Director’s Corner
Greetings and welcome to the
second edition of the Title III’s
Quarterly Newsletter for the 20152016 grant period. The Title III office
is dedicated in keeping the SSU
Dedra N. Andrews
campus abreast of all the wonderful Title III Director/Special Assistant to the President
things the Title III funded activities
are accomplishing. 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.
In this second edition we highlight New Hires, the Career Track Tour,
Mentoring Program, and STEM 360 Activities.
I hope you find this newsletter interesting and informative. Stay
tuned for more exciting things happening in the Title III Department.
Table of Content
April 2016
Volume 8, Issue 2
Directors Corner
1
Title III Employees
2
Toastmasters
3
Career Track Tour
4
Saturday STEM
Academy
5
Reminders
6
We would like to welcome six new employees to the Title III family. We
know these individuals will be a great asset to our Title III Team!
Ms. Terri Phillips started on January 4th with Title III as the Scheduling
Coordinator for the Integrated Communications Technologies
activity.
Sheri Rouse-Mainor started February 1st as the Business Operations
Liaison in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
(CLASS) department for the Establishment of Business Operations
Liaisons activity.
Michael Grant started February 1st as the Business Operations Liaison
in the College of Business Administration (COBA) department for the
Establishment of Business Operations Liaisons activity.
Natalie Moultrie February 1st as the Business Operations Liaison in the
College of Sciences and Technology (COST) department for the
Establishment of Business Operations Liaisons activity.
Mr. Cedric Beamon started February 10th as the Outreach Coordinator
for the STEM 360 activity.
Ms. Trenace Johnson started February 15th as the Administrative
Specialist for the STEM 360 activity.
Toastmasters Series
The Men and Women of Excellence Mentoring Program
Activity (Danon Holmes) hosted its first Toastmasters
series during this Spring semester for students that were
interested in learning more on communications and
leadership development. Toastmasters, founded in 1924,
is a nonprofit international educational organization that
provides public speaking and leadership skills around the
world with values such as: Integrity, Respect, Service and
Excellence.
The Mentoring Program held six Toastmasters series
which started on February 13th and ended April 2nd.
These series were held on Saturdays in the Elmore
Theater located in the King Frazier Student Center from
10:00am—12:00pm. A total of 11 students signed up and
participated in the Toastmasters series. These students
were able to enhance their public speaking and
communication skills. The student participants felt that
working with Toastmasters helped them improve their
abilities to participate in classes and enhance their
confidence when presenting class projects. All of the
student participants are looking forward to the next
Toastmasters series coming this Fall.
The Mentoring Program would like to ask all faculty to
encourage their students to participate in the
Toastmasters Series for Fall 2016.
For additional information on Toastmasters Series and/or
if you would like to become a Mentor to a student contact
Danon Holmes at ext. 3147.
Career Track Tours with
Career Services
The Career Services department provides services to all students seeking
career opportunities, in search of a graduate school, and looking for
internship opportunities. Career Services serves as a resource center to
assist students in preparing for their future career and/or education goals.
Services provided by the Career Service department are as follows but not
limited to:

Career Counseling

Career Development Fairs

Resume Writing

Self-Elevations

Mock Interviews

Employment Listing

Workshops and Presentations

Graduate School Information
With the assistance from Title, the Career Retention & Coaching Track
(C.R.C.T) activity (Dr. Earl Berksteiner) is providing Career Track Tours
to students for the Spring 2016 semester. The Career Track Tours will offer
students the chance to explore career opportunities at different companies
and speak with personnel who are able to share insight on the daily
operation.
This Spring, the C.R.C.T activity scheduled a Career Track Tour to Georgia
Port Authority (GPA), in Brunswick, Ga on April 25th. The participating
students were given the opportunity to learn about the purpose of the facility
and how it serves the public. Also, students were given a chance to shadow
employees, observe the daily process, and ask questions regarding career
paths, employment, and internship opportunities with the company.
For more information regarding Career Track Tours or Career Services students
should contact Dr. Earl Berksteiner at ext. 3154 or visit the Career Center.
Saturday STEM Academy
The STEM 360 activity (Patrick Dean) hosted their second
annual Saturday STEM Academy at Savannah State
University. The Saturday STEM Academy, which began
January 30th and will end May 21st, has twenty-five 9th and
10th grade participants that were selected from various high
schools in the Savannah-Chatham County School System.
The STEM Academy meets twice a month with plans to have
a total of 9 Saturday sessions from 9:00am—1:00pm.
Each session covers topics such as Computer Science with a
concentration in Programming and Coding and Physics. The
9th and 10th graders are engaging in hands-on activities that
allows them to gain experience with new and innovative
technology concepts designed to enrich and increase
awareness of the content in the targeted subject areas. To
date the participants have been introduced to Programming
and Coding activities. One of the classes that was offered allowed students the
opportunity to learn the basic and advanced methods of coding. In the beginning weeks
of their lessons, students used coding to make a computer repeat their name by
programming a button. During the intermediate level lessons a group of students
created a point-and-click guessing game. On a more advanced level, students started
developing a Rock-Paper-Scissors game application for mobile devices.
To date, the Physics portion of the STEM Academy has started and will continue
through the duration of the Saturday STEM Academy sessions.
Students are learning college level Physics concepts and are given
the opportunity to explore through hands-on activities. The students’
Physics knowledge is challenged by them having to use their
ingenuity and imagination to create the most efficient model roller
coasters. Students will start to explore a different side of Physics with
model rockets in the upcoming weeks. Lastly, students will be
planning, building, and testing a model rocket launch.
For more information regarding STEM 360 upcoming activities contact
Patrick Dean at ext. 3295.

All Activity Directors should be keeping track of their funds spent throughout
the year. By the end of March, at least 50% of activity funds should have been
spent or encumbered.

All activity spending is being monitored by the Title III Office. If your activity is
flagged as “not spending” funds will be swept from your activity and given to
another activity to spend.

The Business and Financial Affairs office has closed the PeopleSoft system for
Year-End. Once the system reopens, the Title III office will notify Activity
Directors. Title III’s P-Card is still active and same rules apply as before.

All Student Employment Contracts must be submitted two weeks prior to the
start date. The contract must include the student signature, Director’s
signature, and Time Card Approver signature.

The Interim Performance Report (IPR) will be submitted to the Department of
Education by April 29th for the Title III-SAFRA grant (2015-2016).

Mid-Year Reports (October 2015-March 2016) were due to the Title III Office on
April 15th. Equipment Inventory Reports were to be submitted ONLY if items
were purchased and received between January-March.

All Title III related reports should be submitted on time. Failure to comply will
result in funds being held until all reports have been received. (This includes
Time and Efforts).
Dedra N. Andrews
Title III Director/
Special Assistant to the President
T: 912-358-4061
E:[email protected]
LaTashia Swain-Gilliard
Program Specialist
T: 912-358-4061
E:[email protected]