Georgia Southern wins award for campus design
Georgia Southern has been presented the University System of Georgia’s Regents’ Facilities 2009 Award for Excellence for a long-term commitment to campus design and master planning. The award honors the University’s Pedestrium walkway that serves as the main artery through campus. The award, considered the top honor for university facility design and planning, is voted on by a team of facility leadership from the 35 University System of Georgia member institutions. Georgia Southern is only the seventh university to win the award since it was established.
Best Value
According to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Georgia Southern students are getting the best academic bang for their tuition buck. For the second year in a row, the school was named one of the 100 best values in public colleges and universities by Kiplinger, a publisher of personal finance and business forecasts. Only three other Georgia schools made Kiplinger’s list this year.
Coca-Cola selects student to carry Olympic torch
Georgia Southern student Crystal Hardy spent Martin Luther King Day carrying the Olympic torch in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Dublin, Ga., native, the only student selected from Georgia, represented the United States during the torch run and was chosen for the honor because of her volunteer work, which includes co-founding the Laurens County Green Teens in her Dublin hometown. She is active in recycling and sustainability efforts at Georgia Southern. Hardy was one of only 20 people from the U.S. chosen by Coca-Cola to carry the Olympic torch as an example of positive living.
Allen E. Paulson College of Science and Technology
Regassa honored for teaching
Biology professor Laura Regassa has been awarded the Regents’ Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award. The award honors exemplary teaching that significantly improves student success and recognizes research demonstrating innovative teaching techniques that enhance student learning. Each year, recipients are selected from nominations submitted by the presidents of USG institutions. Each of the award winners receives $5,000 and a certificate of achievement.
College of Education
Thomas Koballa named dean
Thomas R. Koballa Jr. has accepted the position of Dean of the College of Education and Professor of Teaching and Learning, effective July 1. Koballa is a tenured professor of science education in the Department of Science Education at the University of Georgia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in science education from East Carolina University, and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the Pennsylvania State University. He is past president of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching and the recipient of the Association of Science Teacher Education’s Outstanding Mentoring Award. He teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in science education and has authored or co-authored more than 60 journal articles and chapters. His current research includes science teacher learning and mentoring.
College of Business Administration
COBA is one of nation’s ‘Best Business Schools’
Georgia Southern’s College of Business Administration has been recognized as one of the best 301 business schools in the country by The Princeton Review. This is the fourth year in a row Georgia Southern has been included on the list.
Jiann Ping Hsu College of Public Health
Administrator and faculty member honored
Charles Hardy, dean of the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, has been awarded the 2009 Distinguished Educator/Researcher of the Year Award from the Georgia Rural Health Association in recognition for his leadership as founding dean of the College.
Professor Karl E. Peace was recently honored on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives for his numerous professional and charitable contributions. Peace is a Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Scholar, senior research scientist and professor of biostatistics in the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health at Georgia Southern.
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Comm Arts students get LEAP on competitors
LEAP – Leadership, Experience, Academics and Professionalism – aims not only to help students acquire experience in their field, but also to make them more attractive to potential employers. Public relations majors earn points toward LEAP certification by participating in activities relating to their studies – attending workshops, networking, shadowing public relations professionals, blogging, attending conferences, and serving in communication positions for clients. At the end of their senior years, if they have accumulated the required points, students receive certification, indicating a level of experience beyond the norm.
College of Information Technology
Professors attain SAP certification
Two Information Systems professors, Camille Rogers and Hsiang-Jui Kung, have attained Systems Applications and Products (SAP) certification, professional affirmation of their ability to effectively train students seeking to support SAP implementation within businesses. Both teach graduate and undergraduate courses with SAP components that students take to satisfy the requirements for the University’s SAP Certificate. In addition, six students passed their own SAP certification exams, earning the title of SAP Certified Business Associate with SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) 6.0. “The certification verifies that they understand how SAP ERP supports business processes and that they are capable of serving as business process consultants on SAP implementation projects,” said information systems professor Tom Case.
College of Health and Human Sciences
Bartels named interim dean
School of Nursing Chair Jean Bartels will serve as interim dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences for the 2010-2011 academic year. Bartels has served as chair of the School of Nursing since 1999. She came to Georgia Southern from Alverno College in Milwaukee where she was nursing department chair from 1990-99. She currently chairs the University’s Strategic Planning Council. She was recently named the 2009 recipient of the Sister Bernadette Armiger Award, the highest honor given by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Jack N. Averitt College of Graduate Studies
Patterson named dean
Charles Patterson, Georgia Southern’s associate vice president for research services and sponsored programs, has been named dean of the Jack N. Averitt College of Graduate Studies. Patterson has served as associate vice president for research services and sponsored programs since February 2008. He graduated magna cum laude from Mississippi State University with a B.S. degree in biochemistry. He earned a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He also conducted postdoctoral research at the Southwestern Medical Center.
