Vol. V, No. 11
June 17, 2013
WheelerNotes
Dean Anne Purvis: During her twenty years of
service as a nurse/administrator with the United States
Air Force, Anne Purvis wore many hats: she
contributed to oncology units, wound care units,
intensive care units, and gynecology units among
others. The Air Force obviously knew that she was a
leader with many talents. In her 18 years serving
nursing students at Gordon State College, the rotation
of hats has continued. Dr. Purvis has been an honored
and revered teacher, an expert in the Multi-Metric
Review process, Interim Division Chair, and expert on
nursing accreditation. With degrees from Incarnate
Word College, Boston University, University of Texas
Health Science Center, and University of Georgia, we
are so very fortunate to be able to name Dr. Purvis as
Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at
Gordon State College.
Welcome to Provost Venable: This columnist is
pleased to welcome Dr. Margaret Venable to this most
august of publications. Read her notes carefully,
especially since she says nice things about someone I
am very fond of.
VenableNotes
Dr. Ed Wheeler has graciously offered me some space
in his last issue of the DeaNotes. This is yet another
indication of the kindness I have experienced since I
first met Ed. In the short time I have known him, he
has begun to feel like a long-time friend (not an “old”
friend). More than anything, I realize what big shoes
he leaves behind for me to try to fill. He will be
missed for his wit, his wisdom and his generosity with
his time. He has been a passionate advocate for
Gordon (State) College and a patient teacher and
mentor to more than our students.
As I prepare to take on the role of Provost and VPAA
at Gordon State College, I feel the weight of
responsibility for ensuring that the work accomplished
by Ed is carried forward without skipping too many
beats. With your help, we will make him proud. He
has left a tremendous legacy for us to build upon.
Gordon State College is well poised for strategic
growth. Together, we will ensure continued access to
an affordable, high-quality post-secondary education
for students in this region. We will continue to
strengthen and expand our academic programs. We
will continue to emphasize the supportive, nurturing
environment in which our students can best flourish
even as we continue to update our delivery methods
and formats. We will continue to seek opportunities to
expand our community partnerships in order to better
serve the needs of our community and region.
Throughout our work, when in doubt, we will surely
ask ourselves, “What would Ed do?” I look forward
to working with each of you.
Word Processing in 2013-2014: One of the issues
with which we have wrestled in recent days is how to
best provide word processing services to units across
campus, including both academic and service units.
We currently provide those services in two ways: we
locate skilled administrative aides that are responsible
to the various units and who provide word processing
support to the units, and we provide a small
centralized word processing support unit in the Student
Success Center. Because word processing is an
unusual service to locate in a Student Success Center
and because we have many other pressing
responsibilities that must be addressed in that location,
we are making efforts to reduce the amount of word
processing traffic that flows through the Center. To
that end we have added more than 100 hours of staff
help (at the academic aide level) to our academic
units. In addition we are more narrowly defining the
word processing services provided in the Student
Success Center by this policy.
POLICY ON WORD PROCESSING
 In normal circumstances, word processing support
will be provided in the Student Success Center
only for projects that are “Trans-Unit” in nature.
DEANotes is a quasi-monthly publication of Academic Affairs
These projects would include projects like the
Academic Contests, Teaching Matters Conference,
and catalog production.
 In emergency circumstances, word processing
support will be provided to specific units, but only
when the Department Head/Dean/Director of the
unit requests the support in writing, having exhausted all resources available at the unit level.
This policy will govern the word processing services
provided in the Student Success Center in 2013-2014
and will be reviewed at the end of the year to
determine its long-term viability.
Thoughts as He Slips Out of the Door – Three
Small Lessons Learned:
Lesson 1: As I reflect over 44 years in the classroom
at five different institutions, I am struck by the joy that
that has been a part of each of those years. Certainly
there were anxious years as well as sour years, years
clouded by ever-stupid academic administrators, years
starved by the machinations of ever-opportunistic
politicians, but when I entered the classroom, closed
the door, and was alone with the students, there was
joy. It was the joy of meaningful work, done in
pleasant surroundings with good colleagues.
 Thank you to Gordon State College administrative
colleagues at all levels who encouraged me in
important projects, provided me wisdom in
difficult circumstances, and laughed with me as
we tried to gain perspective on vexing problems.
 Thank you to Gordon faculty and staff colleagues
who joined me in a score or more of major and
minor projects (whether they were convinced of
their merit or not) and did the hard and essential
work necessary to bring them to completion. Most
of what we did will be improved or revised very
shortly, but each of the steps we took together was
hopefully a positive step toward the future of
Gordon State College.
 On a much more personal level, thank you to
faculty and staff friends who reached out in
encouragement and support when my dear Claire
was seriously ill and then again when Claire and I
struggled to take care of my sick and aging
parents.
Now, I recognize that my Gordon gratitude account is
still in the red, but perhaps a little less so. Blessings
on each of you.
BaskiNotes
Lesson 2: A critical lesson that I was slow in learning
is the extent to which what happens in the classroom is
positively affected by the labors of many people who
never have the opportunity to enter that special space.
As a campus deals with office moves, preparation for
graduation, plumbing disasters, errant fire alarms, and
weather emergencies, we faculty members find
ourselves desperately dependent on the crucial labors
of unsung heroes. The Plant Operations staff wrestle
daily and nightly with aging buildings to ensure we
have a place to do our business and to ensure our
environs are beautiful. But even in mentioning their
labors, I do disservice to others. Ours is a complex
and messy business and, without the labors of
registrars and administrative aides and recruiters and
human resource gurus and fund raisers and bean
counters and campus safety and campus public
relations, we would never get to strut our stuff in the
classroom. I will tell you a little secret. Even those in
the “Big House” work pretty hard. Indeed, after
having occupied an office on the third floor for a bit, I
recommend that you send flowers daily to Dr. Venable
as she assumes the Provost mantle.
Lesson 3: There is never enough time to say “thank
you,” and I have left each of four institutions deeply in
arrears in obligation to say the important two words.
Having learned this lesson, let me reduce my debt as I
take leave from Gordon by murmuring these words:
Complete College Georgia Plan: Our recent status
report included some “good news” highlights:
1. Gordon State College exceeded its annual goal
for increasing this academic year’s number of
graduates. We had projected an increase of 3%;
our graduating class, in fact, increased by 5%.
2. Our Fall to Fall retention rate for the First-Time,
Full-Time Cohort improved from 46.3% in Fall
of 2011 to 52.5% in Fall of 2012 – an increase of
more than 6%.
3. For every new student subpopulation measured
but one, the college continues to demonstrate an
upward trend over the past two years in the
percentage of hours earned out of hours
attempted at the end of the first fall semester.
4. As an access institution, it is important to
measure all “Appropriate Next Steps” for our
students. We exceeded our goal for the 2009
cohort by 7%. “Appropriate Next Steps” include
 earning an AA/AS here or at a sister
institution, transferring to a four-year
institution, or
 entering one of our BA/BS programs.
Adult Learning Consortium (ALC): Professors
Alan Burstein, Barry Kicklighter, Jeff Knighton,
and Christina Quinn joined the college’s ALC
Executive Committee in attending the ALC Summer
DEANotes is a quasi-monthly publication of Academic Affairs
Institute in June. We will meet soon to discuss what
we heard about prior learning assessment, the
burgeoning role of distance learning in higher ed,
partnerships between institutions, and other matters
relevant to serving our adult learners. Our investment
of time and effort in the ALC relates to our Complete
College Georgia plans, which include our off-campus
and online efforts as well as a number of initiatives on
campus.
Two New Positions: 1) We are about to begin the
search for a director of our program at the Henry
County Academy of Advanced Studies. This person
will help manage and grow that program and help
develop our efforts in Fayette County and possibly
other counties. The director will have a doctorate and
will teach classes on site. 2) Mr. Peter Higgins is
beginning a search for a fourth academic advisor in the
SSC. This fourth advisor will enhance our efforts to
help students stay in school and be successful. The
new position will also allow the college to create a
Career Counseling Center, which we expect to grow
with our baccalaureate programs.
GahrNotes
Dr. Amanda Duffus has had an abstract accepted for
oral presentation at the 62nd International Conference
of the Wildlife Disease Association in Knoxville, TN
from July 29 – Aug 2, 2013. She is also organizing a
necropsy workshop on amphibians and reptiles with a
colleague from University of Tennessee for the
conference.
013. The course will be up and ready for student
registration on June 27th.
Chad Davies and Richard Schmude, Jr. gave a
successful and well-attended telescope viewing session
at Caffeina Coffee Shop in Barnesville on Thursday
May 16 at 8:30 PM.
KnightoNotes
We are enjoying our last few weeks with Ms. Nancy
Goodloe as our Academic Aide. She first started
working with the Division of Business and Social
Science on January 10, 2000, and has ensured that
operations have functioned smoothly within the
division for over 13 years. We will miss her
incredibly, but are very excited that she will begin
serving as the first Academic Aide for the School of
Arts & Sciences beginning July 1.
Dr. Christy Flatt
 has been asked by the editor of Gender & Society
to co-author an article entitled “Gender and
Society in the Classroom: Knowledge & Feminist
Methodologies." This article will build upon a
previous article that focused on incorporating
feminist methodologies into the classroom.
 is participating in a seven week program
developed by FEMA and conducted by the Griffin
Fire Department giving her CERT (Certified
Emergency Response Team) certification. The
CERT Program educates members of a community
on disaster preparedness for hazards that may
impact their area and trains them in basic disaster
response skills, such as fire safety, light search and
rescue, team organization, and disaster medical
operations, so that they can assist individuals when
professional responders are not immediately
available.
Drs. Barry Kicklighter and Pam Terry presented a
paper entitled “If Not Medication Then…” at the 25th
Annual Convention and Regional Conference of the
Licensed Professional Counselor’s Association of
Georgia, June 13-16, 2013, in Savannah.
Dr. Marvin Thomas gave a presentation to Sons of
Confederate Veterans about medical care during the
Civil War on Thursday night, June 6.
Drs. Alan Burstein, Barry Kicklighter, and Jeff
Knighton (along with a much larger Gordon State
delegation) attended the USG Adult Learning
Consortium Summer Institute in Savannah, June 5-7.
Drs. Tom Aiello and Elizabeth Watts Warren
completed the year-long Governor’s Teaching Fellows
program in April.
Dr. Jeff Knighton completed the Governor’s
Teaching Fellows Summer Symposium in May.
Dr. Joe Mayo was the invited consultant at the yearend retreat of Spellman College’s Department of
Psychology on May 15. He utilized his expertise in
authentic assessments and constructivist approaches to
learning to assist the faculty in their work to develop
an integrated course sequence with associated
developmental outcome measures, culminating in a
capstone research experience for each student.
DEANotes is a quasi-monthly publication of Academic Affairs
June 19
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******
Dates & Deadlines
Georgia History & US Constitution Exam
Drop/Add and Open/Late Registration
2nd Session Classes
Midterm for Full Session Classes (5/297/19) and all evening classes.
Withdrawals after June 21 will be an
automatic WF except in cases of hardship
documented & approved by a student
petition.
Last Day of classes for 1st Session.
Final Exams for 1st Session Classes
(5/29-6/21)
2nd Session Classes begin (6/25-7/19)
Final Payment Deadline for 2nd Summer
Session classes
Faculty Enrollment Verification Deadline
8 AM for 2nd SUMMER SESSION
classes
Deadline for Student Petitions for
Reinstatement to Class Rolls—5:00 PM
Independence Day Holiday
Midterm for 2nd Session Classes (6/25–
7/19)
Withdrawals after July 8 will be an
automatic WF except in cases of hardship
documented & approved by a student
petition.
New Student Orientation – Alumni Mem
Hall
Group Advising & Registration (Fall
Semester)
New Student Orientation – Alumni Mem
Hall Group Advising & Registration (Fall
Semester)
Last Day for 2nd Session Classes
Final Exams for all
M, W evening classes (5/29-7/17),
2nd Session Day Classes (6/25–7/19)
& Full Session Day classes (5/29–7/19)
Final exams for all T, R, evening classes
(5/30-7/18) End of summer semester
Final Exams for the following classes
will be announced by the instructor:
Online Classes & Study Abroad
Spanish
Additional COMPASS testing times for
Learning support classes will be
announced.
DEANotes is a quasi-monthly publication of Academic Affairs