Dr. Becky Rutherfoord appointed to new administrative position
Dr. Zvi Szafran, vice president for Academic Affairs, recently announced the appointment of Dr. Becky Rutherfoord, a member of the information technology program faculty, as associate vice president for Institutional Effectiveness.

“There is an increasing emphasis at the federal, state, accreditation agency and Board of Regents level for greater accountability from universities – to be able to prove we’re actually accomplishing what we say we’re accomplishing,” said Dr. Szafran. “Becky has been our campus leader in outcomes assessment and took the leadership role in SPSU’s most recent and successful SACS reaccreditation. This appointment will carry forward into the future the critical work that she has been doing.”

Dr. Rutherfoord – who will continue to teach and serve as coordinator of the bachelor’s degree programs in Information Technology – will work closely with Dave Cline, director of the Office of Institutional Research, and Bob Homer, coordinator of Assessment. She will also work with deans and department chairs to coordinate comprehensive program review and ongoing Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation requirements, as well as initiatives to improve student graduation and success rates.

Rubble-House project: Rubble with a cause
What could be more fun for polytechnic faculty members and students than to build a house and then have a blast destroying it? Especially when it’s for a good cause?

Dr. Fatih Oncul in the School of Architecture, Civil Engineering Technology and Construction Management and Division of Engineering professors Dr. Wasim Barham and Dr. Metin Oguzmert are overseeing a joint project with the humanitarian relief organization Conscience International.

In less than three weeks, volunteer students and faculty members will build a house from concrete rubble and “destructively test” (read demolish) it in the grassy area between Howell Hall and the Atrium Building (J).

Conscience International has spent the past year building new homes from the rubble created by the January 2010 earthquake that left so many Haitians homeless. The group needs scientific data to support its belief that, not only are these houses easy and inexpensive to build, but they also provide greatly improved safety over traditional concrete block-built homes, in the event of another earthquake. 

SPSU faculty members are being encouraged to use the Rubble-House project as a learning opportunity for their students. 

Drs. Oncul, Barham and Oguzmert are supervising the volunteers in loading rubble into wire frame baskets that will serve as the walls of the structure and then covering them with concrete. The volunteers are using only simple hand tools – no power tools.  

Construction, which started on Aug. 23, will wrap up around Sept. 12 if the weather cooperates. After the structure is completed, its durability will be tested a few days later.

For more information or to volunteer, contact Dr. Oncul at ext. 3267 or foncul@spsu.edu.

Please support the Faculty/Staff Campaign
It’s time once again to show your support of SPSU through the 2011 Faculty and Staff Campaign, which kicks off tomorrow and concludes on Fri., Sept. 30.

Your gift will help the Advancement Office reach its goal of 100 percent participation in this year’s campaign and to raise $50,000.

Robert Forbes, director of Procurement, and Pam Frinzi, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology, have agreed to serve as campaign co-chairs. Each department on campus has been assigned a volunteer who will promote the campaign and will be available to answer any questions.

The Advancement Office will continue to serve as an award-winning model of efficiency by conducting a largely paperless, online campaign. Further details are available at university advancement/giving.

John Mench and students receive ASHRAE Chapter
of the Year Award
SPSU’s student chapter of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning (ASHRAE) has been recognized as the Best Chapter of the Year in Region IV of ASHRAE.

To commemorate this recognition, the chapter’s faculty advisor, Dr. John Mench, a senior lecturer in the Construction Management Department, was presented with the Randolph E. (Buddy) Williams Memorial Award early this month during a regional meeting of the officers of ASHRAE student chapters held in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Region IV includes North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

Mench has been the chapter’s advisor for the past eight years. He and the SPSU students who participate in ASHRAE plan several field trips each semester and invite industry experts to speak at chapter meetings. They also attend monthly educational seminars presented by the Atlanta chapter of ASHRAE.

SPSU Foundation has new leadership
The SPSU Foundation Board of Trustees has new leadership in place for 2011-2012:

• Chair: Daryle Higginbotham, president of Marietta NDT;

• Vice Chair: Don Davidson, president of Inglett & Stubbs, LLC;

• Treasurer: Clark Hungerford, executive vice president of Vinings Bank; and

• Immediate Past Chair: Wes Cantrell, retired chairman and CEO of Lanier Worldwide.

Other Executive Board members include:

• Bill Darden, president of Darden and Company, LLC; and

• Chip Nelson, president and CEO of Cobb Electric Membership Corporation.

Higginbotham, Cantrell, Davidson, Darden and Nelson are all SPSU alumni.

Former NASA aerospace engineer to give lecture
Charles D. Carter, a former NASA aerospace technician, will speak at SPSU on Tues., Sept. 6, about NASA, the Apollo space program and the key vehicles that helped make lunar missions successful.

Carter personally worked on the Saturn IB, Saturn V and Skylab vehicles, which were all important components of the Apollo missions. He contributed to their mechanical and electrical systems by assisting in the assembly of the Service Module, Lunar Module, Launch Escape System and more. His speech will focus on how it took a team of individuals with different skills to make these space vehicles possible.

The lecture will take place 3-4:15 p.m. in Q-202. For more information, contact Dr. Adeel Khalid at ext. 7241 or akhalid2@spsu.edu.

Two new book clubs established
Book lovers and those who relish pondering weighty topics will welcome the news that the campus has two new reading and discussion groups this fall.

Faculty and staff members, as well as campus administrators, are invited to participate in a new reading group focusing on leadership development. The group’s meetings will be co-sponsored by Dr. Julie Newell, chair of the Social and International Studies Department, and Dr. Becky Rutherfoord, associate vice president for Institutional Effectiveness and coordinator of the bachelor’s degree programs in Information Technology.

The Leadership Development Reading Group will meet every other Friday at noon in the Student Center, beginning Fri., Sept. 9. Dr. Newell has selected as the first book “How Remarkable Women Lead: The Breakthrough Model for Work and Life,” by Joanna Barsh, Susie Cranston and Geoffrey Lewis. Everyone is encouraged to read along with the group and attend meetings whenever possible.

For more information, contact Dr. Newell at ext. 7442 or jnewell@spsu.edu.

The Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) has also formed a book club as part of its efforts to promote the scholarship of teaching and learning at SPSU. Faculty members who join the group will receive copies of “On Course” by James M. Lang and meet every Friday from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the CTE (H-202) to discuss different aspects of teaching, student learning and scholarship. This week’s discussion, scheduled for Fri., Sept. 2, will focus on improving classroom lectures.

For more information about the CTE book club, contact Dr. Adeel Khalid, an assistant professor in the Systems Engineering Program and a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Scholar, at ext. 7241 or akhalid2@spsu.edu.

Have news to share?
If your department has an upcoming event or other news to share with the campus community, please send an e-mail with all the pertinent information to Diane Payne (dpayne@spsu.edu). To be considered for use in a specific issue of the SPSU Hornet’s Nest, a news item must be submitted no less than four weeks before the date of the issue.

Volume 4, Issue 33
Aug. 31, 2011