Today
Letters & Sciences College of Letters and Sciences Highlights Vol. 6 - Fall 2015
CSU-in-Mexico Program: Outreach and History (page 12)
Green Light for New Lab Sciences Building (p. 4) Students Document Pasaquan History & Preservation Process (p. 8) New Director, Carson McCullers Center (p. 14) Physics Professor Named Georgia Professor of the Year (p. 16) Also in this Issue Dean’s Welcome – 2 | New President’s Interview – 2 | First Choice Campaign Priorities – 3 New GIS Certificate – 6 | Premed Program Update – 7 | Student Spotlights – 8 | New Science Scholarship – 11 | Alumni Spotlight – 13 Faculty Spotlights – 14 | Leadership Council Expands – 21 | New Faculty – 22 | New M.S. Chemistry Track – Back Cover
Dean’s Welcome
Dr. Dennis Rome, COLS Dean.
I recently attended the annual meeting of the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) held in Washington, DC. The mission of CCAS is to advocate for liberal learning by providing professional development, managerial resources, and leadership opportunities for Arts and Sciences deans, chairs, and staff. Although we frequently hear the phrase “liberal education,” what exactly does it mean? Here is CCAS’ Statement defining liberal education: Liberal education is education “fit for a free person.” The term “liberal education” is derived from the Latin word “liber,” meaning free. Liberal studies can, in fact, lead to freedom – freedom from the enslaving constraints of ignorance, prejudice, apathy, and narrow specialization. Indeed, a successful liberal education, by which we mean a broad, general education in the humanities, fine arts, and sciences, gives an educated person a dedication to critical inquiry, sensitivity to cultural and social contexts, independence of thought and reasoning, and respect for the breadth of human endeavor. As you peruse through this semester’s issue of our newsletter, I am certain that you will be amazed by the high level of engagement in liberal education that our faculty, staff and students are effecting to create a community free of ignorance, prejudice, and narrow mindedness. In the College of Letters and Sciences, we are very proud to lead our institution in this human endeavor. 2
An Interview with Dr. Chris Markwood, CSU’s New President What about Columbus State appealed to you to encourage you to come here? About five years ago, I had the opportunity to serve as the Interim Chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. At that time, our daughter was 2 and we did not think that it was the right time to consider a presidency or chancellor position. When you think about it, the average age of presidents or chancellors at that time was the mid 60’s. I was 45. I had many years to decide if I was interested in serving as president, but I only Dr. Chris Markwood, had once chance to be the best dad of a CSU’s 5th President. two-year-old. So we decided not to pursue the opportunity, and instead looked for and accepted another provost position. However, my wife, Bridget, did suggest that we make a list of what we would want in a university and community if we were ever to be interested in a president’s position. In short, what appealed to us about Columbus State was: 1) the commitment to student success, 2) the focus on servant leadership, 3) the partnerships with the community, and 4) the integration of the arts and other disciplines in Uptown Columbus -- all items on the list we made almost five years ago! When this opportunity presented itself and when we realized that Columbus State University was aligned with our priorities, values, and goals, we felt we needed to take a look. We are certainly glad that we did! What new partnerships are you hoping to pursue? Over the past four months, I have spent a great deal of time listening and learning -- visiting virtually every office, unit, and department on campus. It seems like every day I would go home and be able to share with Bridget something else that I learned that I did not know. Many times, my stories had to do with new partnerships that I learned about. Keeping these partnerships strong and growing will be important. Providing the support that departments and programs need to expand these partnerships will be critical for continued success. I am particularly pleased to have learned about how many connections we have with our PreK-12 partners. But I do wonder if there are opportunities to strengthen and grow our partnership with our school district in a way that has not been done before. I believe that we have a tremendous opportunity to join together with Superintendent David Lewis in doing something even more significant. Indeed, he and I have been in discussions about what some of those possibilities may be and what it might take to make them happen. Retention rates have increased in the last couple of years. How do you plan to continue? I have been very impressed with the campus-wide focus and the numerous initiatives surrounding student retention, progression, and graduation. The recent success is impressive and should to be commended. We must continue to fully implement and scale up some of Letters & Sciences Today Editor & Circulation Coordinator - Jill Carroll | Writer - Barbara Hunt College of Letters and Sciences, LeNoir Hall | Carroll_Jill@columbusstate.edu Design & Layout - MidMedia LLC
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these programs and continue to assess and improve the initiatives that we have in place. First, our efforts will require a deeper dive into data, and the Provost has recently released a plan to help bolster our data collection, review, and analysis in an effort to increase our data reliability. Second, we will need to evaluate which initiatives are providing results and which ones are not, and take the appropriate action. Third, we need to bolster faculty efforts around active learning. Forth, we need to continue to have the courage to try new things and to implement different ideas. One of the added benefits of my campus visits was getting to hear from so many faculty members about what they are doing to enhance the learning environment and engage students in their education. I am really proud of the efforts individuals are making. I believe it is that individual effort that will make all the difference. Where do you see us going? My charge from the Chancellor includes five primary areas of focus: 1) grow enrollment, 2) increase student success rates, 3) expand the partnerships that have made CSU so distinctive, 4) complete the comprehensive campaign, and 5) keep the momentum moving forward. How we go about meeting these challenges will be defined by us as an institution in the context of our values. During my visits around campus, I came away with the very clear understanding that there are some very significant islands of innovation across our campus. Our faculty and staff are doing some really great things! But I also sense that many of these innovations are self-contained. My hope is to find ways to bridge those islands and to resource those faculty and staff innovations so that they can spread across campus and be known and used by others. Letters & Sciences Today
COLS First Choice Comprehensive Campaign Priorities The vision of the College of Letters and Sciences for the First Choice Comprehensive Campaign is to provide nationally distinctive programs that enable our students to become tomorrow’s leaders and innovators. We plan to build on the university’s unique resources to further enhance the university’s ability to impact this community and shape the world. Our campaign priorities are: • Professorships – $2.5 million We seek support for two endowed professorships to make the college a first choice for nationally relevant professors. • Student Scholarships – $1.25 million Needs-based scholarships are critical to keeping capable students on track to graduate. Scholarships also will enable our college to attract in-demand students. Currently, the college has no scholarships that cover tuition costs for even one semester. We seek to establish at least five undergraduate scholarships across all disciplines to increase student recruitment and improve degree completion rates. We also hope to provide at least five graduate assistantships for our
graduate programs (history, public administration, and natural sciences) to increase recruitment and to remain competitive against our peer institutions. • STEM Solutions – $3 million STEM professions are in great demand and are responsible for solving complex problems today and into the future. CSU seeks to become a first choice for STEM preparation in the region by growing our STEM programs, including UTeach Columbus and the Competitive Premedical Studies Program. UTeach is designed to produce highly qualified, passionate STEM teachers in a streamlined program to address one of the biggest issues in the state and nation – a critical shortage of such teachers. The Competitive Premedical Studies Program is designed to place more students on the path to medical school, helping to address the statewide and national physician shortage. • Lab Science Building – $2 million (match) We seek private support to match $11.3 million in state appropriations for a much-needed new laboratory sciences building adjacent to the aging LeNoir Hall. Private funds will be
Duncan Cantrell, one of the first two UTeach Columbus graduates, works with students during the program.
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used to assist with equipping the new facility and renovating the existing building. Modern labs will better serve growing numbers of undergraduate students in areas such as biology and premed, better support graduate studies, and enable CSU to compete for grant funding from national foundations. • CSU Fund – $2 million Investing in the CSU Fund allows us to provide specific opportunities for our students. Examples include scholarships, internships that tie classroom lessons to real-world needs; undergraduate research and travel to showcase our students’ talent; and support for the Carson McCullers Center, a cultural treasure and a resource for writers and musicians that provides insights into the art and literary world in the mid-20th century.
The History of LeNoir Hall and the Need for Additional Lab Space By Glenn Stokes LeNoir Hall first opened during the fall semester in 1989. It was the result of years of repeated requests to the State for funding and was finally approved when one of our State Representatives toured campus and was horrified by the conditions in which we were trying to teach the natural sciences. It was built when campus enrollment was less than half of what it is today and we had fewer than 150 students majoring in the natural sciences. Since then, our campus enrollment has increased to over 8,000 students and we have more than 650 natural science majors. Although LeNoir Hall continues to serve us well, we are challenged to offer enough labs to meet the student needs and we are pitifully deficient in providing the needed independent laboratory space for our faculty, undergraduate students and the graduate students in our new M.S. in Natural Sciences. In 2011, as part of the University System’s directive to develop a campus master plan, the University contracted with Sasaki Associates from Boston. During its preliminary work, the Sasaki group did a comprehensive evaluation of the space needs as related to classrooms, laboratories, offices, meeting rooms, etc. and incorporated
their findings into what would become the final CSU Master Plan (http:// www.usg.edu/facilities/documents/ master_plans/CSU_Master_Plan_ Report_Final_09-11-2012.pdf). As a result of its assessment, the Sasaki group developed a series of goals and subsequent recommendations for addressing recognized deficiencies. The first goal identified by the Master Plan Committee was this: Facilities and Program • Assess existing space utilization and future space needs to ensure alignment of quantity, quality, and types of space with programmatic needs; • Identify reuse strategies for existing buildings and recommend selective demolition as appropriate; • Assess options for additional land/buildings for future campus growth on both campuses. In its review of the University System’s space assessment, Sasaki Associates found that some of the labs were being used at over 100% of the University System Planning Office’s space occupancy goal and many were over 90%. That means that the lab
Honors students Cailee Davis and Julianna Wells recently visited CSU’s house in Nyack, NY with Professor Nick Norwood (not pictured) and Honors College Dean Cindy Ticknor to help with programmatic planning.
For additional information about the First Choice Comprehensive Campaign, including college case statements, please visit the campaign website firstchoicecampaign.columbusstate.edu or contact the COLS Development Director, Jill Carroll, at Carroll_ Jill@ColumbusState.edu.
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Image of a possible lab layout, allowing maximum flexibility in general education labs where tables would be moveable and table height adjustable.
Letters & Sciences Today
Artist’s rendering of what the LeNoir Hall addition could look like.
rooms were being actively scheduled more than 40 hours per week. One room had an occupancy rate of 185%. Thus, among its recommendations was an addition to LeNoir Hall: The proposed addition to LeNoir Hall responds to lab deficiencies identified in the Master Plan statistical building analysis. The proposed three floor addition capitalizes on the existing horizontal building circulation system, while adding a new stair at the north end of the addition. Other building infrastructure, such as the main entry, central circulation core, and bathrooms are adequate to support the new addition. 10 new laboratories could be built. After repeated efforts to get this project in the State small project and renovation budget it seemed that we would never be successful. However, this past spring, it seemed likely that, with the LeNoir Hall addition coupled with the planned Schwob Memorial Library expansion project, CSU would be placed on the State budget for funding for the two projects. With the strong support of our local legislative delegation, sufficient funding is being allocated for the Letters & Sciences Today
planning and construction of the LeNoir Hall addition and renovation of the existing labs. Unfortunately, there was not enough allocated to support the hoped-for library expansion. The Board of Regents approved 2WR + Partners as the architectural firm for the expansion project, the same firm that renovated Howard Hall, built the Cunningham Center, and drew up the plans for renovating Arnold Hall. They will partner with Lord Aeck Sargent who will provide expertise in the science programming aspect. A planning committee composed of Drs. Glenn Stokes (Biology), Wade Holley (Chemistry) and Kim Shaw (Earth and Space Sciences) will lead the coordination of identifying specific space needs and working with the architects and faculty to design the new facility and the renovations of the existing space. The architects stressed their plans to have frequent, open meetings with the faculty to garner their input so that the final product best meets their needs. An idea already considered includes moving science faculty offices to Jordan Hall (which will be vacated by the College of Education and Health Professions when it relocates to the RiverPark campus in 2016), thereby leaving more space available in LeNoir Hall for teaching and research lab
space. At the Tradeline Conference attended by Drs. Holley and Stokes there was much emphasis placed on maintaining maximum flexibility in the design of general education labs wherever possible. This would leave the possibility for multidisciplinary use and prevent “pigeon holing” spaces as technology changes. First among the considerations will be the exact location of the new facility. Original planning placed it on the north end of LeNoir Hall, closest to the main campus. This would create a “gateway” feature for what would become the Science Precinct on campus. An alternative would be to have it closer to Jordan Hall and therefore more convenient to the new location of faculty offices. Regardless of its final placement, the planning and implementation process promises to be both exciting and challenging. Among the challenges will be the relocation of faculty and teaching labs during the remodeling process. Relocating faculty and staff to Jordan Hall will not be possible until the current occupants relocate to the River Park Campus. When the addition is completed, we will have a modern, workable space that should serve CSU’s needs in the natural sciences for another 25 years. 5
New GIS Certificate Program The Department of History and Geography’s new Geographic Information Systems and Science (GIS) Certificate provides students from all disciplines advantages in both the job market and in pursuing graduate degrees. It is a 15-credit program open to all majors and also to non-degree students. It is interdisciplinary in nature – the content and techniques cover topics of interest to the humanities, social sciences, business, art, military, medicine and natural sciences. The program is designed to promote spatial reasoning and analysis and focuses on the theory, techniques, and practices of collecting, editing, analyzing, and maintaining spatial information. It explores matters like the safest route to school for grade-school children, the diffusion of communicable diseases, the hydrology of local watersheds, gerrymandering, and spatial factors influencing real estate values. See sample map below. Courses in the GIS certificate program share a service learning pedagogy connecting COLS to the Columbus community. This pedagogy provides students with meaningful research questions, with real-world experiences similar to what they would face beyond the completion of their degrees, and with community contacts that can provide them future vocational and academic guidance. The community benefits from spatial research that would ordinarily not be available. It enables leaders in the
community to look at situations in new ways and helps them make better informed decisions. COLS began GIS training 5 years ago. Students who had taken GIS coursework were able to translate their efforts into improved graduate school offers and employment. These results were the impetus for creating the certificate program. For example, over the last two years three graduate students who completed the Introduction, Intermediate, and Advanced GIS classes were accepted into FSU’s doctoral program in Geography with an emphasis in GIS. They each received a full assistantship to aid them in their studies. Several undergraduate students in the program have pursued graduate degrees in planning and history. Over the last three years the program has also placed students in nine paid internships. And several students from the program are currently holding core GIS positions with engineering and non-profit organizations. COLS pursued a GIS certificate in large part due to the high job demand for people with education in this area. The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics identified geospatial technology as an area of high job growth (16-35% depending on sector) and pay ($57K to $90K depending on job type). Those interested in further information are welcome to contact Dr. Brad Huff (huff_brad@columbusstate.edu).
Sample GIS map
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Letters & Sciences Today
Program Update Competitive Premedical Studies Georgia ranks 41st in physicians per capita — a shortage that is expected to worsen in the next two decades. Because Georgia is in dire need of physicians, CSU’s Competitive Premedical Studies Program (CPSP) is trying to help shrink that shortfall through enhanced retention and progression strategies to aid students toward college graduation and acceptance into medical school programs. Since fall 2013 when CSU launched CPSP, it has expanded and matured into a model program designed to make the process of preparing for and getting into medical school much less daunting for students. “From the moment they step on campus, we’re … providing them with tools that will help them become successful medical school applicants,” said program director Katey Hughes, an associate professor of biology. Many schools provide courses that prepare students for medical school, so what makes the CPSP so special? It’s the total immersion of the student into activities and preparation aimed at increasing their chances of success at getting into and staying in medical school. Without specific opportunities, the process can seem overwhelming, even for academically successful students. Here’s a list of the advantages CPSP provides: • Connections to Columbusarea physicians and hospitals, including shadowing opportunities through physician mentors; • Free preparation for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), including the MCAT prep course, which usually costs $1,800; • Medical school application preparation guidance; • Medical school interview strategies; • Medical school visitations; • Contact with current medical school students; • Peer mentors to ease adjustment to college life; Letters & Sciences Today
Jared Bies (B.A. Chemistry major) and Jocelyn Cañedo (B.S. Biology major) study the cardiovascular system in the human anatomy and physiology lab with Dr. Katey Hughes (CPSP program director).
• Premed living and learning community, fostering small group bonding; • Coaching about extracurricular activities (experiences and leadership roles) that can tip the scales in favor of a medical school applicant; • Scholarships available senior year; • Course and activity timeline tailored by year. To stay in the program, participants must maintain a cumulative 3.4 GPA and progress towards a CSU degree. The program features numerous medical and health topic discussions every semester, as well as target sheets that summarize the goals for each year (freshman, sophomore, junior), including advice on summer internships, timelines for test taking, guidelines for writing the personal statement, and strategies for creating an application plan.
Medical schools will consider students with any undergraduate major, provided the students have taken the requisite courses for admission and achieved competitive scores on the MCAT. Currently there are 22 students in the program, including nine freshmen who joined this fall and who are majoring in biology, chemistry, pre-nursing, and health science. According to Hughes, CSU is looking for academically talented, motivated students who are passionate about becoming physicians. Applicants for admission into the program are evaluated using SAT/ACT scores, CSU and high school GPAs, written expression (essay), and references. Program information and application details are available at premed.columbusstate.edu. “CSU’s aim is to be the preferred premedical studies university in Georgia,” Hughes said. It appears to be well on its way to being just that. 7
Student Spotlights The Visionary Art Environment of Pasaquan
Photo showing a portion of the wall before restoration (left side) and after restoration (center totem and right side). Photo by David Anderson.
Under the tutelage of Dr. Amanda Rees, students in the Department of History and Geography have created a website to enable K-12 educators in the county to learn about and understand St. EOM’s life and Pasaquan. So who is St. EOM and what is Pasaquan, you might ask. St. EOM is the pseudonym of artist Eddie Owens Martin and Pasaquan is his artistic creation. Pasaquan has been viewed as one of the greatest folk-art sites in America, but because there were few resources for upkeep, the property deteriorated and for years lay in near ruins. That is, until the Kohler Foundation agreed to restore and preserve the visionary compound. Located six miles from Buena Vista, Georgia, the compound consists of six major structures, including a psychedelically decorated farmhouse, various pagodas, totems, and brightly decorated sculptures. Most of the compound is surrounded by painted concrete walls. The digital archives created by the students include the history of Pasaquan, biographical information on St. EOM, a photo gallery featuring before and after photographs of the preservation process, annotated 8
bibliographies of print and video resources, and 15 audio recordings and transcripts of interviews of the members of the Pasaquan Preservation Society (PPS). The interviews reveal the rich variety of reasons that the PPS folks worked so hard for so long to preserve Pasaquan and offer a variety of ways to understand the importance of the site. Whereas the annotated bibliography of journals and books
indicates the importance of the site academically, the annotated bibliography of video resources indicates the way in which the site is important to other creative folks, in particular musical bands. These fifteen students worked on documenting the visionary art environment while enrolled in Dr. Rees’ spring 2015 Cultural Geography class: Lauri Morris, Philip Causey, Traci Brookshire, Jessica O’Keeffe, Amanda Whitworth, Cristian Waters, Jasmine Sims, Brian Shirley, Anastasia Romain, Brandon Hatcher, Alexander Geronzin, Cheltzie Brown, Eretha Hamilton, David Anderson and Nathan Reeves. Also instrumental in working with Rees on this project were Drs. Mike McFalls from the Department of Art (Rees’ community partner in this project) and Brad Huff from the Department of History and Geography. The digital archives can be viewed at http://digitalarchives. columbusstate.edu/exhibits/show/ pasaquan--the-story-of-st--eom Building on the newly established relationship with the Buena Vista community, Dr. Rees will have her spring 2016 class partner with the Buena Vista Chamber of Commerce to create a map of historical sites in the county that people can visit in addition to their visit to Pasaquan.
Students and faculty dancing in the dance pit at Pasaquan. Photo by David Anderson.
Letters & Sciences Today
History Majors/Geography Minors Find Careers as City Planners Since 2012, CSU’s Department of History and Geography has graduated five students with both a history major and a geography minor. Four of those alumni have combined their geographical information systems (computer mapping) experiences developed through geography coursework along with internship experiences to find professional careers in Georgia. Most recently, within months of graduating in spring 2014, both Sara Snyder Thompson and Juli Yoder began full-time positions as city planners. Sara, who now works as a planner for the City of West Point, sees a strong connection between her history major and her new career. “My education as an historian taught me the importance of critical inquiry, and the skills that allow me to not only understand how things are the way they are, but why they are as well. Without this information, problem solving— especially in areas with diverse populations or a politically tumultuous culture—will result in shallow solutions which attempt to cure symptoms rather than the real problem.” Sara attributes two important things to her geography minor: “cultural ethics in a contemporary environment as well as a technical and marketable skill that allows me to produce tangible and meaningful evidence and resources for what are often extremely abstract concepts of culture and community.” She interned with Columbus Consolidated Government as well as with the Public Works Department. Juli Yoder, another graduate of the Department, Sara Snyder works for Columbus Consolidated Government, where Thompson, planner she interned with two departments: GIS and Community for The City of Reinvestment. After graduation, a planning position West Point. opened with the city and she successfully applied for the job. In a typical day, Juli reviews all plans and surveys, assesses which GIS are needed, and does reviews and assessments on properties. Because she always wanted to create plenty of options and opportunities for her professional career, she “felt like a minor in geography allowed for me to keep my horizon open, as geography consists of many different subjects such as planning, meteorology, climatology, and plenty of others.” Currently, she is one year into her online master’s degree from the University of Florida; her degree will be in Urban and Regional Planning with a focus on Sustainability. Still interested in keeping her options open, Juli says, “I am very interested in medical geography and the University of Florida just started the first school of medical geography last year. This basically involves using GIS to track things like cold medicine during flu season or outbreaks of disease. I have considered pursuing a Ph.D. in Epidemiology or a similar field in medical geography. I could not be more pleased with my education and work experience.” CSU geographers Drs. Brad Huff and Amanda Rees, who shepherded Sara and Juli through their program, are both committed to engaging their students in real-world community projects and internships. The Columbus Community Geography Center, located Juli Yoder, planner at Dillingham Place on the RiverPark campus, works for Columbus hand-in-hand with local public, non-governmental and Consolidated commercial organizations, bringing together theory and Government. practice. Our graduates are proof that history majors with geography minors can fill interesting, fulfilling positions involving critical analysis and community problem solving. Letters & Sciences Today
Sandra James, Recipient of Inaugural COLS Summer Scholarship Sandra James, a CSU criminal justice major, received one of the inaugural summer scholarships awarded by the College of Letters and Sciences in 2015. She is interested in Sandra James, criminal justice because she “wants to help as many new scholarship recipient. people as possible and wants to provide a positive influence in her community.” James, a non-traditional student who is the only member of her family to go to college, is a single mother of two children ages eight and six. She works full-time as a dispatcher and office manager in the Stewart County Sheriff’s Office in Lumpkin, Georgia. In this position she performs many tasks, including filing records, warrants, taking fingerprints, and doing background checks. After she graduates, she hopes to work with law enforcement as an adult probation officer in Columbus. Receiving the summer scholarship this year helped James significantly as it offset the need to take out additional loans and will enable her to graduate earlier. One of the biggest obstacles she has faced, in addition to juggling school, work, and mom duties, has been the 60-mile round trip she makes to classes daily from her home in Richland. When asked who encourages her to continue with her studies, James says her co-workers have motivated her to persevere, telling her that she “would do good things by being a probation officer.” She credits professors Theresa Willey and Steve Craft for encouraging her and helping her along the way. The advice that she would give to incoming students is to “manage your time; anything can get done if you are able to do that well.” After excelling in her summer courses, James’ GPA increased and she is now completing four classes in fall 2015. The College of Letters and Sciences plans to award at least five scholarships each summer to juniors or seniors. These scholarships, which will help cover the cost of tuition and fees for one class during summer term, are funded by contributions by alumni and friends made to the Friends of Letters and Sciences fund. 9
Michael Rohly Juggles Many Campus Positions and Completes Summer Research Experience
CSU’s Woodrow Wilson Fellows (on stairs) at the state Capitol with Gov. Deal and others involved in facilitating or administering the program.
The Woodrow Wilson Georgia Teaching Fellowship Georgia is the first southern state to offer the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, with three colleges/universities participating in 2105-2016: Kennesaw State University, Piedmont College, and Columbus State University. The Woodrow Wilson Georgia Teaching Fellowship seeks to attract recent college graduates with backgrounds in the STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – to teach in high-need Georgia secondary schools. The Fellowship focuses on preparing topquality educators for many of Georgia’s most underserved public schools. Each Fellow receives $30,000 to complete a specially designed, cutting-edge master’s degree program (MAT, or Master of Arts in Teaching) based on a year-long classroom experience in secondary education fields of biology, chemistry, earth and space sciences, and mathematics. In return, Fellows commit to teach for three years in the urban and rural Georgia schools that most need strong STEM teachers. Throughout the three-year commitment, Fellows receive ongoing support and mentoring. The first Georgia cohort, consisting of 36 individuals, was divided equally among the three participating institutions. The Woodrow Wilson Foundation administers the program, with in-state coordination by the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education and support from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation. Through the Teaching Fellowship program, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation will contribute to the University System of Georgia’s initiative to produce 20,000 new teachers by 2020. In the 2016-2017 academic year, Georgia State University and Mercer University will also offer Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowships. The five participating universities will receive $400,000 matching grants to develop their teacher preparation programs based on standards set by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Each year, the participating Georgia colleges and universities will be able to enroll 12 fellows, totaling 180 fellows over three years. More information on the national program can be found at http:// woodrow.org/fellowships/ww-teaching-fellowships/. 10
Listening to Michael Rohly talk about his involvement with various campus organizations leaves you in awe of his academic achievements and his leadership skills. Majoring in mathematics and biology (with a minor in business that’s already completed), Rohly is president of the Philosophy club, the Math club, the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honors Society Mu Omicron Chapter at CSU, and the Beta Beta Beta south-east district. Needless to say, with all his extracurricular activities, he says he’s had to give up a social life. In summer 2015, Rohly participated in the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates and Teachers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). He spent eight weeks working with teams of NIMBioS postdoctoral researchers and UTK faculty on research at the interface of mathematics and biology. His research was primarily focused on biology – specifically, how host pathogens interact. The body reacts to a pathogen by increasing body temperature (fever), which can lead to proteins being denatured (resulting in disruption of cell activity and possibly cell death). His research was completed using computer simulations to determine how many cells you can lose without affecting the body’s operation. Using computer simulation is more cost-effective, compared to wet lab research. From this summer experience, Rohly learned that academic success depends more on personal drive and interest than what school you attend. He realized that the material that students from other universities were learning was the same as what he has been learning at CSU. He feels he was at the same level academically, or higher, than peers from schools across the United States. The program Letters & Sciences Today
Cott Beverages Establishes New Scholarship to Support Science Students For many years, CSU’s Department of Chemistry has worked closely with Cott Beverages, Inc., one of the world’s largest producers of beverage concentrates. Several years ago, the company conducted taste-testing on campus for several new products it was developing. The company has hired many CSU graduates in various lab and staff positions and continues to recruit our students. Last year, Cott formalized an internship program for CSU chemistry students to gain experience in their labs. In June 2015, Cott established the Royal Crown Cola International Prem Virmani Scholarship in honor of the company’s Senior Vice President for Science & Research for the passion and innovation he has exhibited throughout his decades of work in the beverage industry. The scholarship provides $2,000 per year to a CSU science student, with preference being given to students majoring in chemistry. The award’s inaugural recipient, Suzanne Carney, a chemistry major and former CSU athlete, is passionate about her field of study. She aims to complete a summer internship at Cott in summer 2016 and dreams of someday working in a lab setting, such as those at Cott. Michael Rohly, a biology/math double major.
provided participants with a great deal of “real world” experience, especially soft skills related to presentations, networking, and peer communication. Rohly thinks there could be more verbal communication incorporated into classes at CSU, such as presentation opportunities in front of peers and professors, to help students become more comfortable with public speaking. He admitted he was really surprised by the amount of fun he had during the summer program. Although he spent much of his time (80-100 hours per week) doing research, he still found time to go on trips to the Smokey Mountains and other locations. Rohly says that this experience has solidified his idea of going to graduate school. It has helped him determine his next step – to skip a Master’s degree and go straight to pursuing a Ph.D. or medical school. He says “it’s very hard to narrow down because I love math and biology, field work and lab work.” Whatever he decides to study beyond CSU, it is obvious that he will pursue it with a great deal of enthusiasm and determination. Letters & Sciences Today
Chemistry Department chair, Dr. Floyd Jackson; scholarship recipient, Suzanne Carney; and scholarship namesake, Prem Virmani, Senior Vice President of Science & Research, Cott Beverages.
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C over S tory CSU-in-Mexico Program: Outreach and History In summer 2015, CSU celebrated 20 years of offering study abroad immersion experiences in Spanish, along with a service learning international outreach component. Participants in the CSUin-Mexico Program improve their proficiency in Spanish and gain cultural competence with respect to Mexican society by living with Mexican families, studying Spanish daily, participating in weekend excursions, and taking part in a service-learning component of teaching English to children at a community center in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
Service Learning: International Outreach The service-learning aspect of the CSU-in-Mexico Program is optional for CSU students. After their language classes are finished for the day, CSU students—in Mexico to learn Spanish— help Mexican children, ages 3-12, learn English. That almost all CSU students elect to participate in the optional service-learning component shows their generosity and goodness. A highlight of the summer 2015 program was that the CSU students were able to present four laptop computers to the community center students. Steve Rutledge, Mary Covington and James Delauder of CSU’s University Information & Technology Services volunteered their time and expertise to acquire and refurbish the laptop computers. The laptops will help the children at the center launch a pen-pal project in which they write in English to the CSU students they met in 2015 and Holding up the Aztec Sun Stone/Piedra del Sol are CSU-in-Mexico students Sam Gant, Kristen Averett, Deniece Hudson, and Jocilyn Gilbert.
CSU students with children and workers at the Community Center in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
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the CSU students will write back to the children in Spanish, enabling each group to practice the language they are learning. In addition, the children at the community center have begun to use the computers for a t-shirt design project they began in June 2015. The mothers of these children will also be using the
laptops to take adult education courses. The community center in Cuernavaca is sponsored by the Karitas Foundation, a non-profit organization based out of Beryn, PA, which envisions “claiming new futures with and for those in need.” CSU is proud to be a partner with its service-learning component of the study abroad program. Letters & Sciences Today
History of the CSU-in-Mexico Program Dr. Alyce Cook is a tenured Spanish professor who directs CSU’s study abroad programs for Spanish language learning. Of the 21 years she has headed these summer programs, only one was in Salamanca, Spain; the others were in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and developed into the CSU-in-Mexico Program. This immersion program was originally encouraged and sponsored by Elena DiazVersion Amos, wife of Aflac co-founder John B. Amos. It is called an immersion program because students live with Mexican families where they speak only Spanish and go to classes 5 hours per day. Students can elect to earn 9 credit hours of Spanish (4 weeks of study abroad immersion) or 12 credit hours (6 weeks). On weekends, students travel as a group, either to sites in Cuernavaca or to various historical sites in Mexico City and elsewhere. Students have free time on weekdays in mid-afternoon and in the evening. One reason for the program’s success is Rosalina (Rosy) Zetina Reyes, who is the resident director in Cuernavaca and has worked with Dr. Cook since the beginning of the program. “She works with us on the project with the children at the community center, travels with us, and is at the university each day,” says Dr. Cook. “The students love her, and the fact that they have to speak to her in Spanish is one of the major reasons that the students begin to lose their fear of using their Spanish,” Dr. Cook continues. The ideal size group, says Dr. Cook, is 11-15 students, although she has taken as many as 22 students at a time. Dr. Cook requires students to attend a half-semester spring workshop that prepares them for the new cultural norms and the immersion experience they will experience during their summer study. According to Dr. Cook, Cuernavaca is the perfect location for language study. Other schools that send students to study Spanish in Cuernavaca include University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth (VCU) and SUNY Brockport. Front cover photo: CSU-in-Mexico students atop the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan. The Pyramid of the Moon is in the background. First row, left to right: Sarah García, Kristen Averett, Sam Gant, Sophie Saffan. Back row, left to right: Nathan Wingate, Eli Irizarry, Jocilyn Gilbert.
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A lumni S potlight : John Woodward, A Jack-of-Many-Trades Not many people have had such an interesting and varied career path as John Woodward. Owner and master roaster at Great Southern Coffee, LLC, Woodward was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia. He started his career at Montgomery Wards, where within five years he became a retail store sales manager. He received his B.S. in chemistry from CSU in 1983, crediting Professor John Pyle with making chemistry interesting, and then spent 7 years as an analytical chemist with Callaway Chemical Company. He specialized in liquid and gas chromatography, as well as mass spectrometry analysis of organic materials from the paper, textile, and water treatment industries. Woodward worked for Exxon Chemical Company from 1992-1994. In 1995, he shifted gears and became Chief Operating Officer for Wynnton Capital Partners, LLC, where he managed growth, expansion, and recapitalization of the real estate company. In 2002, Woodward envisioned a new career direction and set out to share his passion for coffee when he established Columbus Coffee Company in his hometown. He owned the coffee shop for 10 years, and he has been custom roasting coffee for select clients since 2002. He first learned to roast coffee in college, using a fry pan (which was too smoky), then a popcorn popper. Columbus native, John Woodward He now uses several (B.S. Chemistry ‘83). roasters, including a 35-lb. roaster. He supplies his locally-roasted coffee blends to Bitter Brick, Epic Restaurant, churches, and internet re-sellers. Woodward buys the highest quality green coffee beans from all over the world – Costa Rica, Colombia, East Timor, Ethiopia, etc. – and roasts and blends them to produce exquisite flavors. In his opinion, the best coffee comes from Africa, the birthplace of coffee. (According to legend, in the 8th century an Ethiopian goat herder first noticed that goats were very energetic after eating the red cherries of coffee plants.) He confirms that the most expensive coffee includes partly digested coffee cherries eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet, a small cat-like mammal native to south Asia. When asked how his chemistry background helps in the coffee business, Woodward explains that there are many aspects of chemistry, such as reaction times/temperatures and acidity levels which impact flavor components and come into play when roasting. In addition to his love of coffee, Woodward is an avid outdoorsman – he cycles almost daily and enjoys paddling in his kayak, hiking, sailing, photography, and rock climbing. In 2000, he spent 3 months hiking half of the Appalachian Trail. He is passionate about his community and serves on the board for Chattahoochee RiverWarden, a local advocacy group that uses science and education to protect the middle Chattahoochee and its tributaries. 13
F aculty S potlights New Director for the Carson McCullers Center Columbus State University has selected Dr. Nick Norwood, an award-winning poet and Professor of English at CSU, as the fourth director of the university’s Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians. Norwood replaces Dr. Courtney George, who held the directorship position for four years and who also teaches in the CSU Department of English. The McCullers Center, which started 13 years ago under the auspices of Dr. Carlos Dews and later Cathy Fussell (retired from CSU Department of English), is dedicated to preserving the legacy of Carson McCullers, the Columbus native who died at the age of 50 in 1967 after writing several novels, plays, and short stories, including “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” and “The Member of the Wedding,” both of which were turned into feature films. McCullers’ childhood home in Columbus—known as the Smith-McCullers House— operates as a museum as well as a center of the arts that nurtures American writers and musicians through fellowships and conducts educational and cultural programs. In 2014, the McCullers Center also inherited the home in which McCullers died in Nyack, N.Y. With the addition of the recently secured documents of that inheritance, Columbus State’s McCullers collection is now believed to be the nation’s largest, surpassing in size that of Duke University and the University of Texas.
Dr. Nick Norwood, recently appointed director of the Carson McCullers Center.
The Smith-McCullers house (Carson’s childhood home) in Columbus, GA.
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Carson McCullers’ house in Nyack, NY.
“This will move CSU into the next level of research libraries, and researchers will definitely benefit from it,” said Tom Converse, the CSU Archives assistant who is organizing the McCullers materials. The Center has developed exciting plans for the Nyack House, while also continuing to move forward with the Smith-McCullers House in Columbus. Both of McCullers’ former residences will begin to host more Carson-related events, such as musical evenings exploring and enjoying the classical music that Carson loved and dinner parties featuring Carson’s favorite dishes. Both residences will also host celebrations in February 2017 in honor of Carson’s 100th birthday. Like the artist-in-residence fellowship that the SmithMcCullers House sponsors every fall, the Nyack House is expected to open for a similar program in fall 2017. Divided into five apartments, the Nyack House will receive up to three fellows as part of a writers/artists/musicians/ scholars residency program while also hosting up to three CSU students in an Honors Internship Program. Both the residency and the student internship programs will run on a semester basis, with summers at the Nyack House used for CSU’s Comparative Arts in New York program. Norwood is a perfect fit as director because, since the Center’s inception in 2002, he has been involved in many Letters & Sciences Today
aspects of the Center’s programming operations, including service on the selection panel for the Marguerite and Lamar Smith Writing Fellowship; the reinstitution of CSU’s membership in the Georgia Poetry Circuit in 2004; and faculty for the New York Comparative Arts Program (2007, 2012). He has also served as director of the Southern Literary Festival in 2013, which was co-sponsored by the Carson McCullers Center and brought acclaimed writers Tim O’Brien and Natasha Trethewey to CSU. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to serve as director of the McCullers Center,” says Norwood, who teaches Creative Writing at CSU. “The house in Nyack, New York, has the potential to earn Columbus State a kind of nationwide recognition it’s never had before. I envision the McCullers Center becoming the university’s major hub of creative endeavor.” Norwood is an established and distinguished poet with four published collections. His first book, The Soft Blare, selected by Andrew Hudgins for the River City Publishing Poetry Series, was issued in 2003. His second book, A Palace for the Heart, a finalist for the Mellen Press Poetry Contest 2002, was published in 2004. The limited edition, fine press book, Wrestle (in collaboration with the artist and master printer Erika Adams), was published in 2007. Most recently, in 2010, his third full volume of poems, Gravel and Hawk, won the Hollis Summers Prize in Poetry and was published by Ohio University Press in 2012. Beyond these four collections, Norwood’s poetry has appeared in many journals, including The Paris Review, Southwest Review, Western Humanities Review, Southwestern American Literature, The Wallace Stevens Journal, Shenandoah, Southern Poetry Review, Pleiades, Ekphrasis, Poetry Daily, The New Ohio Review, the PBS News Hour site Art Beat, and on NPR’s Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor. He has received numerous awards for his work, including an International Merit Award in Poetry from Atlanta Review, both a Tennessee Williams Scholarship and a Walter E. Dakin Fellowship from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, twice been a finalist for the Vassar Miller Prize, once each a semifinalist for the Verse Prize and the “Discovery”/ The Nation Prize, and a finalist in the Morton Marr Poetry Contest. In addition, Norwood has also published a number of essays and critical studies of poetry, and, on three separate occasions, he has been the sole poet representing the United States at the Euroscience Open Forum’s session “Science Meets Poetry.” Finally, Norwood is an award-winning teacher who has served as the co-director of the European Council-Ireland program and taught in study abroad programs in Oxford, England, and Schwäbisch Gmund, Germany. At CSU, he has been a recipient of The Literary Sage Award and an annual Teacher of Writing Award, and he has been a finalist for the Educator of the Year Award and for the Regent’s Teaching Award. To learn more about Norwood and the Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians, go to www.mccullerscenter.org 15
Dr. Kimberly Shaw, Champion of Improving Science Education, Receives Two Teaching Awards If a teacher receives even one teaching award in a lifetime, the feat is considered a hallmark moment, a testament to a lifetime of dedication, passion, and creativity. But what descriptor do you use for the teacher who receives TWO teaching awards (one national award at the state level, one regional), not in a lifetime, not in a year, but in the same semester? “Amazing” is the only word that comes to mind to describe Dr. Kimberly Shaw, Professor of Physics in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences, as well as Co-Director of the UTeach Columbus program at CSU. The two awards are • 2015 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Georgia Professor of the Year • 2015 Rod Nave award, Southeastern Association for Science Teacher Education Strange as it may sound, she received notification of both awards on the same day - Oct. 5, 2015. Shaw earned her bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics from Vanderbilt University and both her M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from Florida State University. As a college teacher, she knew she wanted to make a difference in people’s learning experiences, so she began to shift her research from physics to physics education. How physics is taught affects people’s attitude toward it and acceptance of it, and she wants to be at the forefront of that teaching revolution. Her two teaching awards prove that she has already accomplished that. The Professor of the Year awards program, sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, is administered by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). This awards program is the only national initiative that focuses solely on excellent undergraduate teaching and mentoring. The program offers opportunities for colleges and universities to draw positive attention to teaching excellence across campus 16
Dr. Kimberly Shaw with John Nichols, a math and secondary education major in the CSU UTeach program.
and throughout the community and region. In receiving the Carnegie Foundation state award (Georgia) for U.S. Professors of the Year, Shaw and a guest were invited to an awards luncheon November 19 in Washington, D. C., at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, with an evening reception at the Folger
Shakespeare Library. Shaw applied for this award after being nominated by Dr. Susan Hrach, Director of CSU’s Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning. What an honor to be hailed as the best undergraduate college teacher in the state of Georgia! The Rod Nave award was a complete surprise to Shaw, who did not apply for it and did not even know Letters & Sciences Today
she had been nominated until after she had won. Her nominator was Dr. Michael W. Dentzau, Executive Director of the Oxbow Meadows Environmental Learning Center, an outreach program of CSU. The award ceremony occurred October 17 at the Southeastern Science Teacher Education Conference, held this year at Oxbow Meadows. The award is given annually to an individual from the southeastern United States who represents a significant connection between the sciences and the science education community. So what makes Shaw’s teaching so different, so special? To her, “Learning is not memorizing. It’s not passive. Students learn, not from lecture and text, but from doing science.” While she was trained as a physicist, “science education is my passion, ensuring the excitement of science is shared by people of all ages, spreading opportunities that a strong foundation in scientific thinking provides. As a scientist, I want evidence that changes to my teaching are effective in improving the learning of my students.” Some of the recent changes Shaw has made in how she teaches physics include using clickers (classroom response systems), a flipped classroom
model, and open source textbooks. Clicker questions allow formative assessment of student learning, giving students instant feedback on whether they understand difficult topics. Whenever possible, she pre-records mini-lectures for students to view before class, which better prepares them for class. This flipped classroom model enables her to “free up” lecture time for active engagement, group activity, and facilitated discussion, all centered on addressing the more challenging topics in her course. Open source textbooks (low or no publishing costs) provide students affordable learning resources they can access online from the first day of class. Since coming to CSU from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2007, Shaw is most proud of creating the Faculty Writing Boot Camp, helping to maintain the Research and Writing Group for Women, serving as the founding director of the Math and Science Learning Center at CSU, and codirecting the UTeach Columbus program. The last, she says, is what gets her up in the morning. The UTeach program introduces students as freshman to the joy of science or math teaching in elementary and middle-grade
classrooms. The program is built to give students the best possible transformational experience by exposing them early to the art of teaching science/math and to a variety of role models. The program also trains future teachers not only to be experts in STEM content, but also in the best practices in math and science education. Gender equity in physics education is also a passion of Shaw who, as a member of the “What Works” site visit team, investigated physics departments at universities that graduate above average numbers of women. What she learned from their success stories was that developing positive interrelationships with faculty and having at least one good role model were keys to encouraging female students to be attracted to and stay in science. Each of these successful sites had also developed a positive sense of community between students, fostering a sense of belonging for the students in those programs. As a teacher, Shaw strives to develop those relationships and be the role model her students need. She also strives to teach in a way that involves active learning because, as she says, “Science is a verb.”
Dr. Kimberly Shaw, fifth from left, joins with students for the UTeach program’s end-of-year celebration and awards ceremony
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Asteroid Named For CSU Astrophysics Professor The International Astronomical Union recently named an asteroid after Dr. Andrew (Andy) Puckett, an assistant professor of astrophysics in Columbus State University’s Department of Earth and Space Sciences. Puckett, who joined CSU in 2013, tracks and characterizes small bodies in our solar system and has co-discovered more than 40 minor planets or asteroids. Asteroid number 184011, now called Andypuckett, was not discovered or named by Puckett but by a colleague who thought it an appropriate way to honor Puckett’s work in astronomy. Turns out, there are some specific rules required by the International Astronomical Union, which vets requests and assigns numbers and names to celestial objects. “The discoverer is allowed to suggest a name, but you can’t name it after your pet, an active political figure or yourself,” Puckett said. The asteroid Andypuckett was officially named June 2, 2015 by Robert (Bob) Holmes, the founder and director of the Astronomical Research Institute in Charleston, Illinois. Here is the wording on the naming citation: (184011) Andypuckett = 2004 FT4 Discovered 2004 Mar. 19 by R. Holmes at Charleston. Andrew Wayne Puckett (b. 1977) is a college professor dedicated to creating authentic astronomical research opportunities for undergraduates and other
Dr. Andrew Puckett, Assistant Professor of Astrophysics.
ambitious young students, and has co-discovered over 40 minor planets. “Knowing that it’s out there as the official name, and if anyone ever studies that object, it will be with my name… well, it feels amazing to have that kind permanency,” Puckett said. Andypuckett is actually the second solar system body bearing a Puckett family member’s name. Asteroid 178226 is officially named Rebeccalouise after Puckett’s wife, Rebecca Puckett, because it was discovered in 2006 three days before their first wedding anniversary.
The provision against naming an asteroid after yourself thwarted his original request to have asteroid 178226 named Rebeccapuckett, but the request was approved when he only used his wife’s first and middle names. “Some objects get lost, but if they continue to get observed for about 5 to 10 years, the object becomes so well known, it gets a name,” Puckett said. This semester, CSU students in Puckett’s classes will be asked to help come up with names for some of the other celestial objects he has discovered. Interested readers can follow Dr. Puckett on Twitter @astropuckett.
Associate Dean Pat McHenry Remembers English Professor Dr. Joe Francavilla Joe Francavilla, who passed away November 10 at the age of 63, was the first person I met in Columbus. It was my campus interview in 1996 when he collected me at the airport. The late flight had me rattled, but Joe put me at ease with his genuine welcome. Joe’s way was to unfold to his colleagues over time. I soon recognized his encyclopedic knowledge of film, but it was years before I saw him play jazz guitar, and longer before I learned that he had taught high-school Chemistry. More than anything he was a man of letters, committed absolutely to the written word and moving image. His zeal for Poe, Kafka, Hawthorne, film noir, science fiction, and especially Orson Welles was infectious. He had a passion for the life of the mind, and students found this delightful and often transformative. In 2012, Joe was recognized with the Faculty Research Award, the culmination of many recognitions he received in his career. Memorials/Tributes to Joe can be posted on the “Columbus State University Department of English” Facebook page. 18
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CSU History Professors Share Historical Insights on C-SPAN Program Three professors from the Department of History and Geography were recently interviewed for C-SPAN’s BookTV: Drs. Virginia Causey, John Ellisor, and Dan Crosswell. C-SPAN’s Local Content Vehicles (LCVs) stopped in Columbus as part of the “2015 LCV Cities Tour” and, with the help of the Columbus Mediacom affiliate, recorded interviews with local authors and historians. History segments aired on American History TV (AHTV) on C-SPAN3 while non-fiction author segments aired on Book TV on C-SPAN2. Dr. Virginia Causey, retired CSU Professor of History In her C-SPAN video, Causey talks about her forthcoming book Red Clay, White Water, and Blues, to be published by the University of Georgia Press. Causey describes the book as an analytical history of Columbus, GA, and talks about the development of Columbus as a trade city, and its role in the Civil War, women’s suffrage, and the Civil Rights movement. Interested viewers can see the 13-minute segment at http://www.c-span.org/ video/?324766-1/book-discussionred-clay-white-water-blues. The book employs three organizing themes, including the importance of Columbus being located on the fall line and how that fact influenced its development. Dr. John T. Ellisor, Assistant Professor of History In his C-SPAN video, Ellisor discusses his book The Second Creek War: Interethnic Conflict and Collusion on a Collapsing Frontier (Indians of the Southeast), published by the University of Nebraska Press, 2010. Although the “Creek War of 1836” (the Second Creek War) is sometimes viewed as brief and small, it had a huge impact on southern society long after the conflict had officially ended and affected not only Native Americans, but blacks and whites as well. With the cotton boom of the 1830s, land occupied by the Creek became invaluable and their dispossession an economic necessity. Letters & Sciences Today
Dr. Virginia Causey, retired Professor of History.
Dr. John T. Ellisor, Associate Professor of History.
Dr. Dan R. Crosswell, Assistant Professor of History and the Colonel Richard R. Hallock Distinguished University Chair in Military History.
This book illustrates how interethnic collusion and conflict characterized southern society from the 1830s to the 1850s. Understanding this history is important to Ellisor because “we’ve got to know the dark side along with the light side of American history so we can know ourselves, so we can go from here.” Interested viewers can access the 10-minute video at http:// www.c-span.org/video/?324767-1/ book-discussion-second-creek-war.
Dr. Dan Crosswell, Assistant Professor of History and the Colonel Richard R. Hallock Distinguished University Chair in Military History Crosswell was interviewed for C-SPAN on two separate subjects: his book on Gen. Walter Bedell Smith and his book-in-progress on Col. Richard Hallock. Crosswell’s interview on his 2010 book entitled Beetle: The Life of General Walter Bedell Smith lasts about 10 minutes: http://www.cspan.org/video/?324768-1/bookdiscussion-beetle. In his book, Crosswell makes the case that Smith’s 40-year career deserves greater attention and respect than it has previously received, for Smith was a key player with Generals Marshall and Eisenhower in WWII, Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Director of the CIA, and Undersecretary of State. Crosswell’s book is the first full-length biography of Smith, a man who played a central role in mid-twentieth-century American history. Crosswell’s 13-minute video on Col. Richard R. Hallock (http:// www.c-span.org/video/?324769-1/ life-career-colonel-richard-hallock) is based on research he is currently doing for a forthcoming book. This research is heavily drawn from 153 boxes of papers housed in the CSU archives. In the video, Crosswell focuses on Hallock’s tenacity, even if it meant facing vigorous bureaucratic opposition, such as his 10-year, behind-the-scenes battle for the Army to adopt the M-16 as its standard infantry weapon. Crosswell also focuses on Hallock’s accomplishments: a master parachutist, Hallock won 27 decorations, including a Silver Star, five Bronze Stars and the Legion of Merit. Upon leaving active service in 1967, Col. Hallock became an advisor first to Defense Secretary James Schlesinger and then to the Shah of Iran. The Department of History and Geography is certainly proud to have three of its faculty featured in C-SPAN videos about the history of Columbus and the region. 19
Long-time CSU Professor Dr. Terry Irvin Retires When Dr. Terry Irvin began teaching at CSU (then Columbus College), it was 1982 and she worked only parttime. After teaching secondary English and gifted students in the Muscogee County School District for seven years, she joined the CSU faculty full-time in 1994 and went through the ranks from Instructor to Professor. Since 2003, she has served as Chair of the Department of Basic Studies. This year she decided to retire, effective September 30. Basic Studies primarily served under-prepared students who either needed remedial courses prior to enrolling in college-level coursework or fell short of the university’s admission standards for regular admissions. Over the years, Irvin has advised and taught thousands of students because almost 25% of all CSU students passed through the Basic Studies gateway. Of all the things Irvin has done at Columbus State, what she is most proud of is the “First-Year Experience Program,” which encompasses freshman learning communities (FRLCs), the first-year seminar, and the common reading selection and orchestration. It’s quite an accomplishment and honor to “start a program from scratch that touches every freshman that comes through the door,” she said. The program has also helped her get to know faculty across campus and to facilitate teaching—for when faculty work together (as in the FRLCs that require students to take a cohort of classes together), they view their subjects from a fresh perspective. She said that some departments, such as art and nursing, have improved retention due to FRLCs, which create synergy between faculty and students. Of all her CSU experiences, Irvin said she most enjoyed studying and teaching in Oxford, England. She enrolled in two courses at Oxford University through the Spencer program, and taught twice in the CSU-in-Oxford program. The course she taught was “Religion, Architecture and Material Culture of the Middle Ages,” which covered literature, history, philosophy, and architecture and fulfilled a Humanities/Fine Arts course requirement for CSU students. When asked for five descriptors on how she hoped faculty and students will remember her, Irvin replied, “positive, affirming, team player, knew-her-stuff, and valued colleague.” So what does she plan on doing when she retires? “For 30 years, I’ve been busy doing. We base who we
Dr. Terry Irvin, retired Chair of the Department of Basic Studies.
are on what we do. I’m looking forward to just BEING….It’s decompression time, time for me.” Irvin said she would miss her colleagues, seeing so many people on a daily basis, and, most of all, “seeing freshmen blossom” when they discover how much fun it is to learn. “It’s hard to beat that,” she said. Perhaps that is why, in her honor, a few book scholarships for students who started in Basic Studies will be offered in the coming year. To contribute to Dr. Irvin’s book scholarship fund for Basic Studies students, please contact Jill Carroll in the COLS Dean’s office (706-565-7874; Carroll_Jill@ ColumbusState.edu).
Supporting the College of Letters & Sciences With the help of our alumni and friends, the College of Letters and Sciences is able to provide scholarships and other significant opportunities that help make CSU a First Choice for students, faculty and supporters. Tax-deductible contributions to our scholarship funds or other programs can be made online at ColumbusState.edu/Giving. For more information about our programs and initiatives, please contact Jill Carroll, Development Director: 706-565-7874; Carroll_Jill@ColumbusState.edu. 20
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Bridget Downs—Life with a Passion Let’s just say, she’s on a mission—with passion. That sums up the goal and attitude of newly appointed College of Letters and Sciences (COLS) internship coordinator, Bridget Downs. Downs has the experience to command the tasks she has laid out for herself: meet with department chairs and faculty; work with departments, some of which have their own internship coordinators; standardize internship programs across the ten COLS departments; process and review background checks of all interns; conduct interest meetings and seek out opportunities for students across the COLS disciplines; and network throughout the community and state to increase the number of internships such that most, if not all, COLS seniors participate in at least one internship before graduation. Of these, she assigns the highest priority to meeting with chairs/departments and with students to investigate their interests. Originally from Texas, Downs earned both her B.S. in Criminal Justice and her M.P.A. in Justice from Columbus State and worked for the Georgia Department of Corrections for seven years prior to joining CSU’s Department of Criminal Justice and Sociology in 2005. Her other interests include community interactions, volunteerism, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Prior to her appointment, Downs was department coordinator of internships, where she oversaw as many as 20 internships a semester, while also teaching four courses in criminal justice. Now she will be overseeing all internships in COLS while teaching two courses per semester. Downs seems to be a perfect fit for her new position. Not only does
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COLS Welcomes New Members of Leadership Council The College of Letters and Sciences Leadership Council works closely with the Dean to create opportunities for our students, address employer needs, and advance the College in the community and region. The board has expanded this year to include several new members (noted in parentheses): Rus Drew, Asst. VP for Safety and Chief of Police, CSU (new) Jay Freeman, Chief Geologist, Boral Bricks Dr. A.J. Jain, Jain Plastic Surgery, P.C. (new) David Ragland, Sr. Director International Product Development, Cott Beverages, Inc. (new) Carole Rutland, Coordinator, Coalition for Sound Growth Kay Saunders, The Bradley Center of St. Francis Arthur Smith III, Judge of Superior Courts (new)
Bridget Downs, COLS internship coordinator.
she have the background to do this job well, she has the passion. “When work, commitment, and pleasure all become one and you reach that deep well where passion lives, nothing is impossible,” she says. For Downs, her passion is helping students connect their learning with real work experiences. To her, if you find your passion, then you find your reason for living. “If there is no passion in your life,” she says, “then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be, become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen FOR you, TO you and BECAUSE of you.”
Claudia Stephenson, retired (new) Bill Yoe, VisionWorks Dr. Joseph Zanga, retired Chief of Pediatrics, Midtown Medical Center (new) Opportunities that board members have recently created for students across the college include a new science scholarship, a visit to the courtrooms of two Superior Court judges to witness court proceedings, a proposed shadowing program for premed students at St. Francis Hospital, and direct liaison with medical staff at Columbus Regional Health. Through their support of and dedication to our programs, Council members greatly enhance the experiences of our students and help them to be even more successful in their academic pursuits. 21
New COLS Faculty Dr. Michael Newbrey, Lecturer of Biology: Dr. Newbrey earned his Ph.D. in Zoology from North Dakota State University. His dissertation focused on climate change and the evolution and growth of North American fishes. He teaches Principles of Biology, Integrated Science (Life and Earth Science) for Early Childhood Education majors as well as classes for Biology majors.
Dr. Michael Newbrey
Dr. Sung-hun Byun, Asst. Professor of Criminal Justice: Dr. Sung-hun Byun received his Ph.D. from the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University. He completed his dissertation using a method he created, which he named “mightcause chain analysis” (MCA), a tool for diagramming sequential happenings and chains of events. Dr. Byun’s current research interests include violence and victimization, quantitative research methods, the application of MCA to violent events, and interdisciplinary efforts blending criminology with various fields.
Dr. Nancy Blair
Mr. Shaun Gann, Lecturer of Criminal Justice: Mr. Gann is working on his dissertation from the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati. His research interests include developmental criminology, juvenile justice processing and policy, disproportionate minority contact, and quantitative analytic methods.
Dr. Sung-hun Byun
Dr. Steven Glassner, Asst. Professor of Criminal Justice: Dr. Glassner is interested in how early experiences with victimization influence undesirable outcomes later in life. He completed his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice at Texas State University. He teaches courses on research methods in criminal justice, juvenile justice, correctional systems and practices, and police systems and practices.
Dr. Michael Parker
Dr. Nancy Blair, Temporary Lecturer of English: Dr. Blair completed her Ph.D. at Auburn University in 2013 and has interests in Twentieth-Century American Literature, Gender Studies, Film, and Composition and Rhetoric. Her teaching experiences include Composition, World Literature, American Literature, and Special Topics courses.
Mr. Shaun Gann
Dr. Michael Parker, Mildred Miller Fort Foundation Visiting Scholar in European Studies: Dr. Parker received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Liverpool and is now Professor Emeritus at the University of Central Lancashire. He has held visiting posts at the University of Łód, the Sorbonne (University of Paris III) and Emory University. His research focuses on 20th Century Irish literature, particularly the post-World War II literature of Northern Ireland.
Ms. Sarah Bowman
Ms. Sarah Bowman, Asst. Professor of History: Ms. Bowman will receive her Ph.D. this fall from Yale University. She specializes in U.S. cultural history between the Civil War and World War II. Her research focuses on regional identity and race. Her current project examines white Southern memorialization of colonial and antebellum antislavery efforts in the region.
Dr. Steven Glassner
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Dr. Nicholas Bolden, Lecturer of Political Science: Dr. Bolden earned his Ph.D. in Public Administration and Policy from Auburn University. He brings years of research and practical experience in state and local politics, including economic and community development countywide trainings, state agency consolidation reports, community development profiles, strategic planning, and capacity building consulting for several community development corporations in Alabama.
Dr. Nicholas Bolden
Letters & Sciences Today
New COLS Faculty Mr. Spencer Fix, Temporary Lecturer of Psychology: Mr. Fix earned his Master’s Degree from the University of West Florida and is currently finishing his Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His research has focused on two topics: utilizing EEG to examine neural network interactions during mind wandering and investigating predictors of discrimination in the juvenile justice system. He teaches undergraduate sections of General Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, and Research Methods.
Mr. Spencer Fix
Ms. Elizabeth McInnis, Temporary Lecturer of Math: Ms. McInnis earned a Master of Applied Mathematics from Auburn University. She is interested in teaching with a creative-problem-solving approach to prepare students for life outside of academics. Her experience includes teaching Pre-calculus with Algebra and Trigonometry at Auburn and teaching Algebra at Opelika High School.
Ms. Latasha Warner
Ms. Elizabeth Naranjo-Hayes, Temporary Lecturer of Spanish: Ms. Naranjo-Hayes received her MA in Spanish Linguistics from San Diego State University. Ms. Naranjo Hayes has worked as an instructor for the Fort Benning Campus of Central Texas College; for Berlitz Languages International in Spanish, French, and English as a Second Language; and for the AVID program. She has also worked as the Interpreter and Translator for the Hon. M. Stephen Hyles of the U.S. Magistrates Court in the Middle District of Columbus, Georgia.
Ms. Elizabeth McInnis
Dr. Claudine Chadeyras, Temporary Lecturer of French: Dr. Chadeyras received her MA and Ph.D. in French from the University of Iowa where she wrote her dissertation on sixteenth century French prose. She served for twelve years as Chair of the Modern Languages Department at Millsaps College in Jackson, MS, where she created and directed the Millsaps French Summer Program in France and the Millsaps French Placement Test.
Dr. Daniel Holt
Ms. Latasha Warner, Temporary Lecturer of English: Ms. Warner has ten years of experience teaching in elementary, secondary, and university settings. She has completed course work and is working on her dissertation for her Ph.D. in Secondary English Education at Auburn University. Her research interests include discussion in the English classroom, portfolios in the English classroom, and online education.
Ms. Elizabeth Naranjo-Hayes
Dr. Daniel Holt, Lecturer of Earth and Space Sciences: Dr. Holt earned his Ph.D. from Auburn University, where he investigated the effect of anthropogenic noise on acoustic communication in fishes. Aspects of this research have recently been publicized by Science Magazine, Discover Magazine, and The Times of London.
Mr. Joshua Poole
Mr. Joshua Poole, Temporary Lecturer of Earth and Space Sciences: Mr. Poole earned his MS in Geology from Auburn University, where he worked on the geological evolution of the southern Appalachians. Having recently passed the Association of State Boards of Geology Fundamentals of Geology exam, he will soon be eligible for licensure as a Professional Geologist. He will teach lecture and lab sections of Physical Geology, Sedimentary Geology, and Geomorphology.
Dr. Claudine Chadeyras
Letters & Sciences Today
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CSU Now Offers M.S. in Natural Sciences, Chemistry Track Prior to fall 2015, CSU offered three Master of Science (M.S.) degrees in Natural Sciences: Biology, Environmental Science, and Geosciences. The university has now added a fourth track: Chemistry. The M.S. in Natural Sciences (Chemistry Track) graduate degree program is ideal for students wishing to advance their career in industry or education, and for those wanting to strengthen their chemistry background in preparation for a Ph.D. program. The ideal applicant should have a strong background in biological, chemical, environmental or geological sciences. A great benefit of doing an M. S. degree at CSU is the personal attention students receive from the Dr. Anil Banerjee (center) works with two chemistry graduate students, Jahbo Love faculty. Full-time students are eligible and Avinash Bheemineni. for tuition waiver and graduate specific interests and goals. graduate students: Avinash assistantships with competitive Students may enroll in the thesis Bheemineni (a chemical engineer stipends. In addition, an M. S. or non-thesis options. Students from India), Jessica Carter (a science degree holder in chemistry typically admitted into the thesis option are teacher at Albany High School) and earns $20,000 more per year required to conduct research in an Jahbo Love (a recent CSU graduate beyond that of someone who only area of chemistry of their choice, with a B.S. degree in chemistry). has a bachelor’s degree. write a thesis and disseminate the Further details about admissions The two-year curriculum of the results of their research through and degree requirements are M.S. in Natural Sciences (Chemistry publication or other appropriate available at https://chemistry. Track) consists of required chemistry venue. Students enrolled in the columbusstate.edu/chem_ classes as well as elective courses non-thesis option are required masters.php. You may also contact in various disciplines including to complete additional graduate Professor Anil Banerjee, Chemistry chemistry, biology, geology or courses from the electives. Graduate Program Coordinator at environmental science, allowing This graduate program track 706-569-3030 or at banerjee_anil@ the student to design a graduate started in fall 2015 with three columbusstate.edu. course of study to suit his or her own