Around the Circle
Georgia Southern News Roundup
Ga. Southern Named Associate Member of Oak Ridge Associated Universities
Georgia Southern continues to build the University’s research focus in science and technology through its selection as an associate member of the Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU). This consortium of more than 100 Ph.D.-granting institutions cultivates collaborative partnerships that enhance the scientific research and education enterprises of the United States.
As an associate member of the ORAU consortium, Georgia Southern is eligible to participate in a variety of collaborations with national laboratories, federal agencies, other educational and governmental entities and the private sector. ORAU members award more than 37 percent of the nation’s Ph.D.’s in science and engineering and make up a significant portion of the nation’s research and development universities.
College of Business Administration
Larry Stalcup, an associate professor of hotel and restaurant management, has been named a Fulbright Scholar and is assisting with Payap University’s International Hospitality Management program in Thailand. He is working through the University’s English-based International College that houses about 400 students studying hospitality management and international business.
The Fulbright Specialists Program provides short-term academic opportunities (two to six weeks) for U.S.-based University faculty and professionals. To be selected, a candidate must first apply and is then selected after a comprehensive peer review of the application and qualifications.
The goal of the Fulbright Specialists program is to increase the participation of U.S. scholars and professionals through academic exchanges. Each of the selected specialists will not only participate in traditional lecture and research activities, but will also promote increased connections between U.S. and non-U.S. post-secondary academic institutions.
Stalcup has a wealth of industry and academic expertise in the area of hospitality and hotel/tourism. He has worked at Georgia Southern since 1997, and has taught overseas, serving as a visiting associate professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management in Hong Kong, China. Stalcup’s professional experience includes roles at Williams Hospitality Management Corporation in San Juan, Puerto Rico and major hotels in Dallas, Texas and New York, N.Y.
College of Science and Mathematics
Physics Department Chair and Professor Mark Edwards, Ph.D. has been named a recipient of the Fuller E. Callaway Professorial Chair. The distinguished award recognizes professional accomplishment in classroom education. Edwards is the third Georgia Southern professor to receive the honor.
The honor will allow Edwards to initiate some new interdisciplinary research projects to expand his research portfolio. In addition, he plans to increase the involvement of both graduate and undergraduate students in his research. Ultimately, Edwards hopes to use the results of the new projects to improve instruction in physics classrooms.
The Fuller E. Callaway Professorial Trust was established in 1968 by the Callaway Foundation, Inc. The purpose of the trust is to encourage enrichment of the academic programs of senior colleges and graduate schools located in Georgia by providing funds to establish professorial chairs in order to enable the institutions to retain and add superior faculty members.
Edwards is a past winner of Georgia Southern’s Excellence in Service Award, the College of Science and Technology Excellence in Service Award, the Excellence in Research and/or Scholarly Activity award, a Georgia Southern University Foundation, Inc. Fellowship and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He has received numerous National Science Foundation (NSF) grants and has served as a visiting scholar at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) within the U.S. Department of Commerce.
College of Education
Ross Named Governor’s Teaching Fellow
College of Education (COE) faculty member Sabrina Ross was named a 2012 Governor’s Teaching Fellow. Ross is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum, Foundations and Reading.
The Governor’s Teaching Fellow program, established in 1995 by Gov. Zell Miller, provides a unique opportunity for Georgia’s higher education faculty to develop important teaching skills, particularly as they relate to emerging technologies so critical in the 21st century classroom.
“This is a great honor for Dr. Ross and one that is well deserved,” said Dr. Thomas Koballa, COE Dean. “Dr. Ross is an exceptional teacher and researcher in critical pedagogy. Her scholarly work in teaching for social justice, black feminist and womanist epistemologies and issues of power in schools is outstanding. Dr. Ross brings distinction to the College of Education,” he continued.
As a Governor’s Teaching Fellow, Ross will have the opportunity to work with other elite professors from private and public institutions across the state. Symposia and collaborative work throughout the academic year allows the fellows to learn new approaches to teaching and fosters an atmosphere of camaraderie and collegiality between professionals in different disciplines.
Ross joined the COE faculty in 2009. She received her B.A. in psychology, M.S. in human development and family studies, and Ph.D. in curriculum and teaching/cultural studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
Georgia Southern Writing and Linguistics professor Lisa A. Costello was selected as one of 20 international teaching fellows to participate in The Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies’ 2012 Curt C. and Else Silberman Seminar at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. The seminar is designed for college and university faculty from all relevant disciplines who are teaching or preparing to teach about the Holocaust or Holocaust-related courses.
The seminar explored early persecution, refugee life, concentration camp life, life in hiding, separation and reunion of families and survival in the postwar era.
Costello plans to share the knowledge she gained from the seminar when she begins teaching a course on the history of the Holocaust for the University’s Honors College next spring.
Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Information Technology
College Hosts STEM Education Workshop
The Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Information Technology (CEIT) is helping to build the engineering work force of the future by hosting a series of workshops for science, engineering and math (STEM) high school educators. This year, CEIT hosted 15 teachers from Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana and Tennessee for the annual Project Lead The Way (PLTW) program.
PLTW promotes STEM education in high school systems across the country, and following training, teachers become certified to implement various engineering lessons. The PLTW program offers a modular hands-on, project-based approach to learning that trains high school faculty to teach the modules, ultimately preparing and encouraging high school students to pursue a science, engineering, technology or math degree when they enter college.
Participants completed courses including Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM), Principles of Engineering (POE) and Introduction to Engineering Design (IED).
Georgia Southern has been the affiliate University for PLTW in the state of Georgia for the past six years.
Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health
JPHCOPH Expands Impact on International Public Health
Opportunities to improve rural public health and launch new initiatives are broadening the global impact of the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health (JPHCOPH). The College has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and the Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences (DMIMS, Deemed University) in Nagpur and Wardha, India.
After two years of planning and meetings involving Drs. Lynn Woodhouse and William Livingood of the JPHCOPH and Dr. Quazi Syed Zahiruddin of DMIMS, a ceremony marking the signing of the MOU between the two institutions was held in April. Signed by Dr. Ved Prakask Mishra, the pro chancellor of DMIMS, the MOU creates a platform to pursue opportunities for faculty and student exchange, faculty and student research and proposal development for external funding to support additional initiatives. “Our collaboration will provide opportunities for both institutions to learn from each other as we support the development of public health training in both India and the U.S. DMIMS is located in a rural area. Partnering with DMIMS and learning with each other will help JPHCOPH meet our mission to improve rural public health,” said Woodhouse.
While in New Delhi, India, Woodhouse and Livingood also met with Dr. Sanjay Zodpey of the PHFI. A second MOU was signed last month between the JPHCOPH and the PHFI with the goal of developing and fostering education, training, research and professional activities among students and faculty of the two institutions as well as across various public health organizations throughout India represented by PHFI.