB MARKET BY PAGE IVEY
Corporate sponsorships, scholarships, support for grant applications and endowed faculty positions — companies invest in the University of South Carolina in a variety of ways. They also help new graduates prepare for the job market and in return get top-notch talent in the form of interns and fulltime employees. At the Darla Moore School of Business, such interactions have been formalized since 1969 through the Business Partnership Foundation, which helps generate supplemental financial support for the school and acts as an advisory body to ensure the business school is turning out graduates that meet employers’ needs. The business school has also engaged corporate partners through 11 centers that focus on specific areas of research and offer students and faculty the opportunity to work on real-world projects. The foundation and the centers are considered key players in the business school’s continued growth, both in numbers and in quality. “In recent years, Moore School centers, with more than 120 companies on their advisory boards, have built on our
efforts,” says Jean Duke, president of the Business Partnership Foundation. “We provide value to these companies and other corporate partners in South Carolina and beyond, while engaging them to invest in business education and hiring interns and graduates.” Fluor Corp. is a prime example of an engaged corporate partner. The multinational engineering and construction company is based in Irving, Texas, but has extensive operations in South Carolina, thanks to its purchase in the 1970s of Daniel Construction. The company also has a longstanding relationship with USC. “We invest with endowments and through various programs. The collaboration also helps us understand where the business school is headed in terms of curriculum and guide that direction with feedback from the industry,” says Tracey Cook, president of Fluor’s Greenville, S.C., division AMECO and chief liaison between Fluor and USC. “And we are proud to say our CEO, David Seaton, is a Gamecock.” In addition to partnering with the Moore School, Fluor works with the College of Engineering and Computing, the
FALL 2018 NO. 2 15
Trey Ackerman, ’97, ’98 master’s, addresses an in-house meeting at Charlotte-based accounting firm Dixon Hughes Goodman.
College of Education and the athletics department. The company’s support includes scholarships, endowments for professors and sponsorship of the athletics department’s academic honor roll. In the past year, the company has also worked with the Beyond Sports Program to offer internships to student-athletes pursuing degrees in engineering or business. “One of the things that Fluor holds as a core value is excellence in execution, whether you’re in a classroom or on a client’s construction project,” says Cook, who is herself a 1989 USC accounting graduate. “Having that core value drives us to deliver solutions to our customers. USC shares that value.” And what’s Fluor’s return on its investment? “We get back great interns, we get back great employees — especially in the state of South Carolina. We have 7,500 employees in the state now, and many of those are graduates from USC,” says Cook. Critically, USC also helps the company diversify its workforce. “Diversity initiatives are really important to Fluor, especially as we focus on attracting talent in the STEM fields,” Cook explains. “I think I had more female interns this year than I had male interns, and that’s because USC has such a diverse population of students. That’s kind of cool, to see the impact of our work.” Diversity is also important at Dixon Hughes Goodman, one of the 20 largest accounting firms in the country.
The Charlotte-based firm supports the Young Black Leadership Alliance, a program designed to improve the diversity pipeline into USC by identifying black high school students in the Charlotte area who meet a certain GPA criteria and are interested in pursuing higher education. Trey Ackerman, a client service partner and market managing partner with the firm, is helping lead the initiative. “We are intentionally developing them from a leadership, academic and community service perspective,” says the two-time USC alumnus, who holds a bachelor’s in business, ’97, and master’s in taxation, ’98. “We’ve got this unbelievable group of high school students, 500-plus, that we invest in every year,” Ackerman explains. “If we can help the university attract some of these talented students, we can help create a broader base of diverse talent that can then be drawn on by companies represented in all our markets.” The firm, which employs more graduates from USC than from any other university, also contributes financial support to the university and is a member of the business school’s Friends of Accounting group. But it’s the investment in talent and intellectual capital that Ackerman says pays the biggest return. “We’re looking at how can we help the university to be the best that it can be,” he explains. “And we’re looking at how the university can help us to be the best that we can be.” T
16 USCTIMES
FORWARD THINKING
KNOWLEDGE INVESTMENT
BY CHRIS HORN
Since 2011, the Office of Research has invested $20.9 MILLION in internal grants for USC researchers at every level, and in every field of study, through a system of merit-based research funding programs. Among the office’s chief internal grant programs are the ASPIRE awards, which help faculty develop new lines of exploration and acquire multi-user equipment while also encouraging interdisciplinary research. And the investment pays off — frequently leading to additional external funding and fueling more ambitious research.
TOUCHING THE PAST McKissick Museum curator uses digitization, touch screens to present natural history collections
As curator of collections at McKissick Museum, Christian Cicimurri is accustomed to handling old documents and artifacts. But thanks to an ASPIRE II grant and subsequent funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Cicimurri has got her hands on new touch screen technology, which is being incorporated into McKissick’s exhibits. Wall-mounted touch screens put the museum’s current natural history exhibit at the fingertips of visitors, allowing
Christian Cicimurri
exploration of various digitized documents and objects. But making history available at the swipe of a finger isn’t all that the grants have accomplished. “The initial ASPIRE grant got us talking with folks in digital collections in the library, the A.C. Moore Herbarium, the Center for Digital Humanities, the Institute for Southern Studies and South Caroliniana Library, and that turned up a lot of material for the natural history exhibit,” says Cicimurri,
FALL 2018 NO. 2 17
who is herself a trained paleontologist. “Since then, we’ve been collaborating the Charleston Museum and have found a lot more information and items for our exhibit.” McKissick holds the university’s first acquired collection — minerals and fossils once owned by Thomas Cooper, the institution’s second president and one of several individuals highlighted in the exhibit on natural historians. Digitizing those holdings, as well as other items from natural historians in the state’s past, makes them available online to a larger audience.
“By gathering and digitizing items not just from the archives but also from the herbarium and other repositories on campus and combining them into a searchable database, we’re giving visitors an opportunity to see things they’ve likely never seen before,” Cicimurri says. That includes a collection of 26,000 butterflies and moths that McKissick plans to catalog and digitize with federal funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, as well as minerals, fossils and other items from the collections of 19th and early 20th century collectors and natural historians.
FISHING FOR INFORMATION USC Aiken fisheries biologist researches fish populations in Caribbean
When Virginia Shervette hangs a ‘GONE FISHING’ sign on her door, it’s more than an afternoon jaunt. The USC Aiken fisheries biologist investigates the health of commercial and recreational fish populations in the Caribbean basin in hopes that fisheries managers will use the information when developing accurate assessments of which species are being overfished. She has worked hard to build the trust of sport and commercial fishers whose livelihoods depend on adequate fishing stock and sensible regulations. “They don’t think I’m trying to come in and shut them down,” says Shervette, who used two ASPIRE grants to acquire equipment, supplies and data that enabled publishing her findings. That established her reputation for being able to conduct research on data-poor fisheries species, a skill that has led to more than $1 million in externally funded grants for Caribbean research. “The way fisheries are managed in the Caribbean is super different compared to the U.S. mainland coastal states, where there is a lot more infrastructure to monitor offshore fishing,” Shervette says. “There’s not a lot of data in the U.S. Caribbean on most of the fisheries species to do the modeling that would determine if overfishing is occurring. So fisheries managers base regulations on best judgment, not actual data.” That lack of data makes it difficult to justify certain regulations to fishers and also leads to misguided perceptions about fishing populations. In St. Croix and St. Thomas, for exam-
Virginia Shervette (right)
ple, there are seven species of parrotfish commonly caught in commercial fisheries, although some of those species have been overfished in other parts of the Caribbean, according to Shervette, but each species has different life history characteristics that can’t be lumped together as if they are one species. “Our data on parrotfishes in the U.S. Virgin Islands show that the populations of all seven species are healthy, so when managers use our data to assess these species, they will most likely determine that they are not experiencing overfishing,” says Shervette. “If you’re going to regulate someone’s livelihood, you first need data to understand what’s going on and base those regulations on scientific data.”
18 USCTIMES
THE ULTIMATE RECYCLE Chemical engineering prof developing catalysts for waste stream energy conversion
Most of us look at a pile of mulch and see ground-up tree bark and wood fibers. Andreas Heyden sees a potential energy source. The chemical engineering professor’s research is focused on developing specialized catalysts capable of breaking down biomass such as mulch and animal waste into renewable fuels. “The question is how do you design and use catalysts that have efficient conversion rates and aren’t themselves degraded by the complex chemical reactions taking place to unlock the energy in biomass,” Heyden says. “We used an ASPIRE II grant to start talking with computer scientists about using more machine learning and data science techniques for catalysis applications.” Machine learning accelerates the catalyst design process by helping scientists predict the molecular interaction of various species on a catalyst’s surface based on a database of prior research. The chemical processes involved in converting biomass to energy are complex, Heyden says, and data science leads to more efficient modeling of next-generation catalysts. Collaboration with computer scientists has proven fruitful for Heyden’s team, which has garnered substantial NSF funding through an ongoing research partnership with the University
Andreas Heyden
of Puerto Rico. The focus of their energy conversion research has been on waste stream products such as biomass and animal waste, which don’t compete with food production like some common energy conversions now in use (e.g., corn to ethanol). “There are companies out there doing some of this, but it’s all dependent on oil prices,” Heyden says. “When oil prices are low, it’s hard for alternative energy to compete, but we’re still learning new techniques that will be useful in the future.”
GET A MOVE ON Interventions aim to get sedentary women more active over long haul Everyone knows obesity puts millions of Americans at risk for heart disease, diabetes and other serious health conditions. And it’s common knowledge that exercise is part of the solution. But how do you actually motivate people to get up and start moving? Allison Sweeney says the first step is listening. The postdoctoral fellow in psychology used an ASPIRE award to conduct focus groups with older, inactive African-American women, asking them what it would take to motivate them to enroll in an exercise program and come back week after week. “They wanted more structural social support — like a friend or neighbor to be active with — and others said they were looking for some kind of competitive fun,” says Sweeney, who earned her Ph.D. in psychology from SUNY-Stony Brook and has been a post-doc at Carolina for two years. “Those conversations really enriched how I designed the interventions, and they strengthened my application to NIH because it showed I was already working with a community center and developing a relationship with my target community.” Having successfully competed for a post-doctoral grant from the National Institutes of Health, Sweeney plans to
launch the Developing Real Incentives and Volition for Exercise (DRIVE) project, which will start this fall with a six-week pilot program at a community center in Sumter, S.C. Based on what she learns from the community in the pilot, Sweeney will proceed Allison Sweeney with launching a randomized study in the spring, which will continue through 2019. Participants recruited for the study will attend weekly gatherings with physical activities and group-based discussions about nutrition and related topics. They’ll also receive Fitbits to track their physical activity goals each week. “We think a positive social environment is critical for motivating people to change from an inactive lifestyle,”Sweeney says. “And research shows it’s worth the effort. Just walking a few times a week can significantly lower the risk of heart disease and other chronic sicknesses.” T
FALL 2018 NO. 2 19
MOVING ON UP COMMUNICATION SCIENCES AND DISORDERS GETS LEAD GIFT TO CONSOLIDATE SPACE
Allen Montgomery could do a fair impersonation of the Energizer bunny — he just keeps going and going. The 80-year-old audiology professor in the Arnold School of Public Health has run more than 100 marathons, the last one just a couple of years ago, and he has no immediate plans for retirement. He’s even fi gured out a creative way to help his academic department consolidate in one space on campus — something that’s never happened since communication sciences and disorders was created as an academic unit in 1972. And that’s a big deal. The department, which offers two master’s degree programs, prepares about 65 graduates per year in speech-language pathology. A growing doctoral program includes 10 students — clinical scientists who are prepared to advance the field through teaching, research and service. In 2018, the unit’s 27 full-time faculty members had $21 million in competitive research funding to study speech production/perception, hearing, language organization in the brain, language and literacy development and disorders and fragile X syndrome. Soon, all of that work will be able to happen under one roof. The department plans to move next spring to the Close-Hipp Building, former home of the Darla Moore School of Business. Renovations will ultimately be funded by the sale of a coastal farm that Allen and Marcia Montgomery have had in their family for nearly 90 years. “One motivation for us to give this gift is that Marcia and I are both speech pathologists,” Montgomery says. “We’ve both have had wonderful experiences in the Speech and Hearing Center — she worked with deaf teenagers, and I worked with many stutterers during my career as a therapist. To support a center of this quality that we’ve been a part of for so long really appealed to us.”
Allen Montgomery and his wife, Marcia, view plans of the new center
Montgomery’s parents bought the 70-acre property along the Beaufort River in 1932 and retired there in the 1950s. Much of the property is covered in loblolly pine, which Montgomery helped his father plant years ago. To preserve the land’s natural beauty, Montgomery has crafted conservation easements that restrict how much building can take place once it is sold.. Moving to Close-Hipp will allow the department to consolidate faculty offices, labs and the Speech and Hearing Research Center in one place and eliminate lease payments for an off-campus downtown building. Once the move is completed, the clinic will be renamed the Montgomery Speech and Hearing Research Center in honor of the couple’s lead gift, which will cover the cost of renovations on the building’s second floor.
T
HOW CAN I HELP? Additional support is needed to outfit the space with equipment and furnishings for education, research and clinical treatment. Faculty and staff can designate support through the university’s Family Fund, designating the fund account for USC Speech and Hearing Research Center, A31983.
20 USCTIMES
Q&A
THE NEXT BIG THING(S)
Q&A BY PAGE IVEY
Turn on the lights in your house from your smartphone. Ask your refrigerator if you’re out of OJ while you’re standing in the store. Get reminders from your car that it’s time for an oil change. Welcome to the INTERNET OF THINGS. The university has entered two new partnerships — the Industrial Internet of Things Research Lab, which is a partnership with IBM, and the 15,000-square-foot Digital Transformation Lab, which will serve as a research showplace for projects with an array of real-world industrial and consumer applications. USC Times asked BILL KIRKLAND, director of the USC Office of Economic Engagement, to help us understand both ventures. We hear more and more about the Internet of Things — but what exactly is that?
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the idea that the “things” people use every day can have sensors and collect data. These things can be as simple as a watch, a cellphone or a home appliance, or as sophisticated as a car or an airplane. The idea is that all of these things can connect and share data. To make sense of it all, software applications have to be built to use the data collected and perform analytics on that data. What specifically will the IBM research lab be working on?
They are working on visual inspection systems for manufacturing and drones, application development to use the data collected, and interface development — think, iPhone apps. They are also working on acoustic analysis to determine what makes devices fail, as well as AI and machine learning to suggest corrective actions. Robotics are another area of interest — we have Yaskawa Robotics involved as well. Why did IBM choose USC for this project?
The university has demonstrated excellence in aerospace, and we have been at the forefront of IoT-type applications through
Juan Zuluaga, a senior manager at Samsung, demonstrates the latest developments in appliance technology.
work done by the Center for Preventative Maintenance, led by Abdel Bayoumi and his students. IBM has told us that nobody builds solutions from Powerpoints anymore — they need to see the solution in practice. We’re a perfect environment for that. Working with the lab will help companies reduce risk by testing products on real assets before they go to market. Finally, we have a large consortium of partners we can leverage. These partners are willing to work together at USC on solving industry problems. Tell us more about the Digital Transformation Lab. Who are the other partners in the lab, and what can we expect to come out of it?
Right now, the partners are Yaskawa, Seimens and Samsung. We expect to involve a large pharmaceutical company soon to work with one of our robotics partners. We have had requests from dozens of companies to come through, and we’re working on setting those up now. I expect the number of partners to grow significantly. What kind of opportunities are available for USC faculty and students to get involved in these new labs?
The application of all this technology is going to be fascinating. Students will be able to work on cutting-edge problems. This is important because not only does it expose them to the technology itself, it also allows them to understand real-world issues they will face in the workplace after school. Furthermore, our graduates will have a leg up on fellow job seekers due to their exposure to, and utilization of, industry-grade equipment and software as students. For faculty — with more and more intense competition for federal research dollars — partnering with industry provides another potential funding stream for research. Faculty members are encouraged to submit proposals to our partners, collaborate with their R&D departments and share best practices with leading global companies. It’s a win-win for everyone. T
Grist for the mill English professor and heirloom food sleuth David Shields takes us deep into a South Carolina corn field. Journalist Jackie Faye sprints, swims and cycles across six continents. Alumna Kassy Alia turns tragedy into trust, one partnership at a time. The winter 2019 Carolinian is on its way with a fresh bushel of great stories — plus more kernels of Carolina wisdom than an entire ear of Cocke’s Prolific!
WINTER 2019
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA ALUMNI MAGAZINE
CAROLINIAN. IT’S WHO WE ARE. Field Notes T HE R E DISCOVE RY O F CO CKE ’S PR O L IFIC
plus THE SWEET SPOT TRI HARDER HERO IN BLOOM
The University of South Carolina alumni magazine is published three times a year by the Office of Communications and Public Affairs.
ENDNOTES
Illustrator and associate professor of graphic design Marius Valdes keeps an open mind as he’s starting a new project. “When developing an illustration, I put down lots of ideas so no one idea feels precious,” he says. “I try to step away and come back and see which one is the strongest, but also which one I think I can draw the funniest. I then redraw that idea a bunch of times in the correct proportion to the assigned space to play with composition. Once I have something the client and I both like, I redraw the illustration either by hand or digitally. All the color and texture is added on the computer, which brings the idea to life. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a cartoonist so that’s why my work is colorful and has lots of big eyeballs.”