Former SPSU professor wins award
Former SPSU Industrial Engineering Technology professor Larry Aft recently received the American Society for Quality (ASQ) 2008 Grant Medal at the group’s world conference on quality and improvement. The award recognizes outstanding leadership in the development and presentation of meritorious educational programs in quality.

Aft worked as a professor at SPSU for 31 years. He is currently the Director of Continuing Education and Program Development for the Institute of Industrial Engineers and leads instruction for many of the course seminars and other programs IIE provides to its members and customers.

The ASQ Grant Medal was awarded to Aft for outstanding contributions as a leader in the development of educational programs dedicated to the philosophies and technologies of the quality sciences, and for his unique leadership role and participation in establishing the quality profession as a direct function of the manufacturing and service industries.

Honors student graduation
Last week, a ceremony was held to recognized students for completion of the Honors program. These new graduates were presented with Honors cords for their success. Each of the students, listed below, will be graduating at the commencement ceremony on Sat., Aug. 1.

• Steven Larkin, Mechanical Engineering Technology
• Xingying Cheng, Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology
• Tianyi Li, Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology
• Michael Galyon, Information Technology
• Shibing Liu, Mechanical Engineering Technology

The University Honors program, started by Dr. Nancy Reichert in 2003 with only 23 students, has since grown to 190 students. To receive Departmental Honors, a student must complete six hours of upper-level Honors coursework. University Honors requires graduates to complete 18 hours of Honors credits with at least six hours as upper-level Honors courses. Students must also complete a thesis or capstone project and graduate with a minimum 3.4 GPA.

Congratulations to all of these hard-working graduates!

Head of Reference retires
SPSU's Steven Vincent, head of reference at the Lawrence V. Johnson Library has retired. The University says farewell to a professional who guided students through the early days of GALILEO, received letters of commendation from professors for his teaching, achieved tenure status and worked with expansions of the reference computer lab and database services.

On August 1, responsibility for Vincent’s work will go to library staffers temporarily. Please continue to address correspondence to “Steven” and it will be forwarded to the correct individual.

Leading the way
Leadership Cobb, the Cobb Chamber of Commerce's leadership development program, selected the participants for its 2009-10 class. Almost 200 people were nominated and Kit Trensch, director of development in the Office of Advancement, was selected to fill one of the 45 available positions.

The program, begun in 1983, is a premier leadership development program in the state of Georgia, engaging participants with the community and current issues, as well as the social, political and economic needs of Cobb County. Congratulations, Kit!

SPSU Assistant Men's Soccer Coach hired
John Sprague joins SPSU as the new men's soccer assistant coach.  Sprague joined the Hornets after three seasons at Concordia College-NY, an NCAA Division II school.

During his Concordia coaching career, he coached players who have gone pro both domestically and internationally.  Competing in the tough East Coast Conference (ECC), he coached the 2009 ECC Offensive Player of the Year, who led the country during the regular season in goals, goals per game and points per game.

Sprague played soccer at Division I school, St. John's University in Jamaica, NY.  During his two years there, they went to the Final 8 of the NCAA Tournament both years and won the Big East Tournament in 1998.  After two seasons, he transferred to Molloy College to complete his playing career.

Honors student poster presentation
Last week, several Honors students presented their capstone or thesis work in a poster session at the Student Center. The posters presented the results of several weeks of research on the students' chosen topics.

The event was organized by Dr. Nancy Reichert, director of the University Honors Program. Several students and faculty members came to the presentation, learning briefly about stirling engines, router network emulation, game-based learning and other topics.

The honors students represented several engineering and technology majors: electrical and computer engineering technology, industrial engineering technology, mechanical engineering technology, information technology, and computer science and software engineering. Presenters included students who worked as research assistants for the HNRS 3002 Honors Research classes with faculty members Drs. Kai Qian and Jon Preston, professors in the School of Computing and Software Engineering.

Wellness and Recreation Center renovations
The SPSU Recreation and Wellness Center is receiving a much needed face lift this summer! The building will be closed while the flooring is repaired throughout the building. See upcoming events section on the right for the Rec Center's hours of operation and dates of closure.

Volume 2, Issue 15
July 29, 2009