With the clock ticking and only 11 months before five new residence halls on Catawba College's campus must be completed and ready to occupy, work has begun in earnest on campus to both prepare the building sites and prepare for the demolition of Abernethy Hall.

A reunion for all Catawba College football alumni is being planned for the weekend of September 7 and 8, 2007. Please circle this date on your calendars and look for more details early 2007 from Gordon Kirkland in the Development Office of Catawba.

Nearly seventy Catawba College Men's and Women's soccer alumni returned to campus this weekend for their reunion. Former players and coaches returned for a luncheon and then watched Coach Craig Turnbull's men notch his 100th career win by toppling West Virginia Wesleyan 4-2 and, in the nightcap, John Cullen's women scored a late goal to defeat SAC conference foe Mars Hill 3-2.

In a special, double edition of the Catawba College Community Forum, the College, together with the Salisbury Post and the Rowan County Chamber of Commerce, will present candidates for the North Carolina General Assembly, along with candidates for local political offices on Tuesday, October 17 and Thursday, October 19. Both programs will begin at 6:00 p.m. in Tom Smith Auditorium. Dr. Michael Bitzer, Chairman of the Department of History and Politics at Catawba College, will moderate.

Catawba College will offer a community forum on Islam: The Religion and the Culture at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 3 in Hedrick Theatre on campus. The speaker for the event is Dr. Kathryn Johnson, an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at UNC-Charlotte.

Dr. Barbara Hetrick, vice president and dean of the college at Catawba College, was re-elected to a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) last week in Boulder, Colorado.

Marching bands from Rowan and surrounding counties will converge on Catawba College’s campus beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, October 7 to participate in the 2006 Lord Salisbury Marching Band Classic.

America's Internet-connected and consumer-driven culture are scrutinized in Catawba College's production of "Pterodactyls," presented at 7:30 p.m. October 4-7 in Florence Busby Corriher Theatre on campus. This dark comedy by Nicky Silver offers an intriguing depiction of personal growth.

Three members of Catawba College's Music Department faculty presented papers September 15 at the national meeting of the College Music Society in San Antonio, Texas. They were Dr. David Fish, associate professor of music, Dr. Julie Chamberlain, assistant professor of music, and Dr. Renee McCachren, professor of music and chair of the music department.

Catawba College Alumnus Kevin Carlton '85 and wife Wendy of Salisbury have established a scholarship fund at the College in honor of Kevin's parents, Dr. C. Robert and Elizabeth Carlton, both of whom are retired Catawba faculty members. The scholarship will be awarded to students who demonstrate financial need and are pursuing education majors in the fields of mathematics, computer science or music.

Although the 40-year-old Abernethy Hall on Catawba College's campus soon will be demolished to make way for five new residence halls, the new halls will be named Abernethy Village as a tribute and memorial to the Abernethy family. College President Dr. Robert Knott made that announcement Tuesday, Sept. 19, during a groundbreaking ceremony attended by Catawba College trustees, including Claude and Shuford Abernethy.

North Carolina's Teacher of the Year for 2006-2007 Diana Beasley, a high school biology teacher from Hickory High School, is the keynote speaker for a September 26th Teacher Education Day slated at Catawba College. Jointly sponsored by Catawba's Admissions and Teacher Education Departments and the Rowan-Salisbury Schools, this is the fourth year of the event.

Catawba College Family Weekend attendees enjoyed an evening of fun as part of the activities slated for the Family Fun Fest on September 15. Highlights included family fun photos with Catawba-themed or wacky backgrounds. There was roving entertainment from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. featuring Mark Lippard's comedy juggling, fire eating, balloon sculpting, and trick unicycling. Refreshments were provided during the event.

Catawba College's Omicron Chapter of Alpha Chi, the national college honor society, held an initiation ceremony for candidates Friday, Sept. 15 in Omwake-Dearborn Chapel on campus. The organization's 2006-2007 president, senior Victoria Hamilton of Wake Forest, officiated, assisted by faculty sponsor Dr. Bethany S. Sinnott, a professor of English, and faculty advisors Dr. Cynthia Osterhus, assistant professor of teacher education, and Dr. Maria Vandergriff-Avery, assistant professor of sociology

Dr. Carla Eastis, assistant professor of sociology at Catawba College, delivered a homily Sept. 15, 2006 during the Initiation of Candidates Ceremony for Catawba's Omicron Chapter of Alpha Chi, the national college honor society.

After the roar of the crowd dies down at Catawba College's Frock Fields, you'll hear the sound of water gushing beneath your feet. This water, which is runoff from the geothermal system used throughout the campus to cool or heat buildings, has been piped directly into Grant's Creek. Meanwhile, the College has had to dip into its funds to pay for city water to irrigate the fields for football (two practice and one game), soccer fields (one practice and one game), softball, field hockey, and lacro

Trustees, faculty, staff and students at Catawba College will celebrate the construction of five new residence halls on campus at a groundbreaking ceremony scheduled at 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, September 19. The ceremony is scheduled on the lawn of the Cannon Student Center.

The Catawba College Center for the Environment will launch its Sustainable Communities Leadership Institute in October to advance sustainability in the state and the region. The institute is a program designed to educate and equip current and emerging leaders in the state to become effective change agents on issues spawned by rapid growth. Its purpose is to create a network of leaders and community action groups capable of transforming communities in sustainable ways.

A staged reading of an original play, "Conjoined," written by Catawba College Writer-in-Residence and Professor of English Dr. Janice M. Fuller, is slated for 2 p.m. Saturday, September 23 at the ArtCenter in Carrboro. Catawba College Theatre Arts Professor Emeritus Dr. Jim Epperson will direct five Catawba students at the reading.

The Catawba College Cheerleaders will offer a cheerleading clinic from 9-11 a.m. Saturday, September 16 on campus. Children ages 4-12 are eligible to participate. Cost is $10 per participant. For more details or to register, contact Catawba College Cheerleading Coach Brittin Stevens at bstevens@catawba.edu or (704) 640-3970.

Three professionals with strong ties to Afghanistan provided insights and perspectives on Catawba College's 2006 common reading selection, "The Kite Runner," when they visited campus on Tuesday, September 5th. Nilufar Shuja, an Afghan-American business woman from Manteca, Calif., Tahir Porjosh, a teacher in Alexandria, Va., and Seddiq Behrooz, a Salisbury asset engineer born in Herat, served as commentators during BookRevue held in Crystal Lounge.

Theatre-goers will be treated to a play within a play, plenty of music, and a whodunit if they attend a Catawba College performance of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" September 19-23 in Hedrick Theatre. The musical, based on an unfinished mystery by Victorian author Charles Dickens, will be performed at 6:55 p.m. Sept. 19-20 and at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 21-23.

Catawba College's 2006-2007 academic year is well underway and a number of students have applied and been selected to serve as resident assistants or RAs. According to Dan Sullivan, associate dean for housing and residential life, 22 students are serving as RAs in Catawba's eight residence halls this year.

Faculty and staff members of the Catawba College community were honored for their years of service during fall convocation Thursday, August 31 in Omwake-Dearborn Chapel. The College was also officially convened for its 155th academic year.

The recipients of several endowed professorships were announced Thursday, August 31 during Catawba College's Opening Convocation for the 2006-2007 academic year. Dr. Michael J. Baranski, a professor of biology, received the Bashore Distinguished Professorship in Environmental Science. This professorship must be awarded to a faculty member in environmental science who is a high achiever as a scholar and teacher with outstanding qualifications and enthusiasm for his work and the students who are e

Catawba College President Dr. Robert Knott commissioned 16 students as Junior Marshals in a ceremony held Wednesday, August 30 in Omwake-Dearborn Chapel on campus. These Junior Marshals were chosen from the junior class based on academic rank and are among the most honored students on campus. They embody the best of Catawba College both in academic achievement and service to the College community. They will represent the College at formal gatherings throughout the academic year, including convoc

Members of the Rowan-Salisbury community are invited to join faculty, staff and students at Catawba College for Reflections: 9-11 Five Years Later at 7:30 p.m. Monday, September 11 in Keppel Auditorium on campus. Faculty members from several different disciplines will offer insights and perspectives and encourage audience discussion about world changes in the five years since 9-11.

During the 2005-2006 academic year, Dr. Philip Acree Cavalier, Assistant Academic Dean and Associate Professor of American Literature at Catawba College, was a Fulbright Scholar in American Literature in Kyiv in the former Soviet Republic — now independent nation — of Ukraine. He lived in Ukraine with his wife and three young children, taught American literature at two universities in Kyiv, and lectured around the country.

The General Assembly of North Carolina, acting upon the recommendation of Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight, has appointed Robert Casmus, head athletic trainer at Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina, to the North Carolina Board of Athletic Trainer Examiners. This board, authorized by the General Assembly in 1997, issues the occupational licenses to athletic trainers in North Carolina.