Three psychology graduate students in Georgia Southern University's College of Education (COE) claimed all student awards during the 48th annual Georgia Association of School Psychologists (GASP) fall conference, held on Jekyll Island in October. Ed.S. School Psychology program candidates Jessica Martin, Shanice Murphy and Courtney Smith received recognition for their strong academic performances as well as dedicated service in GASP or the school psychology field. In addition, Martin and Murphy both received the GASP's Christine Daley School Psychologist Student Scholarship. Given to students majoring in school psychology in a Georgia program, the $1,000 scholarship is awarded to two graduate students annually. Recipients of the award were selected based on academic success in their graduate program, leadership experience, strong recommendations from professors and a desire to contribute to the school psychology field in the state of Georgia.

Georgia Southern University senior child and family development major Julissa Ortiz is building her resume as she prepares to begin her career. Being named student of the year by the Georgia Association for the Education of Young Children (GAEYC) will certainly help.

Georgia Southern University recently recognized approximately 1,400 students for excellence in academics on the Spring 2018 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.

Georgia Southern University nursing students Jayda Anderson, Kelli Shiver, Taylor Wallace received 2018 Abbie Lorene DeLoach Memorial Nursing/Kappa Delta Scholarships during the second annual Abbie DeLoach Foundation Scholarship Luncheon held in April. A total of nine students were awarded scholarships totaling more than $175,000 in memory of Abbie DeLoach, one of five Georgia Southern nursing students tragically killed in a car accident in April 2015. "Criteria exemplifying Abbie's compassion, commitment to the community and competitive spirit are utilized each year when selecting recipients," reads a statement from the Abbie DeLoach Foundation. Abbie DeLoach Foundation officers include her father and president, Jimmy DeLoach, her sister and vice president Anna DeLoach and her uncle and Savannah Mayor Eddie DeLoach, who serves as treasurer.

The Georgia Southern University Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art (BFSDoArt) will present the "BFA/BA 2018 Senior Exhibition" April 30 - May 7 at the Center for Art & Theatre's Contemporary Gallery on the Statesboro Campus. The reception will be held May 4 from 5 to 7 p.m. Light refreshments will be served, and the public is invited to attend. The exhibition will showcase the portfolios and capstone projects of Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) graduating seniors in a variety of media including ceramics, digital and traditional painting, graphic design, mixed media, photography, printmaking, sculpture and video. The senior Bachelor of Fine Arts, 2D and 3D Studio Art majors are enrolled in the BFA Portfolio course taught by Professor Marc Moulton, MFA, who is also the graduate program director. "This is a wonderful opportunity for our fine arts students to present their concepts and professional works to the campus community. It has been my pleasure to help these students turn their creative ideas into reality," said Moulton. The exhibit also will feature work created by students enrolled in Associate Professor Elsie Hill's, MFA, Capstone in Studio Art course. The students were asked to design visual art projects inspired by research of the corridor between campus and downtown Statesboro, specifically the Blind Willie McTell Trail and Highway 301. Each student designed a project that employed their studio skills, historical research and visual mapping to depict elements from this area. The projects, all inspired by locations on or near the Blind Willie McTell Trail, range in subject matter from the Cretaceous Period to the civil rights era. "This year, Megan Winters, a BFSDoArt alumni and current graduate student in public history, worked with the Capstone in Studio Art students to develop their Statesboro research," said Hill. "The connections between the artwork and the research are stronger than ever thanks to this collaboration." Students displaying their work in this exhibition include: Kala Akins, Emily Bendin, Kenton Booker, Kristen Daniel, Paige Dixon, Khalil Ford, Jazmine Hicks, Gabrielle Kastner, Charles Brandon Kilgore, Savannah Knauss, Isabel Massell, Lyanna Mitchell, Keyanna Palmer, Lexi Plourde, Reagan Rowland, Mallory Morgan Sahle, Deante Simms and Hannah Smith. "The BFA and B.A. exhibitions are always exciting, as we see a kind of hinge point where the students sum up what they have done during their studies just as they are looking forward toward the beginning of their professional lives," said BFSDoArt Gallery Director Jason Hoelscher, MFA. "This is the first time the BFA and B.A. exhibitions have been combined, however, so I look forward to seeing how the work of the two student groups operates and converses with one another. Between the explorations of ideas and forms on the one hand, and the grounding of ideas into the spatial and social fabric of Statesboro itself on the other, it should make for a very compelling exhibition."

Seven Georgia Southern University Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) faculty members and 16 students in the Waters College of Health Professions recently attended and presented research at the American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. "With more than 17,000 attendees, the conference provided exposure for the program," noted Elizabeth Varner, clinical education assistant in the University's Department of Rehabilitation Sciences. "It also offered the opportunity for continuing education about current research and best clinical practices."

Georgia Southern University special education majors Kylie Brady and Rebecca Hinrichs are passionate about helping students with disabilities, as well as the studied benefits of appropriate classroom management. Their passions led to a presentation at Harvard University's annual National Collegiate Research Conference, the largest student-run research conference in the country, in January.

Eleven students from Georgia Southern University assisted the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) on March 2 in establishing a new oyster reef restoration site on Hutchinson Island at the Ashepoo River. Led by Daniel Gleason, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Coastal Plain Science at the University, and John Carroll, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology, the student group teamed up with University biology graduate Michael Hodges ('01), a biologist with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR). "Establishing this relationship with Michael Hodges and South Carolina DNR provides several outstanding opportunities for our students," said Gleason. "Not only does it allow them to make a difference by participating in an important restoration activity, but it also puts them in direct contact with individuals who can provide them with access to internships as well as long-term career opportunities in natural resource management." With the help of SCDNR staff, the students transferred 350 bags, approximately 10,500 pounds, of recycled oyster shells from land to the shoreline to help form new oyster reefs. The purpose of the program, known as the South Carolina Oyster Restoration and Enhancement Program (SCORE), is to plant recycled oyster shells along the shoreline to form new, self-sustaining oyster reefs. Over time, larval oysters attach to the shells and grow and multiply until they form a vibrant ecosystem. SCORE is a community-based habitat restoration program relying solely on volunteer groups to assist in establishing oyster reef sites. It is an important endeavor because oysters play a significant ecologic and economic role in the southeastern United States. "Oysters improve water quality, control erosion and provide habitat for other commercially-important shellfish and fish species," said Hodges. "Unfortunately, oyster populations are declining, so restoration activities such as SCORE are needed to maintain the quality of the habitat." The oyster reef restoration site established was the first by students from Georgia Southern, but there are already plans to return next year to check on the reef's progress and to extend the current reef by adding even more bags of recycled shells.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.