Longtime employee of the college, Dorothy Earle of Salisbury, was surprised by friends and colleagues at the dedication of the Dorothy Pope Earle Conference Room on Friday, February 29th in Ketner Hall on campus. Dorothy retired in December of 2006 after more than 23 years of service to the institution.

Help the first-year class raise money for a great cause! The Class of 2011 presents a dance-a-thon fundraiser to benefit Partners in Health. Our first-year students have decided to raise money for Partners in Health, the organization founded by Paul Farmer, the person featured in the common College reading Mountains Beyond Mountains.

Dan and Joanne Frock of Hanover, Pennsylvania, did not attend Catawba College, but their three children did, and all three graduated from the institution. In honor of their children, the Frocks have established a new endowed scholarship at Catawba to assist deserving students.

Catawba College's 14 West Teaching Scholars, accompanied by several mentors, faculty, and staff, traveled to Atlanta in late January to visit three Atlanta Public Schools — Heritage Academy (elementary), Parks Middle School, and Booker T. Washington High School.

"Plant a tree," Pulitzer Prize winner Leonard Pitts, Jr. told the audience gathered at Catawba College on Thursday, February 21, 2008. "I stand in the shade of trees planted by others, so how can I not plant trees?" Pitts asked.

The William F. Palmer Archives was dedicated to late Dr. William F. Palmer of Salisbury, a 1956 alumnus of Catawba, a retired faculty member in the teacher education department, and College archivist and historian.

Dr. W. Craig Turner, who served six years as President of Hardin-Simmons University (HSU) in Abilene, Texas, became Catawba College's 21st President, effective June 1. The College Board of Trustees approved Turner's nomination at its February 19 meeting following a recommendation by the College's Presidential Search Committee.

Two longtime members of the Catawba College Board of Trustees, both elected to their trustee posts by the Southern Synod of the Evangelical and Reformed Church, were honored Sunday, Feb. 17. Wade H. "Hamp" Shuford, Jr. of Hickory and Claude Shuford Abernethy, Jr. of Newton were presented with Catawba's inaugural Campus Ministry Church/College Award at a dinner held in Peeler Crystal Lounge on campus.

Tenure for four faculty members was unanimously approved when the Catawba College Board of Trustees met Feb. 18 and 19 on campus. Trustees heard tenure recommendations from Catawba's faculty tenure and promotions committee.

Catawba College Chaplain and Senior Vice-President Dr. Kenneth Clapp participated in the Institute on College Student Values held on the campus of Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, Jan. 31-Feb. 2.

Spaces in Catawba College's Newly Renovated Corriher-Linn-Black Library were dedicated Monday, Feb. 18. Donors, who made contributions to fund the renovation, were recognized with spaces named in their honor during a special luncheon ceremony held in the library.

Dr. Bruce Griffith, a beloved and longtime Catawba College History Professor, died Tuesday, February 12, at his home. A 1962 alumnus of Catawba, Dr. Griffith joined the faculty at his alma mater in 1964 after earning both his master of arts and doctor of philosophy degrees from UNC Chapel Hill. At the time of his death, he shared the distinction of being senior faculty member at the college...

Bridgette Edwards Gibbs of Salisbury, a 2002 Catawba College alumna and director of event planning at the college, completed a certification in Meeting and Event Planning during the fall 2007 semester at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Dr. Sanford Silverburg, professor of political science at Catawba College, was a lecturer at the 2008 Florida Chautauqua Assembly, "A Journey into the American Presidencey," held January 31 through February 3 at the Chautauqua Center in DeFuniak Springs, Fla.

Catawba College Theatre Arts Professor Christopher Zink has written several sections to be included in a book to be published by the Southeastern Theatre Conference. The book is a collection of 25 articles by theatre designers, technical directors and technicians from across the region...

Dr. J. Michael Bitzer, an assistant professor of political science and dean of admissions at Catawba College, has written a chapter of a soon-to-be-published book edited by Joseph J. Foy, "Homer Simpson Goes to Washington: American Politics through Popular Culture."

Catawba College's Lilly Center will host its third annual Art Show February 27-28. The art show which will feature College students, faculty and staff members' works will include sketches, paintings, photographs and sculptures.

Catawba College first-year students will continue the journey they began last summer with the Common Summer Reading text, "Mountains Beyond Mountains," when Edward Cardoza, Development Director of Partners in Health, visits campus March 17 and 18.

Catawba College's Senior Salute is scheduled March 13 in the Cannon Student Center. It is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of Catawba College seniors and also a chance for these seniors to get their ducks in a row.

CULLOWHEE — Janice Raper of Salisbury has been named the Phillip J. Kirk Jr. Honored Educator Scholar for 2007–08 at the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching. The announcement was made during the January 28 meeting of the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education.

Attention Football Fans! The 2008 edition of the Catawba Indians will be unveiled during Blue-White weekend April 4th and 5th with Ladies Night and an always entertaining spring football game.

Fifty-nine Catawba College students, all members of the Catawba Singers, the college's auditioned concert choir, are set to depart campus for their Spring 2008 Tour on Wednesday, Feb. 27. The Spring 2008 Tour coincides in part with Catawba's spring break, which begins March 1.

Catawba College's new campus map includes the new residence halls of Abernethy Village, the addition to the Cannon Student Center (currently under construction), the Palmer Archives building behind the library, the college's named exterior spaces, and recently named interior campus roads. The map, created by William Pitzer of Charlotte, was six months in the making and represents the institution's first new map in almost 20 years.

"When I was a kid in college, I thought that going to college was a rite of passage and as I got older, I realized the sacrifices that my parents had to make to make my college education possible," explained Catawba College Board of Visitors Chairman Tony Blackwell of Salisbury. "This new scholarship I've established in my parents' honor at Catawba is my way of paying tribute to their sacrifices. This scholarship was their Christmas gift."

It all began with an epic poem entitled "The Wild Party," Joseph Moncure March's 1926 exercise in steamy syncopation giving an account of a hedonistic Prohibition-era bash awash in jealousy and bathtub gin. Today, Catawba College's student-directed production of the play, adapted from that poem and intended for mature audiences, is a morality tale set in modern-day Hollywood.

Catawba College Black History Planning Committee Presents "Still Reaching for the Dream: Black History Month." Movie Night, Throwback Dance, One Night Only, and more.

By Hannah Mitchell, CharlotteObserver.com. For generations, almost everybody who grew up in the Catawba Valley worked in a mill, lived in a mill village or had relatives who were mill hands, if not all three. The manufacturing way of life that replaced farming molded the people, along with the economy, influencing standards of living, community and more.

Lauren Ebersole of Hagerstown, Md., a 2007 Catawba College graduate who majored in Political Science with an emphasis in International Relations, is spending several months this spring in Ghana. She is working at a school in Abura, a small town about 10 minutes from Cape Coast along the southern coast of Ghana.