New Coker College Residence Hall Going Up

The new residence apartment village on the campus of Coker College is proceeding at a good pace as long as the rain stays away. This apartment village is set to open at the end of this summer in time for the Fall 2013 academic year. This is the first of several village residences that will be constructed as Coker moves forward with its "1500"growth plan. The college is planning to get to 1000 traditional-age undergraduates and 500 adult undergrads.

Admitted Students' Day
This Saturday will be the 2013 Admitted Students' Day and Adam Connolly, Coker's admissions director, says we are expecting a record number of students for the introduction to Coker College life. This is an exciting day and I look forward to both the Parent-Roundtable class I will get to do as well as the advising for the potential new students. As I told students in my speech class earlier this week when we spoke about language: "I hope the prospective students are very perceptive and able to develop a perspective on the college that will lead them to determine this is where they want to get their undergraduate education."  A major benefit of the size of Coker is that visits are important because what you see is what is offered.

Spring quickly arriving on the Coker College campus

Fort Allee - one of many beautiful places on 

                                                   the Coker College campus.

On the way back to the Coker campus after lunch today the grassy area between the dorms and Davidson Hall, the main classroom building, was swarmed with students enjoying the Spring-like weather. There is the air of excitement as we head into the last half of the semester and get daily proof of the potential of rebirth and reawakening and reward of hard work.

Another sign of Spring on the campus is the excitement of Cobra baseball and softball and the diamonds are singing the sounds of spring.

Coker College Announces Academic Celebration

The following news release discusses the Celebration of Academics that is taking place next week. One of the highlights of this Celebration will be the "Last Lecture" by Dr. George Lellis, Professor of Communication, at 7 p.m. on Monday evening. The list of events for this special event is included in the college's news release:

Fourth Annual Celebration of Academics 

HARTSVILLE, S.C. – March 19, 2013 – Continuing a tradition that began at Coker College President Robert Wyatt’s inauguration, Coker will host a campus-wide Celebration of Academics, March 25–27.

“One of the most satisfying aspects of putting these programs together is the knowledge that students, faculty, staff and the community grow as a result,” said professor of political science and philosophy Jim Lemke, who organizes the annual Celebration of Academics and directs the Center for Research in Leadership and Community Development at Coker College.

“When dozens of creative scholars – writers, scientists and artists of all forms – gather to share personal stories of their academic explorations, something quite special inevitably occurs.  Engagement becomes learning, students and faculty become collaborators and we become a more vibrant community.”

Among the many presentations in this year’s celebration is a lecture by retiring professor of communication George Lellis, dozens of poster presentations of student research and service-learning projects, and nearly two dozen presentations of student-faculty research projects.

The culminating presentation of Coker’s annual Performing Arts Showcase will be performed at 7:30 p.m. March 27 in Watson Theater of the Elizabeth Boatwright Coker Performing Arts Center. 

The following events of the Celebration of Academics are free and open to the public:

Monday, March 25

Community Service Poster Display, Library                                                           9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

2013 Last Lecture - George Lellis Lecture, Davidson Hall                                   7 p.m.

2013 Last Lecture Reception, Drawing Room                                                       following lecture

Tuesday, March 26

Student Research Symposium, Library                                                                   1 to 6 p.m.

Wednesday, March 27

Faculty-Student Presentations*, various locations                                            1 to 5 p.m.

Performing Arts Showcase, Watson Theater                                                       7:30 p.m.
Reception, Stein Gallery                                                                                           following show

For more information about the events scheduled as part of the 2013 Celebration of Academics at Coker College, visit www.coker.edu/celebration-of-academics.html.