CofC makes a "big splash" with Dr. George Benson

Wednesday, I went to the ceremony to welcome the College's new president George Bensen and his wife Jane to the City. I have to admit, even though he wasn't the "legendary Jazz-guitarist" George Bensen, he and is wife Jane charmed both myself and the crowded Alumni Hall (in Randolph Hall) and from what I could gather from the Bushido's contacts on George Street, we've made a big splash bringing Bensen to the College of Charleston. The ceremony had the usual laughs about the serendipitous nature of how we first all “fell in love” with one another and then after President Benson spoke, Greg Padgett (President of the College of Charleston Foundation) passed the welcome basket (filled with two CofC ball-caps, two CofC sweatshirts, probably scented candles, "Sex-Cougar" Cologne and keys to a new car and house) to our new President and First Lady of the College of Charleston.

It takes money to make money
For those CofC students worried their tuition will rise because of the price tag for Dr. Benson to come to Charleston, don't sweat it; you are just a bit misguided on how it all works. The State of South Carolina pays a prescribed amount of the salary and the College's alumni and boosters pick up the rest of the tab. My dear students (and this goes to all South Carolina students) if you are not happy about the hike in tuition, you should speak to Governor Mark Sanford, he cut State-financing for publicly funded Colleges and Universities from 33% to 14% (stats from The Citadel) and institutions of higher learning raised prices across the board-more on Sanford in Monday’s post.

I digress; indeed, the College of Charleston dangled a sizeable carrot to lure Benson to Charleston, but we have planted a seed for excellence. Dr. Benson received a 17% raise to leave his position at the Terry School of Business at UGA, and he is making $135,000 more than former CofC president Lee Higdon (not that $215,000 a year is a paltry pay-day for in the public sector) but Dr. Benson will be worth his weight in fundraising gold. During Benson's brief tenure as Dean at UGA's Terry School, he raised more than $40-million! Think about that for a minute, he was a Dean of their business school (not President) in Athens and rose forty-large!

When I return from my brief trip to Cola for John and Jacqueline Marshall’s wedding, I'll try to put up some photos of recent CofC developments from the construction down on George and St. Phillip streets.

*(Data from the Post & Courier: The State of South Carolina will pay the allocated money of $160,000; the College of Charleston Foundation will supplement Benson's income with almost $200,000).
(Photos compliments of JET/Bushido-taken with Sony-Ericsson W300i camera-phone)

CofC Welcomes Dr. George Benson today @ 1-pm @ Randolph Hall

Today at 1 o’clock in Randolph Hall, the College of Charleston will welcome the 21st President of the College to our campus. Last week, a unanimous vote by the Board of Trustees installed Dr. George Benson as the new occupant of the Bishop’s House on Glebe Street. (Not George Benson the 8-time Grammy Award winning legendary jazz guitarist-see photo courtesy of OnlyFunk.com.) Before coming to the College of Charleston, Dr. Benson was the dean of the Terry College of Business (UGA), prior to that position he led the Rutgers Business School @ Rutgers (The State University of New Jersey) Go Scarlet Knights! See “talking points” paragraph for the rumor that I am about to start.

Background: A Pennsylvania native, Benson received his undergrad from Bucknell University (1968), grad work in OPs Research at NYU and Pilled It High & Deep in Decision Sciences at University of Florida (1977). Benson currently serves as chair of the Baldrige (National Quality) Award. This is an appointed position from Carlos Gutierrez,* the US Secretary of Commerce. Dr. Benson cut his teeth in the research arm of ATT&T-Bell labs (see commercial: Trying to find a way to make computers talk more like humans-joke). He later taught at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management before taking the position at Rutgers.

Talking points for the reception at the Cistern following the press conference and welcoming: I know, you are expecting a big, juicy rumor from me today since I didn’t post the “Wednesday’s WTF?” (Stay tuned. I was working on one last night before Blogger kept shutting down for some reason-I am guessing increase of traffic since the election. Also, there is a post regarding Kerry’s comments floating around in the Blogosphere.) No, I am not starting the rumor that Dr. Benson hazed CBS-president Les Moonves during a “wild Philly-hairy buffalo” party his senior year at Bucknell.

One step away from Ivy League
I am starting the rumor that, CofC alums: Jamie Mellen, Jamie Teske, Rob Going and J. Trabert have financially made it possible to establish a football team at the College of Charleston. The “Group of Four” lobbied the Board of Trustees to choose their recruit Dr. George Benson for his fund-raising skills, his mathematical/technical background and his close relationship with Rutger’s football coach Greg Shiano as well as the Georgia Bulldog football administration and development, in an effort to reestablish a football program at the College of Charleston, thus allowing the school to be in consideration for “Ivy League” status. (Ivy League status consists of the following: 1) old school. 2) Academically hard to get into. 3) The School has a crappy football team that only beats Harvard or Colgate each year.) Founded in 1770, The College of Charleston is the oldest municipal college in America (Age, check!) CofC is academically one of the toughest colleges to get into and established a terminal degree University (Academics: check!) All we need is a lackluster football team that beats Harvard and the Citadel every year and we’ll be Ivy League qualified. I know, football teams are expensive and this is a horribly conceived rumor to start. What can I say? I gave you the Les Moonves rumor option.

The Bushido welcomes CofC’s 21st president P. George Benson and his wife Jane to the City of Charleston and to our community.