Dr. Madison Sowell has been named provost and vice president for academic affairs at Tusculum University effective July 9.

Dr. Sowell comes to Tusculum from Southern Virginia University, where he has served most recently as provost and chief academic officer.

“We are excited about adding Dr. Sowell to the Tusculum University team. His academic pedigree and leadership experience will serve us well in this exciting time of Tusculum’s history,” said Dr. James Hurley, president of Tusculum.

As chief academic officer, Dr. Sowell will be responsible for the academic integrity of the institution, for all programs and administrative offices related to the academic enterprise, and — in consultation with faculty, officers, and trustees — for long-range academic strategic planning, resource allocation and the implementation of new academic programs.

Dr. Madison Sowell

Born into a third-generation family of farmers in northeastern Arkansas, Dr. Sowell moved as a teenager with his widowed mother to Memphis, Tennessee. There he attended Central High School, excelled as the school’s pianist and shared the number one ranking in a graduating class of 400 students.

After working in Europe for two years, he went on to receive a master’s and Ph.D. in romance languages and literatures from Harvard University. While a graduate student, he was awarded the Jacoby Prize in Italian Literature for promise as a scholar and the department’s annual travel-study prize for outstanding teaching.

During his career, Dr. Sowell has specialized in teaching Dante’s works as well as a popular course entitled “Saints, Signs and Symbols: How to Read Medieval and Renaissance Art.”  He has lectured nationally and internationally on a host of topics and at a variety of venues, including last fall at the Italian State Archives in Naples.

He has edited, translated and published eight books and more than 130 refereed articles, encyclopedia entries, essays and book reviews. The topics of his publications have been wide-ranging and have included the Italian epic tradition, the history of nineteenth-century ballet and how to meld a liberal arts education with solid career preparation. A past recipient of two summer fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, he received earlier this year the Howard D. Rothschild Fellowship in Dance to conduct research at Harvard’s Houghton Library.

Dr. Sowell has enjoyed extensive experience in academic administration. He served for six years as provost, chief academic officer and SACSCOC accreditation liaison at Southern Virginia University, a liberal arts institution that has seen a 40 percent increase in student enrollments over the past four years.

Previously he taught at Brigham Young University, where he chaired the department of French and Italian for three terms and was a Karl G. Maeser General Education Professor, the Scheuber and Veinz Professor of Humanities and Languages, director of the Honors Program and associate dean of undergraduate education. He was the founding director of BYU’s first Study Abroad to Italy and has led approximately twenty travel study tours to Europe. One of his claims to fame is that he has seen all 36 extant paintings by the seventeenth-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer.

Regarding his appointment as Tusculum’s provost and vice president of academic affairs, Dr. Sowell said, “I am delighted to return home to Tennessee, where in high school my eyes were opened to the possibilities that a solid education can offer. Above all, I am honored to join Tusculum as it rises to university status on July 1; thrilled to support your dynamic new president, Dr. James Hurley, as he is inaugurated and leads the institution in celebrating its 225^th year, and humbled to work alongside and learn from such a warm and welcoming, student-centric faculty.”

Dr. Sowell is married to Debra Hickenlooper Sowell, a dance and theater historian with a master’s in theater from Tufts University and a doctorate in performance studies from New York University. They are the parents of two married daughters and have three grandchildren.

Tusculum has named the recipients of its only full-tuition scholarship opportunity for exemplary academic students, the Trustee Honor Scholarship. Additionally, five students were awarded the Presidential Scholarship.

Carter DelSorbo, of Greeneville and Riley Church of Maryville will be the first two students to receive the full-tuition Trustee Scholarship that is designed to help academically motivated students have a new opportunity to eliminate tuition expenses.

DelSorbo received his award on May 14. He is one of the first two students to receive the full-tuition Trustee Scholarship. He is the son of Christa and Carl DelSorbo.

Carter DelSorbo has been a homeschooled student since fifth grade and believes that education has prepared him for his college path. While in the process of completing his high school degree, Carter also completed 69 dual enrollment course hours at Tusculum, earning him an Associate of Arts degree. He will enter Tusculum in the fall as a junior.

He will major in pre-med/biology and plans to go on to medical school and become a pediatrician.

“I’ve always been good at science, and I want to help people,” he said. Adding, that his ultimate goal would be to become a missionary doctor and work for an organization like Doctors Without Borders.

Qualifying, interested and academically motivated students, may apply for the Trustee Honors Scholarship, which is awarded annually. This is a highly competitive, full-tuition scholarship which will be awarded to no more than two students in each incoming class.

“Through the Trustee Honors Scholarship, students with high academic achievement have the opportunity to attend Tusculum with no out-of-pocket tuition expenses,” said Dr. Paul Pinckley, vice president of enrollment management, marketing and financial aid.

To be considered for this prestigious scholarship, perspective students will need to complete the following steps: maintain a high school grade-point average of 3.5 or higher; attain a composite score of at least 25 on the ACT or 1150 on the SAT; rank in the top 10 percent of high school graduating class; complete the general Tusculum application for admission and submit supporting documentation for that application.

Qualifying students will also participate in Tusculum’s Honors Program, which focuses on promoting cross-discipline dialogue between students and allowing participants to create a personalized plan of study that will lead to unique experiences designed to benefit students’ individual goals.

Students receiving the Presidential Scholarships included Hanna Johnson of Greeneville, Danielle Mathes and Katya Rojas of Chuckey, Jordan King of York, Pennsylvania and Connor Pinkard of Louisville.

The Presidential Scholarship is the second highest academic scholarship award by Tusculum.

For more information, contact Melissa Ripley, executive director of enrollment management and traditional admission at 423.636.7374 or email mripley@tusculum.edu.

From left, Christa DelSorbo, Dr. James Hurley, Carter DelSorbo and Carl DelSorbo.

The first confirmed sighting of a silver-haired bat in Greene County has been documented by an environmental science class at Tusculum.

The discovery of the bat was made by Levi Morgan, a sophomore environmental science major from Greeneville; Brandon Ball, a junior biology – environmental science concentration major from Greeneville; Shania Blair, a junior biology – environmental science major from Tazewell, and Patrick Jones, a senior biology – environmental science major from Johnson City.

Silver-haired bat

The group of students found the bat while working on a group project as part of an “Environmental Assessment” course taught at Tusculum by Dr. Conor Keitzer, assistant professor of natural sciences.

The student group sent photographic evidence of their discovery to John Campbell, the Bat Program coordinator for the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, which will result in an updated range for the species in Tennessee by the TWRA. According to the TWRA website, the silver-haired bat is easily identified by its “frosted” appearance and is also readily recognized in flight, as this is the slowest flying bat in North America. In Tennessee, they can be locally common during migration, but are generally uncommon the rest of the year and do not occur in large numbers in the state.

Codell Construction of Winchester, Kentucky has been selected as the general contractor for the new Chick-fil-A facility on the Tusculum campus in Greeneville.

According to David Martin, director of facilities and campus safety, construction is now underway. All demolition work on the new site, which is located in the Niswonger Commons student center was completed previously in preparation for the contractor selection.

Martin added that the project is moving along well, with underground plumbing installed and electrical work begun.

The target date for the restaurant to open is July 31.

According to Dr. James Hurley, president of Tusculum, the plans are for the Chick-fil-A to be open six days a week, closed on Sunday, as are all Chick-fil-A franchises. The Tusculum Chick-fil-A will offer breakfast, lunch and dinner options and will be open to the community.

“This is an exciting time for the entire community,” said Dr. Hurley, “We are all waiting in anticipation of the opening of the new Chick-fil-A just prior to the beginning of our fall semester.”

Codell Construction Company is a fifth generation, family owned corporation. Codell has successfully completed hundreds of projects in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Louisiana, Georgia and North Carolina. The company provides pre-construction, construction phase and post-construction phase services for new construction and renovation projects.