A dozen Coastal Carolina University students participated in the Field Methods in Oceanographic Analysis: Study Abroad at the Scottish Marine Institute faculty-led program for three weeks, studying at the Scottish Marine Institute (SMI) in Oban, United Kingdom. SMI is a world-class research and teaching center with areas of emphasis in Arctic Seas, Dynamic Oceans (climate research), and Marine Renewable Energy. Students completed a 3/1 credit MSCI laboratory course while abroad, learning how to work with oceanographic data: how to acquire data (online or shipboard sampling), process data using appropriate software, and present data to a scientific audience. Each student chooses a type of data to process, interpret, and display in an oral presentation at the end of the course. This program leverages the local setting by inviting guest lecturers to introduce students to the types of data they use. The group compared and contrasted data from Long Bay with data from SMI, and students took a sampling cruise aboard one of the Scottish Association for Marine Science research vessels to participate in the collection of physical measurements in Loch Etive for analysis.

Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE) was first organized at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, in 1967. The international organization now consists of chapters in various colleges and universities in North America and overseas. Eight Coastal Carolina University students joined the local chapter this past spring. The mission of Upsilon Pi Epsilon is to recognize academic excellence at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in the computing and information disciplines.

Coastal Carolina University had 25 students join the Phi Sigma Pi national honor fraternity during the Spring 2019 semester. Phi Sigma Pi national honor fraternity is a gender-inclusive organization dedicated to promoting lifelong learning, inspiring members to lead, and cultivating lasting fraternal bonds, while always living with honor. Members have the goal of improving humanity through the principles of scholarship, leadership and fellowship. In order to join Phi Sigma Pi, students must have completed a minimum of one semester or one quarter of collegiate work and earn a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale.

Nearly 770 Coastal Carolina University students were named to the President's List for the Spring 2019 semester. To be named to the President's List, students must achieve a 4.0 grade point average (GPA) for the semester. CCU has a student body of 10,600. More than 2,000 students were also named to the Dean's List for the spring semester, which means more than 21 percent of the student body earned recognition on either the Dean's List or the President's List. Of those on the President's List, 141 are freshmen, 177 are sophomores, 166 are juniors and 285 are seniors.

Coastal Carolina University graduates are exactly what the world needs, according to commencement speaker and doctoral candidate Leigha Peterson. Peterson addressed the graduating class of 2019 - more than 1,200 students - during three separate commencement ceremonies at the HTC Student Recreation and Convocation Center May 10-11. "Whatever you are, put it out there," she said, "because it is better than good enough. It is exactly what the world needs!"

Nineteen Coastal Carolina University students performed in a spring concert as members CalypSamba, CCU's premier world percussion ensemble, in April. The concert was under the direction of Jesse Willis, CCU associate professor of music. The concert was held in CCU's Wheelwright Auditorium on campus and integrated unique collaborations of students, music faculty and alumni. The performance also featured steelpan player Liam Teague from the University of Northern Illinois. The ensemble played six different percussion songs, including "Sunday Morning Funk," "Pearls" and "Steel Band Times."

Coastal Carolina University student Emily Doscher, a philosophy major, has been awarded a Gilman Scholarship worth $3,500 to support her cost of living abroad in Greece as an environmental law intern. The Gilman Scholarship is a grant program that enables students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad, thereby gaining skills critical to our national security and economic competitiveness.

Coastal Carolina University held its annual Student Involvement Leadership Awards ceremony on April 29, 2019. The event recognizes students and student organizations who have excelled at leadership and service throughout the academic year. Eight students were awarded and seven organizations were recognized.

Sixteen Coastal Carolina University students walked away with cash prizes after the annual Undergraduate Research Competition in April. More than 120 students submitted their work, illustrating the research talents of CCU students and the wealth of experiential learning opportunities at Coastal Carolina University. Presentations at the CCU Undergraduate Research Competition were judged by more than 80 faculty judges. Prizes were awarded for first ($150), second ($100), and third ($50) place in four award categories.

The Coastal Carolina University Solar Ambassador student team is working with Veterans of Foreign War (VFW) Post 10420 in Murrells Inlet to prevent 456,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions by installing solar panels on the facility. Students are raising $35,000 through crowdfunding to pay for the installation of a solar system on Post 10420, which will divert 65 energy of the total energy used. The clean energy produced by this solar system will prevent 456,000 pounds worth of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere, the equivalent of preventing the emissions from approximately 44 passenger vehicles. The Solar Ambassador program at CCU is a year-long program organized through San Francisco-based nonprofit Re-volv, whose goal is to empower local communities by providing solar to nonprofit organizations.

The Community and Business Engagement (CoBE) Institute at Coastal Carolina University inducted 13 new members at an induction ceremony on April 18. The CoBE Institute is a student-led organization that bridges the gap between the classroom and workplace experience by pairing high-achieving undergraduate business students with real-life business consulting projects. Students selected as CoBE Associates will receive instruction and mentoring as they gain real-world practical experience that will develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills while producing and providing high-quality solutions for business clients.

The results are in: Coastal Carolina University has four new leaders on the Student Government Association for 2019-2020. Jazz Jackson is the student body president; Khyle Mingo is the executive vice president; Clara Comiskey is the vice president of finance; and Rae'L Jackson is the vice president of public relations. The mission of the Student Government Association (SGA) is to provide Coastal Carolina University students with representation, services and advocacy within the Coastal Carolina University community. The SGA serves as the voice of the students and acts as a conduit between the students, administration, faculty and the alumni.

More than 120 Coastal Carolina University students presented their research at the Undergraduate Research Competition April 16-17. Students represented various majors and research topics, and they presented either oral or poster presentations. The Undergraduate Research Competition is a spring tradition at Coastal Carolina University.

Coastal Carolina University public health majors Erin O'Hagan and Erika Luke traveled to Columbia, S.C., to attend the Second Annual Minority Health Summit. The event complemented their PUBH 350 course which focuses upon building community coalitions to implement public health initiatives. After graduation, Erin plans pursue her interest in women's health among underserved populations. Erika wants to pursue a career as a child specialist assisting terminally ill patients. The event was sponsored by the South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control, the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus and the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.

On March 7-9, several Coastal Carolina University math students attended the Southeastern Section meeting of the Mathematical Association of America at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn. The students gave talks, presented posters and participated in math competitions. Two of the students won awards for their research presentations. Jeremiah Dunivin won an award for his presentation titled "Nevanlinna-Pick Interpolation on Certain Subalgebras of Bounded Analytic Functions."

Several students who are members of the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society at Coastal Carolina University organized a food donation drive to benefit Churches Assisting People in Conway, S.C.

The Equestrian Team at Coastal Carolina University has 12 students competing for the 2019 season.

Cassidy Brown, a senior marketing major, will start a new position at Amazon as an area manager in Spartanburg, South Carolina, upon graduation from Coastal Carolina University in May.

This semester, 20 Coastal Carolina University seniors showcased their artwork in the Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery in the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts.

Coastal Carolina University welcomes more than 3,000 new and transfer students for the Fall 2018 semester.

Shannon Brophy, an intelligence and national securities studies major at CCU, will be spending the spring 2019 semester in the Sultanate of Oman as an intern with the United States Department of State. Brophy will join the U.S. embassy in Oman's capital, Muscat, as part of the US Department of State's Student Internship Program. This marks the first time a Coastal Carolina University student has been awarded this U.S. government internship.

Coastal Carolina University is now home to the Gamma Mu chapter of Chi Omega, established in Fall 2017. The founding members are already laying a foundation of philanthropy across the community for future members to build upon.

Seven Coastal Carolina University honors students presented research papers at the Southern Regional Honors Conference in Asheville, N.C., from March 30-April 1. The theme of the conference was "Diving into Diversity." The students were accompanied by Christine Rockey, instructor of the CCU honors program, and Jeremy Killian, a lecturer of the honors program.