Welcome to the Hornet's Nest
The new name of the staff and faculty e-newsletter is the SPSU Hornet's Nest. The winning name was provided by Bill Gruszka, chief information officer. In addition to bragging rights, he will receive a special gift with the new logo attached. Congratulations Bill and thanks for your creative thinking!

SPSU student competition teams receive funding
The SPSU Foundation and the Alumni Association Board awarded a total of $41,000 to five campus student competition teams this year. An additional $6,150 was awarded from the Lawrence and Cecelia Johnson Endowment, managed by the SPSU Foundation. This endowment was created by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Johnson. Ralph is the son of the late Mr. L. V. Johnson, the first Director of the Technical Institute. This endowment was created to benefit student competition teams at SPSU.

All the funding from the SPSU Foundation and the Alumni Association was provided by private contributions from alumni, friends and supporters of the university.

These are the following competition teams that received funding:

781 years of service
Many SPSU faculty and staff members filled the Student Center Ballroom last week for the presentation of the 2008 Employee Service Awards and Outstanding Staff and Faculty recognitions. Dr. Lisa A. Rossbacher introduced the ceremony and shared that the combined years of service for all the honorees and retirees totaled 781 years. The list of Outstanding Staff and Outstanding Faculty who were honored include: Jeff Hughes, Linda Lewis, Debbie Patrick, Elizabeth Martin, Javier Irizarry, Lance Crimm, Ann Parker and Rajnish Singh. Congratulations to all the SPSU 2008 award recipients, without a doubt you have earned your special recognition from our university.

Spring commencement set to be the largest
The Executive Vice President and General Manager of the largest employer of Southern Polytechnic State University graduates, Lee Rhyant of Lockheed Martin, will serve as the keynote speaker during the University’s 91st commencement ceremony on Sat., May 10, at 2 p.m.

Celebrating its largest graduating class in university history, SPSU will be conferring approximately 263 undergraduate and 68 graduate degrees during the commencement ceremony. A total of 331 students from 40 different countries and 17 different states will be recognized at spring commencement. The event is open to the public and will be held in the Gymnasium located on the south end of campus.

SPSU’s professional bodybuilder
Congratulations to Cynthia Clayton, secretary to the vice president for Business and Finance, who won first place at the Super Natural Bodybuilding and Fitness (SNBF) competition on Sat., Apr. 12. She has been training for 13 years, eight of which have been at the competitive level. Hard to believe because of her youthful appearance, Ms. Clayton has three sons ranging from fifteen to mid twenties. For her, bodybuilding began simply as a way to stay in shape. Today she greatly enjoys the opportunity she has to inspire others through bodybuilding. In October 2007, she won first place in the SNBF novice division competition and in November 2008 she will be competing in a bodybuilding competition at the professional level. Let's all wish her continued success!

Welcome Vanessa Buck
Say hello to a new face on campus. As of Apr. 14, SPSU has a new Assistant Controller of Daily Operations. Vanessa Buck joins us from the Medical College of Georgia. She is a graduate of Augusta State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and in Management Information Systems, as well as a Master of Business Administration. She will be working alongside Arthur Vaughn in the Office of Fiscal Affairs. Welcome aboard, Vanessa!

Marietta Center for Advanced Academics teams up with SPSU
The combined efforts of SPSU and the Marietta Center for Advanced Academics (MCAA) is expected to help advance the MCAA school’s third through fifth grade Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs. SPSU professors will share their knowledge in STEM areas via class visits, online and live conference meetings, and other information-sharing opportunities. In return, SPSU will have increased awareness of the university’s programs among the Marietta community.

Professor receives grant
According to the United States Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, Dr. Tom Rotnem, associate professor of Political Science in the Social and International Studies Department, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant. The grant allows him to lecture and conduct research at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in the Russian Federation during the 2008-2009 academic year. Congratulations, Dr. Rotnem.

Flowers of appreciation
The Social and Community Building Committee distributed flowers across campus to all secretarial, clerical and administrative support staff on Wed., Apr. 23, Administrative Professionals Day. “This was the first year in what hopefully will continue as a tradition that the committee distributed flowers,” said Sharon Hodge, secretary to the Dean School of Architecture, Civil Engineering Technology and Construction. “The committee is constantly striving to find new avenues to promote camaraderie among the employees of SPSU - we wanted the Secretarial/Clerical/Administrative Support staff to know how much they are appreciated on this special day.”

Duke TIP ceremony
SPSU will host the 2008 7th Grade Talent Search state recognition ceremony. This is an annual event that is sponsored by the Duke University Talent Identification Program (TIP). There are ceremonies held throughout a 16-state region. This year, there were 5,977 students in the 7th grade talent search for Georgia, of those, 1,759 students qualified for state recognition. The ceremony will be held in the Gymnasium at 2 p.m. on Sat., May 17.

Volume 1, Issue 7
Apr. 30, 2008