Talk about life-changing. This is a class that challenges students where they live. Dr. Sheila Brownlow's First-year Seminar, "Home from Nowhere," is one Catawba College course that is causing scales to fall from students' eyes. It is also encouraging – some would say "forcing" – the 16 first-year students in the class to take a hard look at what they value and how their choices impact them as individuals and as community members.

The Catawba College Department of Music will present its eighteenth annual Christmas Choral Concert, A Service of Lessons and Carols, Tuesday and Thursday, December 6 and December 8, in the Omwake-Dearborn Chapel on campus. In recent years, both performances have played to full houses due to the high level of community interest.

Bird enthusiasts can take bird identification to a new level Dec. 3 when the Catawba College Center for the Environment offers a bird banding demonstration on the Catawba Ecological Preserve.

Thanks to a Duck Draw Community Service Fundraiser sponsored by Catawba College's Residence Life Staff, 90 needy area families will be able to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal. The fundraiser, which kicked off October 18 and ran through November 11, allowed on-campus participants to sponsor a duck for just $1.

Catawba College is one of the nation's 324 best comprehensive colleges according to the 2006 edition of "America's Best Colleges," published by U.S.News & World Report. These comprehensive colleges are ranked according to geographic region (North, South, East, West) with Catawba ranked 25th in the South.

"Solve This and Win!" occupies just a small portion of the Catawba College Mathematics Department web pages, but both Catawba students and area math lovers are visiting it regularly, vying to solve the posted math problem. The payoff for visitors is mostly intrinsic – they get the opportunity to prove their mental prowess, and if they're really lucky and solve the problem correctly, their names are selected during a bi-monthly drawing for a Catawba College t-shirt.

Catawba College's first-year students and their faculty heard from historian turned science editor, author Edward Tenner during his visit to campus Nov. 9 and 10. Some students also had lunch with him after his speaking engagement and had him sign copies of his books.

"None of us who come to Catawba has the same experience and that means even more. Each one of us at Catawba has a different story, but all the different stories tie us together as one," Senior Summer Zuck of Kingston, Tenn., told those gathered at the annual First Family Scholarship Luncheon held Nov. 16. She spoke on behalf of her fellow scholars at the event held in Peeler Crystal Lounge on campus.

Having a destroyed home and a family to manage, the following was sent to us by Catawba College graduate Amy Douglas Gay '98 of Cameron Parish, LA. Her home is 20 miles north of Creole, south of Lake Charles. With husband Paul, they are the parents to Gabrielle (Gabby), 3 years old and Katherine (Wren) 5 months old.

The Omwake-Dearborn Chapel on the Catawba College campus will be the scene of a non-denominational Community Thanksgiving Service slated for 6 p.m. Sunday, November 20. Members of the college community and the community at large are encouraged to attend.

Catawba College residential students can check on the status of their dirty laundry without ever leaving their rooms. That, thanks to a new Laundry View software program recently installed on the College's computer network. But the impetus behind that new software comes from an unlikely source – not Student Affairs or Computer Services, but rather the College Facilities Department. As that department was searching for ways to both improve downtime and repair time to the washers and dryers avai

Dr. Mark Sabo, an associate professor of chemistry at Catawba College, reviewed and edited the chapters of a new textbook, "Forensic Chemistry," recently published by Prentice Hall. The textbook was authored by Suzanne Bell. Sabo also served as the accuracy reviewer for the laboratory manual that accompanies the textbook.

Dr. Barbara Hetrick, Catawba College Vice President and Academic Dean, attended the Council of Independent College's 33rd Annual National Institute for Chief Academic Officers held November 5-8 in San Antonio, Texas.

Salisbury native and Catawba College Alumnus Murray Burke '54 and wife Linda, of Woodstock, Ga., have established an endowed scholarship at the College in memory of his parents. Preference for the Esther Camp and Pete Burke Endowed Scholarship will go to day students from Rowan County.

Catawba College Senior Dennis Reed of Charlotte wants to be real, for God that is. He wants to exploit his talents as a musician and composer and sort of be all he can be for God. You might say that Reed’s new gospel album, "Water Walker," is a tribute to God. This music business major is grateful for his talents and has not buried them in the biblical sense, but rather grown them three-fold with "Water Walker" as the result.

What do a love story, cannibalism and a murderous avenging barber have in common? They are all parts of Steven Sondheim’s musical, "Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street," which will be presented jointly by Catawba College’s Theatre Arts Department and the Blue Masque at 7:30 p.m. November 16-19 in Keppel Auditorium on campus.

Catawba College’s First-Year Experience will host historian turned science editor, author Edward Tenner for an 11 a.m. lecture Thursday, November 10 in Omwake-Dearborn Chapel on campus. The event is free and open to members of the college community as well as members of the larger Salisbury-Rowan community.