Thank you to everyone who participated in yesterday’s Graduate Student Research Poster Session and especially to our judges — Dean Valerie Morris, Dr. Kem Fronabarger, Dr. Mike Flynn, Dr. Phil Jos, and Dr. Ben Cox. We had a record 30 entries, and the Graduate School has already received numerous comments from faculty and staff on the impressive quality of the presentations. In fact, there were so many superior entries that it was impossible to distinguish first, second, and third places in each division. Thus, we decided to award three firsts in the Science and Math Category (includes MES, MBIO, MATH, and SMFT) and three firsts in the Humanities and Social Sciences Category (includes Communication, English, Historic Preservation, History, MPA).

Science and Math Winners (in alphabetical order)

• C. Guinn Garrett, Application of Geochemical End-Member Mixing Analysis to Delineate Water Sources in a Lowland Watershed
• Allie Kreutzer, The Role of Crab Traps in Oyster Reef Restoration
  
• Steven O’Connell,  Perfluorinated Contaminant Concentrations in Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta caretta): Expanded Spatial and Temporal Trends along the East Coast of the United States
  

Humanities and Social Science Winners (in alphabetical order)

• Angela Dembiczak, The Axe, the Noose and the Fire: What Forms of Execution during the English Peasants’ Uprising of 1381
  
• Geoff Pallay,  Database Analysis of CARES, a Free Health Clinic
  
• Neal Polhemus, Natural Disasters and Disastrous Politics: Rebuilding Charleston’s Fortifications 1752-1756
  

Award winners should contact Regina Semko in the Graduate School (semkor@cofc.edu or 953-5614) to complete the necessary paperwork to receive their monetary awards. Niki DeWeese, Director of Information and Recruitment, will post photos from the event as well as the names of the award winners on the Graduate School web site.

Congratulations again to all participants for a job well done!

Amy Thompson McCandless, Ph.D.
Dean of the Graduate School,
Associate Provost for Research, and
Professor of History

The Graduate School of the College of Charleston now offers a Graduate Certificate in Special Education!

I was excited to learn this week that the School of Education, Health and Human Performance has approved our ninth graduate certificate! The added bonus?  General and special education teachers can begin taking classes as early as January 12!

As an educator, you can concentrate in learning disabilities, emotional disabilities, mental disabilities and multicategorical disabilities – in your backyard.  The closest graduate program in special education is in Orangeburg.  This is also beneficial to the school system, as the five local school districts lose between 15 and 80 special educators each year to relocation and retirement.  Nationally, the employment needs for special education teachers is expected to grow 15% through 2016.

To apply for January classes, submit your non-degree Special Education application by Friday, January 9.  If you have questions about this program, please contact our program representatives, Dr. Springer or Dr. Gurganus.  For questions regarding the applciation process, please contact Mrs. Hallatt.

The College of Charleston is the only institution in the nation offering a Master’s degree in bilingual interpreting during a widespread shortage of court interpreters. Cases are being reversed, rescheduled and retried in nearly every state because of the shortage of qualified interpreters, according to the National Center for State Courts.

Demand is steadily increasing for the College of Charleston’s Master of Arts degree in bilingual interpreting (36 credits) as well as the graduate certificates available in medical and health care interpreting and bilingual legal interpreting (12 credits). Applications for the legal interpreting certificate have doubled in size over just the past year.

Graduate student Lydia Lester is in her first semester of the program and says the career opportunities made the decision easy. “I’m interested in law, but didn’t want to go to law school and I lived in South America for three years. I love the idea of combining both of those interests. Plus it is good to know that I’ll have a job as soon as I graduate.”

To become certified, court interpreters must have a high level of proficiency of two languages and must past a difficult test. Once certified, court interpreters can make anywhere from $59,000 to $89,000 according to recent job postings.

“Our graduates are in a very unique position,” Bilingual Interpreting Program Director Gladys Matthews said. “With a graduate-level degree, they are able to take leadership positions and contribute to the development of the field. Several of our graduates are not only interpreting but also training the new generation of interpreters in various programs. Right now one of our students is interning in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and was able to interpret in front of the judge. That is a very high honor.”

The bilingual interpreting program at the College of Charleston is poised to grow with the infrastructure already in place. Matthews hopes to increase enrollment and add tracks like community interpreting and conference interpreting.

- Melissa Whetzel, News Manager