Latest Campus Life
Oglethorpe Men’s Golf Wins National Championship
Posted by: | May 19, 2012 | Comments
2012 Oglethorpe Men's Golf Championship Team
Oglethorpe University completed a wire-to-wire run to claim the 2012 NCAA D-III Men’s Golf Championship on Friday at the Mission Inn Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida. The title is the Stormy Petrels’ second in four years for head coach Jim Owen and makes Oglethorpe just the sixth school to win multiple championships in the 37 year history of the event.
Petrel freshman Anthony Maccaglia (Tampa, Florida) shook off a balky start to his round to claim medalist honors, becoming just the fourth freshman (along with Methodist’s Brion McLaughlin in 1997 and Chad Collins in 1998 and Oglethorpe’s Olafur Loftsson in 2009) to claim the top individual prize. Additionally, Oglethorpe is now one of only three programs in the nation to have multiple individual champions. Methodist University and Cal State Stanislaus are the other two.
The Stormy Petrels entered the round with a 16-stroke advantage over Methodist and managed to keep most of the tournament drama on who would claim second, third and fourth place. The Pioneers of Transylvania tracked down Methodist for the second spot, besting the third place Monarchs by a scant stroke. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps claimed fourth.
Oglethorpe’s Hayden Jones (Orlando, Florida) pushed Maccaglia, shrinking his pre-round 7 shot advantage down to 3 before settling for second place individually at even par for the Championships. Other individuals scoring top-5 finishes at the Championships were Dex Reese (Illinois Wesleyan) and Jeremy Sanders in a tie for third and Tain Lee (Mudd-Scripps) in fifth.
Maccaglia’s stellar week that saw him finish the tournament as the only player under par at -5 was capped by a bevy of awards. He became an individual champion and team champion by the NCAA standards while also earning the Arnold Palmer Award for being the tournament medalist and Phil Mickelson Award as the nation’s best freshman by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA). Jones, just a sophomore, earned First Team All-America status by the GCAA.
Oglethorpe sophomore Anthony Amodeo rallied from a difficult first two days to come home in a tie for 36th while senior Matt Rebitch (Delmont, Pa.) finished tied for 40th. Junior Eric Quinn (Norcross, Ga.) carded a tie for 66th place result.
“I couldn’t be happier for this group of guys,” said Owen. “After the fall season, they really embraced the team concept and started minimizing their mistakes. I knew coming down here we had a great chance to win, but never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined a 20 stroke victory.”
Oglethorpe’s Senior Art Show
Posted by: | May 11, 2012 | Comments
OU seniors would like to invite YOU to Oglethorpe University’s Senior Art Show. The four-day exhibition is curated by Professor Alan Loehle and comprised of works by graduating art majors and minors from Oglethorpe University.
Students Nicole Kang, Lauren Visconti, Lara Jacques, Sarah Duff, Kara Samples, Sean Lovett, Michaela Mayfield, Samantha Korotskin, Bianca Hernould, Hannah Goldman, Jessica Sundstrom, Leeane Eldredge, Katie Odell, and Ian Franklin will showcase some of their best works created during their time as undergraduates. A wide range of works in mediums, styles, and subjects will be part of the exhibit.
The show will run May 11 – 14, 2012 in the Talmage Room of the Emerson Student Center. An opening reception will be held on May 11, 2012, 7-9 p.m. Need more information? E-mail Nicole Kang at nkang@oglethorpe.edu.
Relive Oglethorpe’s 2012 Commencement
Posted by: | May 10, 2012 | Comments
The academic quadrangle is set up, awaiting commencement.
The Oglethorpe University 2012 Commencement ceremony was held on Saturday, May 12, 2012 at 9:00 a.m., on the academic quadrangle of the OU campus. For a full recap of this special day, see our 2012 Commencement Scrapbook.
President Larry Schall presided over the ceremony honoring more than 250 graduating seniors. During the ceremony, Oglethorpe presented three honorary degrees to:
– Zhanna Arshanskaya Dawson, an accomplished pianist, Holocaust survivor, and former faculty at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, who will receive an honorary Doctor of Letters.
– Sue Adcock Frueauff, a foundation and community leader, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
– Ted Turner, a renowned leader in business and philanthropy, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.
Each honorary degree recipient addressed the Class of 2012. Past recipients of honorary degrees include President Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Woodrow Wilson, and Amelia Earhart.
Zhanna Arshanskaya Dawson
Zhanna Arshanskaya Dawson is a Ukrainian-American pianist and former faculty member of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University (Bloomington). Dawson came to national prominence in 2009 after her son, journalist Greg Dawson, published the book Hiding in the Spotlight chronicling his mother’s escape from the Holocaust. A young prodigy, Dawson began piano lessons at age five and made her performance debut at age 6 on the radio. She later received scholarships to attend the Moscow State Conservatory. In 1941, she was forced to flee the persecution of Jews in her hometown. She escaped only to find herself forced to survive by playing her music for Nazi soldiers from the army that had killed their parents. Dawson was eventually adopted and brought to the United States, where she studied music at the Juilliard School of Music.
Sue Adcock Frueauff
Sue Adcock Frueauff has served as a trustee at the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation in Little Rock, Ark. for 22 years. From 1996-2001 she also worked as a program officer at the foundation, and since 2001 has served as chief administration officer. Prior to the foundation, Frueauff worked for 16 years as an elementary school principal in Russellville, Arkansas, and 13 years as a classroom teacher in the Arkansas Public Schools. Frueauff has served on numerous boards and in leadership positions at the Arkansas Tech University Foundation, University of the Ozarks, American Association of University Women (Branch and State President), Arkansas Curriculum Development Association, Suspected Child Abuse & Neglect, Centers for Youth & Families, and many more. She is an active volunteer and leader in her community, having given her time and talents to Arkansas Rice Depot, Stewpot, Interfaith Hospitality Network, Single Parent Scholarship Fund, Arkansas Literacy Council, Child Protection Team, and numerous others. Frueauff earned her Master of Science in Education at the University of Central Arkansas and her bachelor’s at Arkansas Technical University.
Ted Turner
Throughout his career, Ted Turner has received recognition for his entrepreneurial acumen, sharp business skills, leadership qualities, and his unprecedented philanthropy. Whether in billboard advertisement, cable television, sports team ownership, sailing, environmental initiatives or philanthropy, Turner’s vision, determination, generosity and forthrightness have consistently given the world reason to take notice. Turner is chairman of the United Nations Foundation, which promotes a more peaceful, prosperous and just world; co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a charitable organization working to reduce the global threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons; chairman of the Turner Foundation, which supports efforts for improving air and water quality, developing a sustainable energy future to protect the earth’s climate, safeguarding environmental health, maintaining wildlife habitat protection, and developing practices and policies to curb population growth rates; and co-founder of Ted’s Montana Grill restaurant chain, which operates 44 locations nationwide. Turner is also chairman of Turner Enterprises, Inc., which manages his business interests, land holdings and investments, including the oversight of two million acres in 12 states and in Argentina, and more than 55,000 bison.
Oglethorpe Names New Athletics Director
Posted by: | May 09, 2012 | CommentsOglethorpe University has chosen Rebecca “Becky” Hall as director of athletics. Hall is currently the assistant athletics director and senior woman administrator at Wittenberg University and will become Oglethorpe’s fourth director of athletics since reassigning to NCAA Division III in 1990.
OU's newest Petrel - Rebecca Hall
Becky Hall will replace Jay Gardinerwho has served as director since 2004. Gardiner is now the inaugural commissioner of the new Southern Athletic Association, Oglethorpe’s athletic association beginning in the 2012-2013 season.
“After a national search that yielded exceptional candidates, the committee identified the best match for Oglethorpe,” said Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Students Michelle Hall. “Becky is truly a great fit, full of energy, ideas and experience that will guide our growing athletic program.”
A 1998 graduate of Urbana University where she was a star softball player, Hall was immediately hired by Wittenberg University as an assistant coach and rapidly made an impact on Tiger athletics. She was promoted to head softball coach in 1999 and, just one season later in 2000, led Wittenberg to their first North Coast Athletic Conference Championship. That season concluded with the Tigers making their first trip to the NCAA Championships and securing the school’s first NCAA Tournament softball victory.
While remaining as head softball coach, Hall took on progressive responsibilities. She served as Wittenberg’s director of intramurals and club sports from 2003-2007 before being promoted to assistant director of athletics and senior woman administrator in July of 2007. In that span, Hall has continued to lead a successful softball program and overseen a 3.5 million dollar budget while also fundraising over $58,000 of supplemental income to the department.
In recent years, Oglethorpe has experienced a surge in growth, having added two new dormitories to the campus with plans to break ground on a state-of-the-art new campus center soon.
“Becky’s addition to our leadership team is a strategic move to continue to elevate our athletic programs, build a winning tradition and develop scholar-athletes who are successful on and off the playing fields,” said Oglethorpe University President Lawrence M. Schall.
In addition to her fundraising success, Hall directly supervised all phases of 10 varsity sports teams while at Wittenberg. An advocate for several non-profit organizations, Hall engaged the Wittenberg student-athletes in a variety of community service efforts including events for Strike Out Cancer and Toys for Tots. Read More→
Oglethorpe Psych Students Excel at Research Conference
Posted by: | May 07, 2012 | Comments
The annual Georgia Undergraduate Research in Psychology Conference was recently hosted by nearby Kennesaw State University. More than 110 students from nearly 20 universities presented either research posters or talks. Many were honor students from their respective universities—which this year included universities from surrounding states as well.
The Oglethorpe Psychology Department was represented by seven students who had their work accepted for the conference: Jahnavi Delmonico, Julia Fukuda, Cassie Hendrix, Allison Moore, Justin Sabree, Brittany Weiner and Janet Wood. They presented a mixture of research posters and talks based on the original data they had collected in their respective studies from the past year. In addition, all of them participated in a juried competition sponsored by the Georgia Psychological Association (GPA) for best research at the conference. Judges consisted of executive members of the GPA and professors of research methodology.
For the fourth year in a row, an Oglethorpe student earned first place! Specifically, Cassie Hendrix submitted a study she completed during her “Theories of Personality” course on the effects of anxiety on people’s ability to correctly interpret the emotions expressed in facial expressions. She presented her research in a 250-seat auditorium, where she led the audience through a Powerpoint presentation of her study, followed by a question and answer session. Cassie and I (as her faculty sponsor) received certificates of recognition and Cassie received a cash award. She joins previous GPA-sponsored conference winners Ilana Olin and Mary Beth Bidgood (2009), Alyx Buonanotte (2010), and Balbir Khalsa and Brittany Weiner (2011).
Participants had the opportunity to attend all the talks and poster sessions, as well as listen to a key
note address and attend a career/graduate school panel discussion. It was an excellent opportunity to meet students and professors from other schools and to learn from fellow excellent researchers.
All of the students gained valuable experience, practiced publicly presenting and defending their work, and had a good time spending the day with each other and the department faculty. Congratulations to all of you!
Editor’s Note: The Oglethorpe University Psychology Department routinely encourages its students to submit original research they have designed and conducted to professional research conferences. Our students typically attend several conferences during their undergraduate education. Submitting one’s work for peer review by experts in the field and then defending that work in a professional setting is wonderful training for graduate school, professional schools (e.g., medical and law) and many careers.
“Outdoor Classroom” Benefits OU Students …and Bluebirds
Posted by: | April 24, 2012 | CommentsOglethorpe seniors Andrew Davenport and Sandy Vuong recently let me tag along to watch their springtime, end-of-semester urban ecology project take off… literally.
The two students were assigned special projects for their Urban Ecology class, taught by Dr. Roarke Donnelly, OU associate professor of biology and director of the Urban Ecology Program. Davenport and Vuong, both biology majors, decided to team up and investigate the behavior of Eastern bluebirds.
OU senior Andrew Davenport "flushing" the bird box
“Bluebirds prefer to find pre-existing cavities and build their nests in them,” said Davenport. “They pick already available accommodations and make them their own. Our research aims at explaining why they choose certain locations to nest and not others.”
The project quickly became a campus-wide effort. OU’s Sigma Zeta National Science and Mathematics Society stepped in to help create the habitats, in hopes that the birds would choose them. Chassidy Teal, Sigma Zeta president, and the other Sigma Zeta members built the birds’ boxes as a service project. Dr. John Cramer, OU professor of physics, helped with the building effort and installed them around campus.
There are now 10 boxes all over the OU campus and half of them are occupied by bluebird families. Some are home to adult birds only, some have eggs in them and some little hatchlings. Davenport and Vuong take turns checking the boxes and recording data several times every week.
“Eastern bluebirds don’t have as many cavities available for nesting as they did before extensive logging and land development,” said Dr. Donnelly. “Boxes serve as suitable substitutes.”
Thanks to the joint effort of the honor society and Dr. Cramer, the two OU seniors are able to use their classroom knowledge and apply it to this hands-on project. But, the experiment has benefitted the bluebirds as well as the students studying them.
“We did not have many bluebirds on campus,” said Dr. Cramer. “The experiment has attracted them to our outdoor classroom.”
Join the Urban Ecology Program and other OU science students during Science-Palooza on Wednesday, April 25, from 12:30 to 1:30 in the Academic Success Center, when they will present their projects and findings from their end-of-semester projects.
The male bluebird passes a worm to the female. She will then feed it to the little baby bluebirds.
View more photos of OUr bluebird families!
Oglethorpe’s New “Short Courses” Are Long on Fun & Learning
Posted by: | April 23, 2012 | Comments
OU shook things up this semester by adding a variety of short courses that focused on fun topics and experiences. Many students took advantage of the 13 one-time learning and recreational experiences, mostly taught by Oglethorpe staff.
This semester’s short courses have explored interesting topics like “How to Survive in the Woods…in a Hammock” with Jon Nooner, technical director for the Conant Performing Arts Center, and “Extreme Couponing” with Bre Berris, director of Greek affairs. Students indulged their sweet tooth with Kim-Marie John, Emerson Cafe’s baker, in a short course that introduced the art of decorating your own cupcake. Residence Life Coordinator Alyssa De Gazon led a short course discussion about the The Hunger Games book series. Students also toured Elm Street Gardens, a two-acre community organic garden, founded by alumnus Robert Currey, which provides food for hundreds of families in Hancock County, the poorest county in Georgia. Students also gathered to learn “Sign Language: 50 words you need to know”, a short course taught by Jay Gardiner, OU’s athletics director (pictured above). Gardiner shared his knowledge in a fun and interactive environment that left the students asking for more.
The short courses were so popular that there are already plans for them to return in the fall semester. The Office of Campus Life invites students to submit ideas for short courses. If there is a skill you would like to learn—or teach—send your suggestions to Kendra Hunter at khunter@oglethorpe.edu and the Office of Campus Life will do their best to make it happen!
OU students toured a two-acre organic community garden founded by OU alumnus Robert Currey.
Oglethorpe Hosts Family of Baseball Great and Alum Luke Appling
Posted by: | April 19, 2012 | Comments
Pictured: Luke Appling (right) celebrates a Stormy Petrel win.
Oglethorpe University welcomed the family of 1932 alum and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Luke Appling to the Brookhaven campus this past Saturday for “Luke Appling Day.” Four generations of the Appling family attended the celebration. Appling’s sister, Linda Appling Sumpter, tossed out the first pitch prior to the Petrels’ game against Birmingham-Southern.
“Luke Appling Day” was in observance of the inaugural “NCAA Division III Week,” an initiative launched to celebrate the division’s unique philosophy that equally values academics, athletics and student-athletes’ involvement in a full and rich campus life.
Lucius “Luke” Appling enjoyed a stellar college career at Oglethorpe and, in 1930, led the Stormy Petrels to a perfect 15-0 record. In his final game against collegiate competition, Appling went out in style, hitting three homeruns against Mercer University. Appling was signed to a professional contract and spent the next 20 seasons wearing the #4 jersey and playing shortstop for the Chicago White Sox. He made seven All-Star Appearances and won two American League batting titles, including hitting .388 in 1936 and being named the best shortstop in baseball. In 1964 he was elected into the Major League Baseball Hall Fame.
Appling's sister, Linda Appling Sumpter, tossed out the first ceremonial pitch.
Among the attendees for Luke Appling Day were two of Appling’s three children—Linda Appling Sumpter and Carol Tribble. Their brother, Luke Appling III, was unable to attend but his daughter, Lisa Dunbar, was on hand for the occasion. Her daughter, Erin, Appling’s great grandchild, served as the Stormy Petrel Ball Girl for game. In addition to Lisa, six more of Luke Appling’s grandchildren were in attendance with their families.
The pregame reception included a historical display of artifacts depicting Appling’s career provided by the Oglethorpe University Archives. A booklet of press clippings detailing Appling’s meteoric rise in the world of baseball was presented to family members. Oglethorpe student-athletes joined the family members for a post-game cookout in the right field pavilion.
- Four generations of the Appling family gathering on the steps of Oglethorpe University’s Schmidt Center.
UK’s Sky Sports Films Edwin Moses with Oglethorpe Track Athletes For London Olympics
Posted by: | April 16, 2012 | Comments
With film cameras rolling and two-time Olympic gold medalist Edwin Moses doling out sage advice, the Oglethorpe University men’s and women’s track and field teams enjoyed a rather unusual practice last Thursday afternoon. That’s because Sky Sports, the largest sports broadcaster in the United Kingdom, was in Atlanta to capture some pre-Olympic coverage for the upcoming 2012 London Games, and Oglethorpe loaned their track and athletes to the project.
Moses, who first gained fame at the 1976 Montreal Games where he won gold by setting a world record in the 400 meter hurdles, lives nearby in the Brookhaven area and suggested Oglethorpe to Sky Sports as the locale for the filming. Sky Sports has tabbed Moses to be an in-studio analyst for the upcoming London Games and wanted to capture footage of him in the same city that hosted the 1996 Olympic Games.
After shooting footage of the Oglethorpe entrance and academic quadrangle, the Sky Sports crew descended on the track where members of the Stormy Petrel men’s and women’s track teams greeted Moses. Moses took time addressing the team about the finer points of his career in track and field before giving Oglethorpe 400 meter hurdler Katy Galli some one-on-one instruction on how to best clear hurdles and excel at the event. The Sky Sports team then filmed Galli, who wore a tiny camera affixed to her head, as she ran the 400 meter hurdles while Moses made commentary on specific portions of the race.
“It was an honor to have a track athlete of the caliber of Edwin Moses on our campus giving our kids who love the same sport some great advice,” said Oglethorpe men’s and women’s track and field Head Coach Jan Spiro. “The folks from Sky Sports could not have been nicer and seeing our student-athletes interact with Moses was a real treat.”
After over an hour of instruction and filming shots, Moses and the Sky Sports crew graciously said their goodbyes before the Oglethorpe track and field coaching staff gave the track teams a wake-up call: the real practice was about to begin.
2012 Symposium Spotlights Oglethorpe Students’ Academic Accomplishments
Posted by: | April 13, 2012 | Comments
On Tuesday, the OU community gathered for the 2012 Liberal Arts and Sciences Symposium to celebrate the academic achievements of our students. The annual event provides OU students with a platform to present their own work—and fellow students, faculty, parents, and staff take the opportunity to learn more about the various topics, support the presenters, and engage in passionate discussions. Nearly 200 students presented during more than 30 sessions about topics drawn from a wide variety of disciplines.
We asked students Joscelyn Stein, Dayana Diaz, and Weston Manders to give us their thoughts about the Symposium:
This year’s topics ranged from “The Homeric Hero: What Winston Churchill and Odysseus have in common…or not” to “Mosquito in the Room: America’s Cuban Obsession and the Need for a New Era of Cuban-American Relations,” to “The Evolution of Fairies in Literature: From Oral Folk Tales to Peter Pan” and “The Benefits of Cooperative Interspecies Evolution: Why Would you have a Dog?”
A new addition to the day-long event was StoryCore, where students from the OU radio station video recorded students and faculty sharing “OUr Core moments,” reflections on the Core Curriculum. Oglethorpe’s Core Program helps shape our academic community and is regularly the focus of shared stories. Many of us have our “Core moments”—when something we encounter reminds us of something we learned in a Core course, when ideas are suddenly are connected. The collection of 90-second videos will be posted on the StoryCore page over the next few weeks. Here’s the first StoryCore video in the series, by Chelsea Reed ’13, a Communications and Rhetoric major.
Also new to the Symposium this year was an “Homage To OUr CORE in Poetry and Creative Verse.” The poetry slam/creative word jam took place in the Lupton Auditorium and gave a stage to students and faculty to share their poetry, spoken word and freestyle compositions, penned in honor of our Core Curriculum. The friendly competition chose winners in a few categories:
Judges’ Choice: Kaci Palmore
Most Creative: Chou Thao
Connection to Core: Will Carter
The day-long celebration of student achievements ended in the Conant Performing Arts Center with the annual Honors and Awards Convocation, which recognized individuals who had excelled during the academic year. Congratulations to all of the honorees!
View photos from the 2012 Liberal Arts & Sciences Symposium!