Wofford College

Undergraduate research is at the heart of the production of "Exit, Pursued by a Bear," which will run July 23-25 at 7 p.m. in the Sallenger Sisters Black Box Theatre, Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Center for the Arts. The play, a revenge comedy written by Lauren Gunderson, follows Nan Carter as she decides to teach Kyle, her abusive husband, a lesson he won't forget.

A new high-tech device that the Wofford biology department purchased thanks to recent donations to the Department of Biology Excellence Fund is helping students study water quality in Spartanburg County.

During the annual Brown Girls Read summer camp at Wofford College, campers participated in workshops on branding, communication, leadership, team building and personal confidence led by professional women and entrepreneurs, attended a book panel and connected with Wofford student mentors. Brown Girls Read, founded by Nicke Haney in 2020 and based in the Upstate, inspires and supports young women of color through mentorship, programming and book selections centered on their voices.

Wofford's Summer Immersion Program in Health Sciences and Medicine, held June 7-12, gave 23 students ages 13-16 from across the Southeast an opportunity to learn from healthcare professionals and Wofford faculty, participate in medical simulations and experience campus life. Five Wofford students spent the week guiding the immersion program campers on tours of campus, assisting with activities and facilitating discussions on what they learned each day.

Wofford College Provost Dr. Timothy Schmitz has announced Dean's List students for the spring 2026 semester.

On May 19, the Wofford Real Estate Club took home first prize in its debut appearance in the ICSC & UNC Retail Real Estate Case Competition, held this year in Las Vegas. The team - made up of Epps and finance majors Jake Bailey '26, Mark Brown '26 and Jack Jordan '27 - won $10,000 in prize money. A partnership between ICSC and the University of North Carolina's real estate program, the competition is held each year during ICSC's convention, which brings in over 35,000 industry professionals worldwide. The student teams are given a case concerning a real-life retail property and must prepare a presentation with an investment strategy, a financial model and a recommendation. Wofford's team competed and won against Pennsylvania State University, Villanova University and the University of British Columbia in the first round and the University of Alabama, UNC Chapel Hill and Colorado State University in the final round. For the Wofford students, their preparation had to fit in around their final exams and graduation. Bailey and Brown boarded the flight to Las Vegas right after Commencement on May 17.

Wofford College celebrated achievement and engagement at the college's annual Honors Convocation on Friday, May 15, presenting awards to dozens of students as well as several faculty and staff members.

Wofford's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa welcomed 41 members during an induction ceremony at Leonard Auditorium on May 15. Wofford's Phi Beta Kappa chapter, Beta of South Carolina, was established in 1941 and is the second oldest of five chapters in the state. To be considered for induction, students must complete 100 hours of coursework and earn a 3.8 GPA or higher. Scholarship, character, intellectual curiosity, creative thinking, diversity of academic interests and pursuits and other factors are also weighed in the election process.

This semester, 62 Wofford students from both of Dr. Alysa Handelsman's Anthropology of Childhood classes completed a research project on youth perspectives and experiences across Spartanburg's neighborhoods. Wofford students interviewed 73 third graders about their daily routines, their actual neighborhoods and their visions for their dream neighborhoods.They presented posters showcasing their findings in a community data walk on May 13 at E.P. Todd.

Senior Signing Day, held on April 29, is a chance for 2026 graduates to share and celebrate their next steps, from graduate school placements and full-time employment to internships and military service. During the event, which is held annually by the Career Center, seniors take photos with a tablet displaying their next destination while enjoying food, music and gifts. There was plenty to celebrate too: 98% of Wofford graduates report positive career outcomes within six months of graduation.

Godwins Tuyishime '24, Emma Rose Radcliff '26 and Reece McCarthy '26 are this year's Fulbright recipients. Bringing Wofford's total number of Fulbright recipients to 24, this class of scholars will teach around the world.

Community is central to the story and production of "Godspell," which runs April 16-18 and 22-25 at 7 p.m. in the Jerome Johnson Richardson Theatre, Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Center for the Arts. The play, conceived by John-Michael Tebelak with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, retells the Gospel of Matthew through song and dance.

Last summer, Katie Stewart '26 created an experiment to investigate how rising temperatures and invasive species impact native crayfish abundance and behavior in Lawson's Fork Creek in Spartanburg County. In February, she took her findings to the South Carolina American Fisheries Society Annual Conference in Beaufort and won the award for best poster presentation. She says her Wofford mentors have helped her find a passion for research.

Stan Zagrodnik '26 won the $5,000 first prize in the 2026 Terrier Startup Challenge with his mobile sauna and cold plunge business. In this annual competition, students pitch buisness ideas to a panel of alumni judges and network with local entrepreneurs.

Joe Khalil '26, an international affairs and Spanish double major from Boiling Springs, South Carolina, will take on a nonstop 50-mile run to raise funds for Miracle Hill Ministries and the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen on April 18. He and other Wofford students and staff have planned this effort since the beginning of the 2025-26 academic year.

Each year, Wofford's president chooses a student with "exceptional potential to benefit humankind as evidenced by a demonstrated passion for service learning combined with a globally minded intellectual curiosity" as the Presidential International Scholar. The scholarship funds independent research in nontraditional locations around the world. As the 2026-27 Presidential International Scholar, Kyia Karvelas will travel across the globe to create an ethnographic film that explores how representations of gender norms in film and on social media differ from the lived reality of women in Nepal, Turkey and Africa.

Chrisler White '28 was selected for the Douglass-O'Connell Global Internship in Dublin. This program recieves over 500 applicants each year, and White was one of 14 students accepted nationwide.

Arvin Radfar '29 and Molly McMahon '26 joined over 30 members of the Wofford community in volunteering at the South Carolina High School Ethics Bowl, hosted at Wofford College.

More than 30 international travel opportunities were available to Wofford students during the 2026 January Interim, including faculty-led programs and experiences offered through study abroad partners. Here are five snapshots from around the globe during Interim.

"The Garden We Grow," an exhbiition by Wofford's 2026 Whetsell Fellow Lyrical Dream Gist, is on display through Feb. 22 in the Richardson Family Art Gallery, Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Center for the Arts. There will be an artist talk and reception for the exhibition at 5 p.m. on Feb. 12 in the Richardson Family Art Gallery. The Whetsell Fellowship provides yearly funding for supplies and instruction to support a student artist in creating an exhibition with the support of a faculty mentor.

Getty Page '28 and Jacob Raider '28 each earned a $169,000 U.S. Army Cadet Command scholarship to pay for their remaining two years at Wofford.

Wofford College Provost Dr. Timothy Schmitz has announced Dean's List students for the fall 2025 semester.

Students in Dr. Stephanie Holt's Build an Affordable House course help build a home for a Spartanburg family during January Interim

Wofford's Pulp Theatre opened "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] [again]", directed by Jack Tope '26, on Jan. 22. Pulp Theatre challenges students to create a complete theatre production in less than a month as part of Wofford's January Interim, which offers distinctive, short-term experiential courses.

Wofford College Provost Dr. Timothy Schmitz has announced Dean's List students for the fall 2025 semester.

Jenna Huser '29 and Amelia Jones '29 have turned dinner in Burwell Dining Hall into an event. As marketing and social media interns for AVI Foodsystems, they organized hit events like TikTok Night and "Stranger Things" Dinner during fall semester, and have exciting plans for spring.

Margeaux Stapleton '26 is researching how cultural practices and traditions around birth impact outcomes for preterm babies and special needs children across three continents.

Chaplain Fellows Mariam Ali '28, Jose Ruiz Torres '26 and Darcy Phillips '27 and Geneva Kowbeidu '26, Wofford's Campus Union president, are still processing their experience from August in Chicago at the Interfaith Leadership Summit 2025. Part of Wofford's Interfaith Young Adults student group, these students are hoping to incorporate what they learned at the largest American interfaith gathering of college students and educators to inspire interreligious education on campus.

Studio Smoothie, a smoothie shop founded by Caris Mitchell '27, is now open Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:30-10:30 a.m. in the Galleria in the Michael S. Brown Village Center. Studio Smoothie is an official limited liability company.

Joslyn Taylor '27 used to scroll TikTok for hours watching "day in the life" videos of students studying abroad. Now she's sharing her own as an IES Abroad correspondent in Barcelona, Spain. Taylor, a sociology and anthropology major and government minor from Summerville, South Carolina, was chosen from a pool of 162 applicants to blog about her semester overseas for a national audience.