Fourteen students in Catawba College's School of Evening and Graduate Studies (SEGS) program were inducted into the College's chapter of Alpha Sigma Lambda National Honor Society during a ceremony held April 18 in Tom Smith Auditorium on campus.

Dr. Stephen Hiatt, a Catawba College professor of management in the Ketner School of Business, has been invited to join other top management educators at Cengage Learning Headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, in early June as a member of an exclusive advisory board on digital learning. The advisory board, which includes other faculty from across the country, will discuss technology and teaching strategies in management.

Thirty-four Catawba College juniors and seniors, all pursuing academic majors in the Ketner School of Business, were inducted into the Business Honor Society during an April 12, 2012 ceremony held in the Hurley Room on campus.

Three Catawba College students and one faculty sponsor represented the North Carolina Omicron chapter at the super-regional convention of Alpha Chi, the national college honor society, March 22-24 in Baltimore, Md.

Ralph W. Ketner was honored with the Wilson L. Smith Philanthropic Award during Rowan Regional Medical Center Foundation's Annual Donor Appreciation and Recognition Dinner held on March 15, 2012. Mr. Ketner was presented with this prestigious award by Dr. Thomas K. Carlton, Jr., Board Chairman of Rowan Regional Medical Center Foundation. Among the special family and friends witnessing the presentation were son Robert Ketner and fiancée Leslie Sadler and his sister Dot Swing.

Food Lion Co-Founder Ralph Ketner, the keynote speaker at Catawba's ninth Distinguished CEO Lecture Series on March 1, likened himself to the turtle atop a fence post. "That turtle knows he didn't get there by himself – he had help. I'm only standing here today because of the help I have from the original investors in Food Town," the 91-year-old Ketner quipped.

Food Lion co-founder and Chairman Emeritus Ralph Ketner is trying to re-create history. He'd love to have in his hands a list of the 125 original investors in Food Town, which became today's Salisbury-based Food Lion grocery chain.

He has been called a visionary for transforming food retailing and has been named among "Tar Heels Who Made a Difference" in the 20th century. Ralph W. Ketner, one of the co-founders of Food Lion and chairman emeritus of the board of Food Lion, Inc. , will deliver the keynote address at Catawba College's ninth annual CEO Lecture on Thursday, March 1. The event is free and open to the public.

Dr. Eric R. Hake, associate professor of economics at Catawba College, presented a paper at the Allied Social Science Association (ASSA)/American Economics Association Conference in Chicago, Ill., on Jan. 6, 2012. Seven students, accompanied by two Catawba College faculty, will present four pieces of research at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association.

Dr. Sanford Silverburg, professor emeritus of political science at Catawba College, authored a chapter included in a 2011 book published by Cameron May of London. Dr. James Slate, associate professor of economics at Catawba College, will attend the annual meeting of the Academy of Economics and Finance to be held in Charleston, S.C., Feb. 9-11.