Title III Newsletter Volume 6 Issue 1

January 2014
Volume 6, Issue 1
A Message from the Title III Director…
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
Savannah State University’s Title III program provides funds to
improve and strengthen academic quality, institutional management,
fiscal stability, and student services. In addition, the Title III program at
SSU is designed to assist the university in strengthening its
infrastructure and developing “value added” academic programs.
Title III is funded through the U.S. Department of Education,
Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities Programs.
Title III programs consists of a variety of funded activities which facilitate
the achievement of academic enhancement, technology integration, and
academic building renovation (to name a few). Currently, there are 17
activities funded under the 2013-2014 Title III grant period.
I hope you find this newsletter interesting and informative. Stay
tuned and be on the lookout for more Title III news.
Welcome New Activity Directors
We would like to welcome two new
Activity Directors to the Title III family. We
know that they will be a great asset to our
Title III Team.
Phillip Cole ( Director of
Development) Started October 1st as the
Activity Director for the Building University
Capacity.
Wanda Lloyd (Department Chair
of Mass Communications) started
October 1st as the Activity Director for
the Mass Communications: Student
Media Center & learning Laboratories
(SAFRA) and sub Activity Director for
Mass Communication Accreditation.
Dedra N. Andrews
Title III Director
Table of Content
Message from
Director
1
New Activity
Directors
1
Funded Activities
2-3
School of Teacher
Education
4
First Lego League
5
Latino/Hispanic
Advising
5
Reminders
6
For the 2013-2014 grant period, Title III received $2,908,647 (Year-2) in funds for Strengthening
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and $1,048,561 (Year-4) in funds for
Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA).
Achieving Academic Excellence through Accreditation (Dr. Michael Crow) – To ensure that
the academic programs meet and/or exceed the quality standards for accreditation for existing
and new development areas within each college and provide for future program development.
Programs supported include: SACS, QEP, Mass Communications, and Engineering.
Strengthening the Center for Academic Success (Dr. April Gentry) – The center provides
personalized academic support services for all freshman and sophomore students. Services
include: 1) centralized advisement and mentoring to all freshmen and sophomore students; 2)
streamline registration and scheduling for all freshmen; 3) coordination of tutorial services; and
4) implementation of the early alert system for at-risk students.
Integrated Communication Technologies (Naomi Singleton) – The focus of this activity is to
enhance student communication technologies to improve student services and support to the
university community through: 1) increasing Banner efficiency; 2) improving the student
experience by providing web access to campus network resources; and 3) enhancing
technology adeptness through online services.
Academic Improvements through Building Renovations and Expansion (Arnold Jackson) –
To construct a 1,500 square foot addition and to renovate the auditorium (ADA accessible
dressing room) in Kennedy Fine Arts Building. These improvements will provide faculty, staff,
and students with the facilities they need to grow and sustain their commitment to academic
excellence and to effectively serve students enrolled in the Fine Arts Departments.
STEM 360 (Patrick Dean) – This activity will design and implement services to: 1) increase the
persistence rates of first time COST Sophomores with a focus on peer mentoring, tutoring, and
advisement and 2) promote awareness and outreach to local K-12 students during the
academic year and summer to increase the pipeline of students entering STEM programs.
Organizational Training & Development (Dr. Sandra Best) – Provide training strategies and
learning opportunities to enhance human capital by developing cross-training initiatives to
promote communication across organizational boundaries and improve customer service
delivery to students, internal and external constituents. This will include developing a training
program for full time employees to receive specialized training for enhancement in their area of
responsibility.
Sponsored Research and Scholarly Activity (Linda Meier) – An activity to enhance the
university’s ability to increase external funding to support instruction, research, faculty
development, and service programs. In addition, this activity will offer grant writing workshops,
travel awards, and technical support to develop faculty and staff that are interested in becoming
independent investigators and competitive researchers.
Building University Capacity (Phillip Cole) – An activity to strengthen the office of University
Advancement by implementing strategies to improve the development office and expand
financial resources for SSU. This includes: 1) growing the alumni database; 2) enhancing the
university’s image via various media outlets; and 3) increasing efficiency of staff through
training.
Enhancing the School of Teacher Education Program (Dr. Keenya Mosley) – This activity will
build the technology infrastructure that will prepare students to become future 6-12 STEM
teachers and expand collaborative partnerships with local surrounding school systems.
Career Retention & Coaching Track (Jacqueline Awe) – An activity to expand the scope of
career services to connect career planning to a student’s major and track on-going progression.
This initiative starts with a new freshmen cohort (yearly) that will track the amount of student
usage for career coaching, resume writing and other career related services over the next four
years.
Development of a Student Financial Literacy Program (Edward Jolley) – This activity will
provide guidance to students on the resources and methods to cover their financial needs.
Additionally, a financial literacy packet/guide will be developed for students and parents
(primary target will be all incoming freshmen).
Program Administration & Evaluation (Dedra N. Andrews) – Manages the Title III grant by
monitoring accomplishments of the program’s objectives and ensures compliance with policies
and procedures as required by the U.S. Dept. of Education and Savannah State University.
Forensic Science Program Development (Dr. Karla Sue Marriott) – This activity will support the
Forensic Science degree program through: 1) enhancement of laboratory equipment; 2)
research opportunities for faculty and students; and 3) professional development for faculty. In
addition, this activity will provide students majoring in forensic science hands-on experience in
the mock crime scene labs.
Enhance Instructional Facilities through Renovations & Repairs (Arnold Jackson) – This
activity will provide upgrades to the existing Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC)
systems in Hubert Tech B Building (first and second floor) to improve the teaching and learning
environment.
Mass Communications: Student Media Center and Learning Laboratories (Wanda Lloyd) –
This activity will continue to build the infrastructure for a learning laboratory that will provide the
foundation for a student media center. The center will offer Mass Communications majors and
the university community new outlets for creativity, education, hands-on training, and career
exposure.
Aqua Paws: Swimming Instruction Program (Michael Cohen) – Provide training opportunities
for students to become certified lifeguards which will increase the number of swimming
instructions offered to SSU students (at least 350) and the surrounding community (at least
2,500). In addition, with certified student lifeguards, the access to Wiley Wilcox pool will be
increased.
Program Administration (Dedra N. Andrews) – Manages the Title III grant to monitor
accomplishments of the program’s objectives and ensure compliance with policies and
procedures as required by the U.S. Dept. of Education and Savannah State University.
The “Enhancing the School of Teacher Education” (Dr. Keenya Mosley) is an activity
funded to provide resources for the School of Teacher Education (SOTE) department to
assist with developing their academic programs, to purchase technology, and provide
professional development for faculty and staff.
The SOTE is a newly established unit with goals to meet the needs of biology,
mathematics, and civil & electronic engineering technology teachers in grades 6-12.
To date, the activity has purchased necessary equipment and supplies that will enhance
the SOTE students, such as the new microscopes, full sized skeleton, and smart
response system clickers (to name a few).
The Nikon Microscopes were obtained to facilitate teaching
and learning in biology classes. Also, a full-sized male skeleton
“Fred” was purchased to assist the biology professors with indepth teaching related to bones and body parts. Lastly, Smart
Response System Clickers were purchased for classroom
exercises and assessments with SOTE students.
Logitech web cameras were purchased to allow for
teleconferencing and business communications with each
other, collaborative schools, and community partners remotely.
All purchases are a great attribute to assist with
building the SOTE’s technological infrastructure.
In addition, SOTE’s faculty and staff have attended
several conferences, seminars, and presentations
to learn and share new teaching techniques. This
includes learning about educational technology,
presenting information to parents and students,
and most importantly, promoting the School of
Teacher Education program offered at SSU.
For more information about the School of Teacher Education program contact
Dr. Keenya Mosley at ext. 4204.
STEM 360 &
First Lego League
The “STEM 360” activity (Patrick Dean) hosted it’s second FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Regional Qualifier competition on
Dec. 14, 2013 in Tiger Arena on Savannah State Campus. The FLL is designed to stimulate students’ interest in science
and technology while teaching them valuable employment and life skills. By embracing the Core Values, participants learn
that friendly competition and mutual gain are not separate goals, and that helping one
another is the foundation of teamwork.
There were sixteen (16) teams to participate in this year’s Lego League competition. Each
team had approximately 10 students in each ranging from 9 to 16 years old. This year’s
theme was “Nature’s Fury Challenge”, which involved programming an autonomous robot
using the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® robot set to score points on a thematic playing surface
and to create an innovative solution to a problem as part of their project.
Out of the 16 teams there were three (3 ) teams crowned Champions:
 1st place: Robo Rams
 2nd place: The Nerd Herd
 3rd place: Trinity Tech 1
Other awards were given out to different groups such as:
 Best Robot Performance: Trinity Tech 1
 Best Presentation: LEGO Mustache Avengers
 Best Team Work: May Howard Robohawks
For more information on the First Lego League or the STEM 360 Program contact Patrick Dean at ext. 3295 or go to:
http://www.firstlegoleague.org/mission/corevalues#sthash.sAHEX3NY.dpuf
“Strengthening the Center for Academic Success” activity (Dr. April Gentry) now offers advising services in
Spanish since the hiring of the new Hispanic Outreach/Academic Advisor, Mr.
Francisco Duque. Mr. Duque has assisted several Latino and Hispanic
students and parents with class scheduling and he has offered to become
mentors for some of the students.
CAS is partnering with varies campus
organizations to provide academic
support for Latinos/Hispanics to help
increase their retention and graduation rates. These efforts include
supporting cultural awareness programs through attendance and
presentations. CAS participated in Domingo Universitario (University
Sunday), an event that provided informational workshops about college
admission to Latino students and their parents.
CAS is also reaching out to high school Latino/Hispanic students in Chatham County and surrounding
counties to promote awareness of SSU and it’s programs.
For more information in Latino/Hispanic Advising contact
Mr. Francisco Duque at ext. 4496.
Budget

All Activity Directors should be keeping track of their money spent throughout the year. By
the end of January, at least 33% of activity funds should have been spent or encumbered.
Requests

All Title III Travel Authorizations, Expense Statements, and Check Requests must have their
Activity Director’s signature before submitting to the Title III Office.

All Title III travel requests should be received in the Title III office 10 days prior to the travel
date.

Student workers cannot be hired without prior approval from Title III. All student contracts
should be submitted 10 days prior to their start date.
Title III Office

Three (3) Annual Performance Reports (APR) will be submitted to the Department of
Education on January 15th (Title III B, SAFRA, and Carry-Over (2007-2012) grants).

Quarterly Reports (Oct. 2013-Dec. 2013) were due to the Title III office on January 10th.
Equipment Inventory Reports are to be submitted if items were purchased and received
during 1st Quarter.

All Title III related reports should be submitted on time. Failure to comply could result in funds
being held until all reports have been received. (This does include Time and Efforts too).

One on ones are available with the Title III Director, please contact Mrs. Swain-Gilliard for
availability or to schedule your visit.