NEWS & CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

Charles Tunstall, reference and instructional services librarian at Tusculum College, recently had an article published in “Tennessee Libraries,” Vol. 59, no. 3 (Winter 2009). The article, titled “History of the Tusculum College Library,” covers a brief history of the Thomas J. Garland Library and its predecessors from the founding of the College in 1794 to present day.

The full article can be found at the following link: http://www.tnla.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=323.

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The Tusculum College athletic department has 100 packets of general admission tickets for sale to next week’s NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Elite Eight in St. Joseph, Mo., announced Pioneer Athletic Director Frankie DeBusk Wednesday.

Packets are $37 each and include one ticket to each of the tournament’s four sessions. Session one tickets permit entry for the Fort Lewis/Seattle Pacific and Arkansas Tech/Franklin Pierce quarterfinal games on Tuesday, Mar. 23 at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. ET.

Session two tickets permit entry for the Gannon/Tusculum and Emporia State/Michigan Tech quarterfinal games at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ET on Mar. 23. Session three tickets permit entry for both semifinal games on Wednesday, Mar. 24 at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ET, and session four tickets permit entry for the national championship game on Friday, Mar. 26 at 7 p.m.

Fans interested in purchasing tickets must see Ryan Tassell, Assistant to the Athletic Director, by Friday, Mar. 19 at 12 p.m. Tickets must be paid for in cash and are good for entrance to the game only. A block of hotel rooms has been reserved at the Ramada Inn and the Holiday Inn in St. Joseph for fans traveling to the Elite Eight. Addresses and contact information for both properties have been provided below. Fans must ask for the Elite Eight fan room block when calling to make reservations.

Tusculum is making its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Elite Eight after capturing the program’s first Southeast Region Championship with a 70-63 come-from-behind win over Lander University on Monday in Greenwood, S.C. The Pioneers will take on top-ranked and undefeated Gannon University (36-0) on Tuesday, Mar. 23 at 7 p.m. ET in the St. Joseph Civic Arena in St. Joseph, Mo. Fans can tune into NCAA.com where live stats and a live webcast will be available.

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The famed Second City brand of topical sketch comedy will be coming to the stage at Tusculum College on Thursday, March 18.

A night of cutting edge comedy and a chance to see stars in-the-making turn The Second City 50th Anniversary Tour into an unforgettable experience for audiences.  Tusculum will welcome the tour for a performance at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Annie Hogan Byrd Fine Arts Building on campus. The performance is part of Arts Outreach’s Acts, Arts, Academia 2009-10 performance and lecture series.

The Second City 50th Anniversary Tour is a comedy revue that dips into the past as a bridge to the present. The show features snippets of scenes written by a plethora of comedy greats who graced the stages of The Second City during the past 50 years such as Alan Arkin, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey and more.

But, the show also allows the current ensemble of future stars to use the innovations of their predecessors to create comedy that is wholly of its time – humor that speaks to the current economic woes, political hopes and what it means to be living in such extraordinary times.

The Second City has built a reputation in its past 50 years of launching new talent and creating topical comedy ripped from the day’s headlines. The list of Second City alumni reads like a who’s who of the greatest comics of the past 50 years with names such as Alan Alda, Joan Rivers, Robert Klein, David Steinberg, John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, John Candy, Martin Short, Bonnie Hunt, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Tina Fey, and Steve Carell.

Will the actors/comedians of the 50th Anniversary Tour rise to the heights of their predecessors? Only time will tell. But, this tour allows audiences to get a taste of the top up-and-coming comedic talent.

The show will feature Edgar Blackmon, Ross Bryant, Dana Quercioli, Natalie Sullivan and Jackson, Tenn., native Derek Shipman.

Blackmon, who grew up in Richton Park, Ill., is a graduate of the Second City Conservatory and has performed in the award-winning play, “Skinny.” He has also been a skit writer and performer for Second City’s Outreach and Diversity division.

Bryant, who has a degree in performance studies from Appalachian State University, is an ensemble member of the critically acclaimed improvisation groups, “The Improvised Shakespeare Company” and “Baby Wants Candy.” The North Carolina native has also appeared at the iO Theater and ComedySportz Chicago and all across the country in the hip-hop improv show, “The Beatbox.”

Quercioli, an Oho native, has performed as part of a number of improvisation groups as well as at Second City Cleveland.

After earning a degree in performance from Northern Kentucky University, Shipman went to study with The Second City in Las Vegas and then joined the casts of Second City that perform on Norwegian Cruise Lines.

Sullivan, who is from Florida, has written and performed several sketch revues with improvisation groups and shows. She has performed at Maine’s ImprovAcadia and at Second City Detroit and is currently an ensemble member at ComedySportz Chicago.

Admission for the show is $12 for adults and $10 for seniors (age 60 and over).  For more information, contact Arts Outreach at 423-798-1620, e-mail jhollowell@tusculum.edu or visit http://arts.tusculum.edu.

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The Tusculum College women’s basketball team erased a 16-point deficit to upset top-seeded Lander University 70-63, Monday night in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championship game at Horne Arena on the Lander campus.

With its NCAA Region title, the first in program history, the Pioneers have punched their ticket for the NCAA II Elite Eight in St. Joseph, Mo. Tusculum will carry its nine-game winning streak into its national quarterfinal match-up on March 23 as they face No. 1 Gannon University (36-0) at the St. Joseph Civic Arena.

Junior guard Jasmine Gunn led the Pioneers with 30 points, shooting 11-for-20 from the floor and a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw stripe. Gunn, who averaged 32 points per game during her three contests in Greenwood, was named the Regional Tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

The seventh-seeded Pioneers trailed 24-8 at the 12:27 mark of the first half as the 11th-ranked Bearcats made its first eight shots from the floor. But Tusculum would outscore the Bearcats by a 62-39 margin for the remainder the game and end Lander’s school-record 14-game winning streak.

Tusculum knocked off the top three regional seeds en route to capturing the Southeast title and upping its nine-game winning streak, including four of its last five wins coming against nationally-ranked opponents.

Sophomore forward Staci Hicks added 11 points for the Pioneers, while the team’s only senior Kat Spears scored 10 markers. Six-foot-eight center Catherine Hintz added six points and a team-high nine rebounds, while freshman guard Kendal Baxter added three crucial 3-pointers for her nine points. Gunn also had six assists and three steals, while scoring her 1,600th career point and established a new South Atlantic Conference single-season record with 216 made free throws this year.

Lander, with a roster of four juniors and eight sophomores, was led by junior forward Shannon McKever’s 15 points and junior foward Tasheba Butler’s double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds). Sophomore guards Brittni Johnson and Nardia Robbins led the Bearcats with five assists apiece.

Joining Gunn on the All-Tournament team were Hintz, McKever, Butler and Francis Marion’s Nicole Mealing.

The Bearcats jumped on top early with a dominant inside game. McKever opened the scoring with a wide-open lay-up off a pass from Butler on Lander’s second possession of the game. And after Gunn spun a lay-up to tie the score at 2-2, the Bearcats went on a 12-2 run.

McKever hit a reverse lay-up off a long pass from Johnson to get the streak started, Ciara Lyons made a lay-up off Jasmine Judge’s back-court steal, Butler scored twice inside on a short jumper and open lay-up, McKever hit two foul shots, and then Kaylyn Small came off the bench and got into the act with a reverse lay-up for a 14-4 lead at the 15:44 mark.

That opened up Lander’s outside game with Mukia Myrick and Brianna Webb each hitting 3-pointers, making it 20-8 with 14:20 to go as the Bearcats were 8-for-8 from the floor at that point. Another post reserve, Keondra Barnes, came in and scored twice in the paint including an offensive rebound put-back for a 24-8 advantage with 12:27 left.

But Gunn got her game going with a driving lay-up to get Tusculum into double figures at 24-10 and added an assist inside to Hicks before Hintz made her presence felt with two close-up baskets to pull the Pioneers within 26-16 at the 10-minute mark. Lyons made two free throws for the Bearcats to end Tusculum’s 8-2 run, making it 28-16 with 9:15 left.

After Webb hit a jumper as the shot clock was winding down to give Lander a 30-20 lead with 6:25 to go. The Pioneers went on a big run to pull within a possession. Hicks got the run started with a jumper from inside the top of the key, junior Brittni Oliver hit a 3-pointer from the left corner after a steal by Baxter, and Gunn got a steal near the top of the key and drove down for a lay-up to pull Tusculum within three (30-27) with 5:15 left.

Myrick’s base-line drive for a lay-up ended the Pioneers’ 7-0 run, but Gunn answered with two free throws to pull TC back within a possession again at 32-29 with 4:29 remaining.

But both teams went cold with a series of turnovers and missed shots.

After five scoreless possessions by each team, Lander finally got on the board when Small took a pass from Johnson and made a lay-up to give the Bearcats a 34-29 advantage with 45 seconds left in the half. But Gunn got a steal and hit Spears in stride with a long pass that she converted into a lay-up that pulled Tusculum within 34-31 with 17 seconds left, and that would be the score at halftime.

The Pioneers got back into the game with a 23-10 run over the last 11-plus minutes of the first half. After Lander hit its first eight shots in the first six minutes of the game, the Bearcats were only 6-for-21 the rest of the half.

Gunn swished a jumper from near the free throw line in the first minute of the second half to cut Tusculum’s deficit to one before McKever hit one of two free throws to put Lander back up by two. After a Pioneers turnover, McKever passed back outside to Judge for an open three-pointer to give the Bearcats a 38-33 lead.

But Tusculum refused to let Lander build on that lead. Hicks hit a baseline jumper and two free throws on consecutive possessions to pull the Lady Pioneers within one, and Baxter gave Tusculum its first lead of the game with a 3-pointer from the right side for a 40-38 advantage at the 17:09 mark. Gunn, who got the assist on Baxter’s trey, then drove to the basket and scored to make it 42-38 to complete a 9-0 run.

McKever’s weak-side put-back pulled the Bearcats within 42-40. But Lander failed on its next three possessions to tie or regain the lead. Baxter made Lander pay with a long 3-pointer to give Tusculum its biggest lead of the game at 45-40.

The Bearcats answered with Robbins hitting a 3-pointer from the left corner and after Small got a steal in the Tusculum paint, Webb hit a trey to put Lander back on top, 46-45, with 13:19 to go.

Myrick’s free throw put the Bearcats up by two, but Gunn drove around several Lander defenders to tie the game at 47-all with 10:44 left.

Spears hit a mid-range jumper and a basket in the paint to put the Pioneers back on top, 51-47. After a Lander bucket, Spears made another shot in the paint to put Tusculum up by four, 53-49, with 8:42 to go. Gunn’s jumper gave the Pioneers their largest lead of the game at six points, 53-47, before McKever scored twice inside to cut Lander’s deficit back to two.

Gunn spun around a defender to give TC a 57-53 lead, but Lander tied the game on Butler’s jumper in the paint and Johnson’s driving lay-up to make it 57-all with 5:02 remaining.

Gunn’s free throws put the Pioneers back on top 59-57 with 4:41 to go and Baxter hit a long, NBA- range trey to extend Tusculum’s lead to 62-57 with 3:16 remaining.

And after Butler hit a jumper, Gunn drove inside, was fouled and hit two free throws to make it 64-59 with 2:19 left.

Butler scored another basket in the paint to pull Lander within three with 1:57 remaining, but Gunn came through for Tusculum again, splitting two defenders for another lay-up and a 66-61 advantage with 1:40 left.

After a long Bearcats possession took several seconds off the clock, Myrick was fouled on an offensive rebound and hit two free throws to pull Lander back within a possession again at 66-63 with 57 seconds left.

But Oliver got loose under the basket, was fouled, and hit a free throw for a 67-63 lead. Lander missed three shots in a row and was then called for an offensive foul, all but sealing its fate.

Hicks hit one of two free throws and after Judge’s 3-point shot rimmed out, Gunn hit two free throws with 1.8 seconds left for the game’s final points to set off a wild celebration on the bench and in the stands behind the Tusculum players.

For the game, Lander hit 25-of-66 shots from the floor (38 percent), eight of 14 free throws (57 percent), and 5-of-22 from 3-point range (23 percent).

Tusculum made 26 of 50 shots (52 percent), 14-of-16 free throws (88 percent), and 4-of-9 from behind the arc (44 percent).

Tusculum and Lander have met in the last three NCAA Tournaments. Lander eliminated the Pioneers in TC’s first-ever NCAA postseason appearance in 2008. TC knocked off the Bearcats in last year’s NCAA opening round.

Tusculum’s trip to the NCAA Elite Eight will be the Pioneers first and the fifth time a South Atlantic Conference team has advanced to the NCAA national quarterfinals.

Tusculum’s next opponent, Gannon, defeated Millersville for the Atlantic title and has the nation’s second-longest NCAA winning streak behind Division I powerhouse Connecticut.

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The musical group “The Smooth Sounds of Route 66,” featuring Marsha Griffith, public services librarian at Tusculum College, and Amy Saxonmeyer, will be performing on Thursday, March 25, in the Thomas J. Garland Library lobby.

The group will perform a program titled, “The Great American Road Trip through The Great American Songbook.”  The program will feature songs of the 1920s through the 1960s that highlight places in the United States.

According to Griffith, there will be tunes from Vermont to Florida, the Carolinas to California and many places in between.  

The program begins at 6 p.m., with refreshments served following the program.  The event is free and open to the public.

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Estefania Chavez, who is serving as an intern in the state District Attorney General’s office in Greeneville, has been honored as “Student of the Block” for the sixth block at Tusculum College.

Chavez was presented the award during a brief ceremony on Tuesday, March 2. The award is presented each block by the Office of Student Affairs to recognize students for academic achievement, leadership on campus and contributions to the college community.

The award is a “great experience and a great surprise,” Chavez said. “It is a great honor to be nominated, selected and recognized as part of the Tusculum community.”

Chavez, a native of Honduras, is a senior political science major with minors in international business, economics and civic engagement. Her commitment to serve others is evident in her campus activities that include the Student Government Association and the Bonner Leader student service organization.

Her career aspiration is to become a lawyer and work internationally. This interest in law stems from a lifelong passion to become an attorney, a great interest in international affairs and a love of debate.

Currently, Chavez is an office intern for the Third Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Greeneville, working with Cecil Mills and David Baker. “I love working in that office and attending (General) Sessions Court,” she said. “I’m learning a lot, and it’s a great experience.”

Chavez counts International Economic Development and International Business as two of her favorite courses. “I enjoyed learning about the business and how it works in the global environment,” she said. “The courses showed business in a global context outside of the United States.”

Professors Dr. Antonio Bos, Dr. Troy Goodale and Robin Fife have been major influences on her academic career, Chavez said. “They have always been there for me, advised and guided me when needed. I can count on them for support and have learned a great deal from them.”

Arriving at Tusculum in 2006 excited and ready for her college experience, Chavez was familiar with the school as her older sister, Alejandra, is an alumna. A student who seizes the opportunities presented to her, Chavez soon became involved in many campus activities.

She has served in the Student Government Association as a member of many committees to enact change to better campus, as secretary/treasurer of Tusculum’s chapter of the Alpha Chi national honor society and as a member of the women’s cross country team.

Chavez is a dedicated member of the Bonner Leader student leader organization, a nationally recognized program that requires all participants to serve at least 100 hours of community service per semester. In her nomination of Chavez, the organization’s faculty director Robin Fife wrote, “Estefania is deeply involved with at-risk youth in the Juvenile Court system and works with the Truancy Board in Greeneville. She is serious about her work and obligations but has a fun-loving spirit and joyful attitude.”

In her free time, Chavez enjoys running, spending time with friends, attending church activities at Tusculum Baptist Church and the Point, going to Bible study and translating for the Spanish-speaking population in Greene County.

When asked who she admires the most, Chavez quickly answers “my mother and father,” Sergia and Augosto Javier Chavez. “My mother works really hard to be the professional she is today and has done a great job as a mother – I want to be just like her,” she continued. “She’s hard working, a great Christian and if it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be where I am today. My father is hard working and always wants the best for our family … he puts his kids first and is a great father.”

As she looks toward the future and graduation this May, Chavez recalls favorite memories of her college experiences including the many friends she has made, trips to Washington and Boston for Bonner Leader conferences, spring break adventures with friends, making T-shirts to support the football team during games, sledding in the snow, serving as a member of student government and being part of change in the campus community and running as a member of the cross country team.

Her advice to college students who may not be enjoying their collegiate experience is to “become more involved and make your own fun on campus. You can’t stay in your room – you need to open up and be willing to participate in the campus activities. There is always something to do on campus.” Her advice to rising seniors is to “make the best of your senior year because these are the best years of your life and where you make your memories. The friends you make in college will be your friends in life.”

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The Doak House Museum is offering two new educational opportunities for school children, one an on-site program and the other a way to bring the museum to the classroom.

“Family Ties: Life with Sarah and Sam Doak” is a new program offered at the museum on the Tusculum College campus that will focus on life for the Doak family in the 19th century. “Doak on the Road” is a travel trunk full of items related to the Doak family and life in the 19th century that can be checked out by teachers for week-long use in their classroom as an alternative to a field trip.  Both programs are designed for students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

The “Family Ties” program will be offered to school groups any time during the academic year. Students will learn about domestic life, hospitality and the way that the Doak family produced almost all of the food and goods they consumed. The program will be presented at four individual stations by museum educators dressed in period costume.

One station will focus on the role of prominent community members such as Samuel Witherspoon Doak, the co-founder of the college, and his wife Sarah. Students will be encouraged to think about hospitality and how the Doaks were obliged to treat visitors, boarders and travelers as they explore the central hall, dining room and bedrooms of the home.

Another station will be centered in the kitchen where students will learn about food production in the 1800s and the time and effort that women put into providing meals for a large household. Students will have the opportunity to use all five senses in hands-on activities in the kitchen from grinding herbs to making butter from cream.

In a third station, students will be able to explore the five acres of the Doak House property. They will learn about the chores the children were expected to do in the garden and how the family used the spring house. As life was not all work and no play for the Doak children, students will also enjoy some 19th century games.

A fourth station will help children learn how even a well-off family like the Doaks wasted nothing and learn how cloth, tools, furniture and other household goods were made, repaired, reused and re-made. Students will have the opportunity to make their own unique quilt pattern greeting card to take home as a memento of their visit.

The fee for the new program is $5 per students and $2.50 for parents with no charge for teachers, aides and bus drivers.

The Doak House Museum Travel Trunk is designed to be rented for a week-long stay in a classroom or brought to a school by a Doak House educator. An outreach program, the trunk is intended to provide an affordable alternative to field trips. When teachers rent the trunk, Doak House educators will provide comprehensive information to help teachers make the most of the program. During the week-long rental period, the trunk may be used in as many classrooms as the school staff wishes. The trunk is filled with a variety of hands-on materials, hand-outs and creative lessons that highlight the historic interpretation at the Doak House Museum.

Using materials inside the trunk, students will have the opportunity to learn how to make walnut and/or berry ink, write with a quill pen, play with 9th century toys and how to make bricks. The trunk will also help students learn about 19th century education grounded in civic virtue, discover how education differed for boys and girls in the 19th century and appreciate the Doak family’s contributions to the local area.

The travel trunk rental is $50 for one-week classroom rental and $75 for an on-site program led by a staff member of the Doak House Museum (additional mileage charge may apply for schools outside Greene County). The first five teachers who book the trunk will receive a 10 percent discount.

The Doak House Museum is one of two on campus administered by the college’s Department of Museum Program and Studies. The museum is the 19th century home of the Rev. Samuel Witherspoon Doak, co-founder of Tusculum College, and hosts thousands of school children from the region for a variety of educational programs related to the 19th century.

The Museums also administer the President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library, which houses a special collection of items relating to the 17th president, the college’s archives, special themed exhibits and volumes from the institution’s original library. The museums are also two of the 10 structures on the Tusculum campus on the National Register of Historic Places.  The museum department also offers one of the few undergraduate degree programs in museum studies in the country.

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INDIANAPOLIS — The Tusculum College women’s basketball team has punched its ticket for the 2010 NCAA Division II Tournament and will be the No. 7 seed in the Southeast Regional, hosted by Lander University in Greenwood, S.C.

The Pioneers (20-9), who are making their third straight NCAA postseason appearance, will open first round action this Friday against second-seeded Clayton State University (24-6). The game will be at 2:30 p.m. at Finis Horne Arena on the campus of Lander University in Greenwood, S.C.  Tickets are $5 for general admission and $3 for children and students with a valid ID.

Tusculum won Sunday’s Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament championship game by defeating Newberry College, 67-55 to earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It was the Pioneers’ first SAC Tournament championship in school history.

Friday’s first round game with Clayton State will mark the second time the Pioneers and Lakers have met this year. CSU edged Tusculum 87-79 in overtime at the OrthoCarolina Classic in Wingate, N.C. on Dec. 19. It will also be a rematch of last season’s second round regional contest with CSU as the Lakers posted a 79-68 win over the Pioneers in Hickory, N.C. The Pioneers are 0-4 all-time against Clayton State.

The Pioneers are riding a six-game winning streak entering this year’s NCAA Tournament and have also won 11 of its last 13 outings for first-year head coach Adell Harris.

Leading the charge for Tusculum is South Atlantic Conference Player of the Year Jasmine Gunn. The 4-11 junior guard from Nashville, Tenn., is averaging 20.7 points, five assists and three steals per game. She is the only player in NCAA Division II this season to be ranked in the top 25 nationally in points, assists and steals. In her three SAC Tournament games, she averaged 24.7 points per contest, earning her SAC Tournament Most Valuable Player honors.

Clayton State is making their sixth straight NCAA postseason appearance as the 24th-ranked Lakers won the Peach Belt Conference Tournament by knocking off 18th-ranked Francis Marion University, 94-75 in Sunday’s PBC title game. Clayton State is the defending Southeast Regional champion as the Lakers advanced to last year’s NCAA II Elite Eight.

The winner of the Tusculum/Clayton State game will advance to the second round and face either No. 3 seed Francis Marion or sixth seeded Newberry.

Hosting this year’s regional is Lander as the Bearcats will open against No. 8 seed Anderson University. SAC regular season champion Lenoir-Rhyne University will be the No. 4 seed in the regional and they will take on fifth-seeded Carson-Newman College in the opening round.

Please visit the Tusculum College Athletic web site for more information.

- NCAA -

2010 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional
Hosted by Lander University ▪ Greenwood, S.C.
No. 1 Lander vs. No. 8 Anderson (S.C.)
No. 4 Lenoir-Rhyne vs. No. 5 Carson-Newman
No. 3 Francis Marion vs. No. 6 Newberry
No. 2 Clayton State vs. No. 7 Tusculum

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Six students from Greene County have advanced to the state level 2010 National History Day event.

Two groups of students from Chuckey-Doak Middle School and a Chuckey-Doak High School student have advanced to the state competition in Nashville on April 17.  Local and regional National History Day events are among the community outreaches of the Tusculum College Department of Museum Program and Studies in its efforts to help enhance the academic curriculum and activities of local schools.

More than 300 entries from schools in East Tennessee participated in the district event, held at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Twenty-seven students from Greene County advanced to the district event after placing in the regional National History Day hosted on the Tusculum campus in February by the Department of Museum Studies.

Students from Greene County have a history of success in the National History Day program since its beginnings nine years ago, at that time a joint effort between the Department of Museum Studies and Mosheim Middle School and an effort that has grown to include other schools such as Chuckey-Doak Middle School. Students from Greene County have advanced to the national competition every year except two since the program’s inception locally.

Advancing to the state level in the junior performance division are Daniel Beddingfield, Austin Fillers and Kelley Russ, seventh graders at Chuckey-Doak Middle, with their play, “Orville and Wilbur Wright: The Invention of Flight.” The play received third place at the district level. Participants in this division write, develop and act their play.

Alexus Gibson and Michala Myers, who are also seventh graders at Chuckey-Doak Middle, will be advancing to the state in the junior group exhibit division with their exhibit, “Protecting the Present, Preserving the Past, Transforming the Future.” The exhibit about the National Park Service received third place at the district level.

Participants in the exhibit divisions prepare a display with photos or other images as well as blurbs of text about their chosen topic. Exhibit projects are also to include a process paper, describing how the exhibit was prepared, and a bibliography listing all the resources used in preparing the display.

Matt Hensley, a freshman at Chuckey-Doak High School, was rewarded for his initiative and hard work with second place in the senior individual exhibit division. Whereas local middle school students at Chuckey-Doak and Mosheim participate in school-wide events as part of their social studies coursework with the winners advancing to higher level events, high school students participate in the National History Day Regional event on a voluntary basis.

Hensley’s exhibit, “Cyrus McCormick: Inventive Genius,” has a Tusculum connection. Cyrus McCormick, who invented a famous mechanized reaper, and his wife, Nettie Fowler McCormick, learned of Tusculum College in the 1880s through four alumni who were attending McCormick Seminary and the pastor of the McCormick’s Presbyterian church who had spoken at a commencement at Tusculum. After McCormick’s death, his widow honored her husband’s intention to provide assistance to the college and did so for several decades. Through McCormick philanthropy, five major buildings were added to campus. The couple’s significant contributions to the college are honored through the names of McCormick Hall and Virginia Hall (named for their daughter).

The top two places in each division at the state event will advance to the national event June 13-17 at the University of Maryland at College Park.

In addition to hosting the Regional National History Day event, the Department of Museum Studies at Tusculum provides resources throughout the school year to assist students and teachers in the process of creating projects. This year, that effort has been significantly enhanced by the addition to the department of Darlene McCleish as National History Day resource coordinator. The part-time position was created through grant funds from the Andrew Johnson Heritage Association and the Niswonger Foundation.

The Department of Museum Program and Studies administers the President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library and the Doak House Museum on campus. The Doak House Museum, the 19th century home of the Rev. Samuel Witherspoon Doak, co-founder of Tusculum College, hosts thousands of school children from the region for a variety of educational programs related to the 19th century. The President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library houses a special collection of items relating to the 17th president, the college’s archives and volumes from the institution’s original library. The museums are also two of the 10 structures on the Tusculum campus on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum department also offers one of the few undergraduate degree programs in museum studies in the country.

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Robin Quillen, president of Feral Friends animal rescue organization, and the late Lisa White, speech teacher at Doak Elementary School, were honored on Tuesday, March 2, with the Tusculum College “Woman of Courage” Award.

The Woman of Courage Award recognizes women who have made a significant impact in the life of the community and have not been widely recognized for it.

Robin Quillen was recognized for her long-term commitment to improving the community and was compared to Eleanor Roosevelt by student Amanda Clampitt, a sophomore museum studies and history major from Strawberry Plains. 

“Eleanor Roosevelt understood and applauded the power of giving,” said Clampitt, adding that Quillen’s life has embodied compassion and respect for life through a lifetime caring for animals.

Quillen was born and raised in Greene County, where she dedicated her life to public service. She is fully dedicated to Feral Friends, an organization whose members capture, spay/neuter, provide veterinary care for and then return feral cats back to their original environment or find them loving homes.

She also volunteers with the local Gifts for Kids program.

“Robin Quillen is the type of person who, by example, inspires and encourages others to strive to be better people.”

Added Clampitt, “The attributes that Robin possesses are to be admired.”

Student Tyler Buckner, a sophomore museum studies major from Athens, announced the award for White. “Courage is when in the presence of fear or uncertainty, a person continues without thought of self,” he said.

He told the group that despite a more than 12-year battle with cancer, White continually thought of others. “She was the embodiment of courage.”

White spent a great portion of her time helping others to prepare for their own journeys through the illness, all the while maintaining an active role in promoting education.

Active in her community, she served as chairperson for Relay For Life, raising thousands of dollars with a team called “Answered Prayers.”

White taught speech at Doak Elementary School and was Parent Involvement Chairperson.

According to her nominator, “She ignited a spark in all that knew her.”

In addition to the nominations, other members of Keaton’s class spoke of women through history who have demonstrated courage, including those who have significantly impacted Tusculum College, including Julia Doak, the first female to graduate from the College, and Dr. Nancy B. Moody, the current and first female president of the College.

In addition, Tom Salinas, a junior museum studies and history major from Brownsville, Tx., framed the event for the audience by telling the group that the event and award presentation, in conjunction with the celebration of Women’s History month, was a time to recognize the significant contributions to society women have made throughout the years.

Salinas added that it was an honor for the group, in addition to recognizing courageous women of history, to also recognize two such women - Quillen and White — who have positively impacted the life of the Greene County community.

The annual event is sponsored by the Tusculum College Center for Civic Advancement and coordinated by students in Dr. Angela Keaton’s “Modern America” history course at the College. The award was first presented in 2004. The project provides students practical experience in research, interviewing, planning and organizing events, as well as working together to achieve a common goal in bringing recognition to a deserving individual.

According to Keaton, assistant professor of commons and history, students also were encouraged to explore the gender dynamics that have contributed to the nominees’ lives.

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