NEWS & CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

Three artists with Tusculum College ties have work featured in the “From the Earth” exhibit now on display at the Nelson Fine Art Center in Johnson City. The exhibit, on display though July 24, features, from left, Deborah Bryan, assistant professor of art; Aurora Pope, an adjunct instructor and wife of Brian Pope, associate professor of psychology at Tusculum, and Wanda Rahm, administrative assistant for the Center for Civic Advancement and an alumna of the college. A reception for the artists in the exhibit was held Friday, July 3, as part of the First Friday monthly art and music festival in downtown Johnson City. A number of faculty and staff from Tusculum attended the reception. The Nelson Fine Arts Center, located at 234 E. Main Street near the Hands On! Regional Museum, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.

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President Dr. Nancy B. Moody and Susan D. Vance ‘91, interim vice president for Institutional Advancement, had the opportunity on a recent development trip to New Jersey to visit the Tusculum house at Princeton University, the original source of the College’s unique name

The house is located on Cherry Hill Road near the modern day Princeton campus. Dr. Moody and Vance had the opportunity to visit the site and take a few photographs on their trip. The house is no longer owned by Princeton University, but is a private residence.

The Tusculum house was the summer home and farm of Princeton President John Witherspoon, who only agreed to take the position as president if the college would provide him a house at least one mile from campus. Although its current property boundaries do not coincide with those prevailing in Witherspoon’s day, they do retain a sense of the agricultural open space that surrounded the house originally.

 Tusculum College founders Hezekiah Balch and Samuel Doak, both studied at the College of New Jersey, which is now Princeton University. Tusculum Academy, one of the earlier incarnations of the College, was named by Doak and his son, Samuel Witherspoon Doak, after the home in New Jersey which was then the home of President Witherspoon. Witherspoon was a noted Presbyterian scholar and an original signer of the Declaration of Independence.

 Witherspoon had taken the name for his Princeton home from Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman orator, philosopher, statesman and educator. Cicero, Rome’s greatest orator and perhaps its most articulate philosopher, wrote his five books on the subject of happiness, “Tusculanae Disputations,” while staying at his villa, named Tusculum, in the mountains of Tuscany.

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Several officials from Tusculum College were among those who attended a community reception for Carlyle Walton. Walton, a member of the College’s Board of Trustees, has accepted a position as president and chief executive officer of Metroplex Health System in Texas. He has served as president and CEO of Takoma Regional Hospital in Greeneville since 1998. Tusculum College President Dr. Nancy B. Moody presented Walton with a citation of appreciation for his service as a trustee, and a gift of glasses etched with the Tusculum College seal for his wife, Astrid. Walton has served as a trustee since February 2006. As a trustee, he has served on the Audit, Buildings and Grounds, Executive, Finance and Investments, and Institutional Advancement committees of the Board. Active in the community, Walton has served in leadership positions in the Greene County United Way and the Greene County Partnership. He has served as a member of the Regional Policy Board in Region 4 of the American Hospital Association, Tennessee State Board of Licensure of Healthcare Facilities, Kiwanis Club of Greeneville and the Comcare Human Rights Committee. Walton’s service also includes membership on the boards of various organizations including Holston United Methodist Home for Children, Heritage Community Bank, the Greeneville/Greene County Emergency Medical Service and the Greene County Partnership as well as the Tusculum College Board of Trustees. Above are Mark Stokes, director of facilities at Tusculum; Steve Gehret, vice president and chief financial officer; Walton; Dr. Moody; Susan Vance, interim vice president for institutional advancement, and Suzanne Richey, director of college communications.

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