Call for 2011 Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Applications

Dear Colleagues and Students:

The South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium invites qualified students to submit applications to the Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship.  Approximately 35-45 students are selected nationally for this prestigious Fellowship to spend a year in Washington, D.C., working in Congress or the Executive Branch on critical marine policy and resource management issues.  The Knauss Fellowship provides a stipend and living expense allowance totaling $44,000 annually.  The fellowship begins February 1, 2011. Applications are due at the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, attention Rick DeVoe, no later than Friday, February 19, 2009.

All the details about the fellowship and how to apply may be found at: http://www.seagrant.noaa.gov/knauss/.

If you have any questions or want to make an appointment to discuss the fellowship, please call Rick DeVoe at 843-953-2078 or email: rick.devoe@scseagrant.org.

Thank you very much.

And, as always, be sure to check out the Paying for Grad School section of our website. We frequently add and update listings for grants, scholarships, fellowships, and jobs applicable to every program that we offer.

David Wojslawowicz is certainly no exception. A 2008 graduate of our M.A. in  History program, and now a student in our Master of Public Administration program, Senior Police Officer Wojslawowicz embodies the qualities that so many of our graduate students share: a dedication to the greater good, a strong intellect, and a desire to make a positive impact on the world. As an officer with the City of Charleston’s DUI task force, he makes a definitive impact by keeping drunken drivers off our streets and literally saving the lives of the city’s residents and visitors.

His outstanding work caught the attention of The Charleston Post and Courier’s David MacDougall, who wrote this article about him in today’s paper:

DUI’s Worst Enemy

Officer among state’s most prolific in enforcing drunken driving laws

By David MacDougall

The Post and Courier

Monday, November 9, 2009

Charleston Sr. Police Officer Matthew Wojslawowicz administers a field sobriety test to a driver. He was testing for horizontal gaze nystagmus, an involuntary jerking of the eyes as a result of intoxication.

It’s a Friday night, and Charleston Senior Police Officer Matthew Wojslawowicz is staring intently into the eyes of a young man he’d just pulled over.

Wojslawowicz, a member of the city’s DUI Task Force, is among the most prolific officers in South Carolina in enforcing the state’s drunken driving laws.

He was staring into the young man’s eyes to see how smoothly they were able to follow a moving object, a ballpoint pen he was slowly and ever so deliberately moving far to the mans’s left, and then far to his right.

It’s the first part of the Standardized Field Sobriety Test. He was looking for horizontal gaze nystagmus, an involuntary jerking of the eyes as a result of intoxication. The other parts include the “nine-step walk and turn test” and the “one-legged stand.”

Pronouncing his last name correctly (voy-sla-VOH-vitch) is not part of the test. If it were, most of his fellow police officers would fail. They simply call him “Wojo.”

Wojslawowicz, 28, is a certified instructor in the Standardized Field Sobriety Test and frequently holds classes for other officers.

A native of Bayonne, N.J., Wojslawowicz decided in high school that he wanted to be either a police officer or a teacher. He enrolled at University of Richmond with plans to teach history in high school or college.

“One day I woke up and decided my skills would be better used in law enforcement,” he said. After graduating with a master’s degree in history, he applied to the Charleston Police Department. He wanted to move even farther away from the cold weather he grew up in, and he was fascinated by the region’s history, he said.

Wojslawowicz was hired by former Police Chief Reuben Greenberg in 2003 and worked as a regular patrol officer for the first three years.

In 2006, he moved to the Traffic Division and started handling more DUI cases. In June 2008, he wrote up a proposal for a DUI Task Force and presented it to police Chief Greg Mullen. This year, the S.C. Department of Public Safety honored Wojslawowicz as Officer of the Year for his DUI enforcement efforts in 2008.

He said he likes working DUI cases, despite the verbal abuse he often gets from drunks. “Some people get into this because they have a relative killed by a drunk driver or something,” he said. “Fortunately, that hasn’t happened to me. That’s not why I do it. I think I am really doing something that saves people’s lives.”

Not only the lives of drunk drivers, he said, “but the lives of countless others who could be killed by them.”

Mullen has beefed up traffic enforcement considerably and emphasized getting drunk drivers off the road. There were two officers on the task force when it started. Now there are six. The department just received a $169,697 highway safety grant that will be used to strengthen the task force, said police Lt. Chip Searson, supervisor of the traffic unit.

“Over the past several years, the Charleston Police Department, with the inception of the DUI unit, has made a renewed commitment to remove individuals who chose to drive impaired from our streets and highways,” Searson said. “Matt Wojslawowicz is a dedicated professional who has made a significant impact towards that unit’s success.”

Arrest records show that the effort has been successful. In 2006, there were 143 DUI arrests. In 2007, there were 489 and in 2008, there were 662. The department had more than 600 DUI arrests in 2009 as of last Friday.

Officers on the task force would not have such high DUI arrest numbers were it not for the participation of all of the city’s police officers. Task force members can, and will, spot drunken drivers on their own, but many of their cases begin with a call for help from a regular patrol officer.

Though task force members specialize in DUI cases, they also write regular traffic tickets.

On this past Friday night, Wojslawowicz parked his cruiser in a position where he could aim his radar at traffic crossing the Ashley River Memorial Bridge from the peninsula into West Ashley. The posted limit on the bridge is 35 mph. Few people were driving that slow. Wojslawowicz could get them all for speeding if he wanted to.

“I don’t write anybody a citation for anything that I would do myself,” he said. “We all go over the speed limit.”

Like most police officers, Wojslawowicz allows a certain amount of leeway between the posted speed limit and the speed that will get him coming at you with blue lights flashing.

A pickup truck came off the bridge at 54 mph. Wojslawowicz flipped on the blue lights, wheeled the cruiser around and pulled the driver over. Wojslawowicz sees every stop for speeding as an opportunity to look for a DUI. This driver was not visibly intoxicated. He was issued a citation for speeding.

Wojslawowicz doesn’t let people off with warning tickets. “How can I let one person go with a warning and give a ticket to another person? I go to sleep at night knowing I was fair to everybody,” he said.

His cruiser, a police-package 2008 Dodge Charger with a 5.7-liter, 368 horse power V-8 engine, serves as his office, complete with a laptop computer, a printer, a radar system, and an in-car video system. Personal accessories include a GPS navigator and a satellite radio receiver.

He described himself as a huge sports fan and said he listens to games on the satellite radio. That Friday night, he was listening to NCAA basketball games.

Though he is single with no children, Wojslawowicz said he doesn’t have a lot of time for fun because he’s working toward a master’s in public administration at the College of Charleston. The coursework keeps him busy, but he has season tickets to Cougars basketball games. He and his father attend them whenever they can. His parents moved to Charleston last year.

Though he loves the satellite radio, the most valuable gadget in his car is the video camera. It records video and sound for every traffic stop, every DUI arrest. In DUI cases, the video alone is often enough to elicit a guilty plea, he said. And the camera protects him from citizen complaints.

“If you are doing what you’re supposed to be doing on this job, the camera will be your best friend,” he said.

He has set a personal goal of writing at least 10 traffic tickets and taking at least one drunk driver off the street every night he works. “It’s a goal,” he said. “Not a quota.”

There are no quotas in the department, he said. Still, there was a misunderstanding recently when Searson sent out a motivational memo with suggested goals for traffic officers, Wojslawowicz said.

Meeting his self-imposed goal is rarely a problem, he said.

On that same Friday night, he was able to write four speeding tickets while watching the traffic coming off the bridge. Then he started cruising the streets of the city, looking for intoxicated drivers.

The crunch and squeal of a pickup truck’s tire hopping a curb as it turned onto Calhoun Street caught his attention. He followed the driver closely for a block and saw the truck swerving from side to side. He flipped on the blue lights and pulled the truck over.

Wojslawowicz approached the driver, a 21-year-old college student, and smelled alcohol on his breath. The driver said he’d been to a party where he’d had a few drinks.

Wojslawowicz asked the driver to step out of the truck and he began the field sobriety test. The driver failed the test, and he was arrested and handcuffed for a trip to police headquarters on Lockwood Drive.

There, in a jail cell where the city’s two Datamaster breath analysis machines are installed, Wojslawowicz gently instructed his prisoner on the procedure. The driver refused to take the breath test, choosing instead to lose his driving privileges for six months.

All told, it took about 90 minutes from the time Wojslawowicz pulled over the driver to the time a police transport officer took charge of the prisoner for the trip to the county jail. Had the man’s friends not been on the scene and able to drive away his truck, there would have been additional time spent waiting for a tow truck, Wojslawowicz said.

And he would spend an additional half-hour or so back in his cruiser, writing up his arrest report, before being able to go back on the street to hunt for another DUI offender.

Wojslawowicz doesn’t mind the time it takes. “When you take someone off the street for DUI,” he said. “You’re making a sizable impact.”

So, we send our congratulations and much-deserved appreciation to David Wojslawowicz for his outstanding service, and we wish him the best in his continued studies at The Graduate School of the College of Charleston.

Related Posts
Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History
Guest Blogger: Geoff Pallay
Is Dolphin-Safe Tuna Fishy?

For some of us, the decision is already made because certain graduate programs only allow one specific test. For the rest of us, we have some options. It makes sense to evaluate the different tests in order to determine which test(s) might be appropriate.

Education and The Humanities

If you are applying to a program in education or the humanities, you often get the option of choosing between two tests: The Miller Analogies Test (MAT), or The Graduate Record Exam (GRE). Both tests are drastically different, and as this article points out, you should consider each on the basis of what you consider to be your academic strengths and weaknesses.

Some education degree programs may require PRAXIS exam scores for entry as well, especially ones designed for already-certified teachers.  Ultimately, many state departments of education also require PRAXIS tests to obtain certification at the end of degree programs that are designed for beginning teachers.  To learn more about the PRAXIS tests, visit this website.

Business/Accountancy

Business and Accountancy programs most often require the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). The GMAT is designed to test skills required by students entering into business or accountancy degree programs. To find out more about the GMAT, read this helpful article.

The Sciences, Public Administration, Historic Preservation, and Everyone Else

Here at The Graduate School of the College of Charleston, the standard requirement for most other programs continues to be the GRE. If you have questions about the test requirements and deadlines for specific programs, check the Application Requirements Grid.

Law School and Medical School

Everyone who is considering a law school program will have to become familiar with the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), and everyone who plans on entering medical school should prepare adequately for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). For specific requirements on these tests, contact the admissions office of the law or medical school that you’re interested in.

To everyone taking an entrance exam this Fall, we wish you the best of luck. As always, if you have any questions please feel free to drop us an email or visit us on the web.

Test Registration and Information Sites:

GRE
MAT
GMAT
PRAXIS

Related Links
Monday Motivation: Choosing a Grad School
Monday Motivation: Preparing for grad school
Monday Motivation: Finding balance as a grad student

Anyone watching the College of Charleston through the next semester will see a whole new virtual university emerge.  The first overhaul you’ll see is our website.  The smallest change is our address: we’re moving from cofc.edu/gradschool to gradschool.cofc.edu.  The biggest is the launch of our new website.  Thanks to the hard work of IT, Marketing and countless others, the website is in beta release and should go live by August 10. Want a sneak peak?

Students, faculty and staff will see another change, and that’s a replacement of CougarTrail with the MyCharleston portal.  Everyone, including applicants, will be able to access “information and services previously limited by location or hours of operation.”

While we’re all incredibly excited about these changes, it takes a lot of work from just about everyone on campus. Susan and Regan, our directors of admissions and student records respectively, have been in countless hours of meetings and training sessions.  While I haven’t been in nearly as many meetings, I have been working on making sure the graduate school’s website is ready for the proposed August 10 launch.

With all of these meetings, I wonder who’s been planning the big launch party, and if sparklers will be involved? Or how large the scissors will be.

Related Posts:
We’re chirping a lot over here. Join us on Twitter
“A penny saved is a penny earned”
Who’s talking about you?

More than 100 students will cross the stage in Sottile Theatre tonight to receive their Master’s degree, and our office is buzzing with excitement.  I’ve worked with several of these students since they first came through Porter’s Lodge their first semester, and have enjoyed each and every experience.  One of the students that I’ve had the privilege of working with is Kolo Rathburn.  He has made such an impact on the college, including his dedication to the Graduate Student Association.  Kolo is one of the founding members, and our most recent president.  He was also gracious enough to guest blog for us on this very special day.

Kolo in the lab

I’m graduating tonight!  Well sort of, you see there is still this monster of a thesis I have to defend, but I have met all other requirements and with a small petition the graduate school has allowed me to participate in tomorrow’s ceremony.

All I can think of is what an honor it has been to be at the Graduate School of College of Charleston.  Not only does this institution have great academic support in administration and faculty, but the campus itself is embedded in a great historic city which makes the experience of being a student here truly unique.

During my brief tenure here at the College, about three years now, I have witnessed many changes in the grad school- all of them for the better.  With the formation and prosperity of the Graduate Student Association, an organization I am quite fond of, a more tangible graduate student community has formed at the College fostering a true sense of belonging among graduate students.  But on a personal level my experience here in Charleston has been absolutely amazing and life-changing.  I come from a small town on the North Shore of O`ahu, Hawai`i.  Coming to Charleston and the South was a huge change for me.  It was through the Graduate School in classes, research, and extracurricular activities that I really made this place my home.  The College itself has embraced me each time I’ve reached out regardless of which department it may have been.  It has also been my experience that when any graduate student has reached out on campus, they have been welcomed full heartedly.

There is a lot in my heart for the graduate school and this special place in Charleston, but I will refrain from spilling it out in this blog.  Suffice it to say that this has been the best decision I have made in my life thus far, coming to the Graduate School at the College of Charleston, and I will always cherish the times I’ve spent here.  But for now it’s time to graduate, well sort of.

Until I blog again, as an alumni, Thank you College of Charleston!

And from the bottom of my heart, Aloha.

College of Charleston Magazine covered Anna Fiona Cooke’s research paper entitled “Type. Send. Communicate.” in its Spring 2009 issue.  Cooke, a Master of Arts in Communication candidate, explores how instant communication like text messaging shapes efficiency in the workplace.  Her adviser, Doug Ferguson, encouraged to submit her paper nationally.  It’s a good thing too, because she won the Graduate Student Award from the Carolina Communication Association.  Since then, she has been invited by the National Communication Association to present her work in San Diego, and will be featured in the National Communications Journal.

To read more about what Cooke and other College of Charleston Alumni have to say about emerging technology in the workplace, download a PDF or visit the website (this link will expire when the next College of Charleston Magazine issue is released.)

Associate Dean Owens with Graduates

Graduate Students should enter the arena on the Meeting St. side and proceed to the immediate right of the lobby, and follow signs to the Graduate Student robbing room. Signs will guide you to the proper room. Graduate students need to be present at the arena no later than 9:15AM. Please respect this time, as it is essential that you be punctual in order to line-up for the procession. Latecomers may not be able to process. Last minute details will be provided at this time. There will be a guard from Public Safety remaining in the area, so you may leave your items there until after commencement.

If you encounter any problems with your regalia, please notify the Graduate School Office immediately.

Please remember that beginning this semester, every guest must have a ticket in order to enter the Carolina First Arena. Each student is allowed 8 tickets. If you have not picked up your tickets at the Graduate School Office, you must do so immediately. All tickets must be picked up by Friday, December 19, 2008.

PLEASE BE REMINDED THAT YOU MUST HAVE YOUR CAP, GOWN, AND HOOD WITH YOU AT THE CEREMONY IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE!

Please notify us if you require special assistance in order to participate in the ceremony.

There will be a reception immediately following commencement for you and your guests.

We look forward to your graduation and hope this will be a very happy time for you and your guests.

NOTE: If you have changed your plans concerning your ceremony attendance, please notify me at 953-5614 or Fantryr@cofc.edu immediately.

As the semester draws to a close, we are quickly approaching Graduation Day!

The Graduate School would like to take a moment to congratulate the members of the December 2008 graduating class. This semester, a total 50 students will graduate from the Graduate School.

The Fall Commencement Ceremony is returning to campus for the first time in several years, taking place in the College of Charleston’s brand new Carolina First Arena on Meeting Street. We’re extremely excited to have the opportunity to show off the beautiful new arena with such a great event! The ceremony is also moving from Sunday morning to Saturday morning, December 20 at 10:00AM. This year’s speaker will be Jennet Robinson Alterman, Executive Director of the Center for Women, and there will be a reception after the ceremony for graduates and their families.

If you are graduating and participating in Saturday’s ceremony, don’t forget to stop by the Graduate School Office and pick up your tickets by 5:00PM on Friday, December 19. Each graduate is allowed 8 tickets. If you need more, though, don’t worry– On December 15, we will begin offering extra tickets on a first come, first serve basis!

Please feel free to contact Regan Fantry at the Graduate School Office if you have any questions, and again, congratulations to the Class of 2008!

The Graduate Studies Office is located in suite 310 of Randolph Hall.  Our phone number is 843.953.5614.

Video on the new Carolina First Arena