1959
Dr. Olin Sansbury, chancellor emeritus of the University of South Carolina Upstate and a former visiting professor of government at Wofford, discussed his memoir, “Joint Ventures,” at the Darlington (S.C.) Library in February. “Joint Ventures” draws upon his life and reflects his view that “human existence is a web of joint ventures.”
1966
Tillman Abell was the featured speaker at the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum in Columbia, S.C., in April. His talk focused on his experiences in Vietnam. He completed ROTC training at Wofford and entered the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant in 1967. A retired teacher, he now lives in Cordova, S.C.
1968
Vietnam veteran and community leader Craig Burnette received the Order of the Palmetto at the grand opening of Warriors Once Again (WOA), a new transitional residence in Spartanburg for veterans experiencing homelessness. The Order of the Palmetto was presented on behalf of Gov. Henry McMaster by state Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary William Grimsley in recognition of Burnette’s lifetime of service to his country and community. It is the state’s highest civilian honor.
1978
Bruce Williams was installed as chief judge of the South Carolina State Court of Appeals on May 4. The state legislature elected him to the position on Feb. 2. He was first elected to the Court of Appeals in 2004. He began his career on the bench in 1995, when he was elected to the Fifth Judicial Circuit Family Court. During his tenure as a family court judge, he served as president of the South Carolina Conference of Family Court Judges, as well as secretary-treasurer. In 1997, he established the Richland County Juvenile Drug Court. He was awarded the Governor’s Program Achievement Award for Juvenile Drug Court the following year.
1980
Spartanburg attorney Doug Smith has been reappointed to the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport Commission. His term runs through Dec. 31, 2027.
1983
Countybank has promoted James R. Fowler Jr. to executive vice president, Anderson market. Fowler has served Countybank for more than 24 years in various leadership roles, most recently as the bank’s most senior corporate banker as director of commercial banking and strategic initiatives.
1987
Dr. Kevin P. Michaels was appointed the health officer for the Mobile County (Ala.) Health Department. Prior to his appointment as health officer, Michaels served as an assistant medical director at Occupational Health Center. He is a U.S. Army veteran, retiring as a colonel.
1989
Dr. Cliff Bowers and Laura Galloway Bowers established a direct primary care practice, Carolina Health and Aesthetics, in Duncan, S.C.
The National Deer Association’s April Beer and Deer webinar featured Dr. John Kilgo, a research wildlife biologist with the USDA Forest Service. Kilgo has been with USDA Forest Service since 1997, serving as a research biologist and ecologist at the Southern Research Station in Asheville, N.C.
1990
Spartanburg District Five Schools has named Dr. Russell Howard as the new athletics director at James F. Byrnes High School in Duncan, S.C. He arrived at Byrnes as a teacher and coach in 1993 and has spent a total of 26 years at the school. He left briefly to serve as Greenville High School’s athletics director from 2006-08. He will officially move into his new role on July 1.
State Rep. Murrell Smith was elected speaker of the S.C. House of Representatives on April 28. He assumed his duties on May 12. Smith was first elected in 2000. In 2018, he was elected chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. He is a co-founder of the Smith Robinson law firm in Sumter, S.C. He has been recognized as a Best Lawyer by Best Lawyers in America for commercial litigation, as a Midlands Legal Elite for healthcare law by Columbia Business Monthly and as a Leadership in Law honoree by South Carolina Lawyer’s Weekly.
1992
OVG360 announced that Gregory A. O’Dell has joined the full-service venue management and hospitality company based in Philadelphia, Pa., as president of venue management. O’Dell started his new role in April after departing as CEO of Events DC, the official convention and sports authority for Washington, D.C. With more than 25 years of experience, O’Dell will lead the venue management line of business within OVG360, overseeing venue operations for more than 230 properties across the globe, including stadiums, arenas, convention centers, performing arts centers, cultural institutions and state fairgrounds. O’Dell is a current member of Wofford’s Board of Trustees. He is Wofford basketball’s third all-time leading scorer with 2,208 points, and he was inducted into the college’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997.
1993
Beth Jeter Hrubala is president and owner of Jeter Hrubala Wealth Strategies, a financial planning and investment management firm with offices in Spartanburg and Isle of Palms, S.C. She was recognized in the 2022 Forbes list of “Best-in-State Wealth Advisors,” the 2022 Forbes list of “America’s Top Women Advisors Best-in-State” and the 2021 Working Mother magazine’s list of “Top Wealth Advisor Moms.”
1995
Julie Gregg Warren and Mark Clinton Warren were married on Feb. 19, 2022. They live in Lexington, S.C., with their children, Thomas, Caroline and Robert.
First Reliance Bank has promoted Michael Edens to president of the Columbia, S.C., market. Edens has more than two decades of experience, most recently as a commercial banker. He will be responsible for the expansion of the Columbia market and will oversee sales management and community development. He received the Outstanding Young Banker Award in 2008, the highest award given by the state Bankers Association.
1997
Jon Zeigler has joined The CLIMB Fund, formerly the Charleston LDC, as director of lending. Previously, he was vice president of lending at SPC Credit Union in Hartsville, S.C.
1998
Jill Kelley Beasenburg has joined Carolina One Real Estate as an agent. She is based in the Isle of Palms office. She also is a physical therapist.
2001
NBC “TODAY” show host Craig Melvin was awarded the honorary Doctor of Public Service degree during the University of South Carolina’s commencement exercises on May 7. He delivered the commencement address. Melvin, a member of Wofford’s board of trustees, signed off as a weekday anchor on MSNBC for the final time on March 31 after 10 years at the network. He is focusing on his duties as “TODAY” show host.
Wes Sellew has joined Princeton Mortgage in Charleston, S.C. He has 20 years of experience as a mortgage banker in both Boston, Mass., and Charleston, and he is one of the top loan originators in the nation.
2002
Lisa Cameron McMillan has been named the executive director of human resources for Greenwood School District 50. She came to the district from Greenwood Mills, where she was the human resources director for more than six years. Before that, she worked as an attorney for seven years after graduating from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2007.
2003
Andrea Peabody Westmoreland, a certified child life specialist at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, N.C., was recently the subject of a “day in the life” feature on the Atrium Health website. She has been with the hospital for 18 years.
2004
Hospice and Palliative Care of Iredell County (N.C.) has promoted Dr. Erin Kelley Carnes to chief medical officer. She will provide leadership and medical oversight for both palliative and hospice care programs at Hospice and Palliative Care of Iredell County. Carnes is board-certified in emergency medicine and has received her hospice medical director certification. She joined HPCIC with several years of hospice and palliative care experience in both the home and inpatient settings.
Womble Bond Dickinson announced that Shawan Gillians has joined the Charleston, S.C., office as of counsel in the firm’s capital markets practice group. Gillians, a current member of Wofford’s board of trustees, joins the firm from Santee Cooper, the state’s largest public power provider, where she most recently served as the director of legal services and corporate secretary.
Coastal Carolina National Bank has named Kelly Harvey its vice president/mortgage loan originator in Spartanburg. She spent 14 years in commercial banking before venturing into mortgage lending.
Mountain Sun Community School in Brevard, N.C., has announced that Lindsay Lyman Skelton will be its new executive director for the 2022-23 academic year.
Ashley Borders Zigman received the award for best makeup and hairstyling at the Rome International Movie Awards for her work on “The Walk.”
2006
Joseph Bias was a Richland County (S.C.) School District Two Black History Month honoree in the education category. He is the general counsel and a special advisor to the president of Midlands Technical College. In 2019, he was selected as a co-winner of the S.C. Bar Association’s Young Lawyer of the Year award.
The Clemson Young Alumni Council presented a 2021 Roaring10 award to Dr. Daniel Ross Thompson, laboratory manager in Clemson University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. He supervises graduate teaching assistants, provides lecture demonstrations, conducts science outreach programs and serves as building security coordinator. Recipients are recognized for their impact in business, leadership, community, educational and philanthropic endeavors.
2007
The University of Toledo has selected Bryan B. Blair, the former chief operating officer and deputy director of athletics at Washington State University, as the Rockets’ new vice president for intercollegiate athletics and director of athletics. Blair began at Toledo on May 1. At Washington State, he led the team of sports administrators responsible for day-to-day oversight of the university’s 17 varsity sports programs as well as overseeing several departmental units focused on student-athlete success.
Geno Thompson has been named head football coach at West Orange High School in Winter Garden, Fla.
2008
Campbell Oates and Christine Oates welcomed baby Brennan Hunter Oates on Dec. 23, 2021. Campbell is a senior account manager and field sales trainer at Smith and Nephew Advanced Wound Management in Atlanta, Ga.
Alex Sturgis and Melanie Sturgis celebrated the birth of their son, Webb Alexander Sturgis, July 19, 2021. Webb joins his two sisters, Elliot (7) and Eleanor (5). Alex is business development manager at Siemens Industry in Columbia, S.C.
2009
The Beach Company has hired Patrick Seignious as a property management assistant to support the administration responsibilities of all commercial properties across the Southeast. Seignious will be based at the company’s headquarters in Charleston, S.C. He previously served in multiple roles at Kiawah Island Golf Resort.
2010
Mike McDonnell was recently named one of Golf Digest’s Top 50 Trainers in America. McConnell, who operates his own personal training business, Coach Mike Mac in Charleston, is the only trainer from South Carolina to make the list. He played baseball while at Wofford.
2011
Benebone, a leading brand of high-quality USA-made dog chews, has appointed Nate Harceg its chief growth officer. He joins Benebone in Miami, Fla., with over a decade of retail and consumer goods leadership experience, most recently as the head of toys for Chewy. Prior to Chewy, he held a variety of roles at Walmart, including several merchant roles within dry grocery and customer experience marketing.
Lisle Traywick III, an attorney with Robinson Gray Stepp & Laffitte in Columbia, S.C., has been named to the state Supreme Court’s Pro Bono Honor Roll for his extensive commitment to pro bono service in 2021. Traywick provided more than 100 hours of pro bono service over the past year.
2012
Brodie Hart was recently the subject of a feature in the Interior Journal in Stanford, Ky. Hart has worked as a television reporter for the past nine years, including stints with Fox 5 in San Diego, Calif., and the past six and half years at ABC News 4 in Charleston, S.C. He left ABC News 4 to begin a new career doing internal communications and video storytelling for a biotech firm in Charleston.
Meg Wilson and Jeremy Richards were married on Sept. 11, 2021 in Savannah, Ga. She is a school social worker with Gaston County (N.C.) Schools.
2015
Hank Davis has joined the South Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association as vice president of government affairs and community relations.
Dr. Aristide Gumyusenge joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in January. He will hold the Merton C. Flemings Career Development Professorship. His research background and interests are in semiconducting polymers, their processing and characterization and their role in the future of electronics.
Alex Hunt North and Wiley North ’16 welcomed their son, Wiley Whitaker North Jr., on Nov. 12, 2021. Wiley is a commercial sales associate at Coldwell Banker Commercial Caine in Spartanburg.
Nancy Cameron Smith and Patrick Kershaw Smith were married on April 2, 2022. She is an assistant vice president and portfolio manager with Truist Bank in Washington, D.C. He is the deputy director of preservation and facilities at the Washington National Cathedral.
2016
Annamaria Hidalgo and Chandler Christensen were married on Feb. 26, 2022. She is a sales support assistant at Sealed Air Corp. in Seaview, Wash.
Phifer Nicholson is one of 14 medical students chosen for the 2022 medical program of the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE). The 2022 fellowship will take place in Germany and Poland in the summer. Nicholson is a doctor of medicine candidate at the Duke University School of Medicine and a theology, medicine and culture fellow at Duke Divinity School. His professional and research interests include health equity, social medicine, ethnography, global health and the intersection of theology and medicine.
2017
Jennifer Espenschied Drerup will complete her physician resident training in urology at the Medical University of South Carolina. She earned her M.D. from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and will relocate to Charleston this summer.
2018
Katie Beuerlein Kemple has been selected for a dermatology residency at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. She graduated with a doctor of medicine from Wake Forest School of Medicine in May.
Krishna Shah matched at Duke University Hospital for a two-year pharmacy residency in health system administration and leadership.
2019
Matt Green obtained a master’s degree in public health in epidemiology from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. The research that he conducted while working on his degree was recently published in “Hypertension,” an American Heart Association journal.
Peyton Walker has been named coach of the Tampa Thunder basketball program’s 2025 team. The Thunder is a travel basketball team.
2021
Hughes Agency in Greenville, S.C., has hired Mary Catherine Beecy as account executive. Beecy previously worked as an intern for the Hughes Agency. She has interned with Spartanburg-based creative marketing agency Launch Something, as well as Heart of Hospice, where she assisted with marketing and human resource tasks.
Faculty and Staff
Colleen Ballance, Dr. Courtney Dorroll and Dr. Philip Dorroll co-authored the article “Seeing and Hearing Omar ibn Said,” for the Review of Middle East Studies, published online by Cambridge University Press. Ballance is associate professor and chair of theatre. Courtney Dorroll is an associate professor of religion and interim co-director of the Center for Innovation and Learning. Philip Dorroll is an associate professor of religion.
Dr. Ken Banks, associate professor of his- tory, has published a review of “The Death of the French Atlantic” by Alan Forrest in the American Historical Review.
Dr. Peter Brewitt, assistant professor and chair of environmental studies, and Lawson Giles ’21 have published the article “Red wolf science and identity storylines in an online dis- cursive community” in Environmental Science and Policy.
Dr. Kirsten Krick-Aigner, professor of German, co-published the article “Environmental Justice Modules: A Case Study Approach for Intermediate and Advanced German Learners” in the journal Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German.
Dr. Rachel Grotheer, assistant professor of mathematics, and co-authors have published the article “A Simple Recovery Framework for Signals with Time-Varying Sparse Support” in Advances in Data Science.
Dr. Aaron Harp, assistant professor of music, has contributed an interview with Henry Leck to the book “In Search of Inspiration: Interviews with Notable Choral Conductors.”
Dr. Dane Hilton, assistant professor of psychology, and co-authors have published the article “Are brief behavioral parenting group interventions effective in rural communities? A feasibility study in Central Appalachia” in the Journal of Rural Mental Health. Hilton also has been appointed to the editorial board of Journal of Rural Mental Health as of Jan. 1.
Dr. Trina Janiec Jones, professor of religion, recently published the article “A Theology of Increasing Adequacy: Process, Practicality, and Relationship” in the Journal of Interreligious Studies. This article was part of a special edition of the JIRS titled “The Spiritual But Not Religious and Theology Without Walls.” Additionally, Jones was part of a daylong symposium in February sponsored by the Center for Culture, Society and Religion at Princeton University titled “Translating Sanskrit Buddhist Philosophy for the Philosophy Curriculum.” The symposium focused on the work of the Vasubandhu Translation Group, of which she is a member, and its draft translation of Gupta period Buddhist scholastic Vasubandhu’s “Twenty Verses and Exposition.” She served as the respondent to the symposium’s keynote address. She also was invited to write for the University of Chicago Divinity School’s Craft of Teaching blog this semester. Her first post, “Rediscovering Joy,” was published on March 18.
The South Carolina Football Hall of Fame has named President Emeritus Joe Lesesne its Humanitarian of the Year. As president, he led Wofford through some of its most pivotal growth as an institution academically, athletically and physically. After his retirement as president, Lesesne continued to teach his- tory classes and serve as a volunteer assistant football coach, working with the tight ends (2001-04). He became the director of football operations for former coach Mike Ayers and served in that capacity until 2016.
Dr. Ingrid Lilly, assistant professor of religion, published the article “The Corporeality of the Self: The Example of Bitter Nefeš as an Ethnomedical Syndrome” in the peer-review journal, Dead Sea Discoveries.
Dr. Dawn McQuiston, associate professor of psychology, was invited to present her work on the science of eyewitness memory at the South Carolina Circuit Court Judges Conference in May.
Dr. Jeremy Morris, assistant professor of biology, co-authored the article “Scaling of fibre area and fibre glycogen concentration in the hindlimb musculature of monitor lizards: Implications for locomotor performance with increasing body size” in the Journal of Experimental Biology. The article appears in a special issue titled Building New Paradigms in Comparative Physiology and Biomechanics. Morris also co-authored the article “Reversing the lens on public engagement with science: Positive benefits for participating scientists” in the journal BioScience.
Dr. Brian Pigott, associate professor of mathematics, co-authored the paper “Symmetrical vibrations of higher dimensional nonlinear wave equations,” which has been accepted for publication in Selecta Mathematica.
Dr. Katharine Putney, assistant professor of biology, co-authored the paper “The effects of varying nutrient availability on females and hermaphrodites of the gynodioecious Geranium maculatum,” which has been accepted for publication in the journal Castanea.
Dr. Charles Smith, associate professor of biology, has co-edited the book “Reptiles of the Trans-Pecos Texas” by Michael S. Price.
Dr. Rachel Vanderhill, associate professor of government and international affairs, and Dr. Courtney Dorroll recently published the article “Teaching, Self-Care, and Reflective Practice during a Pandemic” in PS: Political Science and Politics. In response to the article, the University of Kentucky political science department invited Vanderhill and Dorroll to give a talk in April as part of its teacher training lecture series.