Coker recognized for strong program

I am including the recent news release that points to the recognition of Coker as a "best' school. This was released by Coker College on August 2.:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Coker College Named a Best in College the Southeast by The Princeton Review



HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Aug. 2, 2011 – Coker College is one of the best colleges in the southeast according to the nationally known education services company, The Princeton Review.

Coker is one of 135 institutions The Princeton Review recommends in its “Best in the Southeast” section of its website feature, “2012 Best Colleges: Region by Region,” released this week on PrincetonReview.com.

“We're pleased to recommend Coker College to users of our site as one of the best schools to earn their undergrad degree. We chose it and the other terrific institutions we name as 'regional best' colleges mainly for their excellent academic programs,” said Robert Franek, Princeton Review's senior vice president and publisher.

“While community members on campus and off understand well the traditions and pride that have shaped Coker College, we know too, that national recognition plays an important role in our future,” said Coker College President Robert Wyatt.

“When national editors at Princeton Review, U.S. News & World Report and, earlier this year, at Colleges of Distinction, take note of excellence – in our case, the extraordinary achievements of Coker College’s students, faculty and staff – they lift not only Coker College, but they call much needed attention to the role of education in the nation’s prosperity. I applaud, in particular, Princeton Review’s commitment to speaking to our students, the individuals whom we serve and by whose promise we are driven,” Wyatt said.

Collectively, the 629 colleges named "regional best(s)" constitute about 25 percent of the nation's 2,500 four-year colleges. From several hundred schools in each region, the company winnows its list based on institutional data collected directly from the schools, visits to schools over the years, invited input from college counselors and advisors, and the opinions of Princeton Review’s staff.

In addition, the firm considers and publishes information provided directly from current students via an 80-question student survey. The survey asks students to rate their own schools on several issues—from the accessibility of their professors to quality of the campus food—and answer questions about themselves, their fellow students, and their campus life.

“Only schools that permit us to independently survey their students are eligible to be considered for our regional 'best' lists,’” Franek said.

Representative responses selected from the student survey featured distinctions of Coker’s vibrant student life including the following:

“There are a wide variety of extracurricular activities at Coker College, but the majority of students here are either involved in theater or play a sport. When they aren’t on stage or on the playing field, students may be hanging out at the on-campus coffeehouse or in each other’s dorm rooms, studying, and socializing. During the warmer months, students enjoy taking advantage of Coker’s beautiful campus. The school owns a boathouse at a nearby lake—it’s a nice place to hang out when it’s hot.”

Other Coker students appreciated advantages of attending a residential college that might sometimes go unnoticed:

“‘In the surrounding community of Hartsville, Coker students take advantage of ‘free Fridays that allow us to bowl, skate, and eat for free,’ and many say they like to ‘go to the local coffee shop or catch a movie for $1.50.’”

For more information about Coker’s listing with the Princeton Review, visit www.coker.edu. For information about admission to Coker College, visit http://www.coker.edu/future-students.html.
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Coker College readies undergraduates for personal and professional success through a distinctive four-year program that emphasizes a practical application of the liberal arts as well as hands-on and discussion-based learning within and beyond the classroom. Coker is ranked among the “Best Colleges” in the South by U.S. News & World Report as well as The Princeton Review. Located in Hartsville, S.C., Coker is within two hours of the cultural, financial and recreational resources of Charlotte, Columbia, Charleston and Myrtle Beach.



www.coker.edu

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Friends presenting at Conferences

Christian Stryker, Coker College's media relations and Sports Information Director, just sent out a release about David McCracken and Melinda Norris presenting at a conference next week:

For Immediate Release-October 1, 2010


Coker Professors to Present at Popular Culture Conference

HARTRSVILLE, S.C. – A pair of Coker College professors will present papers at the Annual Popular Culture Association of the South Conference starting Thursday, October 7 in Savannah, Georgia.

Dr. David McCracken, Associate Professor of English, will present a paper entitled, "F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sheilah Graham in 1939: Romance and Realism,” while Melinda Norris, Associate Professor of Business Administration, will present her paper, “The Social Media Revolution: The New Marketing Medium.”

This is the second paper presentation by Dr. McCracken in as many weeks. On September 24, he presented his paper entitled, "Schadenfreude, Sober House, and the Exploitation of Addiction" at the Culturing the Popular Conference hosted by Converse College.

Women Golfers in first-ever tourney

The Coker College Women Golfers had their first tournament last weekend and they demonstrated a foundation to build on according to an article in the MORNING NEWS of Florence. The Tommy Baker coached team came in tenth of twelve teams on a very tough course. Mark Haselden wrote an interesting story about this first-ever tourney.

Coker Grad Headlining Iris Festival in Sumter, SC

Becki McLeod entertained Coker College audiences in several performances while a student on campus. My Google Alert just came up with an article showing that she is headling the Iris Festival in her hometown of Sumter, SC.


This is an excerpt from that article that talks about Becki McLeod, who now lives in Nashville, Tn. While I am not positive, I believe she was a Musical Theater major:

He said this year there are also many local bands or bands with local ties, like Becki McLeod, who grew up in Sumter and is headlining on Saturday.

McLeod said she is glad to have the chance to come and play for her hometown crowd.

"I'm just thrilled to come home and share what I've been doing with all these people," she said.

McLeod moved to Nashville, Tenn., about five years ago after graduating from Coker College in Hartsville, and though she said she comes home fairly often she doesn't get to really show her music off because she doesn't have her band with her.

"We don't get an opportunity to showcase what I've been doing for the last five years," McLeod said.

McLeod said she and the band play a wide variety of music, from country to classic rock to some of her original songs, which she hopes to play a bit of at the festival.

"People know my face and they know my name but (this is) actually getting them familiar with what my music is," she said.

McLeod and her band are the final act on Saturday, May 23, at 7:30 p.m. at the Garden Street Stage.

Campus going to get pretty quiet

Summer day school ended this past week and the Term V night classes will be completely over this week. There are final classes, final exams, final papers and all the last-minute items of all terms or semesters with students most anxiously awaiting the grades that come following the work. So, with the holiday this Friday, will come nearly three weeks of no classes and no students. But, I saw a calendar the other day and new students will begin rolling in right after the first week of August as resident assistants begin their preparations, the men and women's soccer teams will begin their practices and we will be in the second semester of the college's centennial year.

As noted earlier, the Coker Connection, where about-to-be first-year students get to meet some of their classmates appeared to be quite a success. One of my colleague's daughter's was not sure she was going to enjoy it and called her mother at 1:30 in the morning telling her what a great time she was having. Team building, conversations, some pre registration and other activities filled in the times not spent by students getting to know one another.

Since this seems to be a potpourri of things, one of the student helps seems to have come up with the idea of extending the Coker late night breakfast to the summer program and we cooked some breakfast food for student dinners last Thursday and this also seemed to add some important Coker camaraderie to students stressed with pending finals.