A Message from the Title III Director…
Greetings and welcome to the third edition of
Title III’s Quarterly Newsletter for 2014 - 2015
grant period.
My goal as Title III Director is to fund new and
innovative activities that will have an impact on
the university as well as work together to
ensure our students are excelling academically.
Here in the Title III Office we are committed to
keeping the SSU campus community abreast of
all the wonderful and exciting things happening
with our funded activities.
In this newsletter we introduce new hires,
showcase the SESSO Magazine, and share
highlights from the STEM 360 Summer Camp
(to name a few).
I hope you find this newsletter interesting and
informative. Stay tuned for more exciting things
happening in the Title III Department!
Dedra N. Andrews:
Title III Director
Table of Content
Message from
Director
1
New Title III
Employees
2
JMC Magazine
2
STEM 360 Summer
Camp
3
Mentoring Program
4
Financial Literacy
Corner
4
Reminders
5
August 2015
Volume 7, Issue 3
Welcome New Title III Employees
We would like to welcome two new employees to the Title III family. We
know these individuals will be a great asset to our Title III Team!
Christopher Corinthian started on June 1st
with Title III as the Financial Literacy
Coordinator for the Development of a
Student Financial Literacy Program.
Danon Holmes started on June 1st with
Title III as the Director of the Mentoring
Program and will also serve as the Activity
Director for this project.
JMC Launches “Sesso” the Magazine
The Department of Journalism and Mass Communications (JMC) has launched a new magazine for
long-and short-form journalism. The magazine, “Sesso” (the title means "says so" in the Gullah language),
was created to give JMC students who are concentrating in writing and journalism for online and print, a
chance to publish some of their best work that comes out of writing courses in the department.
"The mission for Sesso is to teach comprehensive, long-form, contextual storytelling and provide
useful, complete news and information to its audience," said Professor Earley, who started the magazine for
the JMC students. "The magazine models professional journalistic practice -- that is, fair, objective,
comprehensive, multi-sourced, warts-and-all writing and reporting in a university laboratory
setting."
The first issue of Sesso, was printed using Title III funding through the “Journalism
& Mass Communication: Student Media Center & Learning Laboratories” activity
(Wanda Lloyd), featured stories about daughters who grew up without fathers, the difficulties
that young adults face when dealing with the challenges of diabetes, and the definition of
pretty for African-American girls. The issue also included a photo essay about a historic,
black-owned farm in Georgia and shorter lifestyle stories and photos.
The magazine can be viewed online by searching "Sesso" on www.issuu.com
or contact Wanda Lloyd at [email protected] to request a hard copy of the magazine.
STEM 360
Summer Enrichment Camp
The “STEM 360” activity (Patrick Dean) and Savannah State University
College of Sciences and Technology (COST) held their annual STEM 360
Summer Enrichment Camp. The summer camp provided four weeks of
exciting engagement for over two-hundred-twenty (220) K-12 students.
Savannah-Chatham County Public School Educators and participants of the
Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program at SSU School of Teacher
Education facilitated STEM enrichment sessions focusing on principles of
engineering, mathematics, forensic science and computer programming.
Eighty-two (82) rising fourth and fifth grade students participated during the
weeks of June 1st and June 15th, and one hundred- twenty eight (128) rising
sixth through eighth grade students participated during the weeks of June 8 th
and June 22nd. During these weeks, students participated in hands-on activities
involving design, construction, and performance of Mousetrap Cars, Water
Rockets, and LEGO EV3 Robots. More advanced activities included:

Alternative Energy Snap Circuits where students built projects,
investigated alternative energy strategies, and learned about circuits, electricity, and
geothermal power.

Parallax BASIC Stamp microcontroller module, where students were introduced to the
world of programming and electronics through hands-on activities that range from
building simple circuits from pictures and schematics to sending signals with blinking
LEDs to making music on a piezo speaker.
Ten (10) ninth and tenth grade students participated in Forensic Science and
Computer programming sessions during the week of June 8th -12th. During the
Forensic Science sessions, students used the Flinn Scientific, Inc. forensic kits to
learn how to collect evidence and relevant data and how to use the information
to solve cases. Students investigated a possible homicide
using simulated maggots as clues to determine the time and
cause of death for four different simulated crime scenes. A
software called Kodu, designed by Microsoft, was used in the Computer
programming sessions. Kodu is a new visual programming language made
specifically for creating games. The students were very impressed on finding out
how to create a gaming system.
For more information about the STEM 360 Summer Enrichment Camp contact
Patrick Dean at ext. 3295.
SSU’S MENTORING PROGRAM
The “Men and Women of Excellence Mentoring Program” (Danon Holmes) would like to
introduce the Men and Women of Excellent Mentoring Initiative to the Savannah State campus
community. The program is designed to assist students with their transition into college and
transform them into professionals.
The objectives of this program are to help students:

Improve persistence and resilience

Develop responsibilities

Enhance academic development

Build positive relationships
Statistics show that the best way to help students is to become a mentor. Mentors help
students stay in school, achieve their goals and become a productive and positive member of
society. Dedicated volunteers can help shape the minds of students by imparting wisdom. The
Program Needs You!” The Men and Women of Excellence Mentoring Program is designed to be
flexible in accommodating scheduling and aligning interest with a mentee. The Men and Women
of Excellence Mentoring Program is excited about volunteers joining the revolution.
If you would like to know more about the Men and Woman of Excellence Mentoring Program
or interested in becoming a mentor please contact:
Danon Holmes at [email protected] or at ext. 3147.
Financial Literacy Corner
The “Development of a Student Financial Literacy” activity (Edward Jolley) would like to
inform the campus community of some initiatives the new Financial Literacy Coordinator will be
putting in place. The Financial Literacy Coordinator is focusing on increasing scholarship awards
by increasing the number of students submitting scholarship applications. Also, the Coordinator
wants to get students actively involved and more aware of financial options while in school as
well as after graduation. With the help of the faculty and staff collectively this will be a success.
Faculty and Staff should be encouraging students to do the following:

Go to iGRAD at http://tiny.cc/igradssu to create a free user account.

Complete the nine (9) different modules on the site to become aware of financial aid and how
to manage money.

Apply for scholarships daily; at least 10 a day per student.
For addition information regarding Financial Literacy contact
Christopher Corinthian at ext. 4005.
Budget

All Activity Directors should be keeping track of their money spent throughout the year. By
the end of August, at least 90% 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 Title III travel requests 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 their start date.
Contracts

All Contracts should be submitted at least 10 days prior to the date of requested services listed
on the contract. This allots enough time for approval and signatures form Legal Counsel and
Vice Presidents (if applicable). The end date should NOT extend past September 30, 2015.
Title III Office

Phase II Data (activity Proposals) for Year 4 and Year 1 (SAFRA) will be submitted to the
Department of Education by August 31st.

End of Year Reports (Oct. 2014 - September 2015) will be due to the Title III office by
October 9, 2015. Updated Equipment Inventory Reports are to be submitted as well.
Cut-off date for Title III spending is set for
Friday, September 18th.
Activity funds must be spent or encumbered by this date. The Title III Office will
start the close-out process for Year 3 and Year 5 on September 21st.