Georgia Southern Housing Department wins state awards

January 16, 2019

Members of Georgia Southern University Housing took home several awards at the annual Georgia College Personnel Association and Georgia Housing Officers conference, held at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

Assistant Director for Residence Education Casey Weaver took home the Contribution to Campus Award for his meritorious service to the institution by supporting the goal of serving students beyond his departmental job responsibilities. Weaver supervises one half of the Statesboro Campus residential population while carrying out a litany of other duties in management and leadership.

“In working with Casey over the past two years, I admire his ability to approach our colleagues from across campus with a welcome, positive attitude,” said University Associate Director of Residence Education Ben Wicker. “Casey possesses the desire to genuinely want to work with other departments to create experiences for our students that showcase the results of what a strong collaboration can bring to a campus.”

Kayla Simpson, a clinical psychology doctoral candidate, took home the Graduate Assistant Award of Excellence for her significant contributions to the residence hall students and University Housing. Simpson joined the University Housing team in fall 2017 and helped to establish a strong system for tracking the student activity fees budget.

“Kayla has been instrumental at providing resources for our staff to be effective in their curricular efforts and helped us create a game-changing training document called the Curriculum Playbook,” said Assistant Director for Residential Learning Erin McFerrin. “Kayla’s desire to learn new things, accept challenges and seek to develop skills in which she feels lacking is impressive and refreshing.”

Georgia Southern’s Residence Education staff won the Georgia Gee Whiz Award, which honors excellence for an innovative program, project or service from the past year, for the Curriculum Playbook.

“The playbook is a way to give our staff members a hands-on product that trains our staff on curriculum methodology, outlines common terminology and new strategies being utilized within our curriculum model, and provides resources to staff to maximize their effectiveness,” said McFerrin. “This amazing piece of work takes what could be a loaded and lofty concept and breaks it down into smaller, easy-to-process components in three sections: curriculum overview, educational plan and resources. This playbook is game-changing for our department, and it truly places Georgia Southern as a top-tier institution when it comes to implementing a residential curriculum model.”

The editorial team of the playbook included Simpson, McFerrin, University Assistant Director of Residential Learning on the Armstrong Campus Katie Fester and summer graduate assistants Anastasia Chaky (Old Dominion University) and Marie Silver (Clemson University).To learn more about University Housing, visit GeorgiaSouthern.edu/Housing.

Georgia Southern University, a public Carnegie Doctoral/R2 institution founded in 1906, offers 141 degree programs serving nearly 26,500 students through nine colleges on three campuses in Statesboro, Savannah, Hinesville and online instruction. A leader in higher education in southeast Georgia, the University provides a diverse student population with expert faculty, world-class scholarship and hands-on learning opportunities. Georgia Southern creates lifelong learners who serve as responsible scholars, leaders and stewards in their communities. Visit GeorgiaSouthern.edu.