Dear Bobcats,

It was a pleasure to welcome back students and the entire campus community this past week for our fall semester.  As we concluded this first week of the academic semester, we reported on our COVID-19 tracking website that some of our students have tested positive for COVID-19.  

Please know that we continue to do all that we can through our preparation and mitigation efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. And, I encourage all of us to remain vigilant and refer back to our campus reopening website for the latest information and reminders on how we can protect ourselves from the spread of COVID-19.

Our collective values of Reason, Respect, and Responsibility must guide us now more than ever.  I appeal to each of you to take personal responsibility and do your part to keep yourself and others safe. ...

In an effort to help guide next steps after testing for COVID-19, a new webpage has been created with the decision path documents for students and employees.  Please refer to this website for these important documents as they detail how we would handle next steps as members of our community get tested for COVID-19.

The official GCSU Mock Trial Team is looking for new members! Come to A&S 375 on Monday, August 17th at 5:00 pm to hear all about our team and the amazing experience that being part of it offers. Everyone is welcome, especially those interested in Pre-Law!

Georgia College will be implementing a change for how students gain access to GeorgiaVIEW. Beginning September 8, 2020, students will be required to engage in the DUO process to gain access to GeorgiaVIEW. To prepare students for this change, we have provided some basic instructions.  Instructors will want to be aware of this change in the event their students are struggling with gaining access to GeorgiaVIEW after September 8, 2020. Students are encouraged to begin the process of registering with DUO today. 

The National Scholarships Office is looking for faculty and staff members interested in interviewing students and reviewing applications for the Fulbright Scholarship. This is a great, low commitment way to help our students compete on the national stage.

Panelists typically review three applications, offering feedback and participating in short interviews with students. This year's interviews will take place between September 21 and October 5. In order to prepare our students for national Fulbright interviews, we will do these virtually. We can work around your schedule!

We welcome panelists from all disciplines, and in particular, those with international experience.

If you are interested in serving, please contact Anna Whiteside. 

Anna Whiteside

Assistant Director, Honors and Coordinator, National ...

In spite of all the challenges we have faced in the last six months, our Georgia College family continues to shine bright.

Today, we want to highlight last year’s results from our CrowdThunder platform. CrowdThunder is the online fundraising tool used to generate support by connecting the power of social media, peer-to-peer relationships, and collective giving.

Last academic year, our students, faculty, and staff created 20 unique CrowdThunder projects in support of various initiatives across campus. Together, more than 800 unique donors made 983 gifts totaling $72,386.98.

This year, we have launched a few new projects and have plans for another GC Giving Challenge. Check out the CrowdThunder website and subscribe to the monthly mailing list to stay up-to-date on all our newest initiatives.

CrowdThunder is open to student ...

The Theatre Department welcomes a multicultural cast to audition online on Monday, August 17 at 5:30 p.m. on zoom with an a cappella song and a 30  second memorized monologue for the play "Giving Voice" about the Black Lives Matter Movement. All rehearsals and performances are done virtually. If you sing gospel or other genres, dance, choreograph, write poetry, research political history, play guitar, compose music, do spoken word, paint or draw and are interested in devising an original play, then this audition is for you! We rehearse nightly from 6-9:00 p.m. on weeknights, so you must be free to rehearse. Contact me at karen.berman@gcsu.edu if you want the link to the zoom auditions!

The Faculty Research Small Grant Program provides seed funding up to $5,000 for faculty research projects. Funds can be used for supplies, equipment, software, or travel expenses incurred in carrying out the research. Faculty Research Grant Committee members individually read and rank research proposals using a rubric to make funding decisions. The calls for proposals are every fall and spring semester.

For more information, please visit our Faculty Research Grants website.

Please be advised of the following operational changes to the campus shuttle service and schedule this semester.

• In an effort to promote social distancing, we are limiting the seating capacity of our shuttle buses to approximately half their regular maximum seating capacity by marking one seat in every two-seat row with signage indicating that they are not to be used.
• Because we are reducing the seating capacity of each shuttle, we are adding two buses to the Blue Line route that runs between West Campus and Central Campus to reduce the time between departures.
• We are asking all passengers to wear masks while on buses, and we will have a supply of individually-wrapped, disposable masks on each bus available for passengers to use in the event someone needs one. 
• We will be fogging buses with disinfectant before or after each daily use.
• We have installed touch-less hand sanitizer dispensers at each of the shuttle stops for passengers to use before and/or after riding the shuttle.
• We have installed plexiglass barriers around the driver’s area on each bus.
• We have posted signage on buses and at shuttle stops that include COVID-19 related safety precautions.
• We’ll be closely monitoring ridership to determine whether any further service or schedule modifications are needed.
...

In late July, we introduced the Voluntary Separation Program (VSP) for Georgia College Faculty and Staff who meet the eligibility requirements for retirement on or before June 30, 2021. The Voluntary Separation Program was developed to address budgetary reductions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Effective October 1, 2020, the program offers the incentive of a lump sum payment equivalent to one-third (1/3) of an employee’s base rate of pay: 1/3 of contracts (for faculty) or annual salaries (for staff) following retirement. (Refer to the Voluntary Separation Program intranet site for exclusions – Unify credentials required).

In addition to program details, the VSP intranet site also contains dates for virtual information sessions as well as registration information to schedule one-on-one virtual counseling sessions with TRS and ORP ...

GC is on High Alert status as higher temperatures result in increased electric pricing above the normal operating price from this point through the end of the month.   

The campus community is urged shut down all non-essential lighting and equipment especially during the peak hours of 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Please do not just turn off, unplug everything not pertinent for use.

If you have access to windows, use the natural light. Turn lights off when you leave your office. Keep temperatures to 75 F. Unplug computers, monitors, printers, copier machines, lab instruments, appliances and other equipment as you leave for the day. All of these activities will help tremendously.

Facilities Management staff will conduct walk-throughs turning off classroom and other unoccupied space lighting and individual AC units in unused spaces as well as shutting down non-essential ...