Dear colleagues,
As an exciting and eventful fall semester begins to wind down, there are various opportunities to celebrate the holidays on campus. I invite each of you to join Laura and me this weekend for the GSU School of Music's 13th annual Gala Holiday Concert. There are two shows: Saturday, Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 5 at 3 p.m. at GSU's Rialto Center for the Arts. More than 200 student and faculty musicians will perform as part of this university-wide celebration of the season. Please see the calendar at the bottom of the page for a list of additional events.
As you may know, there is an effort underway to get GSU Head Football Coach Curry nominated for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award. The Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award provides each coach with $50,000 to donate to the charity or charities of his choice, as well as a $20,000 grant to donate to his school's alumni association. According to Liberty Mutual, the award celebrates responsible coaching and a commitment to excellence both on and off the field, and Coach Curry certainly embodies these qualities. Voting is free and runs through December 4. Click here if you'd like to vote for Coach Curry.
Like so many of you, this is a time of year when I reflect on the many people and opportunities for which I am thankful. Here at Georgia State University, even as we navigate through what has been a long and difficult economic cycle, we have much to be thankful for. Our university faces its challenges, but unlike so many others we can honestly look to the future with optimism because of the promise of continued growth and development. Georgia State is on the move, and in the coming months and years we will have the honor and joy of building a university that is even more accomplished and recognized for excellence than it is already. I thank each and every one of you for what you are doing, day in and day out, to make Georgia State the very best university that it can be.
Sincerely,
Mark P. Becker
President
School of Music reps visit China
The School of Music is opening a new chapter in its relationship with Renmin University in Beijing, China, sending four faculty members and four students to China for a series of meetings and workshops, as well as a special performance on Nov. 20. "This really is a celebration for us," said Dwight Coleman, director of the School of Music. "We have spent a couple of years now welcoming students from Renmin to our campus to study instrumental performance and voice. They have been a terrific asset to our programs and our students. Their cultural sharing has contributed richly to our classes - now we get to return the favor and share our talents in their homeland."
Law team headed to nationals
The Georgia State University College of Law Student Trial Lawyers Association's first mock arbitration team made a spectacular showing at the American Bar Association's Regional Arbitration Competition held November 13-14 at the University of Northern Kentucky's Chase Law School. The team now heads to the national competition.
Model U.N. teams sweep up awards
In November, GSU's Model United Nations teams continued the tradition of excellent debate and simulations by gaining top awards. The 46 students represented four nations: China, Syria, Algeria and Kazakhstan. Each of the four teams won awards: China won the Outstanding Delegation Award; Algeria and Syria won the Distinguished Delegation Awards; and Kazakhstan won the Honorable Mention Award. Additionally, nine GSU students won the Outstanding Delegate Award in their committee, and GSU was represented in 10 committees.
Y. George Zheng, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, was awarded a $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. His team’s five-year project is aimed at developing and applying novel chemical strategies in prostate cancer research and developing protein arginine methylation inhibitors as therapeutic agents for disease intervention.
Adia Harvey Wingfield, assistant professor in the Department of Sociology, received $25,000 in funding from the Kauffman Foundation to study racial differences in motivations for entrepreneurship. The project will examine black, white and Latino business owners to assess the extent to which race affects their desire to pursue self-employment.
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