February 4, 2012

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SC State considering budget cuts to alleviate deficit

February 3, 2012 By

Officials at South Carolina State University are considering budget cuts, as the school faces a nearly $4 million deficit.

Board members at the school in Orangeburg were stunned to learn Thursday about the budget shortfall.

The Charleston Post and Courier reports that university leaders had hoped to have a $2.5 million surplus by the end of the fiscal year June 30.

Instead South Carolina State is facing a $4 million deficit that officials attribute to a decline in enrollment. The school has about 500 fewer students than expected.

Trustee Maurice Washington says the university is “on life support.” Washington says the school should consider opting out of the expensive Division I athletic program.

University President George Cooper will meet with the Finance Committee Monday to discuss the school’s options.

Filed Under: Education, News

USC Music School receives $1 million gift

January 27, 2012 By

The University of South Carolina ‘s School of Music has announced the largest donation in its history. The $1 million gift comes from James Copenhaver, the long-time former band director at the school. Copenhaver worked in the position from 1976 to 2010.

The school says the money will pay for about $50,000 in scholarships each year.

“With the ever-increasing cost of higher education, additional scholarship funding is needed to assure that students will continue to give service to the university through band participation,” the 68-year-old Copenhaver said.

School of Music Dean Tayloe Harding called the gift “transformative.”

The school has 500 undergraduate and graduate music majors studying a wide variety of instruments. There are an additional 1,500 students from other disciplines who also take classes in the School of Music.

Filed Under: Education, News, Recreation & Entertainment

Lottery winner helps pay for new college facilities

January 5, 2012 By

Morris College, a historically African-American college in Sumter, is going to be able to expand its campus thanks to a generous gift from Powerball jackpot winner Dr. Solomon Jackson, Jr.

Dr. Jackson donated $10 million, allowing the college the opportunity to build a new residence hall in the style of twin towers and a new student health and wellness center.

The residence hall will stand three stories and house 74 male and 74 female students in separate towers. The student health center will hold offices and classrooms for health sciences and recreation administration, areas for the ROTC program, and a fitness area.

The expansion will also include a new maintenance building and vehicle garage. An additional $1 million will go towards the college’s general endowment to be used for scholarships.

Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new facilities will be Tuesday, January 10th at 10 am.

Filed Under: Education, Featured, Human Interest, News

Landmark grant will spur cancer research

January 3, 2012 By

South Carolina’s Sea Island population may hold the key to unlocking the mystery of why African-Americans develop and die from certain cancers at a rate higher than Caucasians.

Researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina Hollings Cancer Center and South Carolina State University will be working to find the answers thanks to a landmark grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute.

The four-year grant of more than $800,000 will be used to establish the South Carolina Disparities Research Center, which will investigate cancer disparities. “The people in the Sea Islands are the most genetically homogenous group of blacks in the Unised States,” principal investigator Dr. Marvella Ford told South Carolina Radio Network, “Genetically, they’re actually more similar to blacks in Africa than to other African-Americans.”

Ford says it is easier to find genetic markers associated with cancer risks in a more homogeneous population like the Sea Island population than it is in a more heterogeneous population.

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Filed Under: Education, Health & Medicine, News

New grads face better job market than previous years

December 16, 2011 By

It’s the end of the 2011 fall semester for universities, which means thousands of recent grads will be flooding the job market.  Studies show that many graduates worry about finding a job in today’s tough market.

Director of the University of South Carolina’s Career Center Tom Halasz says recent graduates are in luck because the current job market is better than it has been in recent years. Halasz says ,while some industries are hiring more than others, “There is not a field where there are no jobs available.”

USCs Career Center is an organization within the university that helps students determine what kind of career path they want to take, what college major they should choose, and what kind of job they are looking to have in the future.

According to Halasz, health, retail, information technology, accounting, and engineering fields are some of the job areas that have the most opportunities available for recent grads, but many grads just have the wrong mindset.

“You’d think students would be clamoring for these positions, but sometimes have internalized this idea that’s it’s going to be tough. It’s going to be so tough that maybe they don’t want to exert the effort,” says Halasz.

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Filed Under: Business, Economy, Education, News
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