By now I’m sure most of us have experienced the rise of portable mp3 music players such as the iPod but many people still have not heard the term podcast. Simply put, a podcast is a method of distributing multimedia files over the internet. Think of a podcast as a basic radio show that has been created by everyday people and can cover anything from weekend hobbies, daily news, comedy sketches, to just about anything else you can think of. While podcasts derived their name from the iPods that made them popular, they can be easily played on any personal mp3 player or personal computer. I’ll talk more about podcasts next week, but until then, check out www.podcast.net to search the various categories for a podcast you might be interested in and press the play button to listen.

Professor Jane Nodine is among the artists whose artwork was acquired by the South Carolina Arts Commission for the State Art Collection. Her artwork has also been included in a show at the Artists in Residence Gallery in New York City. Jane created a piece titled “Scarlet Pageantry” which resembles a vest made of steel wire, vellum paper, black lace and acrylic paint.

USC Upstate Tops PBC Honor Roll Selections
The student-athletes at USC Upstate have long experienced success in the classroom and on the playing fields and 2006-07 was no different.  Thursday, the University received word from the Peach Belt Conference that the school placed 85 student-athletes on the Peach Belt Conference Presidential Academic Honor Roll, tying USC Aiken for tops in the league. For the full story …

Campus Takes Cover During Tornado Warning
Thursday afternoon was anything but routine for faculty, staff and students as they took shelter in basements and interior rooms from a quick moving severe thunderstorm. Penny sized hail, winds in excess of 60 mph, frequent lightning and locally heavy rain was reported as the university was under a tornado warning. Some tree damage was observed to the oak by the Media Building and the river birch by Campus Edge apartments.

“Everyone did a good job of sheltering-in-place and I appreciate their cooperation,” says University Police Chief Bobby Welborn, adding that “as we enter the summer season we can expect more severe storms and with continued cooperation we can reduce injury to those on our campus.”

Statewide Shrinkdown Program Wins Award
The YMCA’s Shrinkdown Program, in which USC Upstate was a sponsoring partner and participant, won one of several “Governor and First Lady’s Healthy SC Challenge” awards at a May 18 ceremony at the Governor’s mansion in Columbia. The awards were presented to groups and organizations who have successfully worked to improve the health of their communities. For the complete list of award recipients and their health and wellness programs, click here.

USC Upstate Graduate Teams With Hub City Writers Project To Publish “Cottonwood Trail” Spartanburg native and USC Upstate graduate (’94) Thomas Webster grew up running around the area that is now the Cottonwood Trail with his friends. After the trail was put in, with his three children, he continued to explore the same stomping grounds. He realized that not only did he have a boyhood attachment to the area, but that it was a great asset to the community, and thus the idea for his book “Cottonwood Trail: Glimpses of Wilderness in the Heart of Spartanburg” was born.

“It’s a suburban trail, not wilderness like Pisgah Forest, so the more you get into the area, the more you realize the finer points of nature, and you appreciate the contact with nature,” Webster says. He adds that the book’s 23 non-fiction essays are “each about a specific topic, like floods, or snakes, but holistically all deal with what the place is about.”

The book is a full-color coffee table book and includes more than 100 photographs of the Cottonwood Trail and the Edwin Griffin Nature Preserve taken by Peter Schmunk and G.R. Davis, professors at Wofford College. It is due to be published in the fall of 2006 through the Hub City Writers Project.

World Goalball Championships Come To USC Upstate for Four Days of Elite International Competition
USC Upstate will be the host site for The International Blind Sport Federation (IBSF) World Goalball Championships, which will be played June 26 – July 2, 2006. Goalball is a court game in which three individuals defend a nine-meter goal. The opposing team hurls a three-pound ball containing bells the length of the court. The defending player listens in order to track the direction of the ball and dives in an effort to stop it from entering the goal. The ball can reach speeds of 35 miles per hour. Once the ball has successfully been stopped, the defending team assumes an offensive position and hurls the ball toward the opposing team. There will be 29 teams competing from 20 countries. Admission is free for spectators. Click here to see a schedule of events, or go to www.worldgoalball.com.

Summer Hours for 2006
Administrative offices of the University of South Carolina may observe summer hours of 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. from Monday, May 29, through Friday, August 4, 2006. If summer hours are elected, the only requirement is that administrative offices be open for business and office phones be manned until 5 p.m. each workday. Staggered work schedules and shared telephone coverage should permit all interested campuses and departments to participate in summer hours.