Under the leadership of Dr. Sofia Kearns, tutors are paired with a TESOL in a Berea school and assigned to work with one or several students at least twice a week for 10 weeks, providing valuable long-term, individualized attention to the students served. Last fall, Furman students tutored approximately 40 elementary, middle and high school students at eight Berea schools. The tutors' command of Spanish means that they are able to communicate easily in oral and written form with the students.

A veteran law enforcement officer, Lt. Stevens was selected by his fellow campus safety officers from around the state through the South Carolina Campus Law Enforcement Association for his extraordinary professionalism and dedication to the students, faculty and administration at Presbyterian College.

Columbia International University President Dr. Bill Jones was recently elected to the Board of Trustees of the South Carolina Higher Education Foundation. The Foundation is a non-profit organization that promotes interest and participation in higher education and provides for statewide activities that enhance the quality of instruction, research, and services at both public and private colleges and universities in South Carolina.

Bill Jones has been president of CIU since 2007. He serves as chair of the International Leadership Team of Crossover Communications International, an organization he cofounded in 1987. Crossover works to plant churches in 20 countries. Bill was nominated to the Foundation Board by SCICU's Council of Presidents at their February meeting.

Outstanding faculty from South Carolina's private, non-profit colleges and universities were honored at a dinner on April 5 with SCICU's Excellence in Teaching Awards. A member of the faculty from each of twenty institutions of higher learning is nominated for the award according to rigorous guidelines. This group of teacher-scholars represents many different academic disciplines and brings a rich diversity of education, experience, and interests to their campuses.

The hallmark of South Carolina's independent colleges and universities is their emphasis on individualized learning and student achievement. This can only be accomplished by a faculty of the highest quality working in a supportive environment that encourages and fosters serious inquiry, critical thinking, and a broader understanding of the world in which we live.  

In addition to a certificate of achievement, each 2011 award winner receives a $3000 professional development grant and is featured on the SCICU website. 

SCICU gratefully acknowledges the following sponsors for their support of the Excellence in Teaching Awards Dinner for 2011: AT&T, BB&T of South Carolina, Charlotte Berry, Duke Energy, NBSC, TIAA-CREF, Vulcan Materials, and Wyche Burgess Freeman & Parham, P.A.  

SCICU campuses are rich with outstanding instructors, and we are pleased and proud to recognize the following individuals with Excellence in Teaching Awards for 2011.

During the day's activities, SCICU honored Representatives Chip Limehouse, Joe Neal, and B.R. Skelton with its 2011 Legislative Champion Awards. This trio of House members forms the Higher Education subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. Their recommendation to level-fund Tuition Grants and Palmetto Fellows, LIFE, HOPE, and Tuition Assistance scholarships, in the face of significant budget reductions in other programs, set the tone for the budget debate in the House. As a result of the subcommittee's leadership and the support of many of their colleagues, the House exempted student aid from cuts for the fourth year in a row. The House also included PASCAL as the #1 priority for up to $1.5 million in surplus unclaimed lottery funds.  

One-on-one visits with members of the House and Senate later in the day were preceded by a letter-writing campaign that yielded almost 6700 personal letters of support written by more than 3400 student-recipients of Tuition Grants and other scholarships. For more than 17,000 students, the prospect of obtaining a degree from one of South Carolina's independent colleges or universities is made possible by the state's generous award of approximately $75 million in student financial aid.  

The rally concluded after Ted Pitts, Deputy Chief of Staff for Governor Nikki Haley, presented the students with the Governor's Proclamation at noon on the Statehouse steps.

SCICU is pleased to announce that a faculty advisory committee has selected 28 projects from 11 colleges for funding as part of the 2011 Undergraduate Student-Faculty Research Program. Students from a variety of disciplines and majors will complete work on their projects over the course of the next year and present their findings next February at the 2012 SCICU Student-Faculty Research Symposium.

The 2011 awards were selected from more than 50 applications. Since its inception in 1995, the program has awarded more than $1.1 million. Funding for the program is made possible through generous donations from Belle Baruch Foundation, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of SC, Charles W. and Elizabeth H. Coker Foundation, Daniel-Mickel Foundation, Joyce and Bob Hampton, Dr. Scott Koerwer, Milliken Foundation, Mills B. Lane Memorial Foundation, and the SCICU Investment Fund.

Earlier this month, SCICU Executive Vice President Eddie Shannon presented the research program as a national best practice at the annual meeting of the Foundation for Independent Higher Education.

SCICU is a member of the Coalition for College Cost Savings. CCCS is comprised of 26 member organizations in 24 states that collectively serve 600 private colleges and over 1.2 million students across the United States. The organization and staff is dedicated to helping private institutions of higher education improve processes and reduce and contain costs through collaboration.  

Because of their membership in SCICU, all of our member schools have access to CCCS's national contracts and services. We are pleased to offer all of the resources of CCCS to our members. Links to the CCCS website can be found in this newsletter and on the  Business Partners pages of the SCICU website.