A Message from the Title III Director...
Savannah State University’s Title III Office would like to
welcome everyone back! We are excited about the New Year
and all the exciting things that are planned for this grant year.
This grant cycle (October 2015 - September 2016), Title III is
funding 16 activities from two Title III grants which facilitate
and support the achievement of student academic success,
technology, student outreach, mentoring, and academic
building renovations (to name a few). Stay tuned for more
exciting things happening in Title III. Below is a list of funded
activities for 2015-2016.
Dedra N. Andrews:
Title III Director
Title III-B (Year 4)
Activity Name
Activity Director
Achieving Academic Excellence through the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP)
Dr. Lisa Yount
Center for Academic Success (CAS)
Mary Ann Goldwire
Integrated Communication Technology
Naomi Singleton
Academic Improvement through Building Renovations and Expansion
Randal Lowery
STEM 360
Patrick Dean
Building University Capacity
Phil Cole
Enhancing the School of Teacher Education (SOTE)
Dr. Keenya Mosley
Career Retention & Coaching Track
Dr. Earl Berksteiner
Development of a Student Financial Literacy Program
Edward Jolley
Honors Program
TBD
Men and Women of Excellence Mentoring Program
Danon Holmes
Center for Faculty Excellence
TBD
Business Operation Liaisons
Edward Jolley
SAFRA (Year 1)
Activity Name
Activity Director
Forensic Science Program Development
Dr. Karla Sue Marriott
Enhance Instructional Facilities through Renovations & Repairs
Randall Lowery
Aqua Paws: Swimming Instruction Program
Michael Cohen
January 2016
Volume 8, Issue 1
Men and Women of Excellence
Mentoring Program
Mentoring is a valuable strategy that creates
a relationship between caring persons with
great experience and those with less
experience. A mentor provides support and
guidance for a student in his or her personal,
academic, and other areas of life. Mentors
also play an important role in helping
students with their academic goals and
career aspiration. Students who enter the
program, are given information that will help
them successfully navigate through the
university’s processes and procedures
along with resources to help with
professional development.
The Men and Women of Excellence
Mentoring Program activity (Danon Holmes)
plans to create a culture of educational and
leadership excellence among students
through mentoring relationships and cocurricular experiences.
Most students enter the university with a
wide range of hopes and ambition, but
sometimes that hope can be dashed by a
wave of reality. Students may encounter
personal challenges as well as college
related challenges that could affect their
chances of receiving a degree, being
expelled from college, and/or not returning
to college. Some challenges may include but
not limited to:
 Depression
 Low self-esteem
 Lack
2 of time management
 Mixing in with the wrong crowd
 Failing classes
 Making the wrong choices
The Men and Women of Excellence
Mentoring Program activity is specifically
designed to help students overcome such
barriers and challenges to keep them on
the pathway of academic achievement.
The Mentoring program primarily targets
first-time-freshmen but the activities
sponsored by the Mentoring Program are
open to all students who seek guidance.
Fall 2015 semester a total of 15 faculty/staff
members signed up to be mentors to
students (80) in the Mentoring Program.
The mentors offer personal attention and
customized guidance to help the student
reach their academic, personal, and career
goals.
The activity’s plans for Spring 2016
semester includes:

Speaker Series (Monthly)

Conflict Resolution Workshop (February)

Leadership Workshop (April)

Guaranteed 4.0 Workshop (TBD)
If you are interested in becoming a mentor
or know of any students in need of
mentoring contact Mr. Danon Holmes at
ext. 3147.
TITLE III SCHOLARSHIPS
Each year the National Association of HBCU Title III Administrators award scholarships to
students attending Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs). This Association has
awarded nearly $1000,000 in scholarships to students in the past eight years to include 2015.
There were over 100 students from the various HBCUs that submitted applications this year and
only 10 students were awarded scholarships.

$1,000 Scholarship Awards - 6 Students

$500 Scholarship Awards - 4 students
Savannah State University (SSU) had three students to receive the $500 scholarship award:
Maleek Montgomery is a Senior majoring in Chemistry. Mr. Montgomery is
very active on campus being a member of Achievers of Today and
Tomorrow Inc., American Chemical Society, and National Hispanic
Scholarship Funds and he holds an executive position in each
organization. Upon graduation, he plans to attend medical school to
pursue a medical degree and later becoming the Dean of College of
Science and Technology here at SSU.
Anitra Bosley is also a Senior here at SSU majoring in Biology. After graduation
Ms. Bosley plans to attend Graduate school to pursue a Master in Health
Administration/Business Management. Her ultimate goal is to start a women’s
center that will serve as a safe haven for women seeking counseling, health
care, and to provide health awareness to women on how to live a fulfilling and
prosperous life.
Tia Bolden is a Sophomore majoring in Electronics Engineering Technology
with a track in Technology Education. After graduation, Ms. Bolden would
like to devote two years teaching middle or high school students in the
Chatham County area to motive students in the STEM disciplines and
inspire them to attend Savannah State University. After two years of
teaching, Ms. Bolden plans to attend Georgia Tech University to acquire a
master in Electrical Engineering and start her Engineering career.
3
Title III’s Fall 2015 Student Assistant Tyler Reid, a Senior graduating
Spring 2016, created a new logo for the Title III department. Mr. Reid is
majoring in Journalism & Mass Communications (JMC) concentrating in
Public Relations and Advertising and minoring in Behavior Analysis with
hopes of gaining knowledge on how to observe and construe individual’s
behaviors.
Mr. Reid has worked diligently in gaining experience in the field of
graphic designing. Through the JMC department Mr. Reid was able to
gain most of his graphic designing experience by assisting with the
production of the first JMC Award show that took place on April 2, 2015
in the King Frazier Ballroom. Mr. Reid participated with a team of
students, where he served in the role of Director of Run of Show. As
Director of Run of Show, Mr. Reid was to ensure the show flowed in a
timely manner with no discrepancies. Mr. Reid and the participating
students were able to implement the entire production of the JMC
Awards show from a simple idea into reality. Mr. Reid also received two
awards: 1) Picasso Award; most “artsy” student in the JMC department
and 2) the Selfie Award; most photogenic.
Mr. Reid is an extremely talented individual who always strives to take
that extra mile to achieve any goal set for himself! He dreams
EXTRAORDINARY to gain EXTRAORDINAY results! The Title III Office
wishes Tyler Reid the best of luck in his future endeavors!
Savannah State University Title III STEM 360 activity (Patrick Dean) hosted its
annual F.I.R.S.T LEGO League (FLL) Regional Competition Qualifier on Dec. 5,
2015 at Oglethorpe Charter School in Savannah, Georgia. FLL is designed to
stimulate students’ interest in science and technology while building selfconfidence, knowledge, and life skills. By embracing the core values participants
learn that friendly competition and mutual gain are not separate goal and that
helping one another is the foundation of teamwork.
There were over 350 students, parents, educators, volunteers, and STEM 360
staff that attended this year’s competition. A total of 17 teams participated in this
year’s competition from surrounding counties. Each team had 9-10 students
ranging from 9-16 years old. All participants were enthusiastic about this year’s
theme “2015 Trash Trek Challenge”. This challenge provided each team the
opportunity to explore the fascinating world of trash. In the first part of
competition, each team was asked to invent a solution to help the trash problem
in the world (i.e. trash compose). Once the solution was established, teams were
moved to the second part of the competition of using the LEGO MINSTORMS ®
robot to accomplish the trash-themed “missions” established by the FIRST
LEGO League and display how well they practice the Core Values. Three teams
were crowned Champions and many other awards were given out as well.
See chart below.
1St Place
Rockin Rookies
Best Research
Gatorbots
Best Mechanical
Evil Pop Tarts
Best Gracious
Professionalism
Robo Ravens
Champion Award
2nd Place
Robo-Chicks
Project Awards
Best Innovative Solutions
Robo Rams
Robot Design Awards
Best Programming
4-H Electro Ninjas
Core Value Awards
Best Teamwork
Pig Bros
Best Robot Performance
Crusaders
3rd Place
Robo-Hawks
Best Presentation
Redshirt Robotics
Best Strategy &
Innovation
Trinity Techs
Best Inspiration
Throwback Packs
For additional information on the FIRST LEGO League or the STEM 360
Program contact Patrick Dean at ext. 3295 or go to:
http://www.firstlegoleague.org
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Financial Literacy Corner:
A Message from the Financial Literacy Coordinator
The Development of a Student Financial Literacy Program activity (Edward Jolley) wants to
prepare students for the 2016-2017 academic year! Academic scholarship deadlines are quickly
approaching, and students should apply NOW!
To find different scholarships, students should visit: http://igrad.com/scholarships
For those students that have not created a free profile with the iGrad Financial Literacy portal,
they can simply go to http://tiny.cc/igradssu to register.
Students will find useful articles, videos, the latest research, etc.
The iGrad Financial Literacy portal can help students with a number of things:
Better Financial Life:
iGrad can help students achieve a better financial life with tools designed to improve their
personal finance knowledge and habits.
Pay-off Student Loans:
Students can learn how to prepare to pay off student loans with tips on borrowing less, tools to
track their loans, and potential repayment options.
Rewarding Career:
Students can obtain information regarding internships and jobs. iGrad's has a list of jobs and
resume tools for support.
There are additional modules for students to access and review topics such as:

Student Loans

Banking

Credit Cards

Identity Theft

Investing

And many more!
To schedule an appointment to discuss financial literacy students should contact
Christopher Corinthian at ext. 4005 or email at [email protected].

All Activity Directors should be keeping track of their money spent throughout the
year. By the end of January, at least 33% 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.

All Title III eProcurement Requests must be approved by the Title III Director. Activity
Directors are reminded to add Mrs. Andrews in the Approval Section before pressing
the submit and approve button.

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 Annual Performance Report (APR) will be submitted to the Department of
Education by February 1st for both Title III B and SAFRA grants (2014-2015).

Quarterly Reports (Oct. 2015-Dec. 2015) were due to the Title III Office on January 15th.
Equipment Inventory Reports are to be submitted ONLY of items were purchased and
received during 1st Quarter.

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).
Awarded $3,516,660 - Year 4 for Title III B
Awarded 1,110,799 for Year 1-SAFRA of the new 2015-2020 budget period
“New Funding” for both grants began October 1, 2015
Dedra N. Andrews
Director, Title III
T: 912-358-4061
E:[email protected]
LaTashia Swain-Gilliard
Program Specialist
T: 912-358-4061
E:[email protected]