Billy Boyd ’03 and Quentin Gilmore ’03 have embarked on the ambitious venture of designing and marketing a clothing line. Boyd said, “The initial idea to create a clothing line stemmed from our ambition to be entrepreneurs. Most of Quentin’s and my influences come from CSU where we were exposed to different races, cultural backgrounds, religions and fashion trends.

The Graduate Services Center celebrated its grand opening Jan. 28 with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Located on the first floor of Jones Hall, the Graduate Services Center will become the hub of activity for CSU’s graduate programs.

Charleston Southern and Trident Health System have entered a partnership in providing resources to underwrite the cost needed for a new faculty position. The School of Nursing is currently one of 15 pilot schools in the country implementing quality and safety education content into the BSN curriculum. As part of this initiative, the school is expanding the skills laboratory to include high fidelity simulation technology to be integrated throughout the curriculum.

By 2010, it is speculated there will be a shortage of 1,000,000 nurses in the U.S. Compounding this problem is the nursing faculty shortage. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of schools responding to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) survey stated they turned away qualified applicants for their undergraduate nursing programs due to the faculty shortage.

Here are the latest Class Notes from Charleston Southern University alumni. If you graduated from CSU, and you would like us to share your story, contact Jan Joslin in University Relations at jjoslin@csuniv.edu.

Starting in about fifth grade Amy Nokes decided to babysit for the Schueler family in Chicago, Ill., where she grew up. For seven years, Nokes consistently showed up for the family, babysitting as often as twice a week, growing ever closer to the oldest boy, Henry, as well his siblings, Anna and Joe.

On Nov. 12, 2008, after a 36-year delay, Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Tallon was awarded a Purple Heart at Lightsey Chapel Auditorium for injuries he received on a combat mission in Vietnam. He was also awarded The Air Medal and The Bronze Campaign Medal with Bronze Star attachment.

December graduate Jenise Durant from Lynchburg, S.C., recently was honored by the Dorchester County Department of Juvenile Justice as the 2008 Volunteer/Intern of the Year. The award is given annually to the intern making significant improvements in the lives of the youth of Dorchester County.

Thanks to the support of the football coaching staff and team, Rory Killeen, father of senior defensive lineman Jake Killeen, was able to watch his son play in his final game for CSU.

Judy Postell Cone is petite, soft-spoken and moves fluidly around the pianos and organs at the Fox Music Store in North Charleston. Although she retired from the public school system in 1996, her schedule is packed with private lessons and senior adult group lessons at the store.