Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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®ie (BamEEOCk Hodges honors Governor’s two Professors of the Year by Kimberly Dresslef The Gamecock Gov. Jim Hodges honored twc professors from South Carolina as the 2000 Governor’s Professors ol the Year on Sept. 29. Dr. Ashok Satpathy at South Carolina State University and Dr Ronald J. Harshbarger at USC Beaufort were this year’s two re cipients. They were each honored with a citation from the Commis sion on Higher Education and a $5000 award. The Governor’s award was sel up to honor two outstanding teach ers each year. The professors must demonstrate extraordinary teach ing skills, new and creative teach ing methods, positive student eval uations and public service efforts that supplement and enhance the candidate’s teaching credentials. Each year, one professor is hon ored from both a two-year college and a four-year university. The pro fessors must be nominated by some one who has knowledge of theii skills. After announcing both men, Hodges praised them. “It is my great pleasure to honor these professors to their self less devotion to teaching,” Hodges said. “They have shared their knowl edge with countless South Car olinians, both inside and outside the classroom.” Harshbarger has been teaching at USC- Beaufort since 1996, and he is a professor and advisor of math — “It is my great pleasure to honor these pro fessors to their selfless devotion to teach . ing," Jim Hodges Governor of South Carolina ematics. He is the author of six mathematics textbooks and has been the co-author of 14 additional edi tions. He pioneered the use of hand held computers and graphing cal culators to illustrate concepts within the classroom. Harshbarger was nominated for this award by the Dean of USC- Beaufort and an aca demic dean. He was then informed that he had been selected as a finalist and went to a half-hour interview with members of the Commission of Higher Education. “I’m very honored to receive this award. It is a bit of a shock for a mathematics professor,” Harsh baiger said. “Math is not everyone’s favorite subject to study. But it is really just a great honor to receive.” He went on to say that he hoped Beaufort would benefit from the award as much as he would. “I think this will be very bene ficial for people in the low coun try,” he said. “It is important to let them know what a good school they have in USC- Beaufort.” Satpathy has been teaching at South Carolina State University since 1989. In that time, he has re ceived numerous awards for his teaching, including the 2000 South Carolina State Teacher of the Year Award and the Millennium Award for Excellence in Teaching at a His torically Black College and Uni versity. He is an associate professor of chemistry, and has worked contin uously to enhance his students’ knowledge in that area. He created the Student Orient ed Comprehensive Knowledge En hancement Technique, otherwise known as SOCKET, to help students with their chemistry studies. SOCKET is a Web site that will pro vide students with two complete chemistry courses on-line. He is also actively involved with schools in Orangebuig. He is work ing with the Orangeburg Consoli-’ dated School District 5 on ways to incorporate new technology into every classroom. “It makes me happy to know that all of the students will know what a great education they can get by attending one of the schools with these honored professors,” Harsh barger said. The city/state desk can he reached at gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com. » Forum addresses media violence by Gina Caruso The Gamecock Challenging common perceptions of an issue that has made headlines na tionwide, A USC professor led a forum on the reality of violence in films Mon day night. The event, which was held in the Bates House social room, was sponsored by Bates Hall Government. USC film studies and University 101 professor Dan Berman headed the session, offering his opinions on film vi olence and providing students with an op portunity to react to and ask questions about several clips shown. According to Berman, the question is whether violence is realistic or surreal and what purpose it serves in the film. “We are concerned with what the au dience takes from the film aiid if the vi olence is exploitive or making a point,” he said. _ “Sometimes films aren’t violent enough, making them unrealistic. How ever, if the violence has meaning and con text, there is sometliing to learn and grow from.” The forum began with Berman dis cussing some camera techniques frequently used when filming violent scenes. He de scribed the screen as an emotional map, with the right side having more power than the left. He also explained how film directors create emotion through dif ferent camera angles and movement about the screen. Berman then began to address die con troversial-issue on film violence. “It is important that we see every thing, discuss it and then determine what we can learn front it,” Berman said. “What we see will only become danger ous if it is not talked about.” The first clip shown was from die film “Taxi Driver” in which Robert DeNiro plays the role of the alienated Vietnam veteran who grows increasingly deranged and isolated front American society and eventually plans to assassinate a presi dential candidate. According to Berman, the psychology of DeNiro’s character makes the film interesting and tells us something about American society. “It is interesting in that violence is shown, but perhaps helps us as society to learn,” he said. Berman continued the session with a clip from “Terminator 2” which dis played a series of violent events through the eyes of the killer and concluded with the opening scene from “Natural Bom Killers,” the most controversial film of the 1990s, according to, Berman. He stressed the fact that violence is very ex aggerated in the film. “The director of the film satirizes violence by making it so extreme. The ‘natural bom killers’ are the extreme re flection of a violent society,” Berman said , The forum concluded with some fi nal remarks by Berman. “Many of the best films are very vi olent, but have a lot of.substance. Therefore, political candidates should not attempt to censor what we watch. Trying to keep something from us is dangerous. Once discussed, the violence becomes something to understand and allows us to make better decisions in our lives,” he said. Students who attended the forum of fered their views on movie violence in re gards to Berman’s speech. “It provided me with insight on cam era tricks and how they effect the char acters. It was very informative,” freshman Ryan Dorsey said. Freshman Byron David said the dis cussion caused him to change his views concerning violent films. “Now I understand that communica tion is important,” David said. “If we talk about violence, we’ll understand what was meant.” The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmail.com. Read mt (Bamecocl? 3 times a week This year the cast of MTV's The Real World' went to Africa. Now you can too! Enter for a chance to win at your local Council Travel office or at counciltravel.com This trip to Africa is provided by iiB3 — 1 for 18 to 35 year olds OtlOriLlC No Purchase Necessary. Open to residents of U.S., between the ages of 18 and 35 as of 9/5/00. Void where prohibited. See agency for Official Rules or go to counciltravel.com. Sweepstakes ends 10/15/00. If you love brainstorming because it feels like an athletic event, well introduce you to some Olympians. / Microsoft Microsoft Company Presentation Thursday, October 12th at 7:00pm Swearingen Building Faculty Lounge - 1A03 Free Food and Cool Giveaways! Bring your resume if interested in full-time or internship positions! Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer and supports workplace diversity. © 2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. _______J