Tuition, other fees at Tusculum College will not see increase in 2015

There will be no increase in tuition and room and board rates for Tusculum College students in the 2015-2016 year, as members of the Tusculum College Board of Trustees voted to freeze fees for the upcoming year at their fall meeting on the Greeneville campus, October 15-17.

The board met for three days, which included the kick-off celebration for the Tusculum First Capital Campaign held on Thursday night.

“We are pleased to announce that tuition, room and board at Tusculum College will remain at the same rate,” said President Nancy B. Moody. “It is our challenge and our duty to control costs for our students to the best of our ability.”

The tuition freeze will be applied to both the residential and the Graduate and Professional Studies programs.

In other business, the board approved revised floor plans and construction budget for the Dr. Ronald H. and Verna June Meen Center for Science and Math.

The Meen Center for Science and Math will be a four-story structure of nearly 100,000 square feet. Interiors include wings for biology, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, environmental science and nursing. There will also be lab space and research areas for both faculty and students.

The building features the environmental science wing with a loading dock, as well as larger general classroom spaces and classrooms equipped for distance learning programs. A large lecture hall will also be included on the ground floor. Additional space is earmarked for new yet-to-be-determined academic programs.

“We are ready to see this vision become a reality,” said Dr. Ken Bowman, chair of the Board of Trustees and a 1970 graduate of Tusculum College. “With the announcement Thursday night of the Tusculum First campaign and approval today on a construction budget for the science building, we have made giant strides in moving Tusculum College forward.”

Upon the recommendation of the faculty, the board approved changes in the number of credit hours required for graduation and credit hours earned per course for a large number of offerings in the academic program. Students will be required to earn 120 credits to graduate, down from 128. It is anticipated that this change will be implemented with the input of faculty, staff and administration by fall 2016.

Also approved was a fully-online degree program for the Bachelor of Science in management program.

In other action, the board gave approval to the 2014-2015 operating budget, approved December graduates and elected officers.

Officers elected included: Chair, Dr. Bowman; Vice Chair, Dr. Jerry Ward; Treasurer, Dwight Ferguson, and Secretary, Mark R. Williams.

Bowman, who currently resides in Apollo, Pa., has been a member of the board since 1998 and chair since 2006.

Dr. Ward resides in Greeneville and has served on the board since 2009.  He has served as assistant principal, principal and superintendent of schools in the Greeneville City School System. Dr. Ward served on the faculty of Tusculum College from 1994 until 2004, serving as distinguished service professor of education, department chair and division chair.

Ferguson joined the board in 2009. He is retired from Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc., located in Erwin, where he served as president and chief executive officer from March 1992 until January 2009. Williams, of Greeneville, joined the board in 2001. He is a broker with Century 21 Legacy.

Also re-elected for an additional term as board members were Dr. Ward, Dr. Alan B. Corley, Dr. Judith Domer, Anna Gamble, Dr. Paul E. Stanton, Frank Horsman and Dr. Angelo Volpe.

The next meeting of the Tusculum College Board of Trustees will be in February 2015.

Tusculum College kicks-off $25 million capital campaign

Tusculum College kicked off a $25 million dollar capital campaign Thursday night in a gathering of college alumni and friends at the General Morgan Inn.

More than 150 people attended the dinner held in conjunction with Homecoming 2014 and the October meeting of the Board of Trustees. The campaign, Tusculum First, is designed to strengthen the college and what is offered by the institution to the community and the region.

Campaign Chairman Scott Niswonger, an alumnus of the college and member of the Tusculum College Board of Trustees, announced that to date, $18 million had been raised.

“By giving to the Tusculum First Campaign, donors will provide resources that enable Tusculum to continue to grow and thrive,” said Niswonger. “To reach our goal, we are appealing to everyone in our community – alumni, students, parents and friends of the college – to join us in making our community first in education.”

According to Niswonger, Tusculum First is designed to address the college’s areas of greatest need including a new center for science and math, growth of academic programs, endowed scholarships, student life improvements, technology, an environmental resources and facilities center and support to the Tusculum Fund.

The campaign, which follows the college’s long line of firsts, “was initiated to improve and expand Tusculum College and its programs for the benefit of both the internal and external community. It is designed to improve the areas that most affect student success and inspire them to be contributing members of society,” said Dr. Nancy B. Moody, the college’s president.

Moody went on to explain that the campaign is a continuing effort to keep Tusculum first, and that it will provide improved academic programs and scholarship opportunities to help students develop as global citizens. The overall goal of the campaign is to give the Tusculum community the best education environment possible.

“Tusculum College is in a state of becoming, one we hope to continue for centuries more. Tusculum First will make these transformational opportunities a reality,” added Moody. “The success of Tusculum First depends on every member of the Tusculum community joining together to set the next stage of transformation.”

Dr. Ken Bowman, a 1970 alumnus of the college and chair of Tusculum’s Board of Trustees, told the group how proud he was to be part of continuing the tradition of firsts that is so prominent in the institution’s history.

“We have a duty, a responsibility, to be stewards of what has been passed forward to us since the days our founders chose to take on the task of providing higher education to those on the frontier,” said Bowman. “We are up to the task, and if we stand together, can provide for our future through what we can offer to generations to come.”

Tusculum College to host a Remote Area Medical clinic, on Nov. 8-9

Responding to a regional need, Tusculum College will host a Remote Area Medical (RAM) free-health care clinic, Nov. 8-9.

RAM is a Knoxville-based organization providing free medical care for the uninsured and underinsured.

“This is an event that suits the Civic Arts mission of Tusculum College. It’s a documented need in the area, with more than 600 people expected over the weekend,” said Mark Stokes, Tusculum chaplain and organizer of the event. “We are hosting the event in conjunction with the community. We have hundreds of volunteers, not only from the RAM organization but from Greeneville and Greene County.”

During the two-day, weekend clinics, commonly called expeditions, RAM provides basic medical services, dental work and optometry services and glasses on-site free that day. Health care services provided include comprehensive screening for diabetes and hypertension, procedures such as mammography, colon cancer screening, retinal screening using telemedicine technology, chest x-rays, pulmonary function studies and some gynecological procedures.

On both days, the parking lot will open at midnight and RAM will begin handing out numbers to patients at 3 a.m. The doors open at 6 am.

RAM, founded by adventurer Stan Brock in 1985, is dedicated to providing medical and veterinary access in rural and remote areas to anyone who needs it, both domestically and abroad.

For more information, visit RAM’s website at http://www.ramusa.org/ or email RAM@tusculum.edu, or call (423) 636-7450(423) 636-7450.

Tusculum College receives Hawkins Memorial Fund Grant for RAM Clinic

The Dr. J. G. Hawkins Memorial Fund of the East Tennessee Foundation has awarded a $12,000 grant to Tusculum College to support a two-day Remote Area Medical clinic on the Greeneville campus scheduled for November 8-9.

During the two-day event RAM provides basic medical services, dental work and optometry services and glasses to the public free of charge.

“We are thrilled at the support we have received from the Dr. J.G.  Hawkins Memorial Fund of the East Tennessee Foundation to help us put on this needed event in our region,” said Michelle Arbogast, associate director of foundation and donor relations for Tusculum College.

Health care services provided at the RAM clinic include comprehensive screening for diabetes and hypertension, procedures such as mammography, colon cancer screening, retinal screening using telemedicine technology, chest x-rays, pulmonary function studies and some gynecological procedures.

RAM is a Knoxville-based organization providing free medical care for the uninsured and underinsured, said Mark Stokes, organizer of the event and chaplain at Tusculum College.

“This is an event that suits the Civic Arts mission of Tusculum College. It is a documented need in the area, with more than 600 people expected over the weekend,” Stokes said. “We are hosting the event in conjunction with the community. We have hundreds of volunteers, not only from the RAM organization but from Greeneville and Greene County.”

Founded by adventurer Stan Brock in 1985, RAM is dedicated to providing medical and veterinary access in rural and remote areas to anyone who needs it, both domestically and abroad.

“America’s Got Talent” winner Mat Franco appearing at Tusculum College on Oct. 15

This year’s “America’s Got Talent” winner, Magician Mat Franco, will be performing in Tusculum College’s Annie Hogan Byrd Auditorium on Wednesday, Oct. 15, at 6:45 p.m.

Since graduating from college in 2010, Franco has become a campus favorite across the country. In early 2014, Franco decided to enter NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” competition. Competing against a wide variety of the country’s top talent, he emerged as the first magician to win the show’s top spot.

Franco became fascinated with the art of magic after seeing it on television at age four. Growing up in Rhode Island, Franco learned techniques by studying magicians he videotaped off television, and he continued to hone his craft with performances throughout his teen and college years. He now specializes in creating customized, interactive presentations for his audiences that allow for spontaneity and improvisation.

Mat Franco

“Mat really brought magic back in a big way,” said “America’s Got Talent” judge Mel B. “The audiences at home and in the theater loved him. He had a little bit of edginess to himself in performing.”

Campus Activities Magazine named him The 2013 Best Performer of the Year because of Mat’s unexplainable magic, music and spontaneous humor.

For Franco, magic isn’t about “tricking” or “fooling” the audience; it’s about connecting with people and bringing smiles to their faces. He has been entertaining college audiences full-time ever since the day he finished college himself,

Before approaching magic as a full time endeavor, Franco was a student of business with a concentration in marketing at the University of Rhode Island. He also minored in communication studies. Using his education as a tool, he was able to morph his hobby into a career.

This event is sponsored by the Tusculum College Office of Student Affairs.

Limited tickets are available at $15 per person and reservations may be made by calling Tusculum College Arts Outreach at 423-798-1620423-798-1620 or by emailing jhollowell@tusculum.edu. Tickets may be purchased at the box office window one-and-a-half hours prior to the performance. Tickets are payable by cash or check only, no credit or debit cards will be accepted.

Tusculum class raising funds to help fund an ‘ark’ to help a family become self sufficient

A Tusculum College class has started a project to fund an “ark” from Heifer International to help a needy family become more self-sufficient and is seeking assistance from the community.

Dr. Nancy Thomas’s “Theory and Practice of Citizenship” class has initiated a service-learning project to raise $5,000 to fund an ark from Heifer International, which will include two of everything from goats to cooking stoves. Dr. Thomas is an associate professor of English at Tusculum.

Realizing that water buffaloes, bee hives and llamas can jump start the economy of villages around the world, as well as pockets of poverty in Appalachia, Heifer International has worked to distribute animals, as well as other means of assistance, since 1944. The non-profit organization also trains farmers to care for the animals in order to become self sufficient. The organization only asks that recipients share their new knowledge and some of the livestock offspring with others. Heifer International has distributed animals and other aid to 20.7 million families in more than 125 countries.

The Tusculum students were treated to a lecture on the art of raising chickens to better acquaint them with Heifer’s focus on animal husbandry. Dr. Michael Bodary, an assistant professor of English at the college, brought several of his baby chickens to Tusculum and shared with students the value of raising chickens.

The focus of Dr. Thomas’s course has been building community through kindness.  Students have in particular focused on Robert Bellah’s book, “Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life,” as they learn how to overcome obstacles when trying to build community.

The class has come up with numerous fund raising ideas, including a bake sale; learned the difference between a focus on individualism and one on creating community and studied various techniques involving fundraising. The students are also inviting the community to help fund an ark.

If you would like to be part of this project, please send contributions to Dr. Nancy Thomas, English Department, Tusculum College, 60 Shiloh Rd., Greeneville, TN  37745, by the end of October. Checks should be made out to Heifer International. Dr. Thomas noted that grandchildren enjoy learning at Christmas that a flock of chickens or a cow has been donated in their name to the organization.

 

Tusculum College students in a “Theory and Practice of Citizenship” course taught by English professor Dr. Nancy Thomas are seeking community assistance with a project to fund an “ark” through Heifer International to help a family become more self sufficient.

Nicole Wagner named coordinator of Tusculum Fund

Nicole Wagner has been named Tusculum College’s coordinator of the Tusculum Fund.

Wagner was formerly the administrative assistant for development at the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega, Ga.

Nicole Wagner

In her new position, Wagner will be responsible for assisting with all aspects of the Tusculum Fund, supervising the student Phonathon callers and overseeing the Student Alumni Association. She will also assist with donor recognition events, the Graduate Gift and Pioneer

Club campaigns, Institutional Advancement activities and college recruitment and retention efforts.

“We are very pleased to announce Nicole as part of our team,” said Heather Patchett, vice president of Institutional Advancement. “She has already hit the ground running and is a good match for this already dynamic development team.”

Wagner has substantial experience working with fund-raising, sales, planning successful events and maintaining financial and research records.

She graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega, Ga., with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and a minor in psychology. She is currently working on a Master of Arts degree in American history from the same university, with an anticipated graduation in spring of 2016.

Poetry reading is Thursday, Oct. 2, 7 p.m. in the Allison Gallery

Tusculum College will host a poetry reading featuring poets Tim Earley and Abraham Smith at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 2, in the Allison Gallery on the Greeneville campus.

The reading will be held in conjunction with the senior gallery exhibition of Jack Lampley, a graphic arts major from Clarksville. A reception for this exhibit will be held from 4-6 p.m.

Earley was born and raised in Forest City, N.C. He has authored three collections of poetry, including “Boondoggle,” “The Spooking of Mavens” and “Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery.” His work has appeared in several other publications, including the “Chicago Review,” the “Southern Humanities Review,” the “Green Mountains Review” and the “Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains.” Earley holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Alabama.

Since receiving his M.F.A. in poetry from the University of Alabama in 2004, Smith has published three full-length poetry collections, including “Whim Man Mammon,” “Hank” and “Only Jesus Could Icefish in Summer.” His works have also appeared in numerous journals and publications, including the “Denver Quarterly,” the “American Poetry Review” and “The Volta Book of Poets.”

In 2012, Smith was awarded a Literary Arts Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. He currently works at the University of Alabama.

This event is part of the Humanities Series, sponsored by the Tusculum College English Department. The reading is free and open to the public. Arts and Lecture credit is available for Tusculum College residential students.

For more information, contact Dr. Clay Matthews, assistant professor of English, at 423-636-7300423-636-7300.

Learn to knit at the Doak House Museum

Knitting for beginners will be offered on Saturday, Oct. 11, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Doak House Museum on the Tusculum College campus. The $25 class fee covers all materials and instruction.

The class is being offered at the museum as part of its continuing series of instruction for the public in traditional arts and crafts methods. Workshop attendees will use high-quality yarn to learn the fundamentals of knitting, take home a set of bamboo needles and a beginning project.

Space in the class is limited. Call or email the museum to make a reservation. Contact Doak House Site Manager Leah Walker at 423-636-8554423-636-8554 or email lwalker@tusculum.edu for more information.

Tusculum College named to Top Military-Friendly School List

For the fifth year, Tusculum College has been named to the Military Friendly Schools® list for 2015. The list honors the top 20 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools that are doing the most to embrace America’s military service members, veterans and dependents and to ensure their academic success.

Schools on the list range from state universities and private colleges to community colleges and trade schools. The common bond is their shared priority of recruiting students with military experience.

“Through the Yellow Ribbon program the college acknowledges the commitment of those who have served our country by providing them with financial support to complete their education,” said Tusculum College President Nancy B. Moody. “With the variety of locations, programs, majors, degrees and scheduling options offered at Tusculum College, we are uniquely suited to serve those whose educational path was interrupted or who are considering beginning or continuing their higher education.”

The Military Friendly Schools list is a key resource in letting military personnel, veterans and their families know which schools will offer them the greatest opportunity, flexibility and overall experience.

Tusculum College began participating in the Yellow Ribbon program in August 2009. Under the program, the school matches dollars put in by the Veterans Administration so veterans or their spouse or dependents can work toward their advanced degree, as well as qualify for money to help with housing. There are more than 35 students enrolled in Tusculum degree programs who are receiving the Yellow Ribbon benefits.

“Tusculum College is committed to helping military service personnel, U.S. veterans and their families find the right program and format to best suit them in completing their college degree in both our residential and Graduate and Professional Studies programs,” said LeAnn Hughes, vice president for enrollment management and marketing at Tusculum College.

She added, “It is a priority of Tusculum College to provide access to military and their families who are seeking higher education opportunities and to make that access as simple and affordable as possible. We are pleased with the number of military who choose Tusculum College because of the personalized program that helps them every step along the path to graduation.”

The Yellow Ribbon program is applicable towards all Tusculum College degree programs, which include traditional undergraduate programs, as well as the Graduate and Professional Studies programs. Tuition benefits under the program are also available to both full and part-time students.

In addition, Tusculum College has a long standing relationship with the United States Navy through its partnership with the U.S.S. Greeneville submarine. Since its christening, Tusculum College has partnered with the crew members, offering an annual scholarship to crewmen and/or members of their family. To date, three people benefiting from that relationship have become Tusculum College alumni and there are currently three students receiving this scholarship in the residential program.

Additional, Tusculum has a site location at the McGee Tyson Air National Guard Base in Blount County to serve the needs of students in that area.

Tusculum College has long offered assistance to veterans returning to higher education and Veterans Affairs Coordinator Pat Simons is available to specifically support veterans with their admissions and financial aid questions. For more information on the Yellow Ribbon program or other assistance provided by the college, contact Simons at 423-636-7300423-636-7300.

Criteria for making the Military Friendly Schools list included efforts to recruit and retain military and veteran students, results in recruiting military and veteran students and academic accreditations.

Mark your calendars! Valentine’s Dinner/Swing Dance benefit for band program is Feb. 14

The Tusculum College Pioneer Jazz Band will be hosting a Valentine’s Day Dinner/Swing Dance benefit on Saturday, Feb. 14, at the General Morgan Inn. The reception will begin at 6:30 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m. The event will include dinner and a performance of the Pioneer Jazz Band, along with special guests.

The event is a fundraiser to help raise money for much-needed equipment for the Tusculum band program, according to David A. Price, director of music at Tusculum College.

“We have planned a wonderful, romantic night of great food, great music and dancing through the evening,” Price said. “It’s the perfect event for Valentine’s Day, with a few special

surprises included. Tickets would also make a wonderful Christmas gift for someone special.”

Ticket prices are $50 per person and include dance tickets, 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 423-636-7303423-636-7303 or emailing daprice@tusculum.edu. A hotel package special is also available by contacting the General Morgan Inn at 423-787-1000423-787-1000. Sponsorships and table packages are also available for the event 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, during pregame and half-time festivities.

A concert band was formed in the 2010-2011 academic year as well, and the newly-formed group was honored to be asked to play at the Inauguration Ceremony for the College’s new president, Dr. Nancy B. Moody, on October 8, 2010.

To date, the music program continues to grow each year and has also formed a jazz band, several small instrumental ensembles and a Handbell Choir. The program is featured in three concerts per year. The next concert is set for Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m. at Annie Hogan Byrd Auditorium.