ANNUAL REPORT 2011-2012
ANNUAL REPORT
2011-2012
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
President Daniel S. Papp
As I start my seventh year as president of this great institution, Kennesaw State University is preparing to commemorate its 50th anniversary next year. While the closing of our first half-century affords us the opportunity to look back at what has been accomplished, it also allows us to think about the future and assess how the university will continue to move forward. Through new academic offerings at the graduate and undergraduate levels, record levels of funding for research and new, stateof-the art facilities, Kennesaw State is laying the foundation for the future. As I look ahead 2
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to the next 50 years, I see a bright future for Kennesaw State. I see a university that will live up to its goal of achieving national prominence. But first let’s look back at how far we have come. Kennesaw State’s history is nothing short of impressive: What started as a twoyear commuter college with no name and no buildings is now Georgia’s third-largest university and rising in national reputation. Kennesaw State is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than 24,000 students from 132 countries and is increasingly a first choice for more and more top high school seniors. Our first-year experience program has been
"As I look ahead to the next 50 years, I see a bright future for Kennesaw State. I see a university that will live up to its goal of achieving national prominence."
recognized as one of the best in the country by U.S. News & World Report for ten consecutive years, and our globalization efforts have also garnered national recognition. KSU offers 80 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs, including doctorates in business and nursing and a Ph.D. in international conflict management. Kennesaw State is the no. 1 producer of teachers in Georgia and graduates more nurses than any other school. Its business school, the Michael J. Coles College of Business, is the second largest in the state. Sponsored research, with funding from the likes of the National Institutes of Health and other government agencies, is growing at a rapid pace, reaching $16.6 million in fiscal year 2011. And Kennesaw State is one of the few NCAA Division I schools in metro Atlanta. All this speaks to a bright future for Kennesaw State. But to make that future a reality, Kennesaw needs a roadmap. That is why for the past year a committee has been working on the 2012-2017 strategic plan, which we are unveiling in fall 2012. Our new strategic plan will be the roadmap that guides our second halfcentury. To implement the 2012-2017 strategic plan, KSU has put a new leadership team in place. This past year, we named a new provost and vice president for academic affairs and a new vice president for university advancement and development. As we kick off the 2012-2013 academic year, we have a new chief diversity
officer in place, as well as new deans for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Michael J. Coles College of Business and the College of Science and Mathematics. Also, I have named a new faculty executive assistant to the president. I am confident that this new leadership team will take us into the future and help achieve our strategic goals. Helping us set the foundation for the future is more than $75 million raised during the university’s first capital campaign, completed in fall 2011. We were able to raise funds for new buildings, new academic programs and student scholarships, among other priorities. I invite you to peruse this annual report for fiscal year 2011-2012 so that you can learn more about our fine institution. It fills me with pride to be president of Kennesaw State and I am excited to lead the university as we begin writing the story of Kennesaw State’s secondhalf century. Sincerely,
Daniel S. Papp, Ph.D. President Kennesaw State University
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RESEARCH ACADEMICS ATHLETICS LEADERSHIP
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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT GLOBAL ALUMNI SPACES
SPEAKERS Kennesaw State University is moving onward as it closes the chapter on its first 50 years. During its first half-century, the university grew beyond anyone’s expectations. Now the focus is on the future and on laying the groundwork to move forward and achieve national prominence.
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ACADEMICS
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Quality academics are at the core of a university’s endeavors. As Kennesaw State adds new academic programs to respond to demands in the marketplace, it is broadening its portfolio of both graduate and undergraduate degree offerings. In recent years, Kennesaw State has made strides in adding innovative doctoral programs in education, nursing and business, as well as its first Ph.D., in international conflict management. KSU’s curriculum and programs also are gaining national recognition.
The first graduates from the Doctor of Business Administration program
BUSINESS AND NURSING DOCTORS
the WellStar College of Health and Human Services also graduated in May.
This fiscal year marked the first time that doctoral students in a field other than education received their degrees. In May, the first group of eight Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.) students graduated from the Michael J. Coles College of Business. The students, who have an average of 25 years of professional experience, enrolled in the program in 2009. The first student with a Doctor of Nursing Science (D.N.S.) from
At the master’s level, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved two science programs for Kennesaw State: a master’s in computer science, which includes mobile computing, game development and data mining, and a master’s in integrative biology. In the fall, KSU started offering a master of science in criminal justice and a master of arts in integrated global communication, both of which have a global focus.
At the bachelor’s level, the university launched a degree in art history, adding yet another major for students in the College of the Arts. Meanwhile, the dance program topped 100 majors in the fall. Collaborations with the Atlanta Ballet and the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, as well as with a dozen professional dance community organizations, have helped the program flourish since it was launched as a minor in 2005. One of the university’s largest degree programs, management, underwent a curriculum review to ensure 2011-2012 Annual Report
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that graduates are better prepared to compete and succeed in the business world. Undergraduate students majoring in management at the Michael J. Coles College of Business will now spend more time learning marketable skills such as project management, business analysis and report writing. Students also will hone soft skills in negotiation, critical thinking and communication.
ACCOLADES AND NATIONAL RECOGNITION Kennesaw State’s highquality core curriculum was recognized for the second year in a row as one of the top in the nation by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. The university earned an “A” in the annual “What Will They Learn?” report, making it in the top 2 percent among 1,007 major public and private four-year institutions
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surveyed by the council. And for the ninth consecutive year, Kennesaw State’s firstyear experience program, which offers curricular and extracurricular initiatives to encourage first year students to stay in college, was ranked by U.S.News & World Report as one of the best in the country. Kennesaw State also emerged as one of the top 100 producers of undergraduate degrees conferred to minority students, according to a report published in
Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. The annual “Top 100 Undergraduate Degree Producers” report recognized Kennesaw State as a top producer of college degrees conferred to AfricanAmerican students. KSU also was recognized as a leading institution for AfricanAmericans graduating in seven academic categories and ranked among the top for Asian-Americans majoring in education.
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"This is the most exciting university on the planet, without doubt. For a year–and–a–half I got to see Kennesaw State from a whole university perspective. It gave me the opportunity to see the potential the university holds and I thought it would be exciting to be part of the leadership that helps Kennesaw State achieve this potential."
W. Ken Harmon, provost and vice president for academic affairs
LEADERSHIP Having the right leadership in place, and a shared vision for the future, is imperative for an institution of higher learning to set goals, succeed and move forward. Over the past year, Kennesaw State has attracted a new cadre of high-level administrators and Cabinet members—including a new provost and vice president for academic affairs and three new college deans—to set expectations and chart the course for Kennesaw State’s second half-century.
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ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP In December, W. Ken Harmon, who served as dean of the Michael J. Coles College of Business from 2009 to 2010 before being tapped as interim provost, was appointed provost and vice president for academic affairs, the second person in the university’s history to occupy this post. As provost, Harmon is more
than Kennesaw State’s chief academic officer: He also helps make decisions in areas such as strategic planning, fundraising, athletics and facilities. Harmon, an accounting expert, has led the development of undergraduate and graduate degree programs and will lead us in developing innovative programs across the curriculum. Replacing Harmon as dean of the Michael J. Coles College of Business, one of the top business schools in the Southeast, is Kathy Schwaig, who served as interim dean in two stints from 2008 to 2012. Schwaig, an information systems professor who served as the college’s associate dean for academic affairs, has led the Coles College of Business as its Executive MBA and part-time MBA programs were ranked among the best in the nation in 2011 by Bloomberg Businessweek. The Executive MBA program also has been recognized in recent years by CEO magazine as one of the best in the U.S. Kennesaw State also tapped Mark Anderson, chairman of the chemistry department at the University of Colorado Denver since 2007, as dean of the College of Science and Mathematics. Under Anderson’s tenure, the university’s profile as a top producer of science and math teachers will continue to rise with the opening of the Science Lab Addition later this year. Anderson will work with faculty to raise research productivity. Kennesaw State’s largest college, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, also is inducting a new dean: Robert Dorff, the former General Douglas MacArthur Chair of Research at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College. Dorff is a leading expert on national security strategy.
Kathy Schwaig, dean, Michael J. Coles College of Buisiness; Mark Anderson, dean, College of Science and Mathematics; and Robert Dorff, dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
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ADVANCEMENT AND DIVERSITY On the heels of its first capital campaign, which by fall 2011 had raised more than $75 million, Kennesaw State appointed veteran fundraiser Michael Harders as the new vice president for university advancement and development. Harders comes from Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo., where as executive director of development, he restructured the development department and set new fundraising records each year for four consecutive years. In his role at KSU, Harders is leading the university’s comprehensive advancement team, overseeing annual giving, major gifts, planned giving, corporate and foundation relations programs and alumni affairs. In its efforts to refocus the university’s diversity programs, Kennesaw State has hired Erik Malewski, former associate professor of curriculum studies at Purdue University, as the university’s new chief diversity officer. Throughout his academic career at Purdue and Penn State, Malewski researched and developed a variety of diversity programs. As Kennesaw State continues on its path toward becoming a more diverse and globally minded institution, Malewski’s expertise in multiculturalism and college internationalization efforts will be an asset. Psychology professor Maureen McCarthy is the new faculty executive assistant to the president. During her three-year appointment, McCarthy represents faculty on the president’s Cabinet, spearheads major institutional initiatives and represents the university in a variety of settings.
Michael Harders, vice president for university advancenent and development; Erik Malewski, chief diversity officer; and Maureen McCarthy, faculty executive assistant to the president
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Biology professor Jared Taglialatela and a research assistant at the Yerkies National Primate Research Center
CHIMPS AND LANGUAGE
RESEARCH As Kennesaw State’s national profile soars, the university’s research endeavors and sponsored programs continue to flourish. The National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense, as well as corporate sponsors, have become significant funders of research at Kennesaw State. Over the past five years, Kennesaw State faculty and staff have brought in more than $50 million in grants and contracts. During fiscal year 2012, grant submissions reached a record 248. Grants in fiscal year 2012 have funded training for Fulton County high school math teachers, workshops to help elementary school teachers incorporate instructional technology into their courses, and archaeological research at an ancient Mayan site in Belize, among many other research and outreach projects. 14
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A Kennesaw State biology professor who studies chimpanzees has conducted research on language that may lead scientists to rethink how human language evolved. Jared Taglialatela published a paper in the prestigious British science journal Biology Letters that reveals that chimpanzees, just like humans, learn to “speak” by observing their mothers. Prior to Taglialatela’s research, it was not known if chimpanzees learn language the same way. His research shows that chimps learn vocal communications from other chimpanzees in a social setting. Taglialatela examined the production and use of a specific sound made by captive chimpanzees, so called attention-getting sounds, to get the attention of humans. His team assessed 158 chimps raised in captivity to determine if they produced these sounds and found that about three-quarters of those raised by their biological mothers did so, compared with only about one-third of those who were raised by humans. Taglialatela’s study proved that social learning plays a role in the acquisition and use of communicative voice signals in chimpanzees.
WHERE DO STUDENTS FOCUS? Assistant professor of physics education David Rosengrant is using his classroom as a lab to research the extent to which students taking physical science lectures focus during class. He is using a new eye-tracking device known as Tobii Glasses—used widely for research in fields such as linguistics and marketing—that automatically records where a student focuses and shows, during a class lecture, what diverts attention and what keeps a subject on task. Rosengrant’s research, interestingly enough, has disproved the notion that attention span is highest during the first 15 minutes of class and then tapers off. He has found that students tend not to focus on the instructor for most of the lecture but rather on the information, particularly new information presented on PowerPoint slides.
Associate professor of physics education David Rosengrant's study focuses on student attention span.
RECENT GRANTS AWARDED TO KENNESAW STATE INCLUDE: • A $91,404 grant awarded by the Alphawood Foundation to Terry Powis, associate professor of anthropology, to investigate the core and periphery of the ancient Mayan site of Pacbitun in Belize, Central America • A $319,240 National Institutes of Health grant awarded to associate professor of biochemistry Jonathan McMurry for his research on the dynamics of a secretion apparatus in bacterial flagellum. He also received a $22,927 supplement. • A $124,987 grant from the National Security Agency awarded to Anja Bernardy, an associate professor of Spanish and foreign language education, to lead a STARTALK: Intensive Summer Program for Chinese Language for Georgia high school students and pre K through 12 Chinese language teachers. This was the second consecutive year Kennesaw State was awarded the grant for the teacher training program.
ATHLETICS
Kennesaw State hosted the 2011 NCAA Division I Women's College Cup.
In 2005, KSU ushered in a new era in intercollegiate athletics when it moved to the NCAA Division I level. Since then, Kennesaw State has seen significant growth and exposure that has attracted outstanding studentathletes, coaches and athletics administrators from around the country. In recent years, the Department of Athletics also has experienced an upgrade in facilities with the construction of the KSU Convocation Center and 8,300-seat KSU Soccer Stadium that opened in 2010. Kennesaw State enjoyed time in the national spotlight last December when it hosted the 2011 Women’s College Cup, the “final four” of Division I women’s collegiate soccer, at the new stadium. 16
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Throughout its history, Kennesaw State has won a total of six national championships, 26 regional championships, 38 Peach Belt championships and 13 Atlanta Sun Conference championships. It has also produced more than 100 All-Americans. During 2011-12, the Department of Athletics established a new standard in academic excellence when its student-athletes recorded a 3.11 cumulative grade-point average, the highest mark in program history. Of the 16 sports programs sponsored by Kennesaw State, 10 had team GPAs of more than 2.90. In total, 305 student-athletes, or 64 percent, had a GPA of 3.0 or better. A total of 39 student-athletes (8 percent) posted a 4.0 GPA for the year. 2011-2012 Annual Report
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WINNING TEAMS The women’s golf team made history this year after capturing the 2012 Atlantic Sun Conference Championship for the first time ever after recording 7-over par 54-hole score of 871. The title was the first KSU women’s championship since the women’s soccer team captured the A-Sun crown in 2009.
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Owl student-athletes also are making their mark in the professional ranks. Catcher Ronnie Freeman was the 183rd overall pick in the 2012 Major League Baseball first-year player draft after the Arizona Diamondbacks selected him in the fifth round. Freeman, who was drafted following his junior year, concluded his college career as one of the top hitters in program history. He became the 47th Kennesaw State student-athlete to be taken in the annual draft.
Nitra Perry, women's head basketball coach
Athletics director Vaughn Williams welcomes Kristina Llanes, head coach of the new women's lacrosse team.
NEW COACHES, NEW SPORTS
Scott Whitlock, senior associate athletics director and head softball coach
Mike Sansing, head baseball coach
Kennesaw State keeps adding an impressive cadre of coaches to its roster. Following the hiring of Director of Athletics Vaughn Williams from Connecticut and Lewis Preston from Penn State as men’s head basketball coach in the spring of 2011, Nitra Perry became the sixth head coach in the history of the women’s basketball program when she was introduced in April. Perry takes over at Kennesaw State after serving as associate head coach at Toledo. She previously was an assistant coach at Mississippi State and Georgia Tech. Kristina Llanes became the last coach to be hired when she was named head coach of the university’s new women’s lacrosse team in May. The Owls begin play in the spring of 2013 and will be a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference along with Jacksonville, Stetson, Howard and Detroit Mercy. Llanes last coached in the collegiate ranks in 2011, when she concluded a three-year stint as head coach at Presbyterian College. Head softball coach Scott Whitlock and head baseball coach Mike Sansing achieved milestone wins in 2012. Whitlock earned his 1,110th career victory during a doubleheader sweep of A-Sun rival East Tennessee State, while Sansing’s team waited out a two-hour rain delay before defeating North Florida 5-1 to hand him his 900th career win in 21 years as head coach. 2011-2012 Annual Report
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The Kennesaw State Sports & Recreation Park, completed this year, encompasses 88 acres and houses fields, a track, walking/jogging trails and other recreational space.
SPACES More than bricks and mortar, new buildings and facilities at Kennesaw State connect students to cutting-edge technology and provide supportive spaces for quality programs while enhancing student life on campus. New buildings on campus are being built using environmentally friendly construction standards and are targeted for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver or gold certification.
NEW BUILDINGS FOR LEARNING In many cases, new buildings will have a positive impact on the quality of academics at the university as they will offer new and current students additional space for labs and classrooms. The $20 million addition to the
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Bagwell College of Education, which is already under construction, will allow Kennesaw State to continue graduating more teachers than any other institution in the University System of Georgia. When completed in 2013, the 83,000-square-foot building will feature 17 classrooms and two computer labs designed to support a new master’s degree for K-12 teachers who want to integrate digital tools into their classes. In its efforts to become a top producer of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) majors, Kennesaw State broke ground on a $21 million Science Lab Addition that will enable the College of Science and Mathematics to expand course offerings and add research opportunities for students and faculty. The five-story building will feature high-tech biology and chemistry labs, as
THE ARTS AND RECREATION
An artistic rendering of Kennesaw State's Science Lab Addition
well as faculty and administrative offices and an atrium. The 73,000-square-foot lab facility will allow Kennesaw State to offer its new master’s in integrative biology and a master’s in chemistry, which is expected in the near future. The College of Science and Mathematics will have more capacity to offer specialized courses in the pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences. Next to the new Science Lab Addition, a $26 million student housing facility opened in August 2012. The 207,500-square-foot apartment complex, located right on the entrance to the Kennesaw State campus, added 451 beds to campus housing. With the new housing facility, University Place II, the university offers a total of almost 3,500 beds. With the additional capacity, nearly 15 percent of KSU students will live on campus.
Creating new space for the arts is also a priority when it comes to facilities. The Board of Regents approved in spring 2012 the $3 million expansion of the KSU Art Museum. Construction is expected to be completed in March 2013. The 9,200-squarefoot addition will provide a permanent facility to display the university’s growing and diverse art collection and also will feature a center for interdisciplinary research. Kennesaw State has nearly 1,000 pieces of art in its permanent art collection, including works by Marc Chagall, Rembrandt Peale, Viola Frey, Norman Rockwell and Pierre-Auguste Renoir but many have not been publicly exhibited due to lack of space. The museum’s expanded facility also will showcase 100 sculptures by Ruth Zuckerman in one of the new building’s major wings, the all-glass Ruth V. Zuckerman Pavilion. Following the 2009 opening of the KSU Sports & Recreation Park and the subsequent unveiling of the KSU Soccer Stadium in May 2010, the university has been working to expand its sports and recreation facilities east of Chastain Road. In spring 2012, the opening of Phase III of the university’s 88-acre sports and recreation park added much needed space for club and intramural sports. The newly completed section includes five synthetic-turf fields, two naturalturf fields, a 9,000-square-foot amenities building, a .92-mile walking/jogging trail and a lake. Prior to 2009, KSU only had a 1.7-acre field on the main campus for intramural and club sports. Club teams had to practice in fields as far as Woodstock and Alpharetta due to the lack of facilities. 2011-2012 Annual Report
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GLOBAL “Global� is increasingly becoming one of the hallmarks of a Kennesaw State education for undergraduates and graduate students alike. Global education reached new levels in fiscal year 2012 as KSU sealed 60 partnerships across the globe and hosted a record number of visiting faculty and staff exchanges. Twenty students also participated in study-abroad programs with a service learning experience, up from 13 in fiscal year 2011. Kennesaw State continues to add to its portfolio of graduate programs with a global focus. In the fall, Kennesaw State started offering a new master of arts in integrated global communication. The program, the only graduate communication program in Georgia with a purely global focus, offers students the opportunity to study abroad and culminates with students teaming up to compete against each other to resolve a global communications problem for a client.
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HEADING EAST As fiscal year 2012 came to a close, the Confucius Institute at Kennesaw State, which teaches Chinese to more than 2,300 students ages 2 to 18 in Cobb, Bibb, Hall and White counties, hosted a group of Georgia education officials in China. During the 10-day trip, the officials, which included representatives from the Bright from the Start pre-K program and the state Department of Education, met with Chinese culture and education officials to discuss programs offering Chinese language instruction in Georgia’s pre-K through 12 schools. The officials also met with teachers being trained to teach Chinese in Georgia schools and with administrators at Yangzhou University, the Kennesaw State Confucius Institute’s partner in China. As testament that Kennesaw State is a leading player in the state in teaching Chinese, the
university last summer held a teacher training program funded by the National Security Agency to improve the quality of pre–K through 12 Chinese language programs in the state. The agency provided $100,000 for the program, known as STARTALK, to expand and improve the teaching and learning of world languages that the federal government considers strategically important but are not typically taught in the U.S. Because the academic year 2012 was the “Year of Peru” at Kennesaw State, many students and faculty spent time in that country over the past year. Among them, 15 Leaders IN Kennesaw (LINK) students spent 18 days immersing themselves in the culture of the South American country as part of their third-year capstone experiential learning and service experience in the leadership program. The students crisscrossed Peru, visiting the capital of Lima, Arequipa, Paracas, Ica, Nazca and Cusco, among other sites. A major focus
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of the “Year of Peru” was the country’s highly acclaimed cuisine, with visiting chefs from Peru periodically preparing authentic Peruvian dishes at the Commons Student Culinary Center.
POST-DOCS The WellStar College of Health and Human Services hosted its first post-doctoral students—two early childhood education faculty at Egypt’s Alexandria University—this past year. While at KSU, the Egyptian students focused on inclusive education in early childhood and also gave lectures on health care in Egypt to students in an international health policy class. The two Egyptian postdoc students were selected by the Egyptian
Ministry of Higher Education and the United States Agency for International Development. The Kennesaw State Museum of History and Holocaust Education’s cultural exchange with Casablanca, Morocco, took a new turn this year after the university received $78,000 in grants from the U.S. Department of State and the American Association of Museums to expand its museum in Morocco. The funds are financing a project that focuses on understanding Islam across cultures. Kennesaw State founded the Ben M’sik Community Museum, the first community museum in Morocco, several years ago. The university’s continued involvement in the North African country stems from a 2005 partnership with Hassan II University in Casablanca.
Gary Coltek, left, director of Culinary and Hospitality Services, hosts guest chefs from Peru.
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Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue
FUBU Founder Daymond John
SPEAKERS Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams
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Kennesaw State hosted a variety of speakers and thought leaders throughout the past year. From a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate to a New York Times foreign editor to a former Georgia governor, the university attracted a wide range of high-caliber thought leaders to campus.
NEW YORK TIMES During fiscal year 2012, Kennesaw State hosted two speakers from The New York Times. In October, David McCraw, vice president and assistant general counsel for The New York Times Company, was the featured speaker at a Kennesaw State conference on digital media law. McCraw helped guide the newspaper in publishing leaked confidential cables related to prisoners at the U.S. detention camp in Guantanamo Bay. KSU also hosted New York Times foreign editor Greg Winter in March in a presentation sponsored by the KSU American Democracy Project. Winter, a veteran foreign affairs journalist, shared his ideas on reporting foreign news with Kennesaw State students, faculty and staff. He said that while the newspaper applies criteria to ensure a fair way of treating stories, there is a fundamental bias when it comes to the inherent value of human life and human welfare. In February, Kennesaw State presented a symposium jointly with the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute. More than 150 people attended the second annual event, which included keynote addresses by former German defense minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg and F. William Smullen III, Colin Powell’s chief of staff from 2001 to 2003 and director of national security studies at Syracuse University. Both warned about the dangers of old and emerging security threats such as terrorism, pirates, famine, pandemic and climate change as potential risks for the 21st century. Terrorism, they said, remains the no. 1 threat to world security. Jody Williams, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work on banning landmines, spoke at the second annual “Pathways to Peace Lecture Series” in February. The human rights and peace activist emphasized the need to redefine peace as
more than the absence of armed conflict, but rather as an effort to assure human, and not just national, security.
TALKING BUSINESS One of the stars of the ABC show “Shark Tank,” FUBU founder Daymond John, spoke to hundreds of business students from the Michael J. Coles College of Business and others at the college’s Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series in the spring. The entrepreneur regaled the audience with vivid stories that shed light on the secrets of his success turning a makeshift factory in his mother’s house into a multibillion-dollar global fashion brand. In October, former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue was the featured speaker at the fall Tetley Distinguished Leader Lecture Series held at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta. Perdue, who is responsible for raising Georgia’s global profile during his tenure as governor from 2003 to 2011, challenged the business community and business students to think global and look for opportunities in emerging countries with a growing middle class. U.S. Rep. Tom Price, who represents Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, appeared professorial addressing some 50 political science majors in November. During the hour-long talk, the Republican congressman offered his views on partisan issues facing Congress, shared his motivations for seeking public office, and expressed support for term limits and tax reform. Kennesaw also hosted renowned local speakers at its commencement ceremonies throughout the year, including Georgia Lottery President and CEO Margaret DeFrancisco; Joe Bankoff, president and CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center; and Cobb County School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa.
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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Reaching out to the community is central to Kennesaw State’s mission as an academic institution. From hosting annual events such as Homelessness Awareness Week to publishing a newspaper for youth services professionals, KSU has its hands on the pulse of the community. And from being environmentally responsible to responsive to the needs of veterans, KSU is an involved player outside the confines of its campus.
VETERAN-FRIENDLY Kennesaw State’s efforts to recruit military veterans continue to be successful, with the creation two years ago of the Veterans Resource Center, which counsels veterans on applying for Veterans Affairs educational benefits and making a transition to college life. The university was recognized as a military friendly school by G.I. Jobs magazine, which selected the top 20 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools that are doing the most to embrace America’s military service members and veterans as students. More than 750 veterans are currently enrolled at Kennesaw State and the number is expected to keep growing as Kennesaw State makes it known that it welcomes all veterans. Kennesaw State also was recognized for being a responsible steward of the environment. The Princeton Review named the university among the 322 most environmentally responsible “green” colleges in North America for its commitment to sustainability in academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities and career preparation. This past year marked the second consecutive year that the university made it on the list. 28
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While the Cox Family Enterprise Center at the Michael J. Coles College of Business is world renowned, the center also has a local focus. Each year, it selects winners of the Georgia Family Business of the Year Awards, including an award for a family enterprise that has been in business for at least 100 years. A winner and finalists are selected for the large–, medium– and small–business categories. Kennesaw State is committed to offering an education to students with intellectual disabilities. In May, the university’s Academy for Inclusive Learning and Social Growth, part of the WellStar College of Health and Human Services, graduated its second group of students. Six students earned a certificate after completing a two-year program designed to offer students with intellectual disabilities a college experience by auditing college-level courses.
JOURNALISM IN THE COMMUNITY In March, the Center for Sustainable Journalism in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences started publishing Youth Today, a national newspaper that is read online and in print by thousands of professionals in the youth services field. Financial challenges almost led to the demise of the subscription-based Youth Today. Publishing Youth Today was a natural addition to the center’s publishing portfolio, which also includes the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (jjie.org), the only daily publication that uses professional journalists to cover juvenile justice issues. In May, the Kennesaw State University Dance Company was invited to perform at the 2012 National College Dance Festival held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The company performed a dance choreographed by the director of Kennesaw State’s dance
program. This was the third successive national invitation for the KSU Dance Company by the American College Dance Festival Association. Also at the Kennedy Center, theatre student John Stewart was recognized with the “Outstanding Performance by an Actor” award by the Kennedy Center’s American College Theater Festival for his portrayal of Frederick Douglass/Jim in “Splittin’ the Raft.” Stewart was one of only four actors from across the country to receive the recognition. Kennesaw State lent a hand in one of the latest exhibits presented at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art. History professor Catherine Lewis co-curated the first major exhibition devoted to the game of golf at an American art museum. “The Art of Golf,” organized by the High Museum and the National Galleries of Scotland, explores the royal and ancient games as depicted by landscape and portrait artists, photographers and pop artists through the ages.
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Elizabeth Bintliff ' 97
ALUMNI Once they graduate from Kennesaw State, alumni are carrying their passions for service and engagement into their professional careers. Whether working with teenage girls, farmers in Africa or victims of human trafficking, our graduates are succeeding in their chosen careers.
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GIRL TALK Haley Kilpatrick ’07 came back to her alma mater in the spring to promote her first book, “The Drama Years: Real Girls Talk about Surviving Middle School: Bullies, Brands, Body Image, and More.” Kilpatrick is the founder and executive director of Girl Talk, a program in which high school girls mentor middle school girls through the triumphs and trials of the early teenage years. Kilpatrick kicked off her national book tour on NBC’s Today show in April, days before coming to talk at Kennesaw State. Kilpatrick, who talked about the issues she faced herself as a middle school student in Albany, Ga., led a panel of high school and middle school girls who also shared their experiences.
Haley Kilpatrick '07
Rotsen "Chinny" Law '06, '08
As vice president of the Africa area program for Heifer International, a nonprofit that provides livestock, seeds and trees to communities around the globe, Elizabeth Bintliff ’97 leads a team of 300 people working in 12 countries. She joined Heifer International after earning a bachelor’s in international affairs from Kennesaw State and a master’s in African studies from Yale University. When she travels to Africa, Bintliff visits women’s homes in an effort to understand what their lives are like and what their needs are. Rotsen “Chinny” Law ’06, ’08, who has helped investigate human trafficking in Atlanta,
participated in the Clinton Global Initiative in 2011 and has successfully lobbied Congress on behalf of victims of human trafficking. For most of her time pursuing a master’s in conflict management at Kennesaw State, Law was unaware of the existence of the modern– day slave trade. But after watching a movie on human trafficking, she has not stopped advocating against it. Her master’s project involved working with local anti-trafficking advocates to investigate a Kennesaw restaurant where she suspected human trafficking victims were working. Eventually, her team turned all the information they gathered over to local immigration officials. 2011-2012 Annual Report
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Kennesaw State University Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2012 Produced by the Office of University Relations For more information, or to obtain additional copies of this report, please contact: Office of External Affairs Kennesaw State University 1000 Chastain Road MD 0101, KH, Bldg. 1 Kennesaw, GA 30144 Telephone 770-423-6033 www.kennesaw.edu Kennesaw State University, a unit of the University System of Georgia, is an equal–opportunity institution, that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, national origin or disability.