The Feb. 27 game is also the “Play for Kay/Pink Out Day” for the women’s basketball game. All spectators are encouraged to wear pink to show support for breast cancer prevention and efforts to find a cure.
Construction continues on Ronald H. and Verna June Meen Center for Science and Math
The sound of hammering and sawing resonates at Tusculum College with the continued construction of the Ronald H. and Verna June Meen Center for Science and Math. Beginning next week, the exterior brick will begin showing and the concrete will be poured for the lecture hall.
“Most exterior walls are framed and have sheathing on them,” said David Martin, director of facilities. “I would estimate them to be 85 percent complete.”
Footing and columns have been added. Mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection work continues overhead. Air barriers are ready for window installation when windows are delivered this month, added Martin
“Interior framing is about 60 percent complete, and the roofing structure will be complete by Monday, with the exception of one of the stairsways. The downspout gutters are tied into the storm system so the roof drains flow on the east side, keeping the building relatively dry,” he said.
Panels for the main electrical room will be set in the next few weeks, as well as concrete for the transformer pad.
The Meen Center for Science and Math will be a four-story structure of approximately 100,000 square feet. Interiors include wings for biology, chemistry, mathematics, computer science and environmental science. There will also be lab space and research areas for both faculty and students.
The ground floor features the environmental science wing with a loading dock, as well as large general classroom spaces and classrooms equipped for distance learning programs. A large lecture hall will be included on the ground floor. Space is also allocated to house the Bachelor of Science degree program in nursing and at least one other graduate level health-related program.
Tusculum College contractor wins world championship
Tony Shelton of Creative Masonry is the “Toughest Tender” in the world. Shelton competed in the Spec Mix Bricklayer 500 World Championships this week and was named “Toughest Tender.” Shelton competed as tender, the mason’s assistant, for Fred Campbell in Las Vegas, Nev., on Wednesday, Feb. 3.
The competition included more than 20 master craftsmen from across the globe. Campbell, while not a winner this year, is a past Bricklayer champion, winning in 2013 and 2015. Campbell’s company, Creative Masonry, is the contractor for the brickwork on the Ronald H. and Verna June Meen Center for Science and Math, which is currently under construction at Tusculum College. Creative Masonry also was the brick layer for the new Walters State building in downtown Greeneville.
Shelton is a contractor in his own right, as was his father, and he owns and operates Limestone Construction.
“Tony’s the best mason I’ve ever been around, and I wish I could take him with me to every job,” said Joe Lane, superintendent for Rentenbach Constructors, contractor for the Tusculum math and science building.
The Meen Center for Science and Math will be a four-story structure of approximately 100,000 square feet. Interiors include wings for biology, chemistry, mathematics, computer science and environmental science. There will also be lab space and research areas for both faculty and students.
Campbell led the team to the world championships through regional and national competitions, and Shelton served as tender to Campbell during the main competition. In the preliminary event, the tenders raced against the clock to set up a predefined work area for the mason, and Shelton took home the top award in his category with a winning time of 15:22.
By Stephanie Turner, senior journalism and professional writing major from Shelbyville
Tusculum lecture to feature tenuous relationship of Tusculum College founders
A lecture examining the political and religious rivalry between Rev. Hezekiah Balch and Rev. Samuel Doak, founders of Tusculum College, will be presented on Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 7 p.m. in the Chalmers Conference in the Niswonger Commons by Jeff Lokey, assistant professor of business administration at Tusculum College.
“It’s interesting because their rivalry was transcended by Tusculum College,” said Lokey. “We haven’t forgotten it, but Tusculum doesn’t reflect that rivalry anymore.”
Balch’s and Doak’s animosity is historic to Greeneville. Several stories have been told detailing instances when the duo encountered each other.
As told by Richard Doughty, the late Greene County historian, “… [Balch and Doak] met one day on a plank over a particularly muddy spot. Doak was the first to speak. ‘I never make way for the devil.’ To which Balch quickly replied, ‘I do,’ and steeped aside in the mud to let Doak pass.”
While their rivalry is legendary, they both had a passion for higher education. Balch founded Greeneville College; Doak founded Washington College, formerly known as Martin Academy. Eventually, the two institutions merged to form Tusculum College.
Lokey said, “For more than 30 years, I have worked at Tusculum College, and I didn’t understand the rivalry between the two. I decided to find out what caused it.”
Part of the Tusculum College Humanities Series, the event will be open and is free of charge. For residential students, an Arts and Lectures credit is offered.
By Stephanie Turner, senior journalism and professional writing major from Shelbyville
Tusculum student receives Northwestern Mutual internship award
Northwestern Mutual has honored Tusculum College senior Kevin Jerome with its 2016 Southern Region Top Ten Intern award. The honor recognizes Jerome for an outstanding year with Northwestern Mutual, serving the financial security needs of clients and policy owners throughout the region.
“In a world of financial uncertainty, Northwestern Mutual financial experts like Kevin Jerome have helped deliver confidence to thousands of families,” says Greg Oberland, Northwestern Mutual president.
Kevin Jerome
During his internship with Northwestern Mutual, Jerome, an international business and economics major from Johnson City, offered personalized solutions that helped people reduce financial vulnerability and address a lifetime of needs and goals.
Through an on-campus recruiting event, he landed the internship with Northwestern Mutual. After only a few months, he was ranked nationally as Northwestern Mutual’s seventh leading intern in productivity.
In addition to school and work, Jerome is also a volunteer with the Young Professionals of Tri-Cities, Habitat for Humanity and Pou Yi Mou’n Yo, a charitable organization for children.
After graduation in May, Jerome will join the Atlanta office of Northwestern Mutual as a full time employee.
Robin Lay, director of Career Services at Tusculum College, helped Jerome apply for his internship and said, “Kevin has the unique confidence to ask very successful people for career advice—mixed with enough humility to make him teachable—which means that he will continue to grow personally and professionally.”
Northwestern Mutual financial professionals provide a comprehensive approach to financial planning in order to help clients meet a variety of personal and business needs. Clients are able to obtain personalized financial solutions through Northwestern Mutual’s commitment to financial strength, expertise with time-tested planning principles and comprehensive approach to planning – accompanied by a financial professional’s long-term commitment to listen, guide and encourage.
Lecture series focusing on Dead Sea Scrolls begins
Dr. Travis Williams provided an overview of the more than 900 texts that are part of the Dead Sea Scrolls and detailed the story of the extraordinary discovery of the ancient writings and their lengthy journey to publication during the first session of the annual Theologian-in-Residence lecture series Tuesday at Tusculum College.
Dr. Williams, assistant professor of religion at Tusculum, is presenting a series of lectures, “The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible: Identifying, Altering and Preserving Scripture in Antiquity” as part of the annual series during February sponsored by Tusculum College and partially funded by Ron Smith.
“The Dead Sea Scrolls have profoundly shaped our understanding of ancient Judaism and early Christianity and changed the way we view both,” Dr. Williams said.
The scrolls are the oldest copies of Jewish scripture that have been found and have revealed that the Hebrew scriptures were fluid at the time of Jesus, he continued, explaining that the Jewish scriptures and what make up the books of the Old Testament in Christian Bibles were standardized at around 1000 C.E.
The Dead Sea Scrolls also provide new insights on various sects within Judaism at the time, particularly the Essenes, and provide insights into theological ideas at the time of Jesus and early Christianity, Dr. Williams said.
What are referred to as the Dead Sea Scroll is a group of more than 900 texts from what is believed to be a community of the Jewish sect of the Essenes. The scrolls date from the Third Century B.C.E.to the First Century C.E., which were discovered at Qumran, an ancient site on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea.
There are four types of documents that have been found among the scrolls – about 25 percent of copies of Jewish scriptures (books that are included in the Old Testament in the Bible), about 27 percent are compositions that were common to Judaism in First Century in Palestine, about 38 percent are sectarian texts describing the beliefs and practices of the Essenes and 11 percent are too fragmentary to be identified.
The sectarian texts also include a book of hymns similar to the book of Psalms in the Bible, apocalyptic writings and commentaries on the Jewish scriptures. “Some of these sectarian documents were just important to them as what we consider the Bible,” Dr. Williams said. “Their Bible was much bigger if you will.”
For example, he said, many more copies of the books of I Enoch and Jubilees were found than some of Biblical books, suggesting that these sectarian books were more important and held more authority for the Essenes, he continued. The scrolls have also revealed that the Essenes were conservative in their beliefs, were stringent in their observance of purity law and were in conflict with the temple authorities in Jerusalem.
About 80 percent of the scrolls were written in Hebrew, 17 percent are in Aramaic and three percent are in Greek. The texts themselves were written on parchment, papyrus, pieces of broken pottery and copper. The copper scroll is one of the most interesting of the texts, as what appears to be a treasure map was engraved in Hebrew on the copper, telling the location of various hiding places of what calculates to between 58-174 tons of silver and gold. Dr. Williams said that many scholars think that the map may be a fake and other scholars have argued that it may detail places the treasury from the temple at Jerusalem was hidden from the Romans.
Dr. Travis Williams, assistant professor of religion at Tusculum College, answers questions from the audience during the first session of the annual Theologian-in-Residence lecture series.
The first scrolls were found either in late 1946 or early 1947 as the accounts of the Bedouin shepherds who are credited with making the initial discovery differ, Dr. Williams noted. The initial find was seven scrolls in either one or two caves, he said, and the scrolls were sold to a Syrian archbishop, Mar Samuel, and an Israeli scholar, Eliezer Sukenik. On the day that the United Nations passed the resolution creating the nation of Israel, Sukenik was reading the scroll texts when he heard the announcement on the radio. “In his diary, Sukenik noted that he was reading a scroll written 2,000 years ago, the last time that Israel was a free state and now it was a free state again,” Williams said.
Mar Samuel moved to New Jersey and took the scrolls he had purchased with him and advertised them for sale in the Wall Street Journal, an advertisement brought to the attention of Sukenik’s son who was lecturing in the United States at the time, bringing the original scrolls back together for display in the “Shrine of the Book,” a section of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem that was specifically built to house the Dead Sea Scrolls.
In the meantime, the growing knowledge of the valuable nature of the scrolls led to a race between the Bedouin and archeologists to discover if more scrolls were in the area. Both groups made discoveries of a total of 11 caves in the Qumran area containing scrolls. The biggest find was in what is known as Cave Four, which contained about 500 texts.
With the size of the finds by the Bedouin and archeologists, an international team of scholars was assembled to reconstruct the texts from the thousands of fragments found and translate them.
A long delay in publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls led to controversy and conspiracy theories that things were being hidden from the public by the authorities. However, Dr. Williams said, the reason for the delay is mundane when compared to some of the conspiracy theories.
A combination of factors led to the delay, he noted. The number of scholars assembled to accomplish the task of reconstructing and translating the scrolls was too small for the size of the project, and many of the texts being translated were new to the scholars.
In addition, the scholars’ only compensation for their work on the scrolls was either from books they wrote about the scrolls or academic positions they might acquire because of the work, Dr. Williams continued, thus the scholars were hesitant to share their work through a desire to become an expert on their part of the project.
No one was given access to the scrolls until after a college professor and one of his students in the 1980s was able to construct the text of the scrolls from one of the concordances of scroll texts that had been provided to a few universities over the years and published it. After this publication, microfilm photographs of many of the scrolls were found in the Huntington (Calif.) Library, and the director provided access to these to qualified scholars. The photographs had been given to the library from an individual who had provided funding for the Dead Sea Scrolls project and had received them in return. After this, the authorities gave access to the scrolls and they can now be accessed digitally through the Internet.
Lecture sessions are on each Tuesday in February. The lecture session will begin at 10 a.m. in the Chalmers Conference Center in the Niswonger Commons. The session will conclude around 1:30 p.m., and lunch in the college’s cafeteria is included. Although there is no admission fee to attend the lectures, reservations are required. For more information or to make a reservation for the series, please call 423-636-7304 or email eestes@tusculum.edu.
Any make-up sessions scheduled due to cancellation of the lecture series due to inclement weather will be announced at a later date.
Click here for additional resources about the Dead Sea Scrolls and slides from Dr. Williams’ presentation
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with dinner and dancing and support the Tusculum College band program
Dinner, dancing and romance are on the agenda for the Valentine’s Day Dinner/Swing Dance, set for Saturday, Feb. 13 at 6:30 p.m., at the General Morgan Inn.
The evening event includes a reception, free dance lessons and a steak and shrimp dinner. Following dancing, a special dessert course will be served. Providing the music will be the Tusculum College Pioneer Jazz Band, along with special guests.
“When we decided to do a fundraiser for the band program, we were looking for a way to also provide entertainment to the Greeneville community,” said David Price, director of music at Tusculum College. “Spending a night dancing and eating good food with your sweetheart is what Valentine’s Day is all about.”
For anyone interested in honing skills for the dance floor, basic swing dance instruction will be offered immediately prior to the event from 6-6:45 p.m. by Dr. Bob and Christine Thorpe. The Thorpes have participated and competed in dance events across the southeastern United States for more than 20 years.
The Thorpes have been dancing together for 20 years and seize every opportunity to attend workshops, competitions and dance events from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati
and all over the southeastern US. They have taken private instruction in many styles of dance including Ballroom East and West Coast Swing, Waltz, Foxtrot, Carolina Shag and Latin Rumba, Cha-Cha and Tango.
Ticket prices for the event are $50 per person and include dance tickets, free dance lessons, an opening reception, dinner and a special dessert. Please call in advance to request a vegetarian substitution. A cash bar will be available.
Tickets are available for purchase at the General Morgan Inn or by contacting Price at 423-636-7303 or emailing daprice@tusculum.edu. A hotel package special is also available by contacting the General Morgan Inn at 423-787-1000.
Special table reservations are available for larger group seating by contacting Price.
The Pioneer Band Program at Tusculum College began in 2010, with the creation of the Pioneer Pep Band. The Pep Band became a much-enjoyed feature of the 2010 Pioneer football and basketball seasons, as the band performed at the Pioneer Club tailgate parties before each home football game and during pregame and half-time festivities.
Since that time a concert band, jazz band, marching band, handbell choir and several small ensembles have been added to the program. The groups play several events on campus each year, as well as events in the community.
“The Tusculum Review” names advisory board members
“The Tusculum Review” recently named Ada Limon and Allison Joseph as members of The Tusculum Review Advisory Board.
The Tusculum Review Advisory Board consists of regionally and nationally renowned editors and writers, who support the literary magazine by promoting it to their peers and encouraging their contacts to submit their literary work, as well as advising members of “The Tusculum Review” editorial staff.
“Each member was carefully selected and invited because they all have made impressive contributions to the world of letters and have influenced the editors of the Review in some way as mentors or collaborators,” said Dr. Heather Patterson, associate professor of English at Tusculum College.
Ada Limon
Dr. Patterson added, “For instance, Jaimy Gordon won the National Book Award for fiction in 2010, and Bonnie Jo Campbell and Ada Limon were both National Book Award finalists. Allison Joseph is the author of many works such as ‘What Keeps Us Here,’ and ‘Imitation of Life.’ Among her many honors is the John C. Zacharies First Book Prize. Ada Limón is the author of four books of poetry which led to her becoming a finalist in the National Book Award. The members on our advisory board are successful and innovative writers, and we are proud to have them.”
Allison Joseph
Board members include Limon, Gordon, Joseph, Campbell, Mary Cappello, Richard Greenfield, Martin Lammon, David Lazar, Patrick Madden, Michael Mortone, Wayne Thomas and Kellie Wells.
The Tusculum Review Advisory Board originated with Wayne Thomas, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and associate professor of English, when he was editor of the Review. Thomas invited working writers to become involved with Tusculum’s literary magazine, and when Dr. Patterson became editor, she did the same.
“The Tusculum Review” is an international literary journal that publishes visual art, drama, poetry, fiction and nonfiction. The journal is released annually. “The Tusculum Review” also offers students the chance to learn and refine their skills as reviewers of literature, critics of visual art and editors of the written word. These opportunities provide students with unique qualifications for graduate studies and employment in publishing.
By Kayla Freeman, freshman business major from Charleston, S.C.
Tusculum student receives internship opportunity at PriceWaterhouseCoopers
Michael Fernando, a senior Tusculum College student from Sri Lanka majoring in accounting, general management and economics and international business, has accepted an offer of internship at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Charlotte, N.C.
According to Robin Lay, director of career services at Tusculum, Fernando is the first Tusculum student to obtain an internship with a “Big Four” accounting firm.
Michael Fernando
Fernando has made an impact on the Tusculum campus. He is president of the Student Government Association, chairperson of the Student Philanthropy Council and president of the Pioneer Business Club. He is an active member of the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society, the Center for Economic Development and Entrepreneurship, the Study Abroad and Global Awareness organization and the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature.
“I am grateful for the confidence that PwC has placed in me,” said Fernando. “I intend to represent our college well and excel in fulfilling my duties with the company. I owe this great privilege to some very important people, especially Dr. Michelle Freeman, who tirelessly worked hard to ensure that her accounting students had a thorough understanding of the accounting discipline and opportunities within the industry. Her commitment to the professional success of her students is what motivated me to think differently, dream big and achieve what I have achieved today. I must also thank Ms. Robin Lay for her hard work in ensuring that students are career ready; her guidance was instrumental in my receiving this opportunity.”
Fernando added, “I must also thank my colleagues at Unaka Company Inc. who have consistently added value to my experience as an intern with their company. They have always supported my personal and professional growth and are excited about my next steps. I thank God for blessing me with the opportunity to attend Tusculum College and my parents who have worked so hard to ensure that I have the ability to pursue my education.
“I have learned so much from the faculty, staff and students at Tusculum College. As my time here as a student at Tusculum comes to an end, I look forward to my journey ahead. With courage and humility, I will travel to the frontier. I will always be a Pioneer.”
According to their website, PriceWaterhouseCoopers offers more than 700 internships annually across 29 countries and more than 88 percent of those interns accept careers with the company once they graduate.
Fernando plans to graduate in the spring, and either pursue a career with PriceWatehouseCoopers or attend East Tennessee State University for graduate school, also with a focus on accounting.
At Tusculum, Fernando provides mentoring and guidance to his fellow students as a tutor and as a resident assistant in one of the resident halls on campus. He has also been involved in Theatre-at-Tusculum, including a memorable role as “The Ghost of Christmas Past” in the 2013 production of “The Christmas Carol.”
An excellent student, he has been named to the President’s and Dean’s List during his time at Tusculum. His excellence as a freshman in an accounting course typically taken by upperclassmen led to an internship position at Plus Mark. Fernando has also worked internships at the accounting firm of Blackburn Childers and Steagall and Unaka Company Inc., where he currently is employed.
Valentine’s Dinner and Swing Dance to benefit Tusculum College band program
Dinner, dancing and romance are on the agenda for the Valentine’s Day Dinner/Swing Dance, set for Saturday, Feb. 13 at 6:30 p.m., at the General Morgan Inn.
The evening event includes a reception, free dance lessons and a steak and shrimp dinner. Following dancing, a special dessert course will be served. Providing the music will be the Tusculum College Pioneer Jazz Band, along with special guests.
“When we decided to do a fundraiser for the band program, we were looking for a way to also provide entertainment to the Greeneville community,” said David Price, director of music at Tusculum College. “Spending a night dancing and eating good food with your sweetheart is what Valentine’s Day is all about.”
For anyone interested in honing skills for the dance floor, basic swing dance instruction will be offered immediately prior to the event from 6-6:45 p.m. by Dr. Bob and Christine Thorpe. The Thorpes have participated and competed in dance events across the southeastern United States for more than 20 years.
The Thorpes have been dancing together for 20 years and seize every opportunity to attend workshops, competitions and dance events from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati
and all over the southeastern US. They have taken private instruction in many styles of dance including Ballroom East and West Coast Swing, Waltz, Foxtrot, Carolina Shag and Latin Rumba, Cha-Cha and Tango.
Ticket prices for the event are $50 per person and include dance tickets, free dance lessons, an opening reception, dinner and a special dessert. Please call in advance to request a vegetarian substitution. A cash bar will be available.
Tickets are available for purchase at the General Morgan Inn or by contacting Price at 423-636-7303 or emailing daprice@tusculum.edu. A hotel package special is also available by contacting the General Morgan Inn at 423-787-1000.
Special table reservations are available for larger group seating by contacting Price.
The Pioneer Band Program at Tusculum College began in 2010, with the creation of the Pioneer Pep Band. The Pep Band became a much-enjoyed feature of the 2010 Pioneer football and basketball seasons, as the band performed at the Pioneer Club tailgate parties before each home football game and during pregame and half-time festivities.
Since that time a concert band, jazz band, marching band, handbell choir and several small ensembles have been added to the program. The groups play several events on campus each year, as well as events in the community.
Interest being sought for annual Keeneland trip to benefit Women’s Soccer program
The annual Keeneland trip is scheduled for April 23 and 24 this year. As in year’s past it will feature a trip to Coolmore Stakes Day, a Kentucky Derby qualifier race, at Keeneland Race Track on Saturday, April 23. The trip is an annual benefit to support the Pioneer Women’s Soccer Team.
There will be two options available. A day option includes entrance ticket to the races, lunch vouchers at the track, grandstand seating, race program and a tailgate dinner following the races. The overnight option includes all the day option amenities, overnight hotel accommodations at the Clarion Hotel and Sunday, April 24, activities to include breakfast at the hotel, a private horse farm tour (possibly to Coolmore’s Ashford Stud Farm and see Triple Crown winner American Pharoah) and a Kentucky bourbon tour.
Bus transportation will be available from Greeneville in both options.
Please contact Women’s Soccer Coach Mike Joy as soon as possible if you are interested in this trip as he is determining how many tickets to purchase. Please contact him at mjoy@tusculum.edu or 423-636-7321 (ext 5321). The estimated cost for the trip is $119 for the day option and the overnight option is $189. However, please note the final cost will not be known until after the tickets are purchased.
Five alumni events planned for February
