“We want these students to leave our campus knowing that higher education is an option for them,” says Debbie Counts, associate director of admissions. “We also want this to jump start their high school career so as a freshman in high school, they understand what is needed to get into college, what grades they will need, and how a college education can impact their career.”

The College of Charleston Office of Admissions and Multicultural Student Programs and Services have partnered to provide this experience. Students will stay in residence halls, eat meals at campus dining facilities, tour the campus, visit Grice Marine Lab, the Natural Science Museum and Addlestone Library.

College of Charleston faculty and staff will also be offering the following workshops for students: Middle to High – What’s the Difference?, The Leader in “YOU”, and Summer Reading. Six to 10 College of Charleston students will also be working with the eighth graders while they are on campus.

This project is funded by a HEAP grant awarded by the State Department of Education (http://www.sccango.org/heap-incentive-grant-content.html) and the College of Charleston.

For more information, contact Debbie Counts at 843.953.4954.

Tessa Garton will teach an anthropology class entitled “Medieval Imagery and its Legacy in the Modern World: the ‘Holy Grail’ and other Relics.” Henry Xie will teach “Sports Marketing,” Doug Walker will teach the “Economics of Gambling,” and computer science professor Aspen Olmstead will teach “Game Development with Java.

“Arts and the Media at Spoleto” is taught by Jeanette Guinn, host of Arts Daily on ETV Radio, the S.C. NPR affiliate, and offers real experienceworking on the preproduction for the daily hour-long radio coverage of Spoleto Festival USA and Piccolo Spoleto. Artist research, scheduling, question development, interviewing, app development, broadcast programming, social media, promotion, marketing, script writing, voice over, media relations, and remote and studio video and audio recording and editing will be included.

Students interested in music can take either Edward Hart’s “New Wave: Music of the 1980′s” or Blake Stevens’ “Music of the Beatles.” Both courses will look at the influential groups, cultural relevancy and development of the style.

There is also an online course dedicated to popular music entitled “Like A Rolling Stone: History and Development of Rock Music” taught by Yiorgos Vassilandonakis in the music department. Like A Rolling Stone will trace the origins, development and stylistic nuances of rock music from its folk and blues beginnings via Elvis, Bob Dylan and the British invasion through the Woodstock, Motown, California surf, Psychedelic, Hippie culture, Heavy Metal, and Grunge movements.

Or if technology is more your interest, take “Technology and The New Enterprise,” an online course that answers questions like: Is Facebook really worth $80 billion? Why was NetFlix able to repel Blockbuster and WalMart? Why is Google more profitable than Disney? Computer science faculty member Lancie Affonso will teach this introductory course.

Twelve students have been accepted in dental programs at the following schools for the coming year: Medical University of South Carolina, Ohio State University, University of Maryland, UNC Chapel Hill, University of Louisville, University of Kentucky, Temple University and Tufts University. Other outstanding College of Charleston graduates will be headed for clinical programs in veterinary medicine, pharmacy, physician assistant, physical therapy, occupational therapy, cardiovascular perfusion and nursing.

There are approximately 700 students in the pre-health loop at the College of Charleston, including medical, veterinary, dental, pharmacy, nursing, allied health, and health administration. Alpha Epsilon Delta, the CofC Chapter of the National Health Preprofessional Honor Society, has a membership in excess of 75 students who have spent the past year volunteering with local organizations, including the Ronald McDonald House, Hope Lodge, the Charleston Miracle League and Camp Happy Days. The Pre-Nursing Club, the Pre-Dental Club and the Pre-Vet Society have been involved in community outreach activities, fundraising and have offered professional development opportunities in CPR certification and standardized test prep. A growing number of pre-health students are becoming EMS certified and gaining clinical exposure through the First Responder Program on campus.

As competencies for medical schools and standardized tests are being revised, the College of Charleston is well-staged to meet the challenges according to Karen Eippert, director of pre-professional health advising. “As a liberal arts school, with a strong science curriculum, our students can choose from a wide range of courses and unique minors in areas like neuroscience and the behavioral sciences. Dental students can take sculpture classes to combine their creative and academic interests, medical students can combine the sciences with philosophy, biomedical ethics and the arts. Majors in exercise science and health and human performance attract students with an interest in science, but enjoy a more experiential academic program. Plus, a wide range of study abroad opportunities, for students to expand their worldview and gain a more global perspective of healthcare.”

During the past year, a growing number of College of Charleston alumni have been seeking motivated undergraduates for enhanced internship and mentoring opportunities in the Charleston area.

For more information, contact Karen Eippert at 843-953-6460.

“There is great work to be done in many fields,” said Locklear. “ I daresay there is a field of public service perfectly suited to every member of the 2012 graduating class. As you leave the College and embark on your life’s work, you have a responsibility to consider and an opportunity to enjoy the rewards of a life in public service.”

A 1973 graduate of the College of Charleston, Locklear began her career as an attorney at the Native American Rights Fund.  During her 35-year career in federal Indian law, she has represented tribes throughout the country in federal and state courts on treaty claims to water and land, taxation disputes with states and local authorities, reservation boundary issues, and federal recognition of tribes.

In 1984, Locklear appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court, where she successfully challenged South Dakota’s authority to prosecute a Native American for on-reservation conduct.  In doing so, she was the first Native American woman to appear before the Court.

She has received numerous awards for fostering the development of women, among them a 2008 honor for her contributions to the American Indian community by the Conference of American Indian Women of Proud Nations.

Also during the ceremony, The College awarded honorary degrees to long-time philanthropists and community leaders Norman and Gerry Sue Arnold.

More than 1,400 students received their degrees in two ceremonies on the College of Charleston’s historic Cistern Yard on Saturday.

Commencement speaker Richard Wilkerson told the Class of 2012 that one of the most important things they can do in their future career is to show respect for others.

“Show respect to everyone you work with no matter how they behave,” said Wilkerson, the retired Chairman and President of Michelin North America.

During his three-year tenure as chairman and president, Wilkerson was responsible for the financial results and coordination of all operations of the Michelin Group in North America (United States, Canada, and Mexico) and was chairman of the internal executive board for this geographic zone. He was also a member of the worldwide executive board of the Michelin Group.

A total of 160 students crossed the stage during the ceremony.  This is the largest graduation class ever for the Graduate School of the College of Charleston.

“More people than ever before are seeking a master’s degree,” says Amy McCandless, dean of the Graduate School. “Since 2009, we’ve had record numbers of applications and we attribute this to the state of the economy, more jobs than ever before requiring a master’s degree, and an increase in our recruitment efforts. With the growth of programs like the M.A.T. in Teaching, Learning, and Advocacy, we expect to continue to see large numbers of graduates.”

The Master of Education in Teaching, Learning, and Advocacy (MTLA) saw the largest percentage increase in graduates from two in 2011 to 10 in 2012. This program is the fastest growing program at the College of Charleston. Since it launched in 2009, it has grown from nine students to more than 50. The MTLA program is unique because it develops leadership skills and enhances a teacher’s ability to serve students, parents and other teachers in diverse settings.

Several other programs have doubled the number of graduates including the Master of Arts in English program (from six to 12 graduates), the Master of Public Administration (from 10 to 24 graduates) and the Master of Science in Marine Biology (from five to nine graduates). Other programs that increased the number of graduates over last year are the Master of Arts in Teaching Special Education, the Master of Science in Mathematics and the Statistics Certificate.

“More people than ever before are seeking a master’s degree,” says Amy McCandless, dean of the Graduate School. “Since 2009, we’ve had record numbers of applications and we attribute this to the state of the economy, more jobs than ever before requiring a master’s degree, and an increase in our recruitment efforts. With the growth of programs like the M.A.T. in Teaching, Learning, and Advocacy, we expect to continue to see large numbers of graduates.”

New for 2011-12 was the dual Master of Environmental Studies and Master of Public Administration program. The College of Charleston is the first institution in the Southeast to offer a Master’s degree focused on a professional career in environmental and sustainability issues.

For more information, contact Niki DeWeese Levia at 843.953.1435.

Read more about the Class of 2012.

Retired Michelin North America Chairman and President Richard Wilkerson will be the featured speaker at the graduate commencement ceremony. During his three-year tenure as chairman and president, Wilkerson was responsible for the financial results and coordination of all operations of the Michelin Group in North America (United States, Canada, and Mexico) and was chairman of the internal executive board for this geographic zone. He was also a member of the worldwide executive board of the Michelin Group.

The commencement speaker for both undergraduate ceremonies is Arlinda Locklear ’73, the first female Native American attorney to argue before the Supreme Court. During her 35-year career in federal Indian law, she has represented tribes throughout the country in federal and state courts on treaty claims to water and land, taxation disputes with states and local authorities, reservation boundary issues, and federal recognition of tribes. In 1984, Locklear appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court, where she successfully challenged South Dakota’s authority to prosecute a Native American for on-reservation conduct.  In doing so, she was the first Native American woman to appear before the Court.

The morning undergraduate ceremony will include the School of Business, School of Education, Health, and Human Performance, and School of Sciences and Mathematics. The afternoon undergraduate ceremony will include the School of the Arts, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs. Locklear and Norman and Gerry Sue Arnold, long-time philanthropists and community leaders for the College and the state, will receive Honorary Doctorate Degrees in Humane Letters during the afternoon ceremony.

The Mackenzie collection was donated by 18^th-century Charles Towne politician John Mackenzie who delivered his vast collection of books to the Charleston Library Society, until the College received its charter. Before the books reached the College, a fire consumed much of Charleston in 1778, burning nearly all the contents of the Charleston Library Society. Yet, 77 titles of Mackenzie’s library survived, and were returned to the College in 1980.

Since the Mackenzie Library Project’s launch in October 2011, the Addlestone Library Special Collections staff and the College of Charleston Friends of the Library have been working to restore the now 78 titles returned from the Library Society and acquiring other titles from the collection. Nine other rare books have been acquired, for a total of 87 same-edition books from the original Mackenzie collection.

Scorched, yet intact, and embossed with the elegant Mackenzie gold seal, 13 of the 78 burned books have already been restored and nine others are currently undergoing the labor-intensive restoration process. College of Charleston senior Brien Biedler has spent 15 to 20 hours a week in the bindery in Special Collections, carefully resewing, rebinding, and mending the pages of the books. Biedler, a chemistry major, received a SURF Grant (Summer Undergraduate Research Fund) from the College of Charleston in 2011 to work on the project and attend the School of Formal Bookbinding in Pennsylvania. Upon Biedler’s graduation, Addlestone Library Special Collections staff and volunteers from the Charleston community will work together to complete the restoration work.

The nine titles acquired by the Special Collections staff include a 1721 edition of The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer and a 1747 copy of Jean-Bernard Le Blanc’s Letters on the English and French Nations. Marie Ferrara, Head of Special Collections and the Addlestone Library, and Harlan Greene, Senior Manuscript and Reference Archivist, have selected the recently acquired titles that match the exact editions Mackenzie collected and exist in no other format than in the College of Charleston’s collections. The Mackenzie Collection is housed is special glass-fronted wooden bookcases which allows visitors to witness the restoration of a promise made by one of the region’s political heroes. To date, the Mackenzie Library Project has raised in excess of $50,000 in private funds to support acquisitions and restoration work to existing Mackenzie titles.

John Mackenzie, a Goose Creek planter and Charles Towne elected official, was an advocate of the library and more liberal in extending voting rights than many of his contemporaries.  And despite Mackenzie’s premature death, his vision persists. According to Dr. David Shields, McClintock Professor of South Letters at the University of South Carolina and an expert in colonial history, Mackenzie envisioned not only a more egalitarian South Carolina, but also an institution that would engage in the improvement in education of its citizens. The library has also acquired an important first edition of the writings of John Wilkes, the English radical, journalist, and politician who strongly influenced Mackenzie’s quest for freedom of speech in South Carolina. Wilkes inspired Mackenzie’s goals in the South Carolina Commons House Assembly.

For more information about the Mackenzie Library Project and to view the Mackenzie Library catalogue, visit http://blogs.cofc.edu/fol/mackenzie.

A reception and book signing in the Hill Exhibition Gallery will follow the event and will include a peek at the preparatory stages of “Return to the Sea: Saltworks by Motoi Yamamato” in the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. This traveling exhibit will premiere in Charleston as part of the Spoleto Festival USA on May 24. Yamamato will create a site-specific installation entirely out of salt during his residency at the Halsey Institute. For more information, visit http://halsey.cofc.edu. Copies of the stunning, 163-page exhibition catalog will be available for autograph and purchase at the reception.

Both the School of the Arts and the College of Charleston Library have a long-standing relationship with the Spoleto USA and Piccolo Spoleto Festivals. For more than 20 years, School of the Arts faculty have taught specialized Spoleto classes at the College of Charleston, introducing the arts to students in conjunction with the Festivals’ performances. Hart and Taylor have performed, or had their original compositions performed, for Piccolo Spoleto on numerous occasions. McNerney has served as Theatre Coordinator for Piccolo Spoleto for over a decade and currently coordinates the Stelle di Domani Series. The Halsey Institute has coordinated exhibitions with both Festivals.

Additionally, School of the Arts faculty, students and alumni perform in Festival concerts and productions every year, including the Department of Music’s own Young Artists Series and the Department of Theatre’s Stelle di Domani Series, both of which involve award-winning students performing alongside well-established guests and alumni.

The College of Charleston Library serves as the repository for the Spoleto Festival USA archives. Performance programs, records and financial documents, as well as audio and videotapes of actual performances, of the Festival since its inception in 1977 are housed in Special Collections at the Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library.

Special Collections also facilitates the ongoing Spoleto Festival USA Oral History Project, bringing valuable collections into the library and recording narratives and points of view that would otherwise be lost. The project, which includes interviews with artists long associated with Spoleto, new artists just participating in Spoleto, political figures, board leaders, volunteers and production staff members, will be stored in Special Collections and used as research material for generations to come.

The Friends of the School of the Arts promotes and supports the School of the Arts’ departments and programs, and also strengthens the relationships amongst the School, the College, the community, and other academic and cultural groups.

The Friends of the Library at the College of Charleston supports and advances the interests of the Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library as the leading intellectual and cultural force in the community.

“Remembering ‘Her’ Time- The Art of Bernice Mitchell Tate” is a material culture, historic, fine craft, and art installation exhibition honoring the collective spirit of female identity and African-American womanhood.

The exhibit serves as a personal tribute, a “herstory”, recognizing the life and times of Tate’s mother, the late Veronica Robinson-Mitchell of Sheldon, South Carolina.  Furthermore, it is a celebration of Lowcountry culture and authentic African-American Gullah-Geechee heritage.

Bernice Mitchell Tate is noted for her amazing mixed-media sculptural collages that transform material culture into art. Her process of fused continuity creates works of uninterrupted connections by blending images. Her newest project is inspired by and based on design elements of nearly fifty years from hand-sewn quilts created by her mother.

Tate has co-developed the innovative method of fused continuity, a process involving the digitizing of selected design elements or entire quilts into digital library formats, from which selected components are arranged into shapes and reproduced on specially treated overlay sheets and applied in superimposed patterns to the surface of “anything” to create the visual content of her work.

Arguably, this exhibition is a joint presentation; the actual quilts by Tate’s mother are juxtaposed throughout the exhibit to provide tangible verification of how material culture is transformed into an installation of mixed-media collage works.

The art exhibition’s grand opening will be at held at 7:00PM on Thursday, May 17, 2012 at the Avery Research Center, located on 125 Bull Street in Charleston, SC.  The event is free and open to the public.  Please RSVP only if attending by Monday, May 14, 2012 to Savannah Frierson at 843-953-7609.