The Tusculum College Community Chorus Concert scheduled for Monday, December 13, will not be held due to the wintery weather conditions. Further information will be provided if it is possible to reschedule.
The Lantern Festival and Golden Lantern Awards scheduled for Monday, December 13, has been postponed due to weather conditions. A reschedule date has not yet been determined.
Due to hazardous weather conditions, all classes on all campuses and sites have been canceled for Monday, December 13, 2010. Both day and evening classes are canceled. All administrative offices on all campuses and sites are closed as well.
Simon Holzapfel, a senior majoring in sport management and exercise physiology, has been named “Student of the Block” for Block Three of the 2010-11 academic year.
The Student of the Block 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.
Hailing from Nuremberg, Germany, Holzapfel has been motivated to be involved and engaged as a Tusculum College student, giving his best to the student body through his involvement in the Student Government Association, President’s Society, Peer Tutor, Resident Assistant (currently a member of the senior leadership team), as founder of the Track and Field Club, Pioneer Green Team, Alpha Chi Honor Society and as the vice president of the Pioneer Student-Athlete Advisory Council.
He has also participated in various community-oriented service programs such as annual campus clean-ups, set building for the Theatre-at-Tusculum program, raising funds for the Pioneer Club, cleaning the Harmony Cemetery, volunteering at the Greene County Field Day and assisting in administering fitness tests for students at Chuckey-Doak Middle School.
Holzapfel was drawn to Tusculum because of the majors offered in the Physical Education Department. ”I wanted to study exercise science as I am interested in the physiological factors that determine the level of performance and fitness of the human body.” he said. “I thought sport science was the same thing as exercise science but it incorporated more administrative management of sports and legal coursework, which I enjoy.”
Boasting a 4.0 G.P.A. throughout his career, Holzapfel’s many academic
accolades include President’s List, Charles Oliver Gray List, Dean’s List, Duffield Award (awarded to the upperclassmen student- athlete with the highest grade point average), Freshman Student Athlete Award and the Alpha Academic Excellence Award. He was recently was honored with the James E. Ward Outstanding Major award from TAHPERD (Tennessee Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance), the first Tusculum student to receive the statewide award.
Taking his role as a student-athlete very seriously, he has excelled as a cross country team member and academically in the classroom. As a result of his self- discipline and hard work, Holzapfel is a two-time South Atlantic Conference Championship race winner (2009, 2010), the 2010 South Atlantic Conference Cross Country Scholar Athlete of the Year, SAC Commissioner’s Honor Roll, Athletic Director’s Honor Roll, and two-time Academic All American (2009, 2010). He also holds the records for the top 11 8,000-meter running times in school history and 14 of the best 20 in school history. He holds 16 career individual titles and a two time SAC Runner of the Year recipient (2009, 2010).
Holzapfel notes that many faculty and staff members have been influential and instrumental in his success at Tusculum.
Among his many memories of his time at the college are the cross country trips on vans to various meets, attending women’s volleyball and basketball games, and all of the good times with friends. “I am proud to have many amazing friends and that I have been able to keep more than a handful of them over so many years,” he said. “My mom always told me that if you have one true friend in life, you are rich. Friends are those people that you do not have to be ashamed of to ask for a favor… they will be there for you when nobody else will, like my friends have proven.”
Holzapfel looks toward his journey after college which is to pursue masters and doctoral degrees in exercise physiology. “My career goals include the conduction of research in the area of exercise physiology in order to contribute valuable findings for the advancement of the field,” he said. “It is my desire to become a research and/or teaching faculty member for exercise physiology.”
Tusculum College student Brooke Haymaker, a senior from Kettering, Ohio, leads students from Greeneville Middle School in an activity to illustrate the meaning of the Kinara candles in the Kwanzaa celebration during a recent holiday program for the GMS students at the college. The Center for Civic Advancement hosted the holiday program that was coordinated by five students, Brittany Connolly, a senior from Greeneville; Trevor Lund, a sophomore from Andover, Conn.; Samantha Lyons, a sophomore from Rogersville; Jessica Shipley, a senior from Greeneville, and Haymaker, who are members of a service-learning course taught by Robin Fife, associate professor of social science at Tusculum. The GMS students are part of the GAME (Greeneville After-School Mentoring and Enrichment) Program, with which Tusculum students work on a regular basis. The Tusculum students shared information about the holidays of Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Christmas with the GMS students and led them through activities, crafts and games related to each of the holidays. The students also enjoyed some holiday-related snacks. The event ended with the GMS and college students playing basketball together in the Pioneer Gym.
Allen Vital has been named the new men’s soccer coach at Tusculum College announced Frankie DeBusk, Tusculum College director of athletics on Tuesday. Coach Vital will be introduced officially at a press conference on Wednesday at 1 p.m. at the Pioneer Perk, located in the Scott M. Niswonger Student Commons on the Greeneville campus.
Vital, a 1992 Tusculum graduate, returns to his alma mater after 14 seasons as the head coach at Carson-Newman College. While at the Jefferson City, Tenn. school, Vital amassed one of finest coaching careers in South Atlantic Conference and NCAA Division II history. In his 14 seasons, he led the Eagles to an impressive 165-85-19 worksheet, which is the best coaching record at Carson-Newman, making him the second winningest coach in league history. His 165 victories are ranked 28th amongst NCAA II active coaches, while his .649 winning percentage is 27th in the nation.
Vital led the Eagles to eight South Atlantic Conference championships (2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010) and seven consecutive trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). He has been named SAC Coach of the Year five times (2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009) and NCAA II Region Coach of the Year on two occasions (2003, 2005).
”This is an exciting and unique opportunity for me to do what so many in my profession dream of; coaching the team that you once played for,” said Vital. “It’s my hope that my tenure here at Tusculum will be used to advance the legacy of excellence that this men’s soccer program has long been associated with.”
In 2010, Vital guided C-N to a 12-5-1 record, including 8-1 in the league to capture the program’s third straight SAC championship and seventh in the last eight seasons. It was also C-N’s eighth consecutive winning season with Vital’s teams going 115-31-14 (.763), including 49-6-4 in South Atlantic Conference play (.864) during that eight-year span.
Vital led the Eagles to one of the most successful seasons in school history in 2003 as Carson-Newman went 14-6-3 and 6-1 in league action to win their second SAC title in four years. The Eagles advanced to the NCAA Tournament where they defeated two top 10 teams in UNC Pembroke and USC Spartanburg and advanced to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight for the first time in school history. C-N lost a hard-fought match to eventual national champion Lynn University. The Eagles finished the season ranked 12th in the final D-II poll in 2003.
He followed that season with yet another successful campaign in 2004 as the Eagles won the SAC title again and was ranked as high as number one in the NSCAA Division II Pool during the season. Coach Vital was named SAC Coach of the Year and Tyler Baldock was selected the SAC Player of the Year as C-N went 17-2-1 for the program’s best winning percentage in school history (.875).
Vital and Baldock repeated those honors in 2005 as the Eagles went 18-2-2 for the most wins in school history as C-N finished the year ranked sixth in the nation. Carson-Newman captured the program’s third straight SAC Championship and its first Food Lion SAC Tournament title in school history. Vital and the Eagles followed with the first four-peat performance in SAC history as C-N posted a 14-2-2 worksheet in 2006 and finished the year ranked 15th in Division II.
C-N’s bid for a fifth straight league crown was halted in 2007, but the Eagles still finished the season ranked 13th in the country and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for a fifth straight year.
Vital guided the Eagles to a share of the 2008 league regular season title with Tusculum and followed with the program’s sixth and seventh league crowns in 2009 and 2010.
“My decision to leave Carson-Newman was made a very difficult one, because so many good people there who have always embraced and loved us from the time Tina and I arrived in that community,” Vital added. “I will always remain grateful for the opportunity granted to me at Carson-Newman and thankful for the support that I have always received from the Lakeway soccer community.”
While at Carson-Newman, Vital mentored 57 All-Conference honorees, including 32 All-Region selections, three All-Americans (Tyler Baldock - three times, Thomas Ostvold, Dario Carrasco), two SAC Players of the Year (Tyler Baldock - twice, Dario Carrasco), one SAC Freshman of the Year (Omar Cooke) and one SAC Scholar Athlete of the Year (Arthur Garnes).
“Our men’s soccer program has a tremendous history of success, with excellence on and off the field and with a great reputation of being successful,” DeBusk added. Coach Vital has not only been part of that history, but will continue it with great pride.”
As a player, Vital garnered All-Conference honors as a freshman and sophomore at Lees-McRae as he led the Bobcats to a pair of NJCAA Region 10 Championships. He played the 1990 and 1991 campaigns at Tusculum, where he was selected to the NAIA All-District 24 both seasons. He led the Pioneers to a combined 26-16-2 record, while capturing the 1990 Tennessee Virginia Athletic Conference Championship and followed with the 1991 NAIA District title.
“It’s great to come back home,” Vital said. “Tina and I are so fortunate that at this time in our lives we get to return to Tusculum College where our story together started some years ago. We just can’t wait to be back visiting once again with our long time friends.
Vital spent three years as the Coordinator of Special Student Activities and Soccer Coach at Walters State Community College in Morristown, Tennessee. He holds an Advance National license by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Vital has been very active in youth soccer development throughout the State of Tennessee. He served for several years on the coaching staff of the East Tennessee Soccer Federation and is currently on the coaching staff of the Olympic Development Program for the State of Tennessee. Vital is also the director of coaching and player development for the Lakeway Soccer Club as well as the Star Soccer Academy of Morristown, Tenn.
Vital not only has an outstanding soccer resume, he is also a scholar. Along with a Business Administration degree from Tusculum, he minored in French and Art. Vital is trilingual, speaking English, French and Haitian Creole.
Vital and his wife, Christina (who earned her Masters degree from Tusculum in 1994), are the proud parents of three boys Devin Alain, Jean-Pierre and Remi.
All evening classes on Tuesday, December 7, 1010, will be held as scheduled.
Tusculum College officials are pleased to announce that the College has received reaffirmation of accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools-Commission on Colleges for the next 10 years.
The announcement was made at the SACS-COC annual meeting on Tuesday, December 7, in Louisville, Ky.
”I am pleased to report that the SACS-COC has approved the reaffirmation of accreditation for Tusculum College,” said Dr. Nancy B. Moody, president of the college. “The college has been an accredited institution through the SACS-COC since 1926, and the recent review was the best in the history of the college,” she added.
“Our reaffirmation is the result of the hard work of our faculty and staff. It speaks highly of the strength of the college in academic programs and support units. It will be very exciting to build upon these strengths as we add programs and expand our offerings,” said Dr. Kim Estep, provost and academic vice president, who also served as the accreditation liaison.
”I would like to commend everyone who contributed to any aspect of the SACS-COC report or the visit,” said Moody. “These efforts have included many members of the Tusculum College family including students, faculty, staff and members of the Board of Trustees. As President of Tusculum College, I am proud to be a member of the Tusculum College team.”
Tusculum College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate and master’s degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Tusculum College.
Due to hazardous weather conditions, all residential classes have been canceled on the Greeneville campus for Tuesday, December 7, 2010. Offices on the Greeneville campus are also closed today.
Offices closed today in Morristown and Gray. Knoxville offices will be open today.
A decision will be made later today regarding evening Graduate and Professional Studies classes in Greeneville, Knoxville, Morristown and Gray.
Dr. David McMahan, dean of students at Tusculum College, recently made a presentation to his peers in the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association (TICUA) about best practices in student conduct with regard to recent legislative changes and the challenges presented by electronic social media.
McMahan made his presentation during a TICUA Chief Student Affairs Officer Retreat on Nov. 11.
His initial remarks addressed the implications for colleges of a recent U.S. Department of Education (DOE) Office for Civil Rights letter to educational institutions regarding bullying in relation to federal harassment legislation. While commending schools for proactive efforts in addressing bullying and the increasing forms of “cyber-bullying,” the DOE’s primary message was that many forms of bullying constitute harassment under federal legislation and must be addressed accordingly, McMahan told his colleagues.
To comply with these regulations, he continued, institutions of higher education must be able to assure that they are supporting an alleged victim with appropriate accommodations while acting promptly and effectively to identify harassment, and if it is found, to end the harassment, prevent its recurrence and remedy its effects.
Dean McMahan also addressed two related challenges facing many private and public higher education institutions - identifying “harassment” under the law and determining how far the institution’s jurisdiction should reach in addressing conduct.
On the first point, he referenced the DOE Office for Civil Rights’ standard that “conduct must be sufficiently serious to deny or limit a student’s ability to participate in or benefit from the educational program” evaluated from the position of a “reasonable person” considering the alleged victim’s perspective and circumstances and that harassment prohibited by the statutes within the office’s jurisdiction “must include something beyond the mere expression of views, words, symbols or thoughts that some person finds offensive.”
Continuing, Dean McMahan noted the increased difficulty presented by the hurtful impact of cyber-bullying due to rapid incident escalation and the lack of ability to interpret tone in actions made through social media that could be considered cyber-bullying such as exclusion, denigration, flaming, stalking, impersonation, trickery and outing.
Dean McMahan called for more proactive and preventive measures such as educational training in avoidance, de-escalation and reporting of incidents rather than interventions after-the-fact such as student discipline, which are unlikely to be the most productive approach to addressing the problem in light of a number of studies that show that zero-tolerance policies have not been effective in adjusting student behavior or providing more civil school environments.
He also called upon administrators to “meet poor speech with more speech” (citing Derek Bok, past president of Harvard University) and embrace their role in speaking out publicly against hateful speech.
Addressing the jurisdictional question regarding expressive conduct (free speech), Dean McMahan pointed to developing constitutional case law which public higher education institutions most observe that speaks to the connection between off-campus behavior and the likelihood of a substantial disruption of the academic environment on campus. Private colleges and universities seek to engage students in productive dialogue about fair and equitable treatment and defining the community values that are reflected in their regulations which makes this dialogue relevant even though private institutions are able to define behavior expectations more stringently than their public peers.
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