A NOTE FROM THE INTERIM PROVOST
It is a pleasure to write this first update in my new role as interim provost. I truly appreciate the support and well-wishes I have received from so many of you over the last several months. When I began as an Instructor in the College of Law twenty years ago, I had no idea of the journey that lay ahead. I feel enormously privileged to work every day with the incredible faculty, staff and students of Georgia State University and to contribute to its mission of excellence. I look forward to working together with all of you to build on our amazing trajectory under President Becker’s leadership. I’d also like to thank my predecessor, Risa Palm, for her service to Georgia State and her advice and support throughout this transition.
As we kick off the 2019-20 academic year, there is a lot to look forward to and a lot of work to be done.
I have been meeting with leaders around the university to gain a high-level view of how our colleges, schools, departments, offices and units contribute to the university’s excellence and innovation in research, scholarship, and teaching. Working together, thanks to a successful 10-year strategic plan, there is no doubt that Georgia State has come far. I am confident that the exciting new initiatives we are developing now will build on our culture of innovation and accelerate our momentum.
As you know, it is part of our culture to confront challenging problems head on. In 2017, President Becker and Provost Palm created the Commission for the Next Generation of Faculty to recommend strategies to improve GSU’s recruitment, engagement, and retention of a diverse faculty. I’m excited to share that the Commission recently completed its report, and we are ready to get to work. We will begin by presenting the Commission’s findings on Sept. 4. from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Speakers Auditorium in Student Center East. I hope you will join us as we explore the recommendations and identify the first steps of our plan to become a nationally recognized model for leadership in diversity and inclusion.
A link to the report and to RSVP for the presentation is below.
We are continuing to move forward with our Quality Enhancement Plan, College to Career, kicking off with events on Sept. 24 at the Atlanta Campus, and Sept. 26 at Perimeter College’s Decatur Campus. More information about the kickoff and College to Career faculty resources are listed below.
The new academic year presents opportunities for faculty to further grow and expand. You’ll find more information about opportunities for workshops and fellowships from the Office of Faculty Affairs and other training opportunities and fellowships from the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
Georgia State continues to receive national recognition for how we are advancing student success, including how we are introducing students from all backgrounds to problem-based learning. Most recently, the university’s Digital Learners to Leaders Program (DLL) received an award as an “Education Futurist” by the publication Campus Technology. More about the award, and more about DLL’s successes, is below. Congratulations to DLL!
And as always, you’ll learn more about the Second Century Initiative (2CI) and the Next Generation Program through our regular feature articles below, including research by Gerardo Chowell, a 2CI epidemiologist who has found that early-season hurricanes result in greater transmission of mosquito-borne infections. There is also feature about Sarah Ku, a 2CI Graduate Fellow, whose timely scholarship looks at how the United States can deal with recycling that other countries will no longer accept.
I look to working with you in the days ahead to advance Georgia State University. Best wishes for a productive beginning to the academic year.
Wendy Hensel
Interim Provost
TABLE OF CONTENTS
NEWS
Report of the Commission for the Next Generation of Faculty To Be Presented Sept. 4
QEP Updates: College-to-Career Campus Kickoff, New Faculty Resources Available
Development and Program Opportunities Available for Faculty and Departments
Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning: Resources and Opportunities
Digital Learners to Leaders Program Wins Education Futurist Award from Campus Technology
Georgia State Students Earn Record Number of Fulbright Fellowships
Georgia State Ph.D. Student Wins American Psychological Association Research Competition
University Research Services Administration News: Georgia State Earns Full AAALAC Accreditation
Faculty Invited to Encourage Applications for University’s Most Prestigious Scholarship
NEWS FROM THE NEXT GENERATION PROGRAM
Gerardo Chowell: Early-Season Hurricanes and Infectious Disease
2CI Fellow Sarah Ku: Coping With Waste
READ PREVIOUS ISSUES
NEWS
Report of the Commission for the Next Generation of Faculty, Next Steps, To Be Presented Sept. 4
The findings of the Commission for the Next Generation of Faculty, tasked by President Becker and Provost Palm with identifying recommendations for improving faculty diversity through recruitment, engagement, and retention, will be presented to the university community from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4, at Speakers Auditorium in Student Center East at the Atlanta Campus.
The presentation will also discuss the first steps of Georgia State’s plan to take transformative action to become a national model for leadership in diversity and inclusion. The Commission’s work and recommendations, as well as the subsequent initiatives that arise out of its report, address Goal 4 of GSU’s Strategic Plan stating that the university will be a nationally recognized model for leadership in inclusion.
RSVP for the event and read the report by visiting https://provost.gsu.edu/commission-report/.
QEP Updates: College-to-Career Campus Kickoff, New Faculty Resources Available
Georgia State’s College to Career Initiative, part of the university’s Quality Enhancement Plan, will hold launch events for the university community from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24 at the Atlanta Campus, and from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26, at the Decatur Campus.
Information tables about College to Career will also be on hand at the Dunwoody, Clarkston, Decatur, and Newton campuses from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 25.
Faculty can now access a new Career-Readiness Digital Skills Builder tool, available from the College to Career website and through iCollege before classes begin. Learn more about this tool and the new non-credit College to Career orientation course for students on iCollege by clicking on the sections below.
To view each section, click on the “+” sign. To close the section, click the “-” sign.
Georgia State’s College to Career Initiative, part of the university’s Quality Enhancement Plan, will hold launch events for the university community from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24 at the Atlanta Campus, and from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26, at the Decatur Campus.
Information tables about C to C will also be on hand at the Dunwoody, Clarkston, Decatur, and Newton campuses from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 25.
Launch events at the Atlanta and Decatur campuses will provide students more information about the program, and the opportunity to practice connecting skills to the work they’re doing in the classroom. Portfolium representatives will be on hand to answer questions about Portfolium and help students start using the system.
Georgia State alumni will give talks on various career-readiness topics; faculty will be on hand to engage with students about career readiness in their majors; and students will be able to learn more about the programs Georgia State offers by visiting a program posters session.
There will also be College to Career-branded giveaways, food and entertainment at both launch events.
For specific details about event locations and more about the initiative, visit www.gsu.edu/collegetocareer.
Faculty can now access and use our Career-Readiness Digital Skills Builder tool. It is available at the College to Career website under the resources tab and will be available for all faculty in the iCollege space before classes begin.
The tool is designed to help faculty create downloadable and printable templates of competencies for which various curricular and co-curricular activities fulfill. This is a template which will enable users to drop and drag relevant skills into a template and add their own discipline-specific skills to any of the listed competencies.
The non-credit bearing 30-minute online College to Career orientation course will be available to all entering students in their iCollege space before classes begin.
The course, which will now also be embedded in all GSU 1010 and PCO 1020 orientation courses, will introduce students to the core competencies and allow them to reflect on their career readiness.
A Portfolium module will guide students on how to start with the system, and the University Career Services (UCS) module will offer students the opportunity to engage with UCS and create a resume to upload to their e-portfolios.
– Information provided by Julie Fowkes, Administrative Coordinator for the College to Career Initiative
Development and Program Opportunities for Faculty and Departments
The Office of Faculty Affairs is pleased to announce several exciting opportunities for faculty and department development in the new academic year. Click on the “+” sign read more in each section.
To view each section, click on the “+” sign. To close the section, click the “-” sign.
Interested in building or maintaining momentum in your research writing during the coming academic year? The Writing Accountability Groups (WAGs) program offers a structured and supportive environment for interested faculty.
WAGs will meet biweekly and involve on-site writing, goal setting and peer accountability. In addition to helping faculty make sustained progress on writing projects, WAGs provide the opportunity to meet new colleagues and develop supportive relationships beyond the department and college.
Participants in the spring and summer semester WAGs reported making great progress on books, articles, grants and conference submissions.
New and returning WAG participants should register by visiting this link by Aug. 30. Writing groups will begin during the week of Sept. 9. Contact Jennifer Hall, Faculty Fellow in the Office of Faculty Affairs, at [email protected] if you have any questions.
The Provost’s Visiting Scholars Program brings promising and leading faculty from underrepresented minority groups for one-to-two-week visits to Georgia State. These scholars will enrich the intellectual life of the campus at the department level and above and will be positioned to communicate Georgia State’s strengths to potential future faculty members, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
In this way, the program will enhance ongoing faculty recruitment efforts. Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis and we encourage department chairs to submit proposals to bring outstanding faculty to the university in 2019-20. More information on the program and how to apply can be found here. Please email [email protected] if you have questions.
One Provost’s Visiting Scholar, Ken Taylor from Stanford University, will visit Georgia State this September, sponsored by the Department of Philosophy. In addition to departmental, center and unit activities, he is scheduled to hold a public talk, “The Robots Are Coming: Ethics, Society and Politics in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 18, at the College of Law Auditorium.
The talk is sponsored by the Humanities Research Center at Georgia State and the College of Law.
The Office of the Provost is seeking nominations for women faculty for the Women Inspire Speaker Series. Open to the university community, the speaker series showcases distinctive women from among Georgia State’s stellar faculty who are making a difference and are eager to share their stories to empower others. Please submit your nominations using this nomination form. Nominations will be accepted on a rolling basis. Please email [email protected] if you have questions.
— Information provided by the Office of Faculty Affairs
Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning: Resources and Opportunities
Georgia State’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) offers numerous resources, including grants, workshops, and tools to improve, enhance, and innovate in pedagogy.
Take a look at the following opportunities for development below.
To view each section, click on the “+” sign. To close the section, click the “-” sign.
As online courses continue to be a growing part of university education, CETL is offering courses to help instructors gain and improve skills in online teaching. Attendees will learn how to engage students online and create materials that are accessible to students in these online courses.
Mastering Online Teaching is the first course in a series of courses leading to the Certificate of Mastery in Online Teaching. Term B begins Monday, Sept. 23, and Term C begins Monday, Oct. 21. These Mastering Online Teaching courses will be held in online in iCollege.
To learn about the certificate, visit https://cetl.gsu.edu/services/professional-development-certification/certificate-mastery-online-teaching/. For registration information, visit https://cetl.gsu.edu/calendar/.
Georgia State offers students who experience issues around homelessness assistance through the Embark program, but many students and faculty are unaware of the services. Faculty can help increase awareness of the Embark program by adding a “Basic Needs Statement” to their syllabi or iCollege Resources page.
Some suggested text:
Basic Needs Statement: Students who face challenges securing their food or housing and believe this may affect their performance in a course are urged to contact the Dean of Students for support. Notify the professor if you are comfortable in doing so. This will enable us to provide resources that we may possess. The Embark program at Georgia State provides resources for students facing homelessness.
For more information about Embark and a list of on- and off-campus resources for students in need, visit https://deanofstudents.gsu.edu/student-assistance/embark/.
CETL will hold “Part-Time Instructors – An Evening of Technology” Aug. 22 to provide technology expertise and creative solutions to help part-time instructors deliver a robust teaching and learning experience for Georgia State students.
The event will be held from 4 to 8:30 p.m. at the JCLRC on the Clarkston Campus. Registration and an event agenda are available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/part-time-instructors-an-evening-of-technology-tickets-66362023599.
Participants will learn more about iCollege and its many capabilities, including creation of learning modules, using WebEx for online lectures, adding multimedia, recording lectures, setting up gradebooks, releasing content for specific audiences, and how instructors can make course materials more accessible.
The event will also offer information about how to use technology such as Ink2Go and Hovercams in physical classrooms, and also demonstrations of learning technologies such as Tophat and Readspeaker.
Virtual sessions will be available for those who can’t make it to the physical event. More information an registration for virtual attendance is available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/part-time-instructors-an-evening-of-technology-virtual-attendance-tickets-66364352565.
CETL supports fellowship and grant programs to encourage innovation, improvement and research in teaching and learning. Learn more about these opportunities by visiting https://cetl.gsu.edu/programs-grants-awards/.
Digital Learners to Leaders Program Wins Education Futurist Award from Campus Technology
Georgia State University’s Digital Learners to Leaders (DLL) program has won a 2019 Campus Technology Impact Award from Campus Technology, recognizing higher education institutions that are making an extraordinary impact with technology on campus, doing important work in service of teaching, learning, administration and operations.
The award, given in the Education Futurist category by the digital publication, recognizes DLL’s focus on developing the next generation of digital problem solvers by providing students from all backgrounds, including those often underrepresented in the technology industry, opportunities to increase their technical experience while developing valuable professional skills.
Throughout the program, students from across majors and professionals from across industries work together to solve problems using the “Internet of Things,” the expanding network of everyday objects with digital capabilities.
“At Georgia State, we are focused on preparing all students for the workplace of the future and on enabling them with the digital skills they will need to succeed,” said Phil Ventimiglia, chief innovation officer at Georgia State. “This award recognizes how the DLL program accomplishes this by allowing students to learn these skills through real-life projects and peer collaboration.”
In a workshop format, DLL participants learn skills such as coding, computational thinking, entrepreneurship, project management and communication from industry professionals. Participants also build solutions using digital technologies that range from microcontrollers to single-board computers, 3D printers, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, robotics and drones.
A summer camp for middle and high school students, taught with the help of Georgia State students, extends this learning pipeline to K-12 students.
“The future of digital leadership is not only dependent on exposure to technology tools but also on access to diverse professional insight and encouragement to do relevant project work with a positive impact. Through these elements, students become excited about the possibilities. I am so appreciative of all the professionals who have given time and valuable insight and experience to our students through this program,” said Tiffany Green-Abdullah, assistant director of learning community development at the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and coordinator of the DLL program.
The DLL program will welcome its third round of Georgia State student participants this fall.
To learn more about DLL, visit https://innovation.gsu.edu/dll/.
Georgia State Students Earn Record Number of Fulbright Fellowships
Georgia State has set a university record for the number of recipients of fellowships under the Fulbright U.S. Student Program to represent the institution simultaneously, with two graduate students, two undergraduates and one recent graduate receiving the fellowship for 2019-20.
Two more students were selected as semi-finalists/alternates; if funding becomes available, they will also have the opportunity to participate in the program.
The Fulbright Student Fellowship is a highly prestigious grant that provides students with the opportunity to live and work abroad.
To be considered for the fellowship, candidates must have an excellent academic background, demonstrate leadership in their respective fields and be willing to serve as ambassadors during their cultural exchange.
The following individuals will represent the university:
Undergraduate Students
Joshua Fife, Journalism, Brazil
Demetria Walker, Exercise Science, South Korea
Semi-finalist/alternate: Ana Petrova, Political Science, Macedonia
Graduate Students
Aaron Muirhead, master’s program in Public Health, Brazil
Semi-finalist/alternate: Pam DiGioia, master’s program in Applied Linguistics, Belgium
Recent Graduate
Nia Kapitanova, bachelor’s degree in Spanish, Bulgaria
“For several years, Georgia State has endeavored to build a culture around encouraging our students to apply for the Fulbright Program,” said Katrina Helz, graduate fellowships adviser. “This achievement is a culmination of those efforts, a testament to the caliber of students we have and the value their experience brings to the world.”
The Fulbright Program is designed to build lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The program offers teaching, research or combination study/research awards and is supported by the United States, other participating governments and host institutions, corporations and foundations. The program operates in more than 140 countries.
“We are extremely proud of our scholars,” said Jacob English, director of the Honors College’s Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships. “Georgia State students are competing at a national level, and they have an opportunity to share their talents with the world. We are here to support their success from the ideation phase to the submission of their application. We focus on scholar development and storytelling to help students articulate the amazing experiences they’ve had while at Georgia State into a compelling application.”
– Information from Angelita Streeter, Office of Graduate Programs
Georgia State Ph.D. Student Wins American Psychological Association Research Competition
Mary Fernandes, a Ph.D. candidate in clinical neuropsychology at Georgia State University, won first place in the 2019 Psych Science-in-3 Competition Aug. 9 at the American Psychological Association’s (APA) annual conference.
Fernandes gave a three-minute presentation entitled, “The Associations Between Pupillary Response Patterns to Emotional Faces and Self-Reported Social Anxiety,” competing against more advanced doctoral students as well as postdoctoral contestants.
The competition required participants to explain their thesis or dissertation research succinctly, in a compelling way that non-specialists can understand. She won $2,500.
Fernandes mastered these skills at Georgia State through the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition held at the university in March, where she won first prize in the doctoral student category. She also won the People’s Choice award in the category.
The APA’s annual convention, held Aug. 8-11 in Chicago, is attended by more than 10,000 people, representing more than 800 academic institutions from 50 countries.
Fernandes is a member of the APA and is a recipient of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship. Her advisor is Erin Tone, associate professor of psychology in the university’s College of Arts & Sciences.
To watch Fernandes’ presentation as first recorded at Georgia State’s 3MT competition in the spring, visit https://provost.gsu.edu/2019/03/26/three-minute-thesis-3mt-contestants-practice-explaining-research-to-general-audiences/.
University Research Services Administration News: Georgia State Earns Full AAALAC Accreditation
Georgia State will continue to receive full accreditation from the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) for its animal care and use program. Earlier this year, the AAALAC International Council on Accreditation performed a site visit, inspecting labs and meeting with a number of research faculty, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, staff, and research administrators across the downtown campus.
In their report, the Council noted the university’s culture of safety and responsibility in the conduct of biomedical research; the university’s ongoing commitment to improvement of facilities, equipment and enclosures; and the knowledgeable and engaged Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and its administrative staff.
Faculty Invited to Encourage Applications for University’s Most Prestigious Scholarship
Faculty are invited to encourage promising high school seniors in their communities to apply for the university’s most prestigious and valuable academic award, the university’s Presidential Scholarship.
The Presidential Scholarship program recognizes incoming first-year students who were leaders in their high schools and offers them the support and experiences that will set them up to be leaders in their careers and communities. The scholarship is valued at up to $28,803 per year (depending on in/out-of-state student status and participation in the Honors College’s student assistantship program).
Presidential Scholars receive the following benefits for eight semesters:
- Cost of tuition, housing and mandatory student fees
- A yearly living expense stipend
- A one-time $2,500 stipend for credit-bearing study abroad expenses
- Opportunity for a paid University Assistantship to explore research and engaging work experience on campus
- Access to individualized classes and mentoring opportunities
To be considered for this highly competitive scholarship applicants must:
- Apply to Georgia State University (submitting the Common Application) and submit a Presidential Scholarship application by Friday, November 15, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.
- If selected, Presidential Scholarship finalists will be notified via email and invited to on-campus interviews in January 2020. On-campus interviews will take place at Georgia State on February 28, 2020.
While there are no minimum test scores or GPA needed to apply, last year’s class of Presidential Scholars had an average high school GPA of 3.94, SAT of 1451 and ACT of 32.
News from the Next Generation Program
Research: Early-Season Hurricanes and Infectious Disease
Gerardo Chowell, a faculty member hired under the Second Century Initiative, and his colleagues have found that the timing of a hurricane is one of the primary factors influencing its impact on the spread of mosquito-borne infectious diseases such as West Nile Virus, dengue, chikungunya and Zika.
Researchers from Georgia State and Arizona State University developed a mathematical model to study the impact of heavy rainfall events (HREs) such as hurricanes on the transmission of vector-borne infectious diseases in temperate areas of the world, including the southern coastal U.S. In the aftermath of this type of extreme weather event, the mosquito population often booms in the presence of stagnant water.
At the same time, the breakdown of public and private health infrastructure can put people at increased risk of infection. The study, which was published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, found that the risk of a disease outbreak is highest if the HRE occurs early in the transmission season, or the period of time when mosquitos are able to pass on the virus to humans.
According to the study, an HRE that occurs on July 1 results in 70 percent fewer disease cases compared to an HRE that occurs on June 1. As HREs become more frequent in the southern U.S. and other tropical areas there’s a need to develop further quantitative tools to assess how these disasters can affect the risk of disease transmission.
Other authors include Charles Perrings, professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University; Kenji Mizumoto, assistant professor at Kyoto University and former post-doctoral researcher at Georgia State; Juan Banda, assistant professor of computer science at Georgia State hired under 2CI’s successor initiative, the Next Generation Program; and Silvestro Poccia, a visiting Ph.D. student at Arizona State.
To read more about the study, visit https://news.gsu.edu/2019/05/06/early-season-hurricanes-result-in-greater-transmission-of-mosquito-borne-infectious-disease-study-shows/.
2CI Fellow Sarah Ku: Coping With Waste
Second Century Initiative (2CI) Fellow Sarah Ku is working to find a solution to something that’s puzzling local governments in the U.S. and other Western countries: managing large amounts of waste that other countries aren’t accepting for recycling.
A doctoral student in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Ku is interested in researching waste management in China. From a business standpoint, she wants to discover ways to aid China in controlling waste after consumption, and then design and develop marketing strategies to market those ideas for implementation in American markets.
“In business, there’s a lot of priority on how to increase consumption and I’m looking at what happens to all the waste after consumption,” Ku said. “My research comes at a timely point because with China no longer accepting waste or recyclables from other countries, it’s becoming more of a relevant and urgent issue.”
To aid with waste management across the world, Ku is looking into the marketability of using insects to mitigate waste. Ku said insects can be an effective source for waste consumption and have been applied in different industries around the world.
“Bugs are very applicable in other countries in the world in terms of human consumption, animal feed, and waste management,” Ku said. “China is using bugs a lot in various aspects so that’s exciting for me because it’s not only a market that is already utilizing bugs, it’s also a market that produces and deals with a lot of waste.”
To read more, visit https://nextgen.gsu.edu/2019/07/09/second-century-initiative-fellow-uses-international-business-degree-program-to-solve-waste-management-issues-in-the-u-s/
News from the Office of the Provost is a bimonthly e-newsletter highlighting news and activities in academic affairs at Georgia State University. For questions about the newsletter, email Jeremy Craig at [email protected].
Previous issues are available at the following links:
Oct. 2018 (Vol. 1, No. 1)
Dec. 2018 (Vol. 1, No. 2)
Feb. 2019 (Vol. 1, No. 3)
April 2019 (Vol. 1, No. 4)
June 2019 (Vol. 1, No. 5)
Look for the next edition of the Provost’s Office newsletter in October 2019 (Vol. 2, No. 2).