A Message from the Director...

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1 January 2011 Volume 3 Issue 1 HAPPY NEW YEAR! Savannah State University s Title III program provides funds to improve and strengthen academic quality, institutional management, fiscal stability, and student services. In addition, the Title III program at SSU is designed to assist the university in strengthening its infrastructure and developing value-added academic programs. A Message from the Director... Title III is funded through the U.S. Department of Education, Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program. The Title III program consist of a variety of funded activities which facilitate the achievement of academic enhancement and technology integration (to name a few). Currently, there are 14 activities funded under the Title III grant period. I hope you find this newsletter interesting and informative. Stay tuned and be on the look out for the next issue of Title III News. Dedra N. Andrews, Title III Director Title III s Important Reminders All Title III Time and Effort forms are due on the 10th of each month. All Title III forms can be found on the SSU s website under Title III s webpage; Student workers cannot be hired without prior approval from Title III. Title III Office must receive all request to travel at least business days before the scheduled travel dates. We would like to welcome two new employees to the Title III family. We know that these individuals will be a great asset to our Title III Team. Tiffany Straughter started on November 1st as the Administrative Specialist for the Center for Academic Success Activity. Welcome New Employees Angela Washington started on November 1st as Administrative Assistant for the Strengthening Professional Development Activity. Inside this issue: Director s Message 1 New Hires 1 Title III Activities 2 STEM 360 Awareness Session The Write Attitude 4 Reminders 5 Contact Information 5 3

2 For the grant period, Title III received $3,198,990 in funds for Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and $1,003,811 in funds for Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), a New 5 year Title III grant. Funded activities for the grant period (Year 4) include: Achieving Academic Excellence Through Accreditation (Dr. Irma Gibson) - (SACS, Social Work, MPA, and Mass Communications) - An activity to ensure that the academic programs meet and/or exceed the quality standards for accreditation for development areas and provide for future program development. Center for Academic Success (Pamela Majette) - This activity will focus on providing academic support services that are designed to promote student retention and enhance academic achievement by offering an array of academic support services directly to all SSU students. Building University Capacity (Joy Haliburton) - An activity to strengthen the infrastructure for the office of University Advancement by implementing strategies to improve the development office and expand financial resources for the University. Academic Building Enhancements Through Renovations & Repair (Arnold Jackson) - This activity will replace hot water boilers in Kennedy Fine Arts Building, Gordon Library, and Whiting Hall; upgrade biology laboratories in Drew-Griffith Building; replace floor covering in Whiting Hall and Jordan Hall; improve building efficiency; and upgrade HVAC control system in Payne Hall. Technology Integration (Naomi Singleton) - This activity will enhance technology services and support the university community through improving information security, enhancing technology proficiency, and implementing a Cisco Networking Academy. Strengthening Professional Development (Dr. Sandra Best) - An activity to provide focused training strategies and learning opportunities to prepare and instruct classified employees in higher education. STEM 360 (Patrick Dean) - The goal of this activity is to increase awareness and participation in STEM disciplines through various programs and develop a more efficient academic and career advisement system for COST majors. Improving Institutional and Fiscal Management (Edward Jolley) - An activity to enact substantial and sustainable changes in efficiency and productivity to increase fiscal accountability and reliability of financial information. Sponsored Research & Scholarly Activities (Dr. Chellu Chetty) - An activity to enhance the University s ability to increase external funding to support instruction, research, faculty development, and service programs. Program Administration & Evaluation (Dedra N. Andrews) - This activity manages the Title III grant to ensure effective and efficient accomplishment of the program s objectives and to ensure compliance with policies and procedures as required by the U.S. Dept. of Education. New Activities Development of a Streaming Video Laboratory for Distance Education (Dr. Derrek Dunn) - This activity will develop a laboratory capable of streaming on-line lectures via the World Wide Web. Enhance Instructional Facilities through Renovations & Repair (Arnold Jackson) - This activity proposes to renovate and upgrade older facilities and classrooms (Kennedy Fine Arts Building and Payne Hall) to provide learning areas that create a safe and positive learning environment and to enhance campus appeal for new and existing students. Mass Communications: Student Media Center and Learning Laboratories (Dr. Carmen Manning-Miller) - This activity will build the infrastructure for a learning laboratory that will provide the foundation for a student media center. Program Administration (Dedra N. Andrews) - This activity manages the Title III grant to ensure effective and efficient accomplishment of the program's objectives and to ensure compliance with policies and procedures as required by the U.S. Department of Education.

3 These workshops provided hands-on standards in building and designing processes of a Mousetrap Car kit to local middle and high school teachers and students. The STEM 360 Activity (Patrick Dean) conducted workshops at various Savannah-Chatham County Public Middle and High Schools (SCCPSS) for the k-12 outreach program during Fall During the workshops, each participant assembled the mousetrap cars with the assistance of STEM 360 staff and SSU COST student volunteers. Participants demonstrated problem solving skills, time management, cooperative behavior, engineering and design concepts. Evaluation forms were completed after each workshop. The STEM 360 activity looks forward to hosting more workshops on and off campus that will continue to promote the awareness of STEM disciplines and provide future outreach projects that will benefit the institution and surrounding communities. All participants conducted practice runs to determine total distance traveled in centimeters.

4 The Write Attitude AND the Right Attitude Reflections from Dr. Irma Gibson Assistant Professor of Social Work For some time, the SSU family has been bombarded with information about SACS Accreditation and rightfully so. A part of our future as educators literally depends on it. One of the most visible signs of the accreditation process has been the promotional slogan of the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP): The Write Attitude to promote the concept and institutional goal of improving the communication and writing skills of our students. A variety of campus wide measures and methods, both subtle and profound are being orchestrated via the support of Title III funds. In the event that you are wondering what all the hype is about, it is simple. Higher education can not be effectively sustained without accreditation. We all pursue higher education for our own personal reasons and I would venture to say that included in those reasons is our search of obtaining a piece of the American dream and ultimately a good paying and fulfilling job. The fact of the matter is accreditation is directly connected to employment for all of us whether you are an administrator, tenured, non-tenured, junior, senior, adjunct, temporary or part-time faculty member, support staff, student or potential student! It doesn t matter, no one is exempt!!! Many of our professional programs on campus are pursuing accreditation and/ or have either been accredited previously and are undergoing reaffirmation thanks, in part to Title III grant funds. These disciplines include the College of Business, Mass Communications, the Civil and Electronics Engineering Technology degree programs under the College of science and Technology, the Master s of Public Administration program and Social Work. Most of the employers in these disciplines seek out potential hires from schools who meet these important criteria. In fact, in the profession of Social Work, employers on every level include a statement in their job announcements mandating that the student must have graduated from a program that has been accredited by the governing body, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). For students, if there is no accreditation, the possibility of obtaining employment in their field of study is questionable and may make the difference in not only their choice of degrees but also their choice of colleges for pursuing higher education. And without consumers (our students), there won t be a need for our services. So it behooves ALL of us to get on board with the SACS accreditation process; and as we embrace the QEP concept of the Write Attitude let s do so with the Right Attitude!!. You see, I truly believe that life is 10% of what happens to us but 90% of the outcome is based on our attitudes. Remember that our attitudes regarding this critical venture directly impact the lives of the entire SSU family. You are not exempt! Irma J. Gibson, Ph.D. Title III Activity Director SSU's QEP: The Write Attitude!

5 Budget Activity Directors should be keeping track of their money spent throughout the year. By the end of January, at least 33% of activity funds should have been spent or encumbered. All Title III e-pro request must be approved by the Title III Director. Sharon Sasha Stark should be added as an approver on all Title III e-pro request. Travel Request All Title III travel authorization and check request must be submitted in sufficient time to allow the Office of Business and Financial Affairs 7-10 business days to process the request. Savannah State University 3219 College Street Box Savannah, GA Contracts All Contract and Agreement forms have to receive approval from the President and Legal Counsel. Please allot enough time for approval and signatures (at least 2 weeks prior to date of requested services). Title III Office The Department of Education has not issued a deadline for submission of the Annual Performance Report (APR). The Title III Office has collected most the data needed for the APR, but additional information may be needed once we start submitting the information into the system. Quarterly Reports (Oct Dec. 2010) were due to Title III Office on January 14th. Updated Equipment Inventory Reports were to be submitted as well. Title III will be conducting another Equipment Inventory site visit within the next month (more details coming soon). Activity Directors: If you have a story that you want us to feature in the next Title III newsletter, please your information to: gilliardl@savannahstate.edu. As always, please feel free to our office with any questions or comments you may have. Title III Contact Information Mrs. Dedra N. Andrews Title III Director Phone: Fax: andrewsd@savannahstate.edu Mrs. LaTashia Swain-Gilliard Title III Admin. Assistant Phone: Fax: gilliardl@savannahstate.edu COMING SOON What: epro Training Session Presented by: Title III Facilitator: Sheri Rouse-Mainor When: Stay tuned for more details!