August 23, 2005                            

SMC Hires Faculty

Three Full-Time Professors Begin Teaching This Fall

SPARTANBURG, S.C. –  Spartanburg Methodist College announced the naming of three new full-time faculty members, who will begin teaching classes this Fall:

David Ashmore, M.A., Professor of Sociology – Ashmore comes to SMC with many years of teaching experience, as well as experience in various Human Services agencies. He most recently worked as a Human Services Specialist with the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services in Abbeville. Ashmore has also taught courses in Sociology and Race and Ethnic Relations at Southern Illinois University and was a visiting assistant professor at Western Carolina University, teaching various Sociology classes.

He has a Master of Arts Degree in Sociology from Southern Illinois University and a A.B. Degree in Sociology from Indiana University. He is currently working on a Doctorate in Sociology from Southern Illinois University, developing a dissertation entitled The Contribution of Catholic Social Thought to American Political Culture. Ashmore was also a member of the Graduate Admissions and Awards Committee at Southern Illinois University.

Walter Bolter, Ph.D., Professor of Accounting and Economics – Bolter comes to SMC with experience as an economist and as a professor of economics and finance. He has taught at Wofford College, Spartanburg Technical College, and Flagler College. He was also Chair of the Business Administration and Economics Department of Montgomery College in Takoma Park, Md. Bolter also worked in Washington, D.C., as a chief economist for the U.S. House of Representatives Commerce subcommittee on Telecom, and as Chief of the Division of Economics, Accounting and Depreciation for the Federal Communications Commission. He was also a Senior Economic Fellow at the Center for International Research on Communications and Information Technology in Melbourne, Australia.

Bolter earned his Ph.D. in Economics at the the University of Maryland. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Maryland and a Master’s Degree in Industrial Management from Georgia Tech, as well as a Bachelor’s Degree from Georgia Tech. Bolter has also been a CPA in Maryland and West Virginia and a PE-EIT in Georgia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. A native of New York, Bolter has lived most of his life in the Southeast. He now resides in Chesnee.

Jessica Harwood, M.S., Professor of Biology – Harwood has a teaching background in both higher and secondary education, having taught Freshman English Composition at Clemson University, Introductory Literature at Piedmont Technical College and Science at T.L. Hanna High School in Anderson. Harwood also edited online publications and designed and maintained web sites while studying at Clemson University. She was also a Tissue Culture Technician and Science Writing intern at CAMBIA (Center for the Application of Molecular Biology to International Agriculture) in Canberra, Australia; and a public relations intern at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, Ga.