Doyle Dedication Ceremony

To honor Distinguished Professor Emeritus and founder of the South Carolina Storytelling Guild and the South Carolina Center for Oral Narration Jack Doyle, USC Sumter invites the community to a formal dedication ceremony, reception, and storytelling program Friday, March 9, 2007. The dedication and reception will be held in USC Sumter’s Anderson Library at 4:00 p.m. and the storytelling performance will follow at 5:30 p.m. in the Nettles Building’s Auditorium.

Doyle established the South Carolina Center for Oral Narration in 2001. The center was established to honor the oral tradition of regional and multicultural storytelling and to document, collect, and preserve oral traditions found within our communities. Not only does the Center host storytelling performances, but provides a valuable resource for researchers, innovative educators, and individuals who love the spoken word. Doyle’s enthusiasm for and commitment to storytelling led to the accumulation of a large collection of books, audio and video cassettes, and storytelling journals. Jack’s wife, Annette Doyle, is donating this collection to USC Sumter.

To celebrate this event and Jack Doyle’s contributions to storytelling, ten storytellers will perform including: Batt Burns, Sarah Borders, Gingerthistle, Shelagh Montes, J.T. Myers, Sandy Richardson, Linda Stout, Elsie White, and Sam Whittle.

Irishman Burns, award-winning educator, storyteller, and author of seven books on Irish history and culture, has appeared at several major storytelling festivals in the United States and around the globe, on Ireland’s most popular TV show “The Late Late Show,” and on “Good Morning America.”

Borders became interested in storytelling as a school counselor and published a book on children’s responses to story. Currently retired, Borders participates in an intergenerational project bringing middle school dulcimer players to perform for and visit with senior citizens and the visually impaired.

Gingerthistle consists of the husband and wife team of Ben Seymour and Becky Cleland and draws its repertoire from the Celtic and Appalachian folk music. This pair will perform a capella as well as to dulcimer accompaniment.

Montes tells a wide variety of tales of growing up in wartime England as well as folk tales and her own compositions including ghost stories and Hag tales. Montes recently appeared on Inside Storytelling, an ITV series that brings local and national storytellers into the classroom and provides teachers a valuable series to use when teaching about reading and writing.

Myers was born in New Orleans and received a Ph.D in anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1976. Myers has taught sociology and anthropology at USC Sumter since 1979. He previously taught at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Indiana University, and Wayne State College.

Richardson is the author of The Girl Who Ate Chicken Feet, which received an outstanding merit rating in Bank Street College’s The Best Children’s Books of the Year and was nominated for the South Carolina Junior Book Award. She also served as an editor and contributing columnist for Imagine That!, a monthly magazine for children, parents, and teachers.

Stout has a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education, teaches classes in different methods of storytelling, and is a member of both the National Storytelling Network and the South Carolina Storytelling Network. She entertained children and adults all around the state.

White is a retired educator from Columbia. She has been telling stories since 1994. Her repertoire includes humorous anecdotes, fairy tales, sacred stories, and personal narratives.

Whittle, a Sumter native, graduated from UNC-Greensboro with a BFA Theatre Arts in1980 and from USC Columbia with M.A.T. in English and Theatre in 1991. He has been teaching English for 17 years at Spring Valley High School.

For more information please contact Michele Reese at (803) 938-3755 or mnreese@uscsumter.edu.