Academic that Work

Academics that work.

Fayetteville State University

Academics that work.

A

t Fayetteville State University, our service to students comes first. By providing the highest quality learning experience, we fulfill our mission to promote the educational, social, cultural, and economic transformation of southeastern North Carolina and beyond.

Our primary goal is to make the educational experience a richer, more rewarding one for students of all ages and backgrounds— including the best and the brightest—and, ultimately, produce global citizens as leaders who will shape the future.

It’s all about academics that work…Work for our students, work for our local and regional communities, work for the global community.

L

earning is our product. Students are our reason for being. When we achieve our academic goals, we make the communities we serve better places.

Fayetteville State University is committed to enhancing career opportunities for each of its student graduates. In this ‘state of our academic world’ publication, let us show you that commitment through the academic efforts and accomplishments of our students, faculty, and staff.

Improving life around us, one community at a time.

FSU student teacher (right) assists kindergarten teacher at Cliffdale Classical Elementary School (Fayetteville)

Fostering Education.

O

ne of our legacy programs that we continue to do best is preparing our students to teach others. Our School of Education graduates a large and increasing share of the much needed teachers and principals in southeastern NC— a true partnership between the public schools and us. We are also especially proud of our graduates’ teacher licensure pass rates and their subsequent careers as professional educators. With FSU being located in one of the most diverse regions in North Carolina that includes a major military base, our student teachers have the opportunity to adapt and expand their teaching methods through in-classroom experiences by working with students from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds.

Teaching others.

Helping Our Country, Right Here.

F

ayetteville is home to Fort Bragg, a base that has been identified as a primary staging area for military deployments now and tomorrow.

We are inextricably linked to the military here at FSU and support our troops not only at our main campus, but also at two bases—Fort Bragg Army base and Seymour Johnson Air Force base.

Captain Hamm Shenk, USAF, earned his MBA at FSU, alternating between on-base lectures, video conferencing and online coursework to obtain his degree. As a rising officer, he was a member of the ASAF’s Thunderbird precision flying team and now instructs aspiring F-15E fighter pilots. He says he broadened his knowledge about leadership at FSU, and that experience holds him in good stead as he tries to instill those same traits in his young flying students.

Connecting students to the wider world of business with the best tools.

I

n today’s always-connected world, it’s important to have the right technology. But, it’s more important to learn how to use that technology. It’s this practical approach to technology that led FSU to create a real-world laboratory for students in the School of Business and Economics to learn about the world of stocks, security trading, and finance. The FSU School of Business and Economics Trading Room models a stock exchange trading floor. Students can learn how to buy and trade, using the same tools as professional brokers and traders. Without risking real dollars, of course . . .

Practical Technology.

Current as Today.

Winning competitions, creating real companies.

T

he group of our business students won a nationwide business presentation competition, and they did it by developing and talking about a real start-up—their own. The team started with an idea for a new product created by a professorin the sciences at FSU: a new kind of soil for houseplants, infused with plant-specific nutrients that maintain moisture over time, obviating the need to water frequently. A patent application

for the product and process is pending.

The product’s genesis was from plant technology, but the team won because they made their case better than anyone else in the competition. And that’s just another example of how we approach learning here at FSU—through collaborative and interdisciplinary learning and more than just a nod to the practical.

Academics that work.

Business student team wins 1st place and $15,000 for “Best Written Business Plan” at Opportunity Funding Corporation— Venture Challenge (April 2010)

O

ur role as an intellectual and cultural center addresses two important audiences: our students and our regional citizens. For students, it is about self-enrichment and obtaining a well-balanced liberal arts education, or about preparing to be teachers or performers of the arts. For the public, we function as a leading venue for arts exposure, with the Seabrook Auditorium, an intimate 1,100+ seat performance space, hosting a variety of cultural events and performances throughout the year.

In addition to student performances in vocal and instrumental music, theater, dance and the spoken word, FSU hosts distinguished speakers, travelling dance troupes, Broadway theater, operas, and nationallyrenowned entertainers.

Bringing the Arts to Our Area.

Study abroad: Spain (above), China (right)

Sharing Cultures.

F

SU

The Elixir of Love by Gaetano Donizetti

International Learning Experiences

has a well-established and growing international education program. It’s all about broadening the worldviews of our students, exposing them to global communities and diverse cultures through study abroad and exchange programs or on campus through interaction with international students and faculty.

We recently have had study abroad opportunities for FSU students in Spain, China, Nigeria and Tanzania, and have hosted students and faculty from China, France, Germany, India, Japan, and Kenya. In partnership with the Fulbright Organization, we have hosted Foreign Language Teacher Assistants from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, China, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Tanzania, and Tunisia.

Productive Partnerships

F

SU

is home to a state-of-the-art electronic device…and not just any electronic device, but a Microprobe.

This instrument—of which there are only a few in service anywhere in the U.S., private and government combined—is a high-powered magnification and chemical analysis tool in a single instrument that can discern identities and composition of a vast range of substances and confirm where they originated.

In partnership with UNC Pembroke, FSU established the Southeastern North Carolina Regional Microanalytical Center (SENCR-MIC) in 2008. The center is a laboratory to teach students how to use the microprobe and a resource center to provide analytical services for public and private institutions, and a self-sustaining research center.

In the first few months, SENCR-MIC has been in partnership with: • The NC State Bureau of Investigation: The SBI has used SENCRMIC to help analyze forensic evidence in a criminal case, and the results proved the government’s case, confirming a suspect’s presence at the crime scene.

Compositional image of crystal grown in molten rock (magma) that can be used to predict volcanic eruptions

• The Cumberland County School’s Cross Creek Early College High School on campus at FSU: High school student James Alston (pictured) has been trained to operate the Microprobe and provide analysis—an experience with a device only available at one other university in the U.S. As a result of this experience, he plans to study forensics when he goes to college.

These early partnerships are just the beginning according to Dr. Steven Singletary, Director of SENCR-MIC. “In addition to providing a useful and rare teaching tool for our students to prepare for exciting careers in fields such as criminal justice (crime scene forensics), health and medicine, government, chemistry, biology, mathematics, environmental science, space exploration and more, it opens doors to partnerships with public and private entities who need the analytical capabilities the Microprobe provides, helping improve products and processes, solving forensic mysteries, and bringing economic development and potential jobs to our area of the country. I see nothing but upside, and I’m excited.”

Productive partnerships, indeed.

Microprobe instrument in operation

Division of Academic Affairs • 1200 Murchison Road • Fayetteville, NC 28301 910.672-1460 • www.uncfsu.edu

Fayetteville State University Academics that work.

®