FMU senior named Miss South Carolina

FMU senior Bree Boyce won the title of Miss South Carolina this summer following her 110-pound weight loss.  Her win has drawn national attention to her pageant platform, “Eating Healthy and Fighting Obesity.”

Boyce, who at one point wore size 18 jeans, not only won the pageant title – she won the preliminary swimsuit competition.

Boyce will go on to vie for the title in the Miss America pageant, which will be held in January 2012 in Las Vegas.

Jokisch named Distinguished Professor

Professor of Physics Dr. Derek Jokisch was named the J. Lorin Mason Distinguished Professor for the 2010-11 academic year at Francis Marion University at the end of the spring semester.

This award, named in honor of a former chairman of the FMU Board of Trustees, marks the highest honor that a faculty member at FMU can receive.  As the recipient of the award, Jokisch will be the FMU nominee for the Governor’s Professor of the Year Award this fall.

Jokisch has been a member of the FMU faculty since 1999.  In 2006, he received the Award for Excellence in Research at FMU.  He also received the Elda E. Anderson Award for 2010 by the National Health Physics Society because of his research contributions.

Three faculty members recognized at awards banquet

Three faculty members received awards honoring their excellence in individual areas of their work at the end of last semester.

Associate Professor of Management Dr. Hari Rajagopalan received the Award for Excellence in Research; Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Latha Malaiyandi received the Award for Excellence in Service; and Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Speech Commun-ication Program Dr. Bryan Fisher received the Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Johnson earns Shared Governance Award

Dr. Christopher Johnson was presented with the Shared Governance Award at the end of the spring 2011 semester.

This award, sponsored by the FMU Chapter of the American Associate of Professors, is given to a faculty member who strives to uphold the principles of shared governance between faculty, administration, and board of trustees.

Among other titles and responsibilities, Johnson is a professor of English; the chair of the Department of English, Modern Lang-uages, and Philosophy and the coordinator of the English program.