News & Notes 
Information for South Carolina's 
Independent Colleges & Universities  
Volume 7 Issue 2

 February 2014

In This Issue
Furman's New President
Program for Board Meeting
Governor's Budget
College Presidents Take Concerns to Washington
Career Connections Cancelled
Symposium Spotlights Student Research
Member College News
SCICU Business Partners
Calendar of Events
2014  

 

February 11

Retirement Plans Consortium

Hammond School, Columbia

10:30 am - 1:30 pm 

[Register]

 

February 13

Research Symposium

BMW Zentrum Center

Spartanburg, SC
8 am - 5 pm 

 

February 25

Board of Trustees Meeting

Claflin University 

10:30 am - 1:30 pm   

[Register

  

March 3

Chief Financial Officers Mtg.

CIU, 10am -12pm

 

March 4

SC Tuition Grants Commission

SCICU, 10:30am - 12pm

 

March 18

Public Policy Meeting

SCICU, 10 - 11am

 

April 2

Chief Academic Officers Mtg

Columbia College

11am - 1:30pm

 

April 8

Teacher Recruitment Day

Presbyterian College

9am - 3pm

[Register] 

 

April 8

Excellence in Teaching Dinner 

Columbia Metropolitan Cntr

6pm - 9pm

 

April 9

Ind. Colleges & Universities' Day at the State House 

 

June 18

SC Tuition Grants Commission

SCICU, 10:30am - 12pm

 

June 16-19

2014 College Campus Tour

 

To view more info about these meetings and events, click here.

Our Colleges:
Business Partners:

   

401(k) 403(b) Advisors

ABM Building Services, LLC

Adirondack Solutions 

Affinity LTC, LLC

American Student Assistance

Aramark

AT&T

Benefit Controls of the Carolinas

CapinCrouse LLP  

Carroll Campus Development

Casagrande Consulting, LLC

Club Colors

CMD Outsourcing Solutions

Coleman Lew & Associates 

CSI Leasing, Inc. 

Daniels Group - Greenville SC Office 

Elliott Davis, LLC 

First American Education Finance (FAEF)
Genworth Financial 

Gillis Specialty Advertising
Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd 
HRP Associates    

Learning House 

Live2Create Interactive 

McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture 

Myers McRae Exec. Search

Pollock Company

Professional Insurance & Investment Associates 

ResCare 

SallieMae

Sammy Butler Printing & Graphics

ScholarBuys

School Dude

Sodexo 

The Payments Company

The Walker Company 

Total Comfort Solutions

UnitedHealthcare Student Solu.

VeriStor Systems, Inc.

Vulcan Materials

Walsh Consulting Group, LLC
Wyche Law Firm

 

Click here to view a full listing of SCICU Business partners...
Private College Purchasing Coalition:
CCCS
The Coalition for College Cost Savings is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping SCICU members reduce and contain costs through collaboration.
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Dr. Elizabeth Davis named new President at Furman University 

The Furman University Board of Trustees announced today that it has unanimously approved the appointment of Elizabeth Davis, Ph.D., as the 12th President of the University.

 

Dr. Davis, who currently serves as Executive Vice President and Provost of Baylor University in Texas, will begin her Furman presidency July 1.

 

Davis has been Baylor's Executive Vice President and Provost since July 2010. As the university's chief academic officer, she oversees the university's 11 schools and colleges as well as more than a dozen research centers and institutes.

 

Davis' responsibilities at Baylor include leading the university's most recent strategic visioning process, managing a $235 million Academic Affairs annual budget, and overseeing a faculty of more than 935 members. She is also a Professor of Accounting, and has been a member of the Baylor faculty since 1992.

 

Her other administrative roles at Baylor include serving as Vice Provost for Financial and Academic Administration (2004-2008), Associate Dean for Undergraduate Business Programs (2003-04), and Acting Chair of the Department of Accounting and Business Law (2000-2001). She also served two years as Interim Provost (2008-2010) and, in 2012, assumed interim leadership of Baylor's Development office while the university was searching for a new vice president.      Read More... 

Program for Board of Trustees Meeting Set

 

The SCICU Board of Trustees will meet on February 25 on the campus of Claflin University in Orangeburg. In addition to the business meeting in the morning, trustees will have an opportunity to learn more about two very promising education initiatives during lunchtime presentations. Both programs are led by SCICU trustees.

 

Coursepower, a collaboration involving IT-ology, Benedict College, Columbia College, USC and Midlands Technical College, prepares students for success in today's technological world through a new academic track called "Applied Computing." Lonnie Emard, executive director of IT-ology and chair of the SCICU Development Committee, will make the presentation along with trustees President David Swinton of Benedict College and President Beth Dinndorf of Columbia College.

 

TransformSC is a collaboration of business leaders, policy makers, educators, parents, and students who seek to transform K-12 public education in South Carolina. An education initiative of New Carolina, South Carolina's Council on Competitiveness, the effort is led by SCICU Chair-Elect Jim Reynolds and SCICU Past Chair Mike Brenan. Jim is CEO and partner of Total Comfort Solutions. Mike is president of BB&T South Carolina.

 

The meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. Board materials and directions will be sent to Trustees prior to the meeting. Trustees are encouraged to register for the meeting at the following link or contact Stephenie Bergen at stephenie@scicu.org or 803-799-7122. 

Governor's Budget: A Good Beginning 

  Statehouse Governor Nikki Haley's Executive Budget for FY 2014-15 contained good news for students attending independent colleges and universities. Governor Haley included an increase of $258,764 in recurring funds for the Tuition Grants Commission and $8.0 million in certified net lottery proceeds. At the Commission's present funding level, the additional funds will allow the Commission to increase the maximum Tuition Grant from $2,900 to $3,000 for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2014. The Commission had revised its budget request downward from earlier requests because of a decrease in the number of awards realized over the past two years.

 

The Governor also recommended that the Commission receive $7.76 million in unclaimed prize money, but we do not expect that appropriation to materialize because it would put the Commission's maximum award over the per student cap of $3,424. In the alternative, SCICU will work to obtain additional funding to raise the maximum Tuition Grant award to $3,100 or more for the next year.

 

The Executive Budget looked favorably on other SCICU priorities including a $500,000 increase in general appropriations for the Partnership Among South Carolina Academic Libraries (PASCAL) and an additional $2.6 million for Commission on Higher Education's need based grant program. The Tuition Grants Commission will receive more than $400,000 in additional funding if need based grants are increased to the level recommended by the Governor.       Read More...

College Presidents Take Concerns to Washington D.C.

 On February 4, three SCICU college and university presidents and SCICU President Mike LeFever visited with members of the South Carolina Congressional delegation as part of National Advocacy Day sponsored by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. The group included Dr. Jairy Hunter (Charleston Southern University), Dr. Claude Lilly (Presbyterian College), and Dr. Nayef Samhat (Wofford College).

 

The group met with Sen. Lindsay Graham and Rep. Joe Wilson and with staff in the offices of Rep. Tom Rice and Rep. Trey Gowdy. Some of the issues discussed included student financial aid, excessive regulation by the US Department of Education, the proposed college rating system, and college affordability and student debt.

Career Connections Scuttled by Snow and Ice

 

The winter weather that crippled the state for two days in January caused SCICU to cancel its annual Career Connections program. The decision to cancel the event disappointed hundreds of graduating seniors and more than fifty employers.  Because of scheduling conflicts, the event will not be rescheduled this year, but employers will receive resumes from the students who had registered to attend the career fair. Employers also will receive a refund for a portion of their registration fees.

 

School districts will interview teaching candidates on April 8 at SCICU's Education Fair at Presbyterian College. For more information and to register, go to SCICU's Events page.

Symposium Spotlights Student Research


On February 13, the recipients of the 2013 student research grants will present the results of their individual projects at a symposium in Greer at the BMW Zentrum Center. Thirty-two students from 9 SCICU member institutions were awarded almost $90,000 through a competitive process in the spring of 2013. The awards allow the students, under faculty supervision, to pursue research projects that will enhance their individual learning experience and bolster their academic credentials.

  

Funding for the Student-Faculty Research Program is made possible through the generous contributions of the following individuals, corporations, and foundations: Belle W. Baruch Foundation, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, Bryan Family Foundation Endowment, Joan S. Coker, Daniel-Mickel Foundation, Duke Energy, Mills B. Lane Memorial Foundation, and the South Carolina Independent Colleges & Universities, Inc. Endowment Fund. In addition, the following contributed to the success of the program by participating in a special Council of Independent Colleges Challenge Award: Averyt Management, Colliers/LCK Construction, Gregory Electric, Haynesworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A., Maddrey Foundation, NBSC, and Systemtec.

Member College News

We love to post accomplishments of our members on our Member College News section of our website and feature a few of the outstanding links in our monthly newsletter.

 

Here are some of the articles we featured this month:

Let us share your news and celebrate your successes. Send your releases to Stephenie Bergen at Stephenie@scicu.org 

 

To see all of our Member College News, please click here

SCICU Business Partners

We are pleased to announce the following companies have joined us as new business partners:  

 

ResCare

The Walker Company 

 

 

A complete listing of all the Business Partners may be found in the left margin of News & Notes or by clicking here
News & Notes is published by the South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, Inc. Please send all comments or questions to SCICU President & CEO Mike LeFever at mike@scicu.org or 803-799-7122. Mailing address: P.O. Box 12007, Columbia, SC 29211