Members of the Catawba College community gathered in Omwake-Dearborn Chapel on April 23 to celebrate achievement. The occasion was the annual Awards Convocation.Scheduled the day after Earth Day, the awards distributed were eco-friendly, made of Catawba blue, 100% recycled glass. They symbolized the college's commitment to environmental responsibility and are a reminder to the recipients to promote a greener, more sustainable lifestyle.

As the 2012-2013 academic year comes to a close, Catawba College students are thinking about their futures. For some graduating in May, a next step — graduate school — is on their minds. For those with a year or so to go before they earn their undergraduate degree, thoughts are on how to enhance their future opportunities and make themselves ready for the next steps after Catawba.

Students from Catawba College's Sociology Capstone Seminar class recently participated in the annual "Point in Time" homeless person count in Rowan County organized by Rowan Helping Ministries.

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.

Fourteen Catawba College students employed their unique gifts and talents in service to others as interns with tax-exempt nonprofit organizations during the summer of 2012. Funding and coordination for the program were provided through the college's Lilly Center for Vocation and Values. While these students clearly benefitted from the experiential learning opportunities offered through such internships, they also filled vital roles within the programs they served.

Beginning with this fall's incoming first-year class, Catawba College students will need to complete community service hours to officially graduate with honors. That proposal was approved unanimously last year by both the Student Council and the Honors Faculty Board at Catawba.

Catawba College's new president, a Catawba alumnus who has served as a six-time U.S. Ambassador, and a Fox Network television show star will figure in the college's commencement exercises slated for Saturday, May 12 in Keppel Auditorium of the Robertson College-Community Center.

by John H. Rapp '76 (Sociology and Psychology Alumnus) - An alumnus remembers two former first ladies (Omwake and Dearborn) and their impact on his time at Catawba and beyond.

One is a Toastmaster and has authored four books, including one entitled, "Cows Are People Too: Lessons from Someone Out Standing in the Field." One signed his employment contract in Borneo and left his job at the Smithsonian Institution to come to Catawba College. Another is a nationally certified athletic trainer with a keen personal interest in motorsports. Then, there is one who can solve a Rubik's Cube in just two minutes and is interested in studying the sociology of religion.

Six Catawba College students, all majoring in sociology, are attending the Southern Sociological Society conference in Jacksonville, Fla., April 6-9. Those attending include Bianca Boone of Charlotte; Terri Christy of Salisbury; Susan Fisher of Lititz, Pa.; Megan Kittel of Mooresville; Mimi Medrano of Spencer; and Roslind Wiseman of Salisbury.

For one class period, musician Jen Chapin turned professor and led some Catawba College honor students through a discussion about social protest music. She and the students talked about "Amazing Grace" and the history behind the well-loved and familiar hymn. They touched on Charles Mingus, a jazz musician who used his music to "speak" of segregation in the late 1950s.

Musical artist Jen Chapin is bringing the unique style of music that she calls "urban folk" to Catawba College on Monday evening, October 4, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. in Hedrick Little Theater of the Robertson College-Community Center. The price of admission for the concert is a donation of canned goods or other non-perishable food items for Rowan Helping Ministries.

Dale Wilson of Troutman, N.C., says he prefers to fly under the radar and keep a low profile. It's hard for him to do that right now since he learned in August that he was selected as the 2009 National Outstanding Disabled American Veteran of the Year.

by Gerald Phelps '67, Social Studies Alumnus. Phelps recalls the early challenges of attending college, then meeting a young woman who would hold his heart for over 35 years.

Source: www.SalisburyPost.com - Sherri Hill was crowned Miss Spencer-Rowan 2009 at a pageant held Friday during the annual Spencer Jaycees Street Dance in downtown Spencer. Hill, 24, is a native of East Spencer and daughter of Althea Hill and the late Howard Solomon

The academic structure at Catawba College is changing. In addition to different academic departments headed by chairs, academic departments will now be affiliated with five different schools, each headed by a dean. Overseeing the five schools and serving as the institution's chief academic officer is Provost Dr. Rick Stephens who joined the College in January.

Catawba College Assistant Professor of Sociology Dr. Carla Eastis was in Washington, D.C. on Monday, January 19th and witnessed the gathering of people in the capitol for Barack Obama's inauguration as the United States' 44th President. A colleague of hers at Brandeis University who is a member of the Obama transition team invited her to attend an event with his group on the evening of January 19th.

by Dr. Carla Eastis, Assistant Professor of Sociology. I have a leisurely morning with my friend and don't get to the Metro station till 11 a.m. The train is full — some people are standing — but not crowded. I get off at the Smithsonian station and ride the escalator to the surface. I hardly recognize this as the same place I was just 3 weeks ago on vacation!

by Dr. Carla Eastis, Assistant Professor of Sociology. About 10 folks get on the Amtrak train with me in Salisbury at 8:30 on a Sunday morning. Several of us are going to D.C., and the conductor puts us in one of the rear-most cars. That car is almost full already, and there has only been one stop!

Two Catawba College Alumni from the class of 2008, Jon Rhodes of Virginia Beach, Va. and Aileen Thomson of Burlington, Vt., have accepted positions in South Korea working as English teachers (English as a second language) at private language school operated by Reading Town. The school is located in Jeonju (2 hours south of Seoul). The two begin work July 21 under a one-year contract at the institution.

by Amanda Hooker, Catawba News Service. Catawba College will present a documentary screening of "Black Diamonds: Mountaintop Removal and the Fight for Coalfield Justice" at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 5, in the Center for the Environment facility on the college campus. The film's director, Catherine Pancake, will also be present for a discussion on the issue.

Since 1984, Dr. Carla Eastis has had one big goal: to be a contestant on "Jeopardy." Next month, March 8th to be exact, she'll fulfill that goal. But, the journey she made to reach her goal began last spring when she took an online "Jeopardy" test. Her responses on that 50-question test got her an invitation to Atlanta, Ga., in October for a videotaped "Jeopardy" audition.

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.

Two Catawba College faculty members, Drs. Carla Eastis and J. Michael Bitzer, are participating in this summer's Wye Institute July 22-28 in Queenstown, Md. The focus of the institute, established in 1983 and co-sponsored by the Aspen Institute and the American Association of Colleges and Universities, is faculty development with an emphasis on the theme of "Leadership and Citizenship."

Catawba College's Dr. Edith Bolick has accepted a promotion from associate dean of the College for Lifelong Learning to dean of the School of Evening and Graduate Studies.

Catawba College Assistant Professor of Sociology Dr. Carla Eastis recently made a presentation at the Southern Sociological Society Conference held in New Orleans March 22-25. Eastis was a member of a panel entitled "Bringing Sociology into the First Year Experience."

Catawba College honors students enrolled in a class entitled “Origins: Humans, Races, and Racism,” will cap their classroom experiences with a trip to South Africa in late December. Members of the Salisbury-Rowan community, alumni and friends of the College are invited to join them as they visit that country to examine how biological and sociological forces contribute to notions of race and to the perpetuation of racism.

Dr. Maria Vandergriff-Avery, Assistant Professor and Chair of the Catawba College Department of Sociology, recently had an article published. "Resiliency Capacities Among Rural Low-Income Families," was published in the October-December 2004 edition of the journal, Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services.

Dr. Maria Vandergriff-Avery can’t wait to take her students to Floyd – Floyd, Virginia that is. And there, at the Floyd Country Store, they’ll gather with local residents, farmers, tourists, yuppies, academics, artists and business men and women to witness the Friday Night Jamboree, some of the best impromptu bluegrass music in the country and some authentic flat foot dancing. After the experience, she’s hopeful they’ll have a truer and deeper understanding of Appalachian people and their cult

Dr. Maria Vandergriff-Avery, an assistant professor of sociology at Catawba College, is attending Ferrum College's second National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for College and University Teachers June 3-29.