April 2013
Volume 5 Issue 2
Message from the Director...
Greetings and welcome to the second edition of Title III’s
Quarterly Newsletter for this grant period. There are a number of
exciting things happening in Title III that we want to share with you.
Our goal is to keep the SSU community abreast of all the
WONDERFUL things that our Title III funded activities are
accomplishing.
In this newsletter we introduce our new Title III Employees (as
of March), Aqua Paws activities, STEM 360, and Workshops in Mass
Communications.
I hope you find this newsletter interesting and informative. Stay
on the lookout for more Title III news.
Welcome New Employees
We would like to
welcome three new
employees to the Title III
family. We know that these
individuals will be a great
asset to our Title III Team.
Debbie Deaton
started February 1st as the
Data Processing Specialist for
the Center for Academic
Success Activity.
W. Renea Camper
started February 4th as the
Telecom Project Specialist for
the Enhancing the School of
Teacher Education Program
Activity.
Alfonso T. Canady
started March 4th as the
Financial Literacy Coordinator
for the Development of a
Student Financial Literacy
Program Activity.
Dedra N. Andrews
Title III Director
Inside this Issue
Message from
Director...
1
Welcome New
Employees
1
Aqua Paws
2
STEM 360
3
Mass
Communications
Media Boot
4
Reminders
5
“Aqua Paws: Swimming Instruction Program “(Michael Cohen) is an innovative activity that
is making a difference on and off Savannah State University (SSU) campus. The goal of this
activity is to enhance the knowledge of swimming for minorities
through water safety and swimming instruction. This program is
designed to help non-swimmers ease their fear of water.
Since the start of the program there have been a number of
SSU students who have become Red Cross Certified Life guards (14)
or Water Safety Instructors (9). Six (6)
of the students are certified in both Red
Cross and Water Safety. These
certifications allow additional academic swim classes to be offered
each semester and the pool to be opened 50+ hours a week. Many
of the certified lifeguards will be hired at local community pools as
lifeguards and as aquatics instruction which aims to increase the
number of local citizens who are taught to swim.
In addition, Aqua Paws is working with different groups and organizations to improve
swimming abilities. This year, Aqua Paws has partnered with the Army ROTC to assist cadets
who need assistance with learning, refining, or improving their swimming skills. All cadets are
required to take a swimming test before graduation. Prior to working with the Aqua Paws staff,
over 90% of the cadets were failing the swimming test.
The program started with 20 cadets (13 seniors, 4 juniors, and
3 sophomores). Currently, all 13 seniors and three (3) juniors cadets
have passed the swimming test. To date, the remaining junior and
three (3) sophomores have not been tested. Due to the Aqua Paws
activity, the Army ROTC has an 80% passing rate. This program will
be completed at the end of April. By then all cadets should have been
tested and passed the swimming test.
This Spring, Aqua Paws started a new pilot program involving Oglethorpe Academy Middle
School. The program is providing swimming lessons for at least 40 students in the 7th grade. The
program began March 27th and will end April 27th. The Aqua Paws staff meets with the students
three (3) times a week at the Wilcox-Wiley swimming pool. The class is divided into 5 to 8 groups
commiserate with their ability and water experience. The goal of this pilot program is to teach
middle school students how to swim and reduce their fear of water.
For more information, contact Michael Cohen at ext. 3442.
STEM 360: Exciting, Engaging and Exhilarating
The “STEM 360” activity (Patrick Dean) coordinated Educator
Professional Development Workshops during the Fall semester
(October 3rd & 31st). These workshops were held to enhance
awareness of the STEM discipline amongst K-12 teachers. Over fifty
Savannah-Chatham County Public School teachers were in
attendance. The workshops focused on Mousetrap Car, Water Rocket
and VEX Robotics which were facilitated by SECME consultants. All
workshops were conducted on SSU campus.
STEM 360 also coordinated Regional events such as First LEGO League Competition and
Science and Engineering Fair. Both events were held on SSU campus
(New Student Union) and involved many SSU faculty, staff, and
undergraduates serving in various capacities, as well as community
partners and volunteers. STEM 360 intends to continue coordination
for these regional competitions and sustaining regional K-12 outreach.
In addition, STEM 360 is very active on the local district STEM
Committee as well as the May
Howard Elementary STEM
Advisory Committee. The
committee responsibilities are to
provide professional development and support opportunities to
increase STEM activities for educators in form of resources and
consultation/development of activities/events for K-12 students.
One of the activities developed was Engineering Week at May
Howard Elementary School. The STEM 360 activity participated
three days during the week promoting STEM awareness.
Tuesday
Aerospace
Engineering
Students constructed and launched
water rockets, using 16oz. water
bottles
Arceafus Curry
Ryan Johnson
Wednesday
Electronics Engineering
Technology and
Programming
SSU COST undergraduates
demonstrated applications of
electrical engineering technology
and programming, using a BOE Bot
Pernell Wilson
Maurice Brown
Thursday
Electronics Engineering
Technology and
Programming
SSU COST undergraduates
demonstrated applications of
electrical engineering technology
and programming, using a
STACKER competition robot.
Derek Edens
Jeff Meeker
For additional information regarding the STEM 360 activity,
contact Patrick Dean at ext. 3295
The “Mass Communications: Student Media
Center & Learning Laboratories” activity
(Dr. Charles Elmore) has held a series of media
training workshops titled “media boot camp” for SSU
students. The workshops were open to all students
with an interest in pre-production, production, and
post-production of broadcast television. All
workshops were held in Kennedy Fine Arts building
and conducted by the Channel 96 staff of the Mass
Communications department.
These workshops were offered to educate and simulate exercises for students
centered around newsroom scenarios, editing scenarios, and live show scenarios. The
students were able to use the Control Room to control all vital
operations for television studio, iMac Editing Lab to edit videos and
write scripts, Protools Audio Lab to enhance video sound, PC Editing
Labs for the students who prefer to
use a PC versus an iMac, and the
Production Room to record the live
taping of their productions.
The workshops were held
three (3) Saturdays in March (9th,
16th, and 23rd) with over 20
students in attendance on each
day. During the workshops the
students operated as real media
professionals and was assisted by
Rossano Stewart, Media Content Specialist at WTOC. Mr. Stewart volunteered to help
with the “media boot camp” in which the student simulated an entire media operations
work day. The students had to participate in a news gathering process, video shoot,
video editing, writing of television scripts, and producing their work in less than a four
(4) hour time frame. Normally this process
takes a full day to manifest, but the
students were asked to conduct all
scenarios and showcase their results to the
Mass Communications staff.
The Mass Communications
Department is planning to conduct more
workshops in April.
For more information contact William Martin at ext. 3353.
Budget

All Activity Directors should be keeping track of their money spent throughout the year. By the
end of March, at least 50% 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 travel request 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 the start date.
Contracts

All Contract and Agreement Approval forms have to receive approval from Legal Counsel. Please
allot enough time for approval and signatures (at least 2 weeks prior to date of requested
services).

All Contract and Agreement Approval forms must have ALL names typed in the “Print Name” area
for those signatures that require approval (Dean of your College, Vice President of your
department, University Counsel, Title III Director, and President).
Title III Office

PHASE I Data was submitted to the Department of Education on March 28th. This data determines
Title III’s funding level for the upcoming budget period (Oct. 2013—Sept. 2014).

Mid-Year Reports (Oct. 2012—March 2013) are due to the Title III Office on April 12th. Updated
Equipment Inventory Reports are to be submitted as well.

One-on-ones are always available with the Title III Director, contact Mrs. Gilliard for availability.
!!!DON’T FORGET!!!
All Title III Year 2 and Year 4 (SAFRA) proposals for the new budget period
(Oct. 2013—Sept. 2014) are due to the Title III Office on April 19th.