A NOTE FROM THE PROVOST
We’re off to the start of another great semester, and I’m excited to share with you some of the important initiatives and events that are on the horizon for us in 2020. We are fortunate to both honor the groundbreakers of our past and break new ground for our future.
First, we’re moving forward with searches for several major leadership positions, including Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs, a permanent Dean for the Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions, and a permanent Vice President for Research and Economic Development. I want to thank all of those who are lending their time in these important searches, as well as the leaders who are working to keep these units going in the interim.
I’m also delighted to share with you that we will be searching for our very first Associate Provost for Online Strategies this semester. Although we have made strides in the online sphere, we have not done so in a coordinated or strategic way. The APOS will help lead the efforts in this space and work closely with me to ensure a high level of quality and support in every class, regardless of modality. I will share more with you in the coming weeks.
Next, I’m thrilled to announce our new “Groundbreaker Lecture Series,” which will honor individuals who have had a significant impact in creating groundbreaking, profound change in our world. For our inaugural lecture, Dr. Maurice Daniels, author of Ground Crew: The Fight to End Segregation at Georgia State, will speak. He will tell the story of Myra Payne Elliott, Barbara Pace Hunt, and Iris Mae Welch, who fought to break through discrimination and segregation.
It is because of these women and others that Georgia State is the diverse institution it is today, proving that students from all backgrounds can succeed. The lecture and ceremony will be held from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. on February 20 at Speaker’s Auditorium, with a reception to follow. I invite you, your students, and other colleagues to attend. Ms. Elliott, her family, and the family of Ms. Hunt will be in attendance for a special recognition ceremony.
The university also will soon be launching a campus climate survey through the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE). This survey, the gold standard in assessing faculty climate and job satisfaction, will be used to gather information about campus climate, help us identify action items to improve our community, and implement meaningful change. This initiative follows up on a recommendation from the Commission for Next Generation of Faculty, and you will receive an email with further information in the next few weeks. Please participate!
Finally, as we announced recently, I am pleased to report that Georgia State is now a member of the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD). NCFDD gives faculty, graduate students and post docs access to a wealth of professional development resources, including webinars, writing challenges, a dissertation success curriculum, a weekly Monday motivator, and more. Instructions on how to access the NCFDD resources can be found at https://faculty.gsu.edu/for-faculty/ncfdd/.
These are only a few of the exciting things we are working on for 2020, and I invite you to learn more through the articles below. You can always find the latest at https://provost.gsu.edu. As always, thank you for what you do to make the university’s success in research, teaching, scholarship and student success a reality.
Sincerely,
Wendy Hensel
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
TABLE OF CONTENTS
NEWS
Inaugural Groundbreaker Lecture to be Held Feb. 20
Georgia State Joins the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
Taking Innovation Further: The Inaugural Associate Provost for Online Strategies
Next Generation of Faculty Implementation Steering Committee Begins Work
Risa Palm Named Fellow of the American Association of Geographers
S. Joel Warrican Named Provost’s Visiting Scholar
Leadership News: Lee Foster and Michael Sanseviro
Technology Fee Proposals for FY 2021 Due Feb. 7
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
Dawn Aycock: Preventing Strokes Among Young Adults
Renee Schwartz: Building a Passion for Science
NEWS FROM THE NEXT GENERATION PROGRAM
A Global Perspective: The GRAND Initiative
READ PREVIOUS ISSUES
NEWS
Inaugural Groundbreaker Lecture to be Held Feb. 20
The Office of the Provost will hold the inaugural Groundbreaker Lecture on Thursday, Feb. 20, honoring three of the brave women who sued to desegregate Georgia State University. The event will be held from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at Speaker’s Auditorium in Student Center East. This new lecture series recognizes those whose bold, brave actions have had a significant, positive impact and fundamentally advanced society.
At this event, Dr. Maurice C. Daniels will discuss his new book, “Ground Crew: The Fight to End Segregation at Georgia State.” The book tells the story of the Hunt v. Arnold decision of 1959, which became the NAACP’s first federal court victory against segregated education in Georgia. Following the lecture, we will honor Barbara Pace Hunt, Iris Mae Welch and Myra Payne Elliott, the three lead plaintiffs who sued for the right of black students to attend Georgia State. Ms. Elliott and her family will be in attendance, as will the family of Ms. Hunt.
A reception and book signing, with books available for purchase, will follow. To RSVP, visit https://provost.gsu.edu/lecture.
There are also other exciting events on campus related to diversity and inclusion on Feb. 20, including:
- The inaugural Inclusivity and Diversity in STEM Conference, sponsored by STEMulate, at 11 a.m., in Student Center East. Find out more at https://calendar.gsu.edu/event/inclusivity_and_diversity_in_stem_conference#.Xhy9ichKiUl.
- The Benjamin E. Mays Lecture at 6:30 p.m. at the Florence Kopleff Recital Hall, sponsored by the Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence of the College of Education and Human Development. Learn more at https://crim.education.gsu.edu/get-connected/benjamin-e-mays-lecture/.
Georgia State Joins the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
Georgia State University is now an institutional member of the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD). The NCFDD is an independent faculty development center that supports academics in making successful transitions throughout their careers.
An institutional membership will provide Georgia State faculty, graduate students and postdoctoral Fellows with free access to NCFDD’s rich professional development resources. These include:
- Monthly webinars on a range of topics, including time management, development of a daily writing habit, cultivation of mentors, advocates and collaborators, engagement in healthy conflict and many more;
- 14-day writing challenges for you to practice daily writing with an online community that provides supportive accountability;
- A 12-week dissertation success curriculum for graduate students;
- A weekly Monday motivator tailored to follow the academic calendar;
- Access to a member library that includes past webinar materials, referrals and readings.
The institutional membership does not cover the cost of NCFDD’s individualized Faculty Success Program. Your college or school may provide support for faculty participation in this program.
To access these resources under our institutional membership, you will need to activate your personal membership account.
To activate your account, visit https://www.facultydiversity.org/join. Select Georgia State University from the drop-down menu and click on “Activate.” You will be prompted to complete a short registration form and respond to a confirmation email.
If you have questions or comments, contact the Office of Faculty Affairs at [email protected]. If you have technical questions, email NCFDD at [email protected].
Taking Innovation Further: The Inaugural Associate Provost for Online Strategies
The Office of the Provost will take Georgia State University’s reputation for innovation further through an inaugural Associate Provost for Online Strategies (APOS), who will lead university efforts to create and deliver high-quality online courses, degrees, and executive education to both traditional and life-long learners wherever they are situated.
The university’s first APOS will be tasked with establishing strategic priorities and vision for online programming and administrative oversight and coordination of all aspects of digital education. The inaugural APOS will take charge of creating, implementing and championing quality standards across all of Georgia State’s online offerings and developing best practices for student support and teaching in online environments.
The APOS will work closely with Georgia State’s colleges and schools to identify and develop high-potential degree and certificate programs, grow enrollment, and play a key role in the acquisition of necessary technology and infrastructure. In addition, this role will work with strategic corporate, public and non-profit partners to identify and develop opportunities for online learning that meets the needs of today’s workforce.
More information about the search will be shared in the coming weeks through campus email and the Provost’s Office website at https://provost.gsu.edu.
Next Generation of Faculty Implementation Steering Committee Begins Work
An implementation steering committee for the Next Generation of Faculty initiatives has been named and has begun its important work in ensuring the implementation of the recommendations made by the Commission for the Next Generation of Faculty to transform Georgia State into a national model for faculty diversity and inclusion in recruitment, retention, and engagement.
The committee has been tasked by the Provost to provide with advice and guidance on the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations and best practices initiatives. The Committee also will serve as a liaison between the university community and Provost’s Office and assist in creating an annual report to the university community sharing Georgia State’s progress.
You can learn more about the members of the Committee and its structure at https://provost.gsu.edu/commission-report/implementation-steering-committee/.
Curtis Byrd, most recently at Morehouse College, will serve as a liaison to the Committee in keeping with the Commission’s recommendation. Dr. Byrd will help guide many efforts to diversify the faculty, strengthen the university’s sense of community, and build Georgia State’s graduate student pipeline pursuant to the Commission’s report. Learn more about him through the Leadership Team section of the Provost’s Office website at https://provost.gsu.edu/meet-the-provost/leadership-team.
Risa Palm Named Fellow of the American Association of Geographers
The American Association of Geographers (AAG) has named Risa Palm, Professor of Urban Geography in the Urban Studies Institute, and former Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, among its 2020 class of AAG Fellows.
The AAG Fellows program recognizes geographers who have made significant contributions to advancing geography.
The AAG stated this fall:
Risa Palm served until recently as Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs and Professor of Geosciences at Georgia State University. She has remained at Georgia State University where she is now a professor in the Urban Studies Institute. Over the past four decades, Palm has forged and extraordinary career which has progressed along two parallel tracks: as an academic who has made significant contributions to geography, and as a senior university administrator who has shaped the trajectories of several major public universities.
Palm, as a geography scholar, has authored or co-authored 13 books and over 40 articles and book chapters in the area of human response to environmental change. This is a commendable record for any full-time faculty member, but truly extraordinary for someone entering college and university administration less than 10 years after starting as an assistant professor. Very few individuals—in geography or beyond—can claim as long a career in the senior-most positions at the very top public universities in the United States.
We are therefore pleased to bestow upon Risa Palm the title of AAG Fellow.
Dr. Palm continues her research at Georgia State. Her current work involves attitudes towards climate change, and how different framing of the issue can affect views on this critical subject. Her latest research, involving climate change attitudes among property owners in South Florida and their response to risk, has been published this winter by Springer, co-authored with Associate Professor Toby Bolsen. More about the monograph, “Climate Change and Sea Level Rise in South Florida: The View of Coastal Residents” is available at Springer via https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-32602-9.
She also co-authored a recent article for The Conversation with Dr. Bolsen, “Climate scientists may not be the best communicators of climate threats.”
You can read more about Dr. Palm’s work and career, with links to other selected journal articles and a video presentation of her climate change research, in a feature article at https://provost.gsu.edu/risa-palm-research-inclusion-opportunity/.
Dr. Palm, who served as Georgia State’s Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs from 2009 through 2019, is also a past president of the AAG.
S. Joel Warrican Named Provost’s Visiting Scholar
The Department of Educational Policy Studies in the College of Education and Human Development has received an award under the Provost’s Visiting Scholars Program to bring Professor S. Joel Warrican from The University of the West Indies-Cave Hill to visit Georgia State University.
The Provost’s Visiting Scholars Program brings leading faculty from underrepresented minority groups to Georgia State’s campus. These visiting scholars enrich the intellectual life of the campus at the department level and above, and they will be able to communicate Georgia State’s strengths to potential faculty, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The scholar participates in planned activities that engage with Georgia State’s community, such as a guest lecture or seminar, via a host department on campus.
Dr. S. Joel Warrican is a Professor of Education at the University of the West Indies—Cave Hill, as well as the Director of the School of Education, and the Chair of the Eastern Caribbean Joint Board of Teacher Education. His research includes literacy in Caribbean contexts, diversity and multiculturalism/multilingualism in the classroom, as well as research methods and methodology. He has authored and co-authored numerous books, articles and conference papers.
Dr. Warrican will be giving presentations on campus during his stay, including the following:
“Never the Twain Shall Meet: Unifying Two Worlds Through a Third Space”
Tuesday, Feb. 4
2-3 p.m.
College of Education & Human Development, room 496
“Conducting Research in the Caribbean: Peering Through the Lenses of Western Frames”
Wednesday, Feb. 5
2-3:30 p.m.
College of Education & Human Development, room 1030
The visit is being facilitated by Jennifer Esposito, Interim Chair of the Department of Educational Policy Studies.
By Braden Turner, Graduate Administrative Assistant and Writer for the Office of the Provost, with event information from the College of Education & Human Development
Leadership News: Lee Foster and Michael Sanseviro
Lee Foster, Executive Director of the Rialto Center for the Arts
Georgia State University welcomes two new leaders who will lead important units in the life of the university’s artistic, creative, and student life endeavors.
Lee Foster, former assistant director of the Office of the Arts at the Georgia Institute of Technology and operational manager of the Ferst Center for the Arts, was named as executive director of the Rialto Center of the Arts effective Nov. 1.
Foster has also served as managing director of Theatrical Outfit, an organization next to the Rialto, which experienced great transformation under her direction. She has been an artistic director, managing director and executive director for theaters, a ballet company, a symphony orchestra and other organizations, revitalizing programming and audience attendance.
The Rialto reports to the Office of the Provost. In the heart of Atlanta’s historic Fairlie-Poplar District, it is an anchor for the arts in downtown Atlanta and a cultural resource for Georgia State and the Atlanta area.
Michael Sanseviro, Associate Vice President and Dean of Students
Michael Sanseviro was named associate vice president and dean of students effective Dec. 1. A seasoned professional with more than 25 years of experience, Dr. Sanseviro has a strong record of leadership in student engagement and a passion for enhancing student life and creating vibrant campus cultures.
Most recently, he was the associate vice president and dean of students at Kennesaw State University where he had responsibility for a variety of areas, including Conduct and Compliance, Behavioral Response Management, Fraternity and Sorority Life, Student Media, Student Activities/Organizations, Student Leadership and Service, Student Center Operations and Student Government.
Dr. Sanseviro was the dean of students during the consolidation of Kennesaw State and the Southern Polytechnical Institute. He has significant past connections to Georgia State. Early in his career, he was the director of Georgia State’s first residential housing complex and was also director of student life at Georgia Perimeter College. Dr. Sanseviro earned his Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies from Georgia State in 2006.
Technology Fee Proposals for FY 2021 Due Feb. 7
Technology fee proposals are being accepted for fiscal year 2021 through Feb. 7.
Submitting a technology fee proposal is a great way to improve access to technology for Georgia State students and to get an innovative idea funded. Faculty and staff can submit proposals to be used to purchase technology that will help students meet the educational objectives of their academic programs or support technology in student laboratory spaces.
If you have an idea that is new and innovative and advances the mission of the university through creative uses of technology, the University Senate Committee on Information and Instructional Technology has created an Innovation Fund to be administered by the Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETL).
CETL invites faculty to submit proposals that spur new initiatives from any academic or administrative group on campus. For a proposal to be eligible for the Innovation Fund, a review letter from the Dean’s Office (or equivalent) must be attached to the proposal.
Proposal Submission
Submit proposals using the online proposal submission tool at https://solutions.technology.gsu.edu/. Guidelines are available at https://solutions.technology.gsu.edu/student-technology-fee/guidelines.
Faculty Spotlight
Dawn Aycock: Preventing Strokes Among Young Adults
Associate Professor Dawn Aycock
Stroke victims are not limited to older generations.
When Dawn Aycock, an associate professor in the Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions, began her research about a decade ago, there was a rise in strokes among young adults—particularly young adult African Americans.
“What we’ve seen over the past few decades is an increase in hospitalizations for stroke in young adults—upwards of 30 to 40 percent,” she said.
Yet up to 80 percent of strokes can be prevented, with lifestyle changes such as regular physical activity, healthy diet and stopping smoking.
Dr. Aycock is working to find interventions that can help prevent young people from suffering strokes, especially among young adult African Americans.
She has developed a stroke risk assessment counseling intervention for young African Americans to see their true risk of stroke given their current health. She measures this based on seven factors: diet, exercise smoking habits, body mass index, blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol.
Read more about Dr. Aycock’s work at https://provost.gsu.edu/2019/10/02/georgia-state-professors-research-on-stroke-prevention-among-young-adults-serves-to-educate-and-save-lives/.
Renée Schwartz: Building a Passion for Science
Professor Renée Schwartz
Renée Schwartz saw a critical need for increased scientific literacy among children and young adults. She took her passion for science, teaching, and development to begin educating future teachers.
“There’s a complete disconnect between how science actually works, what scientists do, and how its presented in the classroom,” said Dr. Schwartz, a professor of science education in the Department of Middle and Secondary Education in the College of Education and Human Development. This was the pivotal moment when Schwartz knew she needed to reach learners of all ages with scientific knowledge in a way that better reflects how science works.
“If you don’t have an understanding of these claims that are being made in the scientific community, then it’s difficult to make progress—especially in today’s world.”
Science epistemology—or scientific inquiry and the nature of science—is Schwartz’s focus. Throughout her academic career, she realized the way science was being taught to students in their secondary and post-secondary education was often misleading or ineffective. Her work aims to dispel any inefficiencies and establish teaching methods to better promote the nature of science, scientific inquiry, and overall scientific education.
Learn more about Dr. Schwartz’ work at https://provost.gsu.edu/2019/10/28/representation-matters-georgia-state-professors-research-fosters-scientific-curiosity-and-recognition-in-secondary-education/.
News from the Next Generation Program
A Global Perspective: The GRAND Initiative
Collins O. Airhihenbuwa leads the Global Research Against Non-Communicable Disease (GRAND) Initiative at Georgia State, part of the university’s Next Generation research program, meant to build strength around innovative research that addresses some of the world’s most pressing issues.
The GRAND Initiative will look at ways to combat chronic conditions such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, obesity, respiratory disease, mental illness and drug abuse and alcoholism — collectively the leading causes of mortality on Earth — through the wider lens of social, structural and cultural determinacy. He and his colleague Nida I. Shaikh, assistant professor of nutrition in the Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions, will examine the structures and systems behind individual behaviors that contribute to these widespread diseases, from eating certain foods to failing to seek preventative treatment, and try to better understand them.
Learn more about Dr. Airhihenbuwa and the GRAND Initiative at https://news.gsu.edu/research-magazine/fall2019/a-global-perspective.
News from the Office of the Provost is an e-newsletter highlighting news and activities in academic affairs at Georgia State University. For questions about the newsletter, email Jeremy Craig at [email protected].
The newsletter changed from a bi-monthly publication frequency to a quarterly frequency effective January 2020.
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)
August 2019 (Vol 2., No. 1)
October 2019 (Vol 2., No. 2)