Fall 2012 SPSU Magazine is here
The Fall 2012 issue of the SPSU Magazine – featuring a cover photo that involved a campus-wide undertaking, much coordination and cooperation – is now available for your reading pleasure. To view this issue, click on the following link: SPSU Magazine Fall 2012.

The SPSU Magazine is the official publication of Southern Polytechnic State University. It is dedicated to providing current university news to alumni, supporters, friends, faculty and staff.

In this issue, you’ll find articles about SPSU’s partnership with a leading industry organization, the meaningful impact of mentoring relationships, how SPSU is preparing the next generation of leaders in nuclear power and a unique mock-trial experience offered to the university’s accounting students. Of course, there’s much more to explore, including the revamping of Hornet athletics, the story of a former SPSU student who played baseball professionally before becoming a lawyer and the retirement of SPSU’s international programs leader.

If you wish to receive a physical copy of this publication, please e-mail your request to pr@spsu.edu.

CGDD student, former student recognized at Meaningful Play Conference for educational game
Computer game design and development (CGDD) senior Ryan Silvera and former CGDD student William Moore recently placed second in a student-projects competition held during the Meaningful Play 2012 Conference at Michigan State University in Lansing.

Meaningful Play is a conference on theory, research and game design innovations, principles and practices. It brings scholars and industry professionals together to understand and improve upon games that entertain, inform, educate and persuade in meaningful ways.

In collaboration with TechMatters and the assistance of students and faculty from the Marietta Center for Advanced Academics and Brumby Elementary School, Silvera and Moore developed the educational game, Arithmetects, as a student project for the CGDD course “Educational and serious game design” (CGDD 4303). The game reinforces the learning standards for third- through fifth-grade students in the areas of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

After beating out approximately 50 other student projects in the Meaningful Play Conference competition and creating positive buzz for their game, Silvera and Moore have returned home to complete work on Arithmetects with the goal of having schools across Georgia use it to help children learn math skills.

New Media Arts program receives $25,000 gift
The English, Technical Communication, and Media Arts (ETCMA) department has received a $25,000 gift from the Vasser Woolley Foundation in support of the Bachelor of Arts in New Media Arts program.

The department plans to use the funds for a range of needs, including a speaker series, software and equipment for a media arts studio, the development of an online virtual gallery and a campus art walk and reception.

After meeting Susan Cofer, a member of the Vasser Woolley Foundation Board at an event, SPSU President Lisa A. Rossbacher involved the university’s development staff in further cultivating a relationship with the Vasser Woolley Foundation that involved a campus visit and tour. On learning more about the organization’s funding priorities, the development staff worked with the New Media Arts department to develop a proposal.

The Atlanta-based Vasser Woolley Foundation was created to memorialize one of more than 100 prominent Atlanta arts patrons killed in a plane crash at Orly Field in Paris in 1962. The foundation counts higher education among its areas of special interest.

Architecture professor recognized by AIA Georgia
Dr. William Carpenter, professor of architecture, received the Bernard B. Rothschild Award from The American Institute of Architects Georgia (AIA Georgia) at the organization’s Design and Honor Awards presentation held in December at the Savannah College of Art and Design-Atlanta.

The Bernard B. Rothschild Award is the highest award given by AIA Georgia and recognizes the most distinguished service to the profession of architecture in the state of Georgia by an architect who exemplifies the principles of the profession.

A fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) and a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design accredited professional (LEED AP), Dr. Carpenter has spent 25 years in the field and is the founder and president of Lightroom, a nationally recognized design firm in Decatur, Ga. He has been teaching architectural design, design-build, and theory and criticism at SPSU for 20 years. He is also a past president of AIA Georgia and currently serves on the AIA’s National Board of Directors.

Large group of Honors faculty, students present at NCHC Conference
Eight students and five faculty members representing the University Honors Program presented at the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) Conference in Boston Nov. 14-18.

Assistant Honors Director Ann Parker, Director Nancy Reichert, and Honors faculty members Dr. Jeff Orr (Advising, Tutoring, Testing Disability Services, Multicultural Affairs and International Student Center) and Dr. Iraj Omidvar (English, Technical Communication and Media Arts) took part in the Developing in Honors sessions. Parker addressed honors housing issues in her session; Dr. Reichert discussed elitism and honors programs; and Dr. Orr and Dr. Omidvar presented information concerning the “City as Text” study-abroad classes.

Parker was also part of a panel presentation entitled “Creating an honors culture upon a community foundation” with Honors students Mitchell Furtner and Meredith Shaddix. Reichert also was part of a panel presentation entitled “Expanding the honors community: New roles for non-traditional honors students.” Honors students Nathan Atkins, Cole Borton and Shannon Hames were the other SPSU members of this panel. Dr. Omidvar also took part in a panel presentation, where he and Honors student Jake Robinson presented the work they did for the Honors World Literature II class. The presentation was titled “What the other teaches us: Transformative learning in an Honors world literature course.”

Dr. William Griffiths (mathematics) also presented at the conference. He and Honors students David Ash, Jamilah-Renay Bouge and Jonathan Tilenis presented their work in a panel entitled “Structure of the honors calculus sequence.” Griffiths also took part in a poster session showcasing his work with an interdisciplinary math class taught in fall 2010.

Call for volunteers for 2013 Future City Competition
Join the fun on Jan. 26, 2013, when SPSU hosts the Georgia Regional Future City Competition for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students who have been working in teams to design a city of the future.

Future City is the only national engineering competition for middle school students and has gained widespread attention and acclaim for its role in encouraging an interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Combining research, the use of SimCity4 Deluxe software and hands-on model making, Future City helps students discover how they can make a difference in the world through creative problem-solving and teamwork.

Currently, more than 100 teams of students from across the state are scheduled to participate in the Georgia Regional Competition at SPSU on Sat., Jan. 26.

Please help support this educational opportunity for young students by volunteering. Faculty and alumni are invited to review and judge the students projects. SPSU students are also invited to help out as event staff for all or part of the day.

For more information on Future City volunteer opportunities, please visit Future City or check out “Future City Competition Georgia Region” on Facebook. To sign up, contact the Georgia Regional Coordinator, Dr. Tony Rizzuto, associate professor of architecture, at trizzuto@spsu.edu.

SPSU stuffs a bus and provides toys for tots
SPSU’s long-standing holiday tradition of donating stuffed animals, toys and games, and food to low-income families in Cobb County continued this year.

Mountains of stuffed teddy bears, polar bears, puppies, kittens and other critters – 146 of them, at final count – temporarily took over the President’s Office in December as faculty and staff contributed to the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots drive. And simultaneously, the SPSU Social and Community Building Committee collected more stuffed animals, toys, games and food from students, faculty and staff for the Stuff-a-Bus campaign jointly organized by Cobb Christmas, Inc., the Cobb County Department of Transportation and Cobb Community Transit (CCT).

The Stuff-a-Bus donations were loaded onto a CCT bus just after the Faculty/Staff Annual Holiday Luncheon on Dec. 10.

Meanwhile, navigating through SPSU President Lisa A. Rossbacher’s office suite got much easier on Dec. 12 after Major Seth MacCutcheon (accompanied by Ms. SPSU Tiane McKoy) arrived to pick up all the stuffed animals and other toys that had occupied nearly every available surface since Thanksgiving. Like the Stuff-a-Bus drive, Toys for Tots helps to provide Christmas cheer for needy children.

Elsewhere on campus, Student Life coordinated the collection of toys and gifts of clothing for 12 children at Hollydale Elementary School whose families were in need of assistance by participating in the school’s Angel Tree project.

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 5, Issue 47
Dec. 19, 2012