The Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art (BFSDoArt) presented its annual Juried Undergraduate Exhibition, a showcase of artwork from undergraduate students, in the Center for Art & Theatre's Contemporary Gallery from March 31 - April 7. The show offers students an opportunity to highlight their work and gain professional experience in a formal setting. Winners, selected by Augusta University's Department of Art Chairman Scott Thorp, were announced at the opening reception in March. This year's winners included: Best in Show: Katie "Xed" Blankenship, "Roach Motel" Juror's Choice: Emily Oren, "Borderline" Honorable Mention: Marian Trainor, "Fibula" Honorable Mention: Chloe Coulibaly, "Meditation" Blankenship and Oren will each receive a solo exhibition at the Averitt Center for the Art, Legends Gallery during the 2017-2018 school year. Other students with work selected for Juried 2017 were Soleil Collins, Charlynne Crutcher, Anna Currence, Allison Exley, Alex Furlough, Rikki Hagerty, Jessie Hamner, Tanner Higgs, Carter Jackson, Jennie Klabnik, Savannah Knauss, Denson McLain, Kimberly Powell Page, Keyanna Palmer, Ray Pettit, Kasey Roberts, Raegan Rowland, Allyson Schuman, Madeline Shelor, Sarah Shepherd, Virginia Skinner, Dylan Stembridge, Tanner Tracey, Stefani Waters, Shelby Whitaker, MacKenzie Willard. "The BFSDoArt is an interdisciplinary program, a fact readily apparent through the great diversity of styles, media and disciplines on display in this year's 'Juried Undergraduate Exhibition,'" said Jason Hoelscher, BFSDoArt gallery director and assistant professor. "The compelling quality of our students' work, along with the discerning eye of our visiting juror, artist and scholar Scott Thorp, combined to make this dynamite exhibition."

Georgia Southern University recently recognized more than 1,350 students for excellence in academics on the Spring 2017 semester President's List. To be eligible for the President's List, a student must have at least a 4.0 grade point average and carry a minimum of 12 hours for the semester.

The Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art (BFSDoArt) hosted the annual Juried Undergraduate Exhibition, a showcase of artwork from undergraduate students, in the Center for Art & Theatre's Contemporary Gallery from March 31 - April 7.

On April 17, 2017, S. Dawn Odom completed the requirements to now claim the designation Certified Master Athletic Administrator. She has joined an elite group of other athletic administrators from across the country that has attained the CMAA designation in the field of athletic administrators. The NIAAA is the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. Georgia Southern University, Masters of Educational Leadership

Senior child and family development major Salena Neuwar was named the 2016 Georgia Association on Young Children (GAYC) Student of the Year at the Together for Children Conference for her outstanding work as a student and the positive impact she has made in her field of study. To be considered for the award, Neuwar had to be a GAYC member, a student studying child development or a related field, considered an outstanding student in her program and be nominated by an instructor in higher education. In addition to the GAYC Student of the Year Award, Neuwar has been honored with the Betty Lane Family and Consumer Science Award, the Georgia Southern Honors Program scholarship and the Susie Frances Whitener scholarship.

The executive members of Georgia Southern's Interfraternity Council (IFC) recently attended the Southeastern Interfraternity Conference (SEIFC), held to provide IFC executive members from all over the U.S. with resources to enhance and improve their councils. Georgia Southern's Fraternity and Sorority Life was recognized in the top tier of Greeks nationwide for having an all Greek GPA that is higher than the all campus average GPA.

The 25th annual Georgia Southern Fall 2016 Commencement Ceremony represented a momentous day as approximately 1,700 of Georgia's best and brightest undergraduate and graduate students received degrees from the University's eight colleges. Approximately 400 graduate degrees were conferred, while around 1,300 undergraduate students received degrees.

Henriette Sabroe Ebbesen, was a winner in Life Framer's monthly photography competition "Still Life." The work from her series "Kaleidoscope Still Life" received an honorable mention in the competition judged by internationally celebrated photographer Lorenzo Vitturi. Additionally, Ebbesen's portfolio is currently featured on the Photo Vogue Italia website. "Water Lilies," a photocollage from her series "Feminine Development," was selected Photo Vogue Italia's Pic of the Day on January 2. Ebbesen currently is studying medicine at University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She attended Georgia Southern University through the Georgia Rotary Student Program and studied art from 2015-2016. Here she found her passion for fine art photography. Her work has been featured in exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe.

Ceramic work by Georgia Southern student MacKenzie Williard recently was accepted into a group exhibition at Local Project in Long Island City, New York. ANIMILIA was curated by Julian Calderon. It includes work from more than 60 artists. The show is on view from March 2 - March 18. Willard is a senior Bachelor of Fine Arts student concentrating in 3D Studio Art.

Melissa Stack (`15), graduate student in the School of Health and Kinesiology, has been awarded a grant in the amount of $844.06 from the Graduate Student Professional Development Fund (GSPDF) at Georgia Southern University for her research, "The effect of chronic L-carnitine and carbohydrate supplementation on body composition, perceived exertion and athletic performance in female endurance athletes."

School of Nursing Post-Master of Science in Nursing Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) student, Michele Lorraine Barutio Stephens, of Atlanta, Georgia, has been inducted into the Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society.

Students in the School of Human Ecology's Adventure Education class took the trip of a lifetime Oct. 21-23 when they hiked through the Great Smoky Mountains.

Georgia Southern alumna and English Language Fellow, Deborah Rodriguez Garcia ('10, '12), recently spent three weeks traveling and fighting against illiteracy. Rodriguez Garcia began in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, at the 2016 Reading Association of South Africa conference. The theme of this international conference was Literacy Connectivity. Researchers, non-governmental organizations and educators from around the globe delivered workshops and presentations on practices to promote literac

Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art student, Tyler Lund, of Statesboro, Georgia, won first place in the Association of Technology, Management, and Applied Engineering (ATMAE) 50th Anniversary Logo Contest for students. Lund, a Graphic Communications Management major, was awarded a prize package worth more than $1,000, which included free registration to the ATMAE Conference in Orlando, free admission to Universal Studios, and a one-year subscription for Adobe Creative Cloud. "The intent of my design was to stay clean and simple, yet give the viewer an appealing visual aesthetic. I used the lines and shapes of the background photo to my advantage by wrapping important text to give variation and emphasis to my design while still taking the clean and simple route," said Lund. "To achieve unity within my design, I used two fonts that had many variations giving my design a stronger appeal. The color choice I went with was the same colors from ATMAEs logo, this was once again done with intent of keeping unity throughout the entire piece and maintaining the feel of the association." Entries were judged on their strong visual impact, clear message relevant to the organization and occasion, effective use of text, images and symbols, and positive relationship and flow between elements. Students were required to submit an Illustrator and PDF file along with a brief written explanation of the design's intent.

Several Graphic Communications Management students in the Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art (BFSDoArt) submitted work for consideration in the Gutenberg Awards - Print Media Contest over the summer. The Gutenberg Awards recognize exceptional achievement in the field of Graphic Arts. This year, the BFSDoArt had 19 winners in three categories with two first place awards. Alexis Barber, Charles Crawford, Tim Davis, Hilary Luna, and Heather Yeomans received first, second and third place honors in the Flexography Printing category. Luna was awarded first place and Barber took fourth in Screen Printing. In the Litho-Pringing - Spot Color category, Mackenzie Paller and Talia Thornburg each were second place winners, while Yeomans and Daniel Thornton each received fourth place honors. Luna, Caleb Scott and Tommy Martin each placed fifth. In the Litho Printing - Process Color category, Yeomans, Thornton, Chris Upchurch, Ebony Johnson, and Seqouyah Stinson each placed fifth.

Nursing students from Georgia Southern's School of Nursing spent two weeks over the summer in Costa Rica participating in a yearly study abroad trip. Led by Marian Tabi, Ph.D., professor in the School of Nursing, students learned about the culture of Costa Rica through lectures, host families, site visits and service learning activities.

Georgia Southern University has chosen its 2016 Southern's Orientation, Advisement, and Registration (SOAR) Team. SOAR Leaders help orient new students and their families to Georgia Southern during the summer SOAR sessions. Out of 122 students who applied for the coveted SOAR Leader position, 25 were selected based on their leadership potential, work ethic and ability to represent the University.