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The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG) named Dr. Michelle R. Johnston president of Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW), effective June 1, 2024. She is the first female president in GSW history.
Johnston currently serves as president of the College of Coastal Georgia, a position she’s held since July 2018. Prior to joining Coastal Georgia, Johnston spent more than 20 years in higher education administration, including as president of the University of Rio Grande and Rio Grande Community College in Ohio, a position she had held since 2014.
“Michelle has done a tremendous job at Coastal Georgia expanding community partnerships and increasing student success in everything from Teacher Education to Nursing, with an emphasis on the skills our graduates need to impact critical workforce areas in Georgia,” USG Chancellor Sonny Perdue said. “I’m a strong believer in growing our own, and this is a natural next step for Dr. Johnston as she continues to make an impact within the system. I know she will help GSW sustain momentum as one of the top state universities in the South.”
Read more about Dr. Johnston here.
GSW's non-traditional students bring diverse backgrounds and intriguing life journeys; although only one can say she has met four U.S. presidents, soloed the North American Aviation T-6 Texan, holds the record as the first female boxing champion at the United States Air Force Academy, and has jumped out of airplanes.
Kassie Prusko (age 30), a native of Chicago, is certainly one of a kind. She will soon graduate with her second degree, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), following an accomplished five-year career in the Air Force.
Following in her older sister Alexandra's footsteps, Kassie attended the Air Force Academy and graduated in 2016 with the rank of Second Lieutenant, while remaining inspired by her mother's extensive 30-plus year career in nursing.
"I'm a very caring person...so nursing was always in the back of my mind," Kassie recalls. "I probably would have majored in it if the Academy offered it. Instead I majored in Behavioral Science and minored in Arabic. I have always felt I could contribute more to society as a nurse."
Read more about Kassie here.
Georgia Southwestern held a naming ceremony for the state-of-the-art Phoebe Simulation and Learning Center, located on the second floor of the Rosalynn Carter Health and Human Sciences Complex, on May 1.
Thanks to the strong partnership and financial support from the Phoebe Putney Health System, GSW’s nursing students have the opportunity to acquire valuable skills in simulated patient environments using mid-fidelity and high-fidelity patient simulators.
Phoebe helped GSW equip its first simulation lab back in 2011 when the new building was complete, under the leadership of Sandra Daniel, Ph.D., former dean of School of Nursing. Their most recent investment has allowed the reinstatement of an associate of science in nursing (ASN), a two-year nursing degree program, which will graduate its first cohort of 35 students this summer and add an additional 30 students to the program in the fall.
"You have invested in us over and over and over again,” GSW President Neal Weaver, Ph.D. said to Phoebe’s leadership. “This reflects your long-term belief in what we do here. You cannot go wrong by investing in this School of Nursing. Because of your investment, others have followed your lead. We appreciate what [Phoebe] has done to enable our nursing program to become the best in Georgia, and one of the best in the southeast and probably the entire country."
Read more about GSW's partnership with Phoebe here.
GSW won its second consecutive Peach Belt Conference Presidents' Academic Award on May 28 at the league's annual awards dinner in Hilton Head. This is the fourth overall award for GSW, moving them into a tie with former PBC member Armstrong State University for the most in league history. GSW won their first in 2007-08 with the second in 2017-18 and the third last year. The award is presented by Barnes & Noble College.
The award recognizes excellence in academics concerning all of an institution's student-athletes.
Read more about this recognition here.
Dr. Neal Weaver bids farewell to campus and Americus communityIt has been an incredible honor and privilege to serve Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) and the Americus community for the past seven years as the institution’s 11th President. After careful consideration and reflection, I’ve accepted the Presidential role at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas. While my wife, Kristi, and I look forward to the new opportunities before us, we’re also saddened to leave behind a community we’ve grown to love and has been our primary focus the last seven years.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who welcomed our family to this incredibly special place. During our time here, we have witnessed the unwavering dedication of GSW’s faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors and community members coming together to create a culture of excellence, innovation, and inclusivity. It has been a pleasure to work alongside such talented individuals and witness the passion and commitment to higher education that permeates throughout this institution.
Read Weaver's full message here.
GSW's Department of Athletics presented $43,000 in cash prizes on May 10 at the Fifth Annual Hail Storm event held at Wolf Creek Plantation.
As part of the GSW fundraiser, supporters purchased golf balls that were dropped by a helicopter - service provided by Friends of Army Aviation - onto a target on the ground. A total of 10 prizes of varying amounts were awarded based on ball location. Closest to the target took home the first prize of $25,000, second closest received $10,000 and the balls coming in third through ninth won $1,000 each. The final prize of $1,000 was given for the ball farthest away.
Attendees enjoyed food from The Canterbury Kitchen, complimentary drinks - including beverages provided by local partners Wolf Creek Plantation, Thirteenth Colony Distilleries, Pretoria Fields and Mike's Party Center - and music performed by The Answer Band.
The grand prizze winner was Gary Underwood. Find the full list of winners here.
The fourth-ranked Georgia Southwestern men's golf team finished 16th out of 20 teams at the NCAA Division II South/Southeast Regional held over the weekend at the par-72, 7,166-yard Chattahoochee Golf Club. The top five teams from each of the four regional sites advance to the national championship held May 21-25 in Winter Garden, Fla. Georgia Southwestern was in the most challenging region, battling eight other teams ranked in the top 15 in the country and 16 teams in the top 30 overall.
GSW won three events in 2023-24 and reached as high as No. 3 in the country during the season. The Hurricanes qualified for their fifth-consecutive regional appearance and will have to replace seniors Sells and Tharrington who wrapped up their collegiate careers over the weekend.
Read more about the golf team's season here.
GSW honored for Make-A-Wish fundraising effortsGeorgia Southwestern earned the LeeAnn Noble Make-A-Wish Most Improved Award for its fundraising efforts during the 2023-24 school year at the Peach Belt Conference's annual awards dinner on May 28 in Hilton Head, S.C.
Georgia Southwestern increased its giving by 107% from 2022-23.
Division II has raised more than $6.8 million toward granting the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. Almost 785 "wishes" have been granted through Division II contributions. These wishes can serve as a game changer in children's fights against their illnesses, helping them feel better, and in some cases even get better.
Read more about this recognition here.
The Georgia Southwestern State University softball team delivered two remarkable upset wins to open the 2024 Peach Belt Conference Tournament as the No. 7 seed, but narrowly missed clinching a berth in the championship series.
Find the full rundown of the Lady Canes' postseason run here.
Canes Spotlights highlight Georgia Southwestern students who hold leadership roles, are involved in extracurricular activities and/or excel academically in their degree programs.
The May Canes Spotlights were senior English major Sabryna Lay (left) and senior general studies major Deana Berger (right).
Sabryna's college journey did not begin smoothly. "People would probably be surprised to know that I was on academic probation at the beginning of my time at GSW," said Sabryna. "That was definitely the push I needed to do better and take school seriously." She quickly refocused and found her passion in English. "I love learning about literature and writing," she said. "English has always been my favorite subject in school, and after trying chemistry and marketing, I finally settled on what I love."
Sabryna earned the 2024 Excellence in English Award, which is given to a graduating student who shows exceptional academic performance within upper-division English classes, with special emphasis on the capstone course. The award winner is nominated and voted on by the English faculty.
As a single mother working full-time, it was essential that Deana have the flexibility to complete courses at her own pace. "I chose GSW because I was looking for an affordable online college that offered a human resources degree," she said. "It was a lot to add to my plate, but I wanted to do everything possible to achieve this goal and complete school. My daughter has supported me through finishing my degree."
With minors in human resources, marketing, and criminal justice, Deana hopes to use what she's learned in her role as a human resources director. " I got an interdisciplinary understanding of different fields so I can apply them to my current career. After graduation I plan to continue pursuing education, whether it be with additional certifications, looking into law school, or a master’s degree."
Each year, the Southwest Georgia Section of the American Chemical Society and Optima Chemicals present an award for Outstanding Undergraduate Chemistry Student. GSW sophomore Seth Gay was one of the recipients of the award. Seth has 4.0 GPA, and, according to faculty, is an outstanding chemistry student.
Georgia Southwestern has been selected as the 2024 Peach Belt Conference Women's Tennis Team Sportsmanship Award recipient.
The Peach Belt honors one school annually from each of its 12 team championship sports. This is the third consecutive year GSW women's tennis has received the honor and the first under head coach Karlie Levering. The GSW Athletic Department has won a total of 23 team sportsmanship awards.
Read more about this recognition here.
Several GSW student-athletes have been recognized with post season honors. Learn more about each at the links below.
Softball
Baseball
Golf
NCAA DII PING Southeast All-Region Team: Erik Fogel and Payne Sells
GSW's African-American Male Initiative (AAMI) held an awards program on June 3, 2024 to present awards and scholarships to members based on their academic and social performance during the 2023-24 academic year.
Winners were (pictured clockwise from top left):
Kenneth Daniels received the Randy Williams/Joanna Williams Scholarship. Zykarius Harshaw, Tim Burke, Michael Pratt, Ajai Myles received the Achieving the Dream Scholarship.
Members Nathaniel English and Keldrick Cochran received plaques upon their graduation.
The GSW baseball team has six returning players competing for summer league teams across the country in 2024.
Hurricanes will play games in 41 cities, covering 13 states and Canada, over the course of the summer with the first season opener on May 27. Below is a list of the GSW players who are in action, along with their teams and links to schedules and statistics (where available).
Read more about the players and their summer teams here.
On May 13, Professor of Political Science Jason Berggren, Ph.D., had the opportunity to serve as the moderator for a four-candidate Republican primary debate for the Georgia U.S. 2nd Congressional District. The debate was held inside GSW's Jackson Hall and was prerecorded by WTVM, the local ABC News affiliate in Columbus, Ga. WTVM and WALB later aired the debate on television Sunday, May 19. The debate was the only one held this primary election cycle inside the district. The primary was May 21 and a runoff June 18. The winner will face Democratic Congressman Sanford Bishop in November. The debate appears online in three parts.
Professor of English Anish Dave, Ph.D., had his article accepted for publication in a special issue of Business Horizons on business and peace. Dave is the lead author with two co-authors, Dr. Aditya Simha of the University of Wisconsin Whitewater and Dr. Lazarina Topuzova of Robert Morris University, PA. The article, titled "Pursuit of Peace by Business Leaders: Frontiers of International Relations," will be published in the Nov/Dec 2024 issue (part I of the special issue) of the journal.
Associate Professor Jesse Russell, Ph.D., published a review of Myth, Magic, and Power in Tolkien’s Middle-earth by James E. Siburt on VoegelinView.
Read the full review here.
Professor of Elementary Education Chuchu Wu, Ph.D. gave two presentations at 2024 USG Teaching & Learning Conference at Athens, GA on April 15 and 16. The first workshop presentation titled "Effective interactive technology that promote students' learning and engagement" was a collaborative work with the Professor of Education Emily Lin, Ph.D. from University of North Georgia. The presentation introduced the audience to the Nearpod interactive technologies and the application of Google Slides App into Jigsaw puzzle cooperative learning groups in teaching. More than 20 participants attended the session and many expressed strong interest in applying the Nearpod and Google slide into their teaching.
The second presentation was a 5-minute infographic presentation titled “Strategies to promote student engagement: Five non-linguistic representations." The presentation introduced the audience to what the five non-linguistic representations are and how to apply them to deepen student’s understanding and help students to construct meaningful learning. This presentation was well-aligned with the focus of 2024 USG best practices mission and sparked interests and dialogues.
Brown presents at doctoral conferenceCollege of Business and Computing faculty member, J. Allen Brown, PhD, MBA presented at the Kennesaw State University Conference on Advances in Business Doctoral Education on May 4, 2024. Brown was joined by Clayton State Faculty members, Dr. Vinod Vincent, Dr. Joie Hain and Dr. Everod Davis in a panel discussion entitled "Navigating the future of Business Doctoral Education: Insights from recent graduates.”
Brown shared his personal experiences in human behavior data collection in the corporate context. With numerous audience members with similar research interests of counterproductive work behavior related studies, Brown shared specific obstacles that researchers should consider during their research including upper management resistance to explore behavior that might be considered deviant or received with a negative connotation.
Brown shared his published research on bringing textbook topics to life in the classroom through “Learning by Observing” and “Learn by Doing”. Much like a physical science experiment, Brown illustrated similar concepts can educate future business managers on how to gage learning by their employees.
Brown’s final points advised Ph.D. students to absorb all that they can while in their residencies in preparation for their dissertation completion as well as future research studies. The panel discussion was received very well by an audience of Ph.D. students from multiple universities as well as deans, and doctoral faculty members.
Assistant Professor of English Alaina Kaus, Ph.D., presented a paper, “The Intersections of Reading and Writing in Celeste Ng’s Our Missing Hearts,” at the annual conference of the American Literature Association in Chicago, Illinois, on Thursday, May 23.
On May 1, GSW faculty and staff gathered in the Storm Dome to enjoy lunch and recognize 2024 Faculty & Staff Excellence Award winners.
Employees were also recognized for years of service, with those at 20 years and above receiving plaques.
Find the full photo album form the ceremony on GSW's Facebook page.
A Continuous Improvement Grant in the amount of $8,000 was awarded by Affordable Learning Georgia to Dr. Joseph Comeau and a team of colleagues, including Dr. Jamie MacLennan, Dr. Debaleena Ghosh, and Bob Slenker. The grant will fund the production of a series of approximately 20 to 30 educational videos for use in SOCI 1101 Introduction to Sociology.
The videos will cover a range of topics that will serve as ancillary materials to the Openstax Sociology 3e text. Upon completion, the videos will be published on YouTube, making them widely available to educators.
This grant builds on the work that Comeau has been doing to publish sociology videos on a YouTube channel, called The Sociology Professor. Comeau, MacLennan, and Ghosh will serve as subject matter experts, preparing and delivering lessons in the videos, which will have run times of approximately 5-10 minutes per video. Slenker will lend his expertise to the recording and editing process, with Comeau also involved in the editing portion of the project.
Over the past few years, Comeau has published four videos on this channel, which have garnered over 17,000 lifetime views. These videos have been used by educators at other universities, and the videos produced by Comeau, MacLennan, Ghosh, and Slenker will be seen by students worldwide.
Felicia Moore, GSW's Director of Purchasing, has successfully obtained the Georgia State Purchasing Department's highest credential, the Georgia Certified Purchasing Manager.
Accounting Services recognized with USG Certificate of ExcellenceChristy Barry and the GSW Accounting Services team were presented with the Certificate of Excellence in Accounting and Reporting at the USG's FY24 Year-End Workshop. GSW was one of only six institutions within the USG to receive this recognition. The Certificate of Excellence in Accounting and Reporting is presented to institutions within the University System of Georgia who submit quality financial statements, along with additional reporting requirements, and supporting documentation, where applicable, in a timely manner. This award encourages institutions to go above and beyond to establish processes and procedures to ensure sufficient reporting while mitigating accounting and reporting risks.
There are three basic criteria used to determine the excellence:
The following retired on May 31, 2024:
Shalisha Williams is now the Accommodations and Access Assistant in the Office of Accommodations and Access as of May 6, 2024. She was previously the Academic Success Counselor in the Department of First-Year Experience and Student Success.
Jessica Ouzts has been named Interim ASN Coordinator in addition to her current role as Simulation Education Coordinator in the School of Nursing.
Deborah Lynn Haynes passed away on Apr. 21, 2024 at the age of 69. She was Director of the Computer Center at the time of her retirement in 2002 with over 21 years of service.
Etrat Fathi, wife of professor Dr. Michael Fathi, passed away on May 2, 2024 at the age of 73. She retired from GSW as Director of Career Services.Nicki Levering, Associate Director of Athletics for Community Engagement and Head Softball Coach in the Department of Athletics, left that role on May 31, 2024.
The late Jamal Floyd of Americus was awarded a posthumous degree at Georgia Southwestern's Spring Commencement Ceremony on Fri., May 10. His mother, Angela Floyd, accepted the framed degree onstage to a standing ovation from the crowd.
A designated seat in Row 7, where Floyd would have sat, was adorned with his customized stole and a picture of him. Floyd, a visual arts major, was set to graduate this May alongside several of his Chi Phi fraternity brothers and close friends, but sadly passed in September 2023.
The ceremony recognized 279 spring graduates earning their bachelor’s, master’s and specialist degrees from the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business and Computing, College of Education, and College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
Among the diverse graduate population, there were students from 20 states and ten countries ranging in age from 19 to 72 - some stepping foot on campus for the first time, as they were fully online. Of the 195 undergraduate students, 73 were the first to earn a degree in their family.
Read more about the May 10 ceremony here.
Find more events on the GSW academic calendar, on CanesConnect, and on the Events Open to the Community webpage.
