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News

Spring 2010 enrollment reaches record

Georgia Southern’s Spring Semester 2010 enrollment reached 18,134 students, an increase of 1,404 from the same period last year. “Georgia Southern has become a university of first choice for outstanding students from throughout the country and around the world,” said University President Brooks Keel. “Georgia Southern is now home to students from every U.S. state and from more than 100 countries around the world.” Keel noted that while enrollment has continued to grow, so has the University’s retention of students reaching an all-time high this past year. In addition, Keel said that increased interest in the University’s graduate and online programs is continuing to grow.

Bartels to serve as interim provost

Nursing School Chair and Interim College of Health and Human Sciences Dean Jean Bartels has agreed to accept the position of interim provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. The appointment is effective July 1 upon the retirement of current Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Gary Means.

“Dr. Bartels is nationally known in the field of nursing education and research,” said University President Brooks Keel. “Most recently, her scholarship has focused on teaching, learning, critical thinking and outcome assessment in nursing education. She provided testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce regarding solutions to dealing with current and projected shortages of nurses and nurse educators.

Bartels recently served as one of 30 international experts in nursing education at the World Health Organization Summit to create the International Standards for Basic Nursing Education and Nurse Midwifery, said Keel. “Her publications and national and international workshop presentations are numerous, as are the awards she has received from professional and nursing organizations.”

University participates in College Portrait, a National Public Accountability Report

Georgia Southern has joined an initiative to help future college students, their families and others compare public colleges and universities. The Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) is an initiative by public four-year universities to supply basic, comparable information on the undergraduate student experience to important constituencies through a common Web report – the College Portrait.

Georgia Southern, designated as an early adopter of the initiative, recently finalized its profile on the Web site, www.collegeportraits.org. For each VSA participating institution, the College Portrait supplies basic comparable information including student and campus characteristics, cost of attendance, success and progress rates, campus safety, class size, student experiences on campus, and student learning outcomes.

College of Information Technology

Georgia Southern to offer online Master of Science in Computer Science

A new online master’s program will add to the University’s offerings that help prepare professionals who will impact business and industry. The Board of Regents has approved a new online Master of Science in Computer Science degree in the College of Information Technology. Classes in the new program are set to begin in the fall of 2010. The University’s online programs are particularly attractive for individuals who need more flexibility in order to complete a degree and may not be able to travel to the University’s main campus. For more information click here.

Georgia Southern named world’s first VMware IT Academy Center

Georgia Southern University’s College of Information Technology will house the world’s first International VMware IT Academy Center where professors from around the world will learn, and learn how to teach, cutting-edge virtualization technology that is poised to become a mainstay of the computer industry.

The University’s College of Information Technology was the first four-year higher education institution to teach VMware by becoming a VMware IT Academy in 2008. Now, the University is breaking new ground again by being chosen by VMware as the first International VMware IT Academy Center. VMware is the one of the world’s leading providers of virtualization software, which is expected to be used by 90 percent of businesses in less than five years.

Allen E. Paulson College of Science and Technology

Eagle Battalion earns nation’s top honor

Georgia Southern’s ROTC Battalion has been named one of the best in the country. The Eagle Battalion has been chosen as one of only eight ROTC battalions in the country to receive the prestigious MacArthur Award. The MacArthur Award is the U.S. Army’s top honor for ROTC battalions that exemplify the leadership qualities personified by Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur.

Physical science programs earn national ranking for number of African-American graduates

The University’s physical science programs rank among the nation’s best in producing African-American graduates. Georgia Southern is 11th in the U.S. in the most recent rankings by Diverse, the leading newsmagazine on diversity issues in higher education. In the 2007-08 academic year, Georgia Southern had one of the nation’s highest rates of African-American graduates in chemistry and in physics. “The faculty in these programs take a student-centered approach to instruction and involve a vast number of students in undergraduate research; it is this engagement that attracts and retains students to these academically-challenging programs,” said Bret Danilowicz, dean of the College of Science and Technology.

Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health

Grant helping University reach out to rural communities

Statistics show that rural Georgians suffer higher rates of chronic disease than their urban counterparts and have fewer resources available to manage their diseases. Georgia Southern is lending a hand through a federal grant to help two Southeast Georgia counties prioritize their health problems and take steps to address them. The $94,050 federal planning grant is funded entirely from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and has been designed to help Bulloch and Effingham Counties develop strategic plans to improve public health and eliminate health disparities.

College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

Psy.D. recognition another step toward accreditation

The Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards/National Register Committee recently accepted Georgia Southern’s Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) program to be listed in their current edition of Doctoral Psychology Programs Meeting Designation Criteria. The program’s listing is an indicator of quality and the listing serves as an important resource for potential graduate students. The program’s listing on the ASPPB/National Register Web site reflects the efforts the psychology department is making toward earning accreditation from the American Psychological Association (APA). The Psy.D. program will be eligible for evaluation by the APA as early as Fall of 2011. At that point, the program’s first cohort of students will have entered their final year of study.