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College of Charleston Employee NewsletterNEWSLETTER SPRING 2017SPRING 2017xenia mountrouidou knows thatsome passions just run deep.photo of mountrouidouby damien siviero
2. CULTURE CRAM.It’s not too late to get started on your CollegeCultural Passport! You only need six performancebased events by the end of the semester to becomea College Cultural Ambassador – and there are stillplenty of arts, academic and athletics events featuringmembers of the CofC community that count! Getwith the program and log your attendance onMyCharleston. Check out culturalpassport.cofc.edu.1.FACTOIDSYOU NOT.From 4 to 8 p.m.on Tuesdays, kidsunder 8 eat for freeat Marty’s Place.A kid-friendlymenu is alsooffered on Tuesdaynights. Comeand get it!6795.THE NUMBER OFCofC FACULTYAND STAFF WHOCONTRIBUTED TO THEBOUNDLESS CAMPAIGN.6. GET PUMPED.WORD ON THE BRICKSIf you could take any class atCofC, what would it be and why?There’s no reason to go around feelingdeflated when all you need is a little air.Stop by the bike tire pump directly outsidethe front doors of McAlister Hall any timeand fill up for a second wind!EMPLOYEES OFFICIATEDAT ANOTHER EMPLOYEE’SWEDDING?FREEA. Smitty Smith for Ryan MearsB. Marnette Bowen forSPIRIT.Kenyatta Grimmage8.3. NO WORDS.If the beautyand charm of Charleston has ever left you speechless,the new CofCMOJI keyboard is for you. It’s the first-everemoji alphabet created by the College, and it’s free todownload on your smartphone at social.cofc.edu/emoji.C. Stephanie Auwaerter forMarla RobertsonD. Tom BuchheitE.for MeredithGerberRon Smithfor MaryBergstromThe College ofCharleston Bookstoreoffers employees20% off all apparelon Cougar SpiritDays, the firstFriday ofeach month.MEMOSAPPLAUSEPERKS STAFF TRAINING APPLICATIONS are due April 1 for Maymester/summer 2017, June 1 for fall 2017 and November 1 for spring2018. To apply, log onto MyCharleston, click on the Employeetab and open the Staff Application for Credit Course underEmployee Forms. For more information, contactDeana Richardson, richardsond@cofc.edu. The OFFICE OF PROCUREMENT AND SUPPLY SERVICESwas the only S.C. organization – and one of only 25 highereducation institutions – to receive the National ProcurementInstitute’s 21st annual Achievement of Excellence inProcurement Award for 2016. Employees receive 20% off rates for this summer’sCofC BASKETBALL CAMPS for boys ages 3–6 (Jr. Cougar Camp)and ages 7–14 (Day Camp). Camps are held June 12–15, June26–29 and July 31–August 3 at TD Arena. For more informationand to register, visit cofcbasketballcamp.com. Contact AshleyPerrucci at perruccia@cofc.edu for the coupon code. DIANE BOWERS, associate director of the Academic Advisingand Planning Center, won the National Academic AdvisingAssociation’s 2016 Outstanding Advising Award. JOHNCREED, faculty advisor and interim associate chair of thepolitical science department, and SILVIA YOUSEFF HANNAand ABE SAUNDERS – both academic advisors in theAcademic Advising and Planning Center – were alsorecognized with Excellence in Advising Awards at the NACADARegion 3 Conference.(Answer to #7 above: A, C & E) The at-large and temporary elections for the STAFFADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE PRESIDENT will continuethrough April 7. To vote, go to the Staff Advisory CommitteeBallot section under the Employee tab on MyCharleston andclick on Staff Advisory Committee Ballot System. Under CurrentElections, click At-Large Representatives and/or TemporaryRepresentatives, hit Continue and choose a candidate. For moreinformation, visit sac.cofc.edu.SPRING 20177. WHICH OF THESEGROWTHOPPORTUNITY.With workshops, volunteer opportunities andresearch plots – not to mention a whole lot of produce –the College’s Student Garden at Dixie Plantationis nurturing students, faculty and staff alike. Keep aneye out for first-come, first-served free produce standspopping up on campus. And, to volunteer at a harvestingevent and have access to all the produce you want, emailAbbie Cain at caina@cofc.edu. For more information, visitdixieplantation.cofc.edu/student-garden or check outDixie Sustainable Garden on Facebook.4. KID GEORGE STREET FITNESS CENTER EMPLOYEE PASSES for thesummer session, May 15–August 11, are available for 50under Facility Memberships in the Campus Recreation ServicesMarketplace, available through campusrec.cofc.edu. Employees and students receive a 20% discount off of allveterinary services at OLDE TOWNE VETERINARY CLINIC onPinckney Street. For more information, visit oldetownevet.comor contact the clinic at info@oldtownevet.com or 723.1443.I would take HonorsWestern Civilization again!I learned so much from thischallenging class when Itook it as an undergraduatein 1993. This interdisciplinaryclass embodied the liberalarts for me.— LANCIE AFFONSO ’96INSTRUCTORDEPARTMENT OF COMPUTERSCIENCE, SCHOOL OF BUSINESS,HONORS COLLEGEI would sign up for a courseon social justice and civicengagement. I am verypassionate about communityservice and nonprofit work,and would love to learn moreabout the field and how I canapply it to my work.— KIM GAILLARDADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTOFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL DIVERSITYI would probably takegenomics because I amreally intrigued by CRISPRCas9 and its potential asa tool for treating disease,especially cancer.— CHRIS MENSHAKOINSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGISTTEACHING, LEARNING ANDTECHNOLOGY
SPRING 2017photo of mountrouidou(front, center) by gene pagexenia mountrouidou had barely gotten her feetwet before she took the plunge–taking hernewfound love of diving to the extreme as anadvanced cave diver. ten years and thousands ofdives later, the computer science professor is stillexploring the underwater labyrinth of her passion.
SPRING 2017It’s not that Xenia Mountrouidou wasn’t keeping her head abovewater. In fact, the third-year Ph.D. candidate at North CarolinaState University was cruising steadily toward her lifelong dreamof being an ethical hacker. This was her No. 1 passion – all she’dever wanted to do. At least on the surface.Deep down, though, she knew she needed more thancomputer network analysis to make her happy. She knewthere was something else. She needed to pursue her No. 2passion: She needed to be in the water.“I love the water. Since I grew up in Greece, as a childI was always in the water,” says the assistant professorof computer science, who first became interested incomputers and cybersecurity as a young girl. “My dadalways told me, ‘You have to find your passion and doit as a job.’ So, if you have two passions, you have to doone as a job – and I guess it’s also your job to do theother one, too.”So, still knee-deep in her computer sciencestudies, Mountrouidou (aka Dr. X) registered forSkin and Scuba Diving I at N.C. State. And thenshe delved into Skin and Scuba Diving II. Beforelong, she was going from open-water training totechnical training. She did cavern training, thentook Intro to Cave Diving. From there, she did anapprenticeship in cave diving and took AdvancedCave Diving.“I got really into it, really fast,” she smiles,adding that it didn’t hurt that she met herhusband through the scuba community alongthe way. “That was it. I was hooked.”Since 2007, she has done some 1,000 openwater dives and 400 cave dives, everywherefrom Florida’s cave country to the Bahamas’blue holes and from North Carolina’s shipwreckgraveyard to Mexico’s cavernous cenotes.“it gets darker and darker,and colder and colder,but there is still life there. .and the colors! there’s anabundance of colorthat turn and change asyou go. . i feel so specialthat i get to experience thesethings; it’s a whole world thatmost people never get to see.”“Every dive is like visiting a whole different world,”says Mountrouidou, who is especially fond of divingshipwrecks like the wreck of the Normannia off the coastof North Carolina. “It is gorgeous! But it’s spooky, too –like a haunted house. There’s leftover furniture, and youfeel like the people were just there. But there’s hidden lifedown there, too. To see the whole architecture of the shipand then the wildlife that has made its home inside: Thatis fascinating to me.”The ability for life to flourish – to adapt to eventhe darkest, coldest depths – is certainly intriguing.–all these blues and greens“It amazes me that nature is so very well thought out,”says Mountrouidou. “It gets darker and darker, and colderand colder, but there is still life there. It just changesas you go deeper and deeper. And the colors! There’san abundance of color – all these blues and greens thatturn and change as you go. It really is a gorgeous thingwhen you are down there. I feel so special that I get toexperience these things; it’s a whole world that mostpeople never get to see.”And Mountrouidou gets to see these waterscapes severaltimes a year, most often in the complex, highly exclusivecaverns around Ginnie Springs in northern Florida, whereshe travels with her husband, who has a deep water–lighting company and is known in the technical divingcommunity as the “Underwater Light Dude.”can find your way out of the underwater labyrinths),there are a lot of safety measures in place – and there’sa lot to think about, too.“I really like the social aspect of it. The technical divingcommunity is our community now,” says Mountrouidou,who also volunteers her time maintaining the NorthFlorida Springs Alliance’s website and cleaning up theaqueducts in the area’s state parks. “Everybody thinkswe’re adrenaline junkies. But this is a calculated risk: Wetake multiple precautions.”“In some ways, it is a way of logging off, of taking abreak, but it’s also very cerebral, very focused,” saysMountrouidou, noting the prevalence of “computerpeople” in the diving community. “Maybe it’s because weenjoy technical gear. But maybe it’s because we’re sitting inhere all day at our computers, so we want to get away andexplore nature.”Between the rigorous training, the specialized gas, themultiple lights and the line-laying protocol (so that youWhatever the explanation, for Mountrouidou at least,one thing is for sure: This passion runs deep.
It wasn’t long before their USBC team – nowcalled Holy City Rollers – were old pros, too. Theirfirst year in the league, they made the playoffs (akaroll-offs). Then, their second year, they made rolloffs again – this time with the highest average inthe league. And last year, not only did the HolyCity Rollers end the season with the second-most“I went from not knowing that people had theirown personal bowling balls to getting one fit formyself – and now I’m on my fifth ball and mythird pair of shoes,” laughs Overby, explainingthat the team joined the U.S. Bowling Congress(USBC) league that plays on Tuesday nights at theCharleston Rifle Club, where it's been playing eversince. “That first time we played them, we took onelook and we thought they’d kill us! They were pros!”So Overby and his colleagues bought their ownpersonal bowling shoes and got fitted for their ownpersonal bowling balls – and the rest is history.“We called ourselves the Atom Smashers, andwe just had fun,” says Jason Overby, associateprofessor of chemistry and biochemistry, recallingthat the department actually had two teams onthe Campus Recreation Services (CRS) leagueone year: the Atom Smashers and the Smashers ofAtoms. “None of us were very good bowlers at all,but we didn’t want to stop when the season ended.”“I learned very quickly that the single bestthing you can do is get a ball that’s a goodfit,” says Overby. “That is the single bestthing you can do to improve your game.”And they’ve picked up a few pointerson how to do that along the way.“The Tuesday-night league bowling has introducedus to a lot of folks we’d most likely never meetelsewhere: lawyers, judges, truck drivers, salesmen,web designers, cooks, folks with careers fromall over the map – some of whom are graduatesfrom the College,” says Heldrich, adding that thecamaraderie doesn’t interfere with the competition:“With handicaps, it is not about being as good atbowling as the other team so much as it is tryingto be better each week than our averages.”Now sponsored by Holy City Brewery (coowned by geology alum Chris Brown ’05),the Holy City Rollers is made up of Overby,Rick Heldrich, Richard Lavrich and AndyGelasco from the chemistry department;Mike Katuna, professor emeritus of geology;Mike Rhode, spouse of Kate Mullaugh in thechemistry department; and Clint Hall, a friendthey met their first year in the CRS league.points of any team, but – in August – they alsowon the Big Lebowski Bash by over 600 pins.But when they do, watch out: Whenthese guys get on a roll, they havereal chemistry!Overby agrees: “Bowling is fun, but it canalso be the most frustrating thing. Somenights you have it, and some nightsyou don’t.”“It is always a fun night, but it is more fun onthe few nights when we all seem to bowl well,”says Heldrich.But mostly it’s just fun. That’s why they meetonce a week for 33 weeks of the year – to spendtime with their colleagues, laughing and lettingloose outside of work.“We all throw in 5 to up the challenge a little bit,”says Overby. “It gives us a little more incentive –plus there’s some strategy involved, too.”Another lesson: If you want to up the ante, grab adeck of cards and incorporate a little bowling poker.“I’m surprised at the importance of having to drinkplenty of fluids for such a seemingly passive sport,”notes Lavrich.That, and hydrate.And, when these faculty members in the chemistry department got started withCampus Recreation Services’ faculty/staff bowling league back in 2012, they just couldn’t be stopped.Sometimes,you just get on a roll.agnivlalH BaLL--RR:: CmomGEELLAkaa AAttVVoEERRBBYY,, AANNDDYY Gak(asrlle , JJAASSOONN OOH,ity RoCLylLEEo L,, RRIICCKK HH DDRRIICCHHehLLT LIINNTT HHAALCLs) HHALRADVRLAICVHRICHrserheshmaas ASSCCOO,, RRIICCSSmSPRING 2017
straightshoterDawn Brandt peers intently through the scope of hercustom-made rifle. She lies on her stomach with herelbows propping up the firearm, her right index
tab and open the Staff Application for Credit Course under Employee Forms. For more information, contact Deana Richardson, richardsond@cofc.edu. The at-large and temporary elections for the STAFF ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE PRESIDENT will continue through April 7. To vote, go to the Staff Advisory Committee Ballot section under the Employee tab on MyCharleston and click on Staff
