Summer schedule for SPSU
This summer, SPSU will once again adopt a schedule of four-day work weeks from Mon., May 30 through Fri., July 29.

May 30 is the Memorial Day holiday, and the campus will be open regular hours Tuesday through Friday of that week.

Beginning Mon., June 6, employees will expand their work days to 10 hours. The standard work schedule will be Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a 30-minute break for lunch. Employees may not skip lunch in order to leave work 30 minutes early. The university will be closed on Fridays.

However, because the the university will observe Mon., July 5th as a holiday, the campus will be open Tuesday through Friday of that week, and employees will return to 8-hour workdays on those four days.

If you have any questions about the summer schedule, please check with your supervisor or the Office of Human Resources at ext. 7331.

SPSU student team headed to Steel Bridge nationals

The SPSU student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) took first place in the ASCE Regional Steel Bridge competition at Tennessee Tech University on March 23-25 and is bound for the National ASCE Competition at Texas A&M on May 20-21.

Teams were judged on construction speed as well as the lightness, display, stiffness, economy and efficiency of their bridges. Bridges in ASCE competitions are generally 21-22 feet long and can weigh around 250 pounds.

“We did very well against some impressive schools,” said the SPSU team’s faculty advisor, Prof. Michael Orlandella.

The University of Florida was initially named the Southeastern U.S. champion, but was subsequently disqualified due to a technicality. Among the 18 schools SPSU faced down were Auburn and Vanderbilt universities, the University of Tennessee and the University of South Florida.

This year’s student team consists of Brandi Bartlett, Jason Harrington, Alex Kleinert, Justin Messer, Phi Nguyen, O'luwabiyi Oladapo, Heath Spector and Nick Thornton.

We wish them the best of luck representing SPSU at the National ASCE Competition.

ETC ribbon cutting
SPSU administrators joined with faculty, staff, students and alumni from the School of Engineering Technology and Management, Division of Engineering, invited guests and industry representatives to celebrate the official opening of the Engineering Technology Center (ETC) on April 26.

A major ice storm postponed the building’s original ribbon-cutting ceremony in January, and the late-spring weather was much more cooperative as the crowd gathered in the glass-walled ETC lobby to listen to keynote speaker Shan Cooper of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. She let students know in no uncertain terms that they will be welcomed to Lockheed’s workforce.

“We will need to hire an estimated 3,000 workers over the next year,” noted Lockheed Martin’s new vice president and general manager of the company’s Marietta plant. “So, if you see me running around campus, I’m recruiting!”

SPSU President Dr. Lisa A. Rossbacher shared ribbon-cutting duties with SPSU alumnus Jim J. Hills, ’77, president of Applied Technical Services. The ETC’s Engineering Materials Lab was named for Applied Technical Services in recognition of a recent major gift contributed to the university.

Prof. Glenn Allen delivers Teacher of the Year talk
Prof. Glenn Allen, SPSU’s 2010-2011 Teacher of the Year and program director of Mechatronics Engineering, was celebrated by his students and colleagues as he gave his April 20 Teacher of the Year presentation on a project near and dear to his heart.

Dr. Zvi Szafran, vice president for Academic Affairs, told those who attended the presentation that students who nominated Prof. Allen for the Teacher of the Year Award praised him for his ability to inspire passion in his students. “He is a very devout teacher and mentor,” declared one of these students.

Prof. Allen has been a member of the faculty since 1995 and holds two degrees from SPSU, a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering technology and a master of science in computer science. He was recognized with the Outstanding Faculty Award in 1996, 2004 and 2010.

His talk focused on project management and scheduling software that he has spent several years developing in collaboration with Dr. Gordon Davis, an adjunct professor in industrial and systems engineering at Georgia Tech.

SPSU alumnus and trustee donates $10,000 to Engineering Innovation Scholarship Fund
SPSU’s Engineering Innovation Scholarship Fund has received two gifts totaling $10,000 from SPSU alumnus Daryle Higginbotham (’89, mechanical engineering technology) and his company, Marietta Non-Destructive Testing Inc. Higginbotham is the vice chair of the SPSU Foundation Board of Trustees.

The scholarship was established in August 2010 with a seed gift of $5,000 from Higginbotham, an amount he matched in late April. The scholarship’s intent is to provide educational funding for deserving engineering and engineering technology students and to encourage them to pursue a college education with a focus on innovation.

To reach endowed status, the scholarship fund must reach $25,000 and already has $10,250 towards this goal.

Faculty and staff members may contribute to this scholarship through the SPSU Foundation at any time and/or by electing payroll deductions during the 2012 Faculty and Staff Campaign. For more information, contact Kit Trensch, director of development, at ext. 7307 or ktrensch@spsu.edu.

SPSU degree tops $1 million in value; 5th highest college ROI in Georgia
According to a report released in April by Bloomberg Businessweek, the return on investment (ROI) students enjoy with an SPSU degree is rivaled in Georgia only by degrees from Georgia Tech, Emory University, the University of Georgia (UGA) and Georgia State University (GSU).  That makes an SPSU degree the fourth most valuable offered by the state’s public universities, and the fifth highest of all universities in the state.

The ROI in the study was determined by comparing how much it cost to get a degree versus how much graduates earned over the course of their careers.

The “What’s Your College Worth?” annual ranking of U.S. colleges and universities’ ROI was compiled for the first time last year when Bloomberg Businessweek teamed up with PayScale, which maintains a national employee-compensation database. In addition to tuition and fees and graduates’ salaries, the calculations also took into account six-year graduation rates and the amount of local, state, federal and institutional grant aid awarded to a school’s undergraduates.

An in-state graduate’s degree from SPSU carries a 30-year net ROI of $1,011,000 without financial aid and $1,038,000 with financial aid (compared to $1,349,000 at Georgia Tech without aid and $1,387,000 with aid).

The full Businessweek report is available online.

MET professor presents at conference
Dr. David Veazie, professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) and director of SPSU’s Center for Advanced Materials Research and Education (CAMRE), presented at the 2011 Global Health & Humanitarian Summit at Emory University on April 1-3.

His paper focused on “Advanced Materials for Infrastructure Applications in Developing Countries for Sustainability, Cost & Ease of Construction.” The annual summit aims to create a global movement for change by inspiring individuals and organizations to become active in humanitarian volunteerism.

Computer forensics class is on the case

Teams of students from Prof. Richard Austin’s Computer Forensics course recently visited the offices of a fictional software company, where they practiced using the knowledge and skills gained in class to perform tasks common to an on-scene digital investigation.

Working in teams of four, the students had to properly collect evidence for potential court proceedings and use proper procedures to identify, document and photograph any and all relevant items found at the scene.

New IT specialist for Scholarships and Financial Aid office
Nathan Roberts has been hired as the financial aid information technology (IT) systems support specialist in the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid. He will be in charge of handling batch processes for scholarship and loans as well as supporting the IT needs of the office.

Roberts graduated from Liberty University in 2010 with a multidisciplinary studies degree in business and computer management information systems. He comes to SPSU from Kennesaw State University, where he did application support development for faculty and staff, among other tasks.

Hornets eliminated from SSAC Tournament, await word on bid to NAIA Championship
The Hornets baseball team fell short of its goal of winning the Southern States Athletics Conference (SSAC) Tournament in Columbus, Ga. on Mon., May 2. However, there is still a chance the team will receive an at-large bid to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Baseball National Championship.

SPSU, seeded No. 3 in the SSAC East, lost to Faulkner University (the No. 2 seed in the SSAC West) 4-8 in the opening round of the conference tournament. The Hornets then rallied to win a game against Lee University – the top-ranked team in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics – 7-4 the following day. On Mon., May 2, SPSU lost to Shorter University (No. 4 in the SSAC East) 4-3. It was a heartbreaking loss for the Hornets, who had maintained a substantial lead right up until the ninth inning of the game, eliminating SPSU from the tournament. The team expects to hear whether a trip to the nationals is in the cards within the next several days.

Led by Coach Matt Griffin, the team has an overall record of 40-15 for the 2011 season and is ranked No. 18 in this week’s NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll.

FYI – The SPSU Foundation will not be disbursing checks this week. Disbursements will resume on Fri., May 13. If you have questions or concerns about this, please call ext. 7351.

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 16
May 4, 2011