ISSUE 19
June
2015
GSConnect
T HE ACADEMIC AFFAIRS NEW SLETTER FOR GORD ON STATE
What’s your question?
Dr. Jeff Knighton
I believe that one of the main ways I can show respect to
my colleagues is to continually work to improve
communication. Over the past five months I’ve tried to be
as transparent as possible. As always, if I’m not meeting
with someone my office door is open, and I welcome
drop-ins. I hope I have created an inviting environment in
which you feel comfortable stopping by to ask about
anything.
But as we prepare for our fall faculty meeting, it occurs to
me that just because I believe that I have communicated
effectively, that does not make it so. Therefore, I would
like to invite you to e-mail me with any burning questions
you may have. In some cases, I can just respond with a
quick answer. Some of the questions can be answered in a
GSConnect article. Some may be addressed in our fall
faculty meeting. Some may require a meeting just for that
issue. Some may not be answerable, and in those cases I
will be honest with you.
So what would you like to know? My e-mail is
jknighton@gordonstate.edu. In the subject line, type
“Question.” I may not respond immediately, but I will
respond.
I look forward to continuing to improve communication.
Updates from the
Department of Business
and Public Service
On Saturday, August 8, 2015, William Brent Carper,
full-time temporary instructor in accounting for Gordon
State College, will conduct a workshop entitled Increase
Enrollments in Accountancy Programs with CFP Board
Registered Financial Planning Curriculum. The workshop
is a part of the Annual International Conference of the
American Accounting Association (AAA) which is being
held in Chicago, Illinois August 8-12, 2015. The primary
focus of the workshop is to identify and review how to
increase enrollments in new or existing graduate/
undergraduate accountancy and business programs
through the incorporation of the Certified Financial
Planner Board of Standards, Inc.(CFP) Registered Financial
Planning Program (RFPP) as part of new or existing
graduate/undergraduate accounting and business
curricula. Brent will be assisted by Susan Tillery, CFP of
Paraklete Financial. The AAA has over 8,000 members
worldwide, and approximately 2500 to 3000 members
normally attend the annual meeting. Brent has extensive
experience as a financial planner once having been the co
-founder and managing partner of a very successful
comprehensive financial planning practice.
The Weekend College “Alphas”, the first cohort of students
in the flexible degree-completion program for adult
learners, took a field trip this summer with Dr. Christy Flatt
for SOCI 3045: Poverty to the museum at Indian Springs
State Park. Photo to the left. Front row (L-R): Tawanda
Colquitt, Dr. Christy Flatt, Jennifer Freeman,
Evelyn Garrard. Second row (L-R): Erika Tallent, Jennifer
Presley, Kim Mathews. Back: Jessica Brothers.
Kiana Battle, a part-time Sociology instructor for the
Department of Business & Public Service has successfully
attained her Ph.D. in Social Work Policy Planning &
Administration, Social Science. Congratulations from the
whole BPS team to Dr. Kiana Battle! (Photo Below)
News from the School of Education
Dr. John Barnard, Associate Professor of Education, has
been asked to serve on a PSC State Committee. The PSC
is looking at the qualifications and licensing requirements
for K-12 Media Specialists. Dr. Barnard holds Master’s
and Doctoral degrees in Media Specialist and
Technology.
Dr. Kimberly White-Fredette finished the pilot program
with Gordon State College Pre-Service Teachers
participating in the new Georgia requirement of edTPa.
This is a pedagogical assessment that all student-teachers
will undergo as part of the process for certification as an
educator. Gordon State had 10 student-teachers in the
Spring pilot the program.
Dr. Mike Mahan has been named a Site Visitor for CAEP
(Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation).
As you might know, CAEP is the new National
Accreditation voice for Education. CAEP takes over from
NCATE and TEAC who have merged into the new system.
This week and last week at Gordon State College, 21
elementary teachers from Lamar County Elementary
School have been participating in an MSP (Math and
Science Partnership) Grant program. The teachers have
been taking advanced instruction in math and science
from Gordon Faculty to improve their teaching with
additional content knowledge. The math classes are from
8:00Am until 11:00Am and science instruction begins
after lunch from 11:45Am until 2:45PM. On the MATH
team are Dr. Ed Wheeler, Dr. Kimberly White-Fredette,
and Ms. Susan Byars, with the assistance of Pre-service
Teacher James Hellams. On the SCIENCE team is
Dr. Richard Schmude and Dr. Mike Mahan with the
assistance of Pre-Service Teacher Jessica Riggins.
Ms. Autumn Schaffer has assisted with technology.
The MSP grant was for $103,000 for the 2015 year. We
anticipate additional funds for the workshop in 2016.
Thanks to the Department of Education of Georgia and
the Math and Science Partnership Program.
Next week will mark the 10th Rivers to Reef workshop.
This is a TQE (Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant) from
the State of Georgia. Over $40,000 was granted to
Gordon State College, the Georgia Aquarium, and the
National Oceanic and atmospheric Association for the
project at Gray’s Reef. The program allows for 16
teachers from Georgia to go on a week-long trip
following the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers until they
meet to form the Altamaha River. The quality of the
water is observed and measured from north of Atlanta
until it reaches Gray’s Reef about 20 miles off shore.
Dr. Theresa Stanley is the Biologist along on the trip and
Dr. Mike Mahan is the educator for the program.
Updates from the Department of Biology
Dr. Durojaiye has been selected to the panel of National
Reviewers for the 2015 HRSA-15-042 Bureau of Health
Workforce (BHW) Health Careers Opportunity Program
Grant Program Review. The panel role is to assure the
public that the Health Resources and Services
Administration’s (HRSA) Division of Independent Review’s
9DIR) evaluation of grant and cooperative agreement
applications is objective, equitable, and ethical. The
purpose of the grant is to :1) promote the recruitment of
qualified individuals (students and adult/non-traditional
students, including veterans) from disadvantaged backgrounds into health and allied health professions
programs; 2) improve retention and matriculation rates
by implementing tailored enrichment programs designed
to address the academic and social needs of
disadvantaged trainees; and 3) provide opportunities for
community-based health professions training,
emphasizing experiences in underserved communities.
Dr. Durojaiye attended the
115th Professional
Development Meeting of
the America Society of
Microbiology, May 30June2, 2015.
Dr. Amanda Duffus (right)
presented and her
students presented three
posters at the Third
International Symposium
on Ranaviruses, in
Gainesville FL.
Dr. Amanda Duffus was recognized for her outstanding
contributions to the Global Ranavirus Consortium for the
second time. She is very humbled by and appreciative of
this recognition.
Humanities and Fine and Performing Arts
Updates
Last month Dr. Doug Davis presented a paper, “Gorging on Clay: Flannery O’Connor’s View of the Future,” at the
annual meeting of the American Literature Association in Boston. This summer he has been invited by the University of
North Georgia Press to write an open source American Literature II textbook for the USG’s ecore initiative.
This month he will present a paper, “Using Science Fiction Genre Theory to Read Canonical Literature,” at the annual
meeting of the Science Fiction Research Association at
SUNY Stonybrook in New York.
Dr. Ceasar Perkowski completed his MA in
History.
Dr. Rhonda Wilcox’s book Reading Joss Whedon has
been named as a finalist for the 2015 Whedon Studies
(Mr. Pointy) Award.
Dr. Karen Guffey travelled with 13 students to
Barcelona, Spain. (Picture to the right.)
Affordable Learning Georgia
Textbook Transformation Grants
 Round 4 applications due September 7, 2015
 Round 5 applications due December 15, 2015
If you are considering adopting an open textbook for a
course, you may want to check out OpenStax below.
Adopting an OpenStax textbook is one of the qualifying
categories for the ALG grants.
Complete details may be found at the link below.
OpenStax Website
Textbook Transformation Grants Webpage
Round 1 grantees have completed their projects and final
reports which may be accessed below. Be sure to check
out the materials that some of the grantees have created.
Round 1 Grant recipients’
Updates from Hightower Library
As we continue to pack, move, and withdraw materials for the
building renovation, the library staff is available to provide
library instruction. Submit your requests via the online
instruction request form found on the Services page from the
library’s web page or at the link below. Remember we will meet
you in your classroom as we do not have any instructional space
during this time until the renovation is complete.
Online Instruction Request Form
Additionally, we are excited to announce a new service called
the “Embedded Librarian Program”. Librarians have been
assigned to each school and/or department. We will be
available to (1) provide library instruction to students;
(2) allow students to have a specific librarian to work with on a
regular basis; (3) collaborate with faculty on specific research
needs; (4) assist faculty with course specific assignments and
research projects; and (5) identify and add library resources
through collection development. Please let your students know
we are here to assist and any time questions or suggestions
arise amongst the faculty, we are here for you as well.
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Beverly Eskridge – Education
Beth Pye – Humanities and Nursing & Health Sciences
Jim Rickerson – Fine & Performing Arts, Business & Public
Service
Brenda Rutherford – Biology, History & Political Science
Sonya Gaither – Math & Physical Science
As we continue to provide services face-to-face, online, and via
telephone, we have added another option that will make it a
little easier to contact your librarian of choice for personalized
research assistance. Faculty, staff, and students may go to the
Service page from the library’s web page to set up
appointments for an hour at a time to discuss research needs.
Appointments may be scheduled up to one week in advance.
We will heavily promote this new option with the students to
ensure they maximize this new online calendar resource as it
was purchased with Student Technology funds.
Research Assistance Request Form
The library staff continues to learn about new trends and
techniques by attending professional development workshops.
The entire staff attended the 2015 GIL Users Group Meeting
(GUGM) held at Middle Georgia State University on May 14.
Topics discussed included but not limited to resource sharing,
next generation library systems, embedding library resources
inside Brightspace by D2L, reference services and resources, and
best practices for technical services.
Library Staff enjoying peach ice cream after a productive one day
conference -GUGM 2015.
Professors Brenda Rutherford and Beverly Eskridge will be
attending the 2015 Atlanta Area Bibliographic Instruction Group
(AABIG) Conference to be held in Athens, GA on June 12. They
will learn best practices for teaching library instruction classes.
Upon returning, they will share information learned with the
library faculty.
Lastly, there are some updates regarding the renovation and
relocation of the library. The dates for moving into the
Instructional Complex Building has not been determined but
please look for us to be in our new temporary home by the end
of July. Approximately 54,414 books including bound periodicals
and VHS/DVD tapes were moved as well as the microfilm
cabinets and Archives Collection. These items are still accessible
to the campus community. We are working on an online request
form to be used through the GIL Find catalog. Look for more
information regarding this request method soon.
From the Dorothy W.
Hightower Library staff, thank
you for your understanding and
patience as we continue to
move. Let us know when you
need our help - we are here for
you. Enjoy the rest of your
summer and safe travels!
Final Paid Jeans Day to
support Gordon Gives
6/25/2015