‘Official’ class ring draws from MUSC's rich history of academic medicine
An official class ring for MUSC graduates will be unveiled next week as the Class of 2004 prepares for May commencement exercises. The new ring was developed as a joint project of the university's student and alumni organizations.“While class rings have sporadically been offered to MUSC students in the past, the busy student schedules on this campus have undoubtedly made it difficult for a strong ring tradition to take hold here as it has at The Citadel,” said Lee Taylor, Student Government Association president. Consequently, there has been no consistent design.
He credits the ring committee, composed of student and alumni members, with taking on a difficult task in choosing a design for the new ring.
“We wanted to create a new class ring that would reflect the history of our school, which is the oldest academic health institution south of Baltimore and has trained students for more than 180 years,” Taylor said.
Artist's
rendering of the new MUSC ring.
The committee members came together with considerable input from both current students and graduates. The process involved combining those ideas into one design that would be pertinent to all of MUSC's programs and students.
“I think that the end result is a class ring that can be passed down to future graduates and have meaning for all of them,” Taylor said.
The committee reviewed previous class rings in the historical collections around campus or owned by local alumni, along with symbols that have represented the school through time.
Most of the ring examples featured the seal in some way. In use as early as 1832, the seal has undergone several evolutionary revisions, but the center has remained virtually unchanged. The seal's long association with the university gave it great appeal to the ring committee.
Interestingly, the new design had been chosen and production samples sent by Jostens, the company producing the ring, before the earliest known MUSC ring would find its way to the campus.
On
March 17, College of Medicine graduate Robert T. Ball Jr., M.D., Class
of 1970, presented to the Waring Historical Library a 1915 class ring that
belonged to his grandfather, Thomas Hutson Martin, M.D.
The new ring bears a striking resemblance to the Martin ring, an occurrence that Betsy Waters, executive director of alumni affairs, finds serendipitous.
“Prior to our learning of this artifact, the earliest known example was from 15 or so years later,” she said. “We were thrilled to find that earlier rings existed and the design was so similar to the new ring. It's been a long process for the committee. After so many hours of deliberation over what should be on the ring, this gift has confirmed our feeling that using the historic seal was the right way to go. We are very grateful to Dr. Ball and his family for their generosity in donating this historic ring.”
Jostens has put the production schedule on fast forward so that students graduating in May will be able to place orders for the new ring before leaving the campus. The new ring will be displayed and information on ordering provided to the Class of 2004 starting on April 14 as seniors pick up invitations for graduation.
The new ring will be featured during this year's Alhambra celebration on April 17, highlighted by a drawing for a free ring at Jostens for a lucky MUSC student.
Seniors and underclassmen will be eligible to enter the drawing when they reach degree-application status. Besides using the brochure to place an order, students will be able to order through Jostens' toll-free telephone line or Web site.
Students will have a number of options from which to choose, including yellow gold and white gold/platinum versions in two women's and two men's models. The ring can be ordered in true signet style, with plain sides, or with the graduate's degree and class year included on the shanks of the ring.
Thomas H. Martin was born in McPhersonville, S.C., in 1892. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of South Carolina in 1915 at age 19, making him one of the younger persons to graduate with a medical degree from the institution. He practiced medicine and surgery in Charleston until retiring in 1951 and served on the MUSC faculty as an assistant professor of surgery.
Waring
Historical Library director Dr. Curtis Worthington and Dr. Robert Ball
review some of the history surrounding a 1915 MUSC class ring that Ball,
MUSC Class of 1970, donated to the library. It is the oldest known MUSC
class ring in existence and has been in Ball’s family through three generations
of MUSC-trained physicians.
He was a long-time member of the Charleston County Board of Health (later DHEC) and served as vice-chairman under Leon Banov, M.D. After Martin's death, the 1915 ring was inherited by his son, Benjamin M. Martin, who was chief radiology technician at MUSC for more than 20 years. The ring was later passed to Robert Ball, M.D., 70, a grandson of Thomas Martin.
Ball generously donated the ring to MUSC in March so that it can be preserved in MUSC's historical collections.
MUSC's historical seal
No one knows who chose the elements included in MUSC's historic seal,
but the motif is filled with classical references that would have been
popular in the early 19th century.
The name “Medical University of South Carolina” appears in abbreviated Latin. A kneeling figure, believed to be a student of the 1830s, is shown kindling a torch from the flame on an altar inscribed with Deo Salutifero, “to the health-giving god.” Above the figure are the rays of the sun, which symbolize Apollo, god of the sun and of healing. The overriding inscription “Auget Largiendo,” freely translated, means “She (the institution) enriches by giving generously.”
A replica of the seal was placed on the university's original building at the corner of Queen and Franklin Streets around 1839. This building was severely damaged by the earthquake of 1886.
When the institution moved to its current campus in 1913, this architectural
feature was taken down and used on the façade of the school's first
building on Jonathan Lucas Street. During construction of the Hollings
Cancer Center, the seal was once again preserved as part of that building
and can be seen there today.
Friday, April 9, 2004
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