April 2013
pages:October 2009 pages
5/14/2013
1:33 PM
Page 1
College to Host Campus Farewell for President
The faculty and staff of Coastal Georgia are throwing a big rooftop reception on Wednesday, May 1, to celebrate the visionary leadership of College President Valerie Hepburn, and they’re inviting the community to join them. The event will be held from 4:30 to 7 p.m. on the rooftop terrace of the Campus Center. During the evening, a portrait of Dr. Hepburn will be unveiled. The portrait will be hung in the Gould Memorial Library in honor of her
term as the fourth president of the College. The program includes a series of video farewell salutes as well as live music by Mason Waters and the Groove Allstars. Tasteful Temptations is catering the reception and a cash bar will be available. According to Elizabeth Weatherly, Chief Advancement Officer and one of the event organizers, the primary goal is to provide people with an opportunity to
personally bid Dr. Hepburn farewell. “She has made a major impact on this community, and we know people want an opportunity to thank her for what she has done.” The event is free, but reservations are requested. Go to http://events.constantcontact.com/ register/event?llr=lz5um4cab&oeidk=a07 e7cuv2os46a65441 for online registration or telephone 912.279.4535.
MARINERS’ LOG
Dr. Gregory F. Aloia Named Fifth President of College of Coastal Georgia
A Fond Farewell and Many Thanks BY
VOLU ME 30, N O. 5 • AP R IL 2 01 3
DR. VALERIE HEPBURN
As the academic year comes to an end, my time at the College of Coastal Georgia also is coming to a close. The last five years have been professionally and personally rewarding to me, and my departure brings mixed emotions. I look forward to new challenges and the opportunity to re-energize my research in the health and public policy fields. I also hope to achieve a better balance between work and personal life. Yet, there is no denying that I will miss the pace, excitement, and accomplishments of the transformation journey that has been the center of my life since mid-2008. We have made great strides in a short period of time at the College of Coastal Georgia. With the recent funds provided to renovate Academic Commons South, every building on campus will be either new or comprehensively renovated by next year. We now have educational offerings across 10 baccalaureate degrees, with nearly 25 innovative tracks of study. We have retained outstanding career associate degrees, transfer programs, and articulation opportunities to meet the educational needs of a wide range of students. Our dual enrollment program with area high schools has expanded greatly, and we are seeing increasing numbers of talented high school students embarking early, and successfully, on their college careers. We offer a number of programs for middle-schoolers to learn about fields of study and life on campus. Our athletic programs are strong and successful. In our first year of conference membership, to date, all of our teams have played in post-season conference tournaments. We promise to be a force in national tournaments on the horizon. The residential campus is abuzz with activity, and our student organizations are providing great leadership across a host of academic and social interest areas. We are attracting increasing numbers of students from locations across Georgia and the globe. For the past two years, the College has been recognized for its good value and quality by the U.S. Department of Education. Just last month, we earned recognition for our work in servicelearning by securing a spot on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, one of only eight Georgia public universities to earn the honor. The College Foundation continues to set annual fundraising records. Thanks to the support provided by the Foundation, nearly $500,000 in scholarships is being awarded to some 300 students annually. Additionally, the Foundation has been able to support faculty and staff development, athletics, student academic and social programs, and capital improvements. Communities across the region are enthusiastic about the College and our impact on educational attainment, quality of life and economic development. Our many cultural events and educational programs are well attended by the campus family and all sectors of the community. Our publications and marketing efforts are award-winning. Our tremendous progress is anchored in strong partnership between our students, faculty, staff, alums, Trustees, public officials, state leaders, and community organizations. Our success results from teamwork, and I am deeply grateful for the team we have assembled. We
have a faculty of scholars who are student focused and among the best in their respective fields. Our staff members are dedicated and talented. Our students, many of whom are first-generation collegians, are engaged and achievement oriented. I have been fortunate to know so many of our students on a personal level; that is one connection I will miss greatly. As prospective presidential candidates visited the College in late March, it was validating to register their awe at our progress and their enthusiasm for our future. The College of Coastal Georgia provides a dynamic and rewarding leadership role, and I have every confidence that we will have an outstanding next president. Moreover, I am certain that the Chancellor and the Board of Regents will continue their strong support for the College of Coastal Georgia and the important, distinctive niche that we fill in the University System. During Commencement in May, I will have the opportunity to grant bachelor’s degrees to the first students to spend their entire four-year college career at Coastal Georgia, those who entered with our first offerings in fall 2009. In many ways, these graduates and I have grown up together on the journey to build a campus of excellence and engagement. I have learned much on this journey; it has been hard work but consistently rewarding and worthwhile. As I prepare to depart some time this summer when our new president arrives, I leave with many cherished memories and a host of new friendships. I remain committed to the College of Coastal Georgia and the success of its students, faculty, staff, and alums. Moreover, I am steadfast in my belief in the communities of Coastal Georgia and their promise for the future. Though my role will be different, I hope to continue to be involved, in some small way, in support of the College’s mission and vision and of each one of you, personally and professionally. Thank you for all you have meant to me and the College over the past five years.
The Honorable Lisa Godbey Wood, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia
Dr. Gregory F. Aloia, president of Concord University in Athens, West Virginia, was named today as the fifth president of the College of Coastal Georgia by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. Aloia will assume his new post on July 1, 2013, according to Board of Regents Chair “Dink” NeSmith. “We are delighted that Dr. Gregory Aloia will be taking over leadership at the College of Coastal Georgia,” NeSmith said. “Under the leadership of president Valerie Hepburn, the college has undergone a major transformation in recent years and stands poised to begin a new chapter in its history.” “The campus search committee worked diligently to identify quality candidates to be considered by the Board of Regents, and they are to be commended,” said USG Chancellor Hank Huckaby. “The Board and I are excited about the leadership skills Dr. Aloia brings to the dynamic and growing institution that the College of Coastal Georgia is today.” Aloia has served as president of Concord University since 2008. Prior to that, Aloia served as dean of the College of Education and professor of special education at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton from 2001 to 2008. In more than a decade of service at Illinois State University in Normal, Dr. Aloia was a professor of special education and served as associate vice president for research and dean of Graduate Studies. Before Illinois State, he served as Chair of the Department of Special Education at the State University College in Geneseo, New York, from 1984 to 1990. Aloia has extensive experience in the field of education, including professorships at universities including Arkansas State University and the University of Arizona. He also taught at and served as chair of the
Department of Special Education at Los Molinos High School (Los Molinos, CA). Additionally, he was an Educational Specialist at the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped, United States Office of Education, Washington, D.C. Early in his career, he was the director and a teacher at the largest private youth center in California, Boys Town of the Desert in Beaumont. Aloia holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside in special education, his teaching credential from San Francisco State University, and a bachelor’s in History from St. Mary’s College (Moraga, CA).
The Honorable Lisa Godbey Wood to Address Class of 2013 at May 11 Commencement
The College of Coastal Georgia’s 48th commencement will be held at the beautiful Jekyll Island Convention Center on Saturday, May 11. The processional of graduates, faculty, and the platform party will be led by Grand Marshal Ntungwa Maasha, the College’s highest ranking faculty member. Dr. Valerie Hepburn, president of the College, will be awarding bachelor and associate degrees. Among the baccalaureate degree candidates will be the first four-year graduates, those who entered as freshman in the fall of 2009 and completed their entire degree here at the College—the first true CCGA graduating class. Two graduates will be speaking to the class, Robert Cannon and Jessica
Mobley. Mobley, who will be receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, will deliver words of inspiration. Mobley has been active in many different facets of campus life during her years at CCGA, everything from study abroad in Costa Rica to serving as a student representative on various governance committees like Academic Integrity and Student Activity Finance, from writing for the Mariners’ Log to serving as an SGA senator for three semesters. Cannon will be delivering the charge to the Class of 2013. He has been very active on campus, as SGA secretary, vice president, and senator and as a member of various committees, including the Multicultural Programming Committee
and the Student Affairs Council. In addition, he has served as a math tutor and a Center for Academic Success mentor. The commencement speaker this year is the Honorable Lisa Godbey Wood, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. A Kentucky native, Wood received the A.B. from the University of Georgia in 1985 and the J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1990. She served a year as a law clerk for the Hon. Anthony A. Alaimo before entering private practice from 1991 to 2004. From 2004 to 2007, she was the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. In January of 2007, President George
W. Bush nominated Wood for a federal judgeship; she was confirmed by the Senate and received her commission a month later. Three years later, she would become the first woman to serve as chief judge of the Southern District of Georgia, which encompasses 43 counties. Among those attending her swearingin ceremony in 2010 was another of the district’s judges, B. Avant Edenfield. He noted that Wood has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, and Machu Picchu, the Inca site in Peru, but that her rise to chief judge was an even loftier accomplishment. The College is indeed honored to have Judge Wood as the commencement speaker.