The Sou'Wester: February 2022

THE VOL .91 NO.5

SOU’WESTER

FEBRUARY 2022

THE VOICE OF GSW

HEAD WOMEN’S SOCCER COACH KERRY EDWARDS: AN INSIDE LOOK AT GSW ATHLETICS

SINCE 1934

IN THIS ISSUE

INTERVIEW WITH DR. IORDANOV PAGE 3

See what the Science Department has been working on in an interview with Professor of Analytical Chemistry, Dr. Tzvetelin Iordanov.

HOMECOMING GALLERY PAGE 4

Check out some highlights of GSW’s 2022 Homecoming week, Alice in Wonderland!

Video by Talik Hill, continued on page 2.

RESTRUCTURE PROPOSAL FOR B.A. IN ENGLISH WITH TEACHING CERTIFICATION FAILS TO GARNER VOTES Jackson Carlstrom Staff Writer This month, a proposal that may change the structure of the B.A. in English degree with Teaching Certification entered the voting process in academic affairs meetings.

The B.A. degree in English with Teaching Certification as it stands today has students taking the same courses as an English major. Alongside the English major classes are a few new required English and education courses intended to prepare students for English jobs in the education workforce, such as English and literature teachers. Under this new proposal, the B.A. in English with teaching certification would be overhauled and phased out, being replaced with a new B.S. in education degree with a concentration in English.

This new proposal has a long history, dating back around six years ago, when the College of Education suggested that advisors in the College of Arts and Science needed to get their students with teaching certifications out into their field work earlier and proposed a restructuring of the programs. The College of Arts and Science viewed the issue as one of lack of communication rather than the need to restructure any programs, so the proposal was tabled before eventually coming back up around two years later, this time with

the rationale that there are too many hours in the teaching certification programs that need to be cut down to allow students to get more pedagogical training to prepare them for the workforce.

The new proposal just recently had its first voting session with academic affairs, facing an uphill battle with many disagreements between the College of Arts and Science and the College of Education. The proposal failed to garner enough votes to go into effect, so while the proposal as it is will not see the light of day, it could potentially come back if it is reformed and reworked.

INTERVIEW WITH 1994 SOU’WESTER EDITOR PAGE 5

Alumnus John Guzzardo discusses how facilitating the voice of GSW has shaped his life. in the program, but based on previous program structure changes, mostly new enrollees would be the students impacted. Students already enrolled in the program would probably continue as they are, with the current program slowly being phased out and the new program being introduced for new students as the students of the older program graduate. The sole effect current students would have potentially felt from this proposal is the loss of their current content advisor, as all their advising would now be done in the College of Education.

“In terms of longer-term effects, one thing that I worry about is that teach“I would buy the rationale if our stuing is a profession with a really high dents weren’t graduating on time, if burnout rate,” Dr. Moir said. “So, I’m they weren’t passing the GACE teaching concerned that students are going to exams, and if they weren’t getting any be graduating with a degree that only jobs after graduation. But our teaching qualifies them to be teachers. And certification students are doing all those if they decide they don’t want to be things,” Dr. Michael Moir, Associate Pro- teachers at the end of the program, or fessor of English and chair of the Comif they teach for a couple of years then mittee on Academic Affairs, said. “Sure, burn out, it’s going to be harder for they may feel a little overwhelmed when them to adjust and figure out somethey get out into the workforce right thing else than what would be the case now because, frankly, everybody’s work- with the more flexible Arts and Sciences ing under unusual conditions. But I’m degree we have now.” not sure that unusual conditions right now are a good excuse for overhaulThe English proposal was the first one ing a whole program that seems to be in the pipeline. If a future reworked working overall.” proposal is successful, then future proposals that are currently in the works It is unclear how this new proposal include History, Math, Music, and Politiwould have affected students currently cal Science.

PAGE 2 WOMEN’S SOCCER CONTINUED . . .

Talik Hill Staff Writer

Previously a NCAA Division I at Northwestern State University and assistant coach on their women’s soccer team, Kerry Edwards is the new head women’s soccer coach at GSW. Edwards has experience as a NCAA Division II goalkeeper at Dallas Baptist University and says that she is ready to take on the challenge of the Peach Belt Conference.

What’s the recruiting process like?

“With the recruiting process it really doesn’t stop, it’s a year-round process.

So we are always kinda going out. There are these big college showcases where there are a lot of teams and sometimes we have our own ID camps where we have prospective recruits come and join in on some sessions. We recruit all over the country. We’ve been to Florida this past fall, we’ve been to North & South Carolina and we’ve been to Mississippi, so we recruit kinda all over.”

How do athletes train for a season?

“Any student-athlete here at GSW, but specifically the soccer team, are given a summer work-out packet once they’ve signed on and have committed to play here. So they’ll have strength programming, cardio-conditioning, etc. that we would highly encourage them to do so that they’re fit for the season . . . Most programs, including ours, have 1 or 2 fitness tests but they’re required to get a certain standard as they come into pre-season because soccer is such a

Pictures provided by Kerry Edwards

physically demanding sport. They can’t wait until they get here to get fit, they have to be doing that on their own in the summer or when we start in the fall, they’ll be playing catch-up. ”

they have food trucks and all kinds of things for the student-athletes and we have a whole fireworks show. It gives the students pride in their school and a experience. Everyone in the department helps out with home games, we’re a What does the athletics department family here so we all pitch in for everydo for students on campus? one’s sports and I think that its some“Any event you see on campus you’re thing that a lot of the coaches enjoy dogoing to see athletic staff and students ing. We like to support one another, so present at. Maybe the athletics staff anything that you see at the basketball set up some of those student events or games probably happened from memhelped to tear down and clean up at the bers of the athletics department. For end of those student events but I think example, we have our teddy bear toss they help to create an overall experience coming up next Wednesday where we for the students. They host basketball are encouraging people to bring teddy and soccer games on campus and they bears to donate to the local community create things for students to do and ex- but all of the preparation and things like perience, a great example of this is the that happen from the combined effort ‘Under the Lights Game’ every fall where of the members of the staff here.”

PAGE 3 CAMPUS RESEARCH

BACK TO BASICS: AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. IORDANOV Moses Simmons Associate Editor Dr. Tsvetelin Iordanov is an understated man at Georgia Southwestern and has taught at the university for 16 years. Dr. Iordanov is a fundamental building block at Georgia Southwestern through his research and teaching.

What kind of research are you currently working on?

“So what we’ve done most recently, which was done for undergraduate students. Most of it is theoretical, but there was one experimental, which took a long time in particular. We did focus on polymers, particularly the optical properties of polymers and the nonlinear optics. So like what happens when it triggers, which is a very big research topic in nonlinear optics. Then the more infrared part of the spectrum, which could be applied to lasers. Another project we did was related to band gaps, the gap between the conducting and valence banding in semiconductors. You need the band gaps to be specific distances to be a semiconducting material. So we were looking for silicon based plastics that had semiconducting properties, and were suitable for organic solar cells. However we had a huge selection of possible materials, so we characterized them theoretically. Another of my more recent projects was combustion properties of ketones and aldehydes, which are leftover from the combustion of diesel, to cut down on pollution. The Department of Energy was particularly interested in that.

The experimental project was actually related to aerosols, so we created an experimental method for measuring volatiles in aerosols. We measured the rate of nucleation, which is the

could ever fix it, because it’s a little bit broken and lack the money to fix the machine. So as you flip the spin, there is a field and as it spins it allows electrons to fall in one direction or the other. You’d see this as making ones and zeros, being the basic idea of quantum computing. Though there are laboratories doing this experimentally already. What I used to do with my work, I could translate something like that, and treat systems like this. Why quantum computing doesn’t work for any other systems, is because of the vibration of the molecules. Molecules vibrate all of particles that come together to the time, and the spin is obscured by form a crystal, bubble, or droplet. it. You have to lower the temperature This came from a student who just to the nanokelvin, which wasn’t poswanted to find a different solution sible until very recently, to observe and tried something different. The just the flip of the nuclei’s spin. Lucklittle change they made solved all our ily you can just plug in zero kelvin in problems, and we published. That calculations. However if I don’t do it, I was a pretty neat paper, because it have the feeling someone else will do was experimental. It was published it very soon, unfortunately.” in the Journal of Chemical Education, because we were a small institution What do you hope to see in the for education. These were all peer future? reviewed papers, because with chem- “I hope to see junior high students being more interested in science, istry you don’t get to publish anything without a peer review. The last because for most part, that’s where it ends. It’s incredibly rare to get a project’s paper had nine reviewers, student interested in science. Most of who weren’t saying no, but couldn’t the time people will be more interunderstand it completely. Mostly because they weren’t physical chem- ested in something more applicable, like engineering. This is a fundamenists, and it was mostly all physical tal science, the fundamental science, chemistry. However, we shouldn’t and that’s where the innovation write something just for the sake comes from. The engineers didn’t do of publishing, I (and my students) should contribute our leaf to the tree all the things to make a cell phone, they just applied the fundamental of knowledge.” science. The fundamental science isn’t fully developed, it’s not. Some Without budget constraints, what people tell me it’s wrong, but it’s not would you research?

“Actually right now, what I really want because your cell phone works right?

Quantum chemistry is right, we’ll to do, isn’t from budget constraints certainly add to it, at least I hope so. so much. It’s more about the time This isn’t going to happen unless we commitment and work of course, but have students coming in to teach I want to do research on the nuclear fundamental science to. It’s not a quantum effects on helium nuclei. sustainable future for academia to Even though they have a heavier nu- not have the students to teach, or be cleus they don’t necessarily move as interested in fundamental sciences. a proton, they still have a spin. Like Unfortunately due to how everything with nuclear magnetic resonance all works, this is being overlooked. I you do is use a radio frequency to would just hope there’s more interest test the spin out there of the nuclei. in fundamental science in the future.”

PAGE 4 IMAGE SERIES

HOMECOMING GALLERY From the historical opening of Florrie Chapel to a silent headphone party, GSW’s 2022 homecoming blew the hurricanes away!

Special thanks to Jennilyn Bernabe for sending these wonderful pictures!

Students at the Hatter’s Jackpot Game Show. Photo by Jennilyn Bernabe.

Students at the Hatter’s Jackpot Game Show.

Photo by Jennilyn Bernabe.

Chavis Dunbar (left) and Palmer Braunstein (right). GSW Homecoming Queen and King 2022 Photo by GSW University Relations.

Students at the Wonderland Whispers silent headphone party. Photo by Sabrina Hagler.

Pines and Oaks Resident Halls. Photos by Sabrina Hagler and Talik Hill.

Alice in Wonderland decorations across campus. Photos by Sabrina Hagler.

PAGE 5 history afforded me was an opportunity in how to take my research skills and apply them. It also helped me to write better and as a historian you have to be able to communicate. It helped me to test the pulse of the student body and bear in mind that most of my staff were not history majors. I had a couple of English majors, two math majors, a couple of computer science majors, and a nursing major.”

ALUMNUS INTERVIEW

1994 SOU’WESTER EDITOR JOHN GUZZARDO:

How listening to the voice of GSW has prepared me for life after college.

Sabrina Hagler Editor In Chief John Guzzardo was the Editor In Chief of the Sou’Wester from 1994-1996 and again in 2011. Presently and during those tenures, Mr. Guzzardo says that he has seen much change in GSW and the newspaper itself.

What years did you attend GSW and what was your major?

“I attended 1992-1997, then 2011 and finally 2016-2017. I majored in history which allowed me to have a lot of flexibility. My immediate predecessor was a nursing major and before her my very first editor, Kim Reid, the city attorney for Americus, was a political science major and that groomed her to be an attorney. History, for me, brought a researcher’s mindset. As a historian, you want to dig, you want to get all sides of the story. You want to learn what’s going on. There’s the journalism five Ws: who, what, where, when, and why. I like to add a H, which is the how.

A good story is about the why but it’s also about the how. How did something happen, how did something evolve to that point.

Back in the mid 90s we had a controversy involving our homecoming election in 1996 and the question everyone was asking was “why is this happening?”

My question was “how did it get to this point?” We learned that some of it honestly was the history of the school, so I began digging into the history. How Americus was one of the last towns in Georgia to desegregate in the 70s and how racial issues in Sumter county have been a raw nerve. One of the things that

What was your day-to-day life like?

“I was an on campus student so it was rather boring on weekends. When I wasn’t in class, I was at the newspaper office or meeting with administration officials about various things. One of my favorite events every year was homecoming. We had a whole section devoted to the week and I loved the pageantry that we had back then and the festivals. We also had an on-campus student week where we had all sorts of different things going on.”

What did the newspaper do for students at GSW? “The main thing our newspaper did was inform and educate our student body.

We were not a particularly big newspaper in terms of staff because we simply didn’t have the resources. However, we were always in the middle of a controversy, had some pretty interesting personalities, and our team was for a while pretty tight knit. Also keep in mind this was the mid 90s and there were a lot of politically active things going on at this time, especially with regards to race relations. We were in the middle of the action. I would say we were pretty damned scrappy for what we had to work with. I think what I loved the most about it was that the student body saw us as the “real” influencers - we may not have been decision makers, but we influenced many a decision in the mid 1990s.”

What changes have you seen since you graduated?

“Where do I begin? Let me start with the differences between 1997, when I left the first time. GSW is way different today than it was back in the mid 1990s and I think that’s a good thing in most ways, not so good in others.

President Weaver has continued the work former President Blanchard began years ago, and the results have been a campus which is now amazing.

The most obvious change is all the new buildings. When I was there, the Education Building had just come online for the first time, and old Prance Hall (where the SSC now sits) was shut down and decisions were being made as to what to do with it. That’s just scratching the surface. Now as for 2017 to today, GSW has grown in terms of student population and engagement, the addition of a communication major is a huge win. The school is becoming more well known, and is developing a reputation for being out in front and ahead of the curve in many ways. I think President Weaver’s high-energy leadership has transformed the university in some serious ways.”

How did GSW and The Sou’Wester prepare you for life after college and how do you think they have shaped who you are today?

“Honestly, it helped me hone some skills which I can transfer to any line of work, including problem solving, time management, research, communication and marketing oneself. I also learned how to do graphic design at a much higher level and understood the impact of the internet and social media in everyday business.

I’m taking some time off from writing and the publishing world, but I still blog.

I’ve written three books, one of them is in the process of being edited and two are published. One is called the 38 Day Education and the second is Change Rising, which is based on that homecoming election mess, and the next one will be called Racing Darkness which is based on the shooting that happened on campus back in 1985. My current role is as an executive assistant for a major cellphone retailer in Orlando.”

Do you have any advice for students?

“I could share a million different things, but they all come back to one overarching message - learn who you really are, even your dark side. Know yourself well enough to know when to make changes when needed, and to be able to adapt to times.”

PAGE 6

ASK THE CANES

Where do you buy your textbooks and why?

Senior English Major “I generally buy my major-specific books on Amazon and I rent the books that I need for core classes from the bookstore. I can’t wait for my English books if they’re backordered at the bookstore, but I typically have more time to wait for my other classes’ books. I do want to support the bookstore, but they are not always reliable. I really like their online catalogue and that you can find your textbooks for all your classes online though.”

Junior Psychology Major “I purchase my books from the bookstore and from Amazon. No, I don’t think the pricing for textbooks from the bookstore is reasonable.”

Junior Nursing Major “I download my books. I think the textbook pricing from the bookstore isn’t reasonable for a college.”

Freshman Human Resources Management Major “I bought them from the bookstore online and picked them up.

It was easy and the most accessable as I bought my books late.

Beyond that, as a freshman, it seemed like the best way to experience the school.”

MEET OUR WRITERS

Cloie Davis Staff Writer rdavis27@radar.gsw.edu

Sabrina Hagler Editor-In-Chief shagler1@radar.gsw.edu

Talik Hill Staff Writer thill19@radar.gsw.edu

Moses Simmons Associate Editor asimmo10@radar.gsw.edu

Dr. Ashley P. Jones Faculty Advisor ashley.jones@gsw.edu

Jackson Carlstrom Staff Writer jcarlstr@radar.gsw.edu

FIND US ONLINE!

gsw.edu/souwester @gsw_souwester