around campus
ACCREDITATION GROUP HONORS HALL Deborah Hall, Vice President for Finance and Operations, received the Carol A. Luthman Meritorious Service Award from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges during its virtual conference this year.
MLK SPEAKER HONORS LAGRANGE JUDGE U.S. Rep. Sanford D. Bishop Jr. used his Martin Luther King address in February to praise the work of a LaGrange native. “You know about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy, so today ... I’m going to lift up the life of someone else,” he said. “I come to honor Judge Horace Taliaferro Ward.” Ward was valedictorian of his class at East Depot High School in LaGrange, earned a degree in political science with honors from Morehouse College in Atlanta and a master’s degree from Atlanta University, now Clark Atlanta University. When his application to the University of Georgia law school was rejected, he filed suit to challenge UGA’s admissions policy. After six years, the case was dismissed because Ward had enrolled in law school out of state, but it laid the groundwork for the college’s desegregation 10 years later. Ward served nine years in the State Senate, became Georgia’s first Black civil judge and state Superior Court judge. When President Jimmy Carter named him a federal District Court judge, Ward’s swearing in was in the same courtroom where his lawsuit against UGA had been thrown out. An annual event, the college’s MLK address has featured such speakers as former Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin, Sen. Raphael Warnock and the late John Lewis. 4
SACSCOC is the regional body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states. “This award recognizes faithful and dedicated service to SACSCOC and support of its activities over a sustained period of time,” said Dr. G. David Johnson, chair of the SACSCOC board of trustees. “The honorees have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to the accreditation processes in various volunteer capacities.” During her years with SACSCOC, Hall visited 15 sites to review the institutions’ finances as part of the accreditation process. She also served as a special reader with the Committee on Compliance and Reports from 2016-2020.
Report recognizes Study-Away Program The college has been included in the top 40 by the Open Doors Report that tracks international students and U.S. scholars who are studying abroad for academic credit. More than 2,800 U.S. institutions participate in this survey that measures the impact of international education exchange. “This survey always lists institutional rankings for study abroad,” said Michele Raphoon, Coordinator of Global Engagement. “In 2020, the college appeared on the list for the first time on the ‘Undergraduate Participation in Study Abroad: Top 40 Baccalaureate Colleges’ list, with 68%
of our undergraduates studying abroad.” Ranking in the Open Doors report reaffirms the college’s focus on a full and engaging undergraduate experience, she said. “We strive to make an academically rigorous international experience accessible to all our students through scholarship opportunities, dedicated faculty engagement and a strong institutional commitment to global education.” Even though the pandemic closed down the Study-Away Program for 2020-2021 academic year, plans are to gradually allow students to study away again as countries begin to reopen.
