Dear colleagues,
I hope you had a safe and enjoyable spring break. Welcome back as we resume academic instruction and head toward the joys of May commencement ceremonies.
I thank everyone who attended the recent town hall meeting regarding the budget situation for the upcoming fiscal year. We had more than 1,100 students, faculty and staff in attendance, and more than 100 others viewed the meeting on GSU's Web site. I sincerely appreciate this high level of participation by our campus community in this important dialogue as we work with state lawmakers and the University System of Georgia Board of Regents to navigate this historically challenging budget climate. We will continue to update you as the situation evolves over coming weeks and days.
Since the time of our town hall meeting we already know that Governor Perdue has publicly stated that he feels that higher education has already taken its fair share of budget cuts, and that any further cuts should be at levels much lower than the $300 million figure that had prompted particular concern. Things are looking a little brighter and we might not have to cut as much as we originally thought. I assure you that I will continue meeting with key legislators in support of the System's efforts to reduce these cuts.
Moving from the state budget to campus activity, I am pleased to announce an important change to three awards ceremonies that occur each spring at Georgia State. This year, the President's Award for Community Service and Social Action, Sparks and Milestone ceremonies are being combined to create the 2010 GSU Service Recognition Ceremony. We believe that combining these three events presents the best opportunity for the recipients to be appropriately recognized and honored by our university community. I look forward to seeing you at the ceremony, which will be held April 13 at 2 p.m. in the Student Center Ballroom, with a reception immediately following. If you have questions, please contact Virginia Brown in the Division of University Relations at 404-413-1359 or vbrown@gsu.edu.
Finally, I sincerely thank each of you who voted for me in the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy's "The Battle of the CEOs." It was because of your strong support that on March 1 I was recognized at the meeting of the Downtown Atlanta Rotary as the winner of this friendly competition among Georgia executives and college presidents. Thank you for helping GSU to shine in this effort to highlight the importance of reading to children.
Again, thank you for all you do to create and foster a creative and innovative learning experience at GSU, especially during these difficult budgetary times.
Sincerely,
Mark P. Becker
President
Prof gets Department of Energy grant
A Georgia State University chemist and his colleagues are among a just a few teams in the country who have been given access to powerful supercomputers by the U.S. Department of Energy to model the mechanisms surrounding the replication and repair of DNA. This research may lead to further understanding about basic processes underlying cancer and degenerative diseases.
The Environmental Programs staff, lead by Peter Farina and Mike Thompson, received high marks in GSU's first environmental audit by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Board of Regents. The week-long audit inspected laboratories, facilities, and everything related to environmental safety on campus. According to the audit, Georgia State University "set the bar" thus far from the 17 schools audited.
Georgia State University law students have won two regional championship titles in mock trial competitions and will advance to the national finals in late March.
The Division of University Relations accepted the grand award for magazine design at the Division III conference of the Council of Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
Mathematics undergraduate students Nyasha Hamilton, Teresa Nguyen and Robert Xu won second place and Thomas Polstra along with a student from another university won third place at the Eagle Undergraduate Math Conference at Georgia Southern University on March 6.
Elgin Andrews, doctoral student in kinesiology and exercise physiology, received a Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Minority Access to Research Careers Program award. Elgin will be presenting his research, "Structured Physical Activity can Co-Exist with Improvements in Academic Performance in an After-School Setting," at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine June 3 in Baltimore.
Dan Benardot, professor of nutrition, helped to prepare the U.S. figure skating ice dance teams for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Les Janis, director of the Georgia Career Information Center, received the President's Award from the Association of Computer-based Systems for Career Information in recognition of his exceptional service to the association and his work as a study panel member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Send "Kudos!" to newsletter@gsu.edu.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Chandler Brown.