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USC TimeSAiken BeAUforT ColUmBiA lAnCASTer SAlkehATChie SUmTer Union UpSTATe

University of South Carolina April 11, 2013

It started with a tomato.

Darcy Freedman, then a graduate student in Nashville, Tenn., was reviewing photos with parents of preschoolers

as a part of a research project. When Freedman flipped to a picture of bright red tomato, one mother’s face lit up.

“She said that picture was like that dress she sees in the window, something she’d always wanted to buy but just

couldn’t get,” Freedman said.

The idea that the mom did not have access to a basic healthy food item, one most people take for granted, seemed

wrong. That led Freedman, now a professor at USC’s College of Social Work, to begin studying the connections between

healthy foods, strong communities, and economic and social justice.

It’s more than an academic exercise, and Freedman has helped launch several farmers markets with the mission to

bring healthy food to underserved communities.  The latest opened nearly two years ago in Orangeburg, S.C., and is

located outside of a community health center.

The Right Choice, Fresh Start Farmers Market not only attracts residents with an array of tantalizing food choices, but

also gives a boost to the local economy by providing small-scale farmers with a space to sell their produce.

I find that communities, no matter where they are, are often brought together around food. And if healthy food is

available, people will take advantage of it,” she said.

Freedman, along with James Hebert from the Arnold School of Public Health, is finding ways to build on the market’s

success by finding ways for low-income families to buy even more produce. She piloted a program that provided more

than 300 customers with federal food assistance a $5 match on the first $5 of produce they purchased. It contrasts with

recent proposals in South Carolina to curb obesity by limiting what people can buy with

federal food assistance.

“We decided it was much better to go with a carrot rather than

the stick approach,” she said.

Freedman believes the debate over various proposals to

address obesity could lead to broader policy discussions about

access to the right kinds of foods.

“It’s really hard to buy healthy foods when they’re not

available,” she said.  

Selling BeTTer heAlTh

going firST ClASSAll through school Katelyn Jones looked up to her teachers,

and now she’s the object of adoring eyes in her second grade

class at Lake Carolina Elementary School.

“There were so many teachers who impacted me and my

life. My mom was a teacher and I would go to her room and

play teacher after school,” says Jones.

When Jones gets in front of a class these days, it’s not

pretend. As a senior elementary education major, she’s

getting plenty of practice and experience for her future

profession at one of the premier schools in Richland School

District Two.

Jones will launch her teaching career from a platform

designed to show her how to go beyond the traditional

student-teaching experience and get the most out of her

students through a professional development program

offered in the College of Education.

“I think the partnership between the university and the

elementary schools is key,” she says. “Not all elementary

schools are professional development schools, but I feel

the ones that are, truly grasp the idea of collaboration and

working together to give us the best experience, as well as

putting us in a place where we’ll get the most out of it.”

Professional development is all about preparing the next

generation of educators, showing them how to be innovative

in the classroom, introducing them to diverse classroom

environments and shoring them up for success in the early

years when teaching can be the most challenging. When

education majors are assigned to a professional development

school, the interns get to work with veteran teachers.

“We see a benefit for teachers exposed to new strategies

and practices that the students have learned in their

classroom work at the university,” Margo Jackson, the USC/

Lake Carolina liaison says.

Since arriving at Lake Carolina in the fall, Jones has been

able to put those strategies to work.

“My cooperating teacher has been great with giving me

opportunities,” says Jones. “We do a lot of co-teaching

instead of me sitting there and observing. I’ve gotten the

chance to step in the classroom and handle it like it’s my

own.”

“I love that we’re a professional development school,”

Berry says. “We have phenomenal interns that come

through here and we take it seriously that we’re here to

come alongside the university and prepare them because

they’re going to be affecting the children of our future.”

By: Frenche Brewer

By Jeff Stensland

2 UniverSiTy of SoUTh CArolinA

Lambert, ’08 visual communications, first jumped into the derby game

about a year ago. She’d never played sports or been very athletic. It

seemed the exact opposite kind of action for an introvert and certainly

shocked some of her co-workers.

“This is just a different side of me,” she says. “I don’t hesitate to throw

my shoulder in.”

Lambert practices about four or five hours a week and spends some

Saturdays at bouts across the region for the Columbia QuadSquad. She

skates on the Belles on Wheels home team.

Lambert says she has found roller derby to be more mental than

physical. In fact, she says roller derby isn’t as violent as it seems.

“It has become a therapy session,” she says.

Her biggest fear when approaching the rink was of falling but she

learned how to control the falling and to be safe, she says.

“I’m not afraid of anything anymore,” she says.

“on geopolitics: Space, place, and international relations” By harvey Starr, Dag hammarskjöld professor in international AffairsThis book shows how the “new geopolitics”

links to the way in which geography and

international relations have intertwined

in the past. Using recent developments in

geographic information system technology

as well as traditional theories and methods,

Harvey Starr explores themes of spatiality

and territoriality as they connect to

international affairs. He also examines

geopolitical dynamics beyond borders in a

world now buffeted by non-state actors and

subject to intergovernmental institutions

and norms.

“Judicialization of politics: The interplay of institutional Structure, legal Doctrine, and politics on the high Court of Australia”By kirk randazzo, associate professor of political scienceThis book examines the judicialization

of politics in the High Court of Australia.

The authors argue it is the interplay of

institutional structures, a growing concern

for individual rights and the willingness

of the justices to engage in purposive

policymaking that lead the court to engage

in judicial politics. The findings suggest that

justices can be constrained by institutional

structures and the acceptance of restrictive

legal doctrines. Changes in those conditions

are necessary for judicialization of politics

to occur in a court.

“Anonymity” By Janna mcmahan, marketing manager with South Carolina Small Business Development Centers In Janna McMahan’s fourth novel,

“Anonymity,” she tells the gritty, harrowing

account of young people who live life on the

edge when all they really want is a safe place

to call home. The Myrtle Beach Sun News

said the novel “pulls at your emotions

without preaching while also bearing the

facts . . . characters flow in and out of the

story, but each one serves a purpose, and

McMahan does a masterful job of tying

everyone’s stories together at the end.”

“The multi-Talented mr. erskine: Shaping mass Culture through great Books and fine music”By katherine elise Chaddock, professor in the College of education Best-selling novelist, popular concert pianist,

Hollywood script writer, radio personality,

celebrity professor, society figure in New

York and Paris, and magnet for women from

Anas Nin to Helen Gahagan - John Erskine,

early 20th century bon vivant, was a true

American original. Beyond the headlines,

however, he also left a lasting influence on

American intellectual and artistic culture as

the father of the Great Books curriculum,

the founder of a university in France, the

first president of The Juilliard School of

Music and a profoundly skilled teacher of

English literature at Columbia University.

His balancing act among multiple identities,

underscored by his commitment to create

access for the middle class to highbrow

culture, is the subject of this, the first

biography of an influential, unforgettable

educator and public intellectual.

BeyonD The JoBname: Annie lambert

Day job: Communications and development coordinator for the College of mass Communications and information Studies

part-time passion: roller derby

Derby name: pink Slam-pain

Book Corner

Do you have a book hitting bookshelves soon? Share yours with us for the next Book Corner: lizmccarthy@sc.edu

Photo by Phil lackey

Do you have a part-time passion? Share your interesting hobby with us for upcoming issues of USC Times: lizmccarthy@sc.edu

USC TimeS April 11, 2013 3

Q&AwithChArleSBloom

you were very involved with the United Way while at the SeC in Birmingham. Why did you become involved? The SEC is really owned by its 14 schools so there’s

a lot of traveling. I was looking for a way to help

out in the Birmingham community – there isn’t an

SEC school in Birmingham – so I volunteered with

the United Way. I wanted to establish roots in the

community. It was a great experience and I was

able to see firsthand the work of the agencies of the

United Way.

Will you continue this involvement here in Columbia? I hope so. From my work with the organization, I’ve

become a big fan of the United Way and its work in

the community. The people are gracious. The work

is honorable. It doesn’t take a lot for each person if

they gave for the United Way to be successful. The

number of agencies the United Way helps represents

a large swath of the community. A successful United

Way program, to me, really shows the heart of the

community.

What made you decide to return to Carolina after 17 years with the SeC?

It is my alma mater and it’s a great job. Having Coach

Tanner as the athletic director – well, it was an easy

sell for him and an easy buy for me.

What is exciting about being at Carolina now? It’s a great time to be here. We’ve had success in

our athletics program. You can feel the momentum

with football, men and women’s basketball, baseball

and the Olympic sports. For me, personally, my

background has been mostly in the media and public

relations realm and it gave me an opportunity to come

here and expand my horizons in the university setting.

Sometimes athletics seems separated from the university. Do you think that’s true?I’ve talked to Coach Tanner about that. I really

feel like one of the neat things that we do with our

student athletes is that after each contest we stand

for the alma mater and raise the toast. To me that

signifies a greater bond with our university than

most any school. Charles Bloom joined the Athletics Department this year

as senior associate athletics director of external affairs,

returning to Columbia from the Southeastern Conference

(SEC) in Birmingham, Ala. He brought with him his love

for the Gamecocks (he’s an alumnus) and his passion for

helping the United Way.

faculty and staff are invited to donate to the United Way as a part of the university’s annual campaign. The campaign runs through April 12 and donations can be made at uway.org/usc through a payroll deduction.

“Working together we can make a positive difference — we can fight homelessness, boost school success and help people in our community get access to affordable health care.” – president harris pastides

i am extremely proud to be part of a university community with heart. our students, faculty and staff participate in many service projects and raise money for lots of important causes. We know that a rich life involves finding ways to give back and that becoming a leader means recognizing our community’s needs and creating opportunities to make a difference.

i’m happy to co-chair one Columbia CityServe with mayor Steve Benjamin and paul fant of SCAnA. mayor Benjamin is serving to inspire all groups in the city to work together, which he does so well. paul is working to rally business and industry, while i represent the University of South Carolina and all not-for-profits who contribute to the rich fabric of Columbia.

Approximately 1,000 of our students, faculty and staff have plans to be engaged in several projects during the week of one Columbia CityServe (April 20-27).

i ask everyone in the USC community and beyond to think about your gifts and talents and come out and serve on whatever day you can, in whatever way you can.

i promise you will discover rewards beyond the time you commit. remember, it is in giving that we receive — i’ll be planting a garden for a school in richland one. What will you do?

~ patricia moore-pastides

Austin Jenkins grew up in the piney woods of Kershaw

County, where he played as a child and learned to love the

forest where he spent time hunting, fishing and exploring.

Through teaching, he hopes to help others love it, too.

Jenkins, a biology instructor at USC Sumter, began taking

students to local parks to explore Sumter’s flora and fauna as

a way to highlight the rarity of Sumter’s natural forests.

“Students are always amazed by the diversity that exists

in their own backyard,” Jenkins said. “Many never knew it

was this accessible or this amazing.”

Then Jenkins realized USC Sumter could bring this

local biodiversity to its own manicured landscapes. With

the help of one of his classes, Jenkins began restoring

some of the biodiversity that was once present on the

campus by installing native plans, which will in turn

bring back native animals.

And in the process his students are learning to write

habitat restoration plans and how to propagate native plants.

“I think students get more from this hands-on experience

than from simply reading a textbook,” said Jenkins. “It

makes a great way of teaching that leaves us with some

lasting, physical products.”

The project will make campus more beautiful, too, he said.

“Our method will take time, but it is well worth it

and a great service activity,” he said. “Native plants add

tremendous beauty while supporting our native animal

species.”

One day students may be able to take a field trip right on

the USC Sumter campus.

“That would indicate a great success,” Jenkins said. “I

think we’re off to a fantastic start.”

By Misty

HatfieldBACk To nATUre

“Students are always amazed by the diversity that exists in their own backyard. many never knew it was this accessible or this amazing.”

USC TimeS April 11, 2013 4

USC TimeSvol. 24, no. 7 | April 11, 2013

USC Times is published 20 times a year

for the faculty and staff of the University

of South Carolina by the Division of

Communications.

Managing editor: Liz McCarthy

Designer: Linda Dodge

Contributors: Peggy Binette, Craig

Brandhorst, Frenché Brewer, Glenn

Hare, Thom Harman, Chris Horn,

Page Ivey, Steven Powell, Megan

Sexton, Jeff Stensland and

Marshall Swanson

Photographers: Kim Truett

To reach us: 803-777-2848

or lizmccarthy@sc.edu

Campus correspondents:

Patti McGrath, Aiken

Candace Brasseur, Beaufort

Shana Dry, Lancaster

Jane Brewer, Salkehatchie

Misty Hatfield, Sumter

Tammy Whaley, Upstate

Annie Houston, Union

The University of South Carolina does not

discriminate in educational or employment

opportunities or decisions for qualified per-

sons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex,

national origin, age, disability, genetics, sexual

orientation or veteran status.

Did you always want to be a chef?Yeah. Actually it started in seventh grade. But

I wasn’t definitely sure that it was the route I

wanted to go at that time. It was either cooking

or pharmacology. My first class at the University

of Guelph convinced me that this is what I

wanted to do.

What’s your favorite dish to cook?It really depends on the mood. I’m doing a lot

of Asian and Spanish, because that’s the kick

I’m on now. German and French chefs trained

me classically, and I love cooking that cuisine.

I’ve been trying Thai and Indian food lately, as

well. I still love grilling, which is something

I picked up from my dad. It depends on the

mood of the day, really. It also depends on

what we’re cooking here. If we’re serving it

here, I usually don’t want it at home.

Do you have days when you don’t want to cook and would rather have take out?Oh yeah, oh yeah, especially after a big holiday.

At Valentine’s Day we served a six or seven

course meal. So at the end of the day, I didn’t

want to see any of the dishes we served that day.

I think afterwards, I went home and had two

frozen waffles and some bacon. I have many

days that I don’t cook.

how has being chef changed since cooking has become entertainment? is it more difficult or easier?It’s a little of both. We have TV, all kinds of

books and magazines and everything else, and

it’s absolutely amazing that people have such

a greater interest in cooking. But it makes our

jobs harder, because we have to match up to the

standards that people see on TV. That being said,

it’s also easier. Nowadays, people are willing to

try new dishes. They are more open and this

allows us to do new things.

Do you have advice for hosting your next dinner party?Cooking shouldn’t be stressful. The moment you

get stressed, then you’ve lost focus of why you’re

having the meal in the first place. Cooking is not

about the food. It’s about the people at the table.

It’s sharing time with people you care about.

Relax, have a glass of wine and turn on some

music. If the recipe doesn’t quite work out, at

least you’ve had a glass of wine.

for more from Chef hay, check out the full interview in Day Times.

mAking WAveS, from AeroSpACe To BiomeDiCineAirplanes and bones don’t have much in common – or do they? Jinku “J.k.” yang is showing how a sensor he developed to measure the integrity of a wing or fuselage can help surgeons better match implants with bone structure.

“nowadays, joint replacement or spinal surgeries are very common,” yang said. “But there is actually no way that surgeons can really know the local mechanical properties of the bone they’re operating on.”

yang uses a stack of granular crystals, which look a bit like a stack of ball bearings, to send highly nonlinear acoustic waves into a structure. Those waves provide detailed mechanical information, and yang is showing that it doesn’t matter whether it’s an airfoil or a femur – he can use the information to map its integrity.

A ConverSATion WiTh Chef BriAn hAy,

director of Culinary and Wine institute at Carolina, mcCutchen house

SCienCe Corner