engage furman magazine

15
engage furman volume 5 | issue 2

Upload: ryan-fisher

Post on 15-Nov-2014

117 views

Category:

Documents


1 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Engage Furman Magazine

engagefurman

volu

me

5 |

is

su

e 2

Page 2: Engage Furman Magazine

Admissions Ambassadors (left to right)

Brenaí Bell ’10, Psychology, Atlanta, Georgia;

J.T. Wilde ’10, Communication Studies,

Ocean City, Maryland; Lydia Rowe ’10,

Spanish/Communication Studies, Marietta, South Carolina;

John Schmidt ’11, ICP (Individualized Curriculum Program)

in Business, Communication Studies and Art,

Marietta, Georgia

Have a burning question about Furman? Visit <www.engagefurman.

com> or write to

<q-and-a@engagefurman.

com>. One of our

ambassadors will send you

a personal response, and we

might print it in the next

issue of EngageFurman!

from the editor

This magazine probably arrived at your house along with brochures, letters and

viewbooks from colleges across the country.

Several years ago, we produced a yearly viewbook for prospective

students—a 36 to 48-page booklet with facts and figures and beautiful pictures

of students on our stunning campus. But in an attempt to give you a more

realistic view of life at Furman, we began publishing EngageFurman three times

a year. You’ll find in it some of the same information you get in those traditional

viewbooks—application deadlines, lists of majors, facts about Furman, and

answers to frequently asked questions.

But you’ll also find real stories about students, faculty and alumni—like the

one about how Charlie Nagle’s translation of the memoir of a Salvadoran

revolutionary is getting published by the University of Texas Press. And

you’ll learn what Furman students love about living in Greenville. And

how a philosophy class (that meets at 7:30 a.m. in a Japanese temple)

has helped students deal with stress and “mental clutter.” And you’ll

find out what engaged learning is really about in a story about

Furman Engaged!, an all-day celebration where students

presented, performed and demonstrated for the Furman

community.

Take some time to read through EngageFurman.

Almost every story has a link to more information on

the web.

As realistic as we try to be, nothing takes the

place of actually visiting campus. So schedule a visit

to Furman and to Greenville. We’d love to show

you around.

Brad Pochard

Director of Admission

ask the ambassador

Will I have time to get involved in other things besides studying?

Brenai Bell: I’ve found it very easy to get

involved, and Furman definitely has a huge

variety of activities to pursue. I would suggest

finding out what you’re really interested in,

and choosing one or two activities that you

can commit to, rather than joining several

activities that you may not have time for.

Lydia: Yes! It all comes down to time man-

agement. I’m a procrastinator, am involved

in several organizations, and still have time

to have fun on the weekends. If you’re not

typically a stressed out person, you won’t be

here either.

John: Time is relative. You have it if you

make it. Being active on campus is encour-

aged (and almost all students are), but not

necessary. It’s all about how you manage your

time.

How are roommates chosen?

Lydia: You can request to live with some-

one, but if not you fill out a several page

survey that includes everything from your

height to music preferences. Furman then

matches you with someone who they think is

compatible with you. It’s a great system that

avoids bad housing situations.

John: There is a long comprehensive room-

mate form that you fill out prior to your ar-

rival to help housing place you with a suitable

roommate. You also have a choice to request

to live with someone you know instead of

a random roommate, but what’s the fun in

that?

J.T.: Freshman and transfer students fill

out a questionnaire before they come onto

campus with questions that range from

“Do you wake up early?” to “Are you

over six feet tall?” With this wide range

of questions, usually roommate pairs are

matched up fairly well due to their similar

answers.

What if I don’t know what I want to major in? Brenai: At Furman, you typically don’t

have to declare a major until the end of your

sophomore year. Being undecided can actu-

ally be beneficial because you can fullfil your

core requirements through math, science,

history, social studies, English, fine arts and

more. This provides an opportunity to identify

your interests.

Lydia: I went through several majors in my

first two years, but that is what is so great

about the liberal arts program. You’re able

to take classes from all sorts of fields as core

requirements that help you decide exactly

what you like to do.

J.T.: When I came to Furman, I had no idea

what I wanted to major in. I had the

opportunity to take classes in all different

fields and really see what interested me and

what did not. That really helped me figure

out what path I wanted to pursue and what

major would work best.

visitcampusand

engage

Isn’t it time we metat my place?

You’re about to make a committment

which will effect your entire life—

a decision which should not be

based only on electronic or print

information. A university has to “feel”

right—something that virtual contact

cannot reveal. That’s why you need

to visit Furman and find out what

”engaged learning” is really about.

Let’s set a date.

To schedule a visit, go to

<www.engagefurman.com/Visit>

or call 864.294.2034.

Find out if Furman is

the right choice for you.

1

Page 3: Engage Furman Magazine

news and notes

Broken recordsWhether he was

running cross

country in the

fall, indoor track

in the winter or

outdoor track in

the spring, Patrick

Morgan proved to

be a man for all

seasons. During

his senior year at

Furman, the 2009

graduate broke

the university’s

31-year-old record

in the mile run with a time of 4:05.90

at the Kentucky Invitational. One month

later at a Notre Dame meet, he lowered

the record by another 1.5 seconds with a

time of 4:04.45. He also posted personal-

best times in the 800- and 3,000-meter

runs and was named Southern Conference

Athlete of the Week during each of the

cross country and track seasons. Morgan,

a native of Danville, Ky., graduated with a

B.S. degree in Health and Exercise Science.

This fall, he will attend graduate school at

Appalachian State University, where he’ll

pursue a master’s degree in exercise science

with a concentration in cardiac pulmonary

rehab.

Liberian President speaks on campusLiberian President

Ellen Johnson

Sirleaf, known as

Africa’s “Iron Lady,”

visited the campus

this spring, where

she received an

honorary degree

and participated in

a conversation with

Furman president

David Shi. Her visit

was sponsored by

Furman’s Riley Institute and Water of Life’s

Global Pebble Project.

Furman students win Truman, Goldwater ScholarshipsBen Able ’10 from Saluda, S.C., has been

named a 2009 Truman Scholar. Able is

one of 60 college students from across the

nation to receive the highly competitive

Truman Scholarship, given annually to

students who have excelled academically

and are committed to careers in public

service. The Truman award provides up to

$30,000 for graduate study.

Christopher Turlington ’10, a chem-

istry major from Mills River, N.C., has been

awarded a prestigious Goldwater Scholar-

ship. Turlington was one of 278 sopho-

mores and juniors from around the nation

selected. Named for five-term U.S. Sen.

Barry Goldwater, the scholarship program

was established by Congress in 1986 to

address the need for outstanding students

to pursue careers in mathematics, natural

sciences and engineering.

Grant to fund student research in chemistryFurman is one of nine schools in the nation

awarded a Beckman Scholars Program

Institutional Award, a highly competitive

grant supporting scientific research by

undergraduates. The $77,200 grant was

awarded to the Chemistry Department.

This is the twelfth year of the Beckman

program, and Furman is one of five

baccalaureate institutions to have received

at least four of the awards over

the history of the program.

Men’s, women’s golf teams capture the conferenceThe men’s and women’s golf

teams captured the SoCon

championship this spring. The

men won their second straight

championship, earning an

automatic bid to the NCAA

tournament; the women

captured their 13th SoCon

Championship and made their 17th

straight NCAA tournament appearance.

Furman’s Cycling Team wins Division II team time trial at national championships For the second consecutive year, the

Furman Cycling Team returned from the

USA Cycling Collegiate Road National

Championships with a national title. The

Furman squad—Chris Butler of Hilton Head

Island, Spencer Beamer of Knoxville, Tenn.,

Kit Hunter of Brentwood, Tenn., and Craig

McKinney of Rock Hill—won the Division

II team time trial in May with a time of

37:03:13.

Six Furman teams recognized for academicsThe NCAA has

honored six Furman

athletic teams with

public recognition

awards for their

latest Academic

Progress Rate (APR)

scores. The Furman

teams cited are men’s

cross country, men’s golf, men’s outdoor

track & field, women’s basketball, women’s

indoor track & field, and women’s outdoor

track & field. These teams posted APR

scores in the top 10 percent of all squads

in their respective sports for the past four

years.

in this issue . . .

Furman by the NumbersWhy a Furman education is a wise investment.

Furman Engaged! The university’s campus-wide, day-long celebration of engaged learning takes the campus by storm.

Greenville: A Small City that Thinks Big What it’s like living in a ”microcity of the future.”

Realizing Body MindEnglish major Riley Kross takes us to a tranquil side of campus where students leave stress and shoes at the door.

Acts of ForgivenessA recent grad’s award-winning documentary of forgiving, rebuilding and triumph (reprinted from the Washington Post).

1 Green Furman + 1 Green Video = 5 Green Macs Five students team up on a film highlighting Furman’s environmental commitment.

Hot Shot Melissa Liebschwager stars in ESPN’s 21st Annual 3-Point Championship.

Interpreting the Voice of a RevolutionSpanish major Charlie Nagle’s language skills lead him to translating a Salvadoran revolutionary’s memoir.

7

10

12

16

20

22

24

Cover Story

engage furmanVolume 5, Issue 2

Published by Furman University

to provide prospective students with

information about and insight into

the engaged learning experience.

Furman University President

David E. Shi

Vice President for Enrollment

Bill Berg

Director of Admission

Brad Pochard

Associate Directors of Admission

Jeny Bishop Kerscher

Frank McClary

Laura Simmons

Admission Counselors

Michael Dostie Andy Waters

Tia Sullivan Libby Weith

Lindsey Walker

Furman University Admission

3300 Poinsett Highway

Greenville, South Carolina 29613–5245

[email protected]

864.294.2034 Fax: 864.294.2018

Furman University is committed to

providing equal access to its educational

programs, activities, and facilities to all

otherwise qualified students without

discrimination on the basis of race,

national origin, color, creed, religion,

sex, age, disability, veteran status, sexual

orientation, gender identity, or any other

category protected by applicable state

or federal law. For information about

Furman’s compliance with Section 504

of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and

the Americans with Disabilities Act

Amendments Act, contact the Disability

Services Coordinator, 864.294.2320,

3300 Poinsett Hwy, Greenville,SC 29613.

Printed on recycled paper.

FIND OUT MORE about Furman at <www.engagefurman.com>

5

2 3

Page 4: Engage Furman Magazine

Furman Engaged! A celebration of Engaged Learning“Engaged learning” has become a hot concept in

the world of higher education, but do you really

know what the term means? What exactly is the

“hands-on approach to learning” that colleges

are trying to sell you?

Just ask a Furman student. By conducting undergraduate

research, holding internships and participating in study away

programs, Furman students are putting the concept of engaged

learning into practice, and this past April, they got a unique

opportunity to showcase their discoveries.

Furman Engaged! sponsored by Furman Undergraduate

Research and Internships is the university’s first campus-wide

celebration of engaged learning. The event began on April 2 with a

keynote address, “Public Science Literacy in the 21st Century,” by

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman. The following day,

classes were cancelled and beginning at 9 a.m., students from all

disciplines presented, presided and performed in venues across the

campus.

Divided into eight overlapping blocks of time, there were 48

sessions that included panels, demonstrations, performances and

around 200 oral presentations. Approximately

110 posters and exhibits involving the work of about 170 stu-

dents were set up in the Herman W. Lay Physical Activity Cen-

ter and in Kohrt Commons in the Townes Science Center, and

about a quarter of the students were present during each session to

explain their research. An International Food Festival, planetarium

shows and a Paladin Nites performance were also a part of the day’s

events.

Well attended by both the public and the university

community (students included!), Furman Engaged! gave students

the opportunity to present their work in an academic conference

setting—a privilege usually reserved for scholars at the graduate

level.

Marianne Pierce, whose office of Undergaduate Research

and Internships coordinated the activities, said that Furman

Engaged! was “a great opportunity for younger students to see

what possibilities are available to them. Students can develop an

appreciation for what students in other majors learn.”

Grayson Price ’12 shared his experience in his on-line journal.

We’ve included his recap here.

engaged classroomfurman facts

Furman by the numbersWhat the statistics mean to you . . .

The headline of a recent story in USA Today

read, “4-year colleges graduate 53 percent

of students in 6 years.”

The story, which featured a report by

the non-profit think tank American Enterprise

Institute (AEI), went on to say that nationally,

just 53 percent of students entering four-year

colleges graduated within six years. The story

was based on data reported to the Education

Department by nearly 1,400 schools about

full-time first-time students who entered in fall

2001.

Furman’s four-year graduation rate of 81

percent puts us at the top of public and private

institutions deemed highly competitive in the

South. Before picking a college, prospective

students and their parents should thoroughly

examine the school’s graduation rate, the AEI

advises.

We’d agree with that. Most of the college

rankings look at graduation rates to judge the

effectiveness of institutions. They also look at

the retention rate (how many students come

back after freshman year) and alumni involve-

ment to determine if students have a positive

experience.

At Furman, 92 percent of freshmen return

for their sophomore year (the national average

for private colleges is 75 percent). And more

than 45 percent of our alumni give back to

Furman every year (as opposed to a national

average of 28 percent).

So what does all that mean for you?

Since 81 percent of our students graduate in

four years, students (and their parents) don’t

end up paying for five or six years of tuition.

And it means that our students are having a

good experience here—evidenced by the fact

that they come back and they stay involved as

Furman alumni.

41% head directly to graduate school

Out of that group...

42% enter a graduate program related to their major

18% head to law school

12% go to medical or dental school

7% go into other health-related programs

55–57% hit the job market (aided by the experiences they’ve had at Furman— internships, study away, research with professors — as well as assistance from Career Services)

What Furman students do after graduating:

5 engage furman4

Page 5: Engage Furman Magazine

Literally the entire day was filled with

presentations and performances. Here are the

ones that I went to (and trust me, there were a LOT more):

9 a.m. Classics: Translating the Venetus AMy seminar professor, Dr. Blackwell, and his Greek

students are busily translating the commentary on the

Venetus A manuscript. In case you don’t know, the

Venetus A is the oldest existing copy of The Iliad, and the

commentary along its margins has never been translated.

Cool.

10:30 Modern Languages and Literatures: Theater and Poetry Live! Recitations in Modern Foreign Languages

The Spanish department presented several readings

of Spanish sonnets from the Medieval, Renaissance and

Baroque periods of Spanish literature. Next up,

the French department presented a dramatic reading

of scenes from La Cantatrice Chauve (The Bald Soprano),

a French absurdist comedy. ‘Twas hilarious.

Finally, the German Department presented Aschenputtel

(Cinderella). Except, this was the Grimm’s Fairy Tale

version, which is not quite the same as the Disney

version. (Read: more gore.) I’ve got to say: I like it better

this way.

Lunch Furman University International Students Association’s International Food Fest

Our international students prepared food from their

homes. I got a plate piled high with Indian, Ghanaian,

Caribbean, Italian and several others that I can’t

remember. Needless to say, it was delicious. And free.

12:45 Chemistry: Student Research PresentationsBeing the science nerd that I am, I found the

presentations of student research really interesting. If

you don’t know, Furman has one of the best chemistry

departments in the nation, and the research that these

students are doing is on par with research that is done by

graduate students at other universities.

2:10 Music and Physics—Song to the MoonWith the renovation of the science complex, Furman now

has its own planetarium. So the Percussion Ensemble

teamed up with the Physics Department to present

Dvorak’s “Song to the Moon (Mesicku na nebi

hiubokem)” underneath the moon. This place is so cool.

As I said, this list doesn’t even come close to enumerating all of

the things that were going on. Turns out “engaged learning” isn’t

just rhetoric, it’s reality.

The Plant BanquetCan man live without meat? Yes, and quite

deliciously, I might add.

Professor Laura Thompson’s Biology 401

Applied Plant Science students demonstrated how at the

Plant Banquet which featured vegetarian dishes originating

from three of the cradles of agriculture: the Near East, the

Far East and North/South America. From ancient to modern

times, different cultures of the world have combined a grain

with a legume to create a complete amino acid set, aka, a

source of protein, from indigenous staples such as corn and

beans or tofu and rice.

As part of the their final exam, the

students were to required to host The

Plant Banquet, which involved planning

the menus, purchasing and preparing the

foods, creating the table decorations and

greeting guests.

The day’s fare consisted of healthy and tasty

dishes like falafel, edamame, vegetable stir-fry,

star fruit tart, tofu and rice, peanut brittle, black-

eyed pea cakes, fried okra, squash casserole and

sweet potato casserole.

And believe it or not, the food ran out

before the event was scheduled to conclude!

Study Away: A Global PerspectivePerhaps your college dreams include studying abroad and

learning about different cultures firsthand. You would

have enjoyed the Turkey Video Conference in Furman Hall.

Nineteen students, still in the middle of a nine-week trip

into the heart of the Mediterranean, shared their findings on

“Important Religious Sites in Turkey.”

Students from Religion and Communication Studies

travelled to Italy, Turkey and Greece to explore the

connection between ancient and contemporary religion

through archaeological research. Via satellite, the students

described their encounter with Istanbul’s magnificent

mosques—the Hagia Sophia and The Blue Mosque—which

directly face each other and compete for architectural

dominance, and they discussed the irony of Cappadocia

and the Gerome Valley’s underground churches hidden for

defense purposes yet still ornamented with columns and

pillars.

As the students provided personal anecdotes and

comments about the trip, it became apparent that they were

learning more than architectural facts. With each day spent

on study away, these students became more attuned to the

effects of globalization on societies other than their own.

More engaging events:

engaged classroom

“I’ve learned more about the foods we all eat and have a greater appreciation for the cultures that cultivated them into common foods in the global food economy.”

—Jason Williams’09, Biology 401 student

Grayson’s

Recap:

Furman Engaged!

“Here we were, witnessing globalization firsthand...two Americans in a Turkish taxi in Asia listening to the Call to Prayer through the window and ’Hotel California’ playing on the radio.”

—Leslie Follman ’10, Turkey Video Conference

76 engage furman

See the whole day’s schedule at <www.furman.edu/engaged/furmanengaged09.htm>

Page 6: Engage Furman Magazine

Here’s what others say about Greenville:In his new book, The 100 Best Art Towns in America: A Guide to Galleries,

Museums, Festivals, Lodging and Dining (2005/2009), John Villani singled

Greenville out as a hot spot for art, food and culture.

America’s Promise Alliance named Greenville one of the 100 Best

Communities for Young People (2007)

Forbes Magazine ranked Greenville as the second best small city in the

United States for business and careers.

The Miami Herald described Greenville as “an eclectic mix of today and yester-

day,” and a city whose “people are friendly and genuinely happy to have out-

of-town visitors. They smile as you pass them on the sidewalk and will eagerly

engage you in conversation if you have a question.” (2009) Greenvillians love a party, and outdoors provides the

perfect venue for events like Downtown Alive!, Artisphere, Taste of Greenville,

Studio Tours, Thursday-night Jazz, Concerts by the River and others.

greenville life

Greenville: a small city that thinks big

When you are choosing a college, location

matters. If you are looking for the energy

of a big city or for the ease of a small town,

Greenville, South Carolina provides the best of both worlds.

With a population of 440,000, the city sits at the foot

of the Blue Ridge Mountains and is about one hundred miles

from both Charlotte and Atlanta. Greenville’s lush cityscape

is embellished by forests, lakes and parks, and the downtown

area, product of a twenty-year rejuvenation program, is

a pedestrian paradise peppered with unique boutiques,

restaurants with world-renowned chefs and numerous

galleries and exhibits by local artists.

Sights and shows in a lively downtownIn Greenville you will find the best in entertainment,

shopping, dining, art, and of course—Southern hospitality.

From the panoramic view of the 355-foot suspension bridge

that overlooks the Reedy River Falls to the Peace Center for

Performing Arts that attracts Broadway performances like

Wicked, South Pacific and Chicago, people are constantly

about, enjoying all that this city has to offer.

Outdoor adventures all year roundGreenville’s climate is fantastic. Sure, it gets pretty hot in the

summer (note: not “dry heat”), but we do enjoy four distinct

seasons that make it possible to ski Cataloochee in the winter

and wakeboard Lake Keowee in the summer. You can also

take advantage of numerous outdoor events. Greenville

native and celebrity chef Tyler Florence hosts Euphoria, an

annual culinary extravaganza that will give you a taste of the

South, and more than twenty outdoor festivals and events

will be held downtown this year including Artisphere, the

Upstate Shakespeare Festival, Main Street Jazz and the USPRO

Cycling Championship. Thursdays March through September,

Downtown Alive! lures the town to Main Street for live

music. Travel a little further down Main, and you can catch a

Greenville Drive baseball game at Fluor Field. No matter what

blend of entertainment you crave, Greenville has something

to suit your palate.

An economy that’s on the upswing—in the midst of a global downturnBut there’s more to this town than good times and nice

weather. Greenville’s economy exploded with the textile

boom in 1920s, an industry that fueled the city’s growth

for nearly seven decades. Companies like Michelin, Hitachi,

Bowater and BMW were attracted to the area and have set

up sizeable operations in the Upcountry. With this foreign

investment and more than 200 internationally owned

companies, Greenville has a cultural and economic climate

that welcomes diversity and craves progress.

It’s a great place to live and work. The cost of living

is low and the quality of life is high. Greenville was named

Microcity of the Future by Regions Magazine, a designation

that is based on a city’s economic potential, human resources,

cost-effectiveness, quality of life, infrastructure, business

friendliness and promotion strategy. Regions described

Greenville as having “…the top economic potential of any

North American city of its size…” In fact, many Furman

students forge paths toward great careers through internships

with Greenville businesses or by making connections with

Greenville’s business leaders through professional associations

or community events.

All can enjoy strolling

across Liberty Bridge,

which spans the Reedy

River, connecting two

sides of Falls Park. The

park hosts Shakespeare

in the Park, concerts,

dining on the riverbank

and seasonal events.

The Peace Center

brings Broadway shows,

world-renowned dance

troupes, musical artists

and other wonderful

performances to town.“Outside of Europe, I’ve never seen such

a cosmopolitan small city. It’s a gem.” —Competitive Cyclist (2009)

When you visit Furman, be sure to explore Greenville—the small city with the big personality. 98 engage furman

Explore more of Greenville at <www.greenvillecvb.com>

Page 7: Engage Furman Magazine

Your professor rings a small gong. Class has begun and still no

words are said. For the next 50 minutes it is fourteen degrees

outside, but you have been taught to not feel the cold. You don’t

talk; you breathe deeply and deliberately. You clear your mind. You

meditate.

Through the class period, you feel the sun rise and hear the

day awaken. A distant waterfall echoes through the silence, and

birds chirp outside the temple window. Over the course of the

semester, you meet the changing of the seasons. The snow melts,

spring brings warmer mornings, and the whole time you are there,

just breathing.

What may sound like an other-world experience or a scene

out of a kung-fu movie has become a recent reality for Furman

students. Few college courses require the purchase of a plain

white martial arts dogi as a class uniform. Even fewer classes

spend one-fourth of their class time in complete silence.

However, few college courses are like Furman’s new

Philosophy course “Realizing Bodymind: Development of

Whole Persons.”

The word Bodymind is a literal translation of the

Japanese word Shinshin, which represents a concept

we do not have in English. Shinshin, or Bodymind, is

the unification of mental and physical experience into a

singular philosophy. By uniting the physical and mental

aspects of a health and exercise science class with the study

of a philosophy class, Furman is opening new doors for

students’ self discovery and understanding.

This newly offered philosophy class is

teaching Furman students to unify mental

and physical experiences through the

study of Asian philosophies, Ki-Aikido and meditation. Through

the class the students will gain a more holistic view of fitness and

overall wellness that includes the mental, physical, social and

spiritual. Attempting to engage and go beyond the demands of

academic study, “Realizing Bodymind” requires not only an atypical

classroom, but professors who are accomplished in some unique

fields and students who are ready to experience what they can’t be

taught.

The Furman professor behind “Realizing Bodymind” is

Professor David Shaner, whose

reputation around campus whispers

what many may consider mere stories

and myths. Tales of Olympic ski

teams, training security professionals

in Las Vegas, serving as a deputy

sheriff in Aspen, and sharing the

art of Ki-Aikido with a Japanese

emperor do not seem realistic. And

yet, Shaner, the 7th degree blackbelt,

author, professor of 27 years, head

of Furman’s philosophy department,

senior member of Furman’s Asian

studies department, chief instructor

of the Eastern Ki Federation, and

principal of a corporate consulting

organization is very much real,

walking around campus in his dogi

and flip-flops.

In combination with Shaner’s expertise in Asian philosophy

and martial arts is Professor Mark Stone, a 5th degree blackbelt who

Realizing Bodymind by Riley R. Kross ’10

Professor Shaner’s class meets in an authentic Japanese temple reconstructed on campus.

5th degree blackbelt Professor Stone and

Aikido master Shaner teach marshal arts.

Imagine waking up before sunrise, walking

past piles of snow, watching your breath

rise before your wind-reddened face. Upon

arriving to class, you bow to your professor,

enter an unheated Japanese temple, and

silently take your place on the floor next to

your fellow classmates. The smell of incense

fills the wooden room. No words are spoken.

engaged classrooms

(continued on next page)

10 11 engage furman

Page 8: Engage Furman Magazine

Aikido is not used as a form of

combat. Instead, the art form is a pure

study in self-defense that uses one’s energy

to positively influence another person.

In “Realizing Bodymind,” this discipline

is part of a larger goal of unifying the

students. “Realizing Bodymind’s” class

experience enables the students to not just

intellectually interact but also physically

interact through Aikido. “In class the

students require each other,” says Shaner.

And according to senior psychology and

Spanish double major, Lily House, Aikido

allows you to “realize your connection, not

your separation, to others.”

While the students are being

empowered through “Realizing

Bodymind,” Shaner is “having a ball

teaching the class” and “hopes that

many people who would like this kind

of experience will fully embrace it

because the class can be a life-changing

experience.” As a whole, Furman’s new

philosophy class is pretty different in many

ways. It is not every day that you get to

learn Shinshin in a Japanese temple from

a world renowned Ki instructor, but that’s

just “Realizing Bodymind.”

One of the classrooms for “Realizing Bodymind: Development of Whole Persons” is the Japanese temple that has been

recently added to Furman’s campus. The former Buddhist temple and Asia Garden that sits adjacent to it are known as The Place of Peace. Furman was given this rare and special gift by the Tsuzuki family of Nagoya, Japan through the Tsuzuki’s connection to Furman professor David Shaner, who taught Aikido to a family member many years ago.

Transporting the temple from Japan was no easy process. Brought over in more than 2,400 pieces, special wood-braced containers were created to keep the original temple pieces safe during the voyage. Arriving in Greenville after a trip through the Panama Canal and an entry into the Port of Charleston, the temple was reconstructed by 13 specialized artisans from Japan.

The precision and skill by which the temple was carefully transported and reconstructed emphasizes the sacredness of such a building, a sacredness and uniqueness that marks this temple as the only structure of its kind in the United States.

After the dedication ceremony on September 5, 2008, The Place of Peace now serves as a symbol of Furman’s commitment to its quickly growing Asian Studies Program and to environmental sustainability.

The temple uses no electricity or heating and is made of incred-ibly hard, durable and long-lasting Keyaki wood. Also, the temple is built in such a way that it can be taken apart and reconstructed without having to throw away a single part.

Along with its sustainability, The Place of Peace is in harmony with its Furman environment. The entrance to the temple is in line with the waterfall of Furman’s Asia Garden, which is back-dropped by the rising and rolling Blue Ridge Mountains. On Furman’s campus, the temple is literally a beautiful piece of Japan transported right into the foothills of South Carolina.

engaged classrooms

assists Shaner and has practiced Shinshin Toitsu Aikido for over

18 years. However, much of what is to be learned by the students

in “Realizing Bodymind” can not be read or spoken; it has to be

understood. As said by Shaner, he and Stone can only “give the

students the tools that will lead them to being the best that they

can be, operating with their full Bodymind potential.”

This full Bodymind potential is an example of Furman’s liberal

arts education and a blending of academic dis-

ciplines. Many tools of the class include a variety of

philosophical and religious texts like Hinduism’s The

Bhagavad-Gita, the Chinese classic DaoDeJing, and

Buddhism’s Shobogenzo, which are studied in junc-

tion with Furman’s standard Health and Exercise Sci-

ence text Fit & Well. Each of the texts is approached

with a rigorous academic agenda. However, the

academic material, which explores Asian philosophi-

cal traditions where health, wellness and personal

development begin with the mind, is married to the highly experi-

ential emphasis of the class. “Mindfulness Meditation” is thus not

only the object of academic study, it is also “the seed for a new

way of organizing one’s life and experience,” says Shaner.

For Asian studies major Philip Martin ’09, “It’s hard not

to experience what you are studying” when three out of four

class days each week are spent either mediating or practicing

Aikido. Many of the students in “Realizing Bodymind” are finding

the experiential aspects of the class to be empowering and life

changing. According to Martin, “you realize how busy your mind is

when you are quiet in a room where nothing is going on.”

Clearing your mind to meditate can be a more difficult

process than expected. In our culture, life is busy and there is

always something going on or something to think about. Shaner

tells his students that “we are used to washing our body, but

we forget to wash our mind.” Learning to meditate in class has

become a means by which the students deal with stress and the

mental clutter life can bring. Many, having realized the practice’s

positive effects in their life, are choosing to meditate outside of the

required class time.

A senior math major and cross country runner,

Joseph Tenini has started using the meditative

breathing techniques he learned in “Realizing

Bodymind” to prepare himself for races. Tenini

says that the meditation places him “in a right

and positive state of mind,” one in which he

understands “not in terms of conflict, but in terms

of opportunity.”

In addition, the meditative practices have

also taught the students to not feel cold. Two

weeks into the semester, students in “Realizing Bodymind” were

meditating in their thin white dogis in fourteen degrees Fahrenheit.

After that experience, according to Shaner, the students have

learned “to embrace their connection to the environment in such

a way that their bodies need never feel cold for the rest of their

lives.”

The Aikido portion of “Realizing Bodymind” furthers the unity

between physical actions and mental conditions. After practic-

ing Aikido for 18 years, Stone claims the art has created a level of

calmness in his life by enabling him to realize “a presence in things

as they are.”

“Aikido allows you to realize your

connection—not your separation

—to others.”

Learn more about the Place of Peaceat <www.furman.edu/placeofpeace>

(continued from previous page)

12 13

Page 9: Engage Furman Magazine

“Reconciliation,” she adds, her wide green eyes

peering across the hall as she curls a finger into her

drooping gold flip-flop, picking at the hard skin of her heel.

“I think it’s one of the most challenging subjects anyone

can face. You choose to give up your right to hold that

against him.”

Him? You wonder to whom it refers. But then it

reminds you: She might not have tackled reconciliation

without the rings. She might not have made the film

without the breakup.

In 2001, she graduated from Furman University, where

she double-majored in political science and communication

studies. She then moved to Winston-Salem, N.C., for her

boyfriend, a psychological counselor at the time. She took a

lousy marketing job for a hospital corporation. He gave her

the ring. Then he dumped her.

Hinson was devastated and embarrassed. She had to

reimburse her bridesmaids and sell her gown on eBay. She

lost a ton of money and gave the ring back. And then she

decided to follow the “creative impulse running through my

veins” and come to Washington for film school, in 2003.

She’s at Silverdocs, talking to PBS execs, trying to get

her film seen. It wasn’t screened at the festival, but she’s

attending the conferences, with 650 other aspirants in

the documentary biz. The rings glint. She bounces in her

seat like the glowing child of serendipity, all tanned and

blondified in a white, military-style linen tunic and black

shorts. Her hair is short, her sleeves are rolled. Her lips pink,

her earrings purplish. She still seems like a little girl eager to

sit at the adult table.

“She wanted to do things we thought she wasn’t old

enough for,” her mom, Nina Waters, recalls by phone from

Destin, Fla. “She was interested in everything.” Growing up

in the Panhandle, Hinson pranced around filming tableaux

with her friend Ashley. They had one campy horror scene

featuring a body falling from a window and a shot of the

lifeless corpse on the ground.

Hinson also had the director’s impulse for

choreographing others. She collected costumes from thrift

shops and played little old men herself; one Halloween

she dressed football players in gowns. She hosted dinner

parties, requesting that invitees don formalwear.

“We were the cooks,” her mother recalls. “We’d wait

on them—they’d be smoking their fake cigarettes.” Hinson

was elected president of Fort Walton Beach High School for

three years.

Acts of Reconciliation

alumni

This article first appeared

in the Washington Post on

July 5, 2008 and is reprinted

here with permission.

A student filmmaker turns her lens on Rwanda and finds a personal truth reflected back at her

by Washington Post staff writer Gabe Oppenheim

In a way, it’s a story of those two diamond engagement rings.

Laura Waters Hinson ’01 sits cross-legged on a plush beige sofa

in the Discovery Channel building at the Silverdocs film festival,

flashing a brilliant stone on each hand, explaining how she got

here.

The 29-year-old won the top documentary prize at the

Student Academy Awards in Los Angeles for As We Forgive, her

film about reconciliation in Rwanda between survivors of the 1994

genocide and its perpetrators. Previous Student Oscar winners

include Trey Parker, Bob Saget and Spike Lee.

Hinson’s film, begun as an MFA thesis at American University,

captures victims’ meetings with their freed attackers. A decade

after the extermination of one in eight Rwandans, after the Hutus

turned on the Tutsis and even some of their own, the two tribes

had to learn to live together. (The government has released more

than 60,000 convicts connected to the genocide to ease prison

overcrowding, according to the BBC.)

In the film we meet Rosaria,

who pulls up the hem of her

dress to reveal mounds of raised

scar tissue running down her

legs. Hacked and beaten during

the genocide, she now lives in a

house built for her by Saveri, the

man who killed her sister. Another

survivor, Chantale, who lost 30

family members, meets John, the

stooped gangly man who killed

her father. He can’t face her; her

eyes are embers. “Remember all your old neighbors,” she says. Yet

the next day, Chantale begins working to build a house for another

ex-con who confessed his crimes. For Hinson, it was proof that the

“transcendent filters through every aspect of life” and also that

the world is really messed up.

14 15 engage furman

Page 10: Engage Furman Magazine

The story ultimately appealed to Hinson for its reversal

of the genre’s cliches. Instead of being a tale of African

ruin and our reluctance to help, it was a “tremendously

hopeful” picture of people learning to forgive in circumstanc-

es, she says, in which we never could. Hinson liked to believe

she herself had learned something.

Two weeks after leaving Rwanda, in August 2006, the

belief was tested. Her ex-fiance called, 4 1/2 years after their

breakup. “I feel kinda crazy,” she recalls him saying. “And I

still love you.”

Tom is the guy’s name. Today he says of the breakup:

“I was just terrified of that level of commitment. I had come

from a family that had kind of a bad marriage.”

He reconsiders.

“Ninety percent of it was me just being a very lame guy.

A child in a man’s body. Just a guy with a lot to learn.”

He visited her a month later. He had gone to a

nondenominational seminary in those silent intervening years,

studied to become a priest and all the while “worked with

a lot of trauma victims, a lot of people who were recovering

from some pretty hard stuff, rape victims.”

“I dealt a lot in the language of forgiveness,” he adds.

Tom had kept the first ring all that time. “I couldn’t get

rid of it. It was that weird kind of remote possibility sense

that maybe if I ever get my act together . . . .”

He gave it to her, and a second one. He bent down on

one knee in the old-fashioned way and asked the question. Not of nuptials, not at

first. There was a more pressing matter.

“I said, ‘Laura, do you forgive me?’ And she said, ‘Yes.’ And getting married was

almost the denouement, the anticlimax.”

Today Tom Hinson and Laura Waters Hinson live in the District, where several

documentary companies are based and where he pastors at two Anglican churches.

Laura graduated from American last year, and the Student Oscar got her thinking

about moving to Los Angeles. “It depends on what Laura wants to do in her career,”

says the man who gave and took away and gave again.

“Our marriage,” she says, “is built on forgiveness.”

Chantale, who lost 30 members of her family to the violence now helps build a house

for John—the person who killed her father.

Instead of being a tale of African ruin and our reluctance to help, it was a tremendously hopeful picture of people learning to forgive in circumstances in which we never could.

alumni

She’s religious now but wasn’t always. Raised Episcopalian,

Hinson says she didn’t get “serious” about it until after Furman,

when she joined the Anglican Mission in the Americas. That

group broke away from the Episcopal Church—rejecting its liberal

reforms—under the auspices of Rwanda’s church.

The link led her local congregation to plan a trip to Rwanda

in 2005. She didn’t sign up to go. She was frenzied, searching

for a suitable thesis topic. But one congregant dropped out and

a pastor urged Hinson to take the spot. When she got there,

she knew she had found her film. She came back and started

researching, planning to shoot in the summer of 2006.

She was so interested in the topic that she hosted a dinner

at Armand’s Pizza on Capitol Hill for a Rwandan bishop who

was working to facilitate reconciliation. There she met a fellow

American University student who was also planning on filming in

Rwanda in June. He and his friend agreed to shoot her movie, if

she’d provide room and board.

They also brought a Canon camera to add to the Panasonic

MiniDV the university had lent her. She found the translator,

Emmanuel Kwizera, through the Internet mailing list of a

Ugandan missionary who had just visited Rwanda. Kwizera

proved crucial to earning the trust of victims and killers, especially

since he was a survivor himself who knew four languages. “He

would go in first,” Hinson says, “elicit stories and then ask

whether they’d be involved.”

In 30 days, without permits, which Rwanda may or may

not require—“it’s not clear”— Hinson filmed 55 hours of

footage. She cut it down to 53 minutes on her Mac. Her Emmy-

winning composers charged her $8,000 for a score that would

usually cost twice as much. Two families from her church gave

her $18,000. Mia Farrow lent her voice to the narration, after

Hinson was introduced to her through the staff of a Virginia

congressman. The Rwandan president agreed to an interview on

the last day of shooting. Her total cost came to $25,000.

“This film typically would’ve cost at least a couple hundred

thousand dollars to make,” Hinson says. “It’ll never be like this

ever again. I know that, but people want to help when you’re a

student.”

Laura interviews

the president of

Rwanda for her

video.

16 17 engage furman

Learn more about Laura and her film at <www.asweforgivemovie.com>

Page 11: Engage Furman Magazine

What’s that? This spring, students noticed something rather

strange floating on the tranquil waters of

Furman lake.From a distance it resembled an ice

sculpture, but for the record, it’s a swan made of plastic water bottles. About 20 members of the Environmental Action Group (EAG) worked together to construct the replica to boost awareness about the environmental impact of bottled water.

“We want to show people that drinking bottled water is unnecessary,” said EAG co-president Andrea Triplitt. “Drinking tap water is a viable option. It’s not necessary to buy bottled water.”

As part of this awareness program, the EAG and the Cicero Society co-sponsored the viewing of the film, “FLOW: The Bottled Water Controversy.” Brendan O’Rourke, a representative

from Nestle Water Company, presented the other side of the issue in a talk after the film.

Triplitt said the plastic swan was

about twelve feet tall, eight feet

wide and made up of more than

2,000 water bottles.

sustainabiity

Putting together a movie is kind of a big deal—especially when

the movie you are putting together is for Apple and a national

organization promoting the American College & University

Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUCCP).

That’s what five Furman students were challenged with this

spring. In the midst of classes, studying and all the other things

we’re involved in, we had four weeks to create a short movie

illustrating why Furman signed the Presidents Climate Commitment.

The Presidents Climate CommitmentThe Presidents Climate Commitment is a document signed by

colleges and universities around the globe who pledge to eliminate

their campuses’ greenhouse gas emissions over time. This is not

a simple thing. It involves completing an emissions inventory,

setting a target date, choosing interim milestones for becoming

climate neutral, and taking immediate steps to reduce greenhouse

gas emissions. It also involves making sustainability a part of the

educational experience.

Furman President David Shi was one of the first signatories of

the commitment. At Furman, sustainability is a part of the strategic

plan; what that means to students is that through courses, speakers,

events, and even simple things like the presence of recycling

containers, we’re encouraged to think about what it means to live

sustainably.

Our missionThe ACUPCC Steering Committee, in collaboration with Apple,

asked for student teams from only four schools in the country to

interview their college’s or university’s president and create a video

explaining why that president signed the PCC. The video would then

be posted on the Chronicle of Higher Education’s website and on

iTunes for the world to see. The goal was to inspire other institutions

to become involved with the PCC.

Associate Professor Angela Halfacre, director of Furman’s

Center for Sustainability, approached the five of us: Jenni Asman ’11

(Mauldin, S.C.—neuroscience major), David Bruggink ’09 (Ozark,

Ala.—communication studies major), Lauren Farrar ’09 (Atlanta,

Ga.—communication studies major), Andrea Triplitt ’11 (Greenville,

S.C.—earth and environmental science major), and me (Grant Allard

’12, Maryville, Tenn.—individualized curriculum—sustainability) For

working on this production, Apple gave us new MacBook Pros and

Final Cut Pro editing software.

The processWe began our project with the due date looming only a few weeks

away, but nonetheless we all felt confident that we could do it. On

the first weekend in a late-night meeting we laid out a strategic plan

for the project and hammered out a production schedule. Everyone

gave something to the plan—David and Lauren helped those of

us less technically knowledgeable to understand what needed to

happen for video production, and Andrea, Jenni and I brainstormed

concepts that we thought should be included. Together we hatched

a plan.

We started our production the day after our planning meeting

by filming the Environmental Action Group’s launching of the water-

bottle swan onto Furman Lake, an activity celebrating World Water

Awareness Week. After this, Jenni began organizing interviews while

Andrea and I helped form interview questions.

When we were done with filming most of our footage and

interviews, we transcribed the interviews and began to construct

a script. We took shifts of watching video and writing down rough

transcripts of what was said. From those transcripts, we put together

a script to emphasize where Furman had come from, what the state of

sustainability is in the present, and where sustainability will lead Furman in

the future. David and Lauren then spent an overwhelming amount of time

making our rough visions come to fruition in order to produce a “rough”

version to show Apple and our own Sustainability Planning Council, the

university body that is responsible with planning for sustainability, in order

to get advice and comments.

David and Lauren had done a great job of producing the rough

version in a couple of days, but still we had work to do, including

filming more background footage and finalizing a soundtrack, as well as

doing some additional planning about points that we felt needed to be

expanded.

After these final interviews, David and Lauren crafted a final version

of the video and we turned it in. We all received personal emails from

President Shi and felt a great sense of achievement at what we had done.

We had spent four weeks working on little else but this video—a month

of our lives staying up late and getting up early to meet, share, discuss,

edit and film, and now we were done. We felt almost a sense of jubilation

come over us: our hard work and determination had paid off.

And now?Our team of students is excited to have our story out on iTunes. But

making this movie affected each of us in different ways. We met people

all over campus and learned a tremendous amount about sustainability

and the Presidents Climate Commitment. Lauren’s video experience led

her to a job with the university’s Marketing & Public Relations office

doing videography. Andrea, Jenni and I are now working with the Center

for Sustainability on campus as Mellon Sustainability Fellows (a funded

program for students involved with sustainability efforts on campus).

And despite all the late nights, the frantic emails and struggles to

keep all the balls in the air, we’ve all gotten more

interested in sustainability and are finding ways to apply

what we are learning at home, at school

and in our community. And isn’t

that really what education

is all about?

Left to right: Lauren Farrar, David Bruggink,

Jenni Asman, Grant Allard and (on floor)

Andrea Triplitt are all pretty excited about the

video and their new MacBook Pros.

1 Green Furman + 1 Green Video

To view our finished product, go to<www.engagefurman.com/PCC>.

18 19

= 5 Green Macs

Page 12: Engage Furman Magazine

“I was attracted to Furman because they

played Division I basketball, and I knew I’d get to

play against some pretty good teams,” she said.

“I don’t really think you can be prepared for the

experience of playing on the college Division I level,

especially at a school with tough academics like

Furman, but it was a great experience and I’d do it

over again the same if I had the choice.”

For Melissa, the ESPN competition proved the

perfect culmination to her basketball career.

“I’m pretty much done with basketball now,

and this is a great way to go out,” she said.

One of the advantages of coming to Furman,

says Melissa, is that basketball was only one part of

her college experience. She managed to graduate

with a 3.40 GPA and a double major in Biology and

Health and Exercise Science. She also pursued her

interest in the health field, interning last summer

with a free health clinic in Greenville. This experience

led her to apply to pharmacy school, which she will

pursue next year at the University of Tennessee.

She also has some wedding planning to do, as

she was recently engaged to fellow Furman athlete

Elliot Pascal ’08.

“This year has been my busiest yet, which

is why I was surprised when I won the shooting

competition,” said Melissa, “It’s funny how my most

hectic time was also my most successful.”

—Josie Sawyer ’08

I’ve practiced my 3-point shot a billion times. It’s just all about repetition and muscle memory.“

Melissa Liebschwager ’09 is used to

hearing the swish of the net when she

arches the ball from behind the three-

point line. Hitting 47 percent of her 3-point shots

this year, she was ranked number one for her shot

among Division I athletes.

Despite her stellar stats, Melissa never

expected the call she received this spring inviting

her to ESPN’s 21st Annual College Slam Dunk and

3-Point Championship.

“I had no idea that was a possibility,”

she said. “I got the call one week before the

competition, and then I was on a plane to

Detroit.”

The competition took place at the Palace at

Auburn Hills in Detroit, Michigan, where Melissa

competed against seven other top-ranked college

athletes from around the nation.

“There were some big-time players there,”

she said. “I was a little nervous at first, but when

I got to the gym and started shooting around, the

nerves went away.”

The rules seemed simple: The timer is set for

one minute. There are five marked spots on the

three-point line, and you get five shots at each

spot. The first four shots count one-point, and

the fifth shot, called the “money-ball,” counts

double. Add the pressure of live TV, an ESPN

announcer, and a roaring stadium, and you have

yourself a competition.

“That was the most people I’ve ever

performed in front of,” Melissa said. “I just had to

stay focused.”

Despite the distractions, Melissa sailed

through the first two rounds, knocking her

competitors out one by one. She sealed her

victory in the final round when she went head-to-

head with an athlete from Arizona State.

Though Melissa seems to have the magic

touch from behind the 3-point line, she says her

success results from a lot of hard work.

“I’ve practiced my 3-point shot a billion

times. It’s just all about repetition and muscle

memory,” said Melissa.

Melissa started perfecting her shot as a

child, when she and her dad would spend hours

at the gym shooting around.

“My dad taught me how to shoot,” she

said. “He would always rebound for me while I

practiced my shot.”

With her dad’s encouragement, Melissa

worked hard for the chance to play college

basketball and says Furman proved the perfect

place for her to continue her basketball career.

I don’t really think you can be prepared for the experience of playing on the college Division I level, especially at a school with tough academics like Furman, but it was a great exper-ience and I’d do it over again the same if I had the choice.

“”

athletics

20 21 engage furman

Watch the ESPN shoot out at <www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q705iw2z5dg>.

Page 13: Engage Furman Magazine

Recently, however, he used his language skills for another

purpose. He has given readers the opportunity to journey

into the heart of a revolution, an inside look at the struggle

to overthrow a military dictatorship in El Salvador.

His English translation of the memoir of Salvadoran war hero

Carlos Henriquez Consalvi soon will be published by the University

of Texas Press.

Professors who’ve worked with the Furman senior say it’s

rare for an undergraduate to have the patience and knowledge to

translate a book of such importance, let

alone have it accepted for publication by a

major university press.

Consalvi has quite a story to tell, one

that would make a blockbuster movie.

It would feature rebels hiding in the

hills of El Salvador, dodging bullets and

bombardments as they try to keep a radio

station up and running.

Known throughout El Salvador as Comandante Santiago,

Consalvi used words as a weapon during the 1981–92 civil war.

The Venezuela-born journalist was drawn to insurgencies in Central

America and became the voice of the revolution in El Salvador,

broadcasting from Radio Venceremos, the clandestine radio station

operated by the guerillas. The rebels used an old transmitter,

vintage World War II equipment. The equipment was always

breaking down, and they scrambled to find parts.“They would

broadcast twice a day at set times,’’ Charlie says. ``It was important

for them to broadcast at those times to inspire the people and to

let the government, as well as the people, know that they were

alive and well and hadn’t been defeated.”

Charlie, who comes from a small town north of Atlanta,

uses words to paint a picture of the guerillas carrying the radio

station’s equipment on their backs under enemy fire as they moved

to safer locations. They could broadcast to the entire country and

throughout Central America, and the station became not just an

alternative source of information but a symbol of

their struggle.``The people rallied behind this one

symbol and knew that if the symbol still stood, the

people behind it still stood,’’ Charlie says.

The Furman student says the book has

``a little bit of romance mixed in with the war.’’

There’s also an intricate plot to assassinate the

man responsible for an infamous massacre

reported by the radio station.

Today Santiago operates a museum in San Salvador, the

capital of El Salvador. He uses the Museum of Word and Image

to preserve the history of the revolution and other aspects of his

adopted country’s culture and history. Visitors can see a replica of

the radio station in one exhibit in the museum.

Through Furman professor Erik Ching, students at Furman

have gotten to work with Santiago. ``I came to know Santiago some

six or so years ago as part of my ongoing research on El Salvador,’’

Ching says. ``When I saw the work he was doing with his museum,

I realized it had the potential to be a win-win situation. He would

get input and help from our students, and they in turn would have

the opportunity to learn an enormous amount about the history

and politics of El Salvador.’’

Charlie, who has participated in foreign study programs in

Spain and Chile during his time at Furman, wanted to be an intern

at the museum. But he says the position went to Derek Gleason,

who graduated from Furman in 2007 and just completed his work

on a master’s degree in Latin American studies at Indiana University.

Nagle let his Furman professors know that he’d be interested

in future opportunities in El Salvador. So when Santiago wanted

someone to translate his book, Ching recommended that Nagle

spend the summer doing it.

Furman professor Bill Prince was Nagle’s adviser on the

project, and Nagle and Santiago communicated by email

throughout the translation process.

``Charlie accepted the challenge, and I agreed to oversee his

efforts,’’ Prince says. ``Although I made corrections and offered

some suggestions, he did most of the work.’’

Charlie knew the importance of the project and seized the

opportunity. ``There were outside accounts of what was going on

during the war, but no direct accounts,’’ he says.

Not surprisingly, to see his project about to be published

fills Charlie with immense pride. ``It’s exciting. It has been a long

process. The translation took a relatively short amount of time,

a few months. Then Bill Prince and I spent months and months

editing and looking it over,’’ he says.

``Dr. Ching sent the manuscript to different places. So it has

been a two-year period at this point. Having not been involved in

any publication process before, I didn’t know exactly how long it

would take. I guess I was starting to lose hope that it would be

accepted or published at all or even while I was at Furman,’’ Charlie

adds. He describes translation as mentally exhausting work.

``You can agonize over a sentence, a word, for an hour or

complete 10 pages in an hour. It just depends on the context

``It’s hard to capture not just the words

but the sense of the words, the flow

of the book and the emotion behind

everything especially if it’s a memoir.’’

Charlie working with Professor Bill Prince on Santiago’s memiors.

research and internships

Comandante Santiago with his wife

and son (hiding under sweater).

Rebels broadcast from World War II equipment

Interpretingthe voice of a revolution

At first-glance, Charlie Nagle doesn’t fit the description of a revolutionary. The Spanish major

at Furman is clean cut and polite. Soft-spoken Charlie chooses his words carefully whether

he’s talking or writing. During his four years at Furman, he’s been a volunteer translator at a

local free medical clinic and taught immigrants in an English as a Second Language program.

(continued on the next page)

22 23 engage furman

Page 14: Engage Furman Magazine

of what you’re translating,’’ he says. ``It’s hard to capture not

just the words but the sense of the words, the flow of the

book and the emotion behind everything, especially if it’s

a memoir.’’

Prince is proud of Charlie’s achievement.``The number

of undergraduate students in the entire country who could

do what Charlie did is extremely small,’’ he says. ``Charlie

is a remarkably talented language student who, lucky for

us, wants to teach here someday.’’ Charlie says he was paid

$3,000 for his work, but the experience was priceless.

And he’s come a long way since he first sat in

a high school Spanish class eight years ago.

``I was frustrated with it. Then I fell in love with Spanish

and decided it was the only thing I could do in life, my

one true passion,’’ he says. ``I really enjoy foreign language

and foreign culture, communicating with other people and

finding out their perspectives and how they live,’’ he says.

Adds Charlie, ``As a Spanish major or any language

major, you spend years and years honing your skills, and you

may or may not use them. For me, it’s definitely all about the

practicality of it, using it and learning more. Then anyway

I can interact to help people is always a plus.’’

Charlie has applied for a Fulbright teaching fellowship

to return to Spain. He hopes eventually to earn his doctorate

in applied Spanish linguistics, then teach at the college level.

He has a message for anyone who has ever lost out

on something in life, as he did on that museum internship

in El Salvador several years ago: Be persistent.

``For students looking for opportunities at Furman,

there are these things out there. You have to be willing to

ask and show that you merit the opportunity. You have

to do the leg work,’’ he says.

Background—A private liberal

arts university founded in 1826

and nationally acclaimed for its

academic excellence, Engaged

Learning program, Division I

athletics and campus beauty

Location—Greenville, South

Carolina (metropolitan popula-

tion 400,000), five miles north

of downtown

Students—2,600 under-

graduates from 47 states

and 47 countries

Faculty—230, 96 percent with

the highest degree in their field

Student-to-Faculty Ratio —11:1

Average Class Size—18

Campus—750-acre campus

with lake; 36 major buildings

including 490,000-plus volume

library; newly renovated science

complex with more than $6

million of scientific equipment;

2,000-seat auditorium; music

complex with recital halls and

technology lab; physical activities

center with workout facilities;

chapel; 16,000-seat football

stadium; tennis center; soccer

stadium; and 18-hole golf course

Sports—One of the smallest

NCAA Division I schools in the

nation, Furman fields 17 men’s

and women’s teams, as well as

16 club sports and a host of

intramural teams.

Honor Societies—Phi Beta

Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa,

Phi Eta Sigma, and numerous

departmental honoraries

In 2008, the Office of Admis-

sions received 4,600 applications

for a freshman class of just over

700. Admitted students typically

displayed an academic record

that included advanced courses

with strong grades and test

scores that fell within the

mid-50 percent range of

1200–1380 on the SAT and

26–31 on the ACT. Furman uses

the Common Application

exclusively.

Majors and ConcentrationsAccounting

Art

Asian Studies

Biology

Black Cultures in the Americas*

Business Administration

Chemistry

Classical Studies*

Communication Studies

Computer Science

Computer Science–Mathematics

Earth and Environmental Sciences

Economics

Education

Early Childhood Education

Elementary Education

Secondary Education

Special Education

Engineering (dual degree)

English

English for Speakers

of other Languages*

Environmental Studies*

French

German

Greek

Health and Exercise Science

History

Individualized

Curriculum

Program

Information

Technology

Latin

Latin American Studies*

Mathematics

Mathematics–Economics

Music

Church Music

Music Education

Performance

Music Theory

Neuroscience

Philosophy

Physics

Political Science

Poverty Studies*

Prelaw Studies

Premedical Studies

Psychology

Religion

ROTC

Sociology

Spanish

Theatre Arts

Urban Studies

Women’s Studies*

*concentration

Visit engagefurman.com It’s designed for prospective students like you. Take our virtual tour.

Find your counselor. Schedule your visit. Ask a question. Even apply online!

Plan Your Visit!You can visit Furman almost

any time. To schedule

a visit, go to <www.

engagefurman.com/visit> or

call 864.294.2034.

Apply Online<www.engagefurman.com/

apply>.

Early Decision Application DatesIf Furman is your first

choice, apply for

Early Decision. If admitted,

you can relax while

your friends are filling

out application after

application.

November 15—Your

application is due

December 15—Decision

letters are mailed out

January 15—You decide

whether or not to commit

to Furman (binding letter of

intent/ deposit due)

Regular Decision Application DatesIf you want to keep your

options open and won’t be

able to decide until May 1,

apply Regular Decision.

January 15—Your

application is due

March 13—Decision letters

are mailed out

May 1—Your deadline

to decide if you’ll attend

Furman (deposit due)

(continued from previous page)

24

Furman facts

Did you know?Furman University was a pioneer

in engaged learning as a practice

and a concept. Today many colleges

and universities use the term

“engaged learning” to promote

their programs. Furman is flattered—

after all, imitation is the highest

form of praise.

For more information about internships at Furman, go to <www.engagefurman.com/intern>.

Page 15: Engage Furman Magazine

engageFurman University Admission

3300 Poinsett Highway

Greenville, South Carolina 29613-5245

A rare skeletal display was installed this spring near the

Korht Commons of Plyler Hall. It’s easy to be startled

by the scene: a cougar attacks a desert bighorn sheep

in an act of consummate predation. The display was brought

to Furman by biology professor Travis Perry after almost two

years of collection, permits, cleaning and assembling.

These specimens are extraordinary as they represent

the interaction of two existing populations in South-Central

New Mexico, where the cougars’ predation of the small

resident population of desert bighorns has been an issue for

conservation.

Perry, who devoted a sabbatical working as a field

biologist studying the desert bighorn sheep population,

collected the specimens under a scientific research permit. It

was hot work, as he and Thomas Newman ’08 had to pack out

the bones in 110 degree heat.

Perry also had to navigate through a lot of bureaucratic

red tape when he shipped the specimens. It was necessary not

only to wade through the paperwork for the proper permits,

but to use a tracking “pit tag,” should the specimen be stolen.

It may seem like overkill, but there is a high demand in

the black market for bighorn sheep. Not only that, but the

New Mexico Department of Game and Fish auctions a single

permit for the opportunity to hunt one ram. This permit, only

valid for two or three days, recently sold for $220,000, and the

proceeds go to support restoration of the population.

Local natural history artist Brian Johnson spent more

than 18 months cleaning, constructing and carefully arranging

the skeletons into an authentic and aesthetically pleasing pose.

The hope is that the skeletons will be used as an educational

resource to reveal the complexities of conservation to students

and the public. —Will Goldsmith ’10

Nightmare in Townes Science Center?