"Don't be afraid to fail and if you do fail, try again, but do it strategically," North Carolina Governor Patrick L. McCrory '78 told an audience of graduates and their families and friends at Catawba College's 10 a.m. Commencement Exercise on May 11. Showing off a pair of red boxing gloves given to him by his friend George Foreman, the former Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World, McCrory relayed a story about his own failure to win the North Carolina gubernatorial election in 2008.

Catawba College alumnus Tomas Smogner '12, is one of only two students chosen to represent Ernst and Young - Sweden in the International Intern Leadership Conference this summer in Florida. Only twelve students were selected from the Nordic countries. Tomas majored in Accounting at Catawba and was a member of the Men's Basketball team. He is currently working toward a Master's degree in Accounting, Auditing, and Analysis at Stockholm University.

Catawba College alumnus Richard Steinert '81, the artistic director of Ballet Pensacola, returned to his alma mater in April to offer master classes for college students and members of the Salisbury-Rowan community. Steinert and Christine Duhon, also from Ballet Pensacola, worked with students and members of the local community on Tuesday, April 23 in Keppel Auditorium of the Robertson College-Community Center on campus. Steinert will return to Catawba in spring 2014 for a collaborative...

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory will be the speaker for Catawba College's 10 a.m. Graduation Exercise to be held Saturday, May 11 in Keppel Auditorium of the Robertson College-Community Center. McCrory is a 1978 alumnus of the college and a former seven-term mayor of Charlotte. McCrory's schedule will only permit him to speak at the college's 10 a.m. exercise at which the college will award baccalaureate degrees to 191 students who are graduating from the traditional day program...

Two Catawba College trustees who are also alumni were honored by their alma mater on Sunday, April 28, as recipients of the College's prestigious Adrian L. Shuford, Jr. Award for Distinguished Service. Recipients included Mr. Larry T. Cloninger '74 of Salisbury and Mr. Barry D. Leonard '65 of Lexington. College President Brien Lewis and Chair of the College Board of Trustees Darlene Ball made the presentations during a special President's Circle Event held to recognize the institution's...

Catawba College alumnus Richard Steinert '81, the artistic director of Ballet Pensacola, will be back at his alma mater April 21-24 to work with college students and to offer master classes for them and the members of the Salisbury-Rowan community. Steinert, who visited campus in February 2012, has enjoyed a long and successful career as a dancer, a choreographer and an artistic director at some of the country's premier ballet companies.

An article by 2011 Catawba College alumna Kacey Hoover is featured in the April 2013 issue of the award-winning magazine of the American Solar Energy Society, Solar Today. Hoover earned her degree in environmental science from Catawba in 2011 and is pursuing a master's in Technology with a concentration in Appropriate Technology at Appalachian State University. She works as an energy analyst and specializes in rate structure analysis and estimating utility bills.

2011 Catawba College Alumnus Joseph "Joe" S. Manser is now a graduate student at the University of Notre Dame's Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He recently shared a video link to his research concerning assembling and testing quantum dot solar cells in the lab there.

Five new members will be inducted into the Catawba College Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 27, during the festivities of the Hall of Fame's 36th anniversary. The inductees are (with graduation year): Heath Bost '95; Charla Doss Hill '91; Stephanie McCormick '94; Red Richardson '49 (deceased); and Nick Sabol '98.

The UNC Nutrition Research Institute in Kannapolis has received a $5.3 million grant to study fetal alcohol disorders in South Africa. The funds are from the National Institute of Health's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The study will be conducted by Dr. Philip May '69, a faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Nutrition Research Institute (NRI) and Department of Nutrition.