With encouragement from the Tusculum College chaplain to live their lives with a high degree of “soul” sensitivity, 445 graduates received degrees Saturday from Tennessee’s oldest institution of higher learning.

The ceremony began at 11 a.m. in the Pioneer Arena inside Niswonger Commons on campus. President Dr. Dolphus E. Henry and Dr. Kimberly K. Estep, provost and academic vice president, conferred the degrees and distributed the diplomas.

Among those who were graduated, 124 earned graduate degrees – 91 receiving master of arts in education degrees and 33 master of arts in organizational management degrees.

Earning bachelor degrees were 321 students – 81 graduated from the college’s program for traditional-age college students and 240 graduated from the bachelor’s programs that are part of the college’s Graduate and Professional Studies program for working adults. Twenty-eight students of this group earned bachelor of arts in education degrees and 212 earned bachelor of science degrees in organizational management.

The Rev. Dr. Stephen Weisz, campus chaplain, in his baccalaureate sermon, “With All Your Soul,” encouraged the graduates to “lead with soul.” A number of the graduates, he noted, will be managers in one way or another, whether in business, a classroom environment, or in service or professional care of others.

Management involves more than factual analysis and decisions, Dr. Weisz said; it requires “soul.” He noted that he had been recently lent the book, “Leading With Soul,” in which the authors, Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal, stress that good leadership requires “something that all of us can give others – that powerful, indefinable thing called soul.”

“God expects you to manage others with care, feeling, and with the unique soul that He has given to each of you,” Dr. Weisz told the graduates. “Employees under you may need compassion, empathy, a listening ear, and words of encouragement.”

Although there is a prevalent idea that praise of workers will lead to a decline in productivity, he noted, studies have shown the opposite is true as workers who were regularly praised were more creative and productive in their jobs.

Dr. Weisz recalled seeing a colleague in a long conversation with a student to give encouragement on exam day. “That is something we can all take time to do wherever we are,” he added.

“What should you do with your college career?” he rhetorically asked the graduates. “Is it only a way to make a living? . . . Is there not something more? There is, and is it not leading with soul?”

The graduates were also addressed by Susan Vance, director of development and alumni relations, who congratulated as the latest alumni of the state’s oldest college and encouraged them to remain connected and involved with their alma mater.

The commencement was well-attended, Pioneer Arena being filled and overflow visitors being placed in the Chalmers Conference Center elsewhere in the Niswonger Commons. A closed-circuit broadcast of the ceremony was piped into the overflow area.

One difference in this graduation was the absence of Jim Winfree, who usually provides organ accompaniment. Substituting for him was Carolyn Gregg, assistant professor of research and co-director of the Warren W. Hobbie Center for the Civic Arts at Tusculum College.

Director of Academic Advising Jill Jones led the singing of the Alma Mater. Bagpipe music for the processional and recessional was provided by Jon Shell and Ben Pollard.Tusculum College holds two commencement ceremonies each year, one in the spring and the other in December.

Tusculum College Director of Development and Alumni Relations Susan D. Vance has been named a Chamberlain Scholar by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Foundation for Philanthropy and is to attend the 2007 International Conference on Fundraising in Dallas, Tex.

AFP is the largest association of fundraisers in the world and represents more than 27,000 fundraising practitioners across the globe. The AFP Foundation for Philanthropy supports programs and initiatives that help train fundraisers and increase knowledge and awareness of ethical fundraising.

Vance, a 1991 Tusculum College graduate, has been in fundraising for more than 10 years. She is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals – Mountain Empire Chapter.

AFP’s International Conference on Fundraising attracts more than 4,000 individuals and features more than 150 educational sessions on every aspect of philanthropy. The 2007 Conference will take place in Dallas, Texas March 25-28, 2007. Keynote speakers include Mary Tyler Moore and the Honorable Rudy Giuliani.

The Chamberlain Scholarship Program honors Ralph Chamberlain, CFRE, a long-time fundraiser and supporter of AFP. He helped to form one of the organization’s first chapters, the Greater New York Chapter and served as both chair of the association and the foundation. Because of his long-time support of the Foundation for Philanthropy, the AFP Board of Directors renamed the Conference Scholar Program in 2000 to honor Chamberlain’s memory and commitment to the fundraising profession.

The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) represents more than 28,000 fundraisers in over 180 chapters throughout the world, working to advance philanthropy through advocacy, research, education, and certification programs. The Association fosters development and growth of fundraising professionals and promotes high ethical standards in the fundraising profession.

The AFP Mountain Empire Chapter represents more than 25 charitable fundraisers in the local area. AFP was formally the National Society of Fund Raising Executives (NSFRE). The Mountain Empire Chapter meets the first Thursday of each month at Best Western in Johnson City at 8 a.m. For more information contact Jamie Gray, chapter president, at 423-283-0963.

The website for The Tusculum Review, the literary journal published yearly by students and faculty from the Tusculum College English Department, has a new look.

Two issues have already been produced, and the planning and submission reviews for the next issue have already begun. In fact, The Tusculum Review recently placed a national advertisement to promote its annual Poetry and Prose contest and to entice more writers to submit pieces for publication in the 2007 edition.

The new web address for The Tusculum Review is http://www.tusculum.edu/tusculumreview.

Please contact Dr. Richard Greenfield (rgreenfield@tusculum.edu) or Wayne Thomas (wthomas@tusculum.edu) for more information.

The grounds around one of the College’s most historic buildings received an afternoon of tender love and care on Monday, thanks to staff members from the offices of Admission and Financial Aid and Tusculum College President Dr. Dolph Henry.

The College’s campus has a reputation for being one of the most beautiful in the area, but the wet summer months allowed some weeds to flourish in the gardens surrounding Virginia Hall.

Built in 1901, Virginia Hall houses the Admission and Financial Aid offices, as well as several classrooms, two computer labs and offices for faculty, the registrar and the College’s Graduate and Professional Studies program.

“The beauty of Tusculum College’s campus is something that visiting prospective students and their parents frequently mention. It is important for us to keep our campus looking its best. This is especially true in and around Virginia Hall, which is often the first building visited by newcomers to the College since they begin their visit at the Admission Office,” said President Henry.

Along with Dr. Henry, ten members of the Admission and Financial Aid staff took part in the beautification effort. The grounds keeping work began after lunch and included pulling weeds from the gardens, trimming overgrown bushes, placing plants on and around the sidewalks, and edging the ground and sidewalks in front and beside the Hall.

Jacquelyn Elliott, Vice President for Admission and Financial Aid at the College, organized the effort as a result of a discussion at a joint Admission and Financial Aid staff meeting.

“We should all take pride in our community. Working together as a team on such a project helps us better understand the work of our fellow colleagues in grounds and maintenance. We’re all part of one campus here…and helping each other get the work done is rewarding,” Elliott said.

See more pictures from the cleanup effort.

Groups of Tusculum College students could be found Thursday surveying creek banks, painting school playground equipment, and repairing a riding rink used in the rehabilitation of individuals with brain injuries.

These projects and many others made the community the classroom for these students as the college marked the annual Nettie Fowler McCormick Service Day, one of the oldest traditions at the state’s oldest institution of higher learning.

Participating in the Service Day activities were approximately 300 students, including freshmen and members of the Bonner Leader organization on campus, and about 25 faculty and staff members.

In the past, each class and sometimes two classes were each assigned a separate service project, but this year was different as the college assisted in a large project that involved seven classes – more than 100 students. These classes participated in the College Creek survey project, which involved splitting the students into groups to survey sections of the creek from an area on Rufe Taylor Road, following the creek’s path to the Tusculum campus and then beyond toward Nolichucky River.

Under the supervision of representatives from such agencies as the Soil Conservation District, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the students measured creek banks, described the conditions of the creek banks in writing, noted entry points of storm water drains, etc., and marked coordinates of the sections using GPS (Global Positioning System) units.

The information gathered by the students will create a database of information to be used in applying for an EPA grant for storm water control and creek restoration along College Creek. Paul Hayden, a soil conservationist with the Greene County Soil Conservation District, who is writing the grant proposal along with a representative from the TVA, said he was contacted after the project was announced during the summer by Tusculum’s Center for Civic Advancement about ways students could help.

From those conversations, a plan developed for students to conduct the surveys, and Hayden traveled to campus prior to the Service Day to teach the students about the project and the steps in conducting the survey.

“This creek’s primary pollution is siltation coming from not only storm water but also from disintegration of the embankments, which means there are no trees, no shrubs, no dense vegetation to keep the soil in place,” he said. The increase in silt in the creek leads to less insect life which in turns decreases the number of fish, and the students’ work on Thursday provides the information about the current conditions of the creek needed in the grant proposal, Hayden continued.

The grant is a five-year proposal to improve conditions along the creek and seeks funding of roughly $500,000 for the entire project, he said. If received, the college could receive $150,000 to $200,000 for use to control storm water runoff into the sections of the creek on campus, Hayden added.

Students and their instructors also traveled to seven other sites for a variety of service projects. Students at Rural Resources were split into small groups working on a variety of projects including creating large planters to be distributed to area residents to allow them to grow their own “mini-gardens,” painting, organizing supplies, and weeding.

Making improvements to the playground area at the Education Center of Greene County was the accomplishment of the morning for one class. At the Child Advocacy Center in Mosheim, students were able to provide assistance in a variety of ways, including some painting.

Two classes’ service involved working directly with the people served at their project sites. A class traveled to Comcare Inc., where they interacted with the clients. Another group went to Greeneville Care and Rehabilitation Center (formerly Lifecare West) where they entertained residents with games. Painting, landscaping, repairing fencing around a riding rink, and unloading hay bales and sawdust for the horse barn kept the students who went to the Crumley House Brain Injury Rehabilitation Center in Limestone busy. The work of the students and others who volunteer their time is very much appreciated, said Wayne Hunigan, program director at the Crumley House.

“We are a small organization and we don’t have a large staff,” he said. “When students and other organizations volunteer it means a lot to us. It allows us to get projects done that would be difficult for us to do without help.” The repairs to the riding rink, the painting, and landscaping were such projects, he added.

Another class stayed on campus, going to the Doak House Museum where the students helped assemble about 1,000 craft kits to be used in the museum’s upcoming educational programs for public school children.

The day of service is named for the college’s first major benefactor, Nettie Fowler McCormick, the widow of the inventor of the mechanized harvestor and founder of the company known as International Harvester. Nettie Fowler McCormick Service Day was established in 1913 by the trustees of Tusculum in recognition of her beneficence to the school. Initially, the day had an emphasis on sprucing up the campus, in honor of her love of cleanliness and good order. The day has since evolved to provide service throughout the community, as well as on campus.

In a presentation liberally sprinkled with insights from a variety of historical figures, a noted ethicist urged a Tusculum College audience Thursday morning (Aug. 31) to “live a life that matters” and to “move beyond success into significance.”

Michael Josephson, founder and president of Josephson Institute of Ethics and president of the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition was the guest speaker at the college’s opening convocation, officially launching the 2006-2007 academic year. Josephson, who has extensive media exposure as an ethical commentator, founded the institute that created the CHARACTER COUNTS! youth-education initiative that is used by character education public school programs across the State of Tennessee and elsewhere.

The Josephson Institute is overseen by a volunteer, independent Board of Governors. Josephson serves without salary as president of both the Institute and the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition, according to the Institute web site.

Josephson spoke in the Annie Hogan Byrd Fine Arts building auditorium to a crowd made up mostly of Tusculum College students, most of the Residential College faculty, and numerous college staff members and community figures. The First Tennessee Human Resources Agency, Tusculum College and Scott M. Niswonger supported the speaker’s visit. Tusculum College Museums Program Director George Collins was instrumental in bringing Josephson to the college.

Focusing his comments mostly toward students, Josephson said that the college years are a time of asking four questions: 1) what do you want to have? 2) what do you want to do? 3) who do you want to be with? and 3) who do you want to be? The last question is the most important of the four, he said, and how it is answered affects the answers to the other three.

He recounted the story of Alfred Nobel, a wealthy and successful industrialist who invented dynamite. Nobel, however, realized he was not happy with mere “success” after reading his own obituary, published by mistake in a newspaper. Seeing his life defined in the obituary as a string of successes, Nobel was distressed, Josephson said, and decided to “go beyond success to significance.” So he created the Nobel Peace Prize, which has led to the lasting association of the Nobel name not with dynamite, but with human betterment.

Josephson also discussed Albert Schweitzer, who forsook a life of wealth and luxury to become a medical missionary in impoverished parts of Africa, and Anne Frank, a Jewish girl forced to hide from the Nazis for years before finally being taken to a concentration camp, where she perished. Her famous diary contains insights showing wisdom beyond her years, Josephson said, including the quote: “The final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.”

Josephson cited a quote from a man whose experience paralleled parts of Anne Frank’s: psychologist and author Victor Frankl, who survived the concentration camps that killed the rest of his family. In his classic, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” Frankl wrote: “Everything can be taken from a man but …the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Josephson quoted sources from several religious, cultural and moral traditions to drive home his points. He cited a Buddhist proverb: “Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.”

He also presented several pieces of advice in his own words: “Stop whining. It gets you nothing and isn’t very attractive.” Also: “What we now call ‘pressures’ we used to call ”temptations.’ And we knew just what we were supposed to do about them.” He cited a modern cultural tendency to use the prevalence of a particular idea or practice as grounds for declaring it acceptable. This, he argued, is wrong in that it equates the “is” with the “ought.”

Cynics, he said, tend to “move the ‘ought’ toward the ‘is'” i.e., to justify actions as right because they are commonly done. The proper approach, he said, is to try to move the “is” toward the “ought” – to bring actual practice in line with what is right. “There’s a difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do,” he said.

The inability of one individual to correct every wrong should not cause that individual to languish in doing what he or she can do, Josephson said. He quoted Edward Everett Hale: “I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do something I can do.”

“Life is a strategic plan,” Josephson said. “And the goal of that plan is the eulogy you want to earn for yourself.” Saying he was going to “turn this convocation into an invocation,” Josephson said in conclusion: “I invoke you to live a life that matters.”

The Joseph & Edna Josephson Institute of Ethics is a public-benefit, nonprofit, nonpartisan and nonsectarian membership organization founded by Michael Josephson in honor of his parents. Since 1987, the Institute has conducted programs and workshops for over 100,000 influential leaders including legislators and mayors, high-ranking public executives, congressional staff, editors and reporters, senior corporate and nonprofit executives, judges and lawyers, and military and police officers.

A look at the current state of ethics in the United States brings both good and bad news, says Michael Josephson, founder of the institute that developed the CHARACTER COUNTS! youth-education initiative used in schools in Tennessee and across the nation.

When he began working with ethics issues, there was a challenge to convince people that character education was needed, said Josephson, founder and CEO of Josephson Institute of Ethics, speaking at a luncheon Thursday (Aug. 31) at Tusculum College.

While no one needs to be convinced of its importance anymore, Josephson quoted some sobering statistics about the current state of ethics among students in the classroom and in the corporate world. For example, he said that there continues to be significant rates of academic cheating, theft, underage drinking and drug use among youth, and the cases of financial fraud in companies such as Enron have not meant a better ethical climate in the corporate world, but that different types of misconduct have arisen. “I don’t mean to sound so pessimistic,” he said. “Improvements have been made, but there is still so much we can do.”

Improving character and ethical behavior in a community is difficult, but it is doable, Josephson said. It takes people declaring it is important to their communities and committing to measures such as educational programs that will make a difference. “No one person can do everything, but each individual can commit to doing what they can to make a difference,” he continued.

Josephson delivered the keynote address at the college’s Opening Convocation of its 213th academic year and then spoke at a luncheon for community leaders, college faculty and staff, and regional representatives from the First Tennessee Human Resource Agency, which coordinates CHARACTER COUNTS! programs in Northeast Tennessee and helped bring Josephson to campus. The agency and Tusculum have partnered in the past few years to present awards to volunteers in the region who are models of good character. The main award is named for Tusculum’s founders in recognition of the college’s tradition and continuing commitment to develop educated citizens distinguished by academic excellence, public service, and qualities of Judeo-Christian character. The luncheon was sponsored by First Tennessee Bank, Tusculum College, and the college’s Department of Museum Program and Studies.

Those working with programs that focus on character and ethics are facing the challenge of finding resources for programs that will make a difference in improving individual’s character, and thus bettering society, Josephson said.

He noted that CHARACTER COUNTS! has expanded in past years from the basic program aimed primarily at school children to programs involving sports teams, business and industry, the court system, law enforcement, and public administration. While character programs have grown in number and visibility, “the real gauge is have people learned?” Josephson asked. “People are much more willing talk about character and ethics than doing it.”

Josephson said he has worked with companies regarding ethics issues, but many don’t make changes because they are afraid of losing that edge over their competitors or fear falling behind others who continue to act unethically to get ahead.

The high-profile cases of companies of Enron have resulted in legislating morality in certain areas, but it hasn’t reduced the amount of misconduct, he continued. “There have been more people convicted – with serious sentences – of white collar crime in the past five years than in the past 100,” Josephson said.

Laws have been passed in the past few years to curb unethical behavior, he said, but in some ways, those laws can give people a license not to make ethical judgments of their own. “I would rather a person not do something unethical because they know it is wrong, than not do it because of a fear of punishment,” Josephson said.

Quoting statistics reported from surveys of high school students about their behavior, Josephson said that colleges and universities are behind the curve when it comes to helping students who these surveys show may not have a strong ethical foundation develop strong character.

It would not be difficult to interject some lessons about character and ethics into every subject, whether it be literature, history, business, or science, he said, and a program similar to the training CHARACTER COUNTS! provides to teachers about character instruction cannot be found on a college campus in the nation.

College athletics is treated as a business in the U.S., Josephson said. On almost every level, from youth league sports to professionals, athletes are put on a pedestal during their career. But, he asked, how have they been prepared for life after sports in an environment where coaches and players have been so pressured to win that it leaves no room for the great lessons of character that can be taught and learned on the playing field.

“Sports is a measure of our society,” he said. “The behavior of some spectators from the tee-ball level to professional sports has gone past intense, passionate cheering to behavior that is obnoxious and offensive.” The need for education is great not only for young people but also for parents and adults, he said.

“We don’t have a kid problem, we have an adult problem,” he said. “Kids do act different, but they are behaving the way we taught them to behave.” CHARACTER COUNTS! has parenting education programs, and that type of education needs to be a continuing thing for parents, Josephson said.

Adults are instructed that success in teaching character is found in the acronym “TEAM” – teach, enforce, advocate, and model, he said. “Adults need to look more closely at themselves and be more accountable,” he said.

When asked about the role of religion in character, Josephson said he would like to see religious groups take a greater role in character education and promotion. CHARACTER COUNTS! has programs tailored for Catholic and Jewish schools and is talking with a Islamic school about developing a curriculum.

Regardless of theology, religions have a common focus on individuals being good, and there are common characteristics they emphasize that are also found among the tenets of CHARACTER COUNTS! – trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. “We secularized it because in such a diverse society as ours, we knew we had to,” he said.

Members of Tusculum College faculty and staff help students move onto campus. Tusculum College faculty and staff members, along with fall sport student-athletes of the Greeneville-based college, helped new students move into residence halls on the campus on Aug. 17.

It is traditional at Tusculum College for staff and faculty members to lend a hand to incoming students as they move luggage, computers, microwave ovens, clothing and so on into their on-campus rooms, and this year student-athletes also helped.

Student housing on the main campus is near capacity, with about 900 students enrolled in the Residential College, as Tusculum calls its traditional undergraduate program.

In the photo, Assistant Professor of Athletic Training Jane Sandusky, left foreground, visits with the family of an incoming student while members of the Tusculum College soccer team, in the background, help move student possessions into residence hall rooms.