InFocus
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA • ARTS & SCIENCES
Spring 2015
Teaching art and helping
the community
2
Evolution of feathers3
Repairing injured nerves4
Preparing to teach high school history
5
From the dean
All great universities strive to
Mary Anne Fitzpatrick had been dean of the College of
the college through one of the worst economic downturns
educate their students well. The
Arts and Sciences for just two years when the country was
in the state’s history. In addition, she has led the capital
College of Arts and Sciences at
slammed by the worst economic recession since the Great
campaign for the college, which, since 2007, has raised more
the University of South Carolina
Depression. In addition, because of various provisions of
than $95 million in private philanthropic support.
goes beyond that basic mission.
the state retirement plan, she was facing a massive turnover
As dean of the college now for
in faculty.
more than 10 years, I know that
“It was a challenging time,” she remembers. “We all
The University of South Carolina’s student population has
grown by 25 percent since 2005, the year that Fitzpatrick,
a professor of psychology, came to Columbia from the
our reach, our impact and our
worked hard to think about what we were doing, and how
University of Wisconsin-Madison. There she served as a
influence is felt not only in the
we could do it better and more efficiently.”
deputy dean, vice provost, and senior associate dean.
classroom but far beyond it.
Mary Anne Fitzpatrick
Celebrating Ten Years as Dean
Indeed, the range and diversity
of our faculty, students, and alumni at the college is
Now observing her 10th year at the helm of the largest col-
“Since the College of Arts and Sciences at Carolina is the
lege in South Carolina and the largest unit of the University
gateway to the University of South Carolina,” she says, “we
of South Carolina, Fitzpatrick has much to celebrate.
have had to manage the curriculum, provide the courses,
impressively on view in this current issue of InFocus.
Since 2005, she has increased the size of the faculty by 50
We introduce you to Margaret Palmer, who earned
(there is now a faculty base of 505) and has hired more than
students in a high-quality but cost-effective, efficient way.”
her Ph.D. from the Marine Science Program in 1983 and
300 talented new tenured and tenure track faculty, changing
Nearly all undergraduate students spend about two years
today has become perhaps the highest-profile scientific
the face of the college and the university.
taking courses at the College of Arts and Sciences before
opponent of coal companies involved in mountaintop
Fitzpatrick has presided over the opening of new centers,
and do what has been needed to serve this larger number of
moving on to other schools or specialties.
mining in the United States. She briefs top government
institutes, and programs (including the Institute for African-
regulators and Congress, helps promote stricter oversight,
American Research, the Center for Digital Humanities, and
her job in the past decade has been figuring out “how
and, in the words of Science magazine, has emerged “as
the Jewish Studies Program); created a new School of the
to welcome alumni home in a much more open way.”
an influential voice on complex and contentious environ-
Earth, Ocean and the Environment; stabilized external re-
The university is not just faculty and students, she says.
search grant funding at about $42 million a year; and guided
“Our alumni are also part of the college, and establishing
Fitzpatrick says perhaps the most important part of
TEN YEARS CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
“our reach and our impact
and our influence is felt
not only in the classroom
but far beyond it.”
mental issues, inspiring other researchers to follow.”
We are proud that Margaret Palmer and other graduates of our environmental programs are having such an
impact on the major environmental issues of the day.
You will also meet faculty members such as Jeff Twiss,
holder of the SmartState Endowed Chair in Childhood
Neurotherapeutics and a brilliant scientist, to boot. “Local
Boy Makes Good” would be a fitting headline for Twiss,
who lived many years in the Palmetto State while earning
his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at the Medical University
of South Carolina. Stints at Stanford, UCLA, and other
elite universities followed before we lured him back to
Carolina in 2013. Now Twiss is using his considerable
expertise — and the talents of several outstanding young
faculty members who have come here to work with
him — to seek cures for various neurological problems of
children and adults.
DEAN CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
Bearing Witness On
Mountaintop Mining
Few scientists acting as expert witnesses regularly take on
socio-environmental
well-funded coal-industry lawyers in court — and usually
systems that will inform
help win the case for environmentalists. Even fewer make
future policy making.
memorable appearances on The Colbert Report, the popular
In addition, as
TV comedy show that delighted audiences from 2005 until
a professor at the
late 2014.
University of Maryland
Margaret Palmer, an alumna of the University of South
in the Department of
Carolina’s College of Arts and Sciences, qualifies on both
Entomology and at the
counts.
University of Maryland
Palmer, who earned her doctorate from the Marine
Center for Environmental Science, Palmer oversees a large
Science Program in 1983, started out studying microscopic
research group focused on watershed science and restora-
invertebrates that live in ocean waters, later applying
tion ecology.
that knowledge to freshwater streams. Today she has
Growing up in a working-class family in Greenville, S.C.,
become “perhaps the highest profile scientific opponent
Palmer loved to play in the nearby Appalachian creeks and
of companies involved in mountaintop removal,” accord-
streams. Granted a full scholarship to Emory University, she
ing to Science magazine. She also directs the National
earned a bachelor’s degree there and then moved on to the
Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, a $27.5 million
University of South Carolina.
research center engaging scientists to develop research on
Her years at Carolina were wonderful ones, Palmer says,
MINING CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
2
SPRING 2015
Teaching Art and Helping the Community, Too
As a child, Karen Heid loved art. “I would wake up on
Saturday mornings wondering what I could make that day,”
she remembers. After high school and college, however, she
Association. In 2011 she won the South Carolina Literacy
“I saw the book as a vehicle
Champions Award from the South Carolina Educational
Oversight Committee, and later that year she also won an
decided to follow in her dentist father’s footsteps and became
to implement teaching,
award from the superintendent of Richland School District
a dental hygienist, practicing for more than 10 years.
art making, and service
One for her work in schools.
In the early 1990s, however, Heid returned to her first
love. She began teaching local art courses, along with
learning.”
In addition to her teaching, service projects, and private
artwork, Heid has for the first time illustrated a book. Titled
classes at art camps, theater camps, and puppet camps. She
“Katie’s Cabbage,” the book tells the true story of Katie
opened her own freelance studio in Dalton, Ga., special-
Stagliano, then a third grader from Summerville, S.C., who
izing in commissioned works of art and art lessons.
grew a 40-pound cabbage in her backyard and then started
Then in 1995, Heid earned a B.F.A. in painting and drawing at the University of
a national youth movement “aimed at ending hunger one vegetable garden at a time.” The
Tennessee, followed in 2001 by a master’s degree in secondary education. She has taught
book was published in December 2014 by the University of South Carolina Press. (See
art in local elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as at the University of Georgia,
story, back cover.)
where she earned her Ph.D. in art education in 2004.
“Art is my life,” her website reads today. “Teaching is my existence. Teaching art … is at
the core of my very being.”
Heid accepted a position in 2004 as an assistant professor of art education in the School
of Visual Art and Design at the College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Carolina.
“I don’t get a chance to paint very often, and so, when I was asked to be the illustrator for
‘Katie’s Cabbage,’ I jumped at the chance. I saw the book as a vehicle to implement teaching, art making, and service learning. Katie is an amazing young lady and a role model for
young people.”
The actual work, says Heid, took a couple of years. “It was a learning process since I had
Now, as an associate professor, she teaches future K-12
never illustrated a book before. I would absolutely do it
teachers how to teach art in the schools. “Teaching art is only
again, but it was the hardest thing I have ever done.”
one aspect of learning to become an art teacher,” she says.
Heid retained the oil paintings used to illustrate the
She also deeply believes that teachers who engage in service
book; they have been framed and matted with the financial
learning in their classrooms help broaden a sense of empathy.
help of College of Arts and Sciences Dean Mary Anne
Service learning is a strategy that combines meaningful
community service with instruction and reflection as a kind
Fitzpatrick.
She now plans to invite elementary schools to exhibit the
of civic responsibility. “I want them to see how we can use
27 paintings at their schools or in their media centers and
art as a means of learning to care,” Heid explains, acknowl-
libraries. She has been to several schools already to talk
edging the philosophy of famed educator Nel Noddings, who
about her illustrations. Several museums and galleries that
believes that empathy and care are central to the cultivation
are especially attuned to children have also expressed an
of education.
interest in procuring the works for exhibition.
Heid has received numerous grants over the past 15
Always the teacher, Heid is developing lesson plans to ac-
years to help hone her own skills and that of her students in
company the images that can be used in math, social studies,
integrating art beyond the classroom in a community-based
and art classes to help teach the story of “Katie’s Cabbage.”
art education artwork. In 2010, she and her students raised
some $50,000 to create a wondrous mosaic garden at A.C.
Moore Elementary School in downtown Columbia.
She encourages her undergraduate and graduate students to participate in all kinds
of civic engagement and service learning projects at schools and other venues. “There is
something everyone can do to help others and support communities,” says Heid.
In recognition of her teaching and service learning projects, Heid in 2009 was
named Higher Education Art Educator of the Year by the South Carolina Art Education
In her spare time, Heid helps her husband, Zach
Kekehear, an associate dean in the College of Education,
care for the bee hives that grace their backyard in downtown Columbia. The couple sells
their raw organic honey under the label “Z’s Bees.”
Curiously, Heid discovered recently that a great-grandmother whom she had never known
— and who her family erroneously thought had died in childbirth — was actually an art
teacher and accomplished painter in Chicago in the late 19th century. “We recently discovered some of her paintings in Chicago,” says Heid. “The funny thing is, I paint just like her!”
3
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA • ARTS & SCIENCES • IN FOCUS
DEAN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Jeff Twiss has been recognized as a leader in his field for more
than 20 years, continually receiving substantial grant support for
his research from organizations such as the National Institutes
of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Christopher
Reeve Paralysis Foundation, and the Michael J. Fox Foundation
for Parkinson’s Research. We are so pleased to have him and his
wife, neurogeneticist Carolyn Schanen, back home.
We also introduce you to Associate Professor Karen Heid, an
art educator extraordinaire who not only teaches future teachers how to teach art, but also uses her talents to help our local
communities. Elementary, middle, and high schools; cities and
towns; and our own colleagues at the university level have all
been the recipients of her artistic skills.
Heid also encourages her students at Carolina to participate
in all kinds of civic engagement and service learning projects
at schools and other venues. It is her way of giving back and of
helping her students learn the importance of being part of the
community and helping others.
Matthew J. Greenwold is the postdoctoral scholar whom we
are highlighting this spring. He is one of approximately 89,000
“postdocs” nationwide — individuals with a Ph.D. who are en-
Studying the Evolution
of Birds, Feathers, and
“Jurassic Park”
gaged in mentored research and scholarly training to help them
acquire the necessary professional skills to obtain a permanent
position. Postdocs are extremely important in fueling scientific
enterprise, and we are lucky to have a postdoctoral scholar of
Matthew Greenwold’s caliber in our research labs.
Finally, you will meet Micah Thomas, a senior from Camden,
S.C. After he graduates in December, Thomas plans to enter the
Master of Arts in Teaching program at Carolina and then become
If the 1993 film “Jurassic Park” were remade today, the cunning and vicious velociraptor, which played such a
a high school teacher, with a special focus on African-American
prominent role in the movie, would have to be depicted with feathers. “We’re learning that many dinosaurs had
history.
feathers,” says Matthew J. Greenwold, pointing to recent fossil discoveries in Siberia and China.
Greenwold, a postdoctoral scholar (“postdoc”) in the Department of Biological Sciences, is carrying out research
on the evolution of feathers and birds. Birds, according to fossil evidence, descended from dinosaurs.
Greenwold is one of an estimated 89,000 postdocs involved in research in the United States. (A postdoctoral
Having young people who want to come to our university to
study history and African-American studies, and then become
teachers themselves, is very exciting for us. It is exciting because
our students are learning from the best: professors such as
scholar is an individual holding a doctoral degree who is engaged in mentored research and/or scholarly training
Val Littlefield and her colleagues who have received national
in order to acquire the professional skills needed to obtain a permanent position in industry or academia.)
recognition for the work they have done in creating core national
A Columbia native, Greenwold as a child spent summers with his grandparents in the country — watching
birds, catching snakes, and enjoying nature. After graduating from Chapin High School and completing a stint
in the Navy as an aviation machinist, his interest in nature led him back to the classroom. He earned a bachelor’s
degree in biology in 2006 from the University of South Carolina and a Ph.D., also in biology, in 2011.
During his undergraduate days, Greenwold attended a lecture about feather evolution given by Dr. Roger
Sawyer, professor of biological sciences and now executive dean in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Greenwold was hooked. Since 2011, he has worked with Dr. Joseph Quattro and Professor Sawyer as a
postdoctoral scholar.
In December 2014, Greenwold was one of the authors of a paper published in a special issue of “Science”
magazine about avian genome evolution and adaptation. “That was two years in the making and the result of a
national and international collaboration” of more than 100 scientists and researchers, explains Greenwold. He was
also the lead author on a companion paper published in “BMC Evolutionary Biology.”
Greenwold isn’t interested solely in academic questions relating to the evolution of feathers and birds. He has a
real-world goal, as well: figuring out how to use the feather properties of birds (for example, feathers are both stiff
and flexible) to make better materials for airplanes and a variety of other objects.
“We want to use what nature has created over hundreds of millions of years of evolution and see what we
can do with that,” he says. Greenwold and other lab partners are working with engineers, mathematicians, and
scientists on the project.
“We want to use what nature has created over
hundreds of millions of years of evolution and see
what we can do with that.”
In addition to his lab work, Greenwold has developed a new undergraduate course — a general biology class for
nonmajors — that was offered totally online during the spring 2015 semester. Online courses, he says, “have a lot
of advantages. For students, especially nontraditional students who are returning to college at an older age, it gives
them the flexibility to continue their jobs and also go to school. And they are able to do the course work on their
own time.”
His postdoc in the College of Arts and Sciences has been “really valuable,” Greenwold says, but after more than
three years he is ready to try his wings and is applying for full-time academic positions at other institutions. In
the meantime, he continues his research and teaching on the Columbia campus (“I love the traditions”), and he
ceaselessly supports his beloved Gamecocks.
“I have loved the Gamecocks since I was a little kid,” he says. “I am a longtime USC fan and a very, very
devoted Gamecock.”
standards in African-American history for students in grades
K-12.
In a few years, Micah Thomas will be bringing the latest work
in this area back to students across the state, and this is core to
our mission.
4
SPRING 2015
Developing Strategies to
Repair Injured Nerves
Jeff Twiss was born in Mississippi, grew up “all over the Southeast,” and spent 10 years in
Charleston, S.C., earning his undergraduate degree at the College of Charleston and his
M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at the Medical University of South Carolina.
head of the Department of Biology at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
In 2013, he and his wife, Carolyn Schanen, a neurogeneticist, came back to the South
when he accepted a SmartState endowed chair at the University of South Carolina. (Carolina
Now, after more than two decades on both the West Coast and East Coast, he is back in
is one of three research universities in the state that offer endowed chairs to world-class
the Palmetto State as a professor of biological sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences
research scientists and engineers who aim to make a difference in economic development
and holder of the SmartState Endowed Chair in Childhood Neurotherapeutics. Developing
and entrepreneurship, education, and the state’s quality of life.)
new strategies for the repair of nerves, the brain and the spinal cord after injuries through
The funding that accompanies a SmartState chair “gives us some freedom in terms of be-
accident or disease is the mission of Twiss and his lab team, which consists of postdoctoral
ing able to ask new questions,” says the affable Twiss. It also allows chair holders to recruit
fellows, research associates, and graduate and undergraduate students.
additional faculty. Two new faculty researchers came on board earlier this year: one studies
“How the nervous system regenerates, and how we can
make that better, is what our team focuses on,” explains
Twiss. “Our work aims to restore neural function by finding
means to improve regeneration of axons.” Axons are nerve
fibers that transmit information to different neurons,
muscles, and glands.
Twiss, whose research program has centered on under-
the development of neural connections, and the other
“Our work aims to restore
neur al function by
finding means to improve
regener ation of axons.”
studies neural connectivity in autism.
The SmartState funding, says Twiss, “brings together a
group of people like this that can really focus on questions
and interact. So the group is much more than the sum of its
parts.”
Twiss’s lab is always a hive of activity, with eight full-time
standing the intracellular signaling and molecular mecha-
researchers and several undergraduate students who come
nisms of neural repair, has always had a special interest in
and go. “It’s a remarkable opportunity,” says Twiss, for
childhood diseases. (Youngsters can repair their nervous
undergraduates to be able to spend 10 to 12 hours a week in
systems much better than adults.) He also maintains an interest in neurodegenerative
diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
After clinical training in neuropathology and postdoctoral work in neurobiology at
the lab for two years, sometimes taking on their own projects.
For more than 20 years, Twiss has continually received substantial grant support for his
research from well-known organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, the
Stanford University Medical School, Twiss started his own laboratory in the Department
National Science Foundation, the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, and the Michael
of Pathology at UCLA.
J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
In 2002, he was recruited to head the Neuroscience Research Laboratory of the Nemours
Coming back to South Carolina, where his wife grew up, has been a happy experience,
Biomedical Research Institute at the Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington,
Twiss says. The couple keeps a sailboat in Charleston and spends their spare time enjoying
Del., where he also held an appointment at the University of Delaware. In 2009, he became
their two dogs.
5
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA • ARTS & SCIENCES • IN FOCUS
Civil Rights, Desegregation, and
Preparing to Teach High School History
Micah Thomas doesn’t watch much television. “It
distorts your perception of reality,” he explains.
Instead, Thomas reads, and reads, and reads some
Cooper, a former high school history teacher herself, she “made
“If we want to be called the
United States of America,”
more. “I love to read,” he says. “To me, reading is fun.
When you read a lot, you’re educating yourself and
getting a good perspective on life.”
Micah Thomas came to the College of Arts and
Sciences from Camden, S.C., nearly four years ago
intending to study geography. Instead, he will gradu-
able,” he says. “So the only question is: Do you want to learn?”
the same statement, we have
to learn to live up to those
“My Dad has taught in middle school and high
The vast library resources on the Columbia campus also get
the Pledge of Allegiance,
in African-American studies.
plans to become a high school history teacher.
She has educated me on so many issues.”
high marks from Thomas. “There is so much information avail-
ate in December with a B.A. in History and a minor
After completing the Master of Arts in Teaching pro-
motivation. I was thinking, but I wasn’t completing my thoughts.
says Thomas, “and repeat
and tell our kids to repeat
gram at Carolina that he will enter in 2016, Thomas
me want to strive to be smart. Dr. Cooper has given me so much
standards. We have to live
up to our name.”
Thomas has enjoyed his years at Carolina. “I’ve been given a lot
of great opportunities and developed some great relationships. I
definitely have enjoyed my stay here, although I wish it could be a
little longer,” he says with a smile, “because I have to go out in the
real world soon and be an adult.”
At Blythewood High School outside Columbia this spring,
Thomas began trying out those “adult skills” as a practice teacher
of black studies.
school, and my Mom has taught in middle school,” he
In his spare time, Thomas plays tennis (“it teaches you that
says. “I have always been interested in teaching.”
when you’re in a difficult situation by yourself, you need your own
Thomas received a scholarship that was funded
analytical skills and your thought processes to get yourself out of
by M. Hayes Mizell, the South Carolina education/civil rights/desegregation activist, from
the African American Studies Program. Mizell’s papers (dated from 1952 through 2005)
that predicament”), runs (“it clears my mind”), and meditates.
What does he believe about civil rights — the area of interest that has been especially
are now on campus at the South Caroliniana Library, and Thomas is studying them as he
nurtured during his years at Carolina? “If we want to be called the United States of
researches school desegregation issues.
America,” says Thomas, “and repeat the Pledge of Allegiance, and tell our kids to repeat the
Thomas credits several dedicated faculty members, particularly Melissa L. Cooper and
Patricia Sullivan, for sparking his interest in African-American history, civil rights, and
women’s rights. Sullivan, he says, is “amazing — she’s like a walking textbook.” As for
same statement, we have to learn to live up to those standards. We have to live up to our
name.”
Happily, he believes that America is making progress toward that end.
Alumni News
Dr. Roxzanne B. Breland
(biology ’75) was recently
elected to chair the agency
board of the South Carolina
Vocational Rehabilitation
Department, which prepares
and assists South Carolinians
with disabilities to achieve
and maintain competitive
employment.
Cathy A. Martin (mathematics ’79) has joined the
Metro Atlanta Chamber as
vice president of economic
development responsible
for project development and
regional partnerships.
Michael D. DeSantis
(history ’80) retired from
his position as assistant
principal at Harry S. Truman
High School in Bronx, N.Y.,
after 30 years with the New
York City Department of
Education. He is currently
enjoying semi-retirement as
a high school football official
and baseball umpire in
Connecticut.
William K. Witherspoon
(biology ’81, J.D. ’91) has
been nominated to the
position of president-elect
of the South Carolina Bar.
He currently serves as the
treasurer of the bar. In 2014,
William received the South
Carolina Lawyer’s Weekly
Leadership in the Law award
for his service to the legal
profession.
Cynthia Conner (M.A.
anthropology ’89) has retired
from the Columbia Museum
of Art after 25 years as
registrar.
Matthew P. Wardrip
(theatre ’01) recently moved
to Amsterdam, Netherlands,
where he has taken a position
with Delta Air Lines as the
pricing manager for the
German market.
Antonio M. Cooper
(experimental psychology
’06) successfully completed
his doctoral degree in school
psychology from the School
of Education at Howard
University in December
2014. He has been a certified
school psychologist in the
District of Columbia Public
Schools system since 2012.
Patrick Robert Boyle
(marine science ’13) was
sworn in as a Peace Corps
volunteer. He has been
assigned to a project delivering sustainable water supply,
sanitation and hygiene
services in a mountain town
in Peru that has a population
of 600. Improved access to
clean water and sanitation
are high-priority community
needs with significant health
implications, particularly for
children. He will serve a total
of 27 months.
6
SPRING 2015
Join Us for Alumni
and Friends Weekend
at the Coast!
If reading InFocus profiles of our outstanding arts and sciences faculty ever makes you
wish you could go back to college at Carolina … if you’ve ever wished you knew more
about South Carolina’s natural history and cultural traditions … if your idea of the perfect
vacation is a weekend of fine dining and stimulating conversation with friends old and new,
then you owe it to yourself to join us for this year’s College of Arts and Sciences Alumni and
Friends Weekend at the Coast.
Held at the University’s beautiful
Belle W. Baruch Institute for
Marine and Coastal Sciences
in Georgetown, S.C., this year’s
alumni weekend will run May 29-30.
The cost for the weekend is
$180 per person, which includes meals,
course materials, and access to
facilities at the Baruch Institute.
Accommodations have been reserved
at Pawleys Plantation Golf
and Country Club.
Featuring sessions on topics ranging from art and archeology to poetry and ecology, the
weekend has become a popular event for alumni who want to reconnect with old friends
and make new ones. It is also a unique opportunity to learn about South Carolina’s culture,
history, and ecosystems. Popular previous sessions have included Major Trends in Southern
Literature, Making Sweetgrass Baskets, Nature Photography, Carolina Shag Dancing, and
Beach and Creek Ecology. All classes are taught by renowned members of the USC faculty
or by local experts in the field.
All alumni and friends of the college are invited, but with just 45 available spaces, the
Weekend at the Coast always fills up quickly, so we encourage you to reserve your space
soon. To register or to request more information, contact Ann Cameron at accamer@
mailbox.sc.edu or 803-777-9201.
For more information about the Baruch Institute, visit baruch.sc.edu.
7
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA • ARTS & SCIENCES • IN FOCUS
MINING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
TEN YEARS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
and not only because
emails since 2006. They
programs, connecting with alums, and connecting our
this is where she met her
failed.) Cool and unflap-
alums to our students has been one of the most excit-
husband, Michael Nussman,
pable on the witness stand,
ing, and one of most important, aspects of my job.”
who was also in graduate
she testifies in two or three
school in the College of
court cases each year.
Arts and Sciences. “Those
The plaintiffs for whom
She has tried to communicate to alumni — in the
United States and all over the world — that they are
always welcome at Carolina. New alumni boards have
years laid the foundation,
Palmer has testified have
been created, and Fitzpatrick travels abroad every 12
in a huge way, for my
won virtually every case,
or 18 months to meet alumni in places such as South
career,” she says. “I also had
slowing down mountaintop
Korea, China, Taiwan, London, Paris, and Toronto.
really exceptional mentor-
removal. “But what I have
“It is thrilling for us to reconnect with alumni abroad
ing from Bruce Coull [now
learned from being an
who haven’t been connected with us for a while,” she
distinguished professor
expert witness is that the
says. “A research university like ours is always a global
and dean emeritus of the
legal process is set up so
enterprise, and we have educated many people who
School of the Environment]
there is almost an infinite
came from overseas to study or who have gone abroad
and other faculty members.
number of iterations and
to work.”
They really took care of the
appeals that can go on.” So
graduate students and made
sure we were doing well.”
Palmer did her graduate research at Carolina’s
Belle W. Baruch Institute
for Marine and Coastal
Sciences in Georgetown,
“But what I have learned
from being an expert witness
is that the legal process is
set up so there is almost an
the battle continues.
In 2010, she was invited
Alumni can — and do — help the university in
myriad ways besides donating money, Fitzpatrick
stresses. Alumni can voice support for the university
to appear on The Colbert
in public spaces and in their local areas, help students
Report to discuss moun-
find internships, and return to campus to talk with
taintop removal. It was,
students about career possibilities.
she says, lots of fun and an
“We always have a wonderful turnout with the
infinite number of iter ations
unforgettable experience.
Carolina Action Network initiative,” Fitzpatrick says.
S.C. She still has memories
Alumni come from all over the state, for example, when
of “sitting on the pier that
and appeals that can go on.”
“He was a nice, normal guy.
Stephen Colbert is from
a show of support is needed at the South Carolina
went way out into the
South Carolina, you know,
General Assembly.
marsh to allow researchers
and he came in to chat with
to get access to different
me before the show began.
“We have friends who appreciate the quality of
what is being done at the college and at the university,
sites. As far as you could
He told me, ‘Your job is to reveal how much of a fool I’m
and they are willing to speak out publicly,” she says.
see, it was just marsh, undeveloped, with little tidal creeks
being.” (Colbert’s television persona was that of a pompous,
“This is extraordinarily important, and as dean, I feel
going through it. It was just beautiful and gave you such a
right-wing broadcaster.) Colbert, says Palmer, “is really
energized every day by the support our alumni have for
sense of peace. It was a gorgeous place to work.”
opposed to this kind of mining.”
our mission.”
She became involved in the mountaintop removal issue
Her appearance on the show had a striking effect. “It
With its excellent leadership team, its talented staff,
in 2003, when a small West Virginia nonprofit asked her
seemed to dramatically increase public interest in the
and the support of its alumni, the foundation is set for
to review the coal companies’ plans to create replacement
topic and in what the Environmental Protection Agency
an even brighter future for the college.
streams. (The Clean Water Act requires mining companies
was doing” to regulate mountaintop mining. It also led
to undertake mitigation projects of the small streams that
to Congressional hearings on the subject and to tougher
are obliterated and the larger watersheds that are polluted
oversight by government regulators.
from the rocky debris dumped into the adjacent valleys
Co-author of The Foundations of Restoration Ecology,
after the tops of mountains are literally blown off in order
Palmer has more than 150 scientific publications and
to access the coal.)
multiple ongoing collaborative research grants. Today she
Palmer was taken on a flyover of the area in question and
spends much of her time at the new SESYNC center in
was “so shocked at what it looked like that I ended up assist-
Annapolis, Md., which she has directed since its opening
ing as a scientific expert and have been doing it ever since.”
in 2011.
Based on the science and more than a decade’s worth of
The center is “a giant experiment,” Palmer has said.
extensive research, Palmer is convinced that mountaintop
Science magazine describes SESYNC as a place that “brings
stream mitigation cannot restore what has been lost. “And
together researchers from a broad diversity of disciplines,
so if that’s the case, the only thing you can really do is to
including economics and political science, to analyze exist-
stop doing it.”
ing data sets that could help solve environmental problems.”
Because of her doggedness on the issue and her stature
In the meantime, Palmer continues to bring attention to
in the scientific community, coal-company lawyers
the environmental havoc that results from mountaintop
regularly attempt to have her excluded as an expert
mining. We need something like another Stephen Colbert
witness in court. (They also tried once under the Freedom
show, she muses, “to remind people that it’s still going on.”
of Information Act to gain access to all of her university
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15092 UCS 4/15
Ending Hunger
One Garden at a Time
It all began with a cabbage seedling that Katie Stagliano
of Summerville, S.C., planted in her backyard seven
years ago.
The cabbage grew to an astonishing weight of 40
the experience of giving back
and knowing that they have
helped someone have a meal
who otherwise might not
have had one.”
grants for kids aged 9 to 16 who want to start their own
vegetable gardens for people in need in their own com-
donate it to help feed 275 people at a local soup kitchen.
munities. Today, there are 80 such gardens in 29 states.
Katie’s goal? To have 500 gardens in all 50 states. The
founder of Katie’s Krops (katieskrops.com), a nonprofit
bulk of funding for Katie’s Krops comes from sponsors
organization whose mission is to establish vegetable
WP Rawl (a grower of greens in Pelion, S.C.), Bi-Lo,
gardens of all sizes across the country. The harvests
Winn-Dixie, Opal Apples, Park Seeds in South Carolina,
are donated to feed people in need, as well as to inspire
and others. Katie’s fundraising events are limited due to
other young people to do the same.
time constraints on her busy schedule.
Katie Stagliano has become, in short, the leader of a
Katie has also written a charming children’s book,
national youth movement “aimed at ending hunger one
“Katie’s Cabbage,” published in 2014 by the University
vegetable garden at a time.”
of South Carolina Press and illustrated by Karen Heid,
A poised and articulate 16-year-old, she has been
a garden, they really enjoy
Katie’s Krops sponsors a variety of fundraising events
throughout the year. The profits go toward financial
pounds, and Katie, then nine years old, decided to
Today, Katie is a high school sophomore and the
“When young people start
just a really fun way to give back to the community.”
associate professor of art education in the College of Arts
featured on the NBC Nightly News as well as in
and Sciences at Carolina. (See story, p. 2.) “It’s really
numerous magazine and newspaper articles. She is the
surreal,” Katie says. “Ever since I was little, I’ve wanted
youngest recipient of the Clinton Global Citizen Award
to be an author.”
for Leadership in Civil Society, presented to her by the
actor Matt Damon in 2012.
Her life, she says, “is a balancing act.” In between
Katie hasn’t decided yet where she wants to attend
college, but she is certain that Katie’s Krops will continue
to play a major role in her life.
school work, sports (she is a competitive swimmer and
“Before my cabbage,” she says, “I never realized how
runs track), and socializing with her fellow teens, Katie
much one thing could change your life. It has opened my
tours the country, speaking about her organization and
eyes to the issue of hunger all across the country and the
about the power of youth service.
world, and it has connected me to so many wonderful
“When young people start a garden, they really enjoy
people and organizations. I don’t know that I would be
the experience of giving back and knowing that they
doing any of this right now if my cabbage hadn’t grown
have helped someone have a meal who otherwise might
to 40 pounds.”
not have had one. That feeling is so incredible, and it’s