GC Journeys Newsletter

Nicholas Brooks, a senior Marketing major from Dacula, GA received the Dr. Doreen Sams Award, in honor of his undergraduate research efforts. Brooks is mentored by Dr. Durongkadej and recently took part in the CFA Institute Research Challenge. This is a worldwide competition between universities in which teams are given a company's stock to research based on their geographic location. Mr. Brooks' team was assigned the Genuine Parts Company, which was founded in Atlanta in 1928 and has grown to become the world's largest automotive aftermarket network. Mr. Brooks' team prepared a research report, which was judged to be one of the top five reports, placing the team into a presentation competition against four universities. This was Georgia College's first year being selected to present and GC was the only university to do so without a Finance major on the team. The GC team finished in third place overall.

Mr. Brooks noted that the competition was a fantastic opportunity to apply what he has learned in his Finance and Marketing courses to real life. "Dr. Durongkadej and Dr. Ling were great resources to go to when our team had questions or problems with our research. I learned through this competition how valuable it is to have a diverse team and how helping others succeed helps you succeed!"

The Dr. Doreen Sams Award comes from a generous gift from faculty to honor the work of Dr. Sams, a recently retired Professor of Marketing who served as one of the founding members of MURACE (Mentored Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors). Dr. Sams has served as the MURACE Faculty Coordinator from 2012-2022, the former President of the Georgia Undergraduate Research Consortium, a CUR (Council of Undergraduate Research) board member, an author of The Mentoring Undergraduate Research Handbook, and an editor of Undergraduate Research. Dr. Sams has been a driving force for organizing and advocating for undergraduate research influence undergraduate research institutionally, statewide, and even nationally. She has mentored several undergraduate researchers during her career. Additionally, she has helped organize much of GC’s undergraduate research efforts and has been an integral part of the GC Journeys initiative.

Six students from the Department of Art, mentored by three faculty members, will present at the Johns Hopkins University Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium on April 8th-10th. The research symposium is an annual symposium hosting students from across the nation interested in presenting their scholarship. It is the first conference of its kind, as there has been no other national platform for undergraduates in the humanities to share their work. The national conference is competitive, highlighting the strength of GC’s student work.

GC students presenting include:

• Ashley Johnson, “ Interpreting Mankind's Earliest Form of Communication: The Relevance of Rock Art in the Modern Era." (Mentor: Dr. Elissa Auerbach)
• Claire O’Neill & Leslie Calvert, “Little Free Libraries of Baldwin County” (Mentor: Dr. Matthew Forrest)
• Hannah Conti, Amelia Jebram, & Maya Whipple, “Shopping with Senefelder: From Pixels to Limestone in Fine Art Prints.” (Mentor: Dr. William Fisher)

On Friday, March 25th, Georgia College hosted the 25th anniversary of the Student Research Conference. The conference highlights undergraduate research and creative endeavors from GC students has run continuously. This year’s conference included poster sessions, oral research presentations, online poster presentations, as well as special sessions hosted by the Digital Humanities Collective, and Community based Engaged Learning.

The conference was co-chaired by Drs. Doreen Sams, Hasitha Mahabaduge, and Stefanie Sevcik. According to Dr. Sams, “it was great to see participation levels close to the 2019 conference, and exceeding our 2020 and 2021 conference participation.”

2022 Student Research Conference Winners:

Best Poster (In Person): Maung Tlung

Best Presentation (In Person): Robert (Seth) Rozelle

Best Poster (Virtual): Abigail Sindersine, Eliza Berry, and Jessica Berry

Best Presentation (Virtual): Evan Sinclair

GCSU faculty, students, and Baldwin county community members presented on March 24th at the 2022 Gulf-South Summit on Service-Learning and Civic Engagement through Higher Education.

The mission of the Gulf-South Summit is to promote networking among practitioners, research, ethical practices, reciprocal campus-community partnerships, sustainable programs, and a culture of engagement and public awareness through service-learning and other forms of civic engagement.

Dr. Kelley Ditzel (Public Administration), Dr. Nicole DeClouette (Special Education), Barbara Coleman (Executive Director, Life Enrichment Center), and Jay Warren (Activities Director & Music Therapist, Life Enrichment Center) participated in a panel discussion titled: “Resilience through a Global Pandemic: How a Nonprofit Organization Innovates to Survive Covid.”

Dr. Stefanie Sevcik (English & CbEL Champion), Jessica Butler (Undergraduate, Accounting), and Danielle Bartlett (Undergraduate, Biology) delivered a presentation titled:

“Sex, Resistance, and Zoom: Developing a Resilient Remote Service-Learning Collaboration During a Global Pandemic.”

We are very excited to release the latest issue of the Undergraduate Research journal. The Winter 2022 is our THIRD issue to date, and they keep getting better and better! This issue contains our first multi-author manuscripts, which is an exciting insight into the progression of collaborative experiences within undergraduate research. We also have contributors several different types of institutions ranging from Ivy League to Research 1 institutions to Liberal Arts institutions, both public and private. And once again, this issue features amazing artwork from students in our own Georgia College art program. Undergraduate Research is always a great mix of disciplines, and we are excited to examine premiere undergraduate research for future issues.

Dr. Kelly P. Massey, Editor-in-Chief, Undergraduate Research

Have you ever wanted to spice up your course or your program? Have you thought “There must be a better way to engage our students?” If so, then join us for the 3rd annual High Impact Practices (HIPs) Summer Institute: Incorporating Transformative Experiences into the Classroom! This five-day professional development opportunity, sponsored by GC Journeys and hosted by the Center for Teaching and Learning, allows faculty to engage with expert guest speakers on incorporating or enhancing elements of essential learning outcomes, high-impact practices, principles of excellence, authentic assessment, and signature student work into current GC courses. After being provided with information about capstone, first-year experiences, internships, leadership, service learning, study abroad, and undergraduate research, a team of transformative experience mentors will guide participants to decide how to incorporate one Transformative Experience as a cornerstone of their course.

Participants will meet entirely online for the institute's first four days on June 20th, 22nd, 27th, and 29th from 3-5 p.m. On the institute's final day, August 2nd, there will be an in-person Wrap-Up Party from 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. and lunch provided - campus location to be announced. Please ensure you can attend all five institute sessions.

All course completers are eligible to receive $500 in professional development funds! Please sign up by clicking here by May 15th. For more details, please contact the Center for Teaching and Learning at 478-445-2520 or ctl@gcsu.edu.

Momentum Summit V was held on March 11th at Columbus State University as part of the University System of Georgia’s Momentum Year initiative. The initiative focuses on each institution’s student success plan. During the Summit, each institution presented on their successes, while collaborating with institutions across the state. The Georgia College team consisted of: President Cox, Provost Spirou, Dr. Chris Ferland, Dr. Jordan Cofer, Dr. Jennifer Flory, and Dr. Shawn Brooks.

Interested in service-learning at GCSU? Want to find a space to discuss your new ideas or tried and true projects? We'd love to see you at the remaining virtual service-learning conversations of the semester. Feel free to drop in to any of the sessions at https://tinyurl.com/CbELGCSU.

Impactful Student Products, Not Busywork

Thursday 4/7 10-11 a.m.

Quality Control: Assessing and Improving Community-based Engaged Learning Projects

Monday 4/11 1:30-2:30 p.m.

Moving Forward: New Directions in Community-based Engaged Learning at GCSU

Thursday 4/21 10-11 a.m.

We hope to see you this week or in a future conversation!

April 15th- 12-1:00 p.m. Community-based Engaged Learning- Dr. Stefanie Sevcik

Interested in learning more about community-based engaged learning? Check out our upcoming Lunch & Learn sessions hosted by HIPs Champions! Please join Dr. Stefanie Sevcik for a discussion of the framework for building successful community partnerships. Do you want to brush the dust off of a general education course you have taught countless times to make it feel more impactful? Maybe you want to take your advanced seminar students out of the classroom and into the community? We will walk through the steps involved in taking a course you already teach and incorporating a high-impact service-learning experience for your students. We will also discuss examples of service-learning projects happening in courses across the campus and resources to turn your idea into a reality.

This virtual workshop will take place at 12 noon on April 15. The meeting link will be sent out to registrants on the day of the workshop.

Register here.

April 19th 3-5 p.m.- Design for Transformative Learning & Essential Learning Outcomes - Drs. Cynthia Alby & Simeco Vinson

To provide a better understanding of the GC Journeys initiative and help you decide how to incorporate transformative experiences and essential skills into your courses or program, we designed a pair of workshops, Transformative Experiences and Essential Learning Outcomes, both of which have been shown to increase student retention and student engagement rates.

GC Journeys answers several questions: How can faculty and staff make their work more joyful, meaningful, and purposeful? How do we build more meaningful relationships with our students? How do we distinguish our curriculum in a system that doesn't provide much opportunity for creating something liberal-arts-specific? Further answers to these questions can be found in the pair of workshops. Nearly two-thirds of GC faculty have completed the pair of GC Journeys workshops, and our goal is to get to as close to 100% completion as possible!

These highly interactive workshops filled with engagement will provide you with ways to help make the classes and the programs you teach life-changing for students and more meaningful for you.

Please join Drs. Cynthia Alby and Simeco Vinson on April 19th from 3-5 p.m. on Zoom and find out why the GC Journeys program is already getting nationwide attention. We especially encourage new faculty to attend to better understand GC Journeys and how it applies to you!

Register for Design for Transformative Learning & Essential Learning Outcomes! The Zoom link will be emailed to registrants on the morning of the session.

April 22nd 12-1:00 p.m. Faculty Teaching in Study Abroad - Drs. Stephanie McClure and Jehan El-Jourbagy

Interested in learning more about study abroad? Check out our upcoming Lunch & Learn sessions with HIPs Champions! Drs. Stephanie McClure and Jehan El-Jourbagy will share about the how and why of teaching in study abroad programs. This high-impact practice is truly transformative for both students and faculty. Students are often more interested in participating in study abroad programs when those programs include faculty from their own campus.

This virtual workshop will take place at 12 noon on April 22. The meeting link will be sent out to registrants on the day of the workshop.

Register here

Email: journeys@gcsu.edu
Website: https://www.gcsu.edu/gcjourneys
Location: Carl Vinson House