Did You Know?

Three graduating seniors received the Tillman Award, the university’s highest academic honor, at Winthrop’s spring Commencement exercises on May 9 at Winthrop Coliseum. The award winners, from left, were: Ellen Gilliam Stewart, an education major from Florence, S.C.; Patricia Coimbra, an accounting and finance major from São Paulo, Brazil; and Stephanie Sharon Cantrell, a dance major from Mill Spring, N.C. Coimbra also was among four student-athletes honored by the Big South Conference with the prestigious George A. Christenberry Award for Academic Excellence.

• Campus Police chief sought for expertise. Chief Frank Zebedis has been appointed to the Law Enforcement Advisory Group of the National Center for Biomedical Research and Training headquartered at Louisiana State University under the auspices of the Federal Department of Homeland Security. Zebedis is one of three campus law enforcement chiefs who have been contracted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop training materials and a course on the Incident Command System, tailored especially for higher education.

• Share your stories. Recently, Mary Ella Jolliff Moore ‘63 contacted the Alumni Relations Office to say that former faculty member Katherine Pfohl celebrated her 101st birthday in Old Salem, N.C. Pfohl taught voice at Winthrop from 1946 to 1973, and the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections at Dacus Library has some of her papers. Do you know where other retired faculty members are located? If so, please submit your stories to enews@winthrop.edu so information may be included in an upcoming publication.

• Music students make commercial for Bojangles. Four members of the Winthrop University Tuba Choir were filmed on May 7 by the Charlotte-based company Bojangles. The company is kicking off a series of "real people" spots. A talent scout heard the quartet perform at the Come-See-Me parade last month and submitted a short clip of their performance to marketing experts for Bojangles. The four students were Benjamin Hingle and Jerry Smalls, both on tuba, and Kurt Foundos and Bryan McGill, both on euphonium. The shooting session was held on campus in a tree in front of Byrnes Auditorium.

• Latest Winthrop/ETV Poll result. Taken just days after President Barack Obama had completed his first 100 days in office, the Winthrop/ETV Poll asked Southerners about everything from their level of confidence in his ability to handle threats against the United States, to who the potential Republican presidential front-runners might be for 2012, to the willingness of African Americans to get ahead in today's society.

• Wind Orchestra invited to China. The Winthrop/Carolinas Wind Orchestra will perform during a New Year’s Eve celebration in China on Dec. 31, marking the first time a non-Chinese symphony orchestra will play during the country’s most important new year celebration. The live concert will be broadcast from the Chengdu Performing Arts Center by Chinese television to an anticipated 2.4 billion viewers. The New Year’s celebration will be followed by a pioneering concert in Beijing’s fabled Forbidden City, which will be the first time a foreign ensemble will play in one of China’s most sacred and historic sites. Learn more about the trip.

• Track star quickens hurdle times. Senior Kandrick Cooper is rated 16th in the nation in the 110-meter hurdles and heads to the NCAA East Region competition in North Carolina this month. He recently broke his Big South Conference and school record for the second consecutive week at the Georgia Tech Invitational. Joining him will be junior Travis Coleman, who captured the Big South shot put title and sophomore Jared Baird in the javelin.