The new Dean of Georgia College & State University's College of Health Sciences, Dr. Will Evans, has been on campus a few weeks—and already he’s ready to hit the ground running.

Coming from the University of Southern Mississippi, Evans spent half his career in clinical healthcare and half as an academic. He transitioned into administrative roles after getting his Ph.D. and becoming a full-time researcher.

“I’ve kind of had a weird path,” he said. “I call it the administrative track.”

He didn’t get his start in Mississippi. Evans is from Southeast Alabama, where he grew up alongside the Chattahoochee River and Georgia-Alabama line.

“When I saw there was a position open, I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to make the next step up and get closer to home,” he said. “This is the closest I’ve been to where I’m from in 19 years.”

“I thought it was a good fit, and they thought it was a good fit,” he said, “so here I am.”

Find out his goals for the COHS on Front Page.

• Sallie Coke, PhD, Nursing, Advance Nursing Education Workforce (ANEW)– Year 1 of 4, Health Resources & Services Administration, $649,997 (of $2,599,911).
• Josie Doss, PhD, and Shantee Henry, DNP, Nursing, Advanced Nurse Education‐Sexual Nurse Assault Examiner program– Year 2 of 2, National Science Foundation, $528,210 (of $1,016,771).
  

The CHSI participated in mobile food drives in Harrisburg, providing blood pressure screenings to attendees. Additionally, the CHSI participated in health promotion events, including a Back to School Bash and Hancock County Health Fair. The Center offered blood pressure and HbA1c screenings to over 50 individuals at these events to increase awareness of hypertension and diabetes risk. Individuals were educated on managing these conditions and guided in reducing their chances of adverse health outcomes.

One of the significant events the CHSI was involved with this summer was the First Inaugural Juneteenth Festival in Milledgeville-Baldwin County. The event's purpose was to encourage community togetherness, educate attendees on the significance of Juneteenth, embrace and celebrate the diversity and culture of Milledgeville-Baldwin County, empower the community and local businesses and showcase local talent.

With the momentum from summer activities, the CHSI is excited to welcome students back to campus for another wonderful semester filled with community engagement and outreach opportunities.

Oconee Heights originally was a bedroom community of Central State Hospital, a place with well-manicured lawns and unlocked doors.

However, as Central State started to decline and decay over the years, Oconee Heights also started to decline and decay. These days, mobile homes largely have replaced the original houses in Oconee Heights, which can be loosely defined as everything between Caraker Avenue and the Milledgeville Manor, running north and south, and everything between Swint Avenue and the Vinson Highway, running east and west.

Now, though, the old neighborhood is receiving a $4.9 million lifeline, all thanks to money from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which was approved by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden in late 2021. According to a dual press release from the offices of Sens. John Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, the Oconee Heights project "will add pedestrian pathways and complete sidewalk connections to enhance community connectivity."

Added the press release: "This investment will also help install over 200 new solar-powered lighting fixtures alongside approximately 3,000 feet of new sidewalk throughout the Oconee Heights neighborhood. Additionally, the grant will replace three failing culverts in the community."

The man with the plan around Oconee Heights has been Georgia College & State University Professor Damian Francis. Immediately below is an article written and compiled by the GCSU Office of Communications last year that offers much more context about the ongoing revitalization efforts around Oconee Heights:

At a meeting on what concerns residents – a gentleman from Oconee Heights once asked Dr. Damian Francis if he'd be like all the others – doing one thing to help the community, then disappearing.

"I said, 'No, we're here for the long haul.' That was 2-and-a-half years ago, and we're still here. We're showing some benefit now, and residents are appreciative," said Francis, an epidemiologist and director of Georgia College & State University's Center for Health & Social Issues (CHSI).

Baldwin 2K News article.

An additional article from the Union Recorder.

Faculty members Dr. Mike Martino, Austin Parks and human performance graduate student alumnus Cal Vickers presented at the Peach Belt Athletic Trainers Education Conference in May. The title of their presentation was “High-Performance Training Model in the Collegiate Setting Utilizing Force Plate Technology.”

Two students who worked with Dr. Ernie Kaninjing this summer on the NIH R15 Grant, Rae Brennan Walker and Kaitlin Van Voorhis, had an abstract accepted for presentation to the 16th AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved. The conference will be held in September.

Master of Science in Athletic Training (MSAT) students gained IV skills from Dr. Talecia Warren this summer and other valuable skills in the MSAT lab.

The School of Health & Human Performance (SHHP) is grateful for the time Warren gives to the program and appreciates the continued collaborations between our School of Nursing and SHHP programs.

No days off for these SHHP students… especially when there is the chance for additional learning to save a life! Thanks to Dr. Brittney Hardin for the class today.

To increase the number of available healthcare professionals in rural Georgia, Georgia College & State University has received the Advanced Nursing Education Workforce (ANEW) grant.

Georgia is one of the most populous states in the nation yet lacks access to primary care in 149 counties, according to the grant proposal by Dr. Sallie Coke, professor of nursing, and Dr. Monica Ketchie, associate professor of nursing.

The $650,000 a year award is the third of its kind received by the School of Nursing since 2017 and will run for the next four years. The $2.6 million over that period will bring the amount used to train nurse practitioners and midwives in rural Georgia to $6.8 million.

That makes Georgia College one of only a few schools in the country to have received this grant for ten years.

The ANEW grant is issued by the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA). It funds the ANEW scholarship at Georgia College, which provides Georgian nurses full tuition toward advanced practice degree concentrations, like midwifery.

To apply, graduates must agree to serve at least two years in an underserved area. Over the last six years, 115 nurses have received scholarships to advance their careers in medically underserved parts of Georgia.

Currently, 84% of nursing graduates continue to serve shortage areas.

“This HRSA grant will enable Georgia College to train graduate-level nurse practitioners in several specialties to help improve health outcomes in rural Georgia,” said Dr. Will Evans, Dean of the College of Health Sciences. “In turn, they will agree to practice in rural areas and provide healthcare to many major underserved communities in our state.”

Funds allow the School of Nursing to find clinical placements for students and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) in rural areas. Often, it’s too expensive for rural communities to hire a nurse practitioner.

“This is all about rural health and aiding underserved communities in Georgia,” Coke said. “That’s the huge focus of this particular workforce grant.”

Coke’s team has partnered with the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) to send nurses for advanced education opportunities, as well. In the last six years, 30 DPH nurses have completed advanced-practice education through the ANEW scholarship at Georgia College.

Fourteen nurses have agreed to stay and work for the DPH following the program they begin this fall.

“People know about our program and that we seek students from Georgia who want to practice in their small hometowns or other rural areas,” Coke said. “Receiving this grant is exciting and means we’re making an impact.”

This website is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $2,599,911 with 0% financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.

The Simulation & Translational Research Center STRC and team (Dr. Sterling Roberts, Tiffany Bell, Patsy Hicks, and Tyler Laster) successfully completed a 10-part course and post certification exam through the Global Association of Standardized Patient Educators (ASPE).

ASPE is the leading organization in SP methodology and is responsible for SP best-practice standards. The content included detailed education on areas such as case development, recruiting & hiring of SPs, training SPs, training of SPs to provide learner feedback, writing and understanding learning objectives, constructing SP checklist and evaluations. While each member of the STRC plays an important role in different areas of the covered content, it is important for all members to understand how each of these essential areas come together to meet best-practice standards and provides exceptional educational experiences for all of the SON programs involved in simulation activities.

This is an important milestone in each of their careers, the progress of the STRC, and our ability to move forward with Standardized Patient programs and simulation cases.

Congratulations on a job well done, and thank you again to Dr. Roberts for leading the way.

Congratulations to Dr. Marcia Henry on being selected to present a poster on "Effectiveness of a Nurse-Led Songwriting Intervention on Quality of Life for Individuals with Chronic Pain," at the American Society for Pain Management Nursing (ASPMN) 33rd National Conference, scheduled for September 20-23, 2023, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This presentation stems from her DNP project.

Congratulations to Dr.'s Sheryl Winn and Sandra Copeland on being selected to present a 1-hour breakout session on "Educating Nursing Students Using a Homeless Population" at the virtual National Doctors of Nursing Practice (DNP) Conference, scheduled for August 10-11, 2023.

Come fall semester, Paige Coleman of Mansfield will be a first-generation college student.

Her background as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) fueled her passion for helping people. Ultimately, she wants to become a registered nurse.

She’ll begin her journey in Georgia College & State University’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. Coleman will do so as a Lettie Pate Whitehead Nursing Scholar, which provides her with a full, four-year nursing scholarship.

The scholarship is named for Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans, a notable philanthropist and businesswoman, and Coleman will now follow her footsteps. She plans to serve her community by partnering with GCSU’s Center for Health and Social Issues and the Simulation and Translational Research Center. Plus, she’ll participate in activities and events that encourage personal and professional development.

Read the full story on Front Page.

In mid-June, Alyssa Daniel, ’23, started working for The Hershey Company as a territory sales lead. She’s responsible for 25 stores, including Kroger, Publix and Walmart—all located west of Atlanta.

Most weekdays, she builds and maintains business relationships with key decision-makers, analyzes store data and develops action plans to help maximize sales.

“Through those relationships,” Daniel said, “we can get the best placement of products in the store so our sales and the store’s sales will increase.”

The former public health and marketing student discovered her passion for retail when she was a summer sales associate for Carter's and Oshkosh apparel company. Daniel was pleased with the process when she applied to The Hershey Company.

Everyone was supportive, and the company was team-oriented. She got a company car and moving expenses paid.

Georgia College & State University propelled Daniel into this career by helping her develop teamwork and professional skills. She majored in public health and minored in marketing. Dr. Damian Francis, assistant professor of public health and director of the Center for Health and Social Issues, was her favorite professor. Daniel participated in many of his community outreach events, such as the Breast Cancer Awareness Walk.

Read the story on Front Page.