around campus
Program shapes future educators The college’s Education graduates make up more than half of the teachers in the Troup County School System, according to Dr. Gretta Milam, Chair of the Education Department. “Our program has such a great reputation with the system that its human resources office is always asking for more,” she said. “In fact, they keep up with the student teachers in the county so they can get first dibs when the students graduate.” Such success does not go unnoticed. The program recently had its accreditation renewed, with all standards met. One of the things lauded during that process was the college’s yearlong student teaching initiative, Dr. Milam said. “This is the seventh year we've done this. In the past, students spent one semester in a classroom and mostly observed their host teachers, but now they are there for the entire year.
It’s a real marriage between student teaching and on-campus instruction.” The future educators start off their senior year by observing their hosts, then move to parallel teaching before becoming a true
team with their hosts by the end of the year, she said. “This allows our teaching candidates to hone their classroom skills before being thrown into the real world.” Dr. Milam said the college strives to have its teaching candidates recognized as a “valued” teacher in the classroom from the very beginning. “We have reached the point where our early yearlong student teachers are now supervising our current teacher candidates.” The program also has been partnering in recruiting educators through Troup County’s Teacher Pathways Program. “Prospective Education majors have a chance to visit the campus, talk with current Elementary Education majors and participate in a class with juniors.” Savannah Laney '21 did her student teaching at Franklin Forest Elementary School.
FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS Dr. Justin Thurman, Associate Professor of English, recently had his essay “Soap Bullet Days” picked up by Quarter After Eight, a journal of innovative literature from Ohio University. It will appear in the spring issue. His short story “The To Dos” was published in the 10th anniversary issue of the Stoneboat Literary Journal. Dr. Patricia Marchesi, Assistant Professor of English, has had her young adult novel “Florissant” released by Bedazzled Ink Publishing. Dr. Don Livingston, Professor of Education, has been chosen to serve the Georgia Association of Teacher Educators as its president-elect for 2020-2021. GATE members include
teacher educators from Georgia's public and private institutions of higher education and P-12 schools. Dr. Kevin Ludwick, Assistant Professor of Physics, was recently interviewed by Phil Halper, the producer of a series of films on the early universe and the series “Before the Big Bang,” about some of Dr. Ludwick’s work on early universe cosmology. He also serves as treasurer for the Forum for Early Career Scientists for the Americal Physical Society. Austin Wieland, Assistant Professor of Art and Design, had works selected for two juried exhibitions –“Workhouse Clay International 2020" at the Workhouse Art Center in Lorton, Virginia, and “Cutting Edge
Clay,” a national juried exhibition at the Clay Center of New Orleans. The Rev. Dr. Adam Roberts, Chaplain and Director of Spiritual Life, is serving on the North Georgia Conference Camping and Retreat Ministries Board of Directors. He participated in shaping the “Stand in the Gap” campaign that successfully raised operating funds for Camp Glisson after it suspended operations in the summer of 2020 due to the pandemic. He is also on the executive leadership team of the Georgia Commission for United Methodist Higher Education as the chaplain liaison, helping resource and coordinate the work of chaplains on nine United Methodist campuses throughout the state. 7
