Catawba College Alumnus and Trustee Gregory M. Alcorn '79 of Salisbury is one of three new members appointed by N.C. Governor Pat McCrory '78 to the State Board of Education. That announcement was made Wednesday, Jan. 30. McCrory told N.C. legislative leaders that he had chosen Bill Cobey of Durham, Greg Alcorn of Salisbury and Becky Taylor of Greenville to the state's policy-making board for the public schools. The General Assembly must vote to confirm the new governor's choices.

Catawba College professor of politics and political expert Dr. J. Michael Bitzer was recently featured on the WCNC.com website. Bitzer discussed Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, who has been outspoken in his support for a ban on assault weapons and high-magazine clips but has declined to join the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Read the full story...

A free program of piano music by Patrick Behringer at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22 in Omwake-Dearborn Chapel continues the Catawba Artist Series for spring semester. Behringer will perform works of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Prokofiev. Behringer performs throughout the Fort Worth, Texas area and maintains a private piano studio there. He is a regular lecture recitalist in public schools as part of the Fort Worth Contemporary Music Fund's education program, "The Legacy of the Americas."

junior, Kedtrin Gallagher of Little River, S.C., is one of 23 college students to receive a $500 scholarship from Dr. Pepper's 2012 N.C. Scholarship Sweepstakes. The sweepstakes ran from August 1 through December 31, 2012. Kedtrin learned she was one of the tuition money winners after she returned to campus from the college's Christmas holiday break.

The Center for the Environment at Catawba College will host Faith, Spirituality and Environmental Stewardship Workshops to bring together people who would like to share their experiences with green projects in their congregations with those who want to learn how to implement projects in their own faith communities. "This workshop is based on the understanding that the people in the trenches are the experts," says Dr. John Wear, executive director of the Center for the Environment.

The Center for the Environment at Catawba College is now accepting applications for its third annual National Environmental Summit for High School Students, scheduled for July 9-13. The summit, "Redesigning Our Future," is open to high school students from across the country who will be juniors or seniors during the 2013-2014 academic year. Those who complete the application process before April 1 will receive a discount of $90 from the student portion of the tuition cost.

by Sydney Berk '13, Encino, Calif. -Catawba College's steamy and bold production of "References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot" opens at 7:30 p.m. February 6 and runs through February 9 in Catawba College's Florence Busby Corriher Theatre. Catawba's Blue Masque, the largest and oldest student club on campus, takes theatre-goers to a new world of magical realism during the course of this comedy drama.

Two Catawba College alumni and former football teammates will be across the field from each other in New Orleans during Super Bowl XLVII on Feb. 3. San Francisco 49ers Defensive Line Coach Jim Tomsula '90 and Baltimore Ravens Kicking Consultant Randy Brown '89 will share both a Catawba connection and a healthy rivalry at the game.

Catawba College's fall 2012 production of "The Life of Galileo" was selected to compete at the American College Theatre Festival (ACTF) for Region 4 in Albany, Ga., in early February. The Catawba Theatre Department will offer a special, free viewing of the production at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 31, the week prior to the competition, in Hedrick Theatre on campus. Faculty, staff, students and community members are invited to attend.

Catawba College's North Carolina Omicron chapter of Alpha Chi was recently recognized as a Star Chapter for the 2011-2012 academic year, one of only 32 chapters nationally to earn this designation. The Omicron chapter will be formally recognized during the awards presentation at the 2013 National Convention in Nashville, Tenn., April 4-6.

Catawba College professor of politics and political expert Dr. J. Michael Bitzer was featured on the CharlotteObserver.com website regarding the possible influence of N.C. Republicans on a future GOP blueprint.

by Leanna Hicks '16 - *Now back to your original programming* And we're back Catawba! Yes I understand we've been back for about two weeks, but just go with it. While I thoroughly enjoyed my break, I was ready to return to school.

by Sydney Berk '13 - Currently in my final semester of college, 4 years of studying, listening, reading and slaving over papers will culminate in a project that is near and dear to my heart. I will be directing my first full length show, References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot by Jose Rivera. For the past 6 months, I have had the complex task of researching and prepping for this project.

Catawba College Baseball Coach Jim Gantt was recently awarded the 2012 Walter Rabb Award, presented annually to the North Carolina Amateur Baseball Coach of the Year. This is the second time that he has been honored with this award; he also received it in 2002. Gantt's 2012 team went to the 2012 NCAA II College World Series with a 45-17 record, the second most wins in school history. In his 17th year serving as head baseball coach...

Dr. Buster Smith, an assistant professor of sociology at Catawba College, recently served as a moderator for a panel discussion on Arts of Faith held at Waterworks Visual Arts Center in Salisbury. The discussion was held Jan. 17. Smith, who joined the Catawba faculty at the start of the 2011-2012 academic year, is interested in the study of the sociology of religion.

Elaine Pasqua, an advocate for right choices, will speak at Catawba College's Keppel Auditorium at 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 14. She will offer a high-energy program entitled, "Sex and Excess: Surviving the Party," that will encourage students to make their goals a priority, as they examine why they engage in high-risk behaviors and how things can go wrong.

A new scholarship fund established at Catawba College will provide music scholarships for students from Rowan County. Steven J. Shuping and his parents, Romas and Sarah Shuping, all of Salisbury, established the Romas H. Shuping, Jr. Endowed Scholarship Fund in memory of their brother and son. Steve Shuping, a 1983 alumnus of Catawba, says the new scholarship was a tangible way to memorialize his brother who died accidentally in 1967 at age eight. "All of my siblings have played music...

Catawba College professor of politics and political expert Dr. J. Michael Bitzer was featured on the SalisburyPost.com website. The article featured the following excerpt from a blog that Bitzer wrote for "The Party Line" political blog at www.wfae.org: When the North Carolina General Assembly gaveled the two chambers into session, the leaders of the House and Senate took to their respective podiums to deliver their outlook on the upcoming biennium session...

New members will be inducted into the Catawba College Athletic Training Hall of Fame on Feb. 9. The induction of the Class of 2013 will take place between noon and 2 p.m. in Peeler Crystal Lounge of the Robertson College-Community Center on campus. The 2013 inductees, both from the Class of 1995, are Bryan Fass of Davidson and Carrie Graham of Coventry, Conn. Jeff Tucker '90 of Jensen Beach, Fla., an inductee in the Class of 2012, was unable to attend last year's ceremony. Tucker will be on han

by Nathan Hardin, Salisbury Post - As Gov. Pat McCrory stepped back from the microphone after his inaugural address Saturday, an audience peppered with Salisbury residents rose to its feet. Hope, some later said, had returned. Thousands gathered around the Capitol building's south lawn to hear the second swearing-in of McCrory and his first official speech. McCrory, the former mayor of Charlotte, is the first Republican governor in North Carolina in 20 years.

A free piano concert provided by Catawba College adjunct faculty member, Wei Jiao, at 3 p.m. Sunday Jan. 20, in Omwake-Dearborn Chapel kicks off a Catawba Artist Series for spring semester. Jiao will perform works of Scarlatti, Mozart, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and modern Chinese composer Zhou Long.

by Leanna Hicks '16 - Well I'm sure the title of this blog post gives it away, but I'll say it anyway ... man, am I happy to be home for the holidays! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Catawba and have come to find that I miss school... I know right, you miss school? ...but after working so hard this semester and especially those exams, I feel that I and the rest of you lovely folks have been counting down the minutes and seconds until the beautiful, month-long holiday break!

Catawba College students will participate in several inauguration events for North Carolina's new governor, 1978 Catawba alumnus, Pat McCrory. Catawba's Vernaculars All Stars will perform between 7:30 and 8 p.m. on Friday, January 11 at the Inauguration Ball. Students Olivia Albertson of Thomasville, Silas Boyle of Louisville, Ky., Jacob Martin of St. Louis, Mo., Greg Moore of Durham and Allijah Motika of Asheville will be accompanied by Department Chair and Director of Popular Music and...

A total of 267 students have been named to the Dean's List for the 2012 Fall semester at Catawba College, according to Dr. W. Richard Stephens, Jr., Provost of the College. Traditional Day program students named to the Dean's List have achieved a 3.5 grade point average in 15 or more semester hours. School of Evening and Graduate Studies students named have achieved a 3.5 grade point average in at least 12 semester hours.

The North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) will host a Regional Professional Learning Day on the campus of Catawba College on Saturday, February 23. This training day for pre-service and current teachers, as well as National Board candidates, is one of five sessions being held across the state.

More than 240 middle and high school choral students participated in the first annual Catawba College Honor Choir Festival held Friday, January 4th, 2013 on Catawba's campus. Those participating were seventh through twelfth grade students who had been selected from participating schools across North Carolina. They rehearsed throughout the day and offered a well-attended evening performance at 7 p.m. in the Omwake-Dearborn Chapel.

Dr. Eric R. Hake, Associate Professor of Economics and Department Chair of Business & Economics at Catawba College, recently attended the annual conference of the Association for Evolutionary Economics in San Diego, Calif., a conference he helped organize as the secretary of the Association.

D.G. Martin, President of the William R. Kenan, Jr. Fund, has hosted UNC-TV's "North Carolina Bookwatch," the state's premier literary series, for the past 13 years. At the January 15th Catawba College Community Forum, Martin will describe lessons he has learned about North Carolina's rich literary traditions while hosting Bookwatch. The forum, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7:30 p.m. in Tom Smith Auditorium of Ralph W. Ketner Hall.

Catawba College professor of politics and political expert Dr. J. Michael Bitzer was featured in the following recent articles about current political topics. Read the articles below:

Catawba College professor of politics and political expert Dr. J. Michael Bitzer was featured in several recent articles about current political topics. Read the articles below...

The discovery of the rare wreckage of a Brewster Buffalo plane in only 10 feet of water has rekindled interest in the aircraft. Amidst the history of American military aviation, the rounded, snub-nosed fighter stands out as a turkey. The day of ignominy for the plane was in the epic Battle of Midway (June 1942), when a number of Marine pilots engaged Japanese Zeroes in dogfights above Midway Atoll, strategically located roughly 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu. Only five returned...

The Catawba College School of Performing Arts announced that Catawba College alumni Dr. Ralph G. Perrino, Founder and Director of Northern Virginia Tutoring Service, LLC, and Ms. J. Denise Perrino, charter inductee of The Catawba Blue Masque Hall of Fame in 2008 in recognition of her meritorious life in the theatre, have created the "Young Theatre Artist Development Fund."

Catawba alumnus Paul Ken Clifton has been selected as one of five finalists among the 58 North Carolina community colleges for the 2013 Excellence in Teaching Award. Clifton received the Outstanding Excellence in Teaching Award at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, where he is an instructor for Computer Information Technology. By receiving this honor, Clifton was designated the college's nominee for the 2012 North Carolina Community College System's R.J. Reynolds Excellence in Teaching Award.

Children of a United Church of Christ ordained minister who have financial need and good academic standing will benefit from a new scholarship established at Catawba College by the Rev. Dr. Thomas R. Hamilton '55 and wife Jane Whitener Hamilton '53 of Newton. The couple, who met at Catawba while students, know how vital financial assistance can be to students attending college. "We know how important it is to have help when you need it," Jane explained. "A friend stepped forth and helped to make

An anonymous donor has provided funds to established endowed scholarships at Catawba in honor of four members of the Board of Trustees. The scholarships were created to recognize the contributions of Trustees Daniel "Dan" Bross '71 of Issaquah, Wash., William "Bill" Graham '83 of Salisbury, Richard "Dick" Seiwell '67 of West Chester, Pa., and Mona Lisa Wallace of Salisbury.

The 10th annual Lilly Colloquium will feature Catawba professor, author and actor, Dr. Kurt Corriher, who will emphasize the importance of examining the artistic dimension of our lives. The colloquium keynote is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday, February 19, in Omwake-Dearborn Chapel and is free and open to the public.