The faces of the Welcome Center
How do visitors find their way amid the hustle and bustle of our campus? The answer is the Welcome Center. It is the place where guests and new and prospective students generally receive their first impression of SPSU. The Welcome Center is essentially the front door of SPSU. Inside, visitors are warmly greeted by Kathryn Creech, transfer enrollment counselor, who serves as the directory for the university, helping students with the enrollment process, and also pointing people in the right direction as they navigate the campus. The Welcome Center also houses a group of departments that work together including; Enrollment Services, Admissions, Records and Graduate Studies. Everyone benefits from their services. So stop by the Welcome Center in the Administration Building sometime and say hello to the gang.

SPSU partners with Yaounde students for MBA
Last semester Dr. Ronny Richardson, department chair of Business Administration, spent two weeks in Yaounde, Cameroon, Africa teaching MBA students at the P.K. Fokam Institute of Excellence as part of a collaborative program between the Institute and SPSU. The six students Dr. Richardson taught will come to SPSU in the fall to study in the U.S. for one year. After their studies here they will return to Yaounde to complete their degree. At the end of the program, the students will have an MBA from both SPSU and the P.K. Fokam Institute of Excellence.

The P.K. Fokam Institute of Excellence was established in 2007 by Dr. Paul Fokam, president of the Afriland First Bank, which he co-founded in 1987. Dr. Fokam established the Institute of Excellence to create a cadre of leaders in Africa who can spearhead the economic development of Africa, as well as promote its culture.

SPSU professor appointed to advisory board of biometrics company
Dr. Chih-Chen Hung, professor of Computer Science at SPSU, was recently appointed to the advisory board of IDBIOMETRICS, an Atlanta- based company that develops technology in digital video surveillance, identification with facial recognition software and biometrics analytics. Company officials will be relying on Dr. Hung’s experience to help guide their product development.  More information about the company can be found at www.idbiometricsinc.com .

Industrial Engineering Technology professor publishes paper
Dr. Christina Scherrer, assistant professor in the Industrial Engineering Technology department at SPSU, has collaborated with Georgia Institute of Technology professor Paul Griffin on research of dynamic pricing for project-oriented production. They have authored a paper on their findings that was published in a recent issue of Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management.

SPSU's first All-American
SPSU men’s soccer star Mamadou “Futty” Danso received yet another award, this time at the national level. After being named the 2008 Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) Player of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, First Team Selection ('07 and '08) and Newcomer of the Year ('07), Danso was honored by the NAIA as a member of the 2008 All-American Honorable Mention Team. Danso had an outstanding season for the Hornets. He led the SSAC in goals, shots, shots on goal and points per game. He was also in the top five nationally in all those categories.

National Selection Panelist for Gilman International Scholarship Program
Dr. Bernice M. Nuhfer-Halten, professor and language coordinator in the Social and International Studies department, recently served on the National Selection Panel for the Gilman International Scholarship Program which is administered by the Institute of International Education (IIE). The Gilman International Scholarship Program provides funding for study abroad to students who are underrepresented, are in underrepresented fields and/or are studying in underrepresented destinations. 

News to share
If your department has an upcoming event or news to share with the campus community, please send an e-mail with all the pertinent information to pr@spsu.edu for it to appear in a future issue of the Hornet's Nest.

Volume 2, Issue 1
January 7, 2009