Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist to speak at SPSU
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson will discuss her book, “The warmth of other suns,” with the SPSU community on Tues., Jan. 29 at 6 p.m. in the Student Center Theater.

Her book tells the story of African-Americans who left the South between 1915 and 1970 and moved to the Northeast, Midwest and West in search of a better life.

“The warmth of other suns” will be available for purchase in the SPSU bookstore, and Wilkerson will sign books after her presentation.

Wilkerson won the Pulitzer Prize for her work as Chicago bureau chief of The New York Times in 1994, making her the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize and the first African-American to win for individual reporting.

She has spoken on the topics of migration, social justice, urban affairs and 20th century history at universities across the country and in Europe. Wilkerson has also appeared on national programs such as CBS’ 60 Minutes, the NBC Nightly News, MSNBC and C-SPAN.

Construction Management gets IFMA accreditation certificate
Dr. Khalid Siddiqi, chair of the Construction Management department and Prof. John Mench, who retired last month as facilities management program director, recently attended an accreditation-certificate presentation ceremony, making official the accreditation by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) of SPSU’s Bachelor of Science in Construction Management degree with a concentration in facility management.

The IFMA has awarded SPSU four-year provisional accreditation. In the United States, there are eight undergraduate (four-year) accredited programs, and SPSU has the distinction of having the first baccalaureate-degree program in the state of Georgia.

Honors society established at SPSU for computing and information disciplines
The international honor society Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE) has approved SPSU’s application to form a new chapter, which will be known as the Lambda Chapter of Georgia.

UPE was first organized at Texas A&M University (College Station) in 1967 and now has approximately 250 chapters in the United States, as well as three international chapters. Its mission is to recognize academic excellence at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in the computing and information disciplines. UPE is endorsed by the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers Computer Society (IEEE-CS), the two international professional organizations for the computing and information disciplines.

“Thanks are due to Jonathan Lartigue [an assistant professor in the department of Computer Science and Software Engineering and a past UPE inductee] for his efforts to establish the chapter and to the Advancement Office for financially supporting the chartering process,” said Dr. Han Reichgelt, dean of the School of Computing and Software Engineering. “We expect to hold a formal induction ceremony this spring.”

UPE membership eligibility requires a 3.0 overall grade point average (GPA) with a 3.3 GPA in the major for undergraduates and a 3.6 GPA for graduate students. Honor society members are eligible to wear vestments and other regalia at graduation and also become eligible for many scholarship opportunities through both the ACM and the IEEE.

Prof. Lartigue will serve as the chapter’s faculty advisor.

Recent faculty news
• Dr. Don Ariail, coordinator of the Master of Science in Accounting program, was recently elected by the American Accounting Association (AAA) as an alternate director focusing on academic/practitioner interaction. The AAA, an organization of more than 8,000 members, is the national association for accounting professors. Dr. Ariail currently serves as the council representative (an officer position) and southeastern regional coordinator for the AAA’s Gender Issues and Work Life Balance Section and is a past president and secretary/treasurer of the section. He also serves the AAA in three other capacities: as co-chair of the Informing and Influencing Policy and Practice Task Force; and as a member of both the Council Committee on Awards Committee Members and the Notable and Distinguished Contributions to Accounting Literature Award Screening Committee.

SPSU Police department welcomes new staff members
The SPSU Police department has added five new employees:

John Barrows, a former criminal justice professor at Reinhardt University, comes to SPSU with 30 years of experience with the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office. He is the new lieutenant for the day shift and is responsible for the supervision of day-shift personnel, including three patrol officers, a sergeant and two dispatchers.

James Cadenhead is the new lieutenant of investigations. He has served as lead investigator for the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office and a crimes-against-children investigator for the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office. Cadenhead will serve as the primary crime-scene processor and the department’s records custodian.

There are three new patrol officers in the department: Keanna McNair, Brad Hogan and Josh Smith.

McNair comes to SPSU after serving as a patrol officer from the City of Orange (N.J. ) Police Department where she served in high-crime areas and life-threatening situations. She will work the evening shift.

Hogan comes to SPSU from the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office and is assigned to the morning shift.

Smith comes to SPSU from the Polk County Police Department with an extensive background in drug interdiction. He is assigned to the evening shift.

Please participate in SPSU Magazine survey
SPSU’s Office of Public Relations needs your help in evaluating the effectiveness of the SPSU Magazine.

The magazine is designed for alumni, faculty, staff, retirees and friends of the university and strives to provide information about SPSU’s people and programs. The print edition of the SPSU Magazine is sent by mail, and the digital version is available on the SPSU website.

Please take a few minutes to complete a short survey available at SPSU Magazine Survey and let us know your thoughts. This Web-based instrument asks about 20 questions and takes about 15 minutes to complete. The information provided will be invaluable.

Please respond by Jan. 21. The survey will be open until Thurs., Jan. 31.

Thank you for your participation. We look forward to receiving your feedback!

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 6, Issue 2
Jan. 16, 2013