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04 August 2022
Moving up, with a purpose

The Office of Career and Professional Development (OCPD) will be transitioning from the Division of Student Affairs to the Division of Academic Affairs, effective September 1. This exciting change will help elevate the importance of career readiness for all students.

OCPD staff supports students and alumni to help prepare them for success in the workplace or graduate school by identifying and bridging the gap between what students learn, and the skills needed for lifelong career management.

A great example of this is the partnership between the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (CBSS) and OCPD. Beginning this semester, CBSS will dedicate at least one class period in all degree programs to career readiness content, which will expose students to topics in their potential careers from their first year to their last year on our campuses.

This partnership is part of the University-wide broader initiative called Ready Day 1. This partnership's goals are to: assist students in exploring their interests and skills, decide on a career path, seek and complete relevant experiences, connect with potential employers and implement their career plans - all in the context of their academic experience. The career readiness progression is modeled as follows:

Year one: Career Assessment 
Year two:  Professionalism and networking
Year three: Interview skills
Year four: Job search
A Message from the Provost
Welcome to the first week of the Fall 2022 semester! I hope your summer was filled with happy memories and completed milestones in your personal and professional lives. I trust you've returned to campus ready to begin the new school year with as much excitement, passion, and dedication as ever.

Thank you to all of you who welcomed our new students this past week as part of Eagle Experience. We are looking forward to a full semester of events, meetings, and activities for our incoming students.

Higher education is all about relationship building. A face-to-face environment is the best way to create and foster that special bond between educators and students. That's not to say we won't still need to be flexible.

As always, keep an eye on your class roster in your MyGS Portal to ensure you and your students are up-to-date on what to expect in case of a positive COVID-19 test. We continue to follow guidance from the GDPH and the USG, and we have automated instructions in place if anyone should test positive.

If the pandemic taught the world anything, it’s that proper communication can make or break an institution. Of course, communication goes two ways. We want to highlight your successes and celebrate your milestones, but that isn’t possible without it being passed to us. This is why we now have a Communications Manager for the Office of the Provost.

If you have any success stories or things you’d like to highlight, please send them to Mary Kate Allen at [email protected].

This is a busy time of the year for everyone. Please know that your time, efforts, and expertise are appreciated daily by not only your students but by myself and the Provost Office team as well.
Academic Success Stories
New emphasis on non-traditional learners
Assistant Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Delana Schartner has placed fresh emphasis on our non-traditional adult learners. They may be anxious about returning to the classroom and fitting in with younger generations, or they may be bringing significant prior learning that didn't result in a degree, and because of that Dr. Schartner is forming ways to make it easier for them to pursue their education.

Dr. Schartner is also leading the application team for Georgia Southern University to seek Carnegie Community Engaged Status for the 2026 cycle. The purpose of this elective distinction is to promote the partnership of Georgia Southern University’s knowledge and resources with those of the community’s public and private sectors.
Congratulations Corner: Celebrating Your Success
There are many successes on our campus in which we can take pride. This section highlights the impressive successes throughout our academic institution. If you have an accolade or achievement, please send it to Mary Kate Allen at [email protected] to be included in the next newsletter.

For example, the College of Business’s Stephanie Sipe and Justin Evans received the 2022 ABLJ Hoeber Memorial Award for Best Paper for their article “Reforming Dodd-Frank from the Whistleblower’s Vantage”.  This distinct honor is reserved for the best paper published in The American Business Law Journal.

College of Continuing and Professional Education’s Diane Badakash has been voted President-Elect for the Georgia Continuing Education Association (GCEA).

College of Africana Studies and Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Center’s Dr. Maxine Bryant won an award from the Georgia Press Association for her Savannah Morning News monthly column. Through this column, Dr. Bryant has brought significant attention to the Gullah Geechee community in the low country.

Communication Arts Associate Professor Dr. Sarah McCarroll is completing a contract as Costume Shop Manager and Wardrobe Supervisor at the Tony Award-winning Utah Shakespeare Festival. This destination theatre festival, established in 1961, focuses on celebrating the human experience. A series of plays and seminars are presented in several area theaters.

When Black Mothers’ Breastfeeding Association (BMBFA) announced the inaugural cohort for its Birth & Breastfeeding Leadership Institute, fifteen leaders in policy and healthcare were selected. Among them was Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health's Dr. Nandi Marshall.

Office of Advising Leadership's Assistant Director Audra Taylor, Coordinator of Advisement for COSM and the Office of Pre-Professional Advising Marcus Mosley, and Academic Advisor Carson Beauman have been selected to present at the annual NACADA Conference. Their presentation, titled "Growing Ourselves to Grow Others - Development of an Advisor Training Protocol" shares their development methods - creating outlines, defining learning modules, building content, and developing assessment - and how they can be adapted for any advising unit.

The inaugural year of the OCPD Career Champions Awards have been announced. These awards are given annually to faculty and staff who prioritize career readiness with our students and making their success an integral part of their student success initiatives. These champions received a plaque prior to the start of the fall semester and will be featured on the OCPD webpage. The inaugural Career Champions are: Dr. Katy Gregg (Statesboro), Dr. Debra Hagerty (Armstrong), Kendria Lee (Statesboro), Dr. Lowell Mooney (Armstrong), Erin Noel-McFerrin (Statesboro), Dr. Wendy Wolfe (Armstrong), and Dr. Hope Wallace (Statesboro).