Winston-Salem, NC-The Salem College athletic department celebrated their 2012-2013 year at the Athletic Banquet hosted at the Downtown Deli in Winston-Salem. The department celebrated the school's first ever Great South Athletic Conference (GSAC) President's Cup, which was awarded earlier in May. Sawyer Ferguson (Billings, MT) was selected by the athletic department as the Anne Woodward Student-Athlete of the Year. The volleyball team also received their championship rings for becoming the first program to reach the NCAA Tournament.

Ferguson was a two-sport star for the Spirits. She broke the all-time points, goals, and game-winning goals record for the soccer team. She also broke five records for the track & field team. Sabrina Thiel (Hillsboro, NC) was honored with the Jess Byrd Scholar Athlete Award for her work on the soccer team and as the Student-Athlete Advisory Council President for the past two years. Kayla Kennedy (Goldsboro, NC), a softball player, was awarded with the Nann Tilley Athletics Service Award for going above and beyond as a work-study student. Angela Reavis (Boonville, NC), a tennis player, won the Scholar Athlete of the Year Award for having the highest grade point average as a student-athlete (sophomore or above).

MacKenzie Schmidt (Columbus, OH) received her National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Scholar All-Region award, and Stephanie Hubbard (Sanford, NC) received her NSCAA All-South Region award. This year, Satavia Taylor (Chicago, IL), a basketball player, became the first student-athlete at Salem to win the GSAC Player of the Year honors. Chelsea Jones (Glade Valley, NC), a volleyball player, won the school's first GSAC Tournament MVP award, and Tarryn Bundy (Deptford, NJ), a soccer player, won the GSAC Freshmen of the Year award. Jay Callahan, the head soccer coach, and Anita Howard, the head basketball coach, were both selected as GSAC Coach of the Year. 

Seventeen athletes received GSAC All-Conference honors this year. Twenty-three students were honored on the GSAC All-Academic teams, and seven made the GSAC All-Freshmen teams.

Basketball selected Taylor as their most valuable player, and Jasmine Shabazz (Buffalo, NY) as their best all-around player. Shamaz Denerson (Atlanta, GA) and Bria Patterson (Winterhaven, FL) were also honored by the basketball coaching staff. Natali Olveda (Salinas, CA) was selected as the cross country most valuable runner, while Nikki Dillon (Sanford, NC) was the most improved runner from the team. In soccer, Hubbard was selected as the most valuable player, and Bethany Kent (Manassas, VA) was selected as the most improved player. Katie O'Leary (Seldova, AK) won the blue award for volleyball, and Brandy Bednorz (Houston, TX) won the gold award. Ayla Pruitt (Wilkesboro, NC) won the coach's award for tennis, while Hannah Greenwald (Englewood, FL) won the most improved player. In track & field, Hubbard was selected as the most valuable in field events. Heather Huffman (Winston-Salem, NC) won the most valuable award for track events, and Stephanie Verdi (High Point, NC) was selected as the most improved track runner.

The ETS® Major Field Tests are comprehensive undergraduate and MBA outcomes assessments designed to measure the critical knowledge and understanding obtained by students in a major field of study. The Major Field Tests go beyond the measurement of factual knowledge by evaluating students’ ability to analyze and solve problems, understand relationships and interpret material from their major field of study.

Participants in this program earn Bronze, Silver and Gold medals by setting and achieving goals in four program areas:  Personal Development, Physical Fitness, Volunteer Public Service and Expedition/Exploration.

Thomas was selected after satisfying goals in each of the four categories by achieving such accomplishments as completing more than 400 volunteer hours and planning and implementing a five-day tour of towns in North and South Carolina to research how the outsourcing of textile jobs has affected local economies. 

Thomas will attend a June ceremony on Capitol Hill, where members of Congress will present the awards to their constituents.

Zelezny-Green is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), in the department of geography. Her Ph.D. work is tentatively titled, "Cultivating Collective Capabilities: A Critical Design Ethnography of Secondary School Girls’ Mobile Device Use for Social Learning in Kenya,” and her studies are fully funded by a Crossland Scholarship award from RHUL.

Zelezny-Green’s Fulbright research will be conducted within the secondary school context in Kenya and will engage secondary school girls in participatory processes. This Ph.D. research is an extension of work Ronda undertook in May and June 2012 in a secondary school in Nairobi. This research resulted in a dissertation titled “Gendered Mobility and Social Shaping of Mobile Phones: Perspectives from Secondary School Girls in Nairobi.”

The Fulbright Award will support Zelezny-Green for nine months of full-funded research in Nairobi.

ATLANTA, Ga. - The Great South Athletics Conference has released the final President's Cup standings for 2012-13 and Salem College narrowly topped Huntingdon for the title.

The Spirits' sports teams combined to total 245 points in the standings to edge the Hawks 245-235 in total points. The season-long victory for Salem makes them just the fourth school to capture the GSAC President's Cup crown since the league's inception in 2000.

The Salem College cross country team finished as the runner-up in the Great South Cross Country Meet. Volleyball became the first sport at Salem to win the Great South Tournament and advance to the NCAA Tournament. The soccer team became the first team to win the Great South Regular Season title with a 16-3-1 overall record. Basketball improved their record 12 games from last season, and they finished as both regular season and tournament runners-up. Track & Field set 15 new school records in their most successful season so far. Softball finished in 3rd in the regular season with a 9-7 conference record. Tennis upset Wesleyan in the Great South Tournament to advance to the semifinals for the first time ever.

Agnes Scott was close behind in third place with 220 points while Spelman came home in fourth with 160 points.

Wesleyan earned 100 points in the final standings to finish in fifth. Newcomer Finlandia, who only participated in softball, won that Championship and secured 70 points in the standings to finish sixth. Other GSAC neophytes Pine Manor and Trinity (D.C.) each tallied 35 points while participating in limited postseason action to round out the standings in a tie for seventh.

The Presidents Cup is awarded to the Great South Athletic Conference schools accumulating the highest points total in an academic year. This is based on order of finish in the championships. An institution not fielding a team in a conference championship event will not be awarded points in that sport. Member institutions must declare and sponsor a sport as varsity status with the NCAA to participate and score in any conference championship. Since the conference's inception in 2000, only Maryville, Piedmont, Huntingdon and Salem have won Presidents Cup trophies.

The Oesterlein Award is named in honor of Salem’s first teacher. Candidates are nominated by members of the Salem community – faculty, staff and fellow students – and each nominee must compete against other truly outstanding seniors. The winner must have attended Salem all four years of college; made a notable contribution to the quality of life at Salem and exemplified quality leadership; and been conscientious and diligent in the pursuit of academic excellence, attaining at least a 3.0 average overall.

Hardy came to Salem as the recipient of the Edith Willingham Womble Full Merit Scholarship. A biology major with minors in chemistry and business administration, she earned membership in the Honors Program, the Lehman Scholars Program, Alpha Epsilon Delta—the pre-health honor society—and Beta Beta Beta—the biology honor society. Last summer, she was one of only 12 students nationwide chosen to participate in the Summer Neuroscience Experience program at The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and after her January Term 2013 internship with the Wake Forest School of Medicine’s Department of Immunology, she was asked to stay on in a part-time position after her internship concluded.

Hardy served as co-president of the Alpha Lambda Delta first-year honor society, Orientation Leader, Junior Marshal, Sights and Insights yearbook editor-in-chief, Honor Guide and vice president of the Student Government Association. She represented Salem at the Twin Cities Leadership Conference as a sophomore, served as a member of the Committee on Community and was honored as a leader and scholar with induction into the Mortar Board honor society. Off campus, Hardy gives back to the community, volunteering her time at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and The Children’s Home.

After taking a year off to travel, she plans to pursue a degree in medicine. 

The Salem Academy and College Creating Hope in Cancer Survival (C.H.I.C.S.) team will once again run in the race to help raise funds for the foundation, which helps women with breast cancer in Alamance, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, Randolph, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry, Wilkes and Yadkin counties. 

C.H.I.C.S. members are dedicated to educating the Salem campus community about the nature of cancer and ways to prevent it. They provide a support group for those who are dealing with cancer as well as activities and projects that provide a service to Salem College and the greater community of Winston-Salem.

The event schedule is as follows:

  6:30 a.m. Team Village Opens (roads close at 6:45 a.m.)

  7:30 a.m. K&W Survivor Café Opens

  8:00 a.m. Start Line Announcements and Presentations

  8:00 a.m. Timed Runners Report to the Start Line

  8:20 a.m. Timed 5K Run Starts

  8:30 a.m. Non-timed 5K Run/Walk and Salem College Mile Start

  9:15 a.m. Kids Dash

10:00 a.m. Stage Presentations at Main Stage (The Pavilion)

10:30 a.m. Survivor Processional/Survivor Photo; 2013 Faces of Breast Cancer introductions & Survivor of the Year                         Announcement

Born in Peru and raised in Chile, Allende is the author of many bestselling novels, including: The House of the Spirits, Eva Luna, The Island Beneath the Sea, Zorro, Portrait in Sepi, and Daughter of Fortune. She also has written a collection of stories; three memoirs, The Sum of Our Days, My Invented Country, and Paula; and a trilogy of young adult novels. Her books have been translated into more than 27 languages and have become bestsellers across four continents. In 2004 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 2010, she was awarded the National Prize for Literature, Chile's most prestigious literary award. 

Allende will visit Winston-Salem as part of a tour for the hardcover release of Maya's Notebook, which was published in English on April 23. The novel is set in present day and tells the story of a 19-year-old American girl who finds refuge on a remote island off the coast of Chile after falling into a life of drugs, crime, and prostitution. This will be Allende’s only appearance in North Carolina.

Allende’s books will be on sale before and after the event, and a book signing will follow her presentation. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. and the program begins at 7 p.m.

Tickets, which are selling quickly, can be purchased through bookmarksnc.org or by calling Brown Paper Tickets 24/7 ticket hotline at 1-800-838-3006. Proceeds benefit BOOKMARKS, a Triad-based literary nonprofit organization. All sales are final.

Ticket prices are $18.00 for general admission if purchased in advance and $25 if purchased at the door.

Questions for Isabel Allende may be submitted by e-mailing: info@bookmarksnc.org. 

For more information, please call 336-460-4722 or email info@bookmarksnc.org.

BOOKMARKS is proud to partner with the Salem College Center for Women Writers, directed by Aimee Mepham, interim director of the creative writing program at Salem and visiting assistant professor of creative writing. The Center encourages young women at Salem College to express their writing through coursework in creative writing as well as through extracurricular activities and events; sponsors the annual International Literary Awards competition; sponsors the annual spring semester student reading event, Spotlight on Student Writers; underwrites a January Term writer-in-residence (Karen Palmer for 2012); and sponsors writers who visit campus to read from their works and hold craft talks, which are free and open to the public. 

Media sponsors for the event are Que Pasa, WFDD 88.5 FM, and The Winston-Salem Journal. 

BOOKMARKS is a literary organization based in Winston-Salem whose vision is to create a community of passionate readers. This is achieved through triad-based author events, an Authors in Schools program throughout the year which reached 4,000 students in 2012, and the premier annual free book festival in North Carolina. The ninth annual book festival will be held on September 7, 2013. Please visit bookmarksnc.org for more information.

Salem student Heather McCracken's presentation on "The New Consumer Revolution: Social Media, Empowered Consumers, and Brand Identity" received a first place award in the communication category. Other student presenters were Alana Carroll, Sarah Goscinski, Sara Otero, Victoria Hall, Sara Dowdle and Meghan McMullen. Student presenters represented a variety of disciplines, including not-for-profit management, international relations, economics, communication and more. 

BigSURS provides undergraduate scholars in all fields a forum to share the results of their work through posters, presentations, performances, and works of art.

A celebration of the life of Dr. Jeffrey Ersoff will be held on Monday, May 6, 2013, beginning at 4:30 p.m. in Hanes Auditorium of the Elberson Fine Arts Center on the Salem College campus.  An associate professor emeritus of psychology who taught at Salem College for 34 years, Dr. Ersoff died on April 16, 2013, after a lengthy illness. The entire campus community, alumnae, family and friends are invited to attend. Following the celebration, the Women in Science and Mathematics Program will host a gathering with refreshments in the Rondthaler Science Building room 102, allowing an opportunity to visit Dr. Ersoff's office and share memories and reflections in a more intimate setting.  For additional information or questions, contact the Office of Communications and Public Relations (publicrelations@salem.edu).

Click here to share your memories and condolences. 

Obituary for Dr. Ersoff

Jeffrey Alan Ersoff

June 21, 1946 – April 16, 2013

Dr. Jeffrey Alan Ersoff, Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Salem College, died Tuesday, April 16, 2013, after a lengthy but determined battle with AL Amyloidosis. He was a gifted teacher and mentor. After completing his BA in Psychology at Cornell University, he spent three years in the Peace Corps in a small village in Malaysia teaching science to elementary school students, keeping their attention by occasionally blowing things up. One of his students came to the US to study and later became the Malaysian Minister of Agriculture. Jeff received his MA at Florida Atlantic and his PhD in Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and after a one-year term at NDSU in Fargo, N.D., dedicated his career to teaching psychology and mentoring students at Salem College for 34 years. He also initiated and taught the first computer science courses at Salem. Jeff derived deep pleasure from music, was an excellent cook and an avid dog trainer. He loved his family and was very proud of his daughters. He and his wife were 30-year members of Better Marriages. He is survived by his wife, Caroline Davenport-Ersoff, and by his daughters, Rachel Elena Ersoff and Zarah Sophia Ersoff and her partner Lauren Steely, as well as by his “boys,” Buzz, Jake and Tai, all of whom miss him deeply. He is also survived by his sister-in-law Xue-Qiao Zhao and brother-in-law Gordon Davenport, nephew Bobo Davenport, neice Caroline Davenport-Riggs (Brian) and great niece Aiden Riggs, long-time friends John and Sue Ureda, and by his sister Renee Lansat (Paul). He was preceded in death by his mother Helen Coopman and stepfather Sidney Coopman. He was a generous man and will be greatly missed by all his friends, colleagues and students. The family thanks Dr. Francis Buadi of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN, Dr. Franklin Chen and Dr. James Dilley in Winston-Salem, as well as the nursing staff at Forsyth Memorial Hospital and at the Kate B Reynolds Hospice Home for their excellent care. Special thanks go to Jeff’s good friend Mike Stauber as well as to long time friend Kavyo Motsinger who was with Jeff and his family throughout this final journey.

A celebration of Jeff’s life will be held at Las Estrellas restaurant on Saturday, May 11th at 3:00 PM.

Memorials may be made to the Amyloidosis Foundation, Hospice, Salem College, Better Marriages or to a charity of your choice.

Kathryn Williams, a double major in chemistry and public policy with a minor in religion, will live and work in Indonesia as part of the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) program, sponsored by the United States Department of State. Williams will live with a host family and experience Indonesian culture first-hand. She will also work in hospitals and clinics specializing in prenatal care.

“I am very interested in prenatal care, and Indonesia has high maternal and infant mortality rates,” says Williams. “I'd like to combine my chemistry and public policy degrees to make a difference in prenatal care, while using my knowledge of Indonesian and background in understanding different religious perspectives to have an international focus.” 

Critical Language Scholarships provide group-based summer intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences for eight to ten weeks. The intensive summer language institutes include four to five hours of language instruction each day, five days a week. CLS participants cover approximately one year’s worth of language study during the summer institutes. Mandatory or voluntary activities outside of formal classes may also be provided, including tutoring, peer conversation partners and homework assignments. In addition, participants will participate in a variety of group-based cultural enrichment activities and excursions.

International relations major Sara Otero, who also participated in the CLS program in Tunisia last summer, will participate in a similar program this summer in Oman. 

As a CLS Alumni Ambassador, Otero was awarded a scholarship by Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said of Oman to participate in The Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center Summer Arabic Language and Media Program (SQCC SALAM) in Manah, Oman. SQCC SALAM is a fully-funded intensive Arabic language scholarship program that includes cultural components and trips around Oman. This intensive Arabic language program will allow students to gain a deeper knowledge of Arabic, while becoming familiar with Omani history and culture. Only a select number of American students are chosen for the program each year. 

Dr. Swenson will teach the “Passport to Music” class, which is a partnership between Yamaha and Crystal Cruises. The course, which is an introduction to keyboard playing for adults, features an emphasis on hands-on learning using portable keyboards supported by the Clavinova digital piano. The course is designed for those with little or no previous keyboard experience and includes an overview of general musical skills, including listening skills and note reading. 

The course will be offered on the Dec. 9-21, 2013, cruise from Barcelona, Spain, to Miami, Florida. 

In addition to teaching a variety of music performance and music history courses at Salem, Dr. Swenson manages community music course offerings as director of the Center for Musical Excellence at Salem College. An accomplished musician and composer, Dr. Swenson has distinguished himself as a national leader in the field of piano pedagogy. His dissertation focused on the specific traits of adult piano students and a book based on the dissertation, Not Just Big Kids! Motivations, Preferences, Backgrounds and Attitudes of Adult Piano Students, is an important resource for piano teachers of adult students.

The delegation, made up of 12 Salem undergraduate students, was one of only two women’s colleges to participate in the conference and was one of the smallest delegations to receive recognition. More than 2,000 delegates representing nearly 200 colleges and universities from around the globe participated in this annual conference held at United Nations headquarters in New York City, with many of those delegations made up of graduate students, and others three-to-four times the size of the group representing Salem.  

Salem’s head delegate was Jennifer Palmer, who was assisted in her leadership responsibilities by two assistant head delegates, Rebecca Eggers and Keren Salim. Under their direction, the delegation represented the nation of Bolivia to the Model UN General Assembly committees and working groups. Salem also was selected to represent a second country, the nation of Azerbaijan, with Palmer and Eggers participating on the Security Council working group, as well. 

 Along with Palmer, Eggers and Salim, the 2013 delegation included Sandra Bah, Mae Davis, Woyndoubara Koripamo, Paige Myers, Tuula Perry, Paloma Pozos, Shannon Salzman, Kathryn Williams and Ashley Zika

“These young women worked extremely hard to form a unified delegation that came fully prepared to represent the interests of the two nations they were responsible to promote, and they deserved every bit of the high regard that is expressed in the award they received from the National Model United Nations organization,” says Dr. David Foley, faculty advisor to the Salem College Model United Nations Program. “I am proud to be associated with such a fine and honorable group of women.”  

Many students in the program must quit their part- or full-time jobs in order to complete the student teaching semester.  The Benevolence Fund will provide financial support for students in their student teaching semester to complete their final requirement to obtain their teaching licensure. This fund will not only help many of Salem’s students to earn their licensure, but it will also help to provide qualified teachers for schools in Forsyth County. 

"This grant is a huge gift to our department,” says Salem Director of Teacher Education Mary Ann Davis. “Student teaching is a full-time job. Some of our student teachers have needed paid employment at the same time in order to pay rent and buy food for their families. These funds will allow them to focus on their teaching, giving them a stronger classroom experience."  

The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust was established in 1947 and is now one of the largest private trusts in North Carolina. Its mission is to improve the quality of life and health for the financially needy of North Carolina. 

Salem students Alexandria Bennett, Stephanie Hubbard, Katherine Justice, Misty Rusk, Morgan Gaines, Laura Williams, Kierstin Draughon, Bethany Eaton, Ashley Goad, Sarah Miller, Kayla Campbell, Keena Hutchens and Racheal Salmons were all recipients.

The Golden LEAF Foundation has partnered with NCICU to provide scholarship support for more than 10 years. Students are eligible for $3,000 per year, and recipients of the Golden LEAF Scholarships must reside in rural counties that are tobacco-dependent or economically distressed. The overall goal of the program is that these students will return home after receiving their degree and help their rural communities.

“The Golden LEAF Foundation is committed to building the talent, knowledge and skill of North Carolina students,” said Dan Gerlach, Golden LEAF president. “The Golden LEAF Scholarship program assists in providing the vital funds needed for a quality education, and therefore, helps level the playing field for economic success in our rural, tobacco-dependent and economically distressed communities.”