TIGERVILLE, S.C. (courtesy swu.edu) — Ninety percent of academic leaders believe it is “likely” or “very likely” that a majority of all higher education students will take at least one online course in the next five years, according to a recent report tracking online education.

In response to this rapidly growing online eLearning job market, Southern Wesleyan University is offering a graduate-level Instructional Design and eLearning certificate.

“It’s an exciting time in the field of instructional design, which is expected to see significant job growth between now and 2026,” shared Dr. Tyler Watts, program coordinator. “The certificate is designed to focus on giving learners the critical skills and practices for this growing industry, whether they wish to apply them immediately or bundle them with other SWU courses for their graduate-level academic goals.”

Students completing Southern Wesleyan’s Instructional Design and eLearning certificate will receive graduate credit for four core courses, a certificate and a digital badge that they can display across social networks. As an added benefit, students pursuing further study in the field can apply all of the graduate course credit to an M.Ed. in Instructional Design and eLearning or as electives in an M.Ed. in Classroom Leadership.

This graduate online certificate, offered through Southern Wesleyan’s School of Education, also integrates a Christian ethic of care in all instructional design and leadership capacities by promoting digital citizenship, designing accessible content, modeling the safe and effective use of technologies and promoting design for a culturally-responsive society.

Southern Wesleyan University’s online courses are taught by real-world experts and they also offer the flexibility for the student to earn as they learn.

Southern Wesleyan is now accepting applications for the graduate certificate in instructional design for the Spring 2020 term. Click here to apply for the Spring 2020 term.

Southern Wesleyan University is a Christ-centered, student-focused learning community devoted to transforming lives by challenging students to be dedicated scholars and servant-leaders who impact the world for Christ. For details about degree programs, visit swu.edu.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (courtesy smcsc.edu) — “First thing you need to know: this is not a poverty tour,” said Dr. Jonathan Keisler, Professor of Business and Chair of the BA Program. He was behind the wheel of a parked and swelteringly hot passenger van, his body turned to face the students sitting in rows of seats behind him. “This is not about looking down on people. This is about identifying the cause of a problem and finding ways to fix it.”

Keisler, along with 15 bachelor’s degree students from his Community Discovery and Engagement classes (part of Spartanburg Methodist’s Camak Core), were setting off on a hot August afternoon for a 30-minute drive through the Una, Saxon, and Arcadia neighborhoods north and west of SMC’s campus. It’s the first of four back-to-back round trips for Keisler, who will take 15 students at a time. “We planned to use a bus so we could all go together, but some of those streets are so narrow that it wasn’t going to be able to turn around in a few places,” he explains.

Named for the textile mills that employed neighborhood residents for most of the 20th century, the Una, Saxon, and Arcadia areas were once home to churches, schools, restaurants, and grocery stores. When the South Carolina textile industry began to falter in the 1970s, the neighborhoods declined as residents left to find work elsewhere. When their customers left, stores and businesses closed or moved to more prosperous areas. The textile industry never recovered, and today, Una, Saxon, and Arcadia are communities in distress.

The first step to a good solution is to make sure you understand the problem, Keisler says. “When we see a neighborhood that is struggling, it’s human nature to make assumptions about what happened there,” he says. “But assumptions may not lead to good solutions that address the real issues. When we have so many distractions at our fingertips these days, paying attention, listening and observing are skills that have become more valuable than ever.”

The van tour, says Keisler, is the first step in teaching students how to take the fundamental skills they’re learning in their academic courses (such as critical thinking, researching, and analyzing information) and use them to solve problems in the real world. “There are opportunities in the Una, Saxon, and Arcadia communities to develop new businesses and nonprofits that could serve the residents and help revitalize the area,” Keisler says. “By coaching our students through the process of starting those organizations in a project-based course like Community Discovery and Engagement, they’ll learn to be the kind of self-directed, investigative problem-solvers any employer wants on their team, no matter what type of career the students choose.”

Community Discovery and Engagement is one of the first Camak Core courses students take as part of the bachelor’s degree. By the end of the class, they’ll present detailed plans, complete with timelines and budgets, for neighborhood projects that will be carried out during the remaining two years of their bachelor’s degrees. As they work on their projects, each of the six Camak Core classes will teach them the skills needed to make their projects successful.

Driving slowly down weed-choked streets bordered by decaying wooden cottages, Keisler encourages the students to look beyond the disrepair to notice what’s missing from the landscape. “Where do the people who live here get their food?” he asks. “There aren’t any stores,” a student volunteers. “That’s right,” Keisler returns, glancing into the rearview mirror. “And if you don’t have a car, how do you get groceries if your only option is to walk a few miles?”

“It’s pretty hot,” another student says. “I wouldn’t want to be walking and carrying a bunch of bags right now.”

On this trip, the students learn to “see” the neighborhoods. The van passes blight, but also many bright spots, including churches and a community center. “Allies,” Keisler says, as they drive past. “Note the churches; they’ll be a good resource for you.”

At the end of September, the students will visit again. In between the bookend drives, they’ll learn about the history of the neighborhoods, talk with residents, and hear from representatives of county and community organizations who can provide insight into the issues associated with daily life in impoverished areas. Keisler expects the second drive to be a different experience from the first.

“After doing some research, including readings and talking to the people who are the experts on these communities, we’ll take them back again,” he explains. “If it goes the way we think it will, the students should see a very different landscape that’s full of possibilities and not just hopelessness.”

“The work students do in between visits to the communities will give them the context they need to develop neighborhood solutions,” says Courtney Shelton, Vice President for Professional Development and Design and the Camak Core Coordinator. “More importantly, we’re modeling for them how they tackle a business problem.”

Later that day, Alyssa Hill, a junior from Gaffney, South Carolina, concentrating in business and English, reflected on the tour. “What really drew my attention was the community center,” she says. “I noticed they offered dance classes at the center; they’re making an effort for the kids.” Pausing for a moment, it’s clear she’s considering what she saw. “I was president of my drama club in high school,” she continues. “Maybe it would help to do plays, too, with costumes and sets.”

It’s too early for Alyssa to know if a children’s theater will become her Camak Core project, or even for her to really understand how the work she’ll do over the next two years will translate into career success. But a 30-minute tour was all it took to get a good idea started.

“I’ve driven past that neighborhood, but I never really paid attention to it,” Alyssa says. “The tour really helped make it real for me.”

DENMARK, S.C. (courtesy voorhees.edu) — Voorhees College recently launched live streaming to maximize direct communication with the institution’s constituents.

Charlene Johnson, vice president for student affairs and director of athletics, in conjunction with the Office of Communications, introduced the idea to highlight sporting events.

Johnson said many people inquired about ways to see the games if they were not local. “Live streaming enhances engagement and exposure. Fans from all over the world can see all the great things happening at Voorhees College,” Johnson said.

Voorhees selected Sling Studio as the core of its streaming initiative because of affordability and quality. Currently, the institution streams all home men’s and women’s basketball games and major special events such as Coronation, Homecoming, and Commencement, to name a few.

“In this day and age, things must be accessible by multiple users at their own time and discretion,” said Curtiss Sumner, graphic designer and webmaster. “Voorhees’ audience has the opportunity to interact and view live events that occur on campus with a simple internet connection,” Sumner said.

He added, “We are currently producing various projects that provide students with learning opportunities to gain experience with content production.”

Live streaming at Voorhees supports the mission to increase enrollment, retention, and development.

To view athletic streaming please visit YouTube and subscribe to VC Tiger Sports. Subscribe to the Voorhees 1897 channel on YouTube for all of Voorhees’ other events. Make sure to turn on notifications for both channels so you can stay up on the latest events and happenings at Voorhees College.

For more information, contact the Office of Communications, at 803-780-1191 or at communications@voorhees.edu.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (courtesy wofford.edu) — Wofford College seniors Nneka Mogbo and Leila Shearer and junior Conner Chestnut are going places and doing things, and they intend to keep on going and doing.

Mogbo, who is from Douglasville, Georgia, has helped host an all-female DJ academy in Tunisia to highlight Stambeli, a traditional Tunisian music form. In Tanzania, she planned and executed a three-day conference on gender-based violence. Today, while in the United Arab Emirates, she is studying the historical context of Arabic music and women in leadership roles in Middle Eastern and North African areas.

Shearer, a psychology and Spanish major with a minor in sociology and anthropology from Duluth, Georgia, studied biodiversity and sustainability in Costa Rica and had an immersive experience in Alicante, Spain, working with special needs children and adults.

Chestnut, an intercultural studies major with a minor in Arabic and a concentration in Middle Eastern and North African Studies from Aynor, S.C., is spending this academic year studying in Amman, Jordan, to hone his Arabic skills and to immerse himself in the life and culture of the region.

These experiences aren’t surprising considering Wofford’s consistent reputation as one of the top colleges in the country for study abroad programs. The annual Open Doors Report, released in November by the Institute of International Education, ranks Wofford 8th among the top 40 baccalaureate institutions for the percentage of students who study abroad for academic credit. Wofford also is ranked 11th in the total number of students studying abroad, with a total of 418 participating in 2017-18, and 10th for short-term duration study abroad, with 297 students participating in Interim or summer programs.

“Wofford College’s mission is to provide superior liberal arts education that prepares students for extraordinary and positive contributions to a global society. It’s why we emphasize study abroad,” says Dr. Mike Sosulski, Wofford’s provost. “We prepare students to become leaders in the world, to have a global reach in their thinking and problem solving, and to make a difference. Providing students with opportunities to learn beyond the classroom is essential. Studying abroad gives them culturally immersive experiences that broaden their perspectives and their understanding of themselves in a globally connected world.”

Amy Lancaster, dean of international programs, adds, “We are committed to providing transformational opportunities that challenge our students in ways that will serve them throughout their careers and lives after Wofford. Our approach to education abroad is one that emphasizes access. We recognize that not all students join our community planning to study abroad, so we’ve made it our mission to eliminate barriers – whether they be perceived or real – to doing so. Each year, the college affirms its commitment to education abroad by allowing all need- and merit-based scholarships to travel with students for a semester abroad.

“Our faculty encourage their advisees to consider studying abroad and allow coursework taken overseas to fulfill degree requirements,” Lancaster continues. “Through our tailored advising, intentional pre-departure programming and supportive faculty, students are able to identify programs that expand upon the Wofford curriculum and maintain progress toward their degrees.”
Mogbo, whose spring semester this year included travel-study in Italy as well as Tunisia, says, “As an intercultural studies major with minors in business, Arabic and French, I selected my study-abroad locations to encompass both my major and minors. Most importantly, I wanted to develop my language proficiency in Arabic and French, and I wanted my year abroad in the UAE to reflect what I want to do in the future – serve international communities as an international attorney focused on building a social enterprise that mixes music, business and law to implement sustainable development practices in MENA and West African countries.”

“Study abroad made me a ‘fearless learner,’” she adds. “It is an experience that along with teaching you about other countries, cultures and peoples, teaches you about yourself. I learned more about my habits, life goals and personality while studying abroad.”

Shearer’s Interim experience in Costa Rica while she was a sophomore sparked the “travel bug” in her. “We traveled throughout the small country from San Jose to the rainforest to the cloud forest, then finally to the coast. After that experience, I was sure I wanted to study abroad for a semester to fully immerse myself in the culture of a foreign country.”

Shearer chose Alicante, Spain, where her host homestay family “ended up treating me as their own ‘hija’ – daughter,” she says. There, she volunteered with a program for special needs children and adults, helping with vocational skills classes. “Since I plan to go into a career working with children with special needs, I was able to get real job experience using my language skills and observe the differences between services in Spain and the U.S.,” she says.

“Study abroad opened my mind to the differences between cultures, but also the cohesiveness of people in general,” Shearer says.

Chestnut says studying abroad puts his classroom experiences into important context.

“The greatest impact of my study abroad experience has been the opportunity to understand the world in a larger and more correct context. Without direct experience in a region, it’s hard to really see the true picture. After living here, and having more time to live here, I feel as if the greatest takeaway is a real understanding of what separates us and an appreciation for all the things that people in different countries all have in common. It’s more experience, more wisdom, in the end.

“My leading academic endeavor is increasing my fluency in Arabic through community participation and formal study,” Chestnut continues. “This is the most important goal to me as language is the biggest obstacle to intercultural communication. I’m also concerned with studies on the future of the Middle East and what threats to stability are creating issues. Living in the Middle East, these issues are very apparent in daily life.”

For more about Wofford’s study abroad program, visit wofford.edu/internationalprograms. To read the full Open Doors report, go to iie.org/research-and-publications/open-doors.

ORANGEBURG, S.C. (courtesy claflin.edu) — Claflin honored the late I.S. Nimmons, one of the University’s first graduates, at the annual Leadership Giving Luncheon held at Ministers’ Hall. The luncheon was a part of Claflin’s Sesquicentennial Homecoming events. Nimmons, a native of Bamberg, S.C., was in the first cohort of freedmen and their children who enrolled in Claflin when the University opened its doors in 1869.

Robert Miller, president of the Claflin University International Alumni Association, presented a resolution that posthumously awarded Nimmons full-membership into the CUIAA.

Charles Orr, a Nimmons family descendant, announced the selection of Porsha Raysor, a senior human performance and recreation major at Claflin, as the recipient of a $1,869 scholarship as the I.S. Nimmons Commemorative Sesquicentennial Scholar. Orr also presented Claflin with a large commissioned portrait of Nimmons and a copy of the resolution that will be permanently displayed in the H.V. Manning Library.

The annual Leadership Giving Luncheon recognizes gifts of $1,000 or more from individuals who contributed during the period from October 16, 2018, through October 15, 2019. This year 244 leadership-level donors, 11 percent more than last year, representing total gifts of $894,518, were honored at the luncheon. Of these honorees, 117 had increased their giving over 2018 levels by one or more giving levels. The 2019 Leadership Giving Luncheon was sponsored in part by The Regional Medical Center, a Sesquicentennial Regional Leadership Partner.

About I.S. Nimmons

Isaac Solomon Nimmons (I.S. Nimmons) was born during slavery on August 28, 1852. He was in the first cohort of the freedmen and their children who enrolled in Claflin University when it opened its doors for the first time in October 1869. Rev. Abram Middleton, an original trustee of Claflin University, and the founding minister of Orange Grove Methodist Episcopal Church (now Orange Grove United Methodist Church), encouraged his bright young parishioner, I.S. Nimmons, to pursue an education.

I.S. Nimmons’ father, Isaac Nimmons, was a prominent freedman who was the coachman of Woodlands Plantation in Midway, S.C., and the body servant of noted 19th-centurry writer, William Gilmore Simms, the last slave owner of the plantation. Isaac Nimmons agreed to let I.S. Nimmons, his eldest son and namesake, attend the newly established-university in nearby Orangeburg to get a “proper” education.

I.S. Nimmons entered Claflin with the intention of studying to become a minister. Instead, he became a successful farmer and landowner. In 1885, he married Josephine Grayson whose father, Richard Grayson, joined the Union Army during the Civil War and served with the 128th Infantry Regiment United States Colored Troops (USCT) incognito to prevent Confederates from harming his family in retaliation for him joining the Union cause.

By the time I.S. Nimmons was starting a family with his wife, Josephine Grayson, the senior Isaac Nimmons gave him 15 acres of land. Isaac Nimmons owned 514 acres. He had bought 220 acres from Rev. Sheldon S. Lawton in 1883 for $660 (nearly $17,000 in 2019 dollars). Early on, Rev. Lawton had been a member of the Claflin University faculty, and I.S. Nimmons would have been one of his students.

In the next twenty years, I.S. Nimmons added substantially to the initial 15 acres his father had given him and had acquired 600 acres by the beginning of the twentieth century. The adjoining farmsteads of his and his younger brother, Joshua Nimmons, covered more than 1,000 acres. I.S. Nimmons now had the three things his father and Rev. Middleton told him he needed to succeed: “The good Lord, a good learning, and good land.”

Aside from growing cotton as a cash crop, I.S. Nimmons maintained fruit orchards and cultivated sorghum, a grain that was introduced to America by enslaved Africans. He was a supporter of the Negro State Fair Association started by influential African American leader, Richard Carroll, and a backer of the highly successful 1908 South Carolina Colored State Fair. As a devout Methodist and elder of the church, I.S. Nimmons attended church conferences and was actively engaged in the community by helping to build schools, churches, and lodges. He established the Masonic Lodge in the Orange Grove section of Bamberg County and, as a skilled carpenter, personally helped construct the Mason’s meeting hall.

I.S. Nimmons followed and understood the issues of his times. He attended the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson in 1913. He was hopeful at first about a Wilson presidency, but subsequently condemned Wilson’s policies of racial segregation.

When I.S. Nimmons died in 1934, his obituary published in South Carolina’s largest newspaper, Charleston’s The News and Courier, read in part: “Isaac Nimmons, prosperous Negro of Bamberg County owned 400 acres of good farmland, and never once did he allow a mortgage to be placed on his plantation. He farmed the land himself and was rated one of the county’s best farmers.”

Over the past 150 years, many generations of Nimmons descendants have attended Claflin University.

SUMTER, S.C. (courtesy morris.edu) — Morris College heralded the 2019 holiday season with its annual Fall Harvest Parade on Nov. 24. The parade route wound its way through downtown Sumter, beginning at Harvin and Bartlette streets and traveling north to Calhoun Street before turning onto Main Street and proceeding toward the college on North Main Street.

The processional featured local high schools, step teams, homecoming winners, law enforcement, and first responder vehicles. S.C. Rep. David Weeks (D-Sumter), who also serves as the chair of the Morris College Board of Trustees, was the parade’s grand marshal.

Please see the post on the Morris College website for the parade photo gallery. Special thanks to The Sumter Item for the photos and event coverage.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (courtesy charlestonsouthern.edu) — The world of cybersecurity is rapidly evolving, and Charleston Southern University is at the forefront of this new frontier with its cybersecurity major, which graduated its first class in the spring.

Dr. Yu-Ju Lin has been working at CSU for over 16 years and is the director of graduate studies in computer science. In 2017 he founded the CSU Cybersecurity Club, and only a year later, cybersecurity was introduced as an official major.

The major has experienced exponential growth, starting with only eight students and growing to over 30 in just two years, with all of the recent graduates finding work in the Charleston area.

In the world today, technology pervades every aspect of life, and this is reflected in the growth of the industry. Cybersecurity is a rapidly growing field with incredible potential in the greater Charleston area. The “U.S. Bureau of Labor predicts that in the next 10 years, the job market related to cybersecurity is going to raise 28%,” Lin said.

The members of the first graduating class opted to pursue careers in the defense sector, finding employment at the Naval Information Warfare Center.

“There’s just such an abundance of riches here in Charleston, no matter what field you want to go into,” said Dr. Valerie Sessions, chair of the computer science department. Sessions previously worked at NIWC, where she continues to work part time.

Students from CSU intern at a variety of companies in the Charleston area, including NIWC, Blackbaud, and Benefitfocus, with some students receiving highly sought after internships in federal agencies.

“If a student comes to our program, they definitely have a lot of jobs waiting for them,” said Lin. One of his students was recently hired by J.P. Morgan, reportedly beating out candidates from universities such as Yale and Harvard.

Students within the major have the opportunity to gain valuable real-world experience through the Cybersecurity Club, which travels to multiple national competitions.

“It really is a student-led organization, so we have just come up alongside them to try to help foster that and help foster their desire to do that,” said Professor Julie Henderson, the academic advisor for the club.

During the competitions, students are placed in situations similar to those they might face in the workplace.

“During the competition, they will learn something that we are unable to teach them, like real-world defense or real-world attack. In class we make the environment, so they know how to hack or how to defend, but in the competition they are experiencing firsthand the real-world situation,” said Lin.

Adjunct CSU Professor Melton Lane is an operations security manager at NIWC and believes that in today’s world cybersecurity is more important than ever. Lane is a Navy veteran and worked in Project SeaHawk and other antiterrorist operations.

He reinforces the importance of cyber defense today, saying “It’s not just about Department of Defense; it’s not just about warfare; it’s about espionage as well; it’s about business competing against business, country against country in the business world.”

For more information about Charleston Southern’s cybersecurity program, please click here.