Dear colleagues,
After years of hard work by many people, football has finally arrived at Georgia State University. I hope you will join me Thursday at 7:30 p.m. for GSU's inaugural football game against Shorter University. You can view a video invitation to the game here.
In addition to the game, there are a variety of tailgating and other activities associated with the kickoff of Panther football. Click here for more information.
The addition of football -- with all of the traditions and celebrations that come with it -- brings a new level of excitement and energy to GSU. High quality academic programs have been our bread and butter for nearly a century, now we are rounding out the collegiate experience for our alumni and students. In fact, I know from personal experiences too numerous to count that the launch of football has created a GSU buzz that stretches well beyond our campus community. Everywhere I go people are talking about GSU's rising profile. I assure you that tomorrow night at the Georgia Dome will be an experience like none ever before in the history of Georgia State University.
It also gives me great pleasure to extend kudos to Dr. Yi Pan, chair of the Department of Computer Science. Professor Pan was recently recognized to be an outstanding alumnus by the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Tsinghua University (Beijing, China). Of the more than 4,000 graduates of the department, only 14 have been selected to receive this honor. Dr. Pan received B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees from Tsinghua in 1982 and 1984, respectively. Tsinghua University, often called "the MIT of China," is widely considered to be the best engineering school in China, and one of the leading technological universities in the world. This is a tremendous personal honor for Professor Pan, and it is in recognition of his outstanding scholarship and leadership in building an outstanding computer science department here at GSU. I offer my sincere appreciation to Dr. Pan for his commitment and continued dedication to Georgia State University.
I hope you are having a productive fall semester, and I look forward to seeing you Thursday at the Dome. Go Panthers!
Sincerely,
Mark P. Becker
President
Alpharetta campus expands
Georgia State University recently opened its state-of-the-art Alpharetta academic facility. The 45,000-square-foot Alpharetta center on Brookside Parkway began serving students with 16 classrooms, including three large tiered "conference center" type classrooms, an open computer lab for student use, plenty of study areas and lots of parking.
GSU gearing up for 5-K
Georgia State University faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends are gearing up to take part in the annual Kaiser Permanente Corporate Run/Walk and Fitness Program on Sept. 16. The event passes through campus, and for the past five years GSU has won first place in the non-profit category for having the most participants. For more information, contact Debbie Rupp at dbrupp@gsu.edu.
An article in the August edition of Science magazine, titled "Partnerships for STEM Education," features GSU's PRISM project, including the work of former provost Ron Henry and Kathryn Kozaitis, chair of the department of anthropology.
The Mount Wilson Observatory, the historic observatory operated from Georgia State University and which hosts GSU's Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy, has been listed as a potential heritage site of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy.
Send "Kudos!" to newsletter@gsu.edu.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Chandler Brown.